Follie report after 7 days of stims.

Out of the 19 yesterday "over 10", we have 11 that are growing like mad (13-17) and all others are still over 10. He was giving out the sizes too quickly, there would be no way to remember. And since it's Easter, I didn't ask the nurse to right them all down for me. I'll get them tomorrow.

Ouch. I'm uncomfortable.

Lining: 7.8

Tomorrow morning is trial transfer, so I get to do everything I'll be doing on transfer day, minus the valium. Not looking forwards to the full bladder (thanks for making me obsess on it katie!).

Follie report after 6 days of stims. (updated w/ E2)

Today was a strange one.

First, my follie report:
~ lining: 6.4 w/ trilaminar pattern
~ righty: still 8 follies, all over 10mm (he didn't measure each one today)
~ lefty: now has 12, all over 10mm. Woohoo Lefty! Always my overachiever.
~E2: 564 (229 2 days ago, so rule of thumb of doubling E2 levels every 48 hours is good.)
~ Progesterone: .38 which is nice and low and good.

I learned something new (again) about follicular development. I had known the ovaries are never mirrors of each other, but did you know they have each have a different blood source? Righty is given blood from the aorta and Lefty gets it from renal blood. My RE's opinion is that lefty quite frequently makes more/stronger follicles due to the renal blood source is stronger, due to the kidneys processing all the blood. He also talked about that is why acupuncture "works" as it's all about increasing blood flow. He confirmed I was going to acupuncture because he said "it shows". For my age and stimulation day, he's very happy with my response. Yay.

Second, the weirdness.

Well, it's not really weird to me, since I'm already used to it. See, my RE makes inappropriate jokes. The first time I heard him say something (which I can't remember what he said now), I was shocked that he said it, but I was not offended. I'm rarely offended in social situations - I don't embarrass easily. Plus, I don't think there should be general rules in regards to inappropriate comments - when it's said as something funny, it just shouldn't be taken so seriously. The american world of no-tolerance is a bit much for me. I think there is a time and place and sometimes a joke is just what it is. A joke.

Anywho, I come in the waiting room and my RE is out making some coffee for himself. Another patient is talking to him about working out. She asked him what he likes to do and he said "calisthenics and weight lifting".

Me, being the smart ass I am, butted into their conversation and said "You are old school! Don't you know you can do strip tease cardio now?"

Without missing a beat, he said "But that's how I lost my license and now that I got it back, I don't want to risk it!".

The other patient said: "You just have to do it in private."

And he says: "Hey, I get to see you girls naked all the time, it's only fair you get to see me naked!".

Now, I know he was joking and I started laughing. The other patient, however, must have not ever run into one of his comments before. She made little reaction except for turning bright red.

Heh. It was funny if you ask me. What was the funniest was he made a joke that is totally off limits to all OBGYNs and REs: Never make notice over the fact they are looking at you naked. But these little rules never have stopped my RE from making the obvious joke. Good for him.

I like my eggs sunny side up.

Back from the ultrasound. Righty ~is~ an overachiever! She went from having a follie sitting at 15 to 19.25! (21.4x17.1). Lefty was still growing too, showing she was still the allstar @ 21 (22x20).

I trigger myself tonight w/ 2/3'rds of the hCG. I am to reconstitute w/ 3ccs and inject 2ccs tonight. Then, at 5dpo, another 1cc to support luteal phase.

And get this - lining was 8.4 and deemed "perfect". Holy shit. RE also said the follicles were located in the "optimal" place on my ovaries - on the outside where they'll have no trouble being sucked up into the tubes.

I can ~not~ believe that on cd20, everything is "perfect". I still know the statistics, but I'm still very hopeful for at least having a chance at this thing.

Insemination tomorrow morning at 9am!

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From this morning ...

The "peak" in all it's glory.
cd20. Seriously.






Another +opk (which was with fmu, which totally doesn't count, I know. But it was + yesterday after work too. yay.)
And now looking at picture, it doesn't look positive, but IRL, the test window ~is~ as dark as the control.

Chugga Chugga Choo Choo! (updated)

(thanks for the inspiration Katie!)

It seems that I have a little egg that could. Lefty is sitting at 17mm this morning and Righty is still behind at 15mm.

"Not quite ready for trigger, we'll see you tomorrow" was what I was told. Ultrasound #8 is tomorrow morning at 8:15am.

I asked all sorts of questions but my NP is great at telling me a lot of information on things I didn't actually ask. I can tell you what the beginning protocol is for older IVF patients at my clinic compared to what they give younger patients. I can tell you the older patient protocol is quite similar to an endo patient. I can tell you about some things they give for endo patients. But I can't tell you what I'll be taking. See, I asked if they do birth control pills as their "normal" protocol with IVF so I would get an idea of timing if/when I move to IVF. Instead, I got a rundown of ~all~ protocols. She was so nice, I didn't even try to narrow it down. It's too early to ask what my IVF protocol will be. I need to relax a bit. (ack. I said that phrase!).

