See these 3 shots?! Yep, it’s the last day I need to take them!! Yay!!! 

  
My 11 follies are growing at a great rate which means…we are almost there! We’re actually ahead of schedule so the eggs are coming out on Tuesday– holy cow that’s so soon! Am I ready for that? Let’s hope so because here it comes no matter if we’re ready or not 😉

Another day of blood work and another ultrasound.  (And Laryen always seems to take pictures of me when I’m talking in the middle of sentences for some reason) 

 

Anyway…. Ultrasound went great! Dr. Huang checked all the sizes of the follicles and determined that they’re ALMOST at the perfect size for retrieval. So tonight was the last time I needed to take my three shots! Wooohoo! And that means I can cross off these days on my calendar! No more shots!!!! Well, until the progesterone but we’ll ignore that for right now. 

  
I’m feeling a little better but still really tired. Hopefully now that these shots are done I’ll start feeling a little more normal. 

Tomorrow I take the trigger shot and then no shots for a couple more days! And lemme tell ya…I’m so upset about that! 😉😉

   

Nearly one week in and I’m feeling it. These shots are getting to me.

 

I started the middle shot last night (Cetrotide) and I don’t think my body likes it too much. I’ve been really nauseous today. I could also be feeling that way because I’ve been pumping tons of extra hormones into my body day after day, or maybe it’s just a combination of all the meds — who knows. But I DO know one thing… I’m not feeling too hot today. Luckily, tomorrow is the weekend so I’ll be sleeping a lot! Woohoo!!

I’m also starting to bruise around the injection sites a little bit. All expected when you give yourself so many shots. 

Laryen did make me laugh this morning. He said “honey, you’re growing enough eggs inside you right now for one whole year!” I totally didn’t even think of it like that until he said that– and he’s right! That’s my excuse for sleeping the whole weekend away! 😉

Cheaper by the dozen….(minus 1). Well, I guess the shots are working because my ovaries are out of control! Yep, I am the proud owner of 11 follicles which means there’s 11 eggs cooking right now (no wonder I’m so tired and so bloated! My body is working overtime!).

Of course the eggs are suuuuuuuper teeny and not ready to come out YET, but we got to see all the follicles at my appointment today. And one of those follicles is going to have the egg that gets to become a mini Lauren or Laryen! YAY!

First, more blood work…..

and then this thing:

 

 

 

That’s the ultrasound machine but instead of a normal ultrasound that goes on your belly, this one goes inside to see all the internal stuff like my follicles.

And here they all are!!

All the black dots are follicles! I have 8 in my left ovary and 3 in my right ovary. They vary in size but Dr. Huang says most of them are great size and pretty consistent in size which is a good thing. A few are a little smaller than others but that’s normal! Dr. Huang said not all of the eggs will be mature, but with this amount he guesses 2-3 will develop far enough along to become a healthy embryo that will be implanted and transferred back into me or frozen for next time.

I was super excited about the numbers! It was a nice pick me up after my tougher day yesterday. I’m a visual person so actually seeing that everything is working made me a lot more positive about everything, which I really needed. This process is tough people!!

Tonight, I also added another shot into the mix. Cetrotide will make sure that my follicles don’t release the eggs before the retrieval. And this one I had to mix up myself:

We mixed saline with the white powder you see in the vial and then put it back in the needle to inject into me. So yes, not 2 but 3 shots a night now. But it’s worth it for my 11 follies 🙂

Is there such a thing as ‘IVF brain’ because if so I definitely have it. I would say I have ‘pregnancy brain’ but since I’m not prego yet I’ll just stick with it.

