Bloodwork has Been Taken

Our day 12 HCG test was this morning so I am in the agonizing hour wait till they get the results and the DR. calls me back!! I am feeling good, my butt is awfully knotty and sore which is typical of this time with the shots but othwerwise good. We did not have any eggs to freeze again but one almost made it to blastocyte which is better than the other three times. So this is our final go at IVF so I am crossing my fingers that the call will bring good news!!

Embryo Retrieval

Today was the embryo retrieval and we were got 22 eggs!! We will know tomorrow how many were mature and fertilized. I think the most we have ever had was 14 eggs retrieved before so we will see how the larger number fares. I am definitely the most sore after this retrieval than I have ever been but that is probably due to the the number of eggs I was growing. I have been napping and relaxing with a little pain killers tonight and tomorrow should be feeling better.

Egg Count Is In

Today we had an appointment with the Dr. and we during the ultrasound we discovered my eggs have been growing like weeds!! I have 12 14-17 mm eggs on my right ovary and 13 14-15 mm eggs on my left, yes that is a whopping 25 eggs growing at the moment. It looks like we will be doing the retrieval Sunday afternoon so hopefully a lot of these eggs will be nice and mature and fertilize well. Tomorrow I go back for another appointment and I have started taking Antagon to mature those eggs and keep them from jumping the gun! I got a call from the Dr.'s office and my blood work shows that yes indeed I am getting ready my Estridial is high and LH levels are starting to rise.

Egg Update - Day 10

I had my prolactin levels tested on my first appointment and they were at a good level. So we are starting off on the right foot with hormone levels. I had my second appointment this past Monday and the eggs are all between 6-10 mm and are growing at the rate the Dr. would like to see. So I am continuing on 3 vials of Repronex a day. This afternoon is my day 10 appointment and I will probably start taking Antagon in conjunction with Repronex to help mature the eggs and prevent me from preovulating. I can now feel that my ovaries are full, especially when I have to go to the bathroom. Otherwise I feel pretty good as usual. I am very lucky that I handle the medications well and don't seem to get too crazy, sick or in much pain. I will be doing acupuncture 2x a week during this IVF and so I will have a treatment this Friday. I am feeling pretty relaxed about this round, I forget that I am doing IVF or maybe it is I am ignoring the fact. Either way I am doing everything that I normally do, go to the gym 2x a week, work, try to work on 8 glasses of water a day, herbs, acupuncture, etc.

Growing Eggs

Another appointment closer to harvesting these eggs. They are continuing to grow and are almost there. They have made it to the 15 - 16 mm so we have another appointment tomorrow afternoon to check on them hopefully the last time before we take them out. Also my lining is at 8 mm and the RE said that he likes it to be at least at 7 mm, so I am feeling good about that as well.

Funny note, since I needed more Repronex last minute I had to get it at a pharmacy about 45 minutes away. Apparently they just switched computer systems so it took about 30 minutes for them to pull 4 vials from the shelf. Then I asked for some needles and he gave me the wrong length but I didn't notice until I was in the restaurant bathroom with my pants down icing my butt so my mom could give me my shot. So she had to run back to the car and bring all the needles back. I am sure people were wondering why the two of us were in the bathroom for so long and going in and out. Oh the joys of taking shots while going out to eat!!

Good News

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Today's appointment was a success!! The increase in Menopur worked and we have 6 good sized eggs that are large enough to be good candidates to retrieve. We have (1) 12, (2) 11, (2) 10 and (1) 9. To be ready to harvest they will need to be between 16 - 20 mm in diameter and they grow at about 1-2 mm per day. So if we do the retrieval Monday almost all the larger sized eggs will be good to take and fertilize. Let's just say I did a little dance once the Dr. left the room I was soo excited that we weren't going to have to cancel this cycle and start over. Mr. Explorer Bud is the Optimist of the partnership and he was full of "I told you so's" which I am perfectly fine with that he was right and I was being the Debbie Downer. Better than me being right!! So I will continue to take three vials of Menopur along with a shot of Repronex to keep me from ovulating, till Saturday morning when I have another ultrasound to see how they are developing and when we will have the retrieval.

Thank you for all your positive vibes, prayers and crossed limbs, I know it all was helpful!!

Appointment Disappointment

Welcome Bossy Bud, it is great to have you here!!

Today was our second IVF appointment where we were doing an ultrasound to check how the eggs were growing. Well...it seems I don't respond all that well to Clomid & Femara and my eggs are not growing. So we had two choices, cancel the cycle now or the next two days up my dose of Menopur and do another ultrasound Thursday to see if they have grown so we can retrieve them. I feel like banging my head against a wall!! We of course went with option 2 since who bails when you have a slight chance to get something out of the cycle. So we went home and Mr. Explorer Bud gave me 4 vials of Menopur in my rear. Luckily with some good numbing I didn't feel a thing. Really numbing does wonders when it comes to shots!! So I am keeping my fingers crossed that the eggs will grow so we can harvest them soon.

Egg Retrieval

Today was the big day, the egg retrieval. I went in at 9:00 am for the procedure and was feeling great. The past two days I had some discomfort in my ovaries but that day I felt great and was ready to go. Besides how could I not be feeling great with the amazing get up that they give you for the procedure!!



