9 EGGS!!!

I just got back from my retrieval, and they got 9 eggs! This is the third best retrieval I have had, and the first one where I didn't cry when I got the results.

I did wake up during the procedure, which I wasn't thrilled with, but I didn't feel anything. The anesthesiologist asked if I wanted to stay awake, or have a little more drug to go back to sleep, and I opted for the more drugs. No surprise there.

Anyway, I'm a little crampy, but otherwise, I feel ok. We will get a call from the Dr. tomorrow to find out how many eggs were mature and how many fertilized. Then, I'll get a call on Monday morning to find out if we are doing a 3 day or 5 day transfer. It seems like SIRM really likes to do 5 days, so as long as I have a few good looking embies on Monday, we should be set for a Wednesday transfer. They only require bedrest for one day, but I think I'll still stay home on Thursday for good measure.

Please send good embryo fertilization and growing vibes my way. I really hope that this is finally it for Mark and I!

Oh What a Night!

So, last night felt like a comedy of errors. First of all, I realized at 9:30 that I had forgotten to take my anti-biotic to prepare for my egg retrieval. I was supposed to take it with dinner. OOPS, oh well, better late than never. Next, our power went out at 9:45pm. I lit some candles and joked around about how much fun it would be to do my trigger shot in the dark. I also was relieved that Mark would actually be home to give me the shot. It's hard enough to give yourself an IM shot in your butt, but even worse if you have to do it in the dark.

So, Mark and I set our cell phone alarms for 12:20am to get the shot ready. I was in charge of reconstituting it. That seemed to take forever. Then, Mark was in charge of loading up the syringe. Well, I freaked out because there was still some liquid in the vial. So, we had a huge fight about my meds. I was convinced that if he didn't get every last drop, the hcg wouldn't work, and my follicles would not be ready to aspirated on Friday. Yes, drama queen much?? Anyway, Mark went to do my shot and the needle kind of bent when it went into my tush. Buns of steel, perhaps? Hee hee. He had to straighten it out and it hurt like a mother! But, at least it was done.

Then, we head upstairs. The nurse said that we should have sex last night and then Mark would have to abstain until the morning of retrieval. At this point, it was already 1am, we were tired, annoyed with each other, and not all that excited about spending quality time. While we were upstairs getting ready for bed in the dark, the dog decides that he is going to stand on the bed, pee into his bed and onto the comforter! I guess the snow had gotten to him. So, in the dark, again, we had to strip the bed, find a new comforter in the house and drag all the gross peed on stuff down into the laundry room. The good news is that then the power went back on. Mark and I laughed, had quality time and went to bed.

Last night was literally a pain in my ASS!

Triggering Tomorrow!

Well, I went back this morning for another monitoring appointment. I had a total of 13 measurable follicles, but 5 were in the 18-22 range. And, my lining was a 10! The doctor decided to let me stim for another night in the hopes that some of the smaller follicles will get a chance to catch up. At this point, I'd be thrilled with anything over 7 retrieved. I think this is because all of my full stim cycles at Cooper resulted in 7 eggs, and I didn't get pregnant.

Anyway, I trigger tomorrow night (Thursday) morning, at 12:30am. Mark will be in the ER that night, and it's supposed to snow all day tomorrow...which means that I'll trigger myself. That just sounds weird. We have to be at SIRM at 9:45 on Friday morning, and retrieval will be at 10:30. If all goes well, my transfer will be on Wednesday of next week.

Oh, here I go again...

Day 7 of Stims, First Follie Check

Well, I left the house super early as I wasn't sure what the roads would be like after our 30 inches of snow this weekend! My appointment was for 10am, and I walked into the office at 9am. Thankfully, they saw me right away.

Well, my lining is 8mm....which means that my POM juice concoction and pomegranate extract pills are doing the trick. I have 6 follicles measuring between 13-15, 4 measuring around 10mm, and a few smaller than 10mm. I'm trying not to be disappointed...after all, my last few IVFs at Cooper all produced around 7 follicles. Guess I was just wishing for a completely different experience.

Mark tells me that it's still early, but it's been 7 full days of stims. I'm going to guestimate that they will retrieve 7 eggs, 6 will be mature, and 5 will fertilize with icsi. Seems like I've been here a million times before : ( For now, I continue with my 225 of follistim, and go back tomorrow for another check.

I was relieved when they told me to come back tomorrow, as the area is supposed to get hit with another foot of snow on Wednesday. I was freaking all weekend about how I was going to drive 1.5 hours up to North Jersey in the snow!

Anyway, I'm home now and waiting for my home healthcare nurse to come over this afternoon to administer my intralipid infusion. I'm a little nervous as she thinks it will take about 4 hours!!! The last time I had it done, it took 1 hour. Ugh, today is going to be a long day. Am I going to have to entertain the stranger in my house for 4 hours?? Ugh, I hope not.

Ok, I'll check in again tomorrow with an update...but I'm guessing that I will trigger Thursday night and have a Saturday retrieval. Wish me luck!

Lucky Number 7??

So, it's official. I start my follistim and baby aspirin tomorrow. That means, I'm officially starting my 7th IVF rollercoaster. I am strangely excited, but as always, a little nervous. SIRM doesn't monitor as often as Cooper did. In fact, I go in on day 3 of stims for just blood work. Nobody will be checking out my ovaries until cycle day 8. How insane is that?? But, then again, maybe it's better if I'm in the dark with what my body is doing...then I can't obsess over number of follicles, etc.

So, this is it...away we go! I'll probably check in next Monday, after my first stim follie ultrasound. Fingers and toes crossed!

Do I Detect Some Optimism??

It's the strangest feeling after our 6th ivf cycle. I really felt like I wouldn't be able to get excited about fertility treatments again...yet, I started my lupron this morning for ivf #7, and I'm actually optimistic.

We are finally at an office that takes our not getting pregnant pretty seriously. We have 3 ivfs here with unlimited FETs, and I LOVE the staff. I'm not saying that I think I'm going to get pregnant with our first cycle here, but I definitely have hope again.

Since today was my first day of my lupron injections, I'm dubbing this the official start of ivf 7. Good thoughts are always appreciated : - )

Back On, Baby!

Well, will wonders never cease! When we got back from Jamaica (which was relaxing but cloudy and cold), I had an email waiting for me from SIRM's office manager. Low and behold, when she finally talked to the management company of SIRM, they said that she could go ahead and offer us the 3 ivf package deal, without the cashback option. So, on Thursday morning, I made all of our phone calls and by some miracle, we were still able to get into the February cycle. Could this be a sign that our luck is finally changing??

Anyway, I took off work on Friday and Mark and I drove up to Bedminster for some additional testing. I had my 3rd sonohysterogram and a mock transfer. Not surprisingly, my uterus looks fine (no fibroids, polyps, or scars). Mark had another semen analysis, but we aren't expecting any drastic changes since the last one. We had our meeting with the ivf nurse coordinator to go over my beautiful color coded medication calendar. Such fun! And, I officially start Lupron on Wednesday. I have to say, things seem to be looking up. It will be interesting to see how my cycle progresses with the new doctors.

In the meantime, I'm looking forward to working out some more (I gained more weight on vacation) and watching the Golden Globes tonight : )

HAPPY 2010!