I am so tired and feel like my brain is processing super slow — which is not a good thing when you anchor the news. Earlier tonight on the 5pm news, my co-anchor Allison and I were talking about a study on caffeine and I said “so that means we can drink more chocolate and eat more coffee.” No, no Lauren that’s not what it means. Lol

Sleepiness IS a side effect of the meds which makes me feel a little better about the whole thing. Annnnnnd since I’m pumping so many extra hormones into my body the emotions are also getting to me. I guess I didn’t really realize how hard this whole thing was going to be on my body. I have been trying to stay positive through this ENTIRE process but I just had a moment of weakness tonight. It sucks…it’s hard to stick yourself every day and I’m tired and I have a constant headache and I’m bloated..and did I mention that I’m TIRED. It’s hard to focus on the big picture when you’re just so blah. That probably sounds really bad because I’m so grateful for what this is going to do for us and I know God will give me strength to get through this, it’s just hard. And now that I realized that it’s hard and it’s going to continue to be hard on my body for the next few weeks hopefully that means my positivity will shine in front of my worries.

Any extra prayers are appreciated. I know we’re almost there…I just need to remind myself that it’ll all be worth it when our little bundle of love is here.

Today is the day. I can officially call myself a pin cushion. So far I’ve given myself 8 shots AND I got my blood drawn today (what’s one more needle, right?!) So I think 9 is the magic pin cushion number… what do you think?

So this morning, Laryen and ‘Miss Pin Cushion’ went to the doctor for the first time since I started the shots.
Got my blood drawn to check my hormone levels then we were off to outpatient surgery to make sure everything was ready for the egg retrieval next week.

 

Yep… that means more paperwork! I was REALLY missing signing my life away so I’m happy I got to do it again. 😉

 

And this afternoon …. another hurdle crossed! My Estradiol level is 412 which Dr. Huang says is a “great value.” I’m guessing that’s just the scientific name for estrogen and I’m happy to see that the medicine is doing what it’s supposed to do! AND…I get to drop my Gonal-F dose a little bit (which made me pretty excited!)

I’ll take 175 tonight and tomorrow and then back to the doctor for more blood work. I’m hoping the lower dose will help my sleepiness and my headaches I’ve had since starting the meds. BUT good news… I haven’t gotten grouchy at Laryen, a huge plus in both our books! 😉

I don’t think the dogs are very impressed with my pin-cushion awesomeness! Come on Indie and Tyson — get excited!

You would think after giving yourself two shots a night for the past three nights you’d be a pro. I don’t know if I’m pro status yet, BUT it isn’t scary anymore … #winner, winner chicken dinner!

Same two shots tonight and not really feeling any side effects — except one. I don’t know if I’m just tired because I’m old or what but about an hour after I take the shots I.am.exhausted!!! Like I want to put my head down and take a nap at the dinner table tired, lol. Which is not a good feeling when you anchor the EVENING news…so sleepy!

Thankfully it’s only a 30 minute show…but still, this ———————–> might be my signature commercial look for the next week or so. I just told my co-anchor Bryan to make sure I’m not drooling on the desk and when it’s my turn to read to nudge me awake. Plan is in place!

My injection sites are getting a little tender as well. No bruising yet, but they’re definitely more tender tonight. Hopefully if I move where I’m sticking myself it will help.

We go to the doctor in the morning to check my hormone levels and see if we need to up or lower my dose. Fingers crossed for good results.

 

 

 

Two shots, too easy! Tonight I wasn’t hesitant at all with my shots so hopefully that means the rest of the shot part of the process won’t be too bad. 

Took the same shots and doses as last night. I feel good, but have had a pretty bad headache all day. Hopefully it will go away soon! 

Oh, and go Broncos!!  Super Bowl here we come!! 

  
 

It’s here, it’s here, it’s here!

Laryen and I decided to go out to dinner to celebrate the big day! Then it was time to get my shots ready for Day 1 injections. Luckily I only need to take them at night and right now it’s only 2 shots. The Gonal F which stimulates my follicles to grow more eggs and a diluted Ovidrel shot which helps make sure the eggs are healthy.

Laryen is such a big help through all of this! He made sure my dosage for the Gonal F pen was correct (225 for the first 3 days) and put the needle on it and got it all ready for me! And then we had to get just a teeny bit of the diluted Ovidrel into the second needle. See, the needles aren’t that big!

