Fertility, Pregnancy, Baby stuff

Side effects

~ Girlmom ~ 2 Comments

I am noticing some of the side effects from the cocktail of meds I am taking. The past 2 days have been hard. I have had a headache since yesterday morning, I am drowsy and pretty emotional. Some of this may be due to my caffeine withdrawals but I sure hope it gets better. I can’t imagine feeling like this for another week and a half!

I have planned out the next week, from dinners to workouts and the hubs and I are going to try a new yoga/stretch class at the Y. Hopefully all of it together will help if I do continue to feel poopy!

Good to go!

~ Girlmom ~ 3 Comments

Todays appointment went well! I have 25 follicles and all my blood work looks great. I can go ahead and start the stim meds tomorrow. Since I have so many follicles, they like to see at least 6 in woman starting IVF, I am starting on a lower dose of Menopur and follistim.

I will be giving myself the Menopur shot in the morning just like I have been doing with the Lupron but this one has a little more to it! The drug itself is a powder in a vial so I will have to inject water into  it, mix it up myself and then inject it. The follistim comes in a pen form and I just dial the dose and inject. I am to take the follistim at night between 7-9pm so it’s convenient to have in my purse if we are out and about. Starting Monday I  will have daily blood draws and then on Thursday I have a blood draw and an ultrasound. That will tell us how things are looking and about when the retrieval day will be. Right now it’s on the calendar for Wed. the 11th. but that can easily change. I can’t believe it’s so close..I am getting excited!

Human Pincushion

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 My belly now resembles somewhat of an artwork, with little purple bruises and some nice red prick marks… I started acupuncture today as it “can increase the chances of getting pregnant for women undergoing fertility treatment by 65%”  I never did have much belief in or much thought at all about acupuncture itself but hey I am open to anything and everything these days. My acupuncturist is a very nice lady. Very into the holistic side of medicine, checks my pulse and tells me my energy is great! Huh? energy? I fell asleep on the table for an hour. 65$ for a nap and don’t accidently move your arm while you are asleep or you will jam the needle farther into your arm. That will jolt you from any deep sleep! I am told to eat only organic, farm raised, wild caught fish and stay away from sugar. Duh…that ‘s what we do day to day…still ain’t preggo! Ok, seriously maybe she is on to something. I will do everything I can to support this egg retrieval and transfer as best I can. Maybe I can get some pictures of my pincushion belly for y’all! Thanks for listening. I will let you know how tomorrow’s appointment goes!
xoxo

~ Girlmom ~ 1 Comment

It’s been about a week since I started the Lupron injections and I have to say it’s not that bad! The shot itself really doesn’t hurt and I haven’t felt any of the common side effects. I do get a little welt at the injection site that itches like a bug bite, but that goes away in minutes.

I find myself brownsing fertility sites at night,  reading other women’s IVF success stories. So far I feel mentally and emotionally  prepared for these next steps. Friday is our next appointment and I should start my stim meds on Saturday. Now we are just waiting for AF to rear hear lovely head!

xoxo!

Must admit, I don’t love needles!

~ Girlmom ~ 1 Comment

Today was the first day of my Lupron injections and I remembered how much I dislike needles. My hands were very shaky which made holding the syringe like a dart and briskly insterting it quickly and entirely into my stomach a tad bit difficult. Shots are much easier to handle when you can shut your eyes and squeeze something however,I did manage to do it and it was pretty painless. I am hoping over the next 20 days I will become a pro. The common side effects include: local bruising and or irritation at the injection site, hot flashes, vaginal dryness ( lovely ) headaches, mood swings and some difficulty sleeping. Sounds like Shane has his work cut out for him this next month 😉 My next Dr. appt. is most likely next Friday. This is the biggy where I begin blood draws, ultrasounds and Shane get his medical teaching on how to stick me with more needles. If all looks good I will start the stimulation medication. Well that is all for now and I will keep you updated on the Lupron!

Day 1-3

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On the first day of my cycle I was told to call my nurse and schedule an appointment  for my baseline ultrasound and labs for the 3rd day of my cycle.  That was today. What is a baseline appointment you ask? The Dr. checked to make sure I didn’t have any cysts on my ovary and that my uterine lining looked good. I was given a thumbs up and the go ahead! Next they drew blood to check my FSH, Estradiol and DHEA levels. Can’t really tell you what they all are but if any levels are too high or too low they can adjust them with more meds…lucky me! I was also given a big box of Lupron and some birth control pills. The bcp are essentially going to help the Dr. take charge of my cycle. Once I am on the bcp for 1 week I will start the Lupron injections subcutaneously every morning until the egg retrieval. Lupron  is used to suppress ovulation. Once I stop the bcp in about 2 weeks  I will get another period. Once that happens we will go in for another ultrasound, blood draw and a lesson on how Shane gets to stick me with needles everyday.  My nurse said I don’t have to cut out caffeine, herbal supplements and alcohol intake until I start the stimulation meds oh and no more hot tub for me after that either! So I have a few more weeks with my vices before I go without them for 10 months..fingers crossed!

My journey with IVF

~ Girlmom ~ 1 Comment

I have made the decision to take the time to document our  journey with IVF. IVF is short for In Vitro Fertilization, a fertility treatment where eggs are fertilized by sperm outside the womb. There are many different reasons a couple may need to go this route. Our story goes like this…the Mr. and I have been married 3 1/2 years and trying for baby for about 2 1/2 years. After a lot of Dr. appointments and such we learned that the Mr.’s sperm morphology ( the shape ) isn’t great. Here is a picture with normal and abnormal sperm. Notice the shape of the abnormal sperms head. This is our problem, these sperm cannot penetrate the egg.

So with this we were sent to a Fertility Specialist and Reproductive Endocrinologist  named Dr. Gabriel Garzo from Reproductive partners http://ucsandiegofertility.com/.  They have been nothing short of wonderful at RP and I couldn’t be more comfortable with our choice of Dr. and nurses.

I am not sharing this news with many people, just close friends and family of course. I don’t know how to explain the way it feels to not be able to get pregnant naturally. Shame, or embarrassment, I guess it a good way to describe it. It’s hard to talk about infertility  with people because you will usually get some nonsense back. “Oh you just need to relax” or ” just go on vacation” or “it will happen when you stop trying”. Nope, people we have done all this and now we know why it didn’t work. Science…DH sperm just can’t get the job done without assistance. It’s as simple as that!

So within the next few weeks our journey will begin and I would like to share it with you! I will admit I am nervous, but know in my heart that this treatment will eventually give me the baby I so badly want to love with all my heart!

So let’s venture through this journey together!