More Info on IVF

For those of you who haven't heard enough yet, here's a link to a really basic article from about.com about IVF. Even though I knew most of it already, I found it very helpful. I invite you to read it is you're interested.

My Knot Baby

I have another amusing story to share about my wacko body. Yesterday afternoon I went to the ladies room and as I unzipped my pants I noticed something on my stomach. It was right over one of my incisions and I thought it was weird but that perhaps it was a little bit of a a scab flaking off.

Nope. When I looked at it closely I noticed that not only was it a long (half inch), thin white thing, but it had a knot at the end. A knot! That's no scab. And it was coming right out of the middle of what I thought was a closed, and healed, incision.

Freaky! I felt like I was giving birth to an alien stitch baby. How the heck does that happen?

I called the doctor's office and the nurse said it was normal and I could cut it off. Okay. Fine. But why in the world and I projecting stitches at this point?

I explained to the nurse that I had run for the first time in three weeks the day before. She didn't think that was a problem. She said it would take months - MONTHS?!? - for me to get back to normal physically. And that was before I told her that I was in the middle of IVF. 2011 is going to be an interesting - but GREAT year.

Hormones Make You Do Funny Things

I know you’re all dying to hear the latest updates on my hormone levels, right? When I last reported, we were watching my e2 gradually climb. I kind of think of my body as a well-oiled machine. And like my car, I expect my body to follow certain predictable patterns. I also expect the doctors to be the body mechanics and be able to predict that x level of this medicine or hormone will cause x reaction. Yeah, I know, it doesn’t work that way – with cars or bodies.

Every day they take my blood to measure my levels and then do an ultrasound to count and measure my follicles. Then they call me in the afternoon to give me that evening’s dosing instructions. For a reason that is unknown to me, with the same doses that I’ve been taking for a few days, my estrogen level yesterday morning was super high. It went from 1570 on Sunday to 2441. If you recall, last Monday my estrogen level was considered a little low at 92. So yesterday my number was approximately 26 times what it was a week ago. Holy cannoli!

I don’t intend to share all of the nitty gritty details of this treatment here. I am more than happy to share with anyone who is interested. The point of this post is just to share what happened last night.

The Knight and I were watching Saving Grace on Netflix. I’ve watched this show since the first episode and highly recommend it. Anyhow, last night we watched the series finale and of course it was emotional. Ordinarily I am not really the sensitive type when it comes to the stuff that most ladies get emotional about. I am touched my movies and shows, but as the Knight pointed out, he has never seen me shed a tear over a touching story line.

Imagine his surprise when the show ended and he looked over at me and I was on the verge of a full out sob. I was a mess. I don’t think he knew what to do with himself. I then muttered something about it being time to shoot me up with more estrogen and we both lost it. We laughed for at least five minutes. It was pretty nice.

Just another funny moment to remember…

e2

e2 = estrogen

That is just one of the handy things I picked up over the last 30 minutes of doing exactly what my fertility nurse told me not to do: search the internet. But, you know, I just need more info. So I "cheated" and did some googling.

I think that Carrie, my wonderfully sweet nurse, wants to avoid what I'm sure everybody does. Enter whatever into Dr. Google and then get freaked out about all of the horrible possiblities.

So, you know I started my injections exactly one week ago. Since then I've been doing the shots nightly (I've missed my cookies since my last post b/c I got home too late to defrost them) and going in for monitoring in the mornings.

Monday morning Carrie called to tell me that my estrogen level was low. They wanted it to be over 100 and it was 92. I hate being an underachiever. They increased my dosage that night and whadayaknow, my estrogen level shot up to 342. Holy cow, I thought!

They decreased my dosage a little. Carrie just left me a message and said I'm up to 808 and they're decreasing me again.

Well, thank goodness for Dr. Google. According to my research, 808 isn't all that high. Well, it sounded high to me.

I'm feeling kind of icky. Just really crampy. Like PMS times five. A friend came by and knew something was wrong when he walked in the door. He said I was fidgety and quiet. I'm not sure if it is the hormones or the fact that I havent' worked out for THREE WEEKS. I'm planning to go for a light jog in the morning and see how that goes. I'm ready to get my sweat on.

