building steam

I had my second follicle check today and my nerves were all over the place this morning. I'm much calmer now, but I was so excited and nervous leading up to my appointment. While looking at my follicles I'm wondering which one will form our baby (yup, I said it) and while getting blood taken I'm already begging for the results. Right now I have about 10+ follicles on my left side and about 8 on my right. The follicles are still small with the biggest ones measuring between 10-11mm. FYI-follicles are mature around 18-25 mm... mine have never gotten over 20 without my estrogen dropping. I was immediately concerned when the physician's assistant told me these results and asked her if she thought I was responding too slowly to the meds. I know from all my research and many ivf blogs that the majority of women have follicles a little bigger than that by day 6 of stims. The PA reassured me that there is no reason to be concerned and that some women just respond more slowly in the beginning. She said she would only be concerned if the follicles were developing at different rates. Instead, they are all developing in uniform and that is a very good thing. She left me with this analogy - the process of the follicular development in the stimming process is best compared to a train... sometimes it takes a lot to get it moving, but once it gets going it goes full speed. Needless to say, the PA made me feel great and I left satisfied with the fact that everything is moving forward, which is exactly the direction I want it. I'm still waiting on my estrogen level and weekend injection protocol, but I'm feeling at peace. I have a really good feeling about everything going on right now. I feel happy, positive, and at peace. Of course the day of an appointment twists my tum in knots, but that's expected. I will most likely go back on Monday for my 3rd follie check and I'm already looking forward to the appt.

On another note, I'm really loving all the relaxing things I have been doing - walking, yoga, meditation, acupuncture, and chiropractic adjustments. I went to my first meditation class with Meg on Wednesday and we both loved it! I'm certainly loving the benefits from both natural and Western medicine :)

Happy FNP for those that will be enjoying some slices! As for the Sweens, pizza is out this week. Gotta love good ol high protein, low carb eating. I thought I would be climbing the walls over not eating carbs, but I'm a girl who loves a good challenge and it is not bad. I will just pretend my dinner of chicken atop a bed of leaves tastes just like a cheesy, doughy slice of heaven.

I'm thankful to have both of my family members with me today... Edog and the Dexman, of course. And as for what lies ahead... I'm hoping for a weekend full of follicles creating steam. Keep cookin follies!