Follie check #1

I was able to start stims last Friday. After four nights of 150 IU of gonal-f, I went into the clinic this morning for u/s and b/w. After a slight delay due to lost power and a few tears due to missing my one free period (damn hormones), the nurse told me I was off to a great start. I have quite a few smaller follicles on both sides and one to two that measure 10 mm to 11 mm. That was all the information I got. I am always so impressed by the ladies who ask for every little measurement and all the hormone levels. I always mean to ask, but I don't and my clinic does always volunteer them.

Because I am such a good responder, I got a prize today: an extra shot. In addition to 150 IU of gonal-f, I get to add cetrotide. Awesome! Add my acupuncture tomorrow and I will be lucky if I'm not leaking by the time I go in for my follow up on Thursday.

I forgot just how emotional I am on stimms. I really think my family believes I have cracked. I cried hysterical twice this weekend over silly little things. 1) Beyonce on the VMAs- really why can she have it all plus get pregnant 2)Children at family restaurants - I swear the guy at the table near us was propping his son up just to make sure he was right in my line of vision. 3) Missing my one free period today at work when really I wouldn't have done anything except chat with my friend. Can't wait to see what happens when I add more hormones and parents at Open House. Please oh please don't cry!

ER scheduled

After only 6 days of stimming, my body is ready for the ER. During my two monitoring appointments, I have about 4-5 follicles on either side. Personally, I thought this was a little low and very quick, but as someone in my infertility group told me, I need to trust my doctor, he knows more than me. I guess she is right. I had to take my ovidrel shot last night at 8, which I basically slept through with Mr. Planner bud helping me. I go into the clinic Sunday morning at 7 AM. We are hoping for a three day transfer on Wednesday.

My clinic doesn't believe bed rest is necessary and recommends I be relax the day of transfer. However, I am such a worry wort that I putting myself on modified bed rest for the day of the ET and the day after. If nothing else, it will give me two days off of work and I missing the last class of two different graduate classes.

I will definitely post about my fert report when the information comes in, but now I need to go write a paper that I thought I would have Saturday and Sunday to write.

Beginning Stimming

After willing and begging AF to arrive, the biatch showed up this morning after I called the RE's to say she didn't arrive. After waiting by the phone all day (I haven't done this since my days trying to find a guy), I just talked to the nurse. I can begin stims on Saturday. This is actually beginning. I actually have a good chance, at least 50%, of being pregnant in a month. This is the best chance that we have had in months. BRING IT ON!

I am very lucky that my friends know about what is going on since I have to take my very first shot during our HP 7 girls' night celebration. Mr. Plannerbud is actually secretly excited that he gets out of one night of helping me with the shot. He will probably be planning lots of events right around my 8 pm shot time.

I will be taking 150iu of Gonal F. From what I have read the side effects are not truly that bad. Many people had harsher side effects with clomid than with the injections. I hope it is the same for me. I am already on edge and snapping at poor Mr. Planner bud and the cycle hasn't really even started.

Fingers crossed that I stim quickly and can get in and out before MCAS testing so my boss doesn't kill me!

Kicking it into High Gear....

I start STIMS today!



I will be on 225iu of Follistim in hopes of kicking my ovaries into high gear to grow some good follicles and eggs. Here is my stimulation protocol for this week:

AM 5 units of Lupron
Folgard
Dexamethasone w/ Largest Meal
1 Prenatal Vitamin
.o5iu Luveris
PM 225iu Follistim

My first Follie Check/Estrogen Hormone Check is this Saturday, so I will have another update then...

Stay Tuned,

Triggering tonight!

I can't believe it's time already.

Today was my final monitoring appointment. The RE said everything looks great and I will be triggering tonight! That puts the egg retrieval on Wednesday morning. The nurse should be calling this afternoon with the exact time that I take the trigger shot.

Stims were not too bad at all. I had a headache one day, and I am extremely bloated. I did end up with a skin infection that I am guessing was from all the hormone changes, but that is almost cleared up and isn't causing me any discomfort anymore.

I tried to keep track of how many follicles there were this morning, but honestly there were so many I lost track! My lining was at 11.1 and the RE said that was a great number. I am glad that there have been very few issues during my cycle. I guess we are lucky that MFI was the only thing that was keeping us from getting pregnant.

I will update after the retrieval. Hopefully I have lots of eggs!

Started Stims

Yesterday I went to the RE for my suppression check. Ovaries, lining, and bloodwork were all good and they had me start my stimulation meds last night.