All in all, things are going great. The current plan, which is subject to change, is that I'll do a trigger injection (an intramuscular shot which get the eggs ready) on Sunday. On Tuesday they'll retrieve my eggs and on Friday, Saturday or Sunday, they'll implant the embryos.  Then we wait two weeks to find out if it worked. I hear that is the hardest part of the process. Fingers crossed!

A cookie…in your purse????

“When things are bad and getting worse, keep a cookie in your purse.”

During a particularly stressful time back in my law school days, my sweet sister gave me this adorable card. It was shaped like a cookie and it had the above quote inside. It was so cute and it was just what I needed. Knowing Sis, I think the card may have been given with a cookie (or three).

Things are actually going pretty well. Thank goodness for Congress being out of session and my boss being out of the office. This week has been wonderfully quiet. Which is perfect since my new iPad arrived Monday night and yesterday I was a bit distracted by my new toy. Shhhhh….

Don’t worry….I’m getting back to the cookies. Stay with me.

So, the injections started Friday night and it was a little confusing but it actually went pretty well. Shady Grove Fertility gives you this 30+ page document that contains very detailed instruction for every possible medicine they prescribe. I’m using two different prescriptions, both with very different procedures for mixing and preparing. I’ll spare you the details but I will say it is challenging a little scary. And with each vial of medicne costing a few hundred dollars (yes, per dose), you really don't want to screw it up.

Saturday night didn’t go as well. For some unknown reason, I bled at the injection site after both injections. Not a lot, but just enough to freak me out (especially because I didn’t have that probem the night before). According the nurse I consulted on Monday, it's normal. Good thing, since I continue to bleed around 75% of the time.

Inserting the needles isn’t all that bad. But one of the medicines burns as you inject it and for a while afterwards. Not fun. Not fun at all.

It got to a point where I was really dreading the injections and I started saying that I needed a reward afterwards. You know, like the prizes you’d get at the dentist when you were a kid. Do you see where I’m going with this???

So yesterday when I read about these cookies on my feed from the Clarendon Culture blog, I knew they’d be just the thing to take the sting out of my evening (hahaha, I crack myself up).

I stopped by Trader Joe’s on the way home and picked up a box from the frozen aisle. Each cookie is only 75 calories but they are pretty tiny. After dinner I defrosted them on the counter (one for me, one for the Knight). Then after the tough stuff, I consoled myself with this deliciousness.

You know what? I’m looking forward to tonight so I can have another cookie. Mission accomplished!

For the record, yes, I am using food as an emotional crutch. Also for the record, I have gained 3 pounds (and 3 pimples) since beginning these hormone injections, and that was before starting the cookie plan. I suppose you could say that now is not the time to start adding cookies to my diet, but I disagree. Just a few more days of this…

Fetus cookies, anyone? Ummm. No thanks. Weird.

It's Almost the Weekend!

Deep breath. Ahhhh.

I love Fridays. So much.

I especially love Fridays that are at the end of tough weeks.

I guess I should catch up on everything since my last post. To say I was touched and overwhelmed by the response to my decision to share the details of the latest happenings in my life would be an understatment. Thank you all for reaching out with so much love and support. I feel truly blessed.

The recovery went very well. I enjoyed the downtime, much of which was spent on the sofa watching streaming netflix (love it!). For some reason I had ongoing headaches. That kept me pretty quiet most of the week. Since that was the worst of my worries, I can't really complain. I was so good about not unpacking, cleaning, or doing all of the other tasks that were calling out to me.

The first week back at work was fine. A little discomfort in the waist-band area, but fine overall. And that's about all I want to say about the workweek...

Going forward, here's what's on tap.

