CD# 15 / Retrieval

The day before yesterday was a big day for us on our long road to baby... actually it was focused more on my hubby.  His doctor was able to successfully retrieve his sperm by means of a testicular biopsy.  Albeit a painful procedure, it was necessary for us to have our baby.  I love him so much for doing this for our baby and I wish I could've been there with him.  Unfortunately, I had to go to work in order to avoid another warning from work. 

Yesterday was my turn... I went to finally get my retrieval done!  The appointment was set for 7:30 am but I had to be there an hour before.  My mom drove me since my hubby was still recovering from his procedure.  After filling out some paperwork, I changed into my hospital gown and waited a few minutes for the nurse to set up my IV.  She tried to use my right arm about 3 times before switching to the left arm to insert the IV line.  For some reason she couldn't find the vein in the right arm but I should've known to expect that since it's not the first time this has happened.  (The nurses at Dr. R's office always find the vein on either arm but I guess that's just because they're awesome.)  Anyway, I was then taken to the OR and asked to lie down on the table.  I met my Anesthesiologist while the OR nurses strapped me down.  When they were all ready, they called for Dr. R to begin and then I was asleep.  The procedure lasted about 45 minutes and when I woke up, I recognized my Embryologist checking out my stats.  He told me that they'd recovered 20 eggs and that it was the highest number he's seen in years!!  Even though I was really groggy, I was ecstatic with the great news.  I had a small bottle of water while he read me my discharge instructions and I was home about an hour later.

I can't believe how far we've come and I'm really anxious for the next and last step of the procedure... the Transfer!  I got a call back from my nurse at Dr. R's office at around 3:30 pm while I was at work.  She told me that out of the 20 eggs, 15 were fertilized.  Out of the 15, 7 matured into embryos and that on Tuesday they will transfer 2 into me.  I cannot wait to take 2 of those little ones home!!  Everyone at work thinks we'll have twins and even though it seems like too much to handle, I'd happily carry 2 bundles of joy until they're ready to come out.  If that's the case, I hope we all win the MegaMillions!  ;-)

CD #11 / Novarel

This weekend was quite relaxing... my younger brother came over for the weekend and since he kept my hubby company, I got a chance to rest and prepare for the upcoming week.

Monday: Blood work and ultrasound

Tuesday: Blood work, appointment with Dr. R to sign final consent forms and get final instructions, appointment to make payments for my hubby's procedure, dinner at my favorite restaurant for pre-celebration, trigger shot at exactly 8:30 pm

Wednesday: My hubby's testicular biopsy at 11 am

Thursday: My retrieval at 7:30 am

Friday: Wait for results...

My trigger shot was done by my mom since it has to be given on my booty with the big needle.  It's called Novarel and here's some info on what it does:

"NOVAREL® (chorionic gonadotropin for injection, USP) is ahuman chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) that is used to stimulate egg release (ovulation) in the infertile woman who has not ovulated, and whose cause of infertility is not due to primary ovarian failure. Before administering NOVAREL®, patients have usually received previous treatment with gonadotropins, such as BRAVELLE® (urofollitropin for injection, purified), MENOPUR® (menotropins for injection, USP), or REPRONEX®(menotropins for injection, USP)."

Source: Ferring Fertility

BTW: March 22 was my pup, Brodi's, 1st birthday!!

Isn't he super cute?

CD #5 / Repronex

Saturday morning I made it to my appointment for blood work and an ultrasound.  It was a quick visit and then I went to work.  They said they'd give me a call before 12pm and when I didn't hear back, I decided to call them.  Apparently they were running a little late with the call backs and they hadn't gotten to my name yet but they were nice enough to give me all my info when I called.  The nurse told me that everything looked well and that I should start on the Repronex!  She caught me by surprise because I thought I had to wait for CD #21 again, but I'm happy to see things are back on track.  I was also getting worried because my sharps container is getting full.

Ouch!!

