It's hotting up!

Today my follicles were 19mm and 18mm so they are gorgeous and ready!

Tonight we have to do the trigger shot which means I have to go to the pharmacy for some MORE medication.

I'd heard things on the internet (again, bad internet!) that it is a HUGE shot in the bum so was relieved to find that this is the small needle, again in the tummy, or as they say, "administered subcutaneously" LOL

I am feeling heavy down there but then I thought about it and I'm not surprised because remember there are 10 follicles of nearly 2cm each! I'm probably a kilo heavier which is why I have not weighed myself for days (why subject myself to torture?).

So the retrieval happens on Thursday morning. We have to be there bright and early at 7am (dear Lord, how on EARTH am I going to do it?) because they have to take them at 7.30 (it is timed with military precision, apparently). No food or liquids from midnight. I'll be done and awake by 9am.

Then they'll mix it all up, do the ICSI with some and we WILL have beautiful eggs to put back on Sunday. Things are moving so fast now (as my one friend says, "you'll be puking by Halloween")

The nurse today was ABSOLUTELY wonderful. She is the first one that has been so positive..."you're doing so well and blah blah blah on 20 October we're going to do the test and it's going to be positive"

Yesssss! I like that :)

In other news, I ran into a girl from the infertility support group at the clinic which was LOVELY - we caught up before they summoned her - and I "recruited" another one, who is also on her first IVF.

Today's action plan - collect medication, have sex (they told us to do it tonight and then nothing until his "sample" on Thursday because they want fresh, healthy sperm), do the trigger shot and relax.

How are you all doing?

Day 9

Scan update:

It was so cute to see the follicles getting bigger - they are getting to look like real eggs now (at least to my untrained eye).

Today they are at 15mm + (that's what he said)

We are waiting to get them to 18mm and that's when the fun starts :)

I've realised no matter what time I get to the clinic in the mornings I am in for a 45-minute session.

Poor Dr G got to me at 8:30 and I was there at 7:48 and already he looked harried, like he'd had a full day's work :). Then there's the meeting with the nurses and today's injection.

Today I was clever - I started mixing all the goodies while waiting for the nurse to call me back so it all went quickly.

No change in the medication although after tomorrow, I am out and will have to buy some more. I'm hoping that I won't need any.

Something other than babies for a change

Debbie tagged me for the 7 random things tag.



Hmmm?

1. My absolute favourite drink is a cold glass of water (but no ice-cubes - that's too cold) with a couple of slices of lemon. Yummmy!
2. I make the best sandwiches EVER. Well, according to me and my husband. I think the secret is I'm adventurous with ingredients, I like trying out different textures and I don't skimp on the fillings.
3. I'm actually enjoying the mixing of all the IVF medications. I think it's my Chemistry background :) but playing with all these syringes is kind of fun.
4. When I like something, I buy a LOT of it. For instance, I recently discovered the MOST comfortable panties ever and since I only got two pairs, I went back to buy another 3 pairs in different colours. Which explains my 7 pairs of the exact same socks and my identical bras :)
5. My favourite movie EVER is My best friend's wedding. No matter how foul a mood I'm in, watching that movie makes me laugh so much. My favourite laughing scene is the one where Kim meets the Rupert Everett character! Love it! And my favourite sad scene is the one right at the end where that lovely song (the way you look tonight) plays.
6. While we're on the subject of movies, I LOVE movies with beautiful houses. I keep watching Something's Gotta Give just to see that house :)
7. For such a productive person (me), I love nothing more than to lie around on the weekend, reading a book for HOURS on end. Everything else can wait (eating, showering, cleaning) while I'm absorbed in a good book.

Rules:

1. Link to the person who tagged you
2. Write 7 random things about yourself
3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post and link to them
4. Let each person you have tagged know by leaving a comment on their blog

Over to you - Sarah, Blythe, Mindi and whoever else wants to participate :)

Day 7 scan

Just a quick update:

I had 7 follicles in the left ovary and 3 in the right. They are at 12mm (apparently they should grow at about 2mm per day) so the deed will happen this week!

It's so exciting!

Next scan - Monday for day 9 - and hopefully ovaries behaving perfectly :)

Day 4 - a bit of a wobble

Yesterday, we had a bit of a wobble because we couldn't remember how to mix the Luveris and the Gonal-F.

We messed a bit of the liquid and it was not very elegant like it has been up to now.

