Stim Day 6...

Those are nice, huh? They even go all the way up to the knee!

Six days in, and it is time for another ultrasound and more blood work.

Today we saw 10 on the right side, 11mm being the largest. On the left there were 11 (only 6 that will likely be mature at ER) and 12.5mm was the largest. My lining is nice and thick at 9.5mm, it was only 7.5 at this stage last time! I'll go back on Friday for another ultrasound and more blood work.

There was a little comedy in the ultrasound room this morning. When my doctor came into the room to do the ultrasound she grabbed the ultrasound gel to prep the wand and sprayed it all over herself. We all laughed and she likened her situation to the one portrayed in 'Something about Mary'... hilarious. We all laughed and agreed that ultrasound gel would be better than the alternative. Next, I nearly kicked her in the face while assuming the position and she called herself a few names. This is why I love my doctor- we are totally on the same wave length. She is the perfect mix of serious and comical.

Hubs has been concerned about the placement of the circles for my IM men.opur injections. I asked about it today, and it was decided that while it was probably fine, we'd let him win this one and move them down just a tad. So, in case you're wondering, I have all kinds of sharpie marks on my back/rear right now.

Depending on my E2 level, we'll see where my follistim dose goes. I'm not even pretending to know what they'll do with it at this point! If I had to guess I'd think if it isn't decreased today, it will be on Friday. ** E2 came back at 700, so we're decreasing the dose to 100iu of Follistim instead of 150.**

I'm still feeling pretty good, tired and more bloated with the day, but overall there isn't too much pain or heaviness just yet. I really wish I liked protein more because I know it would help, for now the Gatorade will have to do!

I watched Biggest Loser this morning... I bet you can guess how that one ended. Really, was it necessary to reunite them with their spouses today? It was nearly more than I could take. 

Stim Day 5...

First, thanks to everyone who has given me the Liebster blog award. I am typically pretty crappy at playing along with these awards- and it seems as though pretty much everyone I follow has already received it!

I'm five days in, and boy can I feel it. My energy level is taking a nose dive and my mid-section is in a bit of turmoil. I've been interested in how this cycle matches up to the last, so here are the findings so far....

• At suppression: More follies present for IVF #1. Ovaries looked less 'PCOS-y' for IVF#2.
• I started on the same dose of menopur, but DOUBLE the dose of follistim. 
• In terms of total doses of follistim, I am currently about to days ahead of where I was last time. However, the plan is to work in the opposite direction as we did last time, tapering down instead of up. The hope is more mature eggs than last time. 
• The calm feeling remains. I'm not overly worried about anything. I have no idea what my E2 level was yesterday, and I am 100% ok with it. 
• I've started the precautionary OHSS diet earlier this time around. As soon as I felt any bloating I started drinking Gatorade, trying to be better about getting plenty of protein and cut back on the carbs and sugar. So far, it has helped relieve the bloating significantly and hopefully it will keep me in the clear after retrieval. 
• I weigh about 20 pounds less than I did for IVF#1.
• The random crying is similar to last time. Most of the time it is somewhat predictable, but sometimes it is 100% random. This morning I was watching a TV show, and though it was touching, it wasn't worthy of tears, so there I sat crying... and laughing at myself for crying. Nothing says irrational like a hormonal woman.
• Lemonade Gatorade is still my favorite flavor. For now. 
• Follistim stings A LOT more than it did last time. 

I'm currently setting up Netflix for bed rest.... what should I add??

So much to say...

I have approximately one million things to say, so here they are in no particular order....

Today is stim day four. I'm starting to feel bloated and sore-ish. And the bruises- they're annoying!

We cut down our christmas tree over the weekend- hopefully I'll have it decorated by the end of the day.

I had lunch with E today- I'm already totally bummed that she is moving away next year!

Monitoring appointment #1 was today. It looks like we have about 20 possible contenders. The largest was about 9mm and my lining was 5.5 with a triple stripe. So far so good! I heard back from the nurse after my blood work came back. She said the levels looked great, so we're keeping at the same dose (1 vial menopur and 150iu of foll.istim). I'm back in the office Wednesday and Friday for ultrasounds and blood work.

I think I missed the boat on exercise during stims. I was hoping to make a couple more trips to the gym, but I have a feeling that ship has sailed.

We bought a fraction of a cow... I'm a recovering vegetarian. In a typical week we eat beef maybe once or twice. I have a feeling that is about to change. What exactly is a person supposed to do with cube steak?

