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.

IVF Timeline

Okay guys Tom & Emily had a good question they posted on a comment page I and thought this would be a good place to address that answer. Anyway, their question was, "What's your timeline?" I got to thinking and I thought most of you would really like the answer to this question as well so I had to pull out my calendar for this one...

I start my injections on Saturday, February 3rd and I'll follow the same routine for the first week. Then on Saturday, February 10th I'll discontinue my birth control pills, but continue with the Lupron injections. They expect me to have a minor period (I'll believe "minor" when I see it) for the next few days and then on Valentine's Day Jim and I will go in for our baseline ultrasound, to make sure I have no cysts preventing us from proceeding. From there things will really start to get hectic and intense since I will be expected to go to Albuquerque on a daily basis for ultrasounds and blood draws.

My follicles will be retrieved sometime during the week of February 25th...could be as early as Monday and as late as Friday. Immediately following the retrieval my follicles will be fertilized and will sit in a petri dish for either three or five days...this will all depend on the follicles. The fertilized follicles will then be transferred back into my uterus sometime during the week of March 5th. And finally our big day will be March 14th, this will be our first pregnancy test. If this test is positive then we will retest again on March 16th to make sure our numbers are doubling as they are suppose to.

I know this was a lot to absorb in one blog so I'm really hoping I didn't confuse any of you. As things proceed I'll try to make more detailed posts about our progress.

IVF Medications Have Arrived

Well my cocktail of IVF medications have arrived (they came via mail). I received five different injectable medications and I begin my injections on Saturday with 20cc's of Lupron. Luckily this is a medication that I'll be able to administer myself and I will not need Jim's help. So, starting Saturday I'll become a human pin cushion. Oh and apparently I need to place a call to my doctors office because I'm missing my heparin injections. Here's a quick run down of all of the medications that I'll be taking starting Saturday (oral and injectable):

Necon (birth control)
Baby Aspirin (81mg)
Prenatal
Lupron (20cc)
Z-Pack (antibiotic)
Lexapro
Trazadone

Jim's First Woodworking Project

I often wonder about my husband...did he ever grow up, or is he still 6 years old and excited about his toys? Then I remembered...as men get older their toys just seem to get more and more expensive but the excitement never fades. Jim has slowly been working on acquiring tools so that he may try his hand at woodworking and this week he was really excited because he finally felt ready to take on his first project. On Friday he took a break from work and bought the last of the tools that he thought he might need for his weekend project.

This morning I was awoken pretty early when I heard/felt Jim moving around in bed and realized he was in the process of getting out of bed. I rolled over and looked at the clock..it was 4:45, so I asked Jim why he had gotten up so early and he told me that he couldn't sleep...he was to excited about his day. All week Jim has been talking about this woodworking project he was planning on doing today and I guess the excitement of his tool pron prevented him from sleeping. So at 4:45 Jim got out of bed...please keep in mind that it's hard to get Jim out of bed before 7:30am so him getting up that early was a shock. Anyway, after I made him breakfast this morning he got right to work constructing two saw horses. Him and Jimmy finished them about an hour ago and the following pictures are the end result.