IVF - day 9

Today I am cd9 (cycle day 9). I went in for a scan on cd5 and blood tests. My left ovary (which I thought was a little sore), had 50 small follicles, my right had 20. 70 follicles overall. That is a hell of a lot, and explains my pain. My blood - in particular the estrogen, were fine, so I could continue  as protocol.

I started taking my certotide, the antagonist on CD7, and went back in for my scan today. Follicles numbers are down, I have about 30 on the left and 17 on the right. The biggest is measuring at 15mm - I have yet to reach the magic 18mm or bigger measure. This means I am continuing as stated, with Egg retrieval to likely be on Saturday. Which is awesome, as it means I don't have to take time off work. I find out later how my estrogen level is.

So how am I feeling? Sore and uncomfortable and awfully exhausted. My left ovary in particular  hurts to the touch, but a lot is happening on there. I also feel nauseous and I have a small amount of bloat. I have to watch it really carefully as it could lead to OHSS (ovarian hyper stimulation syndrome), which can lead to all sorts of issues, and if really bad hospitalisation. The biggest risk is straight after the egg retrieval, as the trigger can cause it to get worse. I have been told to control pain with paracetamol and drink a lot more (though putting anything into my body is hard right now). At least I am responding, but again not as fast as usual (but better than my IUI round). I have another acupuncture session tomorrow, maybe that will help settle things a little!

Just a note - because I have PCOS, a lot of those follicles are immature follicles that may have no egg, or never mature. It is a side effect of the PCOS and is why it was called poly cystic ovaries (though it is not actually a cyst but an immature follicle causing the issue). It took ages with my scan, but the follicles were pretty consistent in size across both ovaries, so that is a great thing. Will see what happens next.