Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

We are traveling to Rochester to celebrate this year with DH's family. And next year, back to my parents. Anyone else traveling this year?

Also - I made cupcakes and I have to show them off. I thought they came out pretty cute!


My little Turkeys!




And a little guy close up:




This picture is pretty fuzzy, but you get the idea - I ran out of candy corn, so just made fun M&M dotted ones!



(And yes, those are Halloween cupcake papers - that's all I had - close enough, right?! haha)
So, if you're traveling, be safe and have a HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Friday, November 21, 2008

Twilight!

I am off to see "Twilight" today with some friends at 3:45 and then to dinner after to gush over the movie. I canNOT wait!

Anyone else read(ing) the books and seeing the movie?

Thursday, November 20, 2008

IVF#3 - Schedule - CD3 Appt. Today

So, had my CD3 appointment today to kick off IVF#3. Standard stuff - bloodwork and a date with the wand. But afterward, she wrote down for me the approximate timing and when I'd be taking each med. Apparently I could have already started the Lupron on this past CD21, but no one told me! Oh well, what's one more month, right? This way, if it's a BFN, I'd get the news after Christmas, not before. So that's good, right?! lol

The dates are all approximate except for the Lupron date, but here goes:

12/08: Lupron (10 iu)

12/18: Get period, call for appt.
Start Estradiol Valerate injections (2X/wk x 10 days)
Drop Lupron dosage (5 iu)

12/29: Start Follistim (225 iu)
Start Menopur (75 iu)
Stop Lupron

1/05: Start Ganirelix (1 vial/day)
Stop Estradiol Valerate

1/08: Ovidrel Trigger

1/09: Egg Retrieval
Start HCG booster
Start Lovenox
Start PIO
Start Estrace
Start Prometrium
Start Doxycycline

1/12: Embryo Transfer

So - there's the cycle in a nutshell! lol Hopefully this new protocol will get us more than 4 mature eggs and we have good embies and even have some to freeze this time. The tricky thing with this cycle (besides the GIANT PIO needles!) is the HCG booster during the 2WW. Due to this, I can't pee out the trigger since I'll continue to be adding in HCG. So, while I'll still have my Beta at the end of the 2WW, it will be guaranteed to be positive due to the HCG boosters. So, I'll have to go back every day for another Beta for about a week-ish until they can positively tell if it's a BFP or BFN. Having to wait to know if it's positive is worth it for the small extra boost it might give for the BFP, right?! RIGHT?! lol

So, we'll just have to see how things fall over the Christmas holiday. I'll have to go in for monitoring, during that time, so that will determine if we get to go see our families for Christmas and when. Kind of sucks, but, if it works, will be worth it in the end.

So - wish me luck!! And if you made it this far - THANK YOU.

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

IVF#3 - Here we come!

Well, so much for following a standard pattern. As I should have guessed based on my last few posts, my body just didn't feel like acting like it normally does. O'ing late, longer LP, etc... Well, it also decided to just skip the day of spotting and run right into CD1. So - guess that means IVF#3! I've scheduled my CD3 appointment for Thursday. Then let the needle poking and dates with the wand begin!

97.2

That was my BBT this morning. I think it's officially safe to say that I'm not pregnant. LOL But wow - I go from a 9/10 day LP to a 13 day LP. Thought that think wasn't supposed to really change!

So, I'm assuming tomorrow I'll most likely be hitting CD1 - and that means - IVF#3. Let's hope it shows up on time so we can get this show on the road. ;-)

Monday, November 17, 2008

It dropped

Well, my temp dropped again this morning (97.7) re-confirming that I'm not pregnant, but still no spotting or anything. Good times. Just show up or make me pregnant -I want to move forward! haha

Sunday, November 16, 2008

AF Didn't Show Her Face

She was supposed to come this weekend. But she didn't. Temp took a nose-dive on Saturday (10 dpo) as was predicted and I still have periodic cramping, but haven't started spotting yet. I have a 9-10 day LP typically, so how nice of my body to decide NOW to finally have a good-lengthed LP when it's time to start IVF#3.

Don't get me wrong, I'd love my period not to show up if it meant I was pregnant, but considering my temp went from 98.5 on Friday to 97.6 on Saturday, I'm not holding out hope. It went up a bit to 98.0 this morning, but I'm not holding out hope - guess we'll see what happends with tomorrow's temp, eh?

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Friday, November 14, 2008

Cramping - joy, joy?

Well, I've been cramping off and on the last two days. so, I'm going to take that to mean my period is going to arrive right on time - gotta love a 9 day LP, eh? Well, I'll take it as a good thing since that means I'll get to call and set up my CD3 appointment and get IVF#3 underway. Wish me luck!

Now, back to puppy-watching ;-)

(see below for puppies)

Thursday, November 6, 2008

Puppies!

Take a look at this link - it's awesome! It's a camera constantly on six puppies and their mommy. Adorable!

http://cdn1.ustream.tv/swf/4/viewer.45.swf?cid=317016

The 6 Shiba Inu puppiess (3 boys and 3 girls) turned 4 weeks old on November 4th, and here are their names!

Girls:
- Autumn (Purple collar)
- Ayumi (Yellow collar)
- Amaya (Red collar)

Boys:
- Aki (Green collar)
- Akoni (Black collar)
- Ando (Blue collar

I should probably keep this from DH - he's been wanting a puppy now for a while! haha

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

IVF#3 and Adoption

Nothing too much going on here, but we're getting close. I'm thinking I ovulated yesterday so that means I should get my period in about 9-10 days. So with that comes start of IVF#3. I've probably already said this, but I'm both scared and excited to start. Excited because it might work! And scared out of my mind to start because this will most likely be the last attempt. If that doesn't work, we'll probably pursue adoption or donor sperm. Or maybe donor eggs.

We went to an Adoption Fair on Monday, and it was really interesting! They had local adoption agencies, social workers, lawyers, pediatricians, etc.... all in one place for us to meet with, ask questions, etc... it was a LOT of information to digest and we have a lot to go through this weekend. But, it was a start. We were thinking of starting this route now since it can take a couple of years to be placed with a baby. And OMG expensive - yikes!

We aren't sure yet if we'll do donor eggs/sperm. If we do, I'd like to start with sperm since it's soooo much cheaper and can just do an IUI. Donor eggs themselves are MUCH more expensive - about $10,000 I believe, plus I'd have to do IVF. Which between that and the meds would be a lot more on top of the donor fee.

So, I don't know. It's a lot to take in. So right now we are just really, really, really hoping IVF# and the new protocol works this time. Please?!?!?!