Houston We're a Go for Saturday

Cautiously optimistic and emotional. We are triggering tonight at midnight for Saturday noon retrieval.  We have 11 follicles ranging from 12-21mm and my lining has never been this good this early at 6mm.  Please, please, please let this work.

Trigger shot tonight at midnight.  No food or drink for me after midnight Friday.

Here's hoping I'll need to order this:

Doxycycline Woes

Last night I went to brush my teeth before bed and noticed my two front teeth have grayish brown stains on them.  Sigh.  Of course I Googled it and Doxycycline comes up as the culprit.   I have my regular cleaning scheduled for December so hopefully they can scrub them off. Until then, I look lovely.

:(

Stim Day 10, Ultrasound Update, and Retrieval Scheduled

8-9 follicles are still there and growing.  They range from 13-20mm in size. Dr is having me do the trigger shot (HCG) Thursday night so the eggs are primed for retrieval on Saturday, 11/1. The lining is looking better than it has before at this stage. We're up to 5.5 mm or so.

2 more days of shots. I can do this.

Here's hoping we get all 8-9 out and most of them are mature.

Stim Day 8 and Ultrasound Update

Just back from my ultrasound appointment. Same 8-9 follicles there and getting bigger. Ranging from 7 - 12mm.  Dr thinks I'll be ready for retrieval Friday (10/31) or Saturday (11/1).  He upped the meds again just a bit but not much.

I'm nervous because last time we had 11-12 and he only got 6 out that were mature. He said he feels fairly confident these 8-9 are going to be mature in time.  The only way to tell is by the size of the follicle.

We start Ganirelix tonight to keep me from ovulating.  I have to go to the pharmacy tomorrow to pick up 3 more boxes of Follistim and one more of Menopur to last through Thursday.

My lining is still thin (4.5mm) which was disappointing. I was hoping the endometrium scratch had helped and that the lining would beef up. It still has a 5-6 days to grow but I doubt it will be at optimum (7-8mm) by the time we transfer. We're moving forward regardless.

We'll go with what we have and hope for the best.  Trying not to stress too much.

Stim Day 5 and Ultrasound Results

Just got back from my check up and ultrasound appointment. We have 8-9 follicles growing.  They're still small but Dr Harris is hoping they'll behave and mature.  He upped my meds a bit, but not much. Hoping we have a few to freeze just in case the fresh cycle doesn't work.

I go back on Sunday for another scan and more blood work.  I should start to feel more bloated from here on out as the follicles grow. Definitely no exercise.

Stim Day 3

My head / neck is slowly getting better but now the dizziness from the drugs is kicking in. Man I'm tired too.  I did my own Menopur shot last night for the first time.  No biggie.

Struggling to stay focussed on work during the day.  I think a nap might be in order.

Stim day 1 & 2

Prepared my pills for the week.

ONE WEEK. Crazy huh?  What is all this stuff?  

Prenatal, fish oil, antioxidants, royal jelly, L-argenine, ubiquinol (Coq10), maca, baby aspirin (81mg), Viagra (vaginally yay..) and doxycycline (orally). Got to make sure not to get those last two mixed up! Hehe. 

All these pills in addition to the injections

AM shot is 250mg of Folistim

PM shot is 150units of Menopur.  The Menopur comes in a powder form and has to be mixed with really large needle, but thankfully I don't get stabbed with that one. 

Here's Nate preparing my shot last night.

So far I feel ok.  My head and neck are still killing me, but that's not related to these drugs...yet.  I think falling over on my bike Wednesday night jarred something in my neck. Of course I can't take ibuprofen and Tylenol doesn't really do much for inflammation.  I've been icing my neck and the base of my head and that seems to help.  Hopefully it will get better just in time for the drug headaches to start. 

Come on follicles grow! :)

Fresh Cycle #2 Calendar

This is what my next two weeks look like.  It could actually be longer depending on how my body responds.  Last cycle we had to do the stimulation drugs for 14 days I think. 

Yep, that's viagra you see on the calendar. Fun times. 

Round 2 - Here We Go Again

Picked up the drugs for starting on Sunday. Let's make a baby! HA.

AMH levels dropped significantly

Dr Harris emailed me last night with some test results.  Unfortunately my AMH has dropped from 1.95 last year to .4.  That's significant.

AMH is one of the tests used to determine ovarian reserve.  AMH indicates quantity, FSH indicates quality.   My FSH is still within normal range, but now my AMH is way too low.

However, I've done some reading and it looks like being on the birth control pill could significantly impact the AMH number. My ovaries are suppressed right now so naturally the number will be lower.  It's still concerning and of course I'm obsessing.

It is so hard not to feel overwhelmed with disappointment and feel defeated at every obstacle.

At least it puts me at a very low risk for OHSS. Sigh.

Baseline Ultrasound - Here we go again

Hysteroscopy a few weeks ago found nothing wrong with my uterus, again.  Glad for that but still frustrating not to know why my lining wouldn't grow.

Today, there was a big of good news. I went in for my baseline ultrasound before we start stimulation injections again on 10/19 and no cysts (yay) and my lining looks better than it has before at this stage!   Maybe the endometrial scratch he did during the hysteroscopy helped!  Maybe its all of these crazy supplements I'm taking. Either way, I'm cautiously optimistic.   Let's get this show on the road!