Tag Archives: Monitoring

IVF #6 – Stim Day 9 – The 411

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Today is CD 1 !!   It is also my 9th day on Lupron.  In the morning, I go in for blood work and a baseline sonogram.  I am now on 3.0 mg of the LDN and I have not noticed any increased side effects.  I will receive instructions tomorrow on the estrogen after my baseline.

This morning, my mother and I arrived in Washington DC, where we will be spending the holiday with family.  After getting settled in to the hotel, my mom had a quick dental appointment and then we met our friend for a late lunch/early dinner at Benihana. It was soooo good !  I even managed to run into the mall and grab three gifts I needed for my nephews and for my sister.

I am a bit worn down, so I am turning in early tonight since I have to leave for the hospital in the morning at 6:45 am.

IVF #4 – Stim Day 10 – The 411

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baby - my body is not ready yet

I went in this morning for my monitoring appointment and everything is looking good.  Unfortunately, I have two leads on the right and three on the left and a gang of additional follicles that have not caught up.  My E2 (estrogen) level is just under 1000.  My nurse conferred with Dr. Grossman and Dr. Kiltz and I have to stay on meds another night or two.  I am sooooo glad I did not sell off all of my additional meds or donate them !  I kept two boxes of Menopur and some of the Gonal -F and of course I still have some Lupron left in the vial I have been using.  I am completely out of Omnitrope, but I am not flipping out about it.  I took in three vials over the past 9 days.  The HGH/Omnitrope was an added medication to help with egg quality and maturation.

I was all packed and ready for my 7 am departure tomorrow, and am kinda disappointed that I will not be leaving until this weekend.  Not that I want to rush anything, I am hoping my follicles grow like gang busters overnight so that I will do my retrieval on Saturday and my transfer on Monday or Tuesday.  I am pretty sure my mom has her next chemo therapy treatment on Wednesday, which means she has to come back on Tuesday.  I just hope I am done by Tuesday so that we can head back to DC for her treatment. Again, I am not going to stress about it.  It is what it is.  My mom can just hop on the train back to DC if need be and I will just come the day after.  Her chemo treatments are now 5 hours long so I do not stay with her anyway.  I was just hoping she would be at the clinic when I put her grandbabies back in 🙂

Baby - keep calm im not ready yet

Here is a picture from the monitoring screen today:

baby - ivf 4 stim day 10 scan

Time to go mix my meds and inject them !  More tomorrow after my monitoring appointment.

IVF #3 Stim Day 9 – The 411

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baby - 12 eggs

This morning, I had a monitoring appointment and am delighted to say that I have 12 measurable follicles and a few more small ones developing.  My E2 levels have come up to almost 500, which I am really happy about.  I will be stimming for 3 more days so it is a good sign that it more than doubled in two days.

Tomorrow, I will be going in for an acupuncture session. That should be a bit relaxing.

Tonight, I mixed my meds and injected with ease.  Just when this becomes second nature, it is time to stop the injections.

I am looking forward to leaving for Albany on Sunday.  I am meeting a few ladies who are at my clinic having their procedures done this week.

As far as how I am feeling, my right ovary feels SWOLLEN !  I feel a bit of pressure on both sides but more so on the right, although my left has more follicles.

Diez Huevos ! – The 411

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baby - 10 eggs

YAY !  This morning I had a monitoring appointment and I currently have 5 follicles on each side and more little ones developing.  My follicles are small and the nurse thinks they should be mature (18-25mm) early next week.  My initial target retrieval date was Friday or Monday.  I am hoping it is not until at least Monday to let the follicles mature properly so that I do not end up at retrieval with immature eggs this time.  My doctor is not on vacation and is closely monitoring what is going on, so I am relieved that he is watching and not the nursing staff.

On Friday, the hospital’s lab did not send my bloodwork in STAT !  I was sooo pissed off because the blood work they did would not be back until today or tomorrow, which means the whole weekend I went along without know what the numbers were looking like.  My clinic and I discussed it and I am going in to Labcorp the rest of the week for the blood work.  The blood work will post to an interface within a few hours of the pick up.

I am anxiously awaiting the blood work results from today.

IVF #3 Stims Day 3 – The 411

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baby - IVF3 stim day 1

Today has been a long one !  I have had maybe 2-3 hours of sleep since yesterday.  My mom is at home and resting well.  She has some pain, but manageable with the meds.  She was doing fine with nausea until she ate the big dinner I made, LOL.   She has been making noises about wanting turkey and stuffing.

Today, I decided to make slow cooker cajun turkey breast, herbed cornbread and sausage stuffing, buttered rice, turkey gravy,  string beans and black bottom brandied sweet potato pie.   And before you ask, YES, I write cookbooks and have four published cookbooks out that have been on the best sellers list at Borders, Barns and Noble and Amazon.com.

I love cooking and baking when I have time.  That heavy meal did her in…

Before dinner, I mixed my meds and did my injections.  Other than being very tired from not sleeping, I feel great.

Tomorrow is my second monitoring appointment.  I am kinda glad I am on this schedule since I don’t have to go back until Monday.  I have one on Wednesday and depending on how that goes, I will either have to trigger and leave for Albany on Thursday or stay on the meds until monitoring on Friday and leave for Albany on Sunday for next day retrieval.

I want to thank all of you for your prayers, well wishes and support.  My mom thanks you as well.  We have received an outpouring of love and support and it means the world to know others stand with you !!  xoxo

Day 7 of Stims and Baseline Monitoring /Ultrasound Appointment – The 411

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Day 7 of Stims and Baseline Monitoring /Ultrasound Appointment - The 411

This evening, I did my seventh injection.

I had my third baseline monitoring appointment this morning and all is progressing well. I have nine follicles on the right which are large (greater than 10mm) with the largest being 14.38mm. There are also some small ones on both right and left. On the left, there are seven follicles measuring over 10mm, with the largest being 13 mm.

My nurse called this afternoon to give me an update and informed me that my retrieval will now be approximately on Thursday or Friday. I am to continue on my same medication regimen and report on Monday for the last monitoring appointment.

I am really glad that my retrieval will be later in the week so that my transfer will take place on Easter Monday ! How symbolic ! 🙂

Day Six of Stims – The 411

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Day Six of Stims - The 411

Today was the sixth day I injected Gonal F (450 units), Lupron (5 units), Menopur (150 units) and Lovenox. My tummy is a bit bloated/ swollen by appearance. I have a few small bruises that are barely visible. I am taking Prednisone and Femera as well.

I feel great, but I have noticed that I am craving milk.

Tomorrow I go in to my RE, Dr. Tomer Singer for my next monitoring appointment.

I kinda had a bit of a freak out today. I am so much of a planner. I am a control freak and this is so out of my control. I had in my head that I would transfer 3-4 embryos to ensure that I have twins. Normally it is with IUI, not IVF that there is a danger of having higher number of multiples. Low and behold, a lady on my IVF board made a post about triplet moms. She is having triplets and another lady stated that she transferred three embryos and ALL of them stuck. FREAK OUT CENTRAL !! What the What?????? Say it is not so ! So…. there went my perfect little plan ! I DO NOT want three babies. TWO !! That is enough for me LOL. Now I am petrified, as I do not believe that I could go through with selective reduction. Basically they insert a fluid into the heartbeat of an embryo to stop the heart… for me that is abortion, and I can not do that. It will also endanger the other babies and possibly me.

Wish me luck tomorrow !