2DP4DT

Is it just me or is the time just ticking by slowly?!?!?! So am now two days into my transfer and still not much to report. Not that I don't try to read into everything. I am still having cramping and hoping that it is a good but dreading that it is not. No urge to POAS yet but I am sure as the days go on that old feeling will return. I have been staring intently at my breasts. Now I am not vain (at least I don't think I am) and it is not like I have the small perky bouncy breasts of a 20 year old who has never had children. But I remember in my first cycle veins starting to pop especially around the aureole (Not going to say this is TMI because it is my blog and it is happening to my body besides it can be very informative for other women who think that they are going crazy during this wait). Unfortunately I didn't document my experiences then and not sure when it first was noticeable. Oh well as of right now sometimes I think the ta tas look different other times not so much. I know not much help but it is still very early.

1DP4DT

Well as you can imagine nothing much to report. I am on bed rest or as I like to say "Princess Status". I am getting a little stir crazy, laying here with my feet propped up and who knows what is going on with the rest of the house?!?!?! I know the kitchen must be a disaster but I am going to try and not think about it. I really think my left ovary is upset about this whole process because I went to turn on my side and got a terrible sharp pain there.At least it didn't last long.

Well like I said not much happening, just lots of prayers.

Transfer Day..... Maybe

This is has been a hectic Halloween weekend and I just have not had the time nor the energy to write. Kids had a fall festival/trunk or treat on Friday, on Saturday Courtney had a Halloween Party and on Sunday we went over to Kev's mom's house for Family Home Evening. Lots of fun but no time for much of anything else.

Anyway I got my fertility report. Out of 21 eggs 17 were mature and 13 fertilized. Woo Hoo lucky number 13!!!! I said to the embryologist well that sounds good and he just said well they could still all die!!! Thanks for being my Debbie Downer. He also said there were some brown areas on some of my eggs but didn't explain what this could possibly mean, Thanks!!! So he goes on to say that he is scheduling me for a transfer Tuesday at 11:45 but it probably isn't going to happen because my Re had written on the paper Freeze ALL! What?!?!?! I asked why and he didn't know just to show up today and we will see what happens. Now since this all happened on Weekend I could not get in contact with my clinic since they are open on Weekends by appointment only. All weekend I worried, my Re never said anything about freezing them when we talked to him and I don't like being in the dark. So first thing Monday morning I called and there phones had not been switched on yet. At 8:17 AM I got through and left a message. 6 hours and 5 minutes later I finally got a call, (yes I was getting a little anxious). Evidently, if you remember I was too excited to get my E2level on trigger day. Well I guess it was over 3,000 and when it starts to get that high he sometimes feels it is better to freeze everything and do a Frozen transfer later because success rates could be better. Now it may not happen for sure because I guess I am in an iffy area, if my E2 had been over 5,000 then it would definitely happen. So basically we are going to get there and he is going to make a decision then. I don't know what he is going to base the decision on because he is not doing any blood tests. I have a feeling that it is not going to happen today and yes I am a little bummed but I am praying hard that it will so we will see.

To be continued......






....and the story continues


Well went in hoping for the best but prepared for a postponement. I mean every time before when I would go in for my transfer it didn't happen today. Usually slow growing  embryos, this time could be the E2 levels or who knows what. So I got there changed into my scrubs and was behind one other couple. As I am drinking my water I accidently dropped the bottle and spilt water all down my gown (can we say butterfingers) I had to change my gown and let me tell not easy going into bathroom when your bladder is screaming at you to pee! Shortly after I got changed the nurse said that they were readt for me!!!! What?!?!?!?! No RE coming telling me we should post pone this? surely this can't be real. They wouldn't actually take me back to the OR and then tell me would they??? I didn't think so since they would have to sterilize the room again.
Got in there put my legs in the tortuture room style stirrups and then the embryologist came in. I have to say he is much nicer and pleasant in person. The language barrier is much broader over the phone. So what would he have to tell me. Different scenarios flashed in an instant before my eyes one of course one that every woman going through this fears.. none of your embryos have made it. Instead he smiles, (is this a good sign or a sympathy smile) and says your embryos look really good this time and looks like we may have about 6 to freeze which could now go along with my one frozen embryo left over from my last fresh cycle. Of course I will get a full report and know more later as to how many were frozen which will be done either today or tomorrow. But two great looking embryos were put back into me and it amazing watching those bubbles appear on the ultrasound! The RE was very happy and gave me a good % for success but of course I know anything can happen but right now happy and PUPO with twins!!!!

I call tomorrow to schedule my Beta which is on 11/11/11 hmmmm??? Lucky numbers?? Maybe I should ask to have my Beta time at 11:00 AM I don't know though cuz I have to see what the cut off time is for getting the results the same day!

Let the 2 week wait begin!!!!!

