Day 11 Stim Appointment/My Eggs are Ready :)

I went to the doctor again this morning and of course had another ultrasound and blood work done. Today I saw Dr. T who I have seen a few times before when I was going through my IUIs. Yesterday when they did the ultrasound I had about 15 mature follicles/eggs but still had about 10 that had a little further to go. Today at the ultrasound all but one of my follicles/eggs were mature :) That was great news to me! That means I am officially done with my Lupron, Bravelle and Menopur shots. But tonight I have one last shot which is the most important shot of them all, my trigger shot. The trigger shot is an HCG (Human Chorionic Gonadotropin) shot which makes the follicles go into their last stage of maturation. The trigger shot is given exactly 36 hours before the egg retrieval surgery. Today they let me know that my egg retrieval is officially Wednesday March 10th which means I have to do my trigger shot at 9pm tonight. I also found of that the girl Doctor I like Dr. F is the one that is suppose to do the surgery. I still have to go to the doctor tomorrow to make sure that the trigger shot is working and get to all my pre-op instructions. I will update a little later tonight about how my trigger shot went. So Until then love and baby dust!

15 Mature Today but....../Day 10 Stim Appointment

Stephen and I got up bright and early again to go to the doctor. Today was our stimulation day 10 appointment which means of course another ultrasound and more blood work. My poor arms are all bruised but hopefully it will all be worth it. Dr. F did my ultrasound again today. She was happy to see that more follicles/eggs had matured over night but she was not happy with what my E2 levels were yesterday which was 990. I found out through reading that for every mature egg your E2 will be 100. Which means yesterday I only had almost 10 mature eggs. During my ultrasound today I could tell the follicles had gotten bigger from my ovaries being very tender and from the measurements she was calling out. The sizes were all over the place ranging from 10mm to 20mm. Really you want them to be closer together in size but that is just not happening with me. Also my lining was at 11mm which she said looked perfect. At the end of my appointment Dr.F said things were looking good but she might make me do one more day of stim medicines depending on what my E2 levels were like.
When the nurse called this afternoon she said that my E2 levels have gone up from 990 to 1550. Which means I have 15 mature eggs. She said that was great but Dr.F wants me to do the higher dose of stimulation meds again tonight. That means I will do 3 vials of Bravelle, 1 vial of menapur, and 5cc of Lupron (Thank God the office had a emergency supply because I only had one vial of Bravelle left).So that means the schedule should be the following;
Sunday-3/7- One more night of Stimulation meds and Lupron.
Monday-3/8- Back to the doctor bright and early for another ultrasound and blood work. Hopefully my trigger shot will be this night.
Tuesday- 3/9- Not sure if I will have to go to the Dr. again, I am assuming I will but I will have a break from all the meds.
Wednesday-3/10- Egg Retrieval Day
Saturday 3/13 or Monday 3/15- They will put the fertilized eggs back in one of these 2 days. Praying for Saturday because I would hate to miss Lynn's birthday on Monday!!

That is all my news for now so until tomorrow Love and Baby Dust!

Pictures from Day 9 Stim Appointment

Stephen and I waiting on the doctor
Me in my Lovely Paper Sheet waiting on my ultrasound

10 Mature Hopefully More to Come/ Day 9 Stim Appointment

Even though it is Saturday I still had to be at the doctor bright and early this morning. Since it was the weekend I had to go to the main location which I have never been to and I had to see a new doctor. It was a fun appointment because Stephen went and he was making me laugh as usual. Today I saw Dr.F, she was a young happy pregnant woman who was very sweet. During my ultrasound she found a total of about 25 Follicles/eggs. But as of today only 10 of them are mature. To be mature they have be at least 15mm because if they are not 15 mm they do not have eggs in them yet. Dr.F said that with one more day of stim shots then a lot more should be mature by tomorrow.Which means that I would get my trigger shot tomorrow night and egg retrival Tuesday as planned. When the nurse called this afternoon with my blood work results she said that my E2 level was in the high 900s(I was taking a nap, so I can't remember the exact number) and that Dr.F want me to add one more vial of Bravelle to my shots tonight. I am sure that they want me to add because the ones that are mature can't go much longer and they really want me to have more mature than that before retrial. So overall the appointment went well. I have another appointment tomorrow in the morning. Hopefully tomorrow I will have a lot more mature follicles/eggs. Until then Love and Baby Dust!

