I'm PREGNANT!

Yup, I'm pregnant.  Queue the tears of joy...  I went for my follow up from my hyperstimulation, which I feel much better by the way, and as soon as we walked into the office Dr. C said "Congratulations, you're pregnant!  I never get to tell anyone."  I'm so happy, but it does feel a little surreal right now.  We will find out in two weeks if its one or two babies.  My Mom is convinced it will be twins...

IVF and Hyperstimulation

First and foremost...  The actually implantation, that happened on Tuesday last week, went very well.  These two beautiful embryos were implanted and I hung out on the table practically upside down for thirty minutes, all the while having to pee really badly.

If all goes well, our first baby picture

I spent the next two days being waited on hand and foot by my loving husband and helpful Mom.  I seriously was waiting for someone to slap me and tell me to get it myself.  I am not used to not being able to just get up and go get myself a drink, but I was good and called for help.

Then on Thursday and Friday I took it easy and stayed home, except for brunch with my Mom on Friday.  I slept a lot those four days, but considering those two little embryos it was probably for the best.

Saturday morning things changed a bit.  I woke up with sharp pain in my back localized in my right shoulder blade area and a bloated stomach.  At this point I didn't know what was going on, I thought it was gas as I'd been a little constipated.  Tony stayed up with me until the pain subsided enough to sleep and we decided to see how I felt in the morning.

Come morning I felt fine.  Sunday passed without any symptom except a little loose stools.  Perfectly normal after being constipated.  But this morning I woke with that same damned shoulder pain and bloating.  And this time I experienced vomit fest 2011 too.  At this point I woke Tony.  I was in pain, extreme discomfort.  My belly from belly button to right under my rib cage was bloated and hurt, especially if I touched it with anything, from my pj pants waist to my hand.

I called the doctor as soon as they opened and they sent me in for lab work at 9 am.  At 1pm I headed in for my appointment.  Sarah had suggested I get and drink something containing electrolytes so 3/4's of an orange Gatorade later and the drive to the doctors office wasn't nearly so bad, my stomach wasn't soooo painful.

The first thing Sarah told me is that my labs were abnormal.  Hallelujah!  I'm not imaging things.  Second, I have Ovarian Hyperstimulation Syndrome.  And ultrasound later and Dr. C was talking about my swollen ovaries and the slight risk that they might twist!  Yikes.  Guess who's not working for a few days more...

Apparently the the follicles that they ruptured to get to my eggs filled with fluid, aka blood, and that fluid is leaking into my abdomen.  They could even see it on the ultrasound.  They gave me a medication called cabergoline to take every night at bedtime until they tell me otherwise.  It will help lower my prolactin level which is partially responsible for this problem.

The shoulder pain is from a nerve that runs from my abdomen to my shoulder and is called deferred pain.   Bottom line is I can't do much for that extreme discomfort.  Drink lots of electrolytes, at least 1 liter a day, eat a diet high in protein, and take my medicine. 

I have a follow up on Wednesday.  I will also find out if the IVF worked that day.  Cross your fingers for me that everything works like it should!

8 is my lucky number

So 8 is my lucky number.  My birthday is 8-8-78 so I kinda always felt a certain kinship with the number 8.  Today I got a follow up call about the status of our growing embryos and guess how many we have?  You got it!  EIGHT!  Out of the original 18, which is actually pretty good.  They will call me tomorrow morning to give me another update but it looks like we will still be going in on Tuesday for the transfer.  Its happening so fast now!

Retrieval

I don't feel so great so I'm going to make this brief.  I had my retrieval yesterday at 12 pm.  It went well and they got a whopping 18 eggs.  As of this morning 7 were immature, 2 were irregular with extra chromosomes, and 4 were fertilized perfectly.  The remaining 5's status has yet to be determined.  They will call tomorrow to follow up but it looks like I will go in for my transfer on Tuesday this coming week. 

I can only take Tylenol for the pain, which is pretty mild but very uncomfortable.  It does hurt to laugh and put any pressure on my lower stomach, not too surprising.  In the end, its all worth it.