But it’s still a scary thought to stick YOURSELF with a needle! I’m so irrational but my biggest fear is that the needle is going to break off inside me!

It was super nerve-wracking….I started to do it then got too scared, lol. Then I just went for it! And now that means we have officially started IVF!

The first shot BURNED!!! Our wonderful nurse, Alicia, warned me that it might. Tomorrow maybe it won’t burn as bad. It was tender for a while afterwards. The second needle was super easy! We’ll see how I feel tomorrow! Alicia says some people don’t feel any different, some feel nauseous or bloated or cranky. Laryen is really hoping I’m cranky! 😉

 

Same time, same thing tomorrow!

 

 

 

The IVF process is just that … a calculated, medicated step by step process that will hopefully give us our bundle of joy (yay!!) But even before that begins, there’s a process to get to the process! LOL. And now Laryen and I can officially say that process (the IVF process) is FINALLY HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So many exclamation marks!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 😉

But here’s what I mean:

This is the checklist of things we had to do even before the IVF started. Don’t you just love how organized my clinic is. I do!! Things like this helps me so much, and I’m sure I’m not the only one. Dr. Huang explained during the IVF consult (#1 on the checklist) that it’ll take about 8 weeks total before we start IVF. My timing landed around the holidays (there’s always something isn’t there!) and we were going to be out of town anyways so we broke it up. I did a lot of IVF testing in November and then everything else happened in the past few weeks.

I know I’m going out of order here, but #6 and #7 are all the meds that I will be taking and shooting myself up with (yes I kind of feel like a druggie or a pin cushion might be a better way to explain it) #2 on the list is just blood work. They look at my hormone levels and see if I’m low, high or normal and that’s how they decide how much medicine I’ll need during my IVF cycle. Luckily my levels were GREAT so no need for extra meds! You want to know what else is cool that they can see? My egg reserve! I think that’s more important for someone who is in their late 30’s or even 40’s and going through IVF but isn’t it crazy that there is a test that can see that?! I know I keep saying this, but science is amazing!

#3 (part B specifically) was not fun. I’m not going to lie…I hope that was the most pain I’ve felt in this whole process, and I NEVER WANT TO DO IT AGAIN! The doctor needs to check your uterus to make sure there aren’t any polyps, weird things in there, etc that could hurt implantation. That was nothing…and the results were “textbook” according to Dr.Huang (another hurdle cleared!) But then came the Endometrial Biopsy … and ladies if your lady doctor ever says, ‘hey I think we need to do this,’ run like hell in the opposite direction and say no!!!! Ok, I’m really overreacting but it sucks! And the nurses and Dr. Huang said it was going to hurt so they gave me fair warning. They pretty much take a piece of your lining to test for any infectious disease. And the way they get that is by using a tube like scraper thingy that sucks a piece of your lining out and it feels just like you are probably imagining it does. But thank the Lord that came back normal too, so I never need to do that again!

#4 is more organization (yay!)

Here’s a look at my calendar for the next few weeks! The doctor and nurses have a copy so we’re all on the same page with medications, procedures, and doctors appointments. Everything can change based on how my ovaries react to the medication but right now it looks like the egg retrieval will be February 4th and they’ll put the fertilized eggs back in me 3-5 days later.

But we need to get there first! Check out this calendar I made!

Color coded and everything! (yes, I’m a dork) I’ll put all my shots, doctors appointments, procedures and other meds I need to take on this calendar. Everyone I talk to and all the blogs I read say organization during this process is key so the more organized I am, the less stressful I will feel which hopefully will mean a good IVF cycle.

#8 and #9 happened yesterday!

We learned all about my medication; where to inject them, how to mix the medicine, how much to give me every night, and what symptoms I might feel because of the meds. I’ll give most of the shots myself near my stomach area and luckily the needles aren’t too big. (until we get to the progesterone– eek!) But I really don’t care! I’d prick myself a million times if it means we get to have a little Laryen or little Lauren running around.

