Checking In

I don't really have too much to update, but I'm getting excited that transfer is right around the corner now!

I have been on the estrogen patches for a week now.  I haven't really noticed any huge side affects from the meds.  The headaches and weird sleep patterns seem to have gone away completely with the reduction in my lupron.  The only things I'm noticing from the estrogen is that my [TMI WARNING] discharge has increased to the point it normally is right before I ovulate on my own, and my sex drive has been given a nice little boost (which the husband is appreciating).  Also, I'm not sure if it's all in my head or not, but sometimes my uterus feels "heavy" - I don't really know how to describe it other than that.  I'm hoping that these signs mean that the estrogen is doing what it should and my lining will be nice and thick at my appointment tomorrow morning.

On the docket for tomorrow are a transvaginal ultrasound to check my lining thickness (8mm+ is transfer-ready) and pattern (something called triple-stripe is ideal here) and bloodwork to check my estrogen levels.  Assuming everything looks good, I bump my estrogen patches up from 2 to 4, and keep everything else the same.  Then I will have one more lining check a week from today to make sure it's thick enough for transfer.

In other news, the donor has started her stimulation meds without incident, and is expected to be ready for retrieval between December 4th and 6th...that means it could be as little as a week from today, people!  Depending on how many eggs they retrieve (10-20 is the normal range for an egg donor) and how many of those fertilize and begin to grow, I will either have a 3 day or 5 day transfer.  I can't remember if I explained this before, so if I'm being redundant forgive me.  The hope is for a 5 day transfer, because it gives the doctors lots of time to separate the strong embryos from the weak ones and allows them to put in the best ones, ultimately increasing chances of success.  However, if there aren't very many embryos to work with or they are looking weak, they will transfer them after 3 days.  The worry here is that they will all fizzle out before 5 days and there will be nothing to transfer - and a nice, warm, sticky uterus gives a weak embryo a better shot of making it than keeping it in a lab environment for too long.

I am working with my agency to try to book travel plans, which has proved a bit challenging considering we won't know when the retrieval will be until 2 days before, and we won't find out if it's a 3 or 5 day transfer until day 2.  Since I'm a wussy and I can't handle 5+ hours of night driving all by myself, I am going to fly up.  Luckily the best airline of all (I won't name names but it rhymes with Mouthrest), has lots of flights between St. Louis and Chicago and no change fees!  So our current plan is to assume the donor will be transferring the 4th and I will need a 3 day transfer, and then at the last minute pushing the flight back when that turns out to not be the case.  We know how to keep things exciting!

I will update once I get the results of my appointment tomorrow!