Third Ultrasound and blood draw

WHOA!  Where do I begin?

When last we spoke, I said I was going to blog after I upped my drugs and obviously I didn't do that.  So let's go back to Friday, with a little reflection first.

A week ago Friday, we started injections.  This Friday, I did 2 shots.  My lovely tequila Follistim, and then we added vodka Ganirelix to the mix.  Remember, Ganirelix suppresses ovulation until the Yaegermeister  HCG Trigger shot tonight.  So, 9 pm rolled around and it's time for shots.  Follistim, no worries.  Ganirelix, ouch!  The Follistim needle is quite thin.  Literally, slides into the belly like butter.  The Ganirelix needle is a bit thicker and did actually hurt a bit.  But got it in and then noticed a tiny air bubble in the needle before I could stop myself from depressing the plunger into get the rest of the drugs out.  So after a little belly-aching (literally) to J, I ran upstairs to make sure I wasn't going to die in my sleep from injecting myself with a tiny air bubble.  Dr. Internet quickly confirmed that to die from that the air bubble had to not only be injected into a vein (not the fat of your tummy) and it had to be a very large air bubble!  And obviously, here we are 3 days later and I'm still alive.  So we're good.

Which brings us to Saturday.  Nothing really new to do Saturday drug wise...still 2 shots, and 2 pills.  However, we were instructed to "baby dance" (TMI, I know but it's important!) Saturday night so that J's boys would be in tip-top shape on Tuesday.  So after shots last night, we did just that.  Now remember, my abdomen is very tight and that "process" for lack of a better term didn't sound very appetizing to me.  But doctor's orders, so it got done.  And after I said to J, "well, that wasn't as bad as I thought it might be." and he replied, "I'm trying not to be offended!!!"  I said, "NOOOOOOO, because of my stomach being so not happy right now!"  He understands and we went to bed.

So on to today and all the happenings of this morning.  Up somewhat early to shower and get ready for the doc appointment.  Got there right on time, homemade blueberry muffins in hand (I pilfered a few that Robot and the Boot Camp Girls gave me for the docs so I wouldn't have to bake yet again!) and they were very well received.  I figured Dr. H and Holly H. might not have had a lot of breakfast yet and it would be a good snack.  I was right!  Where to begin about today?

Holly brought me back for my blood test which was a little more painful than usual, I think mostly to just being stuck every couple days in the same place.  Then she handed me yet another print out of how the extraction and transfer will work.  I had left J in the waiting room, so I walked back and read it while we waited to be called back again, giving J tidbits he needed to hear.  Finally get called back to our room to get ready.  I had worn a sundress today so I didn't have to change, just slip off my under-roos, but Dr. H was knocking practically as I hopped up.  Finally ready, and he comes in and the show begins.  Holy schmoly Batgirl, talk about follicules!  So many.  I easily counted 15-17, or more.  There was lots of measuring going on and he said there are plenty that are in the right range (now remember my abdomen is already full and "Wandy" up there doesn't make it any better...so this is a bit painful...maybe a 5).  As he continued to count, we were chatting finally brought up that if there are too many eggs, they won't do the transfer.  So if Tuesday he pulls out 20 or more eggs, the transfer next Sunday is off.  That's a little dismaying to me because I just want to be done already.  But Dr. H said that is a good problem to have and it may not happen that way at  all.  He said many times huge follicules don't produce an egg and small follicules do, so we could be perfectly fine.  Won't know until Tuesday afternoon.  The reason the transfer would be off is because if I produce that many eggs, then my estrogen level will be really high (could be over 4000!) which also means that my testosterone level is really high, and that means my uterus won't be perfectly hospitable for a little embryo.  Why put perfectly good embryos in a uterus that won't be perfect, thus wasting a lot of time and money.  After lots of measuring, we were finally done and ready to go.  Well, almost...still need to go over my HCG shot with Holly H.  Bottom line, Dr. H said we are progressing as scheduled and nicely.  Let's hope that continues.