I am taking Follistim, Novarel, and Lupron. I am not having a good time with the side effects so far. I was up all night with pretty severe pain in my left breast. Hopefully this passes quickly. Taking 3 shots a night is not all that fun either. I have a lot of bruising on my stomach. At least no one else will see it. Now that the complaining is out of the way, I STARTED STIMS!!!! Things are moving quickly. Hopefully ER is soon!

My next monitoring appointment is in 2 days. I'll update with our progress.

And our donor egg cycle continues...

Lots of good news to report! I had my estrogen check last Friday--it was 168! They were looking for anything over 50. My ovaries might suck but my uterus rules!

The more exciting news is that today is my donor's 5th day of stimulation meds. My donor coordinator called me with an update--our donor had 11 measurable follicles and 45 more growing. Those numbers are so big I can barely add them! Granted they may not all be mature at the time of her retrieval (estimated next Monday or Tuesday) but still, those are great numbers. I am very hopeful!

I go in Friday for another estrogen check and an ultrasound to measure my lining. Friday is our donor's day 8 appointment as well, so I'll have another update on her follicle count. She should be triggering Friday or Saturday. Holy cow!

Til Friday - wish us luck!
Golden Bud

There, but for the grace of Tampax, go I.

Ah, to be in the house of Dandelion.

I'd love to say that the road to IVF #2 is fraught with blood, sweat and tears - but mostly, it's just blood.

I've been on my favorite devil pills for 6 weeks now. I just started pack number 3 of the desogen. At least I know I only have to take 5 pills from this pack - because my last devil pill will be this friday. Usually, after you stop taking the devil pills, you expect a period. However, i've already been bleeding for almost 3 weeks. Isn't it just fantastic? Usually, the ONLY benefit to BCPs is NOT bleeding. Not in Dandelion land... not this time, anyway. The good news, is that my IVF nurse says I might not bleed like I did last time i came off the devil pills, since i've been bleeding for so long. But I've been through almost 5 boxes of tampons. So, enough is seriously enough already.

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I had my baseline ultrasound this past wednesday. The good news: my antral follicle count is 11. So - that's not great - but it certainly doesn't suck. Our only question is how many of those eggs aren't geriatric. I guess time will tell. I found this chart (below) online... explains a little bit more about AFCs. I think my AFC last time was 14 or 15.

Total number of antral follicles	Expected response to injectable stimulating drugs and chances for IVF success
Less than 4	Extremely low count, very poor (or no) response to stimulation and a cancelled cycle expected. Should consider not attempting IVF at all. Rare pregnancies if IVF attempted.
4-7	Low count, we are concerned about a possible/probable poor response to the stimulation drugs. Likely to need high doses of FSH product to stimulate ovaries adequately. Higher than average rate of IVF cycle cancellation. Lower than average pregnancy rates for those cases that make it to egg retrieval. The reduction in success rates is more pronounced beyond age 35.
8-10	Reduced count. Higher than average rate of IVF cycle cancellation. Slightly reduced chances for pregnancy success as a group.
11-14	Normal (but intermediate) count, the response to drug stimulation is sometimes low, but usually adequate. Slight increased risk for IVF cycle cancellation. Pregnancy rates as a group slightly reduced compared to the "best" group.
15-30	Normal (good) antral count, should have an excellent response to ovarian stimulation. Likely to respond well to low doses of FSH product. Very low risk for IVF cycle cancellation. Some risk for ovarian overstimulation. Best pregnancy rates overall as a group.
Over 30	High count, watch for polycystic ovary type of ovarian response. Likely to have a high response to low doses of FSH product. Higher than average risk for overstimulation. Very good pregnancy rate overall as a group, but some cases in the group may have egg quality issues and somewhat lower chances for pregnancy.

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Okay - so the question on everyone's mind... what the heck is causing the bleeding? .... what about the fibroid? Here are the answers to those questions....

The bleeding, as far as they're concerned is just an unfortunate and messy side effect of the BCPs. They are 100% sure that it is NOT from the fibroid, because the fibroid "has not deviated the uterine cavity". In other words, my lining appears on the ultrasound as a straight line. If the lining were interrupted, because a fibroid had broken through into the uterus, the line would be separated, interrupted or deviated in some way. It is not. So, Dr Z is NOT concerned at all. Therefore, I am not concerned at all. However, there isn't just 1 fibroid anymore. Now there are 3. Nevertheless, as long as they all stay outside of my uterus, where they are now, Dr Z could care less, and isn't even considering taking them out. Totally works for me.

