Still Waiting....

Did I mention that waiting stinks? Mr. P just got done with 4 days of basketball camps so that meant I spent a lot of time alone. Most of my friends have families and spend their summers taking kids to the pool, the library, or just taking care of their family. It is hard when you're childless during the summer. We usually go on vacation but due to the huge amount of money we just spent on IVF we are going no where. So I'm stuck at home, worrying, waiting not very patiently, not able to spend money, and by myself. Not a great combination. It doesn't help that when P gets home from camp he doesn't really want to do anything and I'm itching to do ANYTHING. Since I have all sorts of pent up energy I would normally go work out, clean the basement or something active but I'm too afraid to do much of anything until I know if we're going to be parents.

All of this makes for a frustrated, emotional me. Oh, tomorrow is our 7 year anniversary and I would love to do SOMETHING to celebrate. P is fine with going to dinner at a restaurant that we go to normally. To me that doesn't count. Plus, that only takes a couple of hours. He doesn't ever think we need a big celebration. Not for birthdays either. This is one area that seems to be a sore point in our relationship. I want to celebrate. I want at least something as a gift. He wants nothing and often gives nothing. So I've been thinking the last two weeks about how nice it would be to get some flowers. I'm not holding my breath though, I doubt it will happen tomorrow.

Oh and he can't go with me to get my blood drawn on Thursday because of open gym for basketball. Not to mention there is at least one other coach there all the time. Can't he just skip for one day? I don't really want to be sitting for 2 hours ALONE waiting then either.

Argh... a little frustrated. Maybe it is the pregnancy hormones talking. :-)

Update

Wow, I didn't realize that I was so far behind. Retrieval went well. There were 15 eggs. We had decided to go ahead and fertilize some with ICSI just so that we were guaranteed some would be fertilized. So 11 were fertilized using ICSI and 4 naturally. Overall 7 fertilized, 5 ICSI and 2 natural.

The retrieval wasn't too bad. The drugs really knocked me out so it is all a blur. I slept most of the day and then laid low on Wednesday. I was still a little sore.

Our 7 embryos all made it until Saturday which was transfer day. The Good Doctor said he didn't remember the last time that had happened. :-) We took that as a good sign. Our doctor doesn't grade the embryos like some others, at least we didn't know to ask and they didn't tell. I'm guessing they all looked good.

Saturday they transferred 2. It was cold and rainy and we had to get to the acupuncturist at 6 am, then the Good Doctor at 7, then after the procedure lay for an hour and then back to the acupuncturist. Once I got home it was best rest for 3 days.

The actual transfer went well. The doctor told us what to expect after the results from the pregnancy test on the 24th. He said we were great patients to work with and he felt like we had a better than average chance of getting pregnant. :-) All great things to hear. We of course have heard that everything went great almost every time we did an IUI, and nothing ever happened. So we are hoping for the best this time.

The three days were awful. I thought I would sleep a lot and it would be relaxing since the weather was so bad. But laying down for that long makes your body sore. P was an awesome nurse and waiting on me with no complaining. He also kindly reminded me that I needed to be laying down if he thought I was up for too long. Needless to say I was very happy to be done with that.

Luck and Such...

Today was also my last acupuncture appointment. I have been going for the last 4 or five weeks. I'm willing to try whatever might help. She has been working on egg quality and creating a nice lining. The last two times I went I left with little tiny beads in my ears. I'm not exactly sure what they were for but I think it was for all of the discomfort that comes with over full ovaries.

P also was at his parent's house and was in charge of finding a four-leaf clover. Luckily he did and hopefully it will do its job. Sorry picture is a little blurry.

Retrieval

Tomorrow is retrieval day and I couldn't be happier. On my last day of shots, Saturday, I almost couldn't do it. It wasn't especially painful but I think my body was done. I felt faint and sick just standing. I'm glad that P is in charge of all shots from here on out.

I have about 10 eggs that look like good candidates. I'm a little disappointed that that is all I have. The good doctor expected much more since there were no signs that they shouldn't. I guess all of the eggs in my ovaries at the beginning of this cycle didn't want to leave yet. Oh well, it should be enough. We just need one or two, right?

P gave my trigger/HCG shot last night. I was a little concerned because he hates needles. But he did a wonderful job. Even better than the last shot I got at the doctors office. I guess his dart throwing practice earlier in the day helped out.

I wish I knew...

that the menopur disappears instantaneously when you add liquid. Tonight was the first night for Follistim and Menopur. I got the Follistim pen working and it took a while but that went great. I went to mix up the Menopur and did okay but just put in a couple of drops of the solvent (can't remember what it is) and then was freaked out because I didn't see any of the white stuff. Well, then I thought I was a little crazy. I knew I had just opened the bottle and I think something was in there. So just to be safe I paid more attention and tried again. So... I'm out one vial of Menopur. Maybe I won't need it. We did go through the steps of mixing the meds yesterday but didn't actually use the real stuff. I think it would have been good to do it for real. I unfortunately learn best by doing. :-) I'm sure I'll be an expert soon.

The journey so far...

Well it has been 8 days since my first Lupron injection. I stopped taking BCP on Sunday and am very impatiently waiting on the monthly visitor to make some sort of appearance, yesterday. I'm a little worried because I left out my Lupron the first day of my injections. I realized it as I went to bed that night. Had a little bit of a meltdown. Starting meds on the 3rd to last day of school doesn't go so well. Well luckily it really wasn't a big deal. I did have to order a new vial though.

Tomorrow I have bloodwork, an ultrasound and instructions on Menopur and Follistim. I'm a little worried about what will become of my stomach once I start shots 3 times a day. I already am collecting a nice line of bruises in various colors. Is that going to get worse? I'm guessing yes. I also love that all my jeans land right on the line of bruises. Not very comfortable. I think I will be living in my workout pants for the 2 1/2 weeks.

So far so good though. I'm starting to feel a little anxious. I think not having a normal routine is making that worse. I have been taking an independent study class. So I've spent 8 hours a day working in my room, alone. That gives me a little too much time to think about things.

As expected...

I didn't get pregnant on the last ditch effort IUI before we start IVF this month. And it always seems like there is pregnancy every where on the day I find out I'm not. Go figure it was even the "5 0'clock phone call" on the local radio station. Something about hormonal pregnancy rants, or something.

Oh well, still waiting on the monthly visitor and then we can get started.