Awesome progress!

Thought I'd just drop in here again with an update on how the nightly shots, ultrasounds and blood-work are all going.  Overall - these injections are nowhere near as bad as I was imagining they'd be, which is great.  But they are starting to become a little tedious and I'm looking forward to when they'll be over (soon! soon!)  Hubby and I were a little disheartened when we'd gotten to Friday night, last night and wanted to go out to a nice dinner.  But then realized that we wouldn't have enough time because with Hubby's work schedule it'd only have left us about 45 minutes before we wanted to get home to do my nightly shot.  Oh well, it's a small sacrifice to pay!

Maybe I should try taking these kinds of shots with my other kind of shots -

it could make the night way more fun!

Pull up a chair and some popcorn, here's my injections Play-by-Play!
You'll recall that my nights 1-4 are here with night 5 kinda summarized along with my ultrasound appointment here.

Night 6: Tonight we added the Ganirelix to help hold off ovulating (Follistim + Menopur + Ganirelix.)  The shot was a little sting-y, but I kinda think I didn't ice very well beforehand.  It was also a BIG shot (2.5mL) because of all the water my instructions told us to include with the Menopur and Ganirelix.  I found out later from Dr. A that we didn't need as much water as we thought.  Whew, for tomorrow when we add the Omnitrope too!  Everything's going really well though – still no major side effects.  Although by this evening I was feeling like the shots were getting kinda old.  Like HOW many more days do we need to do this?  Argh!!  Stay the course, girlfriend, stay the course!

Night 7: Shot felt great tonight (meaning - I couldn't feel it.)  I think overall the Ganirelix is a bit more “sting-y” than the other meds, but with the ice – it’s still not significant.  The needle for the blood-work I have to have done every(other) day is WAY worse anyway.  I’ve come to the conclusion that even though the bloating came on very slowly and subtly, I’m definitely bloated by this point.  Not noticeably or really visually but I wonder if this isn’t how pregnant women feel.  I couldn’t suck my stomach in if I tried.  Never felt like that before.  I think my pants are fitting okay, though to stay comfy I've been wearing mostly leggings and tunics (or dresses).  Oh well, Thanksgiving is next week – bring it!

Night 8: Injections caused our first "life interruption" tonight since we had to leave a get together with friends a little early to get home for my shot (while the guys at the party were doing a different kind!)  But since so many friends have kids these days we certainly weren't the first to leave.  Injection stung just a little today, not sure why.  It could totally be my imagination or some big coincidence, but I swear the nights we have to add the Omnitrope (odd numbered nights) the shot doesn't sting at all.  Still, the faint sting is nothing like what I’d been anticipating before this all started.  I've been feeling a little bit tired, but also nowhere near as tired as a friend told me I'd be during injections.  And it didn't stop me from cooking up a storm for our get together either!

So we've had some really great news on how I'm progressing.  I went in for my 7 Day Ultrasound yesterday and Dr. A said it was looking really good with the specs you'll see below.  She was 95% sure of a Wednesday retrieval which (whew!!!) would certainly NOT be Thanksgiving.  She gave Tuesday a 5% chance and 0% for Mon/Thur.  Cool - as long as no Turkey Day, I'm happy!

Well when she got my blood-work back (late last night) from yesterday's appointment, my Estradiol (estrogen) levels were climbing so nicely (1009 pg/mL), she wanted to see me again this morning and do another ultrasound/blood-panel.

So Hubby and I rushed over this morning.  Ultrasound showed great follicle growth (in just 1 day) and my Estradiol levels today were all the way up at 1300 pg/mL.  Dr. A seemed very pleased with this overall.  I even got a "WOW :)!!" email from her.  She told me that women who reach over 1000 pg/mL near the end of Stimulation have a great prognosis for IVF and retrieving mature eggs!  She went on to say that a mature egg secretes ~100 pg/mL of Estradiol so if we're tracking about 16 follicles on Day 8 and my Estradiol is 1300 pg/mL, that's really great!  (I'll let you do the math...)

But of course, before I start organizing a celebration parade it's important to remember that really, there are no guarantees.  Each step of IVF is a process and each step deserves it's own celebration or mourning along the way.  First you hope you get the ok to proceed, then you hope you respond to the meds, then you hope the eggs mature, then you hope you retrieve a great number of eggs, then you hope they fertilize, then you hope they divide and mature correctly, then you hope they come back chromosomaly normal!  And that's all *just* the part that "healthy, fertile" women can do in their sleep (no, seriously).  You still have to, you know, GET PREGNANT!  But I'm getting off track...

So with my follicles and Estradiol levels tracking where they are today - the 5% chance of retrieval day being Tuesday just kicked in.  Maybe I should buy a lottery ticket?

My Specs

Baseline (taken 1-2 days before Stimulation):
Right Ovary: 4 (antral follicle count)
Left Ovary: 5 (antral follicle count)
Estrogen (Estradiol) Level: 33 pg/mL

Day 5 Stimulation:
Right Ovary: 6 follicles (4 worth tracking:) 12.5mm, 13.5mm, 12mm, 9mm
Left Ovary:  7 follicles (6 worth tracking:) 7mm, 8mm, 6mm, 5mm, 12.5mm, 12mm
Estrogen (Estradiol) Level: 330 pg/mL
Endometrium (uterine lining): 6.4mm trilaminar

Day 7 Stimulation:
Right Ovary: 7 follicles (6 worth tracking) 16mm, 19mm, 15mm, 10mm, 12.5mm, 12mm
Left Ovary: 7 follicles (5 worth tracking): 12.5mm, 9mm, 10mm, 6mm, 8mm
Estrogen (Estradiol) Level: 1009 pg/mL
Endometrium (uterine lining): 8.7mm trilaminar

Day 8 Stimulation (today!):
Right Ovary: 9 follicles: 9mm, 7mm, 19.5mm, 15mm, 18mm, 9mm, 11mm, 17mm, 8mm, 8mm
Left Ovary: 7 follilces: 14.5mm, 11mm, 6mm, 11.5mm, 17mm, 6mm, 4mm
Estrogen (Estradiol) Level: 1300 pg/mL
Endometrium (uterine lining): 10mm trilaminar

Remember what I said after my Day 5 Ultrasound:  baseline is taken before meds are started.  At that point, they do an antral follicle count to see how many follicles there are.  I had 9 total, but you'll notice today there were far more than that first day.  It's not because more follicles develop, but that with everything starting to mature and grow, you can see more than before.  Some of them were hiding at the baseline.  We're waiting for as many follicles as we can, to grow to larger than 18mm which would indicate a more mature egg.  We're hopeful for 8 mature eggs from this Stimulation!!  Fingers crossed!

Trigger shot is slated for tomorrow night.  I won't miss this Stimulation phase - but I'm definitely a little anxious for what's next!