The Dr. was able to retrieve 12 good sized eggs and Mr. EB arrived a 1/2 hour after the procedure to give his sample, so Monday I can call the Dr. and see how many fertilized and the time and day for the transfer. This time around I am feeling a lot more discomfort after the retrieval. I am not sure if it is because of more eggs or what but I am enjoying the Tylenol! The Dr. gave me my long list of meds that I get to start taking now. Estrogen patches, estrogen pills, progesterone shots, baby Asprin, loads of folic acid and an antibiotic. Oh the fun pill popping resumes but it is better than all the shots in the stomach!

For those of you that don't know what happens with an egg retrieval I found this great explanation and video.

"The egg retrieval is performed thirty-six hours after hCG injection. You are given sedation by an anesthesiologist through an intravenous catheter, a small tube in an arm vein. You are not completely asleep, but in a sort of twilight state; you remember very little of the retrieval. After you are sedated, the vagina is washed with a salt water solution. A needle is placed under ultrasound guidance into the ovary and fluid and eggs from the follicles in your ovaries are collected into a test tube and sent to the IVF lab. The whole procedure takes about 30 minutes, and discomfort is generally minimal. On average eggs will be retrieved from over two thirds of the follicles.

Click here to view laboratory footage of an oocyte retrieval."

I Don't Even Recognize Myself: AKA Monitoring Update #2.6

I'm not going to hem and haw and try to be all literary with this blog post. I'm just going to stick to the facts. And the fact is I'M A FREAKIN' ROCKSTAR!!!

Jem is truly truly truly outrageous!

My E2 yesterday was 1130. I never even got that high last time AFTER trigger. I bet I get to 2k after trigger this time. My highest E2 last cycle was between 1000 and 1100. This is CRAZY!! My lining is 17 and trilaminar. Like i've said - my lining doesn't seem to be my problem. At all.

Measurements... check out these babies!!!!

• left ovary: 23x17, 18x17, 19x16, 17x14, 25x16, 19x17, 18x15, 19x19
• right ovary: 19x17, 19x17, 20x16, 19x16, 23x14, 18x13, 19x18

Dr Z thinks we're going to get 12 mature eggs at retrieval!!! Oh, and speaking of retrieval; it's going to be Wednesday. I'm triggering tonight!

So, now I'm just waiting for the call. Sometime this afternoon, Nurse F will call me with the details for my trigger and retrieval. The trigger has to be given at an EXACT time. I was able to find someone to work for me tonight, so I can leave at 7pm and be home by 7:30pm. Hopefully, trigger will be after that, but i'll take it to work with me, just in case. One of the nurses has done IVF, and she knows that i'm cycling. I'm sure if I need her to, she can trigger me.

Is it weird that I'd rather have Mr DB do it, instead of a trained nurse?

Who cares... I can't believe it's happening!! And I can't believe my ovaries are working! It took maximum doses for 10 1/2 days... but it's working!!!

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Trigger is tonight!!

I'm a machine - AKA Monitoring Update #2.3

Okay, so I obviously don't have my E2 back yet, but that hardly matters. I'm not worried about it.

I repeat - i am NOT worried about it.

That's right. Me. Dandelion Bud... not worried. Did you just see that cow fly by? Seriously.

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I am an egg MACHINE today. My awesome Nurse F couldn't even stop counting follicles. We were up to 13 when Mr DB's voice recorder on his iPhone stopped recording, but there could have been as many as 15, if memory serves... there's 16s, and 15s, and 14s... oh my!

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My lining is 12mm trilaminar. Dr Z says not to worry about the lining. In his experience, there's no such thing as too thick. And honestly, I feel pretty darn good that everything is working right.

I started ganirelix as soon as I got home this morning, and will now be taking it once a day, with my gonal-F in the morning.

I'm starting to feel really achy and bloated. I can't wait to hear what my E2 is.

In other news, Mr DB and I are trying to get a supplemental short term disability policy in place for me before I get pregnant, because we realized that if I have ANY pregnancy complications, with my job, I'm going to get pulled out of work in a flash, and we will be in big trouble without my income (my STD policy through work sucks).

In NJ, it's fairly hard to get an individual supplemental STD policy. There are very few companies available that sell to anyone other than group/employer.

We met with an agent from Mutual of Omaha yesterday, who brokers for dozens of companies. He's going to double check with the underwriters in the morning, and get back to us, but it looks like because we've had treatment for infertility in the past 10 years, if I have any pregnancy complications, they will NOT be covered.

So essentially, because I can't get pregnant without IVF, and because I'm trying to be fiscally responsible and protect my budget, my home and my assets if I DO have a pregnancy complication, I'm screwed if I have a problem.

I will never understand why society is so damned concerned about how people get pregnant.

I'm going to leave you with this thought... I WISH this was still playing off-broadway. That would have been a great road trip! You have to check out the soundtrack on amazon.com... my favorite is "I have sperm in my pocket and I'm talking to Eileen" about collecting an SA.

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Hopefully, the next time I check in, I'll have great E2 news, and a good update about the STD policy... but i'm not holding my breath about that one.