CD3 - Suppression Check

Today M and I went to our suppression check appointment and it went well. They first tested my Estrogen levels, wanting it under 60 - it was 32.

He counted follicles on each ovary, 8 to 9 on one, 10-11 on the other. They called me in the afternoon and "cleared" me to begin my stimulation hormones tomorrow. Oh noes! Here comes the puffy ovaries!

My egg retrieval could be as soon as 11 days away. Yikes!!

So I begin 150/Gonal F dose, and 5/Lupron both in the morning - and then 150/Menopur at night. I have a blood work appointment on Monday and they will check to see what the hormones have done to my estrogen level. Then I come back in on Thursday and do more blood work and an ultrasound to measure my follicle growth. And so on and so on until they determine them to be of the perfect size.

Then, I'll take my "trigger shot", which is an injection of the HCG hormone 36 hours before they take out my eggs (so like 9 days?)

They started M on a prescription for Cipro (daaaaang!) I guess because his sperm will be used soon and they want to make sure it's pristine.

Remember how I broke up with my acupuncturist? Well, I took her back, but only for the day of the transfer. She will come in and do a treatment before the transfer, and then after. The purpose is to be as relaxed as possible. Suuuuuper relaxed. Zen. So, I'll try that. At this point, I'll try anything.

I must admit, this whole thing is so scary.

Next Steps
Start daily Gonal F and Menopur injections tomorrow
Reduce Lupron injections to 5 units tomorrow
Monday bloodwork
Thursday US and bloodwork

CD 1 - Lupron Period, eSET Consultation and What The Crazy Hormones Are Doing To Me

It's getting close, I can feel it.

Egg Retrieval is looming over me. In less than two weeks, I will be under conscious sedation getting my eggs sucked out of me. My eggs. My little eggs.

Lupron Period
Today began the official start of what I would perceive to be a menstrual period. The instruction sheet they gave us says "You could experience spotting" but it's more than that, but even more specific were the cramps. I've been aching for at least the last 48 hours with no stop. It's a heavy menstrual cramp, one that doesn't seem to go away with your typical OTC pain relievers. So, now I'm just bearing with it and paying attention to what's happening to my body.

Hormones
I haven't been on the birth control pills since Sunday, and I feel worse actually. It's like the day I stopped the pills, I instantly turned into Queen Bitch, and was snapping at everyone around me. That lasted for about 24 hours and then on came the emotional phase (which I'm still in by the way). I've probably cried like fifteen times in the past 24 hours. It's very much like PMS - an out of control, sort of raging feeling, like no one understands. The crying sessions only last like 15 seconds tops, I wipe my mascara and move on. I suppose this is what it would be like to be crazy. (Did I need more evidence?)

eSET Consultation
We had our consultation with Dr. O today. It was a lovely appointment. We had our questions all printed out and since we sent it to him ahead of the time, he had his copy printed out too. Don't you love Type A behaviors? :D

We walked through the questions we had, and he confirmed pretty much what we already knew from research but it was good to hear it again. He was very honest about statistics and his feelings on eSET were supportive, and he demonstrated the characteristic I respected the MOST at that time, he was realistic. I like it when people tell it to me straight.

There was definitely some ambiguity about how an embryo was "graded", which I'm not too sure what that was about. I've heard the best quality embryos (more likely to survive in the womb) are given a grade of AA, the next grade was AB. or B. or Grade C. So, it's kinda like a school paper, but little tiny pre-humans instead.
I think this is the direction M and I will lean towards but we need to have the final chat about it. I believe I would be willing to transfer two, but only if the embryo quality were not good on either. But then I ask myself 'what is not good'? And the A's and the AB's and BB's and the whatevers start overwhelming me and all I want to do is pick out a little boy or girl baby and place him or her in my womb to chill for a while.

It is funny the lingo IVF'ers use when it comes to transferring embryos. After the transfer, you hope the embryo's "stuck" or "took". You're hoping they implant. There is a common misconception. An embryo needs to bury itself into a part of my womb to create a placenta and an eventual baby. It implants into me. My doctor isn't implanting my embryos, he's transferring them back into my uterus. Like dropping the little guys in there and hoping like hell that they find a nice cool womb couch to hang out on, and snuggle up for a long winter nap.

But in about two weeks, we will be wondering if our embryo "took".

This is all happening so fast. And yet the wait is painful.

Next Steps
Suppression Check on Friday
Saturday - Start 2 daily stimulation injections (Gonal F and Menapur)

CD 17 - Small Update and Next Steps

Cycle Day 17, I can't believe it! It seems to be going quickly!

I just offically took my last birth control pill! Thank god those are done, hopefully that will curb my sore boobs and mood swings. I'm not sure of the specific side effects of Lupron to date, I know I had a wicked strange hot flash the other day, but otherwise nothing stands out.

This wednesday afternoon we have our consultation with Dr. O. We were supposed to have it last Friday but we moved it to Wednesday due to schedules. He must think we're Type A idiots as we typed out all of our questions and emailed it to him ahead of time. :-) Better to be prepared than caught off guard.

Most of all I want to walk out of there with a better sense of how many embryos to transfer, and with an understanding of his opinion on elective single embryo transfer. I'm interested if they have ANY statistics around eSET, so we shall see.

Then! This Friday is another big day. I go into the fertility clinic for my supression check. That's where they will do another ultrasound (this is like 8 or 9 now?) and more blood work, and if everything looks good, this will be the transition from supression into stimulation. This is where I start two new set of injections daily called Menapur and Gonal F, and the purpose of those meds will be to stimulate my follicles to grow big and fat, ripe for the pickin'.

I must admit I'm a little stressed out about the timing of my transfer given it's scheduled as the same day as my last day of this school course. I talked to the teacher but his 'workarounds' for making up missing the last class were more stressful than managing both of them anyway. I've put this as an agenda item on our Dr. O meeting as well. I don't know if they can extend one medication or if it is all truly based on how my ovaries do. Of course this is my priority, but I'd really hate to extend my graduation by another month. I'm so close....

Back to doing what most IVF patients are good at involuntarily: waiting.