Last Ultrasound & Blood work

Today was my last day to check on the follicles growing and my bloodwork.  The nurse practitioner told me everything looked great and I was ready to start my "trigger" process with my HCG shot.  I was told to wait until I heard from the nurse or doctor that afternoon before I started anything.

Dr Gurtcheff called me in the afternoon to discuss how everything was looking.  She said she was super glad that we chose to do a minimal stimulation; my ovaries were doing exactly what they should be doing and in fact, my ovaries are a bit over stimulated (way to go ovaries for being over achievers). When we met with Dr Gurtcheff back in February, we decided to the minimal stimulation, mainly because we didn't want to have a bunch of embryo's frozen not sure what to do with.  We discussed this again and decided that no matter the amount of eggs we received, we would fertilize them all and go from there.

The nurse called me this evening and gave me my instructions; here goes nothing.  At 7:30pm tonight, I take my HCG shot.  Tomorrow morning, I take a pregnancy test to make sure my HCG levels are where they should be; the test needs to come out positive.  And tomorrow night and Thursday morning, I will have to do vinegar & water douche to make sure the path is clear and clean to my eggs. 

Here is the HCG shot.  I had to mix it together.

It was a rough shot, it stung and left a huge bruise behind.

It seems so crazy that we are already to this point.  We are used to this processes taking a couple of months and here we are; about 4 weeks later and we are harvesting.  If everything goes smoothly, the embryo transfer will be next Tuesday.

Tese day for Chris

Today was all about Chris! And he didn't like it.  When we did our last round of IVF at the University of Utah, we were so positive that it was going to work, that we destroyed all of Chris's sperm they have retrieved.  When we decided to get this process going again, I felt terrible.  We both knew they would have to someone get the sperm out of Chris once again.  Luckily enough, we were referred to a Uriologist doc, named Dr Hotaling, who is phenomenal! He was able to use a syringe to extract the sperm from Chris.  The procedure took about 5-10 minutes and went great.  They got 4 frozen viles of sperm!

Here is Chris when we first got there.  He was pacing the room.

Chris was more nervous about the anesthesia then he was about the procedure.  The Utah Fertility Center has an amazing anesthesiologist that had Chris happy and asleep.

In recovery after the procedure.  Dr Hotaling said that everything went smoothly. 

While Chris was in recovery, I had another ultrasound and another blood draw.  My follicles are stilling growing at a great rate and we are getting closer everyday.  Hopefully one more day of shots and we will be good for harvesting!

Since we have been keeping our process very hush hush this time, I wanted to get us both something to have the day or our procedures, so I ordered Chris these socks and they were a huge hit! The doc, anestheologist and the nurse loved them.  They even asked to take pictures with them.

A Sunday drive to Pleasant Grove

What a beautiful, hot morning to travel down to Pleasant Grove! The Utah Fertility Center's Murray location is closed Sat, Sun & Monday's; so Chris joined me and we drove to the Pleasant Grove location for my Ultrasound and my bloodwork.  Each day, my ovaries are getting more and more tender.  Some days, I can only stand for a little bit, while other days it hurts to sit down.  It's all worth the 10 days of misery to get the outcome.  Today my ultrasound reviled that I have 16 follicles on my right ovary and 17 follicles on my left.  Out of all of those, I have about 5-6 that are getting close the size we need.  My bloodwork also came back great! Everything is headed in the right direction.  We will need to do meds, ultrasounds & bloodwork until Tuesday, then we should be good to go for the egg retrieval on Thursday.

I want to explain what follicles are.  Follicles are like an egg sack; within the follicle is the egg.  It's good to hear that I have so many follicles on both ovaries, but they will probably only take 5-6 follicles off of each over, the largest ones of course.  Once they have the follicles, they will be able to see the egg within the follicle and determine if they are the correct size and healthy enough to be fertilized with Chris' sperm.  So while it is good to hear that I have so many follicles, we just need to make sure they continue to grow and we get a good number on the day of egg harvest.

Ultrasound & Blood draw

What a day! I headed down to Murray first thing this morning to take a look at my ovaries.  And boy or boy, can I feel my ovaries! Especially the left side.  My ovaries are producing good follicles and I already have one that is measure at a 12; you want them around an 18 when you get ready to "trigger" and harvest the eggs. So in a few days, we will be ready to go!

 And since I have been through this a time or 4, I know when the ovaries start working, it's time to break out the sodium.  I have been drinking 40 oz of Gatorade a day.  So far, so good!

At my appointment this morning, upon seeing the follicles and how quickly they are growing, the Nurse Practitioner sent me straight home to start my Cetrotide. This is the medication that stops my ovaries from ovulation.  You want the follicles to stay on the ovaries and grow as much as they can before they take the follicles off of the ovaries.  The shot wasn't to bad; the needle is long and I have to mix the medication.  It had a sting to it, but overall, not to bad.

Blood Draw

There is nothing quite like getting up early, getting Weston ready and heading to Murray for a blood test.  That's it.  Just a single blood draw.  Drove an hour, for a 5 minute appointment, and drove back home.

All my levels are coming out good though! And the vampire taking my blood is a pro.  She is going in the same arm, in the same spot and you would never know.

Medication time!

First day of injections!

This little beauty if called Gonal-F.  I am taking 150 ml everyday; for the next 10 days! I also started Clomid today; I will only be taking it for 5 days. 

Luckily, the shot went in smoothly with no problems.  Fingers crossed, it stays that way.

Ultrasound, blood & money

There is nothing quite like undressing from the waste down and taking a paper napkin and placing it over your private areas.  But all of us women do it.  All. Of. Us.

 

This is going to be my normal attire for the next 2 weeks.  Lots of ultrasounds to make sure my uterus lining is thickening, my ovaries are producing follicles and my blood levels are staying on track.

So, here are my results from the day.  My AMH level is at 8.60.  Let me explain what AMH is and why it matters for me.  When we started the IVF process back in 2009, I was 28 years old.  I am know 35 years old.  When a woman reaches the age of 35, her ovaries become considered old (it's a shame).  AMH testing helps tell what a woman egg quality if going to be and how many eggs they could potential develop.  Normal range for a 35 year old woman is 1.0-1.5; this is when my PCOS gives me an upper hand.  My egg quality is 8.60, extremely high.

PCOS - Let's chat real quick.  Woman with PCOS have a very hard time getting pregnant. VERY HARD.  Most woman with PCOS, don't even get to experience pregnancy.  PCOS, causes ovulation to not occur due to the cysts that are on our ovaries.   Yet, with a little medication, our ovaries become stimulated and we produce more follicles to ovulate.  Power in numbers.

So, here we are.  No going back! Oh, and I swiped our credit card; $5350. I'll take it! When we swiped our first round $9900.