Tuesday, March 31, 2015

Day 5 - 1st Appt and Shots

So I updated all the days so that we are on the same day frame as the Dr's. They start from day 1 being my cycle, not day 1 being the first day of shots. So now this is alighed with my other 2 cycles. Because heck yes we are going to compare the heck out of the last 2 rounds to this round!

Round 1 - left and right sides 3 follicles are at 6 mm and another 4 follicles are at 5 mm.
Round 2 - Uterine Lining - 3.7 mm; Left - 9.8, 9.5, 8.2, 2 @ 7.1, 6.6, 6.2, 5.1; Right - 11, 2 @ 8, 2@ 7, 6.8, 3 @ 6.1

TODAY ROUND 3 -
Uterine Lining - thin
This time Charlene measured each follicle from top to bottom and left to right.
Hence the 2 measurements per follicle.
Left -
5x4
5x3
4x3
4x3
3x2
3x2

Right -
5x4
4x3
3x3
3x2

Clearly I am way behind the curve of round 2! 
For my blood work, my estrodial levels are at 67 (Round 2 they were 369).
So…. tonight they bumped me up from 300 IU of follistim to 450 IU.
They are trying to kick my ovaries into gear!


Monday, March 30, 2015

Days 3 & 4 - Operation Third Times The Charm


This little quote is beautiful.
As is what Thomas named this round.

Operation Third Times The Charm

I love it.
I love him.
More shots yesterday.
More shots tonight. 
The daily appointments will start tomorrow, so you will get daily updates starting then. 

Feeling pretty good after 2 days of hormones. 
Not feeling particularly emotional. 
Although worship at church was absolutely beautiful yesterday and made me cry. 
God vs hormones? 
Who knows. It was all beautiful.
And I have no desire to bite any one's head off.
I say it was God.

Talk to you all tomorrow.

Saturday, March 28, 2015

Day 2 - Starting Shots

OK, I know it is weird that we started with Day 3. Technically I am actually at Day 2, and Day 1 was the day I started my cycle, but for the sake of matching the other rounds, this will technically be the same as last times Day 3. So this will get us on track.
*********************

Soooo… Naturally when we look at the schedule we set up between the last 2 rounds, it would all go according to plan, right?

Uh huh. 

So as Thursday came to a close and my cycle had still not started, I started to get a little nervy. Charlene even called me Thursday afternoon to check up on me. So when I talked to her again on Friday morning, we decided that because I had started a little that morning, we would keep the schedule with a sat morning appointment.

So I was scheduled for 9:30. Never mind I had people coming over for freezer cooking. Or that was right in the middle of my productive sat morning. I had to be productive with figuring out if round 3 was a go. 

So in I went this morning. Had my ultrasound and my uterine lining is thin and looking good. All we had to do was wait for the phone call to see if my estrodial levels are below 50. That was the goal.

They were at 20. It's a go!

First shot of round 3!
Also, because you all want to know… first BBQ picture of the season!!!
So, here we go my friends. The schedule from last post is still what we are going to. 
Shots, shots, SHOTS!!!!

Also, I have an iPhone now. This may mean a different perspective of pictures. Hence the first picture. 

Thursday, March 26, 2015

Round 3 - Here We Go!

Since we miscarried back at the end of Dec, moments after we got the word that our second little's heart had stopped beating, Thomas turned and looked at me and said, "I want to do it again".

So here we are. Doing it again. Round 3. Third times the charm!


First off, I am blogging real time again.
Since I know that is what you all really want to know.
 
Logistics:
A few things that I think are important more for those who are actually going through IVF yourselves or are curious about the little nuggets that no one ever tells you. 
 
I was put on birth control back on Feb 7th when I started my cycle for the first time after miscarrying. No big deal except for the fact that I was told not to go off of my birth control until I was scheduled for the next round on Mar 24th. For those of you who are really good at quick math, that is 6 weeks and 3 days of being on birth control. That is all fine and dandy, except my body knows what to do and when my 4th week rolled around, it decide to start spotting. That has happened during Round 1, so I wasn't all that concerned. Well when it turned into the second week, I decided to call the nurse. 

So here is your nugget. She told me, "you can have your cycle all you want, but as long as you keep taking your birth control, that will hold your ovaries at bay." Well. I can do that.
 
And for those of you who don't feel like reading my whole life story, and for those of you who it still doesn't make sense, the reason we take birth control before a round of IVF, is so that a) we can get on a schedule for the first week of the month, and b) we can allow our bodies to relax and not release an egg that month.

Emotions:
It has been an interesting last 2 weeks. Honestly I was doing just fine until about a week ago. Between the birth control hormones and my cycle trying to break through hormones, I was not my normal self. (Don't worry, I am back). The thing is, I have been fine about all of this. I definitely know that this is all in God's timing. 

But last week I was struggling. I was struggling with fear. The fear of the outcome of Round 1 - IVF not working, and the fear of the outcome of Round 2 - miscarriage. I know it was all hormone based because I am never that way, but even the reminder that this is all in God's hands and His timing is perfect, was more words then true belief. And the shots. I do not want to do all those shots again!

Thankfully, today I am fine. The hormones have passed and thankfully I am back to my normal self. I know that this is all in God's timing and truly believe it again. I know that the shots wont be all that bad, and that He is good and has the perfect continuation of our story. And I am fired up and ready to go!! Come on period!!! Come on!!!

Time Frame:
This time around, because I already had 2 rounds under my belt, we basically combined the 2 to make the perfect schedule. We knew from round 1, that when I am on birth control for a long time, I start my cycle with in 48 hours of stopping birth control. We also know with round 2, because the medication amounts are going to be exactly the same, that it will take me 9 days of shots total to get me to where they want me to be. Take those 2 numbers, the fact that we need to see when Thomas's Dr has availability, and voila, we have our schedule. 

So my last day of birth control was on Tuesday Mar 24th. So today Mar 26th is the day my cycle should start. Which means that this Sat is the day that I go in for my first blood work, ultrasound, and if all looks good and I don't have wacky ovaries or hormones... Round 3 will be a go and I will start shots Sat night.

Now with all of that being said...
So for those of you who are date oriented...
24 Mar - Stop birth control
26 Mar - Start Cycle (today!)
28 Mar - blood work appointment (if cleared); start injections
1 Apr - Start 2 shots
5 Apr - Final Shot
7 Apr - Extraction Day!
10 Apr - Day 3 Implant
12 Apr - Day 5 Implant
22 Apr - Find out yay or nay.

And for those of you who are visually oriented...

So there you have it. Round 3. 
Let's do this thing!