Ninth Day of Stimulation

Today's been an emotional day. Michael and I are trying to prepare for next week with the retrieval and transfer and it is hard not knowing for sure when every procedure will take place. I'm feeling okay with taking days off from my job because of my fabulous student teacher and my very understanding principal, but Michael is self employed and these stores prepare for him to inventory on certain days. While I wish everyone was understanding of our situation it doesn't always work in our favor. It is times like these when I wish we were closer to family...although they would have to move here because I'm not about to go back to the cold weather. :)

Day 9 Stats:
* My uterus lining has gone from 7.5 mm to 9.4 mm.

* My follicles are continuing to grow! On the left I have 6 (11mm, 14mm, 15mm, 15mm, 16mm, 16mm) and on the right I have a 8 (11mm, 12mm, 14mm, 14mm, 14mm, 16mm, 19mm, 21mm). I have a few under 10mm, but I don't remember the exact count.

It seems to me that 14 is a good number of follicles, but in the whole scheme of things we want quality over quantity. I just have to hope and pray that this is the case with some of the 14. 

Once again I go back in tomorrow morning for more monitoring. It it really starting to look like Monday will be my retrieval. I will know for sure tomorrow when they get my blood work back. 

Growing Follicles

I was back in the doctor's office this morning. My blood work looks great and I didn't bruise today!!

Day 8 Stats:
* My uterus lining is still 7.5 mm.

*I have 6 follicles on the left side ranging from 10-14 mm and 7 follicles on the right side ranging from 10-21 mm. I also have 6 follicles that are under 10 mm. (Left: 3 at 13mm, 2 at 14mm, 1 at 10mm) (Right: 1 at 21mm, 1 at 19mm, 1 at 15mm, 3 at 12mm, 1 at 10mm)

We went over all of my pre-op paper work this morning. Cherub now thinks retrieval could be Monday or Tuesday...hard to plan anything with fertility treatments. There is so much to remember for the retrieval and transfer. Thank goodness I have checklists to follow...one day at a time. I thought I was going to get to sleep in tomorrow, but Dr. Slowey wants to see me back tomorrow morning for more blood work and an ultrasound. It makes for expensive days, but I must admit I like seeing the progress of my follicles.

Wishful Thinking

I know I probably shouldn't be doing this, but I searched for an IVF Due Date Calculator. My mom was here last weekend and we were discussing if we do get pregnant when the baby/babies would be born. I kept thinking it would be December/January and I started to wonder how it is determined when you are having eggs retrieved and transferred. Anyway, if this does work, we retrieve on Monday (as planned), and I'm able to carry my baby/babies full term the due date would be January 1, 2012...interesting. Now if we have twins the website said they usually come three weeks early which would fall around my mom's birthday and if they are a couple days late we have my sister's birthday. I've just been doing some wishful thinking today...trying to think positively.

Day Six of Stimulation

I went in this morning for blood work and another ultrasound. I officially look like I'm shooting up. I have bruises on both arms so they took blood from the top of my left hand...we shall see how that looks in a few hours.

Here are my stats:

*My uterus lining is at 7.5 mm. Cherub says above 6.5 is good. I read that on average during IVF it will increase by 1mm per day.

*I  have 4 follicles we are measuring at the current time: two measure 11 mm, one at 13 mm, and another at 15mm. I also have 11 that are less than 10 mm so there is a chance that they could grow larger. Cherub says we need to see follicles between 19-21 mm for retrieval. She thought the 15 mm follicle might mature before we do retrieval so we could lose it, but hopefully some of the smaller ones start maturing. She said this all looks good for day 6.

As of right now we are still planning to do retrieval on Monday, but she thought it could possibly be Sunday. I go back for more blood work and an ultrasound on Thursday morning.

This afternoon I will be enjoying lunch with a friend and later a much needed massage!

Really...Clowns?

I was looking through infertility comics and found this article/video. It's not a joke: Clowns help IVF patients get pregnant...I must say it made me chuckle. I've tried just about everything else...this could be the missing piece. Maybe I should ask my doctor if he has heard of this technique?  Let me know if you are willing to be my clown during my transfer. :)

Fourth Day of Stimulation

I went to the doctor this morning for blood work. I've finally figured out that when I go on the weekend I need to get there at 7:50am. They schedule everyone at 8:00am so they can do their job and get out of there. Because everyone shows up at the same time they take patients in the order they arrive. Luckily, I've always been one of the first few to show up so I can usually get in and out by 8:30 at the latest. I was home this morning before Michael even got up...lucky him. Anyway, one of the nurses called this afternoon with the results of my blood work. She said it looked great and she wants me to decrease my Follistim injection from 225 units to 200 units. I guess decreasing is better than having to increase it. I go back in on Tuesday for more blood work and an ultrasound. I want next week to come sooooo bad so we can do the retrieval and transfer, but I know once next week comes spring break will be over. :(

One more thing...I attempted my Follistim injection this evening and had no trouble! I told Michael I don't need him anymore...I guess I might need his sperm.  :)

Ups and Downs

I feel like we have had a few hurdles the last couple of days...

Michael was working in the garden/forest area of our backyard this week and got poison ivy or poison something. It is pretty bad and the doctor put him on Prednisone (a steroid to help clear it up). My first question was will effect his sperm count? Fortunately the pharmicist said it shouldn't because he isn't going to be on it for a long period of time. I guess we will find out when we go in for the retrieval.

I went to my family physician because I've been having an uncomfortable feeling in my upper left leg for the past month or so. He diagnosed me with Meralgia Paresthetica. He told me there isn't much he can do to treat it because I'm trying to conceive so we will take another look at it when I'm either a) not pregnant or b) it gets worse and I can't handle it. I asked him if it would get worse if I got pregnant and he said it could or it could go away...although what I've read is that pregnancy can cause it. I will continue to keep on an eye on it. Sometimes I don't even notice it (like now) and other times it flares up. I've been trying to figure out if there is a pattern to it flaring up, but I have yet to come up with one.

While we have had some hurdles we've also had some good news...

Most people know I had melanoma and I had nodes removed from under my left arm. Because of this I've never been able to get blood taken  from my left arm.This had me a little nervous since I have to have lots of blood work this week and I tend to bruise easily. I called my surgeon and he said that I'm able to access the left arm because it has been over 3 years. It may sound silly, but this was a huge relief for me. 

I also found out that the pharmacy that sends me my infertility meds sent me too much Follistim...it's the most expensive med I'm on. Cherub talked to them and I will get a refund since it was their fault. It will be almost a $400 refund...anyway we can save money right now is exciting!