Still stimming, eagerly awaiting our next scan!

Hooray for the weekend! And for the fact that Friday marked exactly one week, or right around there, until egg retrieval. Time has F-L-O-W-N by!

We had our second US scan on Friday
And thank goodness! It was hard to tell at first what Dr. Ahlering was thinking... we were all looking at the monitor, seeing lots of follicles, but his reaction just wasn't what I thought it would be. That's because I think he expected to see something other than what was there. This time around, he measured some of them, with the biggest coming in around 11 or 12 mm. He said that, come next week, we'll be looking for them to be anywhere from 16-20 mm in size. He did point out others that were there, but weren't as far along in size yet. In total, he said I had around 12+ follicles, but I didn't really get the impression that he counted one by one.

He said that, overall, there really isn't much to say at this point. Monday is when we'll have our next scan and, at that time, is when he'll be counting, measuring and deciding where I'm at in terms of meds and such. Before he left the room he also said my uterine lining is looking good and that he was going to take a peek at my calendar and check to see if anything needs to be adjusted.

With that under our belt, I went back into the waiting room and Jay went to "produce" (hahaa! I love it when our coordinator calls it that) his back-up sample. As I was waiting, a friend who's doing her cycle in September came in the office. Such a small world! We chatted for awhile and then before long, out came Peggy with a new calendar in hand.

Dr. A decided to change our stim dosage again!
We're back up to practically where we were when we first started. Friday was supposed to be the first day of our stims going down in dosage, but he kept us at 225 every day except the last day. That day we go down to 150 IU. I guess that while things looked good, they didn't look as good as he thought they could. Jay's theory is that he wants to try and get the other follicles that aren't quite as mature yet to catch up. I've heard follicles do mature at different rates, so this definitely seems logical, but I'm sure there is more to know than that, so this is one area I definitely want to do some more reading on over the weekend.

In the end, I'm glad we went yesterday. I would hate to have just waited until Monday to possibly find out that the one ovary wasn't producing as much as we hoped... though I think that 12+ for one ovary is pretty good. The thing is, at SIRM, they don't typically see patients until the Monday before ER, during stimming. We were seen only because we asked specifically, due to concerns we have since I have only one ovary. The good thing is that when we expressed a concern in our calendar review, there was no hesitation whatsoever to add in the extra appointment. Thankfully we asked! It definitely made me feel better going into the weekend knowing what is going on down there.

Thursday night we did our first injection of LH - Luveris
Boy did that suck. The needle was the same as the micro-fine you use for Lupron, but the medication itself stung and had a slight burning sensation the entire time he was injecting it. I, being the one pinching my skin, had a really hard time cooperating. When something stings like a bee you want to react and pull away from it, not stand there and take it. I accidentally moved a little just as we were finishing and looked down to see my skin had instantly swollen a semi-hard bulge appeard. It took about 15 minutes for the lump to go away, even with a hot washcloth over top.

Since we elected to do that first, we had to follow it up with a separate Follistim. The last time we did this, the 225 IU seemed to pool up under my the surface of my skin for awhile. It didn't hurt, but it was sorta freaky! Last night it wasn't near as noticeable and the injection itself went pretty smooth, thankfully. Tonight we'll do another vial of Luveris, perhaps our last (let's hope!). This morning it occurred to me that we're running out of spots to give injections, or at least it feels like it anyway. I do not, however, have any desire to explore giving them in my thigh or the back of my arm, so we'll just have to make do!

Tomorrow is CD 9: That means another E2 check and US
I am really anxious to see what this ovary has been up to. On Thursday I noticed some light twinges, on Friday during the US I could tell things were definitely more tender and yesterday it was pretty obvious that I have started gaining a little extra fluff in my tummy. Today I'm markedly more sore when I sit or put pressure on my stomach. "Just how big are those things getting?!" is all I can think. So we wait with lots of anticipation. Depending on what Dr. Ahlering sees determines if I'll stay on stims longer, when my next appointment will be and even when he thinks I might do the trigger shot prior to ER. Speaking of trigger shot, I just realized last night that I'm not sure if that injection has been ordered yet or not, or what injection I'll even be doing to trigger. All it states on my current calendar is "HCG shot" and there are several different types. So, that will for sure be asked tomorrow.

This has been a wonderful weekend full of things-not-planned: lazy days of board games, movies, afternoon naps and snuggling with the three loves of my life (my pups and my husband, of course). It has been VERY stress-free and a much needed way to begin a new week full of lots of things yet to be determined. And, of course, there have been tons of things on my mind. Each night before I drift of to sleep I've seemed to grasp onto some scenario surrounding IVF or pregnancy and imagine us in the middle of it all. Your mind races when there is so much that lies ahead! Things like the excitement of getting our final beta in just a few short weeks and those darn PIO intramuscular shots that I have been sorely dreading, both of which deserve their own post. More to come!

Related Posts by Categories