The Three Amigos/ Day 8 Stim Appointment

Today was my appointment for stim day 8.It was another great appointment. My Mom went with me and was so excited to see all of my eggs getting bigger by the day. During my ultrasound the doctor said that she could see at least 8 eggs/follicles on each side. She found one follicle that was 18mm, one that was 16mm, a few that were 15mm, and many that were 12mm. She said that after a few more days the 12mm ones should catch up with the others. She also said that the lining of my uterus looked great and was ahead of the game at 11mm. She gave me a few great pictures for my blog which I was super excited about.

Picture 1- My right ovary- All of the dark spots are my follicles which contain the eggs. This is just from one side so you can only see 4 or 5 follicles. The one on the left is my largest one that is 18 mm.

Picture 2- My Left Ovary- This is the picture that she called my three amigos because you can see 3 eggs all in a line. Again this is only from one angle so you can only see 4 follicles.One person at school said it looked like a paw print :)

Picture 3- Is my uterus which the doctor said looks perfect for a baby :)

So that is my good news for the day. I have to say I am feeling positive today. I started stocking up on pregnancy tests at target today and I allowed myself to look at baby clothes which I never do.

Still waiting on my lab work to come back, so as soon as it does I will update this post!

Got my lab work back and my E2 level looks great at 779 :) I go back bright and early tomorrow morning.

That's all for now! Love and Baby Dust!!!

Little Army of Eggs/ Day 6 Stim Appointment

Bright and early this morning was my day 6 of stimulation appointment. It started with blood work as always and then I had my ultrasound. Overall, my appointment went great. The doctor said I have a little army of eggs(follicles) on both sides that range from 10-12mm. Just to put that number into perspective they like to remove them at 17-21mm, preferably 21mm. The follicles will continue to grow 1-3mm a day. She said if she had to guess my retrieval would be on Tuesday of next week. The nurse also called this afternoon with the results from my estradiol level which was 247. The nurse said that is fine and to keep taking the same meds that I am currently on. So I guess everything is looking how it should. I go back to the doctor Friday morning to have another ultrasound and blood work. I will update again then :) So for now Love and Baby Dust!

Wishing On a Star

I am feeling much better this week. Since starting the stim shots my mood has been much better. I am feeling more and more back to my normal everyday. I can also tell that the stim shots are beginning to work because my ovaries are tender. Which is a very familar feeling because of taking clomid during my IUIs. I have read everywhere that Lupron is the devil and I have to say that I agree! I was very fortunate not to have to many headaches and hot flashes. But it did make me quite hateful. Even though I am still on a small dose of Lupron it is not having much effect on me anymore.
I went to therapy yesterday, which for those of you who don't know I go for my anxiety. I was talking to her about what I have talked about on here before that going through this has made me face all of my fears. Honestly, I hate that I have to go through all this but I think that it is good that I am facing my fears. The more I talked about it with her the more I know that I can get through this. I started talking about the many different things that are going on in my life and how things are really lining up. She said that it seems like the stars are going to align this time. So here I am truly hoping that the stars are aligning.
Throughout this process I have tried to be positive but I hate to get my hopes up again.Since I got pregnant on my own, I truly thought that the IUIs would work. But as we all know they didn't. I keep telling myself that with the IUIs I only had a 12% chance of it working the first time and then your chances go down from there. With IVF we have 75% chance of it working. I truly hope I am one of those 75%. I can't imagine being part of the 25%. Even though I have prepared myself to be one of those 25% people. I am grateful that we have the means to do IVF. I am grateful that we have the means to adopt if it comes down to that. So right now I am staying positive. I know that no matter what I will be a mommy!
Oh one other thing I am trying my hardest to kick caffeine. This is way harder than shots or anything else. I truly love my Diet Coke and sweet tea. I look forward to them through out my day. I have been drinking Coke forever so when I don't have it I get a horrible headache. I am cutting down from 4 a day to 1. So wish me luck :)