Stim Ck #3 - It's a go!

The ER is a go for Friday! At 11:15 am to be precise. They re-measured today and everything looks awesome. And I knew going into this that were were some positive growth in there - it is even more uncomfortable now - I can feel them all the time - and standing up/walking can be downright painful! haha

But, here are the updated measurements:

Left Ovary:
22.0
20.6
20.0
17.4
15.3
12.4

Right Ovary:
20.6
18.7
17.3
16.3
15.6
12.0
11.8

So not too many in the 18-22 range yet, but hopefully a few more will sneak in that range by Friday when they take them all out. So here's my protocol for the next few days:

Tonight: no stims, no Lupron, no aspirin (which I've been taking to thin blood to prevent clotting, etc...). Trigger the follicle release with Ovidrel injection at 11:45 pm. They retrieve the eggs 36 horus after the trigger, so that's why so late at night. Just hope I can stay up that late - I've been pretty tired lately.

Tomorrow: shot free day! Just no food/liquids after midnight

Friday: drive to Syracuse for the ER. Still no food. Also, no jewelry, watches, nail polish, contacts, anything that smells, wear comfy clothes

• DH gives his fresh sample and they inject into the good eggs. Speaking of which, I'm happy I confirmed with them today that his frozen samples would be sent to Syracuse. They hadn't yet! So they will be personally driven to Syracuse with the doctor today. Phew!

Saturday: they call with the fertilization report

Sunday - Wednesday: sometime in here, assuming we still having living embro's, they will transfer some back in!

OMG I am so frickin' excited. Nervous and excited. I am excited to get this show on the road and to get me pregnant (hopefully!). But I'm also nervous something may go wrong. That None of the eggs will be good. That in all of the samples that DH has given (Friday's fresh or past frozen) that none of the sperm acan be used. That none of them fertilize. That none of them make it to transfer. Or that if they do, none stick or I miscarry.

Ugh. I just need to keep being positive. I know I have to keep some of the reality thoughts in there that something may go wrong so it's not a huge crash if it does, but for my own sanity right now, I need to keep thinking positive thoughts, so wish us luck! POSITIVE THOUGHTS!

And if they don't, in the amazing words of my husband last night when we were talking about this: If this cycle, or none of our future cycles work, we will always have each other. And that's something I will always cherish.

I love my husband so much!

Stim Check #2!

Went in today for Stim Check #2 and so far, so good - we are still on track for the ER to be this Friday - THIS FRIDAY! Yay! Actually saw a doctor this time. In the past, it's usually one of the nurses who draws the blood, does the ultrasound, etc... The only time I had seen an actual doctor was at the HSG/SHG. Not that I mind - the nurses are great. I was just curious if the only time I'd see them was at an actual procedure! lol


But nope, saw one today. He did the actual measuring. He only measured the top 5 on each side - the others were small, so I'm guessing he didn't bother measuring those. He said my lining is looking great, too! Here are the measurements as of this morning (mm):


Left: 16.2, 16.1, 14.8, 12.2, 11.3

Right: 17.7, 15.4, 13.6, 12.2, 12.1


Not bad - they're getting there! They kept me on the same Follistim and Lupron protocol and I go back on Wednesday morning for my next check. Honestly? I can't wait!


I look forward to each each time to see how things are progessing. They asked me today how things were going and how I was feeling. I told them I actually like doing the shots - makes me feel empowered - like I'm actually doing something about it, you know? Does that make sense? Although I do have to admit my belly is getting a little sore from the injections - to the touch. I think I need to vary up my locations more than I do. I've got some nice bruises and needle prick marks in this belly of mine! My latest Lupron actually resulted in a nice little bump - it eventually went away, but it was pretty funky to see!





The biggest, and honestly, the only side effect I really have right now is I can feel my ovaries. With every step I take, when I go to the bathroom, when I sit down, etc... I can feel them. I sometimes feel this when I am on a regular cycle, but not nearly this much. I can definitely tell I'm growing a bunch of follies in there! It's kind of a sharp ache in each location - not really sure how to describe it. Kind of annoying/uncomfortable, but nothing painful by any means. Guess we'll see how I feel in another day or so when they're even bigger!


Speaking of bigger - I know they want the follies to be between 18-22 mm for the trigger. But I honestly never stopped to think about how big that really is. I tracked down a metric ruler today at work just to see for myself. Definitely bigger than I realized! And to combine that with about 14-16 of them in there? No wonder I can feel them and girls feel full/heavy at the end! haha


OK, guess that's it for now. Time for bed. In case you haven't noticed, I pretty much ramble and type as I "speak it' - don't really supress any of it - so if you've made it this far, nice job!

Stim Check #1!

So I had my first stim check this morning and it went awesomely! Is that a word? Eh - I'm going with it ;-)

I don't have any exact numbers yet, but the uterus lining looks good and it looked like I had about 14-16 follicles growing in there! Now I just hope they keep growing and we get some good mature ones out of that bunch! We didn't measure them today, but will next week. We're hoping for 18-22 mm and then we'll trigger. Based on what we saw today, it's looking like my egg retrieval (ER) will be a week from today. NEXT FRIDAY! Can you believe it!

They took more bloodwork this time, so I'm curious what my P2/P4 levels will come out to be. Based on the bloodwork from last time, my hypothroidism is getting better! My numbers aren't perfect, by my TSH went down from a 6.7 back on 5/13 (I think?) to about a 3.something this time. Typically you want it around the 1-2.5 range if I remember correctly, so I'm getting there. Not perfect, but my thyroid is at least functioning at a higher level now which is good. Need the levels in the right place to support a pregnancy and for brain development.

While I was there I made another appointment for DH to deposit another sample to freeze. Now that I'm growing all these eggs, we need to make sure he's got enough sperm! Based on his low count (morph and motility don't really matter with IVF) he's been giving them a sample every few days to freeze as backups in case his day-of sample doesn't have enough. It wouldn't be good to have lots of mature eggs to fertilize, but no sperm to inject! He's been a real trooper about it, too. (I don't think I've ever used that word, but it seems to fit! haha). His first SA he was really nervous to give, but now he's definitely gotten used to it. Just goes in, does his business, drops it off, and out the door he goes!

I go back in on Monday and Wednesday again for more checks. Based on those, they'll have a better idea of how things are progressing and when the ER and ET (embryo transfer) will be. We want them to grow, but not too fast - we want them to be good quality, not necessarily just good quantity! So, here's to hoping for good progress over the weekend!