Soooooo.....

I'm "on track" with growth. I'll trigger tomorrow or they'll have me trigger myself on Sunday. Then a Sunday or Monday insemination is most likely in store. She also said my lining was "certainly taking off" but the screen was turned and couldn't see the number and I forgot to ask.

I ~DID ASK~ if my eggs will be of lower quality since they are growing so slowly. She said ~"On the contrary. There are European studies doing slow growth protocols which they showing better egg quality as they mature slowly, rather than quickly." I smiled and said my eggs are like wine. And then I put on my pants.

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updated: I just looked at my "daily tarot" card. What a riot.

"The Seven of Pentacles card suggests that my power today lies in timing. I have earned the payoff. I don't interfere with the natural progression and development of things that are out of my hands at the moment. I am empowered by preparation and my asset is using time wisely."

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updated again: As I have said before, I get a few horoscope things everyday delivered to my email. I don't read them daily and I have them sorted so they go right into a separate folder. If I want to look, I do, if not, it gets all deleted, unread. I really like the daily tarot though. I'm not a "believer" but I do get enjoyment from them. And when they are coincidentally cool, I enjoy it even more. Anywho, I just looked at my daily general horoscope.

"Even if you've never believed in fate, you're about to become aware of its existence. Circumstances that are supposedly beyond your control will put you in touch with someone you wouldn't have met if you hadn't been diverted."

(children mentioned)

I always talk about the fact of taking 18 cycles to get my daughter, Ella. While the 18 cycles sucked (but couldn't be happier it was ~only~ 18 cycles), had I conceived before that, I wouldn't of had this amazing little person. Yes, I'd have another amazing little person who I would love just as much, but I wouldn't have ELLA. Had I not had to wait (had my time diverted), she'd of been someone I'd never of met. So this silly daily horoscope was cool.

Eggs-cellant

Whatever.

2 follies. Righty came through and there is a 15x11 and Lefty is at 19x15. Bah.

Another u/s & maybe trigger tomorrow and IUI the next day or two, depending on how they look tomorrow.

All that sobbing and suckiness all reversed w/ a single slip of the monkey wand.

cycle close to being cancelled.

As far as my nurse practitioner says - it's cancelled as of now.

CD15 follie check showed no growth. None. Righty is all still at 10 and a few on left are 13ish. Unless the ones that were 13ish used to be the ones that were 10ish, I've got nothing going on. No response? I just don't understand how that could be.

I'm ~beyond~ disappointed. After 3 months of forced taking a break cycles to get my first chance cancelled under me. I can't put it into words. Couldn't formulate words right now cause of the lump in my throat anywho.

I just started getting super tender too. I usually don't get this tender until real growth starts. Sex was uncomfortable and painful last night. That doesn't happen until the last days of growth and NOTHING? How can that be? Why am I feeling so fucking tender starting yesterday? WHY?

Only thing I can hope for is for some late bloomers. But, also was told no growth isn't good. 2 days with nothing is usually cause for cancellation. Fucking advil. I blame it on all the advil I was taking. Why don't they tell you that? Damn it! I asked her about it today and she told me I should of told them I was taking it. I didn't think TO tell them I was taking ibuprofen. She asks about "medications" everday, but I never mentioned it. Yes, my fault, but advil???

I have this to hold onto. Cycle 12 was a late blooming cycle.
cd13 - 11x12
cd16 - 19x13
cd18 - 19x20x20

I still finally got there. So, I'm cd15 today and I have (2) 13mm follies. In 3 more days, if they've done ~something~, I can continue. If not, I'm out. Insert disappointment here.

My god, my belly is tender. How are they not growing? Why am I more tender today than I was 2 days ago? No sense. None.

Next u/s on Thursday morning. But you better believe if I get a "peak" reading on my monitor, I'm calling for an immediate u/s. Because the late blooming cycle, I got a peak the morning I went in and found 19x20x20. I'm not going to miss that.

Have a good day everyone - I'm going to spend the day sulking and crying. later.


Has anyone else out there ever had follies that didn't grow for a day or two and then they picked up again? Anyone?


grasping here --- Saturday's u/s showed <15x7 and todays they were more round, 13x11~ish. If they started to "round" up, that would not be backward's growth, right? Basic math. The area of the 13x11 would be bigger than 15x7. So maybe I am not out and I'm having a cycle like C12 when I didn't get matured follies until cd18. So I wait.

cd13 update & a "holy crap" advil/aleve warning!

Slow grower I still am. 5 on left still there, but either still at 10 or have started to shrink. Lefty was a little shy today and we could only get a good measurement on 2 of them - both were about 15 on there longest side and still oblong. Which, is normal for me - I usually don't see them plump up to be circular until the end.

