Lucky number 11

I so did not realize it’s been 3 weeks since I last wrote! Sorry friends! I have been juggling taking my meds on time, mom life, work life, and many Dr. appointments, and somehow managing to include some fun time for myself as well. We were able to catch the PINK concert this past weekend and had our annual crawfish boil for my mom’s birthday on Sunday! And can we get an AMEN for all this nice sunshiney and warm weather we’ve been having FINALLY?!?! We’ve been able to take SG to the our favorite park a couple times over the last few weeks. Thanking God for the happy He’s been giving me, because in the world of infertility it’s easy to become so obsessed with your circumstances and the future that you forget to live in the good moments of the present.
I’ve been pleasantly surprised how mild my side effects have been since starting the new injections last Friday. I can definitely tell I am little more on edge, but overall my temper has mostly stayed in check. I’m breaking out some and I’ve already gained 10 pounds 😦
Crying is another story. I haven’t cried a whole lot, but I definitely get teary eyed at lots of little things. Like when PINK sang happy birthday to an 80 year old fan because she saw her sign at the concert that said “All I want for my 80th birthday is to go to a PINK concert.” So stinking sweet.
I was going to try and start loading some videos in my blogs but didn’t realize that I have to upgrade my domain for a monthly cost to include video. I was told I could download it as a certain file and then upload it, but y’all, as much as I proclaim to know about infertility and other medical odds and ends….I am completely, and I mean completely clueless about technology, and websites, and files and all that jazz. Aren’t you glad the world is full of different types of people…or else it would get pretty boring if we all knew stuff only about the same stuff.
So, if you missed my injection video on my facebook wall you can head over there and check it out. I was originally planning to only include major details of this process on my blog, but I was kind of surprised to see how many people that video reached. Someone applauded it being a bold move and my response was that real issues deserve a spotlight. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, if I can make people more aware, then I’ve done my job, and I also get to shed a little light on my faith as well and talk about how awesome God is!
Speaking of faith and prayer….
I had my first follicle count today. My prayer over the last several weeks has been that God would only give us the number of embryos we could responsibly be able to transfer over time so that we wouldn’t be faced with having extras to keep in storage and never be able to transfer to ourselves, even if that meant our numbers were on the lower end. And that if our counts were appearing on the lower end God would give me the confidence to trust in His plan that He’s preparing the exact number of babies He has planned for us. I had 11 follicles, so good, but not great. I’m thankful I listened to my gut and agreed to the original dosing Dr. V had recommended. As he expected I am a medium responder. Of those 11 follicles there are a potential 11 eggs that will be retrieved, sometimes you’re lucky and there can be 2 eggs in a follicle. After fertilization, typically you can count on losing about half of those eggs, not always, but typically. And not all of them will likely be mature enough to even fertilize. Sometimes 11 will fertilize and all 11 could become viable embryos, but statistically we are probably only looking at getting 3 or 4 viable embryos. Thank you God for hearing our prayers. Unfortunately some women will have none of their eggs make it to blastocyst stage and don’t ever get to transfer. I’m trying not to let my mind go there. We ask specifically that you be praying for each of those potential 11 eggs! Quality over quantity!
My uterine lining is already at a 7 which is the minimal number they like to see for transfer, so the good news is I’m already there!! We will likely be doing egg retrieval Sunday or Monday, but most likely Monday. That will put embryo transfer at Wednesday or Friday depending how things are looking.
I read an article the other day where a fertility Dr. did a study to see if laughter after transfers improved pregnancy rates. He provided a professional medical clown to one group of patients for the first 15 minutes directly after embryo transfer, and he had a control group without the clown. The clown group had a pregnancy rate of 36% whereas the control group who did not receive any entertainment from the clown only had a 20% success rate. In the world of statistics that’s pretty significant. I doubt Dr. V is gonna have a medical clown in his office, but he is a pretty funny guy. So, I decided to enlist the help of my friends, and boy did they come through. I made a post on my FB wall asking them to post the most hilarious laugh out loud belly hurting memes, gifs, videos, jokes, whatever…and I’m not looking at any of them until transfer day right after my transfer. I needed 15 minutes of funny I told them and they blew the post up!! It’s like having a present I know is there and knowing I can’t open it is making me so excited to see them all. I know they won’t disappoint. Feel free to find the post and add your own funnies. And, viewer discretion advised as I do not have any control over what my friends posted. Also, to sweeten the deal up, whoever I decide posted the funniest of funnies will get a special present from me!
Our next round of injections will be the progesterone in oil (PIO), and those begin the night of egg retrieval. They are the most painful and will be in my hip, and they cause some of the most intense side effects. Progesterone is a nasty little hormone because it mimics all the symptoms of pregnancy and makes me SOOOOOOO emotional. Lots of women who have done the PIO shots mention that you get these awful hard knots in your hips that never go away. I’ve done plenty  of research to try and avoid that and most of what I’ve read says to warm your skin before the injection, and you can also warm the oil up prior to injection, and then after injecting to massage the heck out of the area for several minutes. We’ll see how it turns out, but definitely another area of prayer I’d appreciate.
It’s hard to believe we are almost to the point we’ve been waiting to be at for so long now. God has sustained me. Your prayers have sustained me. Thank you for allowing me to be so open, and honest, and vulnerable with you all.
And y’all….I seriously can not even begin to thank you enough for supporting our raffles and cookie sales and just donating in general! I am truly blown away! We had to pay our bill in advance last week and we ended up owing a little more than planned because of our deductible, but, God….. After this weeks cookie sales, and another big order that I’ve had placed by a special person I like to call Mom, our total we had to pay is again pretty much to the exact dollar amount that was made through your gifts and orders!! AMAZING!! I know I say IVF got this (I’ve got this) a lot….but let’s be real….GOD’s GOT THIS!!!