EGG RETRIEVAL

So sitting getting ready to take an oxycodone. I don't remember hurting as much with my others but it could be that they got 21 EGGS from me!!!!!! Usually they tell me how many were mature after I wake up but did not do that this this time and of course that makes worry, (don't like changes I guess). But generally besides the pain I am in good spirits, I figure there has got to be at least, (and I hope more) one good mature egg in there. Tomorrow I will get the call from the embryologist to let me know how many mature ones there were and how many fertilized. Crossing fingers and saying lots of prayers, this is completely out of my hands and I have learn to come to accept that.

Well I am going to take my loopy drugs now, sleep sounds wonderful right now!

Changes

Sorry I haven't been around, been so busy and last night when I went t sit down and type our Internet service was down :(

Here is my 11 and 12 days of stims

Day 11

E2 - 1995
R. Ovary 6 follicles measuring: 13, 14.4 14.5, 15, 16.4, 18.4
L. Ovary 8 follicles measuring: 11, 12, 13, 13, 14.6, 16, 17, 18.5

Because I now had follicles that were over 16 I finally got to graduated to daily pokes and prods. No change in meds.

Day 12

E2 - 2,806
R. Ovary 6 follicles measuring: 13, 14, 15.6, 16, 17, 21
L. Ovary 8 follicles measuring: 11.4, 11.5, 13.5, 17.4, 18, 18, 18, 20

They also told me my progesterone (something they never had before) 2.50. She said that was good they like to see anything under 3. To me of course I am thinking that is awfully close to 3. I also had two follicles that were measured smaller. Now as I have said before I believe it can be human error , (they were not that much smaller) but I did find out that follicles can in fact shrink due to not being stimulated enough (another follicle is eating more basically) and they can shrink and eventually get reabsorb.  Great another thing for me to worry about!!!! Got to have something I guess.

Well I got the call (not to trigger) but to change my meds. Wow I was beginning to think I was the only one who never changed. I didn't have to take my follistim last night and I took my regular menopur last night. This morning though I took the same follistim but upped my menopur to 2 cc's. that is two vials of powder to one solution. Can I just say OUCH!!!! I definitely burned a lot more.

Well I will update later on today's results. Fingers crossed that my follies are still growing!! Might trigger tonight or tomorrow!!


UPDATE:
IT'S TRIGGER TIME
Got the call a little while ago, that I am in fact triggering tonight at 6:00 PM!!! I go in on Friday October 28, for a 6:00 AM retrieval. 

Forgot to ask what my E2 level was (too excited).
R. Ovary 7 follicles measuring: 6, 12, 15.5, 17, 17, 19, 24
L. Ovary 10 follicles measuring: 9, 11.5, 13, 17,  17, 18, 20, 20, 21

Couple of extra ones in there I am sure the 6 and 9 won't be any good but hopefully I got some good sized in there that will have some good quality eggs in them!!
 So right now watching the clock like a hawk, even though I have my alarm set and ready!! Luckily my trigger shot is subcutaneous (basically small needle just under the skin) as opposed to intramuscular (long needle into the muscle). Before I do that I have to do 300 IU of follistim.  As always it is out of my hands and if one or more of these eggs are meant to fertilize and be my future baby/ies then it will happen.

Follicle Confusion

So on day 9 of stims I went in for my blood work and ultrasounds and the nurse was having trouble finding my vein. She said that she would get someone else to draw me if she couldn't find it because she didn't feel comfortable, she kept poking (with her finger) and finally said I think I found it, my reply was that you better do more than think. She said were going to go for it and I closed my eyes and grimaced but fortunately I didn't feel a thing and she got it. She better count herself lucky though because I am not in the best of moods. On Friday I drove to the other side of town for my old high school's homecoming game and to see my dear sweet daughter, Whitney in the hospital. She still is in a lot of pain when the morphine wears off and is very flushed in the face when I bent down to give her a hug and kiss I could feel the heat radiating off her whole body. I was very alarmed and when the nurse came in to give her the pain meds I asked. I think she said it had been a couple of hours since they had given her Tylenol for her last fever and she said that it had not yet kicked, (Never heard of Tylenol taking that long), she than gave some BS story about how the heat is just on the outside and is not her core temperature and how you can not tell someone has fever from touching them because our body temperature is lower. I do realize that if your hands are really cold you are not going to get a good reading but when the heat is coming from their whole body and they are not covered up with blankets they have a temperature. I personally think that the shift was changing and crappy nurse did not want to be bothered. So in fact my daughter did have a high temperature again when the new nurse came in to check it, (AAAAHHHH). Anyways today she just got released. Today she is finally be released, (YEAH) and we just found out that she had e coli which was causing her kidneys to be impacted. I am so glad she went in when she did because that is something you just don't want to mess with.My asthma starting acting up on my way home from the homecoming game and I forgot my inhaler so I stopped off at my mom's to borrow hers. I kept hearing a noise from my car sounded like a hissing noise. But my tires looked find still had a great tread. I left my mom's with my two younger kids to drive the 45 minutes home. Probably about 10 minutes after I left my mom's I heard a THUMP THUMP THUMP noise and knew I had blown my tire. It was completely shredded. I had to wait for AAA to get there change the tire out on my beast of a car with a donut tire. By the time I got into bed it was 1:45 AM!!!! BLAH I am getting to old to be up this late. I had to get up for my 8:30 AM appointment with my clinic!!

