Finally done stimming!

Right from the horse's (doctor's) mouth: "This is it. You're triggering tonight."

We're FINALLY doing this! This is so crazy. I'm a little in disbelief just thinking about it. This morning's ultrasound revealed what we'd hoped for - the big follicle has grown to a massive 21 mm, we have one 19 mm, and at least 3 in the 15 mm range. The doctor said that the 21 and 19 are definitely mature and we're hoping the 15s will continue to grow a bit more between now and retrieval. He's estimating at least 5 follicles that will produce 5 hopefully good eggs to be retrieved. My estradiol level has also doubled since yesterday - I'm now at a respectable 1094! (Just shy of five days ago, I was only in the high 80's).

Before the scan though, I kinda "knew" that my follicles were growing. I've been feeling sharp pains on my right and left sides for the past few nights. I just imagine my follicles slowly but determinedly pushing their way through an already overcrowded ovary.

This week was such an eventful one but also one I have learned so much from. It has shown me just how amazing human biology works. It also made me realize just how my doctors are like magicians, in a way. I'm thinking they're all holed up in a dark room filled with colorful, smoky potions, mixing stuff together, adding a little bit of this and a little bit of that, and then POOF! My magical drug cocktail, served in a tall glass with a teeny tiny umbrella but with a very sharp needle. (I also think they'd chant something like, folliculus enlargus! but that's just for dramatics.) But truly though, it seems that my doctors have finally figured out the ideal dosage that works for me, which is wonderful. They also stuck with me, gave me a chance to prove my follicular worth, and did not cancel my cycle, even though they had a good reason to do so. So this week also made me realize that we're not in this alone. Fortunately for us, we have trained, knowledgeable people who are holding the helm, being our expert navigators. So I have the comfort of knowing that even if it doesn't work out this time, we are not alone and we have a good information base that would help steer us in the right direction for the next cycle.

(Ideally of course, we won't need a new cycle because this one will be perfect and work out just the way we hope and pray for.)

So I'm saying adios to the Follistim and Lupron for now (more like "good riddance" really - they have sufficiently beaten my system into submission). I'm doing two trigger shots of Ovidrel (HCG) at precisely 11:30 pm tonight. Retrieval will subsequently be at 11:30 am Sunday morning. All down to a science.

Ovidrel trigger shot... a little voice that says "pew pew" inside my head

It feels like we've crossed a huge hurdle in this process, but honestly, the journey has just begun. Fingers crossed - we'll have good news the rest of the way.