Lucky Socks

There are a lot of websites I check everyday & www.thebump.com is one of them. It is a wonderful site full of valuable info & the infertility forum on there has lots of lovely ladies on it who are struggling with infertility themselves.

One of those lovely ladies headed up a "lucky socks" gift exchange which I participated in. A name was selected for us & for that person we were to buy a pair (or two) of "lucky socks" for them to wear to there IUI, egg retrieval &/or embryo transfer. I had a lot of fun picking socks out for my chosen person. She lives in Brooklyn, NY & it just so happens that we are on the same IVF cycle & she is having her egg retrieval tomorrow morning also! So ironic...

I was SO very excited to come home from work today to see my package had been delivered. This is what I found inside:

I got several super cute pairs of pink "lucky" socks, some homemade choc-chip cookies, penguin stickers, some chocolate & an adorable penguin & bulldog card. I LOVE it all - so very thoughtful!

Now I just have to figure out which pair of socks to wear to my ER tomorrow :)

Appt #3

Woo hoo - today was my final monitoring appt on stims! NO MORE SHOTS after tonight :) I am SO excited to get rid of this bloated feeling & all the bruising on my belly!

Today's results:
Estradiol = 886
Uterine lining - 8.8mm
7 follicles measuring 15mm-22mm
Several smaller follicles found that may catch up.

Was given the go ahead to stop the Lupron & trigger tonight with the Ovidrel injection. Egg retrieval is scheduled for 9am Friday morning.

Here we go...

Appt #2

This morning was my 2nd monitoring appt. Estradiol was 250 so it is climbing whch is good.

I had 2 measurable follicles on each side around 11mm along with 3 smaller ones on each side so a total of 10 right now. Meds will remain the same & they moved my 3rd appt from Tues to Wed morning since I am responding a little slower this time around.

Saying a little prayer that the smaller ones catch up & we will be able to proceed with the IVF after Wednesday's appt! Looking at egg retrieval possibly Friday morning if Wed appt goes well!

Typical Night

This is a typical night in the life of a gal going through IVF. After the shots are all said & done, this is what is left behind to be discarded...Lupron 3 units + Bravelle 300 units + Menopur 75units = OUCH!

Say a little prayer that all these meds will keep my follies growing for tomorrow's appt!

Appt #1

Had my 1st monitoring appt this morning since I have been on the Bravelle. It was a bit disappointing as the US showed only a couple decent sized follicles & a bunch of little ones. My Estradiol was low at 59 also. So my RE asked me to increase my dose of Bravelle from 225 units to 300 units each night & then tomorrow night I start adding the Menopur injection in with the Bravelle to help the follicles grow. Unfortunately, I'm not going to have enough Bravelle to get me through to next week so I need to place another order to the pharmacy :(

My next monitoring appt is Sunday morning. Crossing my fingers that increasing my meds will help those follies grow!!!

Starting Stims

Tonight I start the stimulation meds - also known as "stims" - which is a generic term for "medication administered prior to egg retrieval that is intended to help a woman produce eggs."

I'm a little nervous because these Bravelle shots are a little more involved. I have to mix three different vials of powder with a saline solution using what's called a Q-cap & then I have to give myself not just ONE injection of Bravelle but I have to do an injection of Lupron also.

My poor belly...it is already all bruised up from the Lupron shots. Then later in the week I'm going to have to add a 3rd injection of Menopur. I will be glad when Aug 24th gets here...that is my potential "trigger" date & all these injections will be over with.

At least now I am able to decrease my Lupron dose. These constant headaches are really starting to get to me. Hopefully they won't be as bad on the lower dose of Lupron!?

Baseline appt

My first baseline appt was today. Uterine lining & ovaries all looked good & I got the go ahead from the RE to start my stimulation meds on Sunday evening. I will be doing 2 injections every night (Lupron & Bravelle) & will continue to take the baby aspirin.

I finished the BCP on Tuesday & have been on Lupron injections for 7 days now. Can I just say I HATE Lupron. It makes me feel insanely crazy. I have a constant dull, nagging headache that won't go away - even with Excedrin. I can go from sweet, innocent Heather to crazy, psycho bitch in a matter of 60 seconds - thank you co-workers for putting up with my mood this week. It hasn't been pretty. I feel like I am in a fog & have lost track of where I am going or headed to several times this week. And my emotions are a constant rollercoaster. Any TV show, commercial or situation that is even somewhat touching & I will bust out into tears.

With any luck I will only have 11 more days on Lupron.

Trust me....I am counting down the days!

Lupron Injections

Tonight I start my 1st Lupron injection & will continue these injections nightly for about 2 weeks. Still on the BCP until Tuesday & staying on the baby aspirin indefinitely.

The paperwork I got with the Lupron says: "these side effects may occur while using Lupron: nausea, vomiting, hot flashes, night sweats, severe mood swings, bone pain, swelling of feet & ankles, headaches, difficulty urinating the first few days as your body adjusts to the medication, & reduced sexual desire."

Gee...I can hardly wait!

Watch out Shane..."royal bitch" can & will appear at anytime! At least I can blame it on the meds :)

Mini-Pharmacy

My meds arrived today!

Just incase you all are wondering what $2100 of IVF meds looks like...


It's kind of scary to think that all this will be going directly into my body - some orally, some subcutaneously & some vaginally - YIKES!