The final follow up

Tonight at 1am Tony gets to give me the time sensitive hCG shot, in the butt, in the muscle... Ouch...  This means that 35 hours later I will be on my way into the operating room to have a bunch, hopefully, of follicles release their perfect, hopefully, eggs!  I gave myself one shot tonight, one vial of Menopur, and now I am done with the belly shots.  Heal poor belly, heal.  And I am also done with daily and every other day lab doctor and lab visits.  And after Thursday, in three to five days, I will be going back for implantation!  Wow.  So excited/nervous/scared/hopeful/etc...  Keep me in your thoughts and cross your fingers!

U/S-BT Follow Up Visit #4

Tuesday is more than likely going to end in a shot to the ass.  I'm not quite there yet so Dr.C has me using one vial on Menopur tonight and another fifty units of Follistim tomorrow morning. 

 I have a 7:45 am appointment to check my ovaries and bloodwork. My endometrial layer looks good.  If all goes well tomorrow I will be in for retrieval Thursday morning!!!!  How did this get here so soon?!

U/S-BT Follow Up Visit #3

I feel pretty horrible at this point.  Friday night I had acid reflux so badly that I threw up.  Every couple minutes I this intense burning sensation in the back of my throat.  I decided that I can not eat anything spicy.  And Saturday night I didn't.  But apparently garlic mashed potatoes is too spicy and I was miserable last night too.

Sarah suggested at my follow up today taking one teaspoon of baking soda and mixing it with a cup of warm water.  Apparently this is a great way to soothe reflux even if it tastes horrible.  This makes tons of sense as we make infant reflux medication out of sodium bicarbonate, which is basically baking soda in water.

My appointment went well.  Dr C didn't tell me how big my follicles where this time but the ultrasound screen showed 1.38 cm!  Friday I was at 10 mm.  Is that even possible!?!  If it's true it explains my intense backache and my tender tummy.  Dr C told me I need to be careful and take it easy because my ovaries are so large.  And so close to over stimulation.  He wants me back tomorrow morning at 8:45 am.  I don't have to use any Menopur tonight and only 50 units of Follistim tomorrow morning.  Sounds like I am very close...

I'm also noticing a bit of overemotional outbursts.  Over the last three or four days I keep finding myself tearing up at stupid stuff.  Today I balled my eyes out over this.  Yes it is sweet, but I could not stop sobbing.  It was kind of funny actually.

U/S-BT Follow Up Visit #2

My follicles are developing!  Right now they are at about 10 mm.  No wonder my ovaries feel like they are too big for my belly!  My blood work came back great too.  I will be using 50 units of Follistim for the next two mornings, no Menopur (the diarrhea inducing devil of my fertility cocktail) tonight, and only half a vial tomorrow night.  I will have my third follow up Sunday at 8 am.

Dr. C thinks that I should "go," as in go in for retrieval, no sooner than Wednesday but more likely on Thursday or Friday.  Today I played the scramble game trying to find coverage for Friday, (I'd already covered Wednesday and Thursday per my original schedule.)  Thankfully I found help in the form of a traded shift with my co-worker R.  He's been awesome about being flexible through all of this.  Well actually all of my co-workers are pretty awesome about my ever changing moods and IVF schedule. This day or two later schedule means that my implantation will also probably be later by a few days.  But only time will tell. 

My latest and far from greatest side effect...  I'm breaking out like I'm a sixteen year old teenager again.  It seems like overnight my neck, back, chest, and face are covered with small red bumps that don't exactly look like acne, but really can't be anything else.  Out of all the things I wish I could recapture from my teen years, my troubled complexion is not the one I'd pick.  How about my ability to sleep in any position, no matter how uncomfortable, and not wake up stiff and achy.  Or my super metabolism that let me eat all I wanted without gaining a pound. But no, I get the acne of my teens...

