Lupron is no fun! It came with headaches and made me grumpy and I was an emotional mess (don't know if that part was the Lupron, or if it was a mix of several factors). Historically when on birth control, AF tends to do stupid things like show up in bits about a week into to pills. She didn't let me down this time, either. Official day 1 was the day after my last birth control pill, but AF had been unofficially around for a couple of weeks already. In spite of this, my baseline testing was good.
Baseline results:
Estradiol- 38.12
LH- 3.76
I started my FSH injections shortly after and was fully expecting my emotions to be even crazier. My husband swears I wasn't "that bad," but I felt like I was. I guess I just did a REALLY good job of keeping it to myself, or at least not taking it out on him. I had a couple of anxiety/panic days, but felt pretty good until my CD7 testing. RE's nurse seemed "okay" with results, but she and RE agreed that they needed to bump me up a bit on the hormones (as expected...they always do that to me).
CD7 results:
Estradiol- 100
LH- 3.72
Progesterone- 0.57
Lining- 8
Follicles- 7
So, after getting my blood work back, RE decided to double my dose of medication. I was okay with this, but realized I would then need more than I had stockpiled (I bought a lot of my medications ahead of time to "save" them for this cycle, so I could save some money). This sent me into a bit of a panic, which was worsened of course by the meds which prevent me from being able to logically talk myself down from a panic. However, I was sure I had worked this out and was able to relax for a couple more days.
CD10 results:
Estradiol- 646.88
LH- 2.66
Progesterone- 0.43
Lining- 13
Follicles- 15
RE's nurse was sure that by day 10, RE would decrease my meds, but they didn't. This sent me into a panic again because my "prior arrangements" had fallen through at the last minute. Fortunately, I was able to order just enough in the nick of time, but as a result of my panic, I skipped a dose and took only a partial dose one day, thinking I would run out otherwise. Fortunately, I was mistaken and had exactly what I needed by the time my additional meds arrived the next day.
Side story...my meds arrived no thanks to the FedEx guy...have never had a problem before, but he delivered my packages (I actually had two shipments of meds I was expecting on the same day) to my neighbor's house instead of mine. My address is clearly posted on my house and my mailbox in front of my house and my neighbor's address is clearly posted on her house as well (right above where he left the packages). I was home and waiting and even saw the truck take off after he left, then noticed that my packages had been marked as "delivered," which immediately sent me racing out the door to try to track down my mail...fortunately, they were still sitting on my neighbor's porch, so I grabbed them and brought them to my house. Lessons learned from this: Don't waive the signature and FedEx doesn't have a way that you can file a complaint.
CD13 results:
Estradiol- 1,999
Lining- 13
Follicles- She stopped counting at 17 and said there were several more, but she said there was no
reason to keep counting at that point.
On day 13, I was informed that I was "ready." Things looked good and they didn't even run all the lab work because my ultrasound and estradiol levels were evidence enough that things were where they should be. I was told to do my HCG trigger that night at 7:30 and my egg retrieval was scheduled two days later...we had to be at the clinic by 7am.
Let me just say that I am a morning person, but to be at the clinic by 7 meant that we were up at 4:45 to take showers, get dressed and head out the door by 5:30 because it is an hour and a half drive from our house to the clinic. It was definitely a long day!
Egg retrieval wasn't like I pictured it would be. The anesthesiologist said that some people are awake through the whole procedure, just medicated enough to keep the pain away. I was really looking forward to this, but no sooner did she put the meds into my IV did I feel them hit me and the very next thing I remember is hearing them tell me they were almost done. What the heck? I missed the whole thing! I had not been adequately prepared for how I would feel after the retrieval, either. I had expected some cramping, but didn't realize that there would also be pressure/bloating/gassy feelings in my abdomen and I further didn't realize that it would make any bathroom activities very painful! I have a high pain tolerance, so it was more uncomfortable than painful, but I think having not been fully prepared for what to expect made it a little worse initially. After I discovered that my feelings were normal, I went online to see how I could help ease the symptoms a bit. For those who may need some support with this, here is what I found... drink lots of fluids (especially ones with electrolytes like Gatorade---yuck!), sleep sitting up (RE had told me this one) for a couple of days, laxatives as needed (and in my case, they were definitely needed), high protein and low sodium diet. I also had pain meds which helped quite a bit, but made me feel really strange, so I used those sparingly. Today is "the day after" and I'm feeling a lot better. All my symptoms are still there, but to a much smaller degree. Hopefully, within another day or two, I'll be feeling somewhat normal again.
Got the fertilization report from the embryologist this morning.
Eggs retrieved- 15
Mature eggs- 12
Fertilized eggs- 10
So, I'm off the hook for a few days while these little guys and girls grow. The embryologist will call us on day 3 to give us an update on how they're progressing and we are planning to transfer 2 of them on day 5. We will be freezing the rest.
I am so excited about how well this cycle has gone. RE's nurse swears I have never before responded this well and she felt really good about how things were progressing. I hadn't always been as convinced, but I do believe several factors may have helped us out: 1. weight loss- I've lost 60 pounds since our last attempt 2. herbs- I have been regularly taking false unicorn root and cramp bark per the recommendation of my herbalist even though most of this cycle 3. time off- I took several days off work to "regroup" and tried to schedule as many of my appointments during those times as I could which helped lower my stress levels. I feel really good about our results now that I know we have our 10 fertilized eggs sitting in an incubator. I'm hoping they develop the way they are supposed to and that our transfer goes smoothly. Then... I am praying that I will soon be able to announce my first pregnancy after nearly 8 years of trying!
