Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Better news



Today was our "post" IVF appointment and I was really nervous about what they were going to say. I was so nervous that I didn't sleep much last night. But let me tell you what a relief this appointment was. Our doctor is so wonderful and understanding and optimistic. I don't know what we'd do without his support and compassion. He explained to us that there is nothing wrong with me that they know of. They think they might have just gotten the dosage of drugs wrong. They didn't want to overstimulate me so they gave me the lowest dose they could.

He also explained that they didn't want to proceed with the procedure because it would have cut our chances in half of getting pregnant. That would have been 60% to 30%! He said it wasn't impossible but they wanted to give me the best chance possible. We talked about proceeding with another cycle and upping the doses of medication which I am not looking forward to at all. I think the best news I heard was that I don't have to take Metformin this time!!! ;) Woot!

Actually, the best news that we got was that we can start again in the next couple of months. I will have to have my period in December and then we can start with birth control and so on. We are excited to give this another shot and hopefully this time my ovaries don't give up or give too much.

The one thing I am worried about is that we might lose our grant. We are still within the timeframe but we don't know if they will pay again for restarting. Please keep your fingers, toes, and whatever else you can crossed that they will continue to pay.

I can't tell you how much all your support has meant to me in the last couple weeks. It has really been a struggle for me to wrap my head around all of this. I wish that this appointment had been earlier so I would have had a little more comfort but I can't even explain how much compassion and love I have felt from my husband, my friends and family. It was just so amazing and I am happy to have you all as a part of our journey.

Anyway...that's all for now. Hope everyone has a safe and fun Halloween! Here are some pictures from October:















Saturday, October 20, 2012

Well...

The last week has been laced with ultrasounds and blood draws. We were getting closer and closer to making an appointment for the retrieval. I even have awesome circles on my back side for more injections. Today was supposed to be the day that we scheduled our retrieval so we did an ultrasound and checked an estrogen level. The doctor wanted to make sure my estrogen was still going up which it has been all week. She has said they wanted it to be 200 for each egg. At approximately 11:00 am I got a phone call from the doctor (usually it is a nurse). She said that she had bad news. Not what I expected to hear. She told me that my estrogen level had dropped by more than half. It had been over 1,000 yesterday and was only 490 today. I was crying quite a bit by now and can't really remember all that she said but she thinks that my ovaries got tired and gave up. She said that maybe if they had done more of the Repronex it might have helped. They were worried about overstimulating me so they didn't want to do a lot of Repronex. 

The next step for us is to make an appointment with our doctor and figure out what our options are. I think they will change my drugs a little bit but I have no idea when we will be able to restart everything over again. I am kind of apprehensive about it because I don't like these injections especially the Repronex. I want to have babies and I want them to be Adam's so I know I can't give up on this option yet. I don't understand all of this yet and why this happened. I know God has a plan but it is not very clear to me. I hope He will make it known to me soon. I was hoping that we were done with set backs but I guess I shouldn't have been too surprised because that is all this process has been is set backs.

Anyway...I am having a hard time with this and not sure how to deal with it because I have never gone through anything like this. I really appreciate all my family and friends and their kind words. I love you all so much. I especially couldn't do this without my hubby. He has been so good to me and has been my rock. I couldn't ask for a better partner to go through this with. I will keep you all updated when we find out more information. Thanks.

Wednesday, October 10, 2012

New injections

Today I started on two more injections and decreased the amount of Lupron I've been taking. I've been taking the Lupron since 9/23. The Lupron hasn't been too bad because I was able to find a position that doesn't hurt and my husband has been giving me most of the injections. I am also still on Metformin.

Here are some descriptions of what the medication is for.


Leuprolide Acetate (Lupron): While it is important to stimulate several eggs to mature, it is equally important to prevent the release, or ovulation, of the eggs prior to the egg retrieval. Leuprolide Acetate is administered to prevent ovulation and to increase the number of eggs that are retrieved from the ovaries.

 Gonadotropins (Gonal F, Follistim, Bravelle, Repronex and Menopur): These are highly purified preparations of FSH or LH or both and are also administered as a series of subcutaneous injections in the lower abdomen. The gonadotropins stimulate the growth and maturation of the eggs. Side effects include ovarian discomfort, abdominal bloating, ovarian cysts and multiple pregnancies in 10-50% of women.

Luckily, the Repronex is only for 3 days because it is terrible and it hurts! I can't believe that next week we will FINALLY be doing the actual IVF. We have an ultrasound next Wednesday that will determine what day they will do the retrieval and 5 days after that they will do the transfer! It has been such a wild ride and hopefully it will get more wild if I get pregnant! =)

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