I also discussed another concern with him. It seems that the majority of girls I talk to have an ultrasound guided embryo transfer and all have had a mock embryo transfer prior to their cycle. I hadn't had either - and I was curious as to why. Mr DB told me just to ask, so at my appointment i said, "Dr Z, i'm in a support group (he doesn't like that I go online all the time, so i figured he'd take it better if I told him this all came from a support group), and some of the girls were talking about their transfer experiences. I was wondering why it seems that some doctors do mock transfers and u/s guided transfers, and some don't?" He was SO awesome with his answer. First of all, I DID have a mock transfer... it's just that mine happened during my retrieval while I was unconscious. That works for me! Then we talked about the u/s guided transfers.

Apparently, they did do them for about 4-6 months when they first came in vogue. However, their pregnancy rates dropped by almost 15% during that time. Dr Z said that it is a matter of learning new technique and personal preference. He said that in his experience, you can focus too much on the picture, and even a minor movement can cause you to lose embryos. Furthermore, he felt t he full bladder was very uncomfortable for patients. He said as soon as he stopped doing the u/s guided transfers, his pregnancy rates went right back up, so unless he has a patient with a particularly difficult mock transfer, he prefers to NOT do them.

As his pregnancy rates are already above the national average, without u/s guided transfers, I say, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it".

What 8 grand worth of meds looks like

So, where we are now:

• Last devil pill will be this friday
• Suppression check Friday, March 5th
• Stims start, at max dosages, Friday, March 5th
• 1st monitoring appointment Tuesday, March 9th
• ER/ET will be the week of March 14th

This time it is going to work - POF be damned.

Monitoring Update #92347596: I'm SO not getting cancelled

I knew IVF was going to be a roller coaster of experiences and emotions - but I wasn't prepared for the extremes of it all.

Two days ago, i walked out of the RE's office crying hysterically - trying to prepare myself for the possibility of this cycle being canceled. Follicles not responding. Lining steady at 8mm.

But it was only day 9 - and what did i know about how long this might take. They expected me to respond immediately, since I don't have a diagnosis other than MFI. (I still think they oversuppressed me with the BCPs and Lupron - but that's another post.)

All i know is - i haven't left the RE's office smiling in a long time. It feels like years.

It was today.
My lining is up to 14mm in the trilaminar pattern (the three layers needed for implantation)! I still have 6 growing follicles - my two lead ARE MATURE(!!!) at 19mm and 18mm. (There's also a 15mm, 2 @ 14mm and 1 at 13mm, along with 6 labeled "small".)

All i know is the lining would NOT be growing if there wasn't abundant estrogen and i am SO not being canceled!!!!

Keep the juju coming, girls... it's working.

Finally.... Game On

This past friday, my 13x13 box of medications arrived!


Wednesday afternoon, Mr. DB and I had a visit to the RE. I knew we were going to learn about our first medications... and possibly having an internal ultrasound as well. Dr. Z wanted to check my ovaries, make sure they were at rest (since I've just started week 5 of the devil BCPs). He told me that my ovaries are behind my uterus (of course it is, why wouldn't it be?), but that wouldn't be a problem. It just makes them a little bit harder to see. And then he looked at my antral follicle count. According to this link I found, I have pretty good numbers. He saw at least 7 antral follicles on each ovary. So, based on that link - i'm in pretty good shape.

So - the plan....

Yesterday, i started taking baby aspirin, which I will continue to take daily, through 12 weeks of pregnancy.

Tomorrow morning, at 7:30, I start Lupron injectibles in the backs of my arms (apparently I'm too fat to take them anywhere else, thanks). I will continue these injections through December 6th, when the dosage will be dropped by half.

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On thanksgiving, I get to take my last devil pill. No worries - the lupron should be giving me plenty of side effects by then!

On december 3rd, we get to go back to Dr. Z for another med teach, and the following morning, I get to go in for another vagcam date, to check how well the lupron has been suppressing my ovaries.




December 6th, I start my stims.







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Over the next 10 days, I will have 4 shots daily and will likely have 5-6 visits to Dr. Z's office at 7am for blood work monitoring and vagcam ultrasounds.

Sometime between december 16-18, I will have my egg retrieval. Looks pleasant, right? Can someone tell me how it's fair that I have to go through ALL of this, and Mr. DB gets to just "provide a sample"?

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Then depending on the numbers, how well they fertilize and divide and the quality of our embryos, 3-5 days following my retrieval, we'll have our transfer.

It seems crazy.... but we could potentially find out that we're having a baby on New Years Eve.


I can't believe after all that we've been through... this is finally here.