It's now Monday night and my 3rd day on Repronex.  First, let me say how much this stuff burned on the 1st day!  Lupron was like injecting water into my belly, Repronex is more like injecting poison.  I looked online for ways to alleviate the pain and read that if you wait 20 minutes after mixing it, it doesn't burn as much.  I tried it and luckily it worked!  Second, I want to say how much of a pain it is to mix it without the Qcap.  It takes me about a half hour to mix 4 vials of Repronex with 1 cc of Sodium Chloride.  The process sucks:  You have to fill the syringe with 1 cc of Sodium Chloride and then slowly inject it into 1 vial of the Repronex powder.  Swirl the vial gently to dissolve the powder and make sure not to make air bubbles.  Then, withdraw the solution from the vial and inject into the next vial of Repronex.  Continue the process for each vial until all 4 are dissolved into the syringe.  It drove me crazy that I could never seem to withdraw all of the solution from each of the vials.  Even though I'm adding to the solution each time I mix it, I always ended up with less solution than when I started.

Anyway, this is my box of Repronex and some info on what it does.

Repronex, Phase 2

Top row is Sodium Chloride, bottom row is Repronex

"This medication is used to treat certain fertility problems in women.  It provides follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) and luteinizing hormone (LH) that help stimulate healthy ovaries to make eggs.  This medication is usually used in combination with another hormone (human chorionic gonadotropin-hCG) to help you become pregnant by bringing about the growth and release of a mature egg (ovulation)."
Source: WebMD

My new daily kit

Tomorrow, I have to get blood work done in the morning and have an appointment with Dr. R after work.  Hopefully, everything is still fine and I can do my retrieval at the end of the month.  

CD #2

Yesterday was the 1st day of my dot and thus begins a new cycle.  I'm hoping everything goes well this time... I kinda got off to a bad start by missing my appointment this morning.  I blamed my job but really I just overslept.  I feel terrible about it but I was just so darn sleepy.  Luckily, I'm able to go in tomorrow to make up for it.  So far I'm doing really well because my dot is lighter than usual and I don't have any cramps or headaches.  I don't know if that's good or bad but I'll definitely ask tomorrow. 

CD #37

Well, it time for my weekly recap.


Last Friday I experienced a minor setback with this IVF cycle.  I went to the Dr. R's office twice in one day.  My 1st appointment was for blood work and a sonogram and the 2nd appointment was for a pelvic exam by the Dr.  I received instructions for starting the Repronex later on as long as the blood results came back positive.  It didn't even cross my mind that something would be wrong but by 3 pm, the Dr.'s office called and let me know that my dot was on it's way due to a high level of some hormone in my blood.  Therefore, I shouldn't start on the Repronex and should just wait for my dot and call them back then.  In other words this cycle flopped and now we're back to Phase 1 as soon as I get my dot.  I guess it's not completely terrible... I wouldn't want to continue the process knowing it's not gonna work anyway.  I trust my Dr. to know what's best even if it makes me feel bad.  Hubby says not to worry and that everything will be fine.  Now if only he could convince me.

CD #30 / Lupron

I'd been meaning to put up some pics and info on the injectable stuff I'm currently using. The first is my box of Leuprolide. I've been on it for a little over a week now and here's basically what it does is:

"Lupron causes the pituitary gland to release high amounts of FSH and LH (luteinizing hormone) for several days until its stores are depleted. Since continued use of Lupron prevents the pituitary gland from producing new supplies of FSH and LH, the amount of these hormones being released per day becomes very low after 7 to 10 days. The goal that we achieve with Lupron is to ensure that blood levels of LH are low during the last few days of follicle growth, since we know that high levels of LH can lead to poor egg quality and stimulate progesterone production by the ovaries. A premature rise in progesterone may cause inappropriate maturation of the uterine lining and lead to a lesser chance of embryo implantation."

Source: Fertility Today

My daily kit, Phase 1.

I'll keep adding info as time progresses and as I start using the meds.

CD #29

This past week I've been focused on getting my house organized and ready for baby.  I would love to say that my place is picture perfect and that everything in here has a home but sadly that's not the case.  The place is in chaos but hopefully in about another week everything will be in order.  I know my hubby doesn't see it that way but i do.  I always kept saying I would clean up and organize our stuff eventually but all I ended up doing was stuffing things in various closets throughout the house.  No more!  I've finally mustered up the energy necessary to go through every piece of clothing, paper, photo, knickknack, etc. and throw out the trash or donate things I don't need.

My inspiration for doing all this: iheartorganizing.  All of her photos and ideas are amazing!  My favorite part of her site is the Project Gallery, which has loads of helpful advice for organizing every area of your home.  I really liked her kid's closet and I'm thinking of doing something similar in my baby's room.  I just have empty it out first.  In the spirit of keeping it real, it looks like this right now lol.

I'll update with all the new pics when we're done.