Time To Empty The Gumball Machine

I received word today that it looks like our retrieval will be Wednesday. I don't know about anyone else, but I'm so excited!! For the last six months I keep waiting and waiting for this day and it's finally here. I'm also excited because the doctors will get an up close and personal look at the quality of my follicles. Maybe, just maybe this could shed some light as to why I've never been able to get pregnant on my own. Remember over the last ten years doctors have only seen my follicles through ultrasound so this is really exciting.

Anyway, currently I have 15+ follicles between both of my ovaries and the last couple of days I've certainly been feeling all of them. I'm kind of "full". So, Jim will be doing my trigger shot tonight at 1am and retrieval is scheduled for 11:30am on Wednesday. The next couple of days will be very hectic for Jim and I so wish us luck. The following is the list of meds that I have taken today....it will continue to change over the next few days. Notice I get a break from that yucky heparin...for a few days at least.

AM:
Lupron (5 IU)
Heparin (25 IU)
Follistim (75 IU)

Noon:
Prenatal

PM:
Repronex (50 IU)
HCG (2 CC)

What a Week!

Ahh, what a week it has been. I'm hoping that this week will be a happier one filled with wonderful things (and little ones) to come. I spent most of my weekend going back and forth to Albuquerque for doctors appointments and working on homework. And yes you read that correctly, even though it's the weekend I was still expected to be in Albuquerque for appointments. Unfortunately the women's body doesn't pause for the weekend...proof that a women's work is never completed. Anyway, my ovaries continue to produce follicles at a high rate and I'm really starting to feel "full" now. I didn't realize how full I felt until I had the ultrasound prob inside me and it was pushing on my ovaries...not so comfortable.

As of this morning they are talking about doing retrieval on Thursday...not the original Wednesday. I'll continue to keep all of you updated if that date changes.

AM:
Lupron (5 IU)
Heparin (25 IU)
Follistim (75 IU)

Noon:
Prenatal

PM:
Heparin (25 IU)
Repronex (50 IU)

Margot The Gumball Machine

The last couple of days I have pretty much felt like a gumball machine that is getting ready to burst at the seams. My ovaries continue to respond well to my meds and I even managed to get a huge thumbs up from the doctor today. My right ovary has 10 - 12 follicles and my "lazy left" ovary has 5 follicles. Things keep progressing well and there is a possibility that I might "trigger" myself on Monday. If we trigger on Monday then I think retrieval would be on Wednesday.

The reality of all of the injections has really hit home the last several days. My stomach looks horrible and I'm running out of injection sites. I'm also pretty positive that the hormone effects have affected my moods. I was rather grumpy today so I worked most of the day with my office door shut...just in case.

My next appointment is tomorrow morning...

AM:
Lupron (5 IU)
Follistim (150 IU)
Heparin (25 IU)

Noon:
Prenatal Vitamin

PM:
Heparin (25 IU)
Repronex (100 IU)
Lexapro
Trazadone

Fat Cat

As I was downloading pictures of Jim's shop I realized that I had taken some pictures of the animals last weekend and I forgot to share them with all of you. So here are some of the latest photos that I've taken of Sasha and Nanook...

Ahh, this cat cracks me up...

And The Walls Go Up

Jim has completed his weekend project for the most part. I'm not sure if most of you remember or not but we had these fake panel walls that were pretty much useless and were obliviously just there to cover up the installation. Jim replaced the panels with plywood so that he can more easily hang stuff from the walls...not to mention the plywood looks better then the panels. Anyway, here are a few photos that I took. He still needs to organize the shop and clean it up but at least the walls are up. He's worked very hard on this for the last two weekends so it's nice to see the finial results.
Jim also continues to work on the sever and he's in the process of rebuilding my computer (I'm currently using a loner computer). Judging by the fowl language and the things being thrown against the wall I don't think it's going well. As a result Nanook has been glued to me...he hates to see either Jim or I upset.

As for me I've spent the last several days on the couch sick. I've been running a fever the last few days and I finally started feeling better at about 4:30 this afternoon. Unfortunately I had to skip class last night and I didn't go to work today. I did however manage to drag myself to my doctors appointment this morning. Well actually my mother drove me since I wasn't comfortable driving all the way to Albuquerque when I was running a fever and having dizzy spells.

As for my appointment things are progressing very well. I have about 10 follicles forming on my right ovary and 4 follicles forming on my left ovary. My lining is also looking good and I don't have to go back until Thursday. So in a way I get to sleep in tomorrow morning and I should make it to work around my normal time. My dosage on all of my meds will remain the same until I return on Thursday morning.

