Suppression check

This morning I went in for my suppression check. That consists of blood work and an internal ultrasound to determine that my hormones and egg production has been at a stand still due to the introduction of birth control.

So blood work, it needs to be drawn by 7:45am in order to be picked up by the courier. The lab opens at 7, so I figured I would get there around 7:10/7:15 to let all the people who have to get to work have a turn first. I arrived and 15 FIFTEEEEEEN people were ahead of me. So I was a tad nervous about that, the phlebotomist said that he would make the courier wait for everyone to have their draw completed tho. So that was nice. What wasn't nice were the THREE tries it took to hit a vein. I might need to be "that" patient and request the phlebotomist that hits my difficult veins on the first time every time. I just feel like a jerk. But I cant do 3 tries every day ouch.

After that "shit show" I headed down to ultrasound to check on my little ovaries. We started internally, but that wasn't working, so we went abdominal. All the medical things today. sheesh.





The dr called and said we had the hormonal go ahead to stop the bcps and start stims on friday, the 10th.
Then I got a call after 5 today from the fertility pharmacy, they said that my insurance is requesting prior authorization for my gonal f (the stimulating hormone) I am suppose to start it on the 10th if I don't have Auth by the 9th I will have to pay OOP.... $1500 for 1 pen. I need at least 5.

I can buy one at a time and if I get authorization then I can be reimbursed. But I'm sorta freaking out about them approving it. We never had this hoop to jump through before...I suppose I'll be doing some harassing tomorrow!



And last but not least --- my kid at the beach! Just cuz he's cute.

Popping in from vacation to saaaayyy

We just got the call...insurance approved our IVF!!!

I go in on monday for BW and US, then my stims (injections) will start on the 10th!

Our pharmacy order is going in today and will hopefully be delivered next week too. I cant believe this is all starting again. Its crazy. I'm sorta freaking out about the whole 2 kids thing. Colin is so so special, and not that this new baby wont be, but how will my feelings be?
I'm trying to keep in mind the love and bond I have with my siblings and how much I want that for Colin.
Anyways, this is a short update. More another day!

Happy 4th of July!!

Moving right along.

That beotch AF came around ON MY BIRTHDAY. fresh. But hey silver lining,  started the process of making a baby on my birthday? Started my birth control. Still weird that I have to take BCPs to have a baby, but such is the process.
Appointment updates  - monday physical fingers, toes etc crossed that my weigh in goes ok. Then wednesday I have a Hysteroscopy in Lexington. After I get that done they will put in to the insurance to order meds and start a cycle. I have to call them on the 30th to see if it has been approved. Then hopefully I would have a suppression check on July 6th and start stimming meds that night. Then about 10 days of those meds and I am ready for and egg retrieval (ER) followed by a 3 day transfer(3dt) (3 days after ER).

So here we go!! Now just to survive the last week of school!!!!

The waiting game (one of many)

Kind of a random post

One day 7 of Provera, IVF nurse said AF (infertility lingo for period) should be here around day 5...WTF body, the ONE time I actually want that bitch to show she's no where to be found? Nonsense.
As soon as I get it, I need to do 7am CD3 BW, so if I get AF on wednesday or thursday then I will need to travel to Lexington to have blood drawn. Saturday is my birthday, that's not really where I wanted to spend my whole morning, but such is the life of an infertile! And sometime after that I will have my HSC Oh all while winding down the end of the school year, moving my classroom, and changing grades. WOO!

In other news, I have lost 13.6lbs so far, I would love to lose another 5 before my physical on the 22nd. That way I get to hear less from that jerkface RE.

OH this is important!
I saw my OBGYN (who invented PAPs anyways??? blek.) He is the one who we were seeing with Josh & Zoe (he came to the hospital on his day off after I delivered to make sure I was "ok"). I love him, the office staff and the general feel of the practice. I know they actually care about me. He said "we will see you in a few months when you're pg!!" And I said wait wait wait no I have to go into Boston for my MFM. So we got to chatting....They are 15-20 min from my school and 15 min from my house. They are directly across from my delivering hospital, which has a stage 3 NICU.
OB said that I could tell him what I needed as far as ultrasounds and appointments were concerned and we would do exactly the same protocol as with Colin, which is an ultrasound to check cervical length ever other week from week 14-26. He said I dictate my care, what I say goes ( I mean clearly within reason). Also, this will make my delivery so much easier. Last time we were in Boston for 5 days, then Colin was in the NICU for 8. 
Traveling back and forth was so terrible and I felt like we didnt spend as much time as we could have there with him. (usually 14-16 hours, still didnt feel like enough). Everything will be harder with Colin at home, making all those trips aren't easy anymore, its not just Bill and I. On the other hand my MFM specializes in TAC pregnancies but is 2 hours away and appointments take at least 2 hours (at best). I feel very bad, like I'm saying I dont care as much about #2's care, but really I'm trying to reduce my own stress for the pregnancy and I have more knowledge now on how things "should" go. I also know that if problems start to arise, then I can always go back to Boston to see my MFM. This was a super hard decision for us to make, and as usual it can change at any moment.

