Triggered and ready for Saturday!!!!

The past couple of days have been interesting.  On Monday my estradiol level was 3320 so I assumed I would be triggering on Tuesday and so did my nurse.  Dr. Ahlering decided to let my follicles grow a little more and to coast through Tuesday night, so no trigger.  On Wednesday I went in again and had my blood drawn and had another ultrasound.  They know me by name in this big busy office because I have been in there every day for like 2 weeks..haha!  Anyways I had 30+ follicles and they were measuring up to around 17mm.  They like to trigger and around 18mm.  My estradiol came back over 5000..yikes!  The doctor said I couldn't trigger on Wednesday because I would over or hyperstimulate, so again coasting and taking Ganirelex. 

Today I went in for a blood draw hoping that my level dropped below 4000 and it did-1700.  Got an email saying trigger at exactly 7:00PM tonight.  Not only did I have to trigger but also start the dreaded progesterone in oil shots in the buttocks.Yikes!  After staring at the needle for a good 20 minutes, watching a demo on how to give the shot and walking around with an icepack in my pants, I worked up the courage and did the shot!!!  Not so bad until after, I am really feeling the Intramuscular thing now, so sore!

My egg retrieval is set for Saturday at 9AM!!!  I have to fast the night before and take hydracodine early in the AM on Saturday so I will basically be in lala land by the time we even get to the clinic.

The next week is the part I have been mentally preparing for.  Saturday is retrieval, Sunday we will get a call with a fertilization report, Monday no call(ahhh)  Tuesday is the biopsy to take one cell out to send to Reprogenetics in NJ ( where they perform the PGD), Wednesday I will know how many normal cells/embryos we have ( believing for 3+) and Thursday is my 5 Day Transfer!!!  Big week coming up, I am so excited :)

Thanks for reading, and feel free to share your story as well :)

29 Follicles!!!!

So...I went in for my ultrasound and E2 level today(Cycle Day 9) and here are the results:

Right ovary: 15 Follicles
Left Ovary: 14 Follicles

Estradiol Level today: 1745

Largest Follicle is at 15mm.

According to several different sites that I read they like to trigger and retrieve when the  follicles reach between 16-18mm.  I am right there!  My nurse said that I would be triggering either tomorrow night or Wednesday at the latest!  I ripened quickly apparently :)

I was slightly freaked out realizing how soon I would have the retrieval( 2 days after the trigger shot). 

All in all both doctors said everything looked really good and that I would get a lot of eggs, which is what I have been praying for everyday :)  As quickly as everything is moving I feel peaceful knowing overall it has been a long time coming and I feel grateful to be able to do this whole process.


How do I feel?
It is getting hard to move to much, my abs are so tender and I feel 5 months pregnant with how much bloating I have, yikes!
I have to use the bathroom like every 15 minutes, probably due to all the pressure my ovaries are putting on my bladder..TMI my friend!

I feel hopeful about becoming pregnant for the first time in 3 years. It is a wonderful feeling to have hope, especially when it has been absent for so long.

Ultrasound # 2

Yesterday was my second ultrasound.  Roger had to work so I had to go by myself.  For whatever reason the doctor was way behind so I had to sit in the waiting room for an hour.  I was the only women in there not pregnant.  Every single women that walked by had a baby belly.  I hid my face in a magazine for the entire hour as to not get discouraged.


Anyways, when the doctor finally came in he asked if I was ready for my fluid ultrasound.  I was confused and told him i didn't think that was what I was there for.  He reminded me that the week before he thought he saw a polyp in my uterus( because the lining was so thick, and there was a small mass in the middle).  I didn't think it was a polyp because I tend to have very heavy periods with clotting.  Anyways I told him I had started my period( very late) and that I thought we should just try the normal ultrasound first and see what everything looked like.  He agreed and was pleasantly surprised with what he found.

My uterus had thinned out and was 12mm.  There was no polyp and no mass inside of it either.  I think the doctor was surprised, but I wasn't.

Follicle Count
I had 12 follicles on the right ovary and 10 on the left!!!!!!! Thank God. I was so excited.  Last time he told me between 12 and 15( although like I said before he was really rushing).  I have been praying for over 20 eggs at retrieval, so having 22+ follicles was extremely exciting!!! 

I have been feeling all those follicles growing the past couple of days.  I am sure the Menupor and Follistim are aiding in these sharp pains.  I feel pressure and my whole abdominal area is tender!  I'm getting super excited!

Injections
Tonight I have to do Follistim and Menupor, one after the other.  My goal is to not spill any of the Menupor on the table, it's expensive :)

Monday I have another ultrasound and E2, but this time it will actually be with Dr. Ahlering because he will be in town for mine and others cycles. 

Trigger Time
The countdown is on, I should be triggered by this Thursday or Friday and my egg retrieval will then be 2 days later! Yay!

