It's okay to laugh.

If I had to sum this month up in one word, it would be: OUCH.  Sooooo many needles.  I sometimes wonder if my right arm (left arm's vein is never able to be found - sneaky) will ever heal or if people think I have a slight heroin addiction.  My abdomen under my belly has little prick marks in it along with a couple small yellow bruises and my back has two permanent marker circles drawn on it so that I know where to inject my progesterone tonight through the pregnancy test.  

But, I have to say...this made me laugh:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1dwMW_iNkz0

Not the biggest Kardashian fan, but a HUGE fan of anyone going public with anything having to do with fertility (Kim is freezing her eggs). And plus, this is kind of hilarious.  On the hubs' worst day, he was never that bad!

Enjoy!
L

Egg Retrieval Sunday Funday!

Who wears this shirt on their way to an IVF egg retrieval appointment?

The hubs, that's who!

So, the retrieval went well.  19 eggs retrieved. 

Here's how it all went down:

Sign papers.
Dress in beautiful hospital gown complete with hairnet, booties, and robe.
Thumb war with the hubs. I win.
Prep for IV.
Stab left arm to no avail.
Switch to right arm. IV success.
Talk to doctor. 
Walk with Anesthesiologist (aka- my BFF) to Operating Room. 
Lay on weird table with oxygen.
Say my name and last four digits of social security number.
Pass out.

-20 minutes later

Wake up with heating pad on stomach.
Say a few weird things that make little sense.
Eat cookie and drink apple juice.
Go to the rest room.  
Get dressed.
Leave.
Drive straight to Panera for broccoli/cheddar soup.

DONE.

The biggest blessing of the day was the anesthesia.  I mean, putting me on a bed similar to a massage table...only with my butt placed in the hole a face should go in was weird.  And from there, it only got weirder.  The lack of privacy was enough to pass out on my own without the gas or IV or whatever they gave me, but thankfully it didn't come to that.  I have always been a super-prude, so the position in which I was told to lay was NOT ideal but, it is what it is.  I do my part, they do theirs.  

Positive thoughts!

Sharps Container = Full.

I never thought I'd see the day.  I mean, this sharps container thing is full.  Full of empty vials and used up needles...which ultimately means that my body is full of lots of crazy medicines and needle holes.  Eek. We actually asked for another container the other day because we were getting worried that the shots would never end.  And actually we were kind of right since I just found out today after my retrieval that I have to do a progesterone shot every night starting tomorrow and continuing through the next 14 days.

Awesome.

And we have lift off!

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

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

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.

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!