So for now....we wait.

Weeee'rrreeee BBBaaaccckkkk!!!!!

I know I have some new followers, so I'm going to take this cycle really slow and do my best to explain everything.
So update on me ---
RE wasn't a giant asshole today! So that's a win. He said Colin was adorable, which I think is required for him to say...but since he is in the business of making babies it felt like a compliment? But I digress...
We worked backwards, and determined some dates. We need to not be pregnant before Aug 1st in order to be eligible for short term disability when I am on maternity leave (semantics...).

We will start provera (a drug that brings on a period) tomorrow (unless BW [blood work] showed I ovulated recently, HA). 12 Days of provera, then CD3 (cycle day) BW, and a hysteroscopy (camera inserted into my uterus) Below is the pic I snapped of one from last time...

Then 2 or 3 weeks of BCPs (birth control pills) then a suppression check (this determines that my hormones are in check and that we have control over them, it ensures my body isn't ovulating on its own). Then I will be starting stims (2-4 injections into my stomach a night in order to make my ovaries hyper stimulate, grow large quantities(15+) of eggs) on July 10th -ish. Followed by a retrieval of the eggs 10ish days later, and a transfer of embryos 3 days after that. And a beta (blood pregnancy test) Aug 4th -ish. I need to have a PAP and a physical before my suppression check (scheduled for Thursday and the 22nd).
So They took 9 viles of blood and a urine sample today. That was so fun, but YAY they got a vein in my arm instead of my hand!
We had the # of embryos discussion, turns out my insurance only covers the transfer of one embryo in women under 35, with 8 cells or more at an A or B grade. (Josh and Zoe were 7 and 9 cells with B grade, Colin was an 8 cell B). So while it makes me nervous, its sort of "nice" that it take the decision out of our hands.
So thats where we are at. As always ask any questions! 
And for your viewing pleasure... My goober! Colin!

Update, getting closer!

After blood work today estradiol came in at 1083 and luckily the ganarelix helped my LH drop back down, so it was .7 which is good because if it gets too high it could cause me to ovulate. We dont want that yet. I let the phlebotomist try to draw from my arm today instead of my hand. That was kind of nice because it hurts way bad to get it from your hand, but she did really well! Then ganarelix as soon as I got home again.

The nurse dropped my Follistim to 250 and added menopur 75iu. So if you are keeping count that would be a total of 4 needles that I have had stuck in myself today. One by a nurse and 3 by myself. great. Tomorrow I go in AGAIN for Blood work and an ultrasound, luckily they just opened a practice in Westboro, so I don't have to drive all the way to Lexington! woo! fx for an ER on monday maybe!

Monitoring!

Today I went in for BW and U/S (Blood work and ultrasound)

The u/s tech said my lining was 10mm and a triple stripe, which come to find out is very good (I never had lining issues so I wasnt as knowledgeable about this area of fertility)
Turns out I have 5 12mm follies on the right 3 14mm and one 12mm on the left, and a bunch of 10s and 11s. I need them all to be around 20mm. My estradiol was 1449 and my LH was 9, because my LH level was creeping upwards I had to give myself my Ganarelix shot in the car on the way to Wrentham outlets. It wouldnt go through my skin, it was SO gross. So I gave myself another 300IU of the follistim and tomorrow I will have more BW in the morning, but not another u/s. And another ganarelix shot right after the BW.

This is follistim, I have been doing 300iu a night for 7 nights.

This is the ganarelix, the needle is a tad thicker than the follistim, which could have been my injection issue.

Thats all for now I suppose, I didn't get the vera baby bag we went to the outlet for :( they didnt have it yet, maybe I'll just end up paying full price. Boo. But its just so cute!!