Sorry I didn't update yesterday, I literally have not ever felt this sort of exhaustion before. I know, it's not hard and doesn't use much energy to sit down in front of a computer screen and type. But right now, it feels that way!

I hope everyone had a great 4th of July! Kip was working and I started the day out going for an ultrasound and blood work. Let me just tell you, it was a ghost town at Comp Rehab (where my doc office is.) I pulled into the parking lot and there were 3 cars there; mine, the doctor's and another patient's who was having an egg retrieval that morning. I took a picture to show how empty the place was and then realized, I should have taken it from the back of the parking lot to get the full effect {I blame the exhaustion on lack of thought process on that one}

poor quality, sorry!

I knew when I woke up yesterday morning that something had to be going right because holy cow! My stomach was is so bloated! Here is a picture of yesterday morning and then last night. Dr J said it would get worse. She is on point every time she tells me to expect something!

left: morning, right: night

The ultrasound still showed 20 follicles. The largest one was measuring in at 19 cm, goal for retrieval is at least 17 cm. Whoop whoop! There were a few that were on the smaller size and Dr. J said she wasn't sure if she would be able to make embryos out of those; but, she felt confident in the amount that are good sizes to make a good amount of little babes for us. Since the entire building was closed yesterday, Dr. J drew my blood instead of going to the lab for it. Ha! It was pretty comical. I first learned that the room where we were is the room where "all the magic happens." I told her that Kip and I had talked about "that" room and wondered what it looked like. We wondered, would it look like a room from a movie? would it look really sterile?  Kip wondered if they "cavi-wipe" it (cavi-wipes are major disinfecting wipes that we use in the hospital.) Dr. J laughed and said "this is the room actually!" She said, "yes, we cavi-wipe it, we bug bomb it, we clean it very well. You see that black box? That is where all the material is kept." So.... now I'm sitting in this room, knowing what happens in there and about to get my blood drawn. I have to admit, I felt a little grossed out. After Dr. J nailed her stick and the blood was rushing through the tubing, we realized that the vacu-tainer wasn't screwed on and my blood was pouring out. She ended up comparing the scene to The Poltergeist and then apologized for giving me an A-line (an A-line is an arterial line that we use in the ICU to get the most accurate blood pressure when someone is really sick) Okay, the story may not be that funny to you, but it was pretty funny to me (could just be the medical side of me)

Dr. J gave the "go ahead" to take my trigger shot last night and it was to be delivered promptly at 7:30pm. The trigger shot's purpose is to let my body know to release all those follicles we have been building up and then exactly 36.5 hours later they can be retrieved. She warned me that the shot would be painful and would leave a rash. Insert anxiety the rest of the day. Absolute dread for 7:30 pm. The time came around and I administered the shot, and nothing! It was the least painful of all my shots so far! The most painful part was pinching my skin together at the injection site. It feels like my stomach is one giant bruise and so recently it started hurting just to grab my skin where I was going to inject that night

I went to bed and woke up this morning at 9:15!!!! I NEVER sleep in that late! I missed Sunday school and church, oops! As soon as I tried to get out of bed, bam! There was that pain she warned me about. The best way I can think of to describe it, is as if the site were the site of an incision from a surgery. Note to self and to others.... never give yourself a shot right at your waistline where EVERYTHING is going to touch it and hurt it. It is also very red

again, a pj shot. Can you tell I have been

practically living in them lately?

I almost feel febrile today. I don't have chills, but my body aches. My legs feel like they are going to give out from underneath me, my knees feel like they might pop undone and my lower back aches like an ovulation ache x10000000. I made it to the grocery store this morning and now I am home laying on the sofa. The only 2 things getting me off this sofa today are bathroom needs and laundry

I felt I deserved some bad for you snacks to 

enjoy while I lounge today

Among the many things I am learning throughout this process, there is one thing that continues to pop out in my mind. Thank goodness I am in the medical field and have some sort of knowledge on this stuff (at least the basics of injections and what not) MAJOR props to those of you who are going through this and have never had to draw up and administer shots prior to having to do it to yourself. There have been times that I, myself, an ICU nurse, my friend who is a nurse practitioner in the ICU and my husband who is a chief resident have all been confused by instructions or something. Wow! You go girls who are doing this blindly!

I will try and update tomorrow (Monday, July 6, 2015) after my retrieval. There may not be much to update on. Tuesday I am working so I won't be able to then, but by Wednesday I should have some updates. The lab is supposed to be in contact with us throughout the week on how many eggs were actually retrieved and how many embryos we have and how they are growing! As always, we accept your prayers and have some specific prayer requests...... please pray that the retrieval goes well tomorrow, that we have lots of potential embryos available, that our embryos thrive and grow. Thank you so much ahead of time!