Stims

Well today will be Day 7 of stims.  Day 1-5 was 300 units of Gonal F and yesterday it was upped to 375.  First monitoring appt was Tuesday.  I waited a long time to be seen and got a nurse practitioner who wasn't very friendly so all I found out was that I had a bunch of follicles and she told me to keep my meds the same.  When I got home I checked online and my Estradiol level was 209, LH 1.27, and progesterone .4 also she measured 5 follicles all around 8mms.  I emailed the nurse I like and she told me everything looked good so I felt better. 

Yesterday I went for another monitoring appt.  I am sick of the 2 hour drive already and going up there every other day!!  So I requested the nurse I like this time.  She measured 7 follicles on the left and 4 on the right that were between 10-12 mms.  My Estradiol level was 495, LH 1.44 and Progesterone .5 which is about where she told me I should be.  She did up my Gonal F tho.  She told me I should be triggering on Monday and retrieval Wed and Transfer Saturday or Monday.

So I figured out how many meds I have left and I will have enough to get me thru Sunday.  If I don't trigger Monday and need to still stim I will probably only have 200 to 300 units which might not be enough.  This concerns me a lot.  It didn't seem to have the nurse worried though.  I called freedom fertility and they can send me meds if they get the script by tomorrow morning. 

I have monitoring again tomorrow so I have my fingers crossed that they just lower my dose so I have enough.  I just REALLY don't want to buy more and definitely if we don't really need it.  I hate to waste money!! So hopefully my nurse can have a good idea if its going to be needed Monday or not so I know if to order it tomorrow. 

I am trying hard to stay calm but it is not easy for me!!

So I almost forgot the best part of my appt yesterday.  She told me my lining was 7...Yes 7!!  I am in total shock...the thickest my lining ever got was 6 for my IUIs and this time its already 7!!  I hope it continues to get nice and thick!!

Here we go

So had my baseline bloodwork and ultrasound yesterday.  I was concerned it would be canceled because when I got up I still hadn't gotten my period, but by the time I got out of the shower I was a little.  They had scheduled me for Friday and had never said anything about canceling if I didn't have my period but I was still worried they would say "sorry you drove 2 hours for nothing."  The nurse said I had lots of little follicles and no cysts right now so we were good to go!  She gave us our free meds (Gonal F) and showed us how to do it.  It's nothing like I expected.  The nurse does have me worried.  She told us she think the doctor put me on too high a dose (300 units a day for 3 days).  I asked her if we should double check with the doctor and she told me "No we have to go by his plan" Well then why she say anything to me???  I am already a worrier and now I have MORE to worry about.  Thanks Lady!!  She did say if everything goes as planned retrieval might be Dec 3rd.  So next week I have to drive 2 hours for my monitoring visits Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday.  Now I gotta get those days off work.

We did bite the bullet and buy the 2 IVFs.  The financial lady (the 3rd one I've spoken to now) said we didn't have to pay or decide till the day of retrieval, but G knowing me so well said "We are buying 2 and paying today" because she knows that's all I will think about for a week and a half....wondering what is best to do.  So she just made the decision for me which I am grateful for.  Sometimes I just wish I could shut my head off!!

Today was my first Gonal F shot.  The Lupron got lowered to 5 units so G did that with no problem of course.  She's gotten very good at that and it doesn't hurt.  G and I were both worried about the Gonal F shot.  That thing is scary....well at least it is to me might not be for you brave people.  We watched videos online and G said she was ready.  She did it and says "oh that wasn't as bad as I thought" and I am thinking to myself "OMG that hurt more then I thought" LOL...But really the needle didn't hurt it was the meds...they burned really bad.  I think next time I am going to get a cotton ball to put over it right away like they did online maybe that will help with the burn...I am hoping!!  I lived through it and that is all that matters!!! =)

Hoping lots of healthy eggs are growing inside me!!

