What does that mean?

My appointment today was interesting. First off, when I arrived at 6:45 there were already 5 or 6 women in the waiting room. What? I thought the appointment was at 7:00 and I was early. Nope. And the waiting was looooong today! There ended up being about 30 women in the waiting room by 7:00. Wow! It must be a big series this time! I didn't end up leaving until 8:00. 1 hour and 15 minutes in the dr. office! Insane.

Sooo...when I went in for my ultrasound I asked my RE (reproductive endocrinologist) why he dropped my follistim so drastically. He said my estrogen level was pretty high and he wanted to get it down. AND, he also found a larger than normal egg in my ovary during the scan. He says that probably explains the high estrogen level. If you will rewind to our 1st round of IVF, you may recall that part of the reason he believes it failed was due to my low estrogen level. Huh? My body is definitely reacting differently this round. Hopefully different in a good way.

When my nurse called this afternoon to give me my instructions, she started out by apologizing because I have to go back in tomorrow for a 7am appointment. My RE wants to check me again. It was not a scheduled appointment, so that has me a bit worried. On the other hand, I'm glad they are closely monitoring me. They also changed my medications again tonight. I added another injection of a medication I took in both round 1 and 2. It is meant to keep me from ovulating before retrieval day. I also had to take more of another medicine I was already on. Three injections tonight...oh joy.

All in all, I'm feeling pretty well. I have slight twinges over my ovaries, but that's normal and to be expected. I've been going to bed early in an attempt to get 8 hours of sleep each night.

Please keep sending positive thoughts because we need them! I will ask more questions tomorrow for clarification and will keep you all updated.

Go Uterus!

Sorry it's taken me so long to update this. We went to a Spokane Chiefs hockey game last night, so I wasn't home to write. On that note, at the game I found the First Aid room and gave myself my two 7pm injections. I'm always proud when I can do them in public. It honestly wasn't as big of a deal as I thought it would be. The room was very clean and the people were very nice.

My appointment went well and was uneventful. It was a blood draw and internal ultrasound. I was the 3rd person there, so the blood draw went quickly. Then I waited, and waited and waited for my ultrasound. It's generally a longer wait because the RE has to arrive to do the ultrasound and I think he kind of shows up when he wants to. After all, he's the boss, right?! I arrived at 6:45 and didn't leave until 7:30. Oh well, it's always fun to watch people in the waiting room.

I received a call yesterday afternoon from my nurse, Karen. She said that my ovaries were responding too well and that my dosage of one of the medications was being cut in half. This is odd for me. With both of my previous rounds my meds have been increased after a few days. I guess my body is reacting differently this time for some reason. I'm glad they dropped them early though because if I take too high of a dose for too long, I may end up hyperstimulating which is painful and cancels the round. No fun.

One thing our RE noted during the ultrasound was that my endometrium (uterus) is not thickening yet. He said it was fine, but if you all will send positive thoughts and prayers for my body to do it's thing, I would appreciate it.

I have another appointment tomorrow morning and will update tomorrow night.

I made a video tonight, but it doesn't seem to want to load. Someone who knows more about Blogger should fill me in...

DING DING DING.....round 3 begins

I realized as I was titling this that I never told you all what a great deal we got on our drugs this time!! I have Jen to thank for that because she gave me some of her leftover, unused meds. I also had a vial of very expensive medicine left from our last round, so our total was just under $1500.00. I know that doesn't seem like a good deal, but IVF drugs are expensive!

Anyway, back to today...
It was a dark and foggy drive to Spokane this morning. It was a bit eerie, but I guess that's what we get for living in an area with so many bodies of water. I arrived a bit early, buzzed the office (have to buzz in on the weekends), and I was the first one there. I went back for a quick blood draw and I was done.

My nurse called around 10:00 to report that my numbers are looking good and I will begin the stimulation phase tonight. I will kick it off with two injections (subcutaneous in my tummy) each night at 7pm, until Wednesday, when I will go back in for an ultrasound and blood work. I will work on pictures and/or a video of the injections so you can all feel like you're here with me.

I've been talking to my friend, Jen, a lot lately. She did her 3rd round of IVF at the same time I did my 2nd. She has validated my feelings of being very neutral this round. I'm neither excited, nor nervous, nor happy, nor anxious for this round. She says she was exactly the same way before her 3rd round. The good part of that is I feel very relaxed about this time because I know what to expect and there shouldn't be any surprises because we're following the same protocol. Thus, my body should react the same way. Somehow though, I feel like I should be excited or something. Oh well, it is what it is.

More after my appointment on Wednesday.

Very Small Cervix

Ouch! I had my hysteroscope on Friday morning and it hurt!! A hysteroscope involves my doctor attaching a tiny camera to the end of a long tube-like instrument, inserting it through my cervix (very small cervix) and into my uterus to take a look around. Apparently the immense pain I was feeling is due to the fact that I have an unsually small cervix. What does this mean? Nothing really. It's just the way I'm made. However, I been trying to focus on the positives with doing a 3rd round and here is my first one; how many woman get to see the inside of their uterus up-close and personal? I know, I know, many of you are asking why that would be a good thing. Hey, give me a break. I have to be creative to come up with positives. :) Honestly, it really was kind of interesting though, after I got over the pain. The best part is that my doctor didn't find any scar tissue or polyps from the D & C.

While I was there, they also did an ultrasound (internal type) and blood draw. They were checking my ovaries to see if they are adaquately "resting", and they are. Yay ovaries! (Can you tell how positive I am?) The blood draw was to test my LH level (surges just before ovulation), E2 (estrogen) level and my P4 (progesterone) level. All the levels are good. I will take my last birth control pill Tuesday night (20th). I should then have a light period. We are currently still on track to start injections (stimulation phase) next Sunday, the 25th.

I will write more on the 25th or 26th. Does anyone want to see pictures of me giving myself the injections? I was thinking about taking some this time, but wasn't sure if that was too much for my readers! Let me know what you think...

I'm a Planner

You all know me, so you understand how much I enjoy organizing and planning things. This is especially true with IVF. There are truly so many aspects about the process that I (we) have no control over. I think that's why when I got my calendar on Wednesday I was thrilled! The calendar roughly maps out what our 3rd round will look like and when I have appointments. It looks like we will be beginning injections either the 25th or 26th of October. Our egg retrieval will be November 5 or 6 and our transfer will be November 10 or 11.

This is all great news for a variety of reasons. Our nurse gave us the 1st available day to start the injections, which means I won't have to take the birth control for very long (it upsets my stomach). As a reminder, the birth control is used to "quiet my ovaries" before they are stimulated with meds in the next phase of the process. These dates also mean we should know whether I'm pregnant before Thanksgiving. We are planning a family Thanksgiving, so either way it will be nice to have support from my family members.

I also have an appointment on October 16 for a hysteroscope to make sure everything looks ok after my D & C.