A 5 Day What?

I shouldn't have gone into work yesterday.  I really shouldn't have.  The recovery from this retrieval has been a lot longer than my past retrievals.  Believe me, I have no martyr complex. But I do take my job rather seriously.  Well, more like I'm such a narcissist.  I think my classroom will fall apart if I'm not there. 

 My venture into work yesterday had less to do with fears of classroom chaos and more to do with my student teacher.  She's been struggling. In fact, I worry that only 3 weeks into her practicum that she's plateaued.  Lately her planning has been shoddy. Her delivery of the lesson has been dry. Her clarity of instructing has been confusing.  I knew that her faculty advisor was coming in to give her a "notice of concern."  Essentially she needs to improve over the next week or she'll be removed from the class and have to take additional courses.  I really didn't want to go into work but I knew she would need some support after her meeting.  And I was right.  After the tears were shed, the two of us sat down and planned a lesson together. I wanted her to see my thinking when it comes to planning a lesson. How to scaffold skills. How to provide feedback in an instant.  When we were done, I *think* she got it.  Hopefully this week she'll find her stride.

For me, yesterday was uncomfortable. Walking down the halls, the stairs, I could feel every twinge.  I decided to take the rest of the week off.  While I know it's for the best, I feel so much guilt about not being in my classroom. 

This morning I received the call from the embryologist. The embryos are progressing well - "very good" were her words.  As a result, they're pushing my transfer to day 5.  What?! I've never had a day 5 transfer.  Needless to say, I'm in shock.   To be honest, I half expected a day 2 transfer and assumed it would be a day 3.  Perhaps all those supplements really did help? 

Fertilization Report

I just received a call from the clinic.  Of the fourteen eggs retrieved, eleven were mature and nine fertilized via ICSI.  I'll find out on Tuesday morning if I need to come in for a transfer that day.  I've always had a three day transfer so I'm assuming I'll be PUPO on Tuesday. 

I'm still cramping and uncomfortable from yesterday's ER.  I don't recall feeling this icky before but then again when it comes to stuff like this, I have a poor memory.  Not sure whether I'll be at work tomorrow and if transfer is Tuesday, I'm not sure when I'll be going back in.

I'll have an important meeting on Tuesday.  I'll have to give them a heads up that I may not be attending.  

A question for you all (and lurkers please feel free to answer): how much time off did you take post transfer?  For all my transfers I've had 2-3 days off.  And only the last FET did I experience implantation.

Oh my aching ovaries

I've been sleeping for most of the day and will probably crash again once I'm finished posting this. 

I just wanted to let everyone know that they retrieved 14 eggs this morning. Everything went quite smoothly except at one point after an uncomfortable prick, I started to cry.  It wasn't so much the pain but because this is our last shoot at being parents.  Once the tears started they couldn't stop.  The nurse was awesome and incredibly comforting. I was just so overwhelmed by everything in that moment and I couldn't hold it in. 

Another blip is that the doctor recommended ICSI.  There was something like "round" cells or white cells in his sample and they were concerned that his sample may contaminate the eggs and we would lose then.  <sigh> Of course we okayed it but it's just one more expense added on to all this.  

Now I wait on pins and needles to find out if the eggs are awesome or a batch of duds. I hope,they end up being superstars. 

Back to sleep to rest my lemon sided ovaries! 

Deception

I know the title sounds oh so intriguing but really it's not.

On several occasions, when I've gone in for my RE visits, scans and so forth, the doctors question my age.  This morning the RE looked at me and asked my age. She seemed shocked to hear that I would be turning 41 in May.

It's nothing new.

Most people are deceived by my appearance. I'm often told I look in my early 30s rather than my early 40s.  Perhaps that's why for some, when the issue of children comes up in conversation, they often say to me "Oh, you've got tons of time."  Little do they know that we've been on this IF journey for about 5 years now and really, age hasn't much to do with it.  Well, it does now but when we started TTC it wasn't about age.

