I got there really early in the morning for a Saturday, walking in the building before 8am (when they start doing scans). I had my blood drawn first – did I mention how I hate getting my blood drawn on weekends? Sigh. But I survived and she did actually get it on her first try, though I nearly yelped. Then quickly I was in an ultrasound room, chatting with the nurse and u/s tech.

Things look great. She counted 18 follicles this time total – 10 on right, 8 on left – which is only one off from Wednesday’s scan. And, other than a couple that were a little smaller, all of those were measuring the same size: 14-15.5mm. I was/am positively giddy about how my follicles are looking… you can’t get much better than that. Maybe I’d have asked for a couple more in there, but even though there’s less follicles total this time I really think these might be better quality than last. There are less small ones, and I am getting acupuncture treatments. Who knows if that will do anything, but maybe. I got 6 embryos last time and I’m really really hoping I get 6 again this time… though I know for me that is a high goal, especially with less follicles.

The nurse said she is thinking 2 more days of stims for me, which means trigger on Monday evening and retrieval on Wednesday. With my follicles the size they are today I highly doubt they’re going to be ready to trigger by tomorrow, and neither does she, but they’re having me come back in tomorrow just to check on their growth. Later in the day I got a voicemail today from the Dr himself. It cracked me up a little, because normally its the nurses who pass on boring information like “come again tomorrow.” The nurse said that I’m a “special case” and that they were sending my ultrasound and lab results to him so he could look them over and call me… but I didn’t think he would actually call me himself.

He said my E2 is 1500 today. Sheesh, that sounds so low! I know it’s not, but my previous cycles have almost all had much higher E2 (which is why they’re always so concerned about me!).

Then I did have my acupuncture appointment. My acupuncturist moved to a different office, which felt a little weird (because it’s a new place, unfamiliar). She was very pleased with my progress in the cycle. One belly point really made me jump when she put it in… like an electric shock. I don’t think I quite fell asleep this time, but I almost got there. Then she left me and the massage therapist came in. Right away there was definitely a clear difference between this and the spa massage. I could feel him finding all the muscle knots and trying to work them out. He spent a long time on my back, which I liked. But yeow, did some of them hurt. It wasn’t just that he was doing deep tissue, but there were many spots where he just touched them with his fingertips with light pressure and my muscles spiked. Pretty sure I had some huge knots. I do think they felt looser by the end, but it was not what I would call a relaxing massage where you fall asleep or anything! A few times I really had to work at breathing steady. I do think it’s what my back needed, it’s been a mess lately, and I hope it all relaxes and stops aching soon. Or I’m going to need another massage. LOL (A gentler one!)

And now it is nap time.