trigger and returning the #of rows affected (partitioning)

Is there any way in which a trigger can return the # of rows affected by the insert / delete ?

Master

à slave_1

à slave_2

Trigger is against master which will, based on the conditions re-direct the data into the relevant slave_X partitions.

I think this post basically is what I am seeing.

http://www.nabble.com/affected-rows-count-td21124000.html

If there any methods in which I can get back the affected # or rows affected? Or will I have to use / do another trigger on the slave_X tables to do the counts?