I also had a baseline ultrasound (#9) This is where they check to make sure you don’t have any cysts on your ovaries or anything that looks suspicious that could ruin your IVF chances. A majority of women get cysts on their ovaries from time to time but they go away. If you pump the ovaries up with hormones it could also make the cysts bigger possibly blocking the tubes or creating chaos. IVF cycles have been cancelled because of cysts — luckily another hurdle cleared! No cysts and everything looks GREAT!

So our checklist is done. And that means we’re done with our process to get to the IVF process. Oh yeah, just one more last minor detail:

I can’t believe it’s here! I know we still have a long way to go before we know if it worked or not but we are here. Step one is right around the corner.

Prayers and happy thoughts are welcome from one and all over the next month. And I just want to say thank you for all the support during this crazy time. We are so blessed beyond words to have so many wonderful people in our lives who care for us so much. Thank you isn’t enough.

Alright….let’s go turn me into a human pin cushion!

 

 

 

All I gotta say is if someone comes over and looks in our fridge they might be a little confused. We have orange juice, eggs, beer, things for lunches — oh and a big container full of medications.

We got our IVF meds today! Say it with me…hip hip hooray! Now we are officially set for when our IVF cycle begins in a couple of weeks.

I knew the medication was being delivered today, but it was still a weird feeling when I opened it. This whole experience is almost surreal. We waited so long for this to happen (3 years trying to get pregnant) and there are so many hurdles we’ve been through to get to here, and now it’s here! It’s exciting, scary, nerve-wracking, and such a relief all is one.

The fertility pharmacies are so great. There are only about a dozen across the country so they just FedEx everything overnight. And we already picked up a couple of meds from our local pharmacy so we are ready to play the IVF game.

Everyone’s IVF story is different, including what medication they need and don’t need. After lots of blood work, Dr. Huang looked at all my hormone levels and another hurdle cleared: my levels are great! So no need for extra medication (which equals spending more money). We were THRILLED when we found that out!

So what’s inside the most expensive package we’ve ever received?

Take a look!

 

Gonal-f injections:

This medication helps me produce multiple eggs. It’s a follicle-stimulating hormone or FSH. Once my IVF cycle begins, I will give myself a dose of this once or twice a day, depending on how well my body reacts and how many follicles start producing eggs. Remember, their goal is to get as many eggs out of me to fertilize as possible. We won’t know how many shots we need until we meet with the doctor next week.

Oh,and before I move on….the most important part: Yes, I have to give myself the shots. Yes, it makes me kind of nervous just thinking of it, and yes it will probably sting a little…but you know what? I’d do that a MILLION times if it meant for Laryen and I to get that bundle of joy!

 Cetrotide injections: 
This medication prevents my eggs from prematurely ovulating. (Isn’t science amazing?! So crazy that there is medicine out there that does all of this unbelievable stuff!) Since I’ll be taking the FSH injections, I’m pumping all these extra hormones into my body, so it’s bound to freak out and think it’s time to release the eggs. WRONG! This medicine tells those eggies to calm down and just be patient!

Ovidrel:

I’ve taken this medication before during our 3 IUI’s. It’s a trigger shot. I take this shot 24-36 hours before the egg retrieval. It ‘triggers’ my follicles to release the eggs.

 

 

Progesterone: 

Compared to the other shots, this one is not going to be fun. You know when your doctor says the shot is going to hurt – it’s going to hurt. I will take these shots after the egg retrieval. But these ones Laryen has to give me because they get inserted in my booty. Yep…my booty… d0esn’t that sound like fun.  And these needles are a lot bigger than the other meds. (see below!) I need to invest in an ice pack ASAP!

Ok, enough of the shots I have to take. I also have meds that aren’t shots (Thank goodness!)

Doxycycline: 

This is an antibiotic that I’ll take right before the egg retrieval.

Medrol: 

This is a steroid that I’ll take right after the embryo transfer.

Phew…..ok. That’s it! Now I just need to figure out how to make sure I put the medicine in me correctly…and hope that I don’t pass out from seeing the needles go into my stomach 😉