IVF Crunch Time!!

How about those Packers, huh? It was a good game, and I was able to at least sit and pretend to watch most of it! Although our recording cut off, so we didn't see the last few minutes...LAME-O!! I absolutely LOVE the Super Bowl....commercials. I was relatively impressed by the commercials this year. There were a few really great ones. The halftime show was underwhelming. I actually like the Black Eyed Peas, but man oh man, they are terrible live and the sound guy made their mics way too loud for the quality of their voices. They're the kind of group that does a whole lot better when the background music drowns them out a bit (or A LOT). I did like Usher though. That man can dance.

We took a brief intermission from the game to give me my HCG trigger shot precisely at 7:30 PM. "Why are you telling us this?" you ask. Because it's the actual point of my blog, and I tried to ease into it by starting with some current events (how did I do?). The HCG trigger shot, to me, signifies the transition between all the boring, early IVF stuff, and the exciting, ball-moving-forward, IVF stuff. I've been doing HMG stimulant drugs since last Sunday. Thursday we had a really good ultrasound, which showed a lot of eggs growing. They wanted us to go back Friday afternoon, to see how I was doing again, since I wouldn't see them all weekend. Friday my eggs had grown more and they decided that I would be ready for my egg retrieval at 7:30 AM on Tuesday. That's right, TUESDAY! WOOT WOOT! In order to be ready for a Tuesday egg retrieval, they had me take my last HMG shot on Saturday morning with my Lupron. Then Sunday I did my Lupron in the AM, and Lupron and Trigger shot at 7:30pm. Why do I keep saying 7:30pm? Because the time on this one really matters. Exactly 38 hours after the shot is given, your eggs will naturally release. Therefore, they have you give it to yourself exactly 36 hours prior to your retrieval, so that your eggs will finish the maturation process, but before they can release, they snatch them from me. Today I take Medrol in the morning and Zithromax at night. Then I can't eat from midnight until after the procedure. This afternoon is Ronnie's big performance, his TESA, in which they'll go in and remove "cores" (OUCH) of tissue from the testicles, from which they will get sperm. I'll let him fill you in on this tomorrow more after he's actually had the procedure done...that is if his brain can function through the pain (kidding...I'm sure he'll be fine, he's a big, tough man!) Tuesday is my egg retrieval, and I'll continue on the Medrol and Zithromax the day of and day after the egg retrieval. Additionally, the day after the egg retrieval (Wednesday) I'll start Progestrone injections, and continue with those until they tell me to stop (sometime after the pregnancy test...on Feb 22). Sunday, February 13, will be the big day. The day they transfer 1 or 2 (we haven't quite decided yet, but I think 2) embryos back into my uterus. The day we've been working for. I am so excited I can barely contain myself!! We then have to wait 9 (LONG) days until the pregnancy test on February 22.

I am just excited to have dates. For a planner and someone that loves to know what is happening when, dates and a timeline are crucial. All that said, there's still a lot of uncertainty. You never know how your body is going to do, and there is a small chance that I might be faced with something called OHSS - where your ovaries are over-stimulated, and you have to give your body time between the retrieval and the transfer, so we'd have to wait a month. I'm hopeful we don't have to worry about this, but you never know (especially with as many follicles as I have going, 25++). We will know tomorrow after a blood test (testing my Estrogen levels) whether or not we'll be able to transfer the embryos on Sunday for sure or not.

For a big stress ball like me, weeks like this week are exciting, but also nerve-wracking. I have found a TON of comfort in the song Our God by Chris Tomlin. I have found a lot of peace in these lyrics: "Our God is greater, our God is stronger, God you are higher than any other.

Our God is Healer, Awesome in Power, Our God! Our God! And if our God is for us, then who could ever stop us. And if our God is with us, then what could stand against." (You can check out the song below).

Keep us in your thoughts and prayers! We'll keep you posted all week with the latest happenings!