Wait

Tom received this from a friend a bunch of months ago who had no idea what we were going through… it was as relevant then as it is now.  Thought I would post it here in hopes it may give someone else some comfort.

Baby Installation Day

Got to the doc around 11ish they were running really behind… no worries.  Mom and Dad came along as well so we just sat around and chatted while waiting.  They had me take the vallum around 12:15 and before I knew it they were taking me upstairs.

Dr. Kofinas came in and the whole procedure took all of what felt like 10 minutes.  They showed us a pic of the embryos in the blastocyst stage… pretty cool! Check them out below!  There were 3 ready for transfer, 2 were transferred and the rest Dr. K said would be frozen in case we need them at another time.  DH and I were joking that this was “baby installation day”… thank God for our sense of humor.

Came home today and DH went to the in-laws and got our puppy who was there since last night.  Always makes me feel better to have the puppy around.  DH tried to get off work — no go.  He made dinner for me and now I am just sitting around… as I will be for the rest of the week.

That’s all for now.  Here’s hoping!:)

Embryos

I do not like Lovenox!

OUCH!  So the first injection must have been a fluke because yesterday and today hurt like the dickens! Yesterday it stung really bad (another girl I spoke to in the office told me to try icing it right after… that helps a bit).  This morning I started to put it in…pricked myself, stung so bad, I couldn’t do it.  Then I was gun shy for a bit and finally stuck it in and OUCHIE… it stung!  Then Tom stuck me in the butt — seems a little higher the better.

The end result is what matters and hopefully this will be our cycle.  Tomorrow is the big day of the transfer! Whoo-Hoo!  DH (dear husband) is taking me out to lunch today… yummy!

…and the day of the transfer will be…

Monday!

Spoke to Dr. B today and he said our embryos are doing fantastic and they are definatly going to wait till Monday when some of the embryos will be in the Blastocyst stage of development which is the heartiest stage.  Not all embryos make it to this stage.  He said about 5 will make it and at this stage they will only transfer 2 max because of the great success at this stage.

I started the Lovenox this morning — so far not too bad.  But the progesterone is a pain in the butt… LITERALLY!  I have 2 huge knots in my butt from the first 2 injections…OUCH!  And Pat has had to use 2 hands to get the stuff out of the syringe b/c the oil is so thick and it is such a small needle.

So… on Monday morning we will do the progesterone injection like we have been doing every morning and the suppository then drive down to the Dr. to be there by 11am, take a vallum because they don’t want any unnecessary stressors going on that will cause the uterus to contract.  Then I have to be on bed rest for 1 week!

Heard from Dr. B today…

15 eggs were fertilized! Apparently that is really good because I thought Dr. B. was going to jump through the phone and hug me he was so excited. He said that he wants to watch the eggs till tomorrow morning and he will then tell me when we will do the transfer. I have to start the lovenox injection tomorrow morning in case we are going to do the transfer Saturday.

Retrieval Day

Today was the day to get all of these wonderful follicles out of me…oh how I won’t miss the bloating that they cause.

Got to the doctor around 6:30am and was taken up to the retrieval room around 7am. Got me all prepped, hooked up to the IV, up in these crazy leg stir-ups to make sure I am open wide and then strapped my legs down! I am telling you…the fun NEVER ends! Dr. Kofinas comes up says hello and I drift off into la la land. Wake up all cold and groggy and get wheeled down to a room on the fourth floor (this is where the office is) I get to hang out with Tom while I wake up and the anesthesia wears off.

Prescriptions and injectables and suppositories… OH MY!

Amoxicillin 3x a day starting on 9/11

Progesterone injection 2cc’s a day till further notice

Progesterone suppositories 3x a day till further notice

Pre-natal vitamins 1 a day

Glucophage 1 every other day

Folic Acid 1 a day

Baby Aspirin 1 a day till further notice

Lovenox injection 1 a day in stomach

Calcium 1000mg a day

Have to call Dr. B in the morning and he will tell me how many eggs were fertilized and when the transfer is going to happen. It should be either Saturday or Monday. Then he wants me out of work for 5 days on bed rest! 5 DAYS!!!

IVF Cycle

Here we go with my first IVF cycle.

Doctor on Friday 8/22 and received a bunch of prescriptions… even Tom got in on the action this time around. I was given 2 antibiotics to take for 7 days, twice a day plus an injectable, leuprolide to control my cycle and ovulation. Tom had to take an antibiotic for 7 days twice a day. Well this cocktail of medicines plus what I was on before made me so nauseas that I couldn’t eat… and we all know how much I love food! AND I couldn’t have anything to drink (alcohol) on one of the antibiotics! They are cutting me off before I am even get prego!

