Ultrasound Results Nov 30th!

Well gee...THAT'S a surprise, isn't it?

Round 2 Stim Day 7 and 8

Will this be our last days of stims? We will know tomorrow morning at 7:20 am with our ultrasound. We keep praying that those follicles grow but who knows.... God...yup, God knows...



Our job is just to keep praying and Lord, hear my prayer......!

Round 2 Stim Day 6

Evening shots... I was not dressed and ready to video tape our morning Cetrotide shot. Sorry folks....



Also, some of our thoughts about what we're going through right now with work. We.are.done. Too tired to keep doing something that takes all of our time.... No time for a social life; no time for sweet evening time with my hubby.... I'm just tired....

Round 2 Stim Day 4 and 5

Round 2 Stim Days 4 & 5

Round 2 Stim Day 2 and 3

Round 2 Stim Days 2 and 3 all in one video! Trying to play catch-up!



It's go time!!!

Round #2 Stim day #1

There is no way I'm posting today's stim day shot video. The video is almost 40 minutes long and let me tell you this time it's MUCH more complicated than last time! I think we got it down pat for tomorrow but tonight was a total mess!

ARG!!!

Stim Day 1 is done. That's all that matters. The shots went into my belly and we will be doing our shots at about 6:30 pm every night for Gonal-F and Luveris.

It's Luveris that's the complicated drug to mix and figure out since they don't have Q-caps available at the pharmacy this time around.

I didn't have any reaction to the Luveris. The nurse said I may have a red itchy mark like I do with the Cetrotide shots but I think it took so long to prepare the drug and get it right that the Luveris must have mixed and settled long enough with the saline to not cause a reaction on my skin.

We will have to return to the pharmacy in a few days in order to pick up a few extra needles and syringes. We wasted two mixing syringes and bent one injection trying to prepare the Luveris. It's just doubly complicated without the Q-cap!

We suck at this...

Also, a smidgen amount of Luveris squirted out and landed on the table. I'm worried about that. It was so minuscule of an amount...but still... it was suppose to have gone in my body! I'm worried. I'm praying it wasn't enough to have mattered.

Chris is hanging out with his best friend watching wrestling tonight...I plan to take a hot bath and tuck into bed soon. I'm just drain and stressed from tonight's injection screw up.

Lastly I swore three times while prepare all the needles/syringes and didn't even notice I had been swearing under my breath until after I watched the video. Lord, please forgive me for my dirty mouth...

G'night all....

Our TTC Story and other info

Our TTC Story and our thoughts on Surrogacy, Fostering and Adoption and why we have chosen the path of IVF/ICSI.** One thing I did forget to mention in the video we did try and have kids on our own from August to November of 2014. Yes, a short period of time, but God had already begun to speak to my heart that something wasn't right.**

Round 2?

I started my cycle today. I mean it's sort of a medium going into heavy spotting. Tomorrow should be my first full flow day.

I was hesitant whether I should call the clinic today or tomorrow since today is a Friday and now we're going into the weekend. but I did call them and the nurse who answered returned my call reprimanded me for calling too soon. Boy, was I glad I did though!

Since we are now the 20th of November, we are very close to the date when the new law changes. (They're still guessing it'll be changing on the first but it could be anytime in December, really. No set date has been announced yet.) Because there is no set date for this stupid law change (my own personal opinion) as it stands, if my current cycle runs into December after the law change, they didn't know if I would be covered under the new law or if I would have to pay for all my treatment and then be reimbursed by the Ministry of Health once "approved" under the new law for our "one time at IVF".

*sigh* I thought I'd get in ONE FULL IVF try under the current law. That may not be the case.

So... they told me to come into to visit them, so I could be educated on how to take a new medication that has been issued to me with my next round of IVF. Luveris is another drug that helps follicles grow. I will be taking 300 units of Gonal-F at night and 150 units of Luveris at the same time. It comes in power form -- similar to the Cetrotide I take in the morning after I certain number of days of Gonal-F and Luveris.

After visiting the Fertility Clinic and having the nurse teach me how to prepare the medication for doses of Luveris, I came back to work without picking up any drugs. I was told to wait for a phone call, as my case was being discussed by the nurses, doctors and accounting department. 

Yes, I am a special case. I have always been a special case with doctors, but in this particular instance, I'm a special case because of my unique ability to fit into the "three tries at IVF" law just when it's about to change to "one try law". I get the feeling that I'm the only patient right now with Bilateral blocked fallopian tubes that's trying to have babies...

So after an afternoon of all of them debating  back and forth, crunching numbers and scrutinizing the law as they understand it thus to see how to make this work for me and our finances, they called me back at 3:20pm to say that I have a few options. 1) I can go ahead with IVF this round, and if I finish with all the drugs, ultrasounds, egg retrieval, ICSI and embryo transfer BEFORE the law changes (whenever that is) then, I'm still safe under the "three tries" law and I'll still have my "one chance" at IVF under the new law, if we need another chance at this thing 2) or if we start this round and the law changes half way through our IVF cycle but things are going well, they'll make sure I'm covered under the new law and the money for ICSI (Chris' procedure that we will have to pay under the current/old law) will be reimbursed to us as this ICSI is covered under the new law. Whether things go well or not with this chance, that will be our one shot at this. No other tries covered. 3) or we can begin this try at IVF, if half way through the law changes but we don't want to use our "one try" under the new law we can pay for the IVF procedure ourselves. Instead of paying $6,500 for it, they'll give us a discount at $5,000 and then we would still get our "one try" chance under the new law of this treatment is not successful.