On top of complimenting my youthful appearance, the doctor also commented on my "picture perfect" uterus.  I've heard that before!  My right ovary is the dominant one with approximately 6 follicles - 3 at 17mm and the rest varying from 13-15.  The left side, once again, is taking its own sweet time.  All of the follicles are between 13-15mm. I believe there were only 4 on that side.  As a result, the doctor asked that I stim for one more day (today) and return tomorrow for another u/s.

Saturday will be retrieval and I'm not sure when our transfer will be.  People at the clinic have had 2 day, 3 day, and 5 day transfers.  I guess it all depends on the embryos. Emergency ICSI is on the table but seeing as how we didn't need it for our last IVF, I'm hoping we won't need it this time either.

I'm tired of needles and am so looking forward to this portion of the cycle to be over. Ugh.

What a difference a couple of years makes

Back in December when the nurse at my clinic told me that I would be on a high dose for IVF drugs, I was shocked. I had been a high responder at my old clinic. Why would there be a difference? For my first two cycles, I was only on Pure.gon and  the highest dose prescribed was 250 and that was reduced after day 5.  My E2 level at day 5 for my first cycles was around 1200.

Now I'm on 225 of both Meno.pur and Pure.gon.  I received my bloodwork today and my E2 was 670. Holy heck. 670. What a drop from 2011.  I'm worried. Is 670 really bad? Should I be worried about cancelling this cycle if my E2 levels don't bounce up?

I continue with the same dosage levels and I start the Orga.lutran tomorrow.

Man.

What a difference a year and a half makes when it comes to your fertility.

Good to go

Today is CD 1.  In the past few months, my cycle has shortened by two days.  For as long as I can remember, my cycle has been 28 days.  I don't know what's going on.  I know that my other RE stated that I should only be concerned if the length is longer not shorter.  

Anyway, it's CD 1 so I called it into my clinic.  It took a while for them to get back to me but they finally did at 3pm.  The nurse seemed a little confused as to why I was calling.  "Are you calling in your CD 1 to start your est.race priming?"  Huh?  Priming?  What was she talking about?  "No.  I've been on est.race since Feb 2nd.  I'm calling in my CD 1 to start my injections."  It appears that the nurse who took my call last time did not put it into my chart.  In a previous post, I mentioned that a number of REs left to start a new clinic.  With their departure, a number of nurses and other staff joined them.  It's not excusable but perhaps the last nurse was one of the ones leaving and was sloppy with her work?  I don't know.  I can't even recall her name. All I remember from that conversation was that I was to start my meds on the 2nd and that she called me sweetie.  

Grumpy nurse was annoyed that my last cycle had not been put into their system and seemed to be transferring the annoyance to me.  Sorry.  Not my fault that your colleague didn't do her work.  I'm doing everything right on my side.  

I was concerned that since they didn't have all my husband's blood work, we would be told to hold off but thankfully Grumpy nurse gave us the go ahead to start injections tomorrow.  Whew!  

So tomorrow I give myself my first injection of Men.opur.  Never done that before.  Quite nervous.    

This is what the next bit looks like:

Days 1-4 Meno.pur 225iu AM + Pure.gon 225iu PM. 

On day 5 I take the morning injection and then get blood work done.  They'll let me know how much I need of the evening dosage and if I need to start Orga.lutran.  

Wish me luck ladies.  This is our last kick at the IVF can.   

IVF 3.0 Delayed?

When we transferred to the new clinic the RE asked that we do a set of blood work as we were new patients. In December we got the requisitions and early January I got mine done.  I have constantly reminded Sweets about the blood tests and the new sperm analysis that needs to be done.

He kept putting them off.

Last Thursday I picked up my meds and the nurse stated, "You will not be given the okay to start injections until DH's blood work is in." Ugh!  So needless to say, I was pissed.  Sweets received a rather nasty phone call from me demanding he get to the lab IMMEDIATELY and get his blood tests done.  He wanted to wait until Friday but I insisted.   This is a long weekend you see. Who knows when the lab will get to his blood work?

My period is due soon. Because of his procrastinating, I may have to wait another freaking month to start my cycle.

I am not a happy camper.