Plan is to have another u/s on Monday (cd15) where they should be 17-18mm, trigger on Tuesday and IUI on Wednesday. All subject to change of course.

But found out something big! I have a back issue from a birth injury w/ #2. I used to have to take narcotic pain meds on a daily basis, but with many back injections and 2 RFAs (radio frequency ablasions - where they go in and microwave the nerves to confuse them enough to get them to stop sending pain signals) I get by just fine on advil. Now, I know you can't take advil when pregnant, so I always stop in the 2ww.

When mentioning my meds today to the nurse, I told her I took advil last night and today. When the doc came in and read my chart, he was shocked at my use of advil. He told me that advil and NSAIDS (like aleve) can really screw up ovulation. It can make you annovulatory. It can make you ovulate prematurely. It can make things like growing follies but not releasing them happen. (hello? The latter is totally my issue). He told me to NOT take any advil or aleve or anything like that. To take tylenol and if I ever need anything stronger, to call him and he'll give me a narcotic (which still surprises me. I can't take advil while pregnant/ttc, but I can take a narcotic). I declined anything today and asked him if my slow growth will still be okay. He said I'm definitely still in the window of them being "good", so not to worry. Whew.

Did anyone else out there know that?

I'm a big fat liar!

Righty is ~not~ an over achiever. Not at all.

cd11 follie check didn't show much in any kind of achievements. Righty still had 5 - all at 10mms (which I mentioned they didn't do anything and he said they all grew. Last time they were all under 10. My mistake.) and Lefty had 5 also, 2 around 10mm and 3 around 13mm. So we're growing, but slowly. Oh, and my lining SUCKS at a big 4.4 - I've never had good lining.

One thing that got me thinking ... RE mentioned that I was growing, just slowly. I responded with I've been known to be a slow grower before, but they always come through. Then he asked if my insurance pays for my IVF meds. Why would he ask me that? Since I'm a slow grower, does that mean I need a crapload ~more~ meds? So he was making a note about how much my meds will cost because I'm a slow grower?

Next follie check is on Saturday. Man, I'm going to get the award for most u/s in an IUI cycle at this rate. If I grow at a rate of 1-2mm/day, let's say 1.5/day, the leader should only be 16mm by Saturday and only 19mm by Monday. Hey, I'm happy as can be with more checks. I'd rather have more checks to be on the safe side, rather than miss a huge growth period. I'm just making my guesstimates on sizes. Hrm. Should I jinx it all and try to make an end call on what I'll have? I'm going to guess that I'll have 2 definitely mature and a third that'll be left as an "iffy". At trigger, I'll have 2 over 20mm and 1 around 16-18. Heh. Shit. Is that positive thinking? I should change that then, since I've been said to be a horrible negative nelly.

Back to ultrasounds. If I have one on Monday and trigger then or the next day, I'll have one more at IUI time, making the total u/s of this cycle six. That'll beat my all time record of 5. Ahhhh, my love affair with the wand monkey....

Righty is an over achiever.

I don't know if it's because righty's tube had been blocked for so long from the scar tissue, but she sure is in the game this month. We'll have to wait until the morning's follie check, but from the twinges I feel now, I'd be mighty surprised if righty wasn't being dominant.

Again, let me get out there that I ~am~ having a talk with both sides - making sure that if they are trying to show me just how cool they are, they can do it by showing me just how great they can make ONE follicle each. I don't need a multiple follies to prove their coolness. Getting my cycle cancelled wouldn't be too cool at all. Not one bit!

Here is a bit of trivia. What is the line "No Sir, I don't like it." from? (without cheating with Mr Google!)

Well now, ~that~ is a new one.

Just got back from the RE (in a handful of new inches of snow and it being 16 degrees, but what IF patient actually skips an appointment?) and had my HSS and follie check.

Lining: Thin. Check. (thin lining is synonymous with the name "nancy")

Follies: Left: 5 under 10. Right: 5 under 10. (ack. the under 10 is no biggie, I'm usually a slow grower at cd9 and always have some outstanding ones at my next appointment. But 10? Not my usual count. I'm only going to let 20% of these babies mature (no pun intended) because any more mature, my cycle is cancelled.

Uterus: Normal. Check.

WHAT? What was that I just typed? NORMAL? Yes people, yes. I've got a NORMAL uterus. And I'm quite pleased with myself. So pleased, I had this conversation with Mr RE:

Me: Wow. That's a nice looking Uterus.
RE: Yes, I'd have to agree.
Me: No really, have you ~ever~ seen a nicer uterus?
RE: As a matter of fact, it is one of the nicest uteruses I've seen in months.
Me: Well, I can't let nature take all the credit. I have, in fact, has quite a bit of work done.
RE: Cosmetic surgery junkie?
Me: Yeah, I must admit. I'm thinking of a ute lift if a few years. But in the market for an implant right now.

