Friday, September 24, 2010

Follow up appointment

Yesterday was our follow up appointment with Dr. Hill.  The good news is I am ready for IVF as far as my test are concerned.   The bad news is we can't start anything until January which means the egg retrieval will not happen until February.  I am disappointed a little just because January seems so far and as most of you know I am very IMPATIENT!    I need to stay positive and think that at least I have an option and insurance will cover it.  I just get nervous that something will change and we won't be able to start IVF. 
On a good note I get to start something I have wanted to start for a long time.....Acupuncture!!!!!!!!!  I am sooo excited!  The fertility clinic works with an acupuncture clinic in the same plaza.  they specialize in fertility acupuncture.  I met with Adam the acupuncturist yesterday.  he told me to start now because the follicles that are growing now will be the ones I was have when I start IVF.  It takes up to 5 months to grow follicles.  So next week I have my first appointment.  After that we will come up with a game plan to continue acupuncture right up until IVF.  I have a minimum of 20lbs still to lose.  So that's all for now.

Friday, September 10, 2010

More great news!

Yesterday was my surgical hysteroscopy. It was in Stratham, Nate and I left with 15 min to spare. We had to be up at 4:45 so it was hard to leave earlier. We started on our way and I put the address in to our garmin. It said no address found. Great, i thought I didnt bring the directions because I didn't think I needed them. I guess I rely to much on technologes. So i tried calling the clinic and of course at 5:20 am at this point no one was there. So i tried mapquest on Nates phone. I found the directions and we were on our way. We get to Stratum and clearly the mapquest directions were wrong, after driving around for 10 min. Nate and I were getting frustrated with the directions and each other. We finally got ahold of the clinic and found our way 10 min late. I learned a couple lessons yesterday. Always bring the paper directions even if you have a GPS!  Also leave 20-30 min early if you don't know where you are going. 
So I get ready for the surgery.   Nate finally gets to meet Dr. Hill!  He is one of the best doctors I have had or worked with.  He explains everything and makes sure you understand everything.  The surgery didn't take very long and i was waking up to alot of pain!!!  They gave me something for the pain which made me nauseous.  So they gave me something for that as well.  Dr. Hill had gone out and gave Nate  some pictures and explained everything look really good. I also had no polyps which is great.  I remember at my last ectopic surgery I had quite a few and that is not ideal for pregnancy.  So I was happy to hear that my uterus is clear and ready for babies!  I spent the rest of the day sleeping with my heating pad.  Today I still have my heating pad on and have alot of pain but it should get better as the day goes on. 

Thursday, September 2, 2010

What A Week!

So this week so far has been really busy!  On Monday I had to be up early again for more tests.  They took more blood and I had the vaginal probe ultrasound.  It sounds way worse that in really was.  It actually was a very easy test.  I then went home from work early because I think I caught a stomach bug going around.  NOT FUN!  Then on Tuesday I felt better and was invited to go to York beach.  I spent Tuesday and Wednesday there.  What beautiful days!!! The ocean felt amazing and it was nice to take a mini vacation!  This morning I had to go back tot he clinic and Dr. Hill went over the actual IVF cycle and what my schedule would look like. So depending on my period I will start birth control (yes I know its weird, but they help control your cycle and produce good eggs) probably in mid December.  Then 19 days after my period starts I take Lupron every morning.  Lupron is an injection drug which means I get to play with some needles.  this is a great site to explain what lupron does exactly http://www.ivf1.com/ivf-lupron/.  Then when my January period starts I lower my lupron dose and start FSH (Gonad-f) injection at night which is a ovulation stimulating hormone. I also have more blood work and an ultrasound on day one. On day 5 of my period I have more blood.  I still take lupron and FSH and I also add another injection of HGM called Menopor which helps develop multiple eggs.  Then when my follicles hit 18 mm Nate has to give my a big injection to "trigger" ovulation.  Then exactly 36 hours later I go to Reading, MA where the egg harvest happens.  I then call back the next day to see how many eggs have had a successful fertilization.  A few days later they will implant up to 2 eggs.  Then I have to wait 12 days before I have my first blood pregnancy test. From there if it is positive i go back every couple of days for blood and ultrasound.  So that is the basics in a nut shell.  If all goes well I would be due in late October I think.  Next week is my hystroscopy so I am sure I will have more to blog about that.