In an odd way I've gotten use to all of the injections and I've kind of become a pro at it. My stomach on the other hand looks like it was used as a punching bag and its physically sore from all of the injections. The heparin is the one that's really killing me...it's leaving bruises the size of penny and I don't think there is much I can do. I didn't realize how sore my stomach was until the cat decided to walk across it while I was napping this afternoon....ouch.

AM:
Lupron (5 IU)
Follistim (150 IU)
Heparin (25 IU)

Noon:
Baby Aspirin
Prenatal Vitamin

PM:
Heparin (25 IU)
Repronex (100 IU)

Pulling My Hair Out

I must have the most annoying cat on the face of this planet. I recently got done vacuuming...not because my house needed it but because of the cat. Yep, I had to vacuum because of the cat. Apparently, when the cat gets stressed out (I have no idea why he's stressed) he literally pulls his fur out. I walked into the living room this afternoon to find he had once again pulled his fur out, which prompted me to vacuum. And I promise he pulls a lot of it out at one time...then eats it. He's pulled so much of his fur out that he now has bald spots. So, if anyone has any suggestions, or you yourself would like a cat please let me know I have one that's free to a good home.

Anyway, Jim continues to work on his weekend project and I'll be taking pictures tomorrow although I'm not sure if I'll get them posted tomorrow or not. Jim continues to work on the server and has yet to get that completely fixed. I'm sure he would have been done by now expect now we are also experiencing problems with our internet connection. We have a tech coming out to the house on Tuesday to check out the lines. Jim can't seem to catch a break.

I started the balk of my injections this morning and so far so good. Currently, I have a headache and I'm not sure if its related to all of the meds or not. In a few days I plan to take a picture of my stomach since the heparin injections are leaving a large bruise and I just can't resist showing all of you. I really think in a matter of just a few days my stomach will look worse from all of the shots then it did when I had my appendix removed. Only time will tell and I hope all of you get a good laugh out of it.

Tomorrow is the start of Nascar season and I couldn't be more excited (well it officially started early this week, but I'm only concerned with Sunday). Once again my Sundays will be complete as I will be spending Sunday afternoons watching full horse power zip around an oval tract. Thank goodness for Sundays!

AM:
Lupron (5 IU)
Follistim (150 IU)
Heparin (25 IU)

Noon:
Baby Aspirin (81mg)
Prenatal Vitamin

PM:
Heparin (25IU)
Repronex (100IU)
Trazadone
Lexapro

Cupids Strong Hold

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!! It's been an interesting day here and I have a few things that I need to get to. First, Jim was able to bypass some stuff and we now have internet service here at the house again. I know this doesn't sound romantic but I bought Jim a new hard drive for Valentine's Day....I feel like such a wife. So I'm confident that he'll get everything back up and running again shortly.

Jim and I spent most of the day in Albuquerque. We had our doctors appointment, ran a few errands, and then had a descent Valentine's dinner. We ate at the Black Angus Steakhouse and while Jim and I enjoyed each other company the food certainly could have been better. Oh well, maybe we'll have better luck next time.

Anyway let me move on to our doctors appointment. We had our baseline ultrasound today to make sure that the Lupron is doing what it's suppose to, and to make sure that my uterine lining is thin. So far things look great! My ovaries are suppressed like they are suppose to and my lining also looks great. I was then given my instructions for the next few days. I start stimulating my ovaries with more medication on Saturday morning. Starting Saturday I will be giving myself five injections per day...yes you read that correctly five injections, three in the morning and two in the evening. As the nurse put it...I'll start to resemble a battered wife. My next doctors appointment is Tuesday morning and from there I will be in Albuquerque every day for ultrasounds and blood work until we have our egg retrieval.

This process is starting to feel real now since we officially wiped out our bank account today when I paid for the IVF procedure. My anxiety is also starting to go up. I feel very anxious on so many levels. I know I need to just focus on the end result but a part of me can't help but think I just left a shitload of money at the IVF casino and I'll be playing the slots for the next two weeks praying that I hit the jackpot.

Lupron (5 IU)
Baby Aspirin (81 mg)
Prenatal Vitamin
Lexapro
Trazadone

Server Crashed!

So Jim will apparently have his hands full for the next several days if not a week or more. At some point last night our server crashed and he's thinking we might need a new hard drive...ugh! So, with that said we currently do not have a fully functional computer at the house. Currently, I am at the office using my work computer so that I may at least get my homework done.

