3rd follicle scan

Today, we went in for our third follicle scan.  So far, I have 8 follicles developing on both ovaries, so hopefully, each one will lead to a healthy egg and then a total of 16 healthy embryos.  The doctor said my lining looked "perfect."

My culture came back positive for strep B, so I will be adding antiobodics to my daily routine.  I also get to start my second shots to prevent me from ovulating because one of my follicles is 14 mm.  I'll go back in on Monday to do bloodwork and follicle scan. 

The doctor said that the earliest we would do my egg retrieval would be on Wednesday of next week; B had his bloodwork done today, so the latest would be Friday.  I'm excited.  I'm a little bummed that it will be even longer before I find out if this cycle was successful.  You'd think infertility would force a person to learn patience- haha yeah right!

IVF cycle thus far; second follicle scan

I've been shooting up with 250 u of follistim since Thanksgiving.  Today, I went in for my second follicle scan.  Looks like I have 8 follicles on each egg, but they are pretty small.  So I'll be increasing my dosage to 450 u.  I was a little disappointed by the size, and asked my doctor, "Since they are slow growing, does that indicate a problem with my egg quality.  She reassured me that it didn't, and each person is different.  She just wants to push my ovaries to work a little faster.  Great, $800 dollars extra.  My lining is coming in nicely. 

The doctor believes that instead of retrieval on Tuesday, it'll be at the end of the week.  I'm not suppose to start my second shot until Friday, which originally was planned to begin on Tuesday, so I wonder if my retrieval will correspond.  Will my egg retrieval be next Friday instead?  B suppose to give an additional sperm sample on Friday, so we have more to work with and as extra insurance if he were to get a fever and screw his quality of sperm. 

B's dreading the bloodwork, because each time I've gone they had to stick me and go fishing three times.  For a total of 3 appointments, I've been stuck 9 times~  Lucky for him his viens don't roll.

Emotionally, I've been on a rollercoaster.  Sometimes, I feel like this is it.  Our chances are good, this is going to work.  Other times, I'm completely bipolar from that.  I feel like we've already tried so much and statistically, we should have been pregnant already.  Statistically, we shouldn't have had two miscarriages. 

I'm just trying to stay calm and take each day as it comes.

Thankful

Doctors Appt:

Today, I had my baseline ivf appointment.  It started with blood pressure and eeks- weight.  I wish my weight number was the same as my blood pressure's top number; oh well.

We had our ultra sound done.  At this stage (CD 4), they like to see four follicles per ovary starting to develop.  Guess who had 7-9 per ovary; that's right this girl (as I point with my thumbs towards myself and show a cheesy smile).  She said this is excellent, and I took it as a positive sign.  My lining is small, but the medicines should plump it up nicely.

Then they took a crap ton of bloodwork.  They had to stick me three times and finally were successful on my hand.  I hate being stuck, so I completely understand my veins reactions to roll away.

Speaking of sticking, I'm excited to begin shooting up hormones tomorrow.  I go back in for another doctor's appointment on Monday.  Yeah!


Shoutout to Scientists:

I am so thankful to science.  Science has come a long way in the infertility world, and it still has a way to go.  I am greatful for science, because had I of had infertility 40 years ago, I wouldn't have all the possible solutions there are today. 

Last week

This is the last week I will be on birth control.  I'm excited.  I've been too busy to really think to much about or update my blog, but I will definitely update soon!  Until then, thinking positively.

Warning to my Mom: Do not read this

Disclaimer:  If you are reading this and happen to be my mother, you will not want to continue reading.  If you continue reading, know it is at your own risk as it talks about my sex life. 

Below is an article that I recently read about the link of crappy sex during the time of IVF.  I have to say, since we've been starting this whole IVF cycle and I'm on birth control pills, my desire is nonexistant.  At first, it was nice because we weren't trying to have kid, but now I really could do without it.  I don't have the desire to have sex, and I think the birth control pills are affecting my hormones because there is very scant lubrication; I know this could be caused by my lack of desire, but it seems like it is more than that.

I just want to be normal.  I want to be a normal fertile, but that hasn't happened, so now I wait for IVF and hope that it works and perhaps after the first trimester, we will be able to have a normal sex life.  I'm apprehensive of having sex during the first trimester because of the prior miscarriages I have had.  I know sex does not cause miscarriages, but can they implicate them?  Can it interfere in the successful implanatation of an embryo?  I'm not willing to risk it!  I'm an deathly afraid I will have another miscarriage.  I can't escape this fear.  Any thoughts or suggestions would be appreciated.  I'll be taking up yoga this week to mellow the mind, destress the bod and hopefully improve circulation to the uterus area.


Article: Sex sucks during ivf

Low fat milk?

Usually, I drink 2% milk.  We love our milk; between my husband and I were go through 2 gallons a week.  I just read an article that low fat milk has been shown to impact fertility in 76% of cases- WHAT?!  The article also shows that drinking whole milk can improve your odds of conception by 25%.  Once the milk jugs are gone, we will be switching to whole milk.

Learning the needles

Last Tuesday, we learned how to use our plethora of medications.  I even had to inject myself.  I know I should probably be watching the whole time, but once I inserted the needle into my stomach I quit looking down.  I had to relook to make sure it was in all the way, and sure enough it was.  So the injections will not be that bad.

We were able to go to the room and see where everything happens.  I'm ready for it to happen.  In exactly one month, if everything goes as timed, we should be getting a report on how many embryos fertilized.

I'm starting to get excited.  On another note, we have all our Christmas shopping for family done- yeah.