7 Days of Stims

And I have 7 follicles on each ovary growing so 14 total! Only one so far is above 10 mm but from what I can gather I'm responding just fine to the meds. They want a slow growth and for all the follicles to grow at the same rate and that is exactly what is happening right now. I go back in on Sunday morning to have another monitoring ultrasound to check their size again and to draw more labs. So far my estrogen levels have been rising as they expected: Monday it was 53.2, Wednesday it was 233, and today it's 645. Hopefully I don't end up with OHSS but based on my internet research as long as it stays below 3000 I should be okay.

My current dose schedule is:

375IU Gonal-F
10 units Micro-Ovidrel
0.25mg Cetrotide

They added the Cetrotide back in yesterday to prevent premature ovulation which is good but that means I'm stabbing myself 3 times a day :/  At least these ones are all subcutaneous injections and those are easy enough to do myself - it's just a quick pinch as the needle goes in and that's all. The one I am dreading is the Novarel trigger shot because that one is an IM injection with a 22 gauge needle.

I stole this picture from the internet to show the size of the needle I will have to use. I may end up having my husband do this one because I just don't think I can do it. Oh well - I guess I'll deal with that one when the time comes.

Lets Do This!

I am a terrible blogger but in my defense it's been an incredibly busy semester. All that stands between me and being a graduate nurse is a group project and a final. I can't believe I'm almost there and I am so ready to finish and get a job. It's been a lot of hard work and there have been some big struggles throughout but the end is in sight now.

But that's not what this post is about.

Today I start stims for our IVF cycle! I was on birth control pills for 4 weeks and did 3 days of cetrotide once I finished. Today is CD1 so I start tonight with 300 IU of Gonal-F and go in for blood work on Monday morning.

Obligatory Med Shot

Next week I'll go in for monitoring and have an expected retrieval date of 12/17 and transfer on 12/22 - could be a little sooner or later than that depending on how I respond to the meds but it's getting close! If this works it will be a happy ending to a pretty difficult year for us so keep your fingers crossed!