Some good news!

Gosh I was so nervous about my appointment today. I had read about girls that took months for their cysts to go away. All day Monday and Tuesday I was feeling all sorts of weird things in my ovaries, almost to the point where I wanted to call the nurse. But today I felt nothing. 

At my sonogram today the cyst was completely gone!! This made me so, so happy! My doctor seemed really surprised. So now all that I need is for my estrogen level to drop a little lower. It went from almost 600 to now 156. I think they need it under 100 or maybe it's under 50. I can't remember. but I go back on Friday for another blood draw. If it's lower, I'll start my injections Saturday!! yay yay yay!! I'm feeling really good about it now that the cyst is gone. I know my estrogen levels will eventually fall down even if it's not by Friday. It will probably be really soon. I mean it dropped so fast in just one week. 

So Friday is blood work and my nurse will teaching me how to administer the follistim injection. Praying that we'll be ready to go on Saturday : ) if so, I'll do shots the next two weeks, egg retrieval is around November 13th, transfer is around the 19th and pregnancy test around Thansgiving day. Don't even get me started on that... oh how thankful would I be.

a little set back

All the IVF books I read said to expect the unexpected. I read it. But didn't really take it to heart. Most of our cycles have always went fairly smoothly, but yesterday we got some bad news. I went in for my sonogram and blood work to check for cysts and make sure my estrogen levels were low enough. Well, there is a huge cyst on my right ovary : ( I was supposed to start my stims (injections) on Saturday. My nurse said she would call me with my blood work the following day. So, today she called and my estrogen level was 598. They wanted it to be under 50! I'm not sure if I really understand all of it, but maybe the cyst is causing my hormones to rise. She said that I need to take my birth control pills for another week, come in on Wednesday, check the cyst and do blood work again. If my estrogen is low enough, they will drain it and I can start injections next Saturday. if not I'll need to continue birth control for longer. : ( I'm pretty bummed that everything is getting delayed. I really wanted all of this done before Thanksgiving. I'm just praying that next week, everything works out somehow so we can get this show on the road.

Here's to more waiting!

My trial transfer

On Thursday, we went in for our trial transfer. I paid my $6000 (ouch) At this appointment, they practice inserting the catheter into the uterus for the embryo transfer. I think it's just to make sure the cervix is easy to bypass and lets the doctors have a practice run. Mine went really smoothly. It took probably 2 minutes and my doctor said the transfer would be no problem.

After that, we met with our nurse for our teaching session. Can I just say that I loved her. Like really, really loved her. This is super important and I'm so glad she's mine! She was bubbly, positive, and really reassuring. She gave me her personal email address and phone number... how nice is that?  I love her already. She went over everything with us including our calendar and medicine protocol.

It looks like I'll be starting my injections on the 25th of this month. I'll be taking follistim for 5 days. This causes lots of eggs to grow. Then I'll start doing 2 injections each night, follistim and ganirelix. Ganirelix prevents the eggs from ovulating too soon. I'll continue both of these injections for about another 5-7 days. Then, once the eggs are mature, I'll take my trigger shot and my retrieval will be scheduled for 36 hours later.

My nurse answered all the questions I had. Like, I won't have to take those awful PIO injections that leave knots and nerve damage. you guys have no idea how happy this made me! What a relief! I also won't be starting any injections for another two weeks. This works out perfectly because we planned on going on a trip next weekend. I was so worried about having to cancel or fly with meds. So the trip is on! We're going to Kansas City for the Ryan Adams concert. By far our favorite artist ever. We've been dreaming of going for years. Also, the nurse said I could do afternoon/evening appointments!! So that means no missing school or busting my butt to get to my appointments and back in my 45 minute planning period. After the meeting, I felt like everything I was worried about was completely worked out. No painful injections, concert is on, and juggling school is no problem. What a blessing!

Right now I'm just waiting on the pharmacy to call me back for a quote on the meds. I'm also checking to see if anything is covered on my insurance. On Blue Cross Blue Shield, my Gonal-F was almost completely covered which saved us about $900 each month. Of course, my district switched insurance carries so I think we will end up paying out of pocket. But we will see.

I can't believe in about two weeks I'll start injections! I've never been so excited about shots in my life : )

Step 1 is done!

The first step in our IVF process has begun! My cycle started on Thursday. Then on Saturday, we had a sono... it was super fast. He took pictures of what things should look like normally. This visit, we met with Dr. Escobar and he was very nice. That night, I was supposed to start birth control. We dropped off the prescription at walgreens. Later, I asked my husband to check on when the pharmacy closed. He said 10:00. We went to dinner and then stopped by to pick them up, and they were closed! I tried not to panic... went home and started calling all the walgreens nearby. Thank goodness we live in Dallas! I found one that was open late, so we transferred the prescription and picked it up.  Whew! I was like... I know I'm not messing this up already haha.  It's been almost 3 years since I've taken birth control... feels so weird to start them again.

I also ordered some fertility yoga dvd's and an organizer for all the ivf meds. I'll post pictures of that later once we get our shipment.

Right now, I'm trying to change my way of thinking. I've had the mind set of this is never going to work for us, something is wrong with me, I'm not meant to be a mom thoughts for too long now. I'm trying to change those to this could actually work for us, I could be pregnant really soon, we will have actual embryos that are from us! so amazing.

Did I tell yall I started acupuncture? well I did! and I'm going twice a week. It makes me feel so calm and relaxed. I'm also eating avocados like their chocolate. I'm hoping that the yoga, acupuncture, and diet help me feel better about the whole process.

I go back on Thursday for a trial transfer and injection teaching class. Ill post about that next time : )

Here's a picture of my baby now... 

Ready or not...

Hey guys! Just a little update. CD 1 is today, so that means we're on our way! (not sure if I want an ! or a . after that sentence haha) my first appointment is saturday morning.... first sonogram and birth control should start soon. I'll let yall know how it goes : )