So, on Tuesday I had 3 follicles.
Today (2 days later)...I have 22!!!!!!!!!! In the words of my nurse, "You have really taken off!"
She told me to get home asap and take the ganirelix shot to stop premature ovulation. I have another appointment tomorrow morning even though I had one today, so I think things are starting to speed up. I really hope this isn't a mistake because I'm really excited for some forward movement. Fingers crossed!
xoxo
L
Thursday, September 13, 2012
Tuesday, September 11, 2012
You know what's weird?
Listening to this:
WHISTLE - FLO RIDA
...while being injected with Menopur and Follistim.
Bikini's, the ocean, Flo Rida, and needles in my stomach! I can't help but notice that me and the models in that video are living very different lives at the moment.
xoxo
L
WHISTLE - FLO RIDA
...while being injected with Menopur and Follistim.
Bikini's, the ocean, Flo Rida, and needles in my stomach! I can't help but notice that me and the models in that video are living very different lives at the moment.
xoxo
L
MY IVF CALENDAR, holler.
Have I ever mentioned how much I love making lists? Lists make everything more fun, so here's my IVF callie with the dates of everything as I go along:
Blood test/ultrasound - prescribed birth control and thyroid med to help egg quality.
10 days of BC
9/2/12 - AF arrives
9/4/12 - Cycle Day 3 blood tests and ultrasound to check ovaries, lining, etc.
Day 3 - Begin injections of Menopur & Follistim at night/Husband begins Doxycycline.
9/7/12- Day 6 - followup appointment to check on progress.
9/9/12- Day 8 - 30 small eggs less than ten
Day 9 - belly starts to feel tender
9/11/12 - Day 10 - 3 follicles (my nurse said that my ovaries have "woken up." Crazy sleeping ovaries), around 25 less than 10. Doctor says no retrieval this weekend (it's only Tuesday) and I guess you can say I'm a bit bummed about that. Oh well. Time will fly. It always does!
9/13/12- Day 12 - 22 follicles!!! Take a ganirlex shot asap and continue with meds. Apparently I'll be triggering soon. Yay.
9/14/12 - Day 13 - Trigger with 2 Ovidrel shots back to back.
9/16/12 - Day 15 - Egg retrieval = 19 eggs.
9/17/12 - 7 eggs fertilized
9/21/12 - Cycle CANCELED. 2 Morulas and 1 almost blastocyst. Not enough for a transfer.
Updated to add: The almost blast did become a dynamite 6BB blastocyst...just a day too late. Had to be frozen since my clinic will only transfer blasts.
Monday, September 10, 2012
Wedding Receptions and Medicine Injections
So, a college friend of mine got married this weekend. It was a lovely affair, filled with people I haven't seen in ages, good food, great music and menopur injections in the parking lot. Boy, have times changed.
The hubs and I drove to the venue (and parked far from the entrance) to ensure a safe place to sit and administer the mixing of medications and injections. Plus, we had to keep them in a cooler and thought lugging that on the shuttle from the hotel to the party would be a little obvious...and weird.
I was nervous ALL DAY. Something about these medications have my stomach and nerves going at all times. It seemed like the day of the wedding was the day that a lot of side effects hit me - mostly nonstop stomach aches and a dull headache, so I was nervous as to how this would all play out.
Turns out - our undercover mission went great! No need for all of the stress. My nightly medicine time is 9:30pm and luckily most partygoers were tipsy by then. Thank goodness. We ended up making our stealth exit at 10pm-ish and were back to party within 30 minutes (we're still a little slow at this). Only one person even asked where we went and I said that I had a stomach ache. I have had IBS for pretty much my whole life, so this was extreeeemely believable.
I'm SO happy that we were able to pull it off. Yay us!
Onto the side effects. I'm 6 nights of medicine in and this is what I've felt so far:
tender lower stomach/it feels bruised
slightly bloated
2 days of headaches
stomach aches for a couple days/could be IBS related, not sure.
and slightly more hungry
That's all so far! I have another appt tomorrow and I can't wait to hear what they say. Yesterday, they said that I have 30 small eggs (16 on one side and 14 on the other) with my progesterone and estrogen levels seeming good. They're also keeping me on the same amount of meds (150 follistim and 1 menopur). Yay!