Decisions

Well we have a few decisions to make very soon.  I over think everything so it makes this very tough.  First we need to decide on a sperm donor. We are buying from Cryogentic Laboratory (CLI) and we have it down to 2.  4510 and 4207.  G picked 4510 so that is probably the one we will go with.  I was going to order today when we got home, but they closed at 3 today!! Grrr....The plus is they just posted a thanksgiving special that is 100 dollars off, but you have to order online because they are closed till Monday.  Well 4510 is actually a featured donor for November so it gets half price shipping, but when I place the order online it doesn't come up half price so I am not sure what to do.  If I wait till  Monday when I can talk to a real person the special won't be still running.  I am going to try to order tomorrow and hope it works correctly.  If it doesn't idk what I will do. 

The other decision we have to make is to buy 1 or 2 IVFs.  If we buy 1 its 5000 dollars plus 750 monitoring.  If we buy two its 7500 dollars plus 750 for each monitoring.  Each IVF comes with an FET but need to pay 750 monitoring for each FET as well.  If we deliver a baby after the first IVF or an FET then we lose the 2nd IVF.  If we need to use the 2nd IVF then we need to do it within a year of paying for them.  I really don't want to buy 2 because of the cost, but want to because then maybe I will be more calm thinking we always have a backup.  Also they told me that G could use the 2nd IVF if the first doesn't work with me and we decide to use her body instead.  The one question I have for my clinic is do you have to use all frozen embryos before using the 2nd IVF?  I saw that somewhere online and that could get costly if we have a bunch of eggs which wouldn't save us money then if we have to do more then the FET I get with the IVF.  So I emailed them that question along with others..... they answered all the other questions, but not that one so I emailed them again with it.  I am sure I wont hear back till Friday tho. 

So besides these 2 things that have been driving me crazy everything has been great.  G and I have been off for the last 2 days and actually we both have off till Saturday when I have to go back to work.  Its been wonderful to spend time with her and we actually haven't fought at all!!  I think it's because things are relaxed and we are getting time for just us!!  I really needed this.  The stress of TTC gets to me.  We went Christmas shopping yesterday and got our hair cut today!  The nicest thing tho is getting to sleep in!!  I am loving that!!

Oh the Lupron shots are going well.  G is very good at giving them...I really don't even feel them.  I am hoping we find out on Friday (our baseline) that we don't have to start monitoring till Tuesday because if we have to start Monday then I have to call off work since it's a Holiday weekend so I won't be able to request off.  One nurse told me I would have to come back Monday OR Tuesday, but another nurse told me I HAVE to come back Monday.  So I am not sure which one is right.  I am keeping my fingers crossed for Tuesday. 

Hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving!!

Our Luck

This week has been pretty lucky for us.  First thing was Monday being told we would most likely qualify for the free meds.  Then Tuesday was Bingo day!  We really do it because we enjoy it, its something we can do together, and we find it relaxing, but who doesn't like winning as well?!  Well I won first winning 50 dollars....which is the most I've ever won there.  Then they did door prizes and I won a turkey...now its a 19lb turkey which I have NO idea what to do with!! lol I can barely cook and can definitely not cook a turkey, but I won it so I am happy!! Luckily my mom will probably cook it for us! =)  Georgia won 20 dollars in one game then she won the last game and it was for about 250 dollars!  It wasn't the 2000 dollar game I REALLY wanted to win, but we would take it!!

Wednesday I called my new docs office financial department (they were suppose to call me actually but never did)  They made excuses saying they thought the other girl called me. Oh well doesn't matter now.  They ordered my Lupron and told me it would be 150 but when Apothecary by Design called me to get my credit card and shipping info they told me it would only be 99!  So more good news.

Thursday I got a call and was told we did qualify for free meds so we were going to be getting 3500 worth of free meds!!! YAY!!


