Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Here We Go!

First, thank you so much for all your prayers! They worked!

Instead of just the one mediocre follie, we were able to trigger TWO yesterday at our appt! TWO! Holy Crap! The US Tech said "You are a medical miracle! I have never seen a follicle catch up that fast!"

In case you forgot, I had one follie measuring 14mm, and no others that were worth anything, so we (our RE and Ben and I) agreed to focus on the one and hope it didn't fizzle out. The next largest one I had was 8mm as of last Thursday. The follie needs to be between 18-20mm in order to trigger and create a viable pregnancy, and follies tend to grow at about 2mm/day. So even in the best case scenario, the 8mm follie shouldn't have been bigger than 16mm on Monday at our appt.

Both follies that we triggered were over 20mm! That is amazing. I'm not a medical miracle, I'm a child of God who has some amazing people praying over her.

And now to address the #1 question that is asked when I say that we triggered two follies. It means twins, right? Not even close. In order for this to result in twins one of two things would have to happen:

(A) BOTH eggs would have to fertilize and implant (fraternal twins).

OR

(B) One egg would have to be fertilized and would then have to split creating two babies (identical twins).

Before the rumor mill gets going full steam ahead, we are not planning on twins. We are not using fertility treatments in hopes that it will result in twins. We are hoping and praying for one healthy baby and are using fertility treatments because we had to in order to get and stay pregnant. Even a singleton pregnancy takes a lot of work for my body, so that is our focus. There are also no guarantees when using fertility treatments. There is no guarantee that the combination on drugs I have taken or am currently on will work. The success rate is about 15-20% per cycle, so all we can do is pray that we are blessed enough to be in that margin this time.

So why am I so excited about having two follies? Easy- it gives us more targets. Ben's SA's have all come back within normal limits, so there are no concerns there, but it is easier for his sperm to meet up with one of my eggs if we have multiple targets. Our only goal is for one sperm to fertilize one egg and have a healthy, full term pregnancy. If God has other plans for us, we will deal with them when they are presented.

As for the hcg trigger injection...wowzers. The injection itself didn't hurt. The aftermath. Ow. My hip is still hurting over 24 hours later! (In case you forgot what the trigger is, it is basically an hgc injection that goes into the muscle and forces my ovaries to release any follicles it has ready at the moment.) Basically, right now my body is full of pregnancy hormones, which makes me feel really sluggish and tired. I'm starving, but have no appetite. I am emotional, in a weepy, crying way. BUT it is all worth it.

Ben begged me to let him do the injection, but I was not about to let him! I love him dearly and he works in the medical field, but if it hurt, I wanted to be mad at the nurse, not him, haha. (If we get to the point where we have to start doing them at home at specific times, I will let him, but for right now, I'll let the nurses handle it.) But the nurse who did it was awesome. I stood facing Ben, with my arms around his neck, he wrapped his arms around my waist, I relaxed as possible, closed my eyes and counted to ten. And it was over. Simple as that. So for those of you who have yet to do your IM shots for the first time, the shot itself is not bad, but your hip will be sore for a while. It's definitely not something that hinders your ability during the day. I work with infants and toddlers and am up and down out of the floor all day and have done fine. I promise, it's not near as bad as I thought it would be (and I am the world's biggest baby when it comes to needles!).

And now you're caught up. I am feeling very positive. I know we are on God's path for us. I know we are going to the best of the best in this field right now. I know we are doing everything the way it needs to be done right now. I am praying harder than ever before that this is our cycle. If it's not, it will be an emotional blow, but we will only have 2 days to pick up the pieces and start preparing for our next cycle. There are no breaks for the infertile (unless you have a cyst the size of Montana on your ovary and your RE forces you into a break, haha).

We still covet all your extra prayers. We are ready to be parents again. Buddha is ready for a sibling. Our parents are ready to get "great news" again. We are ready for anything God will throw at us. All in due time though...right?

Hugs&Kisses


PS- This is an except from a blog I wrote last week:

If my prayers are answered (which they always are in God's time), we will have a few of the stragglers catch up and we will at least have two follicles to trigger. We'll see. Time will tell, right.

I prayed for at least two follicles. I got two follices. Now tell me God doesn't answer prayers!

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

This is great news! I have been a lurker on your blog for a little bit now, and I love your refreshing, no BS writing style. Praying for you!

Anonymous said...
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Miranda said...

Aaaannnnddddd if BOTH eggs get fertilized and BOTH eggs split, we're going to have QUADS!! Woohoo!! Then you, too, can have your own reality show on TLC!


(Just wanted to freak you out with that possibility!)

YAY for follies!

Cate said...

Haha, We asked about that and our RE said "less than one in a million...no billion".

Thinking back, I should have gotten that in writing.

Amanda Hoyt said...

Praise the LORD!!! I'm so excited for ya'll, Cate!
Hugs and more prayers,
Amanda

Anonymous said...

That is amazing news! I have been praying for you, and I totally believe in the power of prayer!

Eric and Laura Fentress said...

Great news! Congrats to you guys on the positive appointment!

momqat said...

You know how much I have been, and will continue to, pray for you and Ben. Remember that Pop's mother (your great grandmother) had twins, Ma had twins, and your cousin had triplets. Your greatx2 grandmother on your dad's side had twins, too. For you, I'm praying for one healthy baby (I'm still seeing you with a red headed girl!).
Luv and prayers!

Christine said...

I'm so excited for you two! Lots & lots of prayers headed your way.