I ~love~ the fact I don't have to make this shit up. Oh, and that I really like Dr Dick now. I have to come up with a better name for him.


A little fun for the day. I signed up for some daily horoscopes - things like my tarot card of the day general overview, etc. I actually forgot about it and got my first emails today.

Tarot: The Knave of Swords card suggests that my power today lies in promise.

Overview: Something new has captured your attention and riled you up -- in a good way.

Greenscope: Minimize bad emotional energy. Toss out anger, envy, doubt and hatred. Apologize if necessary, and let the other stuff go. (lol. Is this a "secret"? Does Secret Loon work at the website?

Love Tarot: The Four of Wands card suggests that you may be celebrating a commitment. The two of you are enjoying success, attention, relief or reward at the most fundamental level of your relationship.

Babyscope: You have a strong sense of what you want, so go ahead and let the other around you know, so together you can be more successful than you would have working alone.

Cosmic Calendar: Powerful and yet unusual forces are on the march - beginning with the potent New Moon. The good news - with any New Moon - is that the solar-lunar convergence suggests that golden opportunities are ripe for the picking. There is also an aura of optimism, exuberance and anticipation that success is just around the corner. (okee dokey. How cool is this one in regards to making a baby? "potent". "ripe for the picking". "optimism that success is just around the corner". All great fertile words and phrases!)

Righty came through!

Before my follie check appointment, I got a peak reading and a followup +opk. Great timing because I got my first 7,500 IUs of hCG today too, since follie was 20x20mm! yay!

I'm to followup with 2 more hCG injections at 5dpo and 7dpo (he changed protocol today). They sent me home with some syringes and needles and told me when to do it. Although I got no injection training whatsoever. I don't think I need any, it's already mixed and all that - only need to poke myself. Maybe I'll check out a few injection videos Mel told us all about.

Hrm. 7dpo hCG injections. This is totally going to throw off my 2ww, you know that, right? suck.

Name that RE!

I love my new RE. I'm so happy Dr Dick got a new partner because really, I love him. I even like his cute french accent when normally, accents don't do much for me. I need a cute little name for him now - like so many of you bloggers out there have for your own REs. I don't want to go the 'frenchy' route either. Let's see. He's got a beard. He was one of the team of doctors who "invented" the use of femara for ovulation induction. He smiles a lot. He doesn't like it when I try to sum up what he's talking about before he's done. He doesn't like me jumping to the conclusions, even though I may be right, because he really likes to explain everything (which is good and bad). He's egyptian I believe. He's from Montreal, hence the french accent. He's got a nice handshake. He makes you feel at ease. If you have any ideas of a cute nickname for him, please let me know! I used all my naming energy on my roller derby name, so I definitely need help.

Onto my update from today's wanding ...

Let me just say ~thank goodness~ the RE office allowed me to have a flat rate for this monitored cycle. For my "on average, you'll need 3 ultrasounds" cycle, I just had u/s #3 and I still have not gotten to where they thought I would be for u/s #2. I have at least 2 more in store! Could you imagine my bill from a 5 u/s cycle when they were going to charge me $300/visit? Damn! So Lefty still has some small follies that weren't even worth measuring today. Righty has grown from 12x11 on Tuesday to 19x13 today. Still not big enough!

Follie is very football shaped still. Oblong and not all round and plump. I have another u/s scheduled for Sunday morning. He thought Monday could be too late, so yet another weekend appointment. He did mention that there was a chance Sunday may be late too, but with my history of ~not~ letting go of the egg from nice and plump follicles, I think we're safe. And it's not like there is anything to miss anywho - there will be no insemination.

I wonder how they'll handle all these injections. I know they'll trigger me w/ 7,000 IUs when my O is ready, but what am I going to do for the following 3 injections? I need another 1,000 IUs on 2dpo, 4dpo and 6dpo. Will they let me do it themselves? Or am I going to have to come in for 3 more appointments? That'll be a pain in the ass. I have no problem doing it myself, they just have to show me how.

I've been thinking a lot about the hcg injects to lengthen LP. And it makes sense now. The hCG will fool my corpus luteum that I am pregnant and it won't think he has to die in a short 12 days. Hopefully that'll make him pump out more progesterone than he normally would - thinking he was going to die soon. Have you heard of "Short Timer's Disease"? This happens when someone at work has an end date in sight. It could be from putting in their 2 week notice, to having a long vacation coming up or just about anything that takes them away from work. They know their time is coming to an end, even if it's temporary, so they don't put forth too much effort. This is what I think my corpus luteums are up to. They know their time is coming to an end after my short LP is up, so why work so hard? These hCG shots should definitely fool him into doing a good job.

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Don't forget to submit your ideas for my RE's nickname!