I hate it when there isn't enough left in your foll.istim cartridge for your whole dose. Two pokes=two bruises. Lame.

When I arrived home from our thanksgiving travels I had a package waiting on my doorstep from Janet! She sent me some seriously rad socks and her favorite book! What a fun and thoughtful little surprise! Thanks, Janet!!!!

I've started drinking Gatorade to combat the bloat, so far it is not that bad. I'm sure I'll be singing a different tune a couple weeks from now. So far light blue and red are winners.

I got to snuggle with my nephews over the holiday- I love those boys!!!

I didn't witness a single black Friday fight! I did manage to find some good deals, but I didn't buy a single thing for anyone other than us. I scored some new sheets, jeans and a movie. I'm saving the nice new sheets for bed rest!

We managed the injection without letting on what we were up to. We just decided to take it early (5am) before I had to meet up with my Mom and SILs for shopping at 530. Since then, we've slowly pushed the time later and now we're up to our usual morning injection time of 6am.

Here's a picture of today's socks:

I got the results back from the pap with my new OB/gyn- everything is normal in there. Well,at least as far as that us concerned.

I had a dream over the weekend that I gave birth to a baby girl. She was perfect in every way, even if she was 27 inches long at birth!

Suppression Socks...

I thought I should post a picture of my socks from last week's suppression check before Monday's monitoring appointment!

Otherwise, we're just plugging along with stims- currently on day three. We'll see on Monday what is happening in there- I'm guessing we're about one week away from triggering. My abdomen is already feeling bloated. The men.opur is stinging WAY more than it did last time, but we are getting through it. I'm just glad I'm only taking one vial!!!!

I take it back...

Uhhh, guess who spoke too soon? My nurse called this afternoon I'm starting stims on Friday instead of Saturday. Which in the long run could be great news (I'll explain when I'm not typing on my phone) but for now, it really eff's with my black Friday mojo.

I'm sure I'll figure something out. How exactly do I explain needing to see my husband privately for 10 minutes at 6:30am when no one knows we're doing IVF? I'll let you know what I come up with!

Suppressed!

I had my suppression check this morning with one of the other doctors in the practice. I saw him several times while my doctor was on maternity leave last spring and we had a few comical run ins-  here and here. Thankfully nothing crazy happened today, just an ultrasound that showed suppressed ovaries and follies that were begging to be stimulated. Or something like that.

My ovaries looked a little different today- dare I say less PCOS-y than usual?!? There were about 9 follies on each side that were measuring somewhere in the realm of 6-7.5mm. My lining was 3mm. As I was writing this, the nurse called and said my E2 was nice and low at 32. So over all, there look to be fewer follicles from the start this time. But, I also know that my doctor counts ALL of the follicles at the suppression check and I'm not sure the doctor I saw today was counting the tiny ones. Either way, there are plenty!

Once all was said and done, ultrasound...blood draw...tats drawn on my hips, I had the pleasure of racking up some airline miles for what will surely be a baby-moon in the near future. And by this, I mean I paid for our cycle. And it was painful.

We're still set to start stims on Saturday morning, because it would be un-holy to make me rearrange my Black Friday shopping plans for something silly like a needle being shoved into my hip. This my friends, is why I LOVE my nurse!

Are you getting up at the crack of dawn and shopping on Friday? I'm waiting to hear my SIL's plan of attack and I'm kind of crossing my fingers that it doesn't start at midnight! Though, nothing says holiday cheer like watching a couple of women fight over a pillow pet  in the wee morning hours. I'm sure I'll be back with stories!


3 days until we start stims.
5 days until my first monitoring appointment!

I have a picture of my socks today but I can't seem to get it to upload... maybe I can share it over the weekend!

Sometimes I'd like to...

...throw bricks at stupid peoples' faces. Ok, so maybe that is kinda harsh, but have you seen this little gem on Facebook?

IS EXPECTING!!!!!!! 6 weeks!! I know it's crazy ain't it? I can't believe it myself! I wasn't going to put it on here but wanted to make it official. I mean who would have guessed that we're expecting! Yup, its official.... we are expecting Santa in just 6 weeks!!!

Last night when I couldn't sleep it seemed like a good idea to open facebook on my phone... WRONG! The person who posted this has already gotten pregnant twice and birthed two babies in the time we've been trying to get pregnant... and the youngest is nearly ONE! Why do people think fake pregnancy announcements are so funny? 

But, I'm not bitter. Not.at.all. 

Nor am I hormonal. 

Just for the record.