Thanksgiving and needle tracks

The title of this post is slightly misleading.  It should read Thanksgiving and a quick word about injections, but that's so wordy and boring.  Sorry for misleading you :)

I don't think I've mentioned that I had Thanksgiving here at our house.  We had six guests, including my good friend A and my Mom.  I put my Christmas decorations up a few days before.  Its earlier than I normal do, but I love Christmas trees and their twinkling lights!  (Forgive the backlighting, it was very bright outside.)

Our dining room table only seats four, so we had to set up the card table.  It worked out well enough with three at the dining room table, and three at the card table, despite the height difference.

The dinner menu included:  turkey (of course,) cheesy potatoes (a family favorite,) green beans and almonds, brown sugar and honey glazed carrots, orange walnut sweet potato casserole, homemade cranberry sauce, cornbread stuffing, and herb garlic pull-apart bread. 

The spread

It was my first attempt making this particular dish, orange walnut sweet potato casserole.  It was very tasty and different than the usual sweet potatoes and marshmallows.  Here's what you need:
8 sweet potatoes
2/3 cup packed brown sugar
4 teaspoons cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 cup orange juice
3 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon grated orange peel
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
honey

I used a bag of pre-peeled, pre-sliced sweet potatoes.  I boiled these for about twenty-five minutes until they became soft.  Then I drained them and placed them in a 1 1/2 quart baking dish.  Then I combined the brown sugar, cornstarch, salt, cinnamon, orange juice, butter, and orange peel in a sauce pan until well blended and boiling.  Mixture should get a little thick.  Pour mixture over potatoes.  Sprinkle walnuts on top and drizzle honey over the whole thing.  Bake at 350 for about 30 minutes, keep an eye on the walnuts so they don't burn!

The other new menu item was herb pull-apart bread.  I don't have a picture of this but it was soooooo good!  Melt 1 stick of butter in sauce pan, stir in two cloves of garlic, chopped,1 tea of dried basil, and 1/2 tea of dried thyme. Take a bag of frozen white dinner rolls and dump half of them into the bottom of a bundt pan.  Brush half of the butter mixture over the top.  Dump the rest of the rolls into the pan and brush the remaining mixture on top.  Cover with dish towel and set in a warm place for 4 hours to rise.  The recipe said it should double in size, that didn't happen for me but it still came out great.  Bake at 350 for 45 minutes.  This was a hit!

For dessert I filled fillo shells with pumpkin mousse, chocolate mousse, and cranberry cherry lemon tarts.  They were light and gave everyone a choice, seeing we have some picky eaters in the group.  And of course, I doctored up a bottle of apple cider.  Cinnamon sticks, allspice, cloves, dried cranberries and apricots, YUM!

I love cider!

I'm trying to figure out what to do for Christmas dinner now.  I'm leaning towards ham but it all depends on what ideas I come across in the next few weeks.


On a side note, I mentioned bruising in my last post.  Check out my colorful abdomen!

I think I might have found a better way to inject the Menopur.  The syringe I'm using is quite vacuum-y and its difficult to depress the plunger, I wind up letting go of the skin I've pinched to inject.  Don't do that.  Ever.  I have managed to find a way to depress without letting go of the skin and the bruising is much more slight.

The difference is clear; the large bruise on the bottom, to the hardly visible one just above the right side of it (in the red circle.)  But my tummy is starting to look like a connect the dots puzzle.

As far as the injection experience.  It's really not so bad.  It's surprisingly difficult to actually stab yourself with the needle.  I had quite a few false starts for the first week, I lacked the conviction to actually stab myself, it's kind of a self-preservation instinct.  You want to insert the needle fairly quickly, in a darting motion, or it will hurt.  If you do it quickly you won't even feel the needle going in.  Pulling the needle out causes me a slight sting, but that only lasts for a second.  Not so bad.  Not so bad at all.  I'm not looking forward to the up-coming butt shots, but hopefully they won't be so bad either.

My follow up is tomorrow morning.  I have the crampy, pressure feeling I had during my Clomid rounds, so I think my ovaries will be in better shape tomorrow, but we shall see...