So here are the results for day 9 of stims:

E2 1,260
R. Ovary 6 follicles measuring: 9.51, 9.83, 10.23, 11.72, 11.96, 14.96
L. Ovary 9 follicles measuring: 7.06, 7.65, 9.44, 9.97, 10.9, 11.39, 12.56, 13.03, 14.17

So some people might be alarmed or confused since my right ovary shows one less. Did I have a vanishing follicle? Where did it go? The thing is there can be some discrepancies when measuring follicles especially when done by a different person. It is doubtful that one has vanished but possible scenarios include that the previous tech could have accidentally counted it twice, or the new tech could have missed it. Either one of these is possible follicles can be clustered together some hidden behind others where it makes counting them difficult. I am not too worried about I know I have right in that general area. I was a little concern that they may not have grown enough. With my other two cycles I was already at daily blood draws and ultrasounds because I had at least one follicle at or above 16 mm. When the nurse called me back to tell that I am still to stay on the same protocol, I voiced my concern. She said that things seem nicely for me and that more importantly my follicles are close in size right and that it seems that each visit I have acquired new ones. So I am putting all negative thoughts away because it really is out of my hands. I go back in tomorrow and we will see how those follies are doing. Come on FOLLIES GROW!!!!!

Well I am going to bed now, haven't had much sleep in the past two days with everything that happened on Friday and then last night I went to my 20 year reunion!!!! AM I really that old?!?!?!?! It was a blast but my body and mind are just exhausted I need to get some sleep!

Day 7 of Stims

Today is day 7 of Stims and how am I feeling; moody, crampy, & fatigued. My stomach is not too badly bruised but you can play connect the dot with all the needle pokes. So I went in two days ago for my blood work and ultrasound. Now I do not have that days E2 level but I do have my baseline and 3 days of stim level

Baseline: 44.4
Day 3: 102

I was told that the numbers going up was a good sign. As far as follicles well as you know I have been on a more aggressive protocol to hopefully produce more eggs. This is what they found for day 5:

R. Ovary 4 follicles measuring: 4, 6, 6.5, 7
L. Ovary 4 follicles measuring: 6, 6.5, 7, 8

Alright so not to say I am not happy that I have some follicles in there but this is my lowest count to start and smallest follicles to start as compared to my previous cycles. I know I know I really should take my own advice and not compare but it is so hard. Also later on I called my IVF coordinator to find out if my meds would be changing at all because if not I was going to order some more. She said I am staying on the same meds but now instead of wanting to see me on Friday they want to see me Thursday which is today. I can't help but be worried that there is something amiss but I guess today will tell. Praying that my E2 levels are still going up and that my follies are getting nice and plump with maybe a few more follies that have come to join the party. I will update later today.


UPDATE:

Alright so I know this sounds weird and all but I had been nervous because I haven't had any cervical mucus otherwise known as egg white cervical mucus (EWCM). Most women worry when they have this during the stimming process of IVF, worrying that they are ovulating and that their cycle will be a bust. However, from my past experiences with this I now know it is something to expect. Was also told that it happens with the rising estrogen in the body. But I have been dry as old chewed up bone, which of course got be thinking that maybe my estrogen was not rising. Anyways when I go to the clinic they have you empty your bladder and low and behold when I wiped there it was. I did my little happy dance in the bathroom because it made me feel that this cycle is going at least in the right direction. I asked the nurse after my blood was drawn what my E2 level was on Tues (day 5 of stims) 247 so Yeah it is going up!!!

My E2 level for today is 694

My follicles:
R. Ovary 7 follicles measuring: 7, 7, 9, 9.5, 11.5, 12, 12
L. Ovary 7 follicles measuring: 5, 9, 9, 10, 11, 11, 14


I am to stay on the same protocol (oh Yeah) until Sat when I go in for another stab and poke. I am starting to feel better about this cycle. But of course with all the hormones I am on my mood can change instantly.
On another subject my oldest baby (Whitney) is in the hospital. She woke up with severe pain. They though it was a appendicitis but she has a severe bladder infection that has now gone to her kidneys as well as possibly having kidney stones. It is so hard when your kids are sick no matter how old they are. They told her the infection was so bad that if she had left it too much longer it could have killed her. Those words are parent never wants to hear. She is doing better now got her doped up on morphine and running antibiotics through her system.