Plan B Update 3

Back to the doctor this morning for the 4th follicle/hormone check. Saturday, Sunday and today, I've been feeling very nauseated and headachey. Guess I angered the side-effect gods by saying things were going well and I didn't have a lot of side effects.

I think the people at the doctor's office are really pulling for me. The lady who draws the blood is always nice and I always say that the weather is always beautiful on days when I see her (which it is) and that we should play hookie. The lady who does the ultrasounds now calls me "Marce" and explains everything to me as I watch the ultrasound. At my last appointment, she and I even talked about mission work, since she said she would like to do health work in another country after she retires. The nurse who goes over the results with me and tells me how to do the shots is kind of old and crotchety, but she's been warming up to me and now smiles and says good luck. Sure, maybe they are like this with everyone, but I watch them call other people back to the exam rooms, and they aren't as nice as they are with me - they just call the names and seem to be all business.

So, with the ultrasound, she saw 11 follicles! 5 looked just about ripe, and those were all on my left ovary, which is strange because my right ovary was the one that seemed to be blossoming the most in the beginning, but now it's being a slacker. She said that happens sometimes. She also said my uterine lining looks exactly the way they want it to look.

After seeing the ripened follicle report, the nurse reminded me of the possibilities of multiple embryos and made sure I had signed the form stating that I understand the possibilities and would be willing to selectively reduce if needed. Having so many ripe follicles makes this more likely.

I went to work after dropping S. off (who accompanied me to this appointment which was nice). I spent the drive to work thinking about how I might feel if we did get many embryos and had to make those difficult decisions. It's heartbreaking to think that after all this trying, we might have to let go of some successful embryos. But I know it's what we might need to do to have a chance at a healthy, full-term baby. I wondered if they could take and freeze the embryos, or maybe donate them. But, as Depressionista pointed out, they will probably want to wait to see which embryos are developing best before they reduced any, and by that point they'd be too far along to freeze or donate.

The nurse called me later to tell me that I'm to do Follistim again tonight, then the HcG shot to trigger the release of the egg(s), and then we'd go in for insemination on Thursday morning. So, that's the plan.

I left work early and came home and slept for a couple of hours. My headache just wouldn't go away and I felt like I might puke pretty much all the time. After I woke up this evening, the headache has subsided, but now I'm having aches and pains in my abdomen and my breasts are very sore. I'm feeling extremely bloated. I feel like if anyone pokes me or if I sneeze too hard my ovaries will explode. So, I'm trying to take it easy, and hopefully things will feel better soon. I've been vacillating between feeling sort of OK and feeling like I'm dying.