Dressed again and pop out to talk about that.  The reason this is different is that the HCG comes in two vials.  One is water and one is powder.  All the other shots are pre-filled.  So you take a portion of the water out with the 1.5 inch fat needle, put it into the other vial with the powder, mix, then change the needle to the smaller version and inject using that.  It's still a 1.5 inch long needle, but it's a lot skinnier.  It goes into my "love handle" at 1 am tonight.  So I must get up about 12:55 pm, inject (I'll mix it all before we go to bed), and then try to go back to sleep.  I texted Super-Mom and told her that unless she wanted to come over at 1 am to do my shot, I was on my own.  She agreed she didn't, so I'll just have to suck it up and do it.  Holly H. swears it won't hurt in my hip (not my butt), gotta go into muscle.  Man I hope she is right!  Then tomorrow (Monday), I have NO shots!  I finally get a day off. 

Tomorrow (Monday) after work I have an acupuncture appointment and then will come home and relax.  After midnight, I'm not allowed to eat anything.  Holly H. said I should set my alarm for about 3:30 am to get up and drink a bottle of water so I am not dehydrated for the procedure.  After 4 am, not allowed to have anything to eat or drink.  So no Dox pill Tuesday am.  No boot camp either.  Will sleep in a bit, get ready and head over to the doc's about 10:30 am.  J has to bring his sample.  We'll get settled, IV in and off I go to sleep.  J will go to the pharmacy and get the remaining drugs that I need for the following weeks.  Even if we don't do the transfer next Sunday, the drugs will still be good for when we eventually do.  Procedure takes about an hour to an hour and half, with recovery.  I'm the last patient of the day (boo, couldn't get my time moved up due to the lab demanding that a different patient went first because they required more time), but at least they won't be rushing to get me out of the room.  Holly said to bring something with a little sugar and a snack because I might be hungry, then we'll head for home.

Will call my Mom on our way back and she'll meet us at the house. J will drop me, hopefully Mom will be there by then, and then he'll go to work and hopefully make some money.  I'll probably go take a nap while Mom works in my office.  Then, probably about 2:30 Mama K will come relieve Mom of her babysitting duties.  Now this could change because Mama K has been sick, but is almost over it.  However if that changes, either my Mom will stay until J gets home or my surrogate mother, Mama Ledford will come over and babysit until J comes home.  Holly said Mama K being sick isn't a big deal as long as we don't make out! :) I hadn't planned on doing that anyway.  Sorry Mama K!  But I think she'll be fine by then. 

Hopefully, we'll get a call Tuesday evening about how many eggs were taken out and how many embryos are being created.  Then, we'll know if the transfer is happening or not.  Either way, they'll still put the eggs in a petri dish with their shells cracked and a spermie inside and see how many embryos we get.  The embryologist will grade them based on this scale that I'll get into later (basically, "excellent," "good," and "poor" but far more specific).  If we do move to transfer, then next Sunday, they'll put one or two in (as of yet to be determined and will discuss after we know if we are going to transfer) and we're good.  If we don't move to transfer, then after the embryos become blastocysts, they'll freeze all the good ones and we'll wait until next month to put them in.  Not sure how all that works, but we'll cross that bridge when we get there.

And lastly, we wondered if a fresh cycle (what it is called if we make t to transfer this month) was better than a frozen cycle (if they freeze all the eggs and we transfer next month or later).  The answer is they are about the same, and if they are minutely different, the frozen cycle just might have a slightly better chance.  Volleyball Queen just told me that a friend of hers has gone through 2 IVF cycles, one fresh and one frozen, and the frozen one gave her twins.  So if we don't get to transfer this month, that's okay.  But I really want to, because I just want to be done!! 

Now tell me you aren't overwhelmed?!  I am...again!  First, I was overwhelmed as all of this was happening and now again re-telling you.  I just really hope that I don't have too many eggs and we can move to transfer.  I just want to be done!!!  I just want to be pregnant and go on normally...although I know that will never happen...not the getting pregnant part, the normal part!

I've got some chores to do before Sunday goes away so I must leave you know to digest all of this information.  If you think about it Blogites, please send a prayer out to the universe that we don't have too many eggs and we can transfer next week and we get good eggs.  That's how you can help!

Thank you and happy Sunday!