So I gave the nurse on duty a call and she explained how to do it differently this morning and today it all worked beautifully!

I actually studied Chemistry so all that's coming in useful with all the mixing!

Weird - the things we think of.

The next event happens on Saturday (day 7) when they check if things are happening as they're supposed to.

I'm still feeling very calm about the whole thing.

Amazingly, we're "rewarding ourselves" by going out to eat all the time - we both feel we deserve it. Me, for being a brave girl and DH for being a good Injector LOL :)

Day 2 and the start of the heavy-duty injections

The clinic does the scans between 7:00 and 7:30 in the morning and we only left our house at 7:10!

I think the pressure of driving fast through the traffic helped to keep my mind off the impending injections. That and listening to Praise and Worship CDs in my car.

When we arrived, the waiting room was FULL of people and an entire page was already full of names and I was number 6 on the second page.

That's probably because we were so late.

Anyway, got scanned and my endometrium was 3mm (that's good) and I had no cysts, so it's all systems go.

Went to have a blood test to check progesterone and oestrogen levels.

And then the nurse showed us how to mix all that stuff and administered the first injection.

Now here's where I realise I'm an idiot. The big needle that I was so scared of is only the mixing needle; we use a needle the same size as the Lucrin one for these injections. It's called a 1 mm bore needle.

So the injection was fine - it just leaves a bit of a scar/ welt on my tummy because there's such a lot of liquid to inject and it has to remain on the spot for a long time (compared to the Lucrin).

Things are absolutely fine so far!

So much for 15 days!

From the start of the injections, we calculated and it was supposed to be 15 days. And that's why I said in the last post, 1 down, 14 to go.

Well...it didn't quite work out like that.

I was still on Minulette and my last pill finished on the Monday evening. The nurse said, "your period should start immediately or after 2 days".

My stubborn period waited a WHOLE 5 days - I first saw signs on Saturday afternoon at 1:30.

I actually phoned them on the Thursday to say, "am I abnormal? Why is my period not coming?" (I do realise the craziness of that statement because all I do want is a missed period LOL)

When it arrived, I phoned their emergency paging service and asked the nurse on duty if day 2 was the Sunday or the Monday. It was the Monday, so that's when I had to go in for my scan and start the heavy-duty injections.

So, we did the Lucrin for 10 days before going for the day 2 scan.

Upping the ante and why the internet is BAD

I'm getting my medication from the pharmacy, not from the clinic because it's MUCH cheaper this way, and our medical insurance doesn't cover infertility treatment.

So I went to the pharmacy a couple of days after starting the Lucrin to get the Gonal-F and the Luveris. While he's at the back getting the one medication, I happened to open one of the boxes to see what it all looked like.

My heart started pounding and I thought I was going to pass out at the size of the needle. They were HUGE and I suddenly thought, "I seriously want to stop this treatment now because I can't do this".

Well, I was in a right state that evening and went onto the internet to check it all out.

Big mistake.

There are lots of good things about the internet (I personally would go crazy without it) but looking up medical things is not good. There is too much information and your imagination can go crazy.

Anyway, I landed on the Sperm Jesters blog, clicked through on some Youtube videos where girls were giving themselves the injections and if I wasn't scared before, that scared me like nothing else.

Even the Sperm Jester lady wrote about how she numbs the area, distracts herself with TV and then needs a hot water bottle. Oh my word; this is not good!

Would it surprise you to know that I had a nightmare that evening that a nurse was chasing me with not one, but TWO of those gigantic needles?

Woke up in a cold sweat the next day and that was the first time the Lucrin injection REALLY hurt. I think it was because I was so tense and anxious. I even ended up having a good cry.

The good thing about me is I have excellent powers of "blocking out" things. So I threw all that medication into a bag and put it in a corner of our bedroom and proceeded to block it out until I absolutely needed to deal with it again (on day 2).

I am finally there

We are finally "there". By "there" I mean doing the IVF thing.

It's taken me over a year of thinking about it and it's just over 3 and a half years of trying.

I can't believe how calm I feel.

I guess that I needed all that time to get to this point because I don't feel in the least bit anxious - somehow I know that God's with us on this, whatever the outcome, because I feel His presence.

Today's day 1 of the injection and we went in this morning so the nurse could teach us how to do it. I couldn't even look at it so my hubby did it. And he did it beautifully - much better that the nurse in the hospital.

I hardly felt the needle go in, there was a slight burn and then it was over.

One down, 14 to go!