So this brings us to yesterday..... we went to the new Doc's (Dr. K) office for the first time.  We LOVED it!!  And we finally got to meet Dr. K.  I had talked to him on the phone but G hadn't even gotten to do that.  He is even better in person.  Dr. K did my HSG which surprised me.  I was sure he had staff to do testing etc, but I was wrong.  Him and his nurse were so great and understand with my anxiety problems and this HSG went much smoother then my last one!!  Everything looked good Dr. K said!!  Yay more good news!!  G of course couldn't be in there with me so she was concerned she wouldn't get to meet Dr. K.  But when we were in another room waiting for blood work and to be shown how to do the Lupron shots he popped in and met G and this gave me a chance to find out when to stop the awful BCPs.  He told me to start 10ccs of the Lupron daily that day then to take my last BCP Tuesday and come in for baseline Friday!  G really liked Dr K too!  So they took a TON of blood from me.  I guess they are doing genetic testing???  Idk I've never had that done before.  Then the nurse was about to show us how to do the Lupron shots.  I had asked to be shown because G had said since my first shot incident that she would NEVER give me one again.  The nurse convinced her to try to do them again.  Telling her I won't pass out this time.  I think G seeing her do it and me not pass out helped a ton with her decision.  I am just so grateful she has agreed to do them.  I really wasn't sure if I could do them and didn't want to drive somewhere every night to have someone else do it.  So Yay more good news!!  We got a tour of the facility....its very nice.  We feel really good about all this.  I have since the day I decided to switch to this doc.  I really hope everything keeps going so smoothly and we will be pregnant before Christmas!!

I am also thinking about doing acupuncture.  What are your thoughts??  My fertility center has a wellness spa connected that does it.  It isn't cheap but I am thinking since I had thin lining troubles in the past a few sessions before might be a good idea.  I get one free session the day of transfer I guess.  So I am thinking I would pay for 2 or 3 sessions before and then use my free one.  I have to call and ask them about that. 

We are just so excited things are moving so quickly!! 

Confusion

Sorry that I didn't update sooner, but there as been a lot of confusion about starting my IVF process so I didn't want to post till I got all that cleared up!  Wednesday was my phone consult with my new doctor.  I LOVE him.  He was so nice and enthusiastic, but did talk way to fast so I didn't catch everything which might have led to some of the confusion. lol  After talking to him he had his financial department call me who I guess set everything up.  Well 2 woman from that department called me and gave me different stories and both said they would talk to the doc and get back to me, but didn't so since my new doc had given me his cell number I texted him to asking him to call me to explain.  Yes my doc gave me his cell number I couldn't believe it!!  And he called me that night at 8:30 and cleared everything up for me.  If you can believe this I still haven't even given them a dime yet and they are doing all this planning for me.  I am very impressed.

Anyways I go for another HSG and I am assuming bloodwork as well on Friday.  Then the doctor is going to discuss with me when I start the Lupron.  And from what I understand if everything looks ok I will start it right away.  Then in a bit stop taking my BCPs so that I get my period and can get a baseline U/S.  I then think I start Gonal F.  I am hoping after Friday more will be explained.

His office also gave me information to apply for free injectables which I did and they are telling me I should qualify!  That would be great and I hope to know in a few days.  I guess I would get 3000 units of Gonal F and 1 ovidrel.  If anyone wants the information to apply just comment or email me and I will get you the information.

Today my old docs office called (I guess my new doc requested my records) and told me I would have to pay them 50 dollars before they would send my records.  I was upset, but in the end paid them because my new doc wants the information about my surgeries.  I told them I would only pay if they sent my doc a copy in the mail and faxed me a copy.  That way I will always have my own copy so I won't have to pay them the 50 dollars again.  My family doc has actually been wanting to see my records because she doesn't believe I have PCOS because I am not over weight.

So I am hopeful this will all go smoothly and I will know if we are pregnant before Christmas!  What a great present that would be!!

