Uterus. Check. Estrogen. Check Check.

I saw my local doctor yesterday for an ultrasound and labs, and everything came back great! My uterus is perfect (lining has shedded), no cysts on the ovaries, and my estrogen has bottomed out! I'm on Day 4 of my cycle and started taking oral Estradiol today. They have completely shut down my ovarian function with the Lupron injections, and now they are manipulating my cycle as my own body would do. This way, they have complete control over all of my hormones!

I will escalate the Estrogen dose weekly. Right now I'm on one every morning and one every night. After a few weeks, I will have titrated it up to two tablets three times daily. Around transfer time, I will begin the Progesterone in oil injections twice daily, as well as progesterone vajayjay suppositories. I will stay on Lupron injections every morning from here on out to keep my ovaries asleep. Andy is taking ten days worth of doxycycline (an antibiotic) to make sure he doesn't have any infections that will affect his sperm when it's time to take them...this is standard protocol. I will also have to take it around the time of transfer.

I'm seriously not stressing at all...yet. I have a different set of medications to keep up with, but I can't tell you how happy I am that I don't have to stimulate myself this time. Been there, done that, and don't ever want to do it again...it's torture!

My next ultrasound and lab work is 4/4. That is around the time our donor will begin stimulating. So excited!!!

Please don't forget that we are keeping this cycle hush hush to everyone but select members of our family, and those that are sweet enough to continue reading our blog. I haven't told anyone at work except my boss, but I suspect that some people are starting to figure out what is going on with my comings and goings and phone calls from my doctor everyday. That is fine, but I just don't want to have to explain everything to everyone..everyday. As much as we appreciate the support, it is so very hard to manage everyone else's emotions on top of trying to deal with this ourselves. Plus, if it does work, we do not want to tell anyone until we are absolutely sure it is viable. This probably means when I carry a baby home from the hospital. Thanks for understanding...and for everyone's support!

It's A Go!

Sorry I haven't updated lately...it's been really busy around here! I'm doing this from my phone, so forgive me if there are any typos.

First off, we were approved for the Shared Risk program! We had some issues with our first contract and the total was almost twice what we were quoted last year. Awesome. The only thing that was covered was the egg retrieval and transfer. Everything else was out of pocket...donor compensation, labs, ultrasounds, etc. So, we we're just about to take a leap of faith and pay for a cycle without the chance of getting a refund if it didn't work. Our financial rep had to call the company and they wrote up another contract that included everything but my monitoring. The fee was still a lot more, but we went ahead and agreed to it. We just couldn't stomach taking the chance and having absolutely no money refunded if this doesn't work. It's a nauseating amount of money! We get 3 fresh donor IVF cycles, and unlimited FET cycles. 100% of our money is refunded if we don't take a live baby home from the hospital after all of the cycles are used up.

I started Lupron injections yesterday and will do so until the transfer which is scheduled around 4/19. I will start estrogen sometime in the next month, and will do progesterone suppositories and progesterone in oil injections after the transfer. From what I've heard, those are hell! It's like injecting molasses into your butt cheek...twice a day for 12 weeks. k.

So far so good! My next appointment for labs and an ultrasound is 3/23. I have to go back to the dreaded Augusta doctor whom is a pompous arse, but I'd rather not have to drive to Charleston all of the time while trying to work.

Please pray! :)



Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Let's Get This Party Started...Once Again

I just wanted to do a quick update because it's my birthday and I'm going to enjoy the rest of the evening! :)

We were able to get into the system and chose another donor last Thursday night. Our second choice from the first time was still available. However, another girl caught our eye and we picked her instead. She doesn't look a thing like me, but she already has one child, so we know that she definitely has some eggs in there! We are the secondary couple this time, instead of primary. This means that there is a chance we could get dropped from the cycle if the donor doesn't produce a lot of eggs, but our nurse said this only happens <5% of the time.

All we know is that she's 5'3" with light brown hair and blue eyes. She has good vision/hearing and didn't have a significant personal/family history of issues which is good. We still have to wait for the genetic testing again, but hopefully the last incident was a rare occasion and we won't have to deal with that again!

We went to Charleston this past weekend and saw our doctor on Monday morning. I had a sonohystogram performed which looks for abnormalities in my uterus such as polyps, fibroids, abnormal lining, etc. From what I understand, the uterus is like a deflated balloon. The walls are collapsed onto each other, and it's hard to see the lining with a regular ultrasound. They prepped me like a pap smear, and inserted a catheter into my uterus. They then injected saline into my uterus to inflate it like a balloon and then did the abominable dildo cam to look for any abnormalities. Good news is that it came back A++++++++!!! I'm so proud of my uterus. If only God would have given me perfect eggs to match.

They were also able to submit my Shared-Risk Program application to see if we are eligible for the 100% refund program...we should hear an answer soon! They are predicting a yes since all of our tests are perfect!

We briefly spoke with our doctor about the recent events. Apparently I was wrong in my assumption about the genetic testing and why our first donor was disqualified. He explained to us that she had donated eggs through their program before. It is regular practice that they do test the donors before allowing them in the active pool. However, they just added a new panel of tests that they previously did not screen for. She just happened to come back positive for one of them which they were told only happened 4% of the time. However, they are finding that their donors are coming back positive carriers about 28% of the time. The girls are completely healthy, but just happen to be a carrier of some disorders. So again, hopefully we won't have to go through this again. If so, then they would probably just test Andy and if he's not a carrier too, then we're in the clear. Genetics confuses the heck out of me, so this is the best I can explain it.

More good news...we received our updated schedule from our nurse on Tuesday! It really surprised me because we are pretty much on the same time frame...pending no problems! I am prepared for interruptions though...they are inevitable with IVF. I've been on birth control since February and will start Lupron injections the week after next, and will still be going for ultrasounds/lab work throughout the months of March/April. I will start estrogen towards the end of this month. The donor's retrieval is around 4/16, depending on how she stimulates, and then our transfer will be around 4/19-4/21.

So overwhelming and exciting. Again, thank you all for your sweet comments and prayers. Please keep them coming...we need all we can get!

Also, please if you know me in real life do not make any "public" announcements that we are going through this again. We've decided to keep it on the DL as much as we can until something positive comes out of this 6 year ridiculousness. Please refer to my previous post for a better explanation. We thank you for understanding! Love you all:)