My plan for stress relief

I know that the IVF cycle is going to stress me out and I want to avoid obsessing over it.  I'm therefore preparing a "kit" to help handle the stress: funny DVD's (I took "The Wire" off my Netflix queue for now and added a bunch of comedies and silly sitcoms), downloading lots of guided meditation podcasts, buying chocolates and other treats.  I will also go to acupuncture as often as needed in the next few weeks.  We planned a long weekend to Ireland and will be leaving about 3 weeks after "test day."  That way, we can either celebrate our success or drown our sorrows if it doesn't work.  Either way, it will keep my mind occupied.  My mom forwarded me this article, which says that laughter after your IVF transfer could increase your chances.  It's a good thing 30 Rock is back on - that show makes me laugh more than anything (except maybe Colbert!)

The Lupron is treating me well so far - no side effects that I've noticed.  I'll stop BCP's on Tuesday, then stims next week.

Bring on the Lupron...

I started the Lupron this morning and will have a date with the needle every morning for the next 4 weeks.  Fun!  Hopefully I won't get the dreaded side effects that everyone is talking about.  Work is very busy but should slow down in the next few weeks, and I've cleared out my schedule for most of February.  I found out yesterday that my "natural killer cells" bloodwork came back normal so that's good news.  I'll check back in a few days.... running out the door for a meeting.

Pre IVF testing complete!

Bloodwork - check!
Semen analysis - check!
Cervical culture - check!
Saline sonogram - check!
Trial transfer - OUCH! - check

As of today, all of our pre-IVF testing is complete.  I had my trial transfer, cervical culture, and saline sonogram this morning.  All went fine and no issues, but man, the trial transfer hurt!  I guess my uterus deviates a little to the left (as the doctor put it) so they had issues getting the catheter to go to the correct spot.  So, he poked around quite a bit in there and it hurt pretty bad!  The saline sonogram was totally clear - my polyp of doom hasn't returned.  I'm on BCP's till the 25th, antibiotics for the next 3 days, will be starting Lupron on the 19th and then starting stims Feb 4th!  So, things are moving along fine.  We did hit a bit of a speed bump with my bloodwork -- they found that I'm not immune to varicella (chicken pox) anymore, so they said I need to be vaccinated ASAP.  Luckily, my local Wal.greens clinic does them, so I got the vaccine on Saturday.  It could have screwed up the whole cycle, because you can't get pregnant for at least 30 days after the vaccine.  But the timing of this vaccine was OK - the earliest date I could possibly be pregnant is the 17th of February. 

Lots of stuff going on, I'll keep you all updated.  I'm glad to see many of my blog friends are going through IVF around the same time as me - let's keep each other sane!

Here we go with IVF #1!

Things are getting going with IVF #1!  I'm starting birth control pills tomorrow and Lupron around the 19th.  Then, I'll start stims shortly after that.  Retrieval will most likely be the week of Feb. 14th, and transfer later that week or the following week.  The only issue is that the Bunny will be away from Feb. 5 - 12th on a snowboarding trip with friends, and if retrieval ends up getting moved up a few days, he'll have to come home early.  I have to try and talk about it with him tonight - he won't be happy at all if he has to cut his vacation short.  I'm going to pick up the meds tonight.  Exciting times!

Merry Christmas!

I had a wonderful vacation in Colorado with my family.  We drank gallons of red wine and beer and spent lots of time in the sperm-killing hot tub.  A great time was had by all.  We'll head down tonight to spend Christmas with the in-laws. 

My husband's annual work Christmas party was yesterday.  That was harder than I expected.  I've been to the party yearly since we started dating in 2002 and have watched his co-workers' kids grow and grow.  There are also a lot of new and growing babies every year.  This year was particularly hard, as two of my husband's good work friends have new babies who everyone was cooing over.  I know it's selfish, but it made me feel somewhat jealous and left out -- another work party with no baby.  We ordered many pitchers of beer from this place afterwards, which helped.

Cycle wise, I ovulated late this cycle (Day 19, which is quite late for me).  I was getting very annoyed at my "CBE" monitor when it wasn't giving me a peak day around CD 14-15, but sure enough, I got it at CD 19.  The deed was done accordingly, though at this point it's kind of a joke that we are still even bothering to try naturally.  I'll schedule my saline sonogram, trial transfer and bloodwork after my period shows and we should be good to go for IVF.

I wish you guys a very Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukah (though I know that's over now), and Happy New Year.  All the best to all of you for the New Year.  Leaving you with one of my favorite Christmas songs (I prefer the humorous variety).

Notes from RE consult #3

Following up on the last post, I did actually get AF later that day!  So, that issue resolved, I guess.  I should be ovulating sometime in the next few days, but this and the next cycle will be natural.  Yesterday I met with a new RE from a famous national practice.  It's in my state, but about an hour and a half from my house.  I was in the "neighborhood" (relatively speaking) for work yesterday, so I made an appointment.  The meeting was very interesting and I learned a lot of fascinating things.  The doctor thinks that we have several factors at work here, all to do with me: 1) endometriosis - the fact that some was found and removed is important.  He says even if it was a mild case, there can be damage or problems on a microscopic level that is causing problems.  2) my FSH level was a little high one of the times it was tested (it was 8.0 in September and 6.4 in October) - the 6.4 is OK but 8 means that it's creeping up.  He says it normally goes up gradually over time with age, the fact that it's fluctuating could be an issue.  3) possibly an immunity issue, which also is linked to the endometriosis.  He explained about how the body naturally fights off the endometrial cells when they leave the uterus, but those killer cells can also damage the egg when it is moving between the ovary and fallopian tube, causing it to not be fertilizable. (is that a word?)  IVF solves this because the eggs are removed directly from the ovary.  So, it can explain why, even though I'm ovulating and my tubes are open, I'm not getting pregnant.  He did bloodwork to check my natural killer cells level, they have a treatment for people with high killer cells in IVF cases.  Not all doctors believe in the science behind this, but the doctor who founded their clinic has done a lot of research on this and incorporated it into his treatment plans.  He thinks there is no male factor in our case.  We just did the killer cell bloodwork to see what shows up, but thinks I should go ahead with the IVF at my current clinic.  Another interesting thing he said was that there could be a DQ Alpha match which prevents our pregnancy - basically, that we could be too genetically similar.  So, it was pretty enlightening.  We'll see what the bloodwork turns up.


In other news, heading on vacation from tomorrow till the 20th!  Yay!  Happy Holidays to everyone and thanks for all your support!

More drama..

Sorry for not posting for a while!  We've been busy the last few weeks with travel and general holiday craziness.  Picking up where we left off last time, I got a copy of my file from my RE and reviewed it thoroughly.  Nothing really stands out.  All my bloodwork levels were normal, and DH's semen analysis was normal.  I was a little concerned with his morphology - it was only 5% normal, but that is apparently in the "normal" range.  So, no answers there.  I touched base with the IVF coordinator about what I need to do now - she told me to call when I got my period (which was due last Friday or Saturday) to schedule the bloodwork and saline sonogram.  I'm now on CD 35 and still no period.  This is epically long for me - the longest cycle that I have had, possibly ever.  I'm definitely not pregnant (trust me).  So, I called my doctor yesterday to see what was up.  They made me come in for a beta / progesterone test today and may have to give me something to start my period.  This is truly bizarre.  So, it's looking like it will be 2 more cycles till we start IVF.