Day 8 of Stims Update

Thank you all for your kind words of encouragement. It gives me so much positive energy to know that I have so many cheerleaders out there!

I've now made it to day 8! Here's what I have to show for it so far:

Day 4 - E2 is 106
Day 6 - E2 is 506
Day 8 - E2 is 1,444

So far I have no follicles over 12mm. This has never happened before; usually they grow quickly and uniformly. Now they are slow and I have no standouts. I have almost 30 follicles, they are just not up to where they usually are at this point. My RE doesn't seem worried. He's actually decreasing my F.ollistem for the next 2 nights. He just thinks they need longer than usual to grow. This is the first time we've done the antagonist protocol, so maybe that's what's making the difference. My estrogen is going up very quickly, which always freaks me out. Apparently, once I start the antagon injections, that will help to keep my E2 down. I'll also start the growth hormone S.aizen injections when we get some bigger follicles. So, I guess we're looking at an ER on maybe Wednesday or Thursday at the soonest. We'll know more after Sunday's u/s and bloodwork. I'll keep you posted!

It Has Begun!

So we're off and running on this 4th IVF attempt. I began stims on Friday after an ultrasound showing 20 resting follicles. I'm on 225 IUs of F.ollistem and 10 IUs of low dose hcg. In a few days I'll begin G.anerelix and S.aizen (growth hormone). I went for my Day 4 bloodwork today and will find out this afternoon if everything is on track so far.

I am feeling so differently about this cycle. I'm not excited, I'm just sort of going through the motions. I guess that's not good, but I just can't handle getting my hopes up. I'm trying to stay calm and not think about it. This will be our last IVF, and I'm more excited about it being over than anything else. I'm ready for this journey to end. After more than 4 years, it's time to move on. If this cycle doesn't work, it will be on to adoption. I'm so, so tired. I'm just ready to be a mother and ready to get on with my life. I do want to give it this one last shot (no pun intended!) though. I have to be able say that I did everything I could to try to have a biological child. Please say a prayer for us and I'll keep you updated and the process continues!

Happy 4th of July!

Mr. C and I had a wonderfully relaxing holiday weekend in WV with relatives. We went tubing down the river, had an amazing cookout, sang songs, and lit sparklers.

This Friday we leave for our last vacation before our next IVF cycle. I started BCPs last Friday and will have my first monitoring appointment on July 21. After that I'll start stims and off we go!

Getting ready to tube down the FREEZING spring-fed river!


It was cold but fun!




My favorite photo of the weekend. (Sorry it's out of focus...it's IN focus on my home computer so I don't know what Blogger's problem is.)


Mr. C.'s aunt and uncle.


Mom and me!




4th of July dogs.

Happy Anniversary to Us!

Yesterday was our 6th wedding anniversary. Time flies when you're having fun! I can't wait to see what the next 6 (and beyond) hold for us.

34

Happy Birthday, Mr. C! I love you and hope you have a wonderful day!

Newport, RI

Mr. C and I just returned from a trip to Newport, Rhode Island. It was beautiful and we had a wonderful time! Check out some of the pics from our time in New England:

Day 3 Labs and SHG

We're back in the game again! Last week I had my day 3 labs and today I had my sonohystogram (hello cramps!). Everything looked good with my numbers last week and my FSH is the lowest it's ever been, coming in at 7.5. Yay! My highest number (after the Clomid Challenge Test) was 11.4. My RE says your highest number is your official FSH, but I still feel good when it goes down. It's been 2 years since the 11.4, so I was terrified that it was going to be even higher than that! At least we're starting off with some good news! My SHG was uneventful this morning and everything looks normal. Now we just wait until AF when I'll start BCPs. I can't believe we're doing this again. I hope and pray that it works this time.

Here's a photo of us from a wedding in Asheville we attended a few weeks ago. It was at the Grove Park Inn and was beautiful. Unfortunately, the bride and groom announced they were PREGNANT right before cutting the cake! I started crying and ran out. Very dramatic. I'm very happy for my friend, but seriously?! (Incidently, this photo was taken BEFORE the big announcement!)