Doctor on Thursday 8/28… continue the leuprolide once a day and start the Gonal on Friday twice a day. I had been doing the leuprolide in my leg by myself since it was just an itty bitty subcutaneous needle, but now I had to do the Gonal on Friday morning by myself, because no one was here in Brooklyn. That was fun. After that it was either Tom or my dear ol’ brother! (That was something my darling brother never thought he would see or have to do to his sister… ha ha80) As usual we are able to deal with all of this with a great sense of humor.

At the doctor almost everyday the week of the 1^st to monitor my uterus and ovaries. Still on the leuprolide in the morning and on Thursday and Friday through the weekend I was doing Gonal in the morning and for the evening they gave me a new medication: Repronex.

Doctor on 9/8 a special treat… no more leuprolide but I get an injection of Gonal in the morning and double duty in the evening… one for each cheak! YEA! As I said to everyone at the office “The fun never ends at this place!” Had to do (or rather Patrick had to stick me with Gonal in one and the trigger shot: HCG in the other. No injections on Tuesday… just prep for the transfer on Wednesday 9/10.

What will August bring?

Red eye last night home from California, which by the way, was a fantastic trip to see my west coast family and start creating new bonds.  Also Tom and I had a really nice time relaxing and doing a lot of walking around.  We stayed in my cousins condo in downtown San Diego where everything is in walking distance! Lots of restaurants, bars, and things to see and do.  Went to the San Diego Zoo and I have a new favorite animal… Panda Bear.  Love him.  The whole trip was MAGNIFICENT!

Got in about 5:30 and went directly to the dr.  From pumping up my ovaries so much these past 3 months, they still have a few follicles in each of them.  Since we have gone through the IUI three times with no success the drs have decided not to put me through it again…  We are moving onto IVF.

I have to be on birth control…. that’s right folks birth control, although we are trying to conceive a baby?  They want to “quiet” my ovaries before we pump up my body again to do IVF.    We have a PLAN!  That is the most important thing! I have to go back to the dr. on August 22nd for a check up and for them to monitor my ovaries.  I have to get my period and then they will start me on the hormones again in preparation for IVF.

I was so tired this morning to ask a lot of questions and I tried my best to listen to everything they were saying but, wow, all I wanted to do was go home and go to bed and knew that there was time before I was goign to go through this.  But, this is what I remember:  I will probably have to get 2 shots a day, one in the morning and one at night.  That will last about 8-10 days.  They will then put me under and pull out my eggs, mix them with Tom’s sperm and wait for embryos then implantation.  This should be happening I think she said somewhere around the 28th -31st of this month.  Just in time to go back to work!  ha ha.  I heard I am going to have to be on bed rest for about 4 days… I don’t know if that is after the pulling of the eggs or the IVF.  We shall see.

That is all for now.  Back to watching the opening ceremonies of the Olympics — GO USA!

3 times a charm OR 3 strikes and your out?

We just finished the 3rd IUI round and two week wait… pretty similar to the last except it was a lot more taxing on my body.  Between the hormones and the glucophage I am gaining weight and feeling gross.

A lot going on so I didn’t write.  Round 2 effected me a lot and the let down when the negative came was so overwhelming.  The  thought of going through all of the shots and everything that comes with it was just… ugh.  But we did… hoping 3 times a charm.  But God has another plan, still saying wait…. so survey says: 3 strikes and your out.

I had spoken to Dr. B. when going through round 3, he said that we want to see how this cyle goes since as usual my ovaries have responded really well to the medication, this time was the best response.  I told him I am a lot more relaxed when I have a plan.  So just wanted to know if we would be doing an IUI again or going for IVF next cycle?  He told me not to make any plans and we will see what happens, depends on how anxious we are… HA!  How anxious we are?  Are we kidding here?

Just a few more days…

Dr. appointment today… and only 1 more day of work! Thank the Lord! Up at my usual 4am’ish. After the usual transvaginal sonogram to check my follicles they have to take my blood… well that was fun today. 3 people and 4 sticks later and lots of digging around for my veins finally they got blood!

Follicles are growing. My right side is loaded and my left has a few, one big one. I have to go in tomorrow to check on them and my blood to see when we are going to do this round of IUI’s. Should be interesting since Tom is working 2 doubles Friday and Saturday… midnight into a day tour both days. Hmmm, tricky? How will I get that oh so important part of him that I need? We shall see!