Retrieval

Today is Egg Retrieval.

There's not really a lot to say before retrievel is there?  Jakobe went in this morning to provide his deposit, and my best friend is picking me uyp and being my chauffeur today.  Waaay better than the cab ride home I had planned.

I'll be back to say how it went.

On anothers subject, kinda - when we started the process for this cycle, I asked the RE if I could keep nursing while we were going through it, and he said that it was okay.  there's no real research either way on how it affects outcomes, and whn he's had patients where it was difficult for them to conceive (even with IVF) the first time, he would reccommend that they enjoy the child that they have.  So - that's what we did.  I'm still nursing Niko, but as my hormone levels have gone completely crazy, my nipple have become incredibly sore, and it appears that my milk has mostly dried up.  we'll see what happens when they start to return to normal, but it still may be the beginning of the end.

I feel blessed to have been able to nurse her for almost 16 months at this point, and if this works, we may end up dry nursing for part of the pregnancy and then tandem nursing again later.  Or it doesn't work, and we've had that wonderful relationship, and maybe my milk will come back.  She still likes to nurse 3-5 times a day, it's just been a bit curtailed with all of the early RE appointments.

Time to take the shot

Today is trigger day again.  It seems like things are looking god.  I've got the details from yesterday that I will share, but the doctor said this morning they they would call today to tell me what time to trigger.

I have a baby shower to go to tonight (which I forgot to wrap the gift for (Probably because Niko was sick last night.  She needed cuddling, had a slight fever, and needed a couple of nebulizer treatments.)  I feel bad that I won't be able to spend a lot of time with her tonight.  But I'm excited for my friend who is coming to the end of another successful IVF cycle.

Yesterday's details:

e2: 2889
Prog: 0.9
Follicles
Right - 4x18-19mm, 2x16mm
Left - 5x18-19mm 1x17mm

Today's details to follow, sometime...

IVF 3 Updates

So I've been lax in posting my Stims details.  Needless to say, it's going well.

Cycle Day 6 - Stims Day 4 (last Thursday)

e2  - 644
Prog - 0.5
Follicles
Left: 6 between 10 and 13 mm
Right: 1 @ 11mm 7 @ 10mm

Cycle Day 8  - Stims Day 6 (Saturday)
I've got this one written down at home, so I don't have the exact numbers
e2 - 1600ish
Prog - 0.7

Follicles
Left: 1 @ 16 + 5 more
Right 1 @ 15 + 5 more

Cycle Day 10 - Stims Day 8  (Today)

No lab values yet - I promise they're coming (I do want to track for my own future reference if nothing else)

Follicles
A whole bunch.  Largest ones are in the 20 range.  I'm looking at probably one more day of stims and then trigger tomorrow.  there weren't many at 20, so I think they'll probably want to let them cook one more day.  And that's what the doctor implied during my ultrasound this morning.  We're getting close to the home stretch.

When I look back at the last micro flare cycle - this is looking about the same.  I started off with a couple more countable follicles this time (maybe that means I'll have a few more eggs to work with?  So, it feels good and it feels bad.  We got a good crop of eggs last time, and 7 of them ended up fertilizing, but none were transferable...  THAT REALLY SUCKS, and I don't want to go there again.

Other than that.  I'm doing pretty good.  Jakobe and I had a weekend out.  We went and stayed in the Davenport Hotel, spent a lot of time reconnecting with each other, and ti's probably a good thing, cause the last couple of weeks have been pretty rocky for us.  The IVF itself is a lot easier(Mostly because I don't deem to be a hormonal, moody, emotional train wreck!)

Last time about this time I told you all I felt like the Sta-Pufft Marshmallow Man.  It's true.  I have another way I've been describing it this time:

  Imagine that you have to fart - really fart - and you just can't.  You can feel everything built up in your belly, and it's just not going anywhere.  Yep - that's where I am.

I'll get you the final update on what day 10 really looks like a bit later.

Labs Update

Here are the actual details from this morning:

Blood work:

• E2: 27.2
• Prog 0.21
• LH 6.3

Follicles

• Right: 4
• Left: 6
• for a total of 10 - which is the lowest I've seen, but I know it varies from month to month for me, and It's still in the okay range.

All around the mulberry bush...

I wrote a whole post about how my marriage is falling apart, and we're doing IVF anyway, but decided that it was too depressing, and rambling and not at all funny.  Given the subject, I wonder why...

SO on the sunnier side of things.  My meds are here, I had my first cycle ultrasound this morning, and I think I had 10 antral follicles.(I'll get more accurate numbers when the nurse calls with my labs later today.)

I'm on a microdose Lupron flare protocol again this time, because it worked pretty well the last time. 

I'm feeling relaxed, and positive about this cycle.  Not positive as in I'm sure it's going to work (I'm thinking we're probably throwing money into a pit - it might throw up a baby in return, but it'll probably grin and belch instead) but positive as in, this is going to be okay.

Just to fill you in on details - and there's a bunch because I haven't been posting as frequently as I meant to.

My last Day 3 labs - May 9th:

• Estradiol 41.9
• FSH 7.6 
• LH 3.5
• FSH/LH ratio 2.1:1
• TSH 1.22

My first labs from this cycle (before I stopped the BCP) - August 6th

• Estradiol: 27.6
• Progrsterone: 0.3
• LH 3.5

Jakobe's Semen Analysis - end of July, results received August 7th

• Total Count: 17 Million
• Morphology: 3% (strict)
• Motile Percentage: 18%
• Motile count: 3 Million
• 100% lack good forward progression

So - not a whole lot has changed since our last cycle almost 2 years ago - You know, other than my eggs getting older and more stale.  I'll post today's lab values a bit later.

One quick comment about the thing that makes this whole process a lot less stressful:

Isn't she adorable?