The hubs and I drove to the venue (and parked far from the entrance) to ensure a safe place to sit and administer the mixing of medications and injections. Plus, we had to keep them in a cooler and thought lugging that on the shuttle from the hotel to the party would be a little obvious...and weird.
I was nervous ALL DAY. Something about these medications have my stomach and nerves going at all times. It seemed like the day of the wedding was the day that a lot of side effects hit me - mostly nonstop stomach aches and a dull headache, so I was nervous as to how this would all play out.
Turns out - our undercover mission went great! No need for all of the stress. My nightly medicine time is 9:30pm and luckily most partygoers were tipsy by then. Thank goodness. We ended up making our stealth exit at 10pm-ish and were back to party within 30 minutes (we're still a little slow at this). Only one person even asked where we went and I said that I had a stomach ache. I have had IBS for pretty much my whole life, so this was extreeeemely believable.
I'm SO happy that we were able to pull it off. Yay us!
Onto the side effects. I'm 6 nights of medicine in and this is what I've felt so far:
tender lower stomach/it feels bruised
slightly bloated
2 days of headaches
stomach aches for a couple days/could be IBS related, not sure.
and slightly more hungry
That's all so far! I have another appt tomorrow and I can't wait to hear what they say. Yesterday, they said that I have 30 small eggs (16 on one side and 14 on the other) with my progesterone and estrogen levels seeming good. They're also keeping me on the same amount of meds (150 follistim and 1 menopur). Yay!
Thursday, September 6, 2012
Ouch.
I don't know if my husband is just seriously bad at his task as the injectables injector, but HOLY SMOKES do these things hurt. Mostly just the Menopur.
My nurse told me that I could mix the Menopur and Follistim together to endure but one injection and originally I thought, "nah! I'll be fine!" but I'm going to ask her to re-explain at my Day 6 appointment tomorrow morning. Right now, we're not confident enough to do the injections without following the video online (where they don't mix), but I really think one injection would be better than dos.
There is so much to keep track of with IVF.
I've canceled most nighttime plans this month (that are to take place during our 9:30 injection date) and most early morning obligations (that take place during my 3 million doctor appts), but I still have a wedding to attend this Saturday and it's a state away. Basically this means that the hubs and I will have to keep the meds cold in the car and hotel AND perform the injection during the reception or way too early or late. I cannot wait to see how we manage this. I'm sure it will end either hysterically, painfully, or with someone thinking that we're doing drugs in the bathroom stall. Crap.
Til then!
L
My nurse told me that I could mix the Menopur and Follistim together to endure but one injection and originally I thought, "nah! I'll be fine!" but I'm going to ask her to re-explain at my Day 6 appointment tomorrow morning. Right now, we're not confident enough to do the injections without following the video online (where they don't mix), but I really think one injection would be better than dos.
There is so much to keep track of with IVF.
I've canceled most nighttime plans this month (that are to take place during our 9:30 injection date) and most early morning obligations (that take place during my 3 million doctor appts), but I still have a wedding to attend this Saturday and it's a state away. Basically this means that the hubs and I will have to keep the meds cold in the car and hotel AND perform the injection during the reception or way too early or late. I cannot wait to see how we manage this. I'm sure it will end either hysterically, painfully, or with someone thinking that we're doing drugs in the bathroom stall. Crap.
Til then!
L
Wednesday, September 5, 2012
Nostalgia, Injections, and what's to come...
NOSTALGIA:
Once upon a time, I never thought about getting pregnant. I never fantasized about my belly or a nursery. I never watched other families longingly. Kids always seemed kind of loud and crazy to me and babies were a little too fragile to take a chance holding. At the time (up until a couple years ago) I just kinda figured it was because I wasn't ready for that phase. I'm HUGELY into enjoying the phase I'm currently in (infertility phase - not as fun), so that's what I was doing.