Moving along

So I am 10 days into taking BCP & a baby aspirin & all is going well. I had my appointment this morning for a saline hysterosonogram. I also dropped off a sample of Shane' swimmers so they could do the 24 hour prep for the ISCI analysis. Needless to say, it's been a busy morning :)

The sonogram went well. The RE injected saline into my uterus & used the "vag cam" to look for any abnormalities (polyps, fibroids, uterine septum). According to our RE, everything looked perfect & healthy. Then he made some measurements so he would know what size catheter to use for the embryo transfer & after that we moved on to look at the ovaries. I had alot of small follicles on the right ovary & a few on the left with no cysts. He said after seeing that, I should have a really good response to the injections - hopefully he is right! He also told me that so far, all the IVF's he did last month have all come back BFP. Now I have no idea how many he did but when he said that, it gave me just a little bit more hope that this will all work out. After about 5 min it was all over with. I had some moderate cramping which was quite uncomfortable but didn't last too long. Thank goodness that part is over with.

Later in the day, Shane & I met with the Embryologist to sign the IVF consents, go over my injections class & all the meds I will be taking. Wow - we haven't signed that many papers since buying our house! I guess there is alot going on with this IVF stuff so we all needed to be on the same page...so to speak.

It was quite fun watching Shane in the injections class. We both got to practice drawing up pretend meds, mixing them & injecting them in a make-shift piece of rubber that was supposed to represent skin. Shane practiced his injection & the nurse & I both laughed at how slow he injected it. She said to Shane "your wife isn't going to let you inject her if you go that slow" :) He was too cute. After going through all the meds I will be mixing & injecting I was a bit overwhelmed. I am going to feel like a drug addict with all these meds I need to take!

The NP was nice enough to give me a free sample of Bravelle (follicle stimulating hormone) & Endometrin (progesterone suppositories) before we left which I was so grateful for since we are paying for all this OOP. Just looked online & that is over $400 in free meds....sweet! I'll take what I can get at this point.

Now that this is all out of the way, all there is left to do is order my meds & start my first injection of Lupron on Saturday. Seems like this process is moving right along....

IVF schedule

At my IVF consult I was handed a list of "things to do" for this IVF process & the nurse suggested I make a calendar to help remember all the appointments. Being the OCD person I am, I was already 1 step ahead of her & had my blank calendar with me at the appointment :)

She also suggested I not share this process with too many "acquaintances" - like casual friends, co-workers, etc just so that I don't get bombarded with constant questions which can add stress to the whole process.

The only people I am telling are my supervisor at work - since he is the one clearing me for all my appointments, my sister - because I tell her everything, my BFF Jill - as I was her confidant when she was going through this same process, & my neighbor Julie (who doesn't know it yet, but is going to help me with my progesterone shots since they are IM). She is a labor/delivery nurse & has offered to be my "doula" if I end up delivering also. I wonder if she would want to be my postpartum doula afterwards?! :) And of course those of you who read my blog which is only limited to my sister, Jill, Julie, my girlfriend Desiree & Jen (who are both going through IF issues) & those of you on thebump.com.

So, here is my "calendar of events" for the month of July & August so that you all are "in the know" :)
7/23 - Fri: CD 2 US, bloodwork (Estradiol, HIV, Hep B & C, RPR serology)

7/26 - Mon: Hubby gets bloodwork drawn for same as above (minus the Estradiol)

7/26 - Mon: start birth control pills & 81 mg baby ASA daily

8/4 - Wed: 8:15am appt for saline hysterosonogram w/trial embryo transfer & drop off for semen analysis to test for ICSI - 1:00 pm - couples' appt to go over & sign consents/class to educate on giving injections

8/7 - Sat: start Lupron injections - 10 units every evening

8/10 - Tue: last day of BCP - continue daily baby aspirin 81 mg

8/13 - Fri: 730am baseline US & bloodwork

8/15 - Sun: Start Bravelle injections & decrease Lupron to 3 units daily, continue baby aspirin

8/16 - Mon: Happy Birthday to me :)

8/19 - Thur: 730am US & bloodwork - start Menopur injections

8/22 - Sun: 8am US & bloodwork

8/24 - Tues: 730am US & bloodwork

*depending on what this last appt shows, I will be triggering at anytime with the Ovidrel injection & the egg retrieval will be 36 hours after the Ovidrel is given. I will take a dose of Azithromycin with the Ovidrel. They will then do the embryo transfer 5 days later & then I will be on Progesterone for 14 days. After the long 2 week wait, they will do a blood draw to determine if I am pregnant or not.

Can you see now why I needed an IVF calendar?!? :)

Incase you are wondering, here is an explanation of all the meds & why I have to take them:

birth control pills - suppress ovaries prior to stimulation

baby aspirin - believed to help with implantation

Lupron injection - suppress the pituitary & prevent premature release of the eggs

Follistim injection - stimulates the ovary to grow follicles which contain an egg

Menopur injection - helps stimulate ovaries along with the Follistim

Ovidrel injection - triggers the follicles mature & release the egg

Azithromycin - reduces the risk of infection from the egg retrieval

Progesterone - helps prepare the uterus for implantation

That is all the info I got thus far. It is a bit overwhelming & I hope I can keep up with all the medications!? Wish us luck as we start this crazy journey & say a prayer for us that the end result is positive :)

Thanks for following....

IVF consult

So today I had my IVF consult with my RE & it went really well. Once I got all my questions answered, I got the go-ahead to start the IVF process this cycle. We went over the cost of everything & I was pleasantly surprised to find out it wasn't going to cost as much as I thought. This is partly due to insurance covering my "monitoring" visits which helps out ALOT!

So, on Friday I have my CD3 bloodwork & US to make sure my estrogen levels are low & that I don't have any cysts on the ovaries. On CD5, (Monday) I will start birth control pills & take them for 3 weeks to suppress my ovaries. During that time, I have to have some more labwork drawn as does Shane as well as have another saline sonohysterogram done - fun fun! It is strange to think I am going back on BCP as I have been off of them for almost 4 years now?!

So that is where we are at. More to come later as we begin this IVF journey...