This weekend - the Face of America event, a 2-day 110-mile bike ride from DC to Gettysburg in honor of veterans. The Knight and many of my friends will ride along with wounded veterans for this amazing event. The Knight did it last year and hasn't stopped talking about it since. Since I'm still on the exercise ban :(, I'll be volunteering. I'm really hoping the weather isn't as bad as is currently forecasted. It is not fun riding (or volunteering) in rain or storms. Please consider making a donation to this wonderful cause if you haven't already.

Tonight - In my last post, I alluded to the whole baby-making procedure being a little "complicated." Well, tonight I will start injections so that we can prepare for IVF (in-vitro fertilization). I'm kind of undecided about how much of this to share, but it feels right to talk about it. I guess if you don't want to know, you can always stop reading.

I'm just a tad nervous about the injections. I'm actually fine with the whole needle thing. I went to a class on how to do the injections and I'm fine with it. I'm more nervous about the specifics. You have to mix this much of that substance, with a so many milligrams of that substance. I have an instructional brochure, so hopefully it won't be a big deal. It should be interesting.

Have a great weekend, everyone! Don't forget to donate if you can. Thanks!

Friday Fifteen

It's Friday. I'm bored. How about breaking tradition and having a Friday Fifteen?

1. The surgery this morning went well and I am feeling way better than I thought I would. I'm a little tender and woozy, but otherwise, I feel pretty good.

2. I've been awake for around 5 hours and I have to admit that I am already getting restless.

3. I watched Eat, Pray, Love on Netflix. I wasn't really entertained. The book was much better.

4. "Watching" the pilot of Thirtysomething now. The 80's hair and clothing is distracting me.

5. Earl Grey, aka smarty pants, is really freaked about something on my healing body. He keeps sniffing me and backing away when I try to pet him.

6. However, Pepper, aka the love cat, is oblivious that anything is up (as usual) and seems a little offended that I won't let him lay on my belly.

7. If anyone wants to come over for a visit or a walk, I think I'll be ready soon. Send me a note.

8.  Okay, so, many of you know that I had surgery this morning but I haven't really told many people the story. If you want to know a little bit, read on. If not, skip 10-12.

9. The Knight and I want to have a baby. For a variety of reasons, which I won't go into just yet, it will be a little more complicated than it could be. But no worries, we're Ironmen, and we can handle it.

10. In the course of doing some routine tests a couple of weeks ago, the doctor discovered a problem. One of my fallopian tubes was blocked. It isn't clear why or how it happened, but there are solutions.

11. The specialist checked out the scans and decided to to do surgery. He said there was a 50/50 chance that he could repair it. If not, he'd remove it. For some reason I just knew that he'd have to remove it and that's exactly what he did. At least I don't have to worry about it becoming a problem again in the future.

12. The surgery was done lapascopically. The put the camera in through my belly button and made two incisions in my abdomen. I've got soluble stitches and dermabond. They didn't put bandages over it and it looks kinda scary. I decided to stop looking at it.

13. I feel so incredibly fortunate that a) this was discovered before I got pregnant. It would have caused a miscarriage if it wasn't; b) we have good jobs and health insurance and we are in a position to be able to take care of all of this; c) I have such an amazing support system.

14. Another cool thing about this morning's surgery is that my friend and teammate, Dr. Pam, was at the surgery center this morning. Total coincidence! It turns out she's part owner of the facility and was doing a surgery there this morning, too. She put the word out and everyone who came by to care for us treated us like VIPs (and called us Ironpeople). It was so nice. [BTW, Pam is interested in racing IM Arizona. I remember reading something on facebook about a source for sold-out charity slots. Anyone know anything? Email Pam, Carol or me.]

15. The Knight just returned home from the commissary with lots of goodies including an electric blanket. No, they don't have electric blankets there; he stopped at the exchange, too. Now he's making me cheesy scrambled eggs. I'm so lucky!

I know there's a lot here. Just be glad that I didn't decide to do a Friday FIFTY :) You may be hearing a lot from me over the next week. I am scheduled to go back to work 4/11.

Thanks for reading and thank you so much for all of the nice notes and texts.

Lots of love,
Cat

P.S. - I am not on any medication at the moment - not even ibuprofen. So this post was done as lucidly as any other post I've made.