9th Day Into Stims

It's been a busy week, but here I am to give you an update with everything that's happened over the past 6 days.

Here's what this week looked like:

SUNDAY = Easter & Blood work done at the Queen… that was a nightmare in itself but it got done. (It took 45 mins just to get entered into the computer through the Emergency Room since the rest of the hospital was closed.) After getting my results, Dr. Uzelac decided to lower my dose from 150 iu of Gonal-F to 112.5 iu.  (I've been taking 150 every day so far.) This was also the first night that Ryan gave me my injection.  I will say he did a pretty good job.  It still wasn't as smooth as Jackie's, but he did a lot better than I would have done to myself.

Though this is a 100% terrible picture,

it documents the first night Ryan poked that

needle into my little roll of stomach fat.  

Oh the memories!!

MONDAY = Gonal-F was lowered to 75iu.  Ryan got a little bit of stage fright when it came time to give me my shot.  Poor guy was pushing the needle slower than a snail crawl and it wasn't going it… just pushing needle point pressure on me! OUCH!  After telling him that he needed to dart the damn thing he said, "I just don't want to hurt you!"  Bless his heart.  It's gotta be hard from him too!  He man'd up and got the job done but it didn't happen without plenty of laughing between the two of us.  I was laughing so hard I was shaking with the syringe hanging out of my stomach.  I love you Ryan!  Thanks for getting the job done on your end! I'd never be able to do this to myself.

TUESDAY = Another needle poked in my arm and more blood taken first thing in the morning.  We had an appointment in Marin to see how everything was progressing and Dr, Uzelac said everything looked good.  My largest follicle was measuring at 13mm I think.  He thought there might be a possibility of doing the trigger shot on Thursday with the egg retrieval on Saturday, or trigger on Sunday and the ER on Sunday.  Either way, the ER will for sure happen over the weekend.  He said he didn't see too many or too few follicles and my lining looked good. He did feel that my estrogen was a little high and that we still might be candidates for the alternative trigger shot (Lupron) in order to reduce the risk of OHSS Ovarian Hyper Stimulation Syndrome (don't ask me what it is… it's confusing.  All I know is that it's not real pleasant and we would like to avoid that from happening if at all possible.)  At our appointment, he told us to move back up to 150 iu of Gonal-F for tonight's injection.  I also started taking Centrotide in order to reduce the chance of early ovulation from happening.  All I know is if there is any more to add in the syringe, I'll have to take 2 shots… that thing is packed full!

 Here's tonight's line up…

After last night's episode of "cold feet," my Mom suggested that Ryan practice in an apple,
 thus, here he is poking an apple with a needle.
Gotta love him!

WEDNESDAY = I was awake from 3:00am-4:30am having a hard time getting comfortable and feeling nauseated!  I finally fell back asleep, but I was a wreck.  I have been so severely bloated and "backed up".  Sorry if that's TMI but such is life.  I haven't been drinking coffee but Ryan decided that's what I needed to get things moving.  So he brought me a cup'o'joe at 5:30 while I was still trying to sleep.  Sleep, sip, sleep, sip, repeat. It did the trick thankfully, but my stomach was turning all day.  I felt nauseated all day at work so my class watched a movie the last 40 mins of the day because I couldn't hang.  Luckily a co-worker had a sprite which saved me.  Turns out, Centrotide (the new med from last night) has a side effect of nausea.  I didn't even think to look into the side effects until I was already sick, but sure enough, it's the first one listed.  Needless to say, I was fortunate in that it was a short day of school and I went home for a nap by 1:00.  It was much needed! Gonal-F is at 150 tonight.

THURSDAY = This morning is the first morning that I've woken up with residual soreness at the injection site on my stomach.  Man, it's like a bad bruise and hurts with every move I make.  I had more blood drawn this morning… I'm now on a first name basis with Rueben the blood drawer (I know there's a real name for the people that draw blood but I can't remember it right now. You know what I mean though.)  He say's to me today, "Were you here yesterday?" Nope, the day before.  "Oh, I thought so!"  We're tight!  I had another appointment with Dr. Uzelac this afternoon (thankfully in Napa this time.)  The good news is that everything looks good, the not so good news is that my follicles have slowed their roll a bit, the largest is now 16mm.  So, there was no way to trigger today and he didn't think it would happen tomorrow either.  He says my estrogen level is up to 2340.  All I know about that is that they want it to be above 2000 by the time of the egg retrieval and if it goes above 4000 than Lupron will for sure be used as the trigger shot.  Ultimately, he says it comes down to a judgement call he will make based off of how everything looks the day of the trigger shot and my estrogen level.  Time will tell!  He also lowered my Gonal back down to 75 iu.

FRIDAY = I'm thinking about taking Reuben a coffee this morning.  My arm could be compared to that of a heroin addict at this point.  They always prefer my right arm, so… whats another needle poke.  Reuben was inquiring a little more as to why they'd have me come in two days in a row? I let him know they are just closely monitoring me.  He still had no idea we were going through IVF so since we're like BFF's now, I decided to fill him in...  Oh the prices we pay to have kids!  The Doctor's office called today to let me know that Dr. U-doggy wanted me to up Gonal to 150 again tonight and he wanted to see me at 9:00 tomorrow morning.  Hopefully tomorrow will be good news.  As it stands, we're aiming to get the trigger shot tomorrow and have the egg retrieval on Monday.  I'll be missing a field trip with my class on Monday, which I'm bummed about, but my co-workers have been unbelievably supportive, which I'm thankful for.

Long story short, since this process started out last Thursday, tonight will be my 9th injection and I've had my blood drawn 5 times.  Needles still aren't my friends, though I'm finally getting the hang of those dang injections and drawing it all up.  I just close my eyes when I pull the needle out since the pressure has a tendency of spraying up in my eyes.  I'm obviously not doing it 100% correct but all that matters is that I'm doing it.  Ryan's doing an awesome job administering my injections and when you see him next, you might as well refer to him as Dr. Bledsoe! :)

This is from Guatemala, but I might have him dress in scrubs tonight, he's kinda cute! :)

We thank you again for all your prayers, thoughts and support during this time.  We know that God has a plan for our futures bringing a little life (or two) into this world, we're just working on being patient with His time frame.  We feel blessed and look forward to what the future holds.  Please continue praying as we progress through this process.  We appreciate all of them!