I always knew I wanted kids (before I even knew I wanted a husband) but not to ooh and aww over and not to dress up in frilly dresses. I wanted to have a child because I really and truly believe in family and unconditional love being 2 HUGE things in my life that make everyday better. They are what make me strong and I've always wanted to pass that along. Plus, I love learning/enjoying/living through my family's experiences. More people = more learning! It always made sense. But I never really fantasized or spoke about it more than say, once a year...and even then it was usually prompted by someone else's wondering. Now looking back, I think...how long ago that all seems.
Some people miss high school, some people miss college, I miss those days. The ones before I knew I was kinda broken.
I shouldn't dwell but September always makes me a bit nostalgic.
INJECTIONS:
This month, I'm going through with IVF and last night was the first of my injections. What I've learned:
1. Injections hurt.
2. My husband is not a nurse and does not quite have a hang of the needle. Just yet. He's trying, but I hope it gets better soon.
3. I will have a doctor appt almost every day this month (for monitoring).
4. I am becoming increasingly poor with making excuses to miss happy hours and social outings that involve alcohol.
5. I catch myself hoping more and more every day that this works. And that scares me!
MY IVF CALENDAR SO FAR:
Blood test/ultrasound - prescribed birth control and thyroid med to help egg quality.
10 days of BC
AF arrives
Cycle Day 3 blood tests and ultrasound to check ovaries, lining, etc.
Day 3 - Begin injections of Menopur & Follistim at night/Husband begins Doxycycline.
Day 6 - followup appointment to check on progress.
On an exciting note, I'm booking a sublet apartment in Manhattan for the entire month of October. If this doesn't work out, I'm outta here! Just joking. Hubs and I just need to get away and take a month off of this rollercoaster...plus we're having our basement finished and dealing with construction doesn't sound too soothing!
xoxo
L
Once upon a time, I never thought about getting pregnant. I never fantasized about my belly or a nursery. I never watched other families longingly. Kids always seemed kind of loud and crazy to me and babies were a little too fragile to take a chance holding. At the time (up until a couple years ago) I just kinda figured it was because I wasn't ready for that phase. I'm HUGELY into enjoying the phase I'm currently in (infertility phase - not as fun), so that's what I was doing.
I always knew I wanted kids (before I even knew I wanted a husband) but not to ooh and aww over and not to dress up in frilly dresses. I wanted to have a child because I really and truly believe in family and unconditional love being 2 HUGE things in my life that make everyday better. They are what make me strong and I've always wanted to pass that along. Plus, I love learning/enjoying/living through my family's experiences. More people = more learning! It always made sense. But I never really fantasized or spoke about it more than say, once a year...and even then it was usually prompted by someone else's wondering. Now looking back, I think...how long ago that all seems.
Some people miss high school, some people miss college, I miss those days. The ones before I knew I was kinda broken.
I shouldn't dwell but September always makes me a bit nostalgic.
INJECTIONS:
This month, I'm going through with IVF and last night was the first of my injections. What I've learned:
1. Injections hurt.
2. My husband is not a nurse and does not quite have a hang of the needle. Just yet. He's trying, but I hope it gets better soon.
3. I will have a doctor appt almost every day this month (for monitoring).
4. I am becoming increasingly poor with making excuses to miss happy hours and social outings that involve alcohol.
5. I catch myself hoping more and more every day that this works. And that scares me!
MY IVF CALENDAR SO FAR:
Blood test/ultrasound - prescribed birth control and thyroid med to help egg quality.
10 days of BC
AF arrives
Cycle Day 3 blood tests and ultrasound to check ovaries, lining, etc.
Day 3 - Begin injections of Menopur & Follistim at night/Husband begins Doxycycline.
Day 6 - followup appointment to check on progress.
On an exciting note, I'm booking a sublet apartment in Manhattan for the entire month of October. If this doesn't work out, I'm outta here! Just joking. Hubs and I just need to get away and take a month off of this rollercoaster...plus we're having our basement finished and dealing with construction doesn't sound too soothing!
xoxo
L
Saturday, September 1, 2012
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