Preparing for Tomorrow

So tomorrow is a big day for us.  Well at least it feels this way for me.  I think it is going to be the start of the end of this infertility journey.  Tomorrow is our phone consult with our new doc and I am hoping to start IVF ASAP. The new clinic just feels right and so far I really like them.  The woman that emailed me the paperwork I needed before our phone consult was very nice and emailed me back right away with any questions I had.  I have NEVER had that with a doc before.  Usually its days and many phone calls/emails before I hear back. 

Right now I am trying to get everything ready for the consult.  I want everything written down so I don't forget to ask or tell him something...even tho I know I will forget something I always do!! lol Does anyone have any suggestions??

I hope the doc wants to start ASAP for two reasons.  1. of course we just want to get started already!! and 2. because I want to stop taking these dumb BCPs.  Poor G I rip her head off about every other day.  I don't know how straight people take these all the time.  I hate them!!

I really need to pick a new sperm donor as well.  During our IUI attempts we used 3 different donors and every time I put lots of work into finding the perfect one.  This time I am just not as excited about it.  I have already decided we are going to use cryogenic laboratories as long as our new doc says that's ok.  So one decision down.  Now I just have to go through all their donors and narrow it down.  Then I have to decide how many vials to order.  We only need 1 for the IVF from what I have been told about our new clinic, but should I buy extras for when G does IVF??  I only want to carry once I told G (who wants lots of kids) if she wants more then she has to carry the rest!  She does want to carry and she wants them to be biologically hers so we wouldn't use any embryos I might have left over after my IVF unless for some reason hers aren't good.  G has never been tested or gone through any of these fertility things (lucky her).  She is a supervisor with crazy work hours so we just thought it was best for me to try first.  I know I am acting like this IVF try will work the first time.  I just feel like it will and I believe being positive about this is a good thing!!  I sometimes have trouble being positive!!  So if you have any thoughts or suggestions about how many vials I should store please let me know!...I guess I should put that on my list to ask the doc!!

I am pretty excited about tomorrow.  The appt is at 7 am.  I probably won't be able to sleep tonight, but luckily it's first thing in the morning so I won't have to wait all day tomorrow.  Also another thing I am excited about is it is Tuesday.  That means Bingo day lol....Yes G and I act older then we are.  We usually go to Bingo on Tuesday evenings.  We enjoy it and tonight we could win 2000 dollars so that would be a huge help with paying for IVF.  So keep your fingers crossed for us!! 

Venting

Ok so I need to vent a little.  It is somewhat off topic, but I need to do it.  G's sister M is basically worthless. She has 4 kids.  The kids are N, T, E, D.  E lives with his father because D's father abused him.  D's father is in jail for doing that.  Also M went to jail for allowing the abuse to happen.  Ok so that is some background hope you were able to follow all that!

Well if you can't tell she is SELFISH.  And I won't go into every example of that or I would be writing for days.  I will just talk about what I am upset about right now.  She has multiple criminal charges with fines of course.  She over drafts her account every week and pays huge over draft fees, she is a smoker so buys cigs every day, and she has a terrible driving record so pays 400 a month for insurance plus 300 for a car payment.  BUT (and here is why I am mad) she has NO money for her kids.  She didn't get them Halloween costumes and wasn't even going to take them trick-or-treating last night because (another reason I am mad) she let her boyfriend take her car to work.  So G to the rescue.  I would of told her you should have bought your kids stuff and you shouldn't have let your boyfriend come before them.  I would have taken her to get her car so that she could take her own kids trick-or-treating, but not what G did.   M knows her family will bail her out.  They always do.  And they shouldn't because her kids suffer long term.

So why does this upset me so much?  I am sure you guys know.  Its because M was able to pop out 4 kids no problem and doesn't take care of them and here we are struggling.  We would do anything to get pregnant and would do everything for our child/children but she doesn't do anything for hers.  Those kids have to take care of themselves or other people have to. M never does anything for them, but will do anything for herself or her boyfriend.  Actually I think she takes better care of his kids then she does her own.  Physically makes me so sick.  It is disgusting.

So sorry for my rant.  I just needed to get it off my chest.