Menupor Injection

As I was laying in bed this morning this whole IVF thing became a reality to me.  I am actually going through with this, giving myself shots, taking pills, resting up, eating healthy and drinking obscene amounts of H2O!  For whatever reason it hadn't truly hit me until today.

Anyways, along with my Lupron 5iu this morning, prenatal pill, Dexamethasone ( to fight infections) and my Follistim this evening i added my Menupor shot !  WOOO, just typing all that was a lot, think about what I feel like inside :)

Injections:
Menupor and Progesterone shots were the ones that "scared" me the most from what I have read online and on several discussion boards.  The Progesterone shots wont start until after the retrieval and possibly the transfer, so I have a little time to mentally prepare myself and Roger for that lovely moment.

Menupor is a tricky shot to get ready( well for first timers like myself).  You have to follow the steps very carefully or you might lose a small amount of the very expensive medication on your table(Uh Umm).  Anywho, it literally took me 25 minutes to prepare everything and double and triple check that I had mixed the dilutant and Menupor together correctly.  Once I had made up my mind that I had, I jabbed it into my belly and watched all the FSH enter my body.

Side Effects Thus Far:
What am I feeling now you might ask?  Well first off , it did sting , but come on, I didn't find it any worse than the other shots so far to be honest.  I am feeling a bit of cramping and back pain and I did have a hot flash after I did the shot.  But in all fairness I have been having several hot flashes a day( ask Roger, the house is a cool 70 degrees :) ).  Other than those anticipated side affects nothing else to report as of late.

Friday:
Tomorrow is the ultrasound to count follicles and check my lining.  I should add that I did start to have my period today, very late.  Nurse said it was okay and that they would see how the lining looked tomorrow.

Encouragement:
Something to encourage myself and others on this journey is a note that was written on the nurses whiteboard where I get my blood drawn. "Gods timing is perfect, He is never late."  This was the first thing I saw after our baseline last week when I was SUPER frustrated that my period hadn't come yet and my uterine lining was to thick.

Gods timing is perfect. That's is the thought I will dwell on as we proceed into the next couple of weeks!

Follistim Side Effects

WOW, Follistim seems strrong to me.  My Monday and Tuesday dose was 225IU which is high ( well to me anyways).  Monday night I layed in bed and felt like an insomniac( not fun!).  My legs were tingly and I felt physcially exhausted.  Last night was not as bad but I still felt so tired .  On the positive side I did not bruise because I  did the shot in my upper thigh instead of my tummy.  I need to give my tummy a break from shots its covered in needle holes from the past couple of weeks!
From what I have read the side effects of  Follistim are less than Gonal F, so I am thankful I chose Follistim over Gonal.

Friday is another ultrasound to check AFC ( Antrial Follicle Count) and to check my lining!  More on Friday :)

Here is a picture of my Calendar for the month.  I will continue with the same shots and pills into the week next week and until I am ready to trigger ( HCG shot) later in the week.

 

 

Starting Stims -Follistim Injections Begin!!!

Today I went in for a blood draw because sadly my period never came.  After 4 days of waiting and stressing it never came. AHHHHHH.  How could this happen?

Anyway, my E2 came back as 62, which falls in the good level of 50-75 to start Stims.

Mary called and gave me the go ahead to start tonight!  She said the uterine lining will thin out and since my level was okay they felt good to continue with the process! Insert very large sigh of relief from both of us!:)

I was a little leery about this injection thinking it was going to be more painful than the Lupron.  Below is a video showing how to give the Follistim Injection:

Follistim Pen Injection

Here is my belly after the first injection.  You can see the bruising from my last few shots.  The Follistim  shot is the bruise to the left of my belly button.  The other bruise is from a bad Lupron shot the other day!!! Though the Follistim hurt Roger sat by my side encouraging me and making me laugh! We are believing all the pain will all be worth it :)

First Baseline Ultrasound and Estradiol Levels..How many follicles we talking :)???

Today was our first ultrasound to count follicles and see what we are working with for our cycle!  The more follicles the better in IVF.  We want several follicles which will produce several healthy eggs for retrieval!!

We left disappointed for two reasons.  One was that since my period never came( which can be okay during IVF) because of the Lupron and the Birth Control, my uterine lining was a little thick.  Also though it is really good I was disappointed in the AFC( Antrial Follicle Count) we had about 15. Though the doctor was rushing and did the ultrasound in about 30 seconds, I am really hoping the number goes up by our next ultrasound!

Later today my nurse Mary called and let me know that my Estradiol level was 117, which is quite high for CD3( Cycle Day 3).  they like it to be between 50-75.  She said that both the thick lining and the high E2 level were because I had not gotten a period.  They were not concerned and told me they hoped my period would come by Monday June 10th, because that is when I am supposed to start Stims!

I felt so frustrated and have been fighting off negative thoughts all night.  Hoping for my period( for like the first time in 3 years) to come soon.

Here is a pic of my uterus and ovaries!!!  The dark circles are my follicles ( we want lots and lots of those).