I originally had plans to post pictures today of Jim's little weekend project that him and Jimmy have been working hard on but I'm not comfortable downloading pictures to my work computer. Don't worry eventually I'll post those pictures for all of you to see.

Also, if I don't post anything for a few days you'll all know why. I know I have a series of doctors appointments coming up and I'll try real hard to post any info from those appointments. What I'll probably have to do is work late and post that stuff after hours. Here's today's medication list:

Lupron (20IU's)
Prenatal Vitamin
Baby Aspirin (81mg)
Lexapro
Trazadone

Just Stuff

Things have been pretty dormant this week and we really haven't had much going on. I took my last birth control pill this morning and was very delighted to throw the pack away. They expect me to a "minor" period within the next few days and then our baseline ultrasound is still scheduled for Wednesday afternoon. Time seems to stand still these days as Jim and I are anxiously awaiting the last week of the month and then the first week of March. Also, Jim and I finished taking our antibiotic this week...which relieved both of us since it made both of our stomachs upset. At the end of this email I'll give all of you the latest list of meds that I'm taking. I expect the medication list to get longer once we've had our baseline ultrasound. For those of you that are wondering, the purpose of the baseline is to make sure I don't have any cysts preventing us from continuing...I don't expect I'll have any.

Since Wednesday is our baseline and it happens to be Valentine's day Jim and I have plans to have a nice dinner in Albuquerque after our appointment. So, I made us reservations at the Black Angus Steakhouse....yummy. I tried to get us into The Melting Pot but as of last weekend they only had one table left and it was a $200 table. I have no desire to pay $200 for dinner, no matter how good the food is. Anyhow, Back Angus will be great and the atmosphere is pretty romantic...not to mention the food is wonderful.

I hope to make another post tomorrow which will include pictures of Jim's weekend project. I'll post details later on that project...I don't want to spoil it for anyone.

Baby Aspirin (81mg)
Lupron (20IU's)
Prenatal Vitamin
Lexapro
Trazadone

Bruises Upon Bruises

Well after four consecutive days of self injections the bruises are starting to appear. I'm pretty confident that after a few weeks of medications I'll be able to play connect the bruises. At this point the only injection that I'm doing is Lupron, but things will pick up around Valentine's Day and shortly thereafter I'll be injecting three different medications during the course of one day. Here's a list of the meds that I took today. Oh yeah, apparently I shouldn't take my prenatal vitamin, baby aspirin, and antibiotic at the same time....my stomach was not to happy with me.

Necon (birth control, I take my last one on Saturday)
Baby Aspirin (81mg)
Prenatal Vitamin
Lupron (20IU's)
Z-Pack (antibiotic, I take my last one tomorrow)
Lexapro
Trazadone

Super Bowl Sunday

Ahh, Super Bowl Sunday. Normally, I would spend this day cooking and counting down until game time. This year however, for some reason, I'm just not into the Super Bowl. I've actually spent a good portion of the game cleaning and not paying much attention to the game. Since Phili got knocked out a few weeks ago football season is over as far as I'm concerned and I'm ready for baseball.

Anyway, Jim and I spent this weekend in Albuquerque. The last month and a half I have spent getting ready for our Strategic Planning Conference, which was finally held this weekend. The Conference was held at the new Sandia Resort and Casino (http://www.sandiacasino.com/pages/home.html) which was absolutely beautiful! It was a really nice resort that also had a really nice Spa. On Friday I thoroughly enjoyed the Red Desert Clay Wrap. That was the first clay wrap that I've ever had done and I look forward to having it done again. I chose that particular wrap because I noticed it was good for detoxifying your body and I kind of figured since Jim and I are undergoing IVF then my body could use a good detoxification. I would highly recommend it!

Jim and I had a wonderful time together this weekend and it was also nice just to get away. The Conference didn't go a smooth as I had hoped. We had given our Board of Directors their packets two weeks ago in the hopes that they would have plenty of time to review everything and give us the necessary changes before the Conference. Well, it certainly didn't appear that anyone had read their packets since all of a sudden they had numerous changes (right in the middle of our presentation). Anyway, it was the most frustrating thing I have ever experienced in my 10 year history at the credit union. Needless to say I'm very thankful it's over.

Some quick IVF news for all of you. I did my first injection Saturday morning and things went very smoothly. So at this point I'll be taking 20IU's of Lupron daily until instructed to discontinue the medication. And, for those of you that deal with me on personal daily basis my condolences go out to all of you. I'm very afraid that I may turn into Super Bitch over the next few weeks since my hormones will be all over the chart. I've already apologized to my husband since I'm also afraid that he may take the blunt of my grumpiness.