Yes, this is a lot to take in. No, we don't have $5,000 squirrelled away and no I don't feel comfortable asking all my loved ones for money. 

*deep breath*

I'm praying for wisdom, but regardless we are going ahead and asking God to guide us along the way each day with every decision we will need to make on this journey.

More than likely tomorrow morning I will be calling the Fertility Clinic so I can head into their office for my ultrasound to get the "all clear" on not having any cysts in my uterus so we can continue with drug stim days. I will be picking up my three drugs, Gonal-F, Luveris and Cetrotide and we will begin round two tomorrow.

Pray for us if you get a chance, would ya? 

Chris and I are so beyond stressed right now, isn't not even funny.... So much going on at work......Things we are not talking about on social media and now this added pressure of making decisions because laws are changing.....This could very likely direct the future of our family. God is with us though and we much trust in The Lord and not lean on our understanding... Yes, Lord we are trusting in You; always You.

Symptoms

This is hard. I'm.......I'm doing well but not perfect.

The first night after the shot on Friday we noticed my weight had gone up 4.5 lbs in one day. (They say at 5 lbs you should be worried)

Then this morning I have been having a slightly higher heart rate and shortness of breath. I'm breathing okay but just a little shallower........

Chris made me relax today, watch movies and not do too much. He's been watching me like a hawk just in case we had to call 911. He's worried and so am I.

I'm doing a little better this evening. Still in constant prayer that over the next 9 days, now, I do not develop any further severe symptoms and yes, I did call the fertility clinic and let them know my symptoms. They said everything sounds okay and I am most likely overeacting. (Okay, she was polite enough not to say those words but that's exactly what she meant.)

Trigger Shot

Chris and I videotaped this morning's trigger shot injections but for some reason it has been magically erased from my laptop... Yes, I know it's very strange!

Well, I had two injections this morning of "Ovidrel" at 250 units each. The are both "epi-pen" style injections exactly like our Gonal-F pens, but just in the color blue! Spiffy, I know...

I have been most concerned about this day...the day I take the trigger shots because of something called OHSS (Ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome). If you click on that blue link it'll tell you more about OHSS.
OHSS is very serious and lucky for me I have a higher than normal chance of having a severe reaction to the Ovidrel trigger shots. If I remember correctly, I have a 9% chance of having a severe reaction. Yay...fun.....So for the next 10 days I have to be watchful to make sure I do not develop any side effects in severity to this drug. Such tension and stress to deal with this as I worry...

The reason they've given me the trigger since is to release any eggs in my follicles so we can now scrap this round of fertility drugs and then start anew in two weeks. Women who have PCOS (like me) have a higher chance of having OHSS. The complications of OHSS may include:

• Fluid collection in the abdomen and sometimes the chest
• Electrolyte disturbances (sodium, potassium, others)
• Blood clots in large vessels, usually in the legs
• Kidney failure
• Twisting of an ovary
• Rupture of a cyst in an ovary, which can lead to serious bleeding
• Breathing problems
• Pregnancy loss from miscarriage or termination because of complications
• Rarely, death

Again, I reiterate...FUN!

*sigh*

So far, I've only had about 3 minutes of feeling an ever so slight nausea and a few twinges of pain on my left side about where my ovaries are located, but I do have another nine days of monitoring to go through. 

We are praying for NO symptoms to show up and cause trouble for us. 

How are we feeling otherwise? A little let down and frustrated. 

I mean, I know intellectually that the doctors couldn't have known my body wouldn't react to the low-dose of Gonal-F like it did. It's all very "trial & error" ish when it comes to infertility issues and drug doses but it is hard to swallow that pill and still get hopeful.

We are not giving up hope though. I pray that my period cycle starts in two weeks as it should. Please Jesus, please....

In the meantime, I'll be getting back into my morning swimming before work. Yay I'm allowed to exercise again! Also, I plan on trying to lose a few more pounds over the course of these weeks as the "Ideal" BMI is between 19-25 for fertility. (I only found out about those numbers two weeks ago watching one of the slides go by on the TV screens at the clinic.) I'd have to be 128 lbs to reach that goal. *snorts in disbelief* Yeah, that's not gonna happen overnight but I can inch my way down slowly. Being in the 60's (I'm at 170 lbs now) would be helpful.... low 60's is achievable... so that's my new goal.

I wish I could afford a trainer and a dietician but we all know that's not going to happen. A trainer is expensive so I'll just continue with swimming laps, stretching and other...uh.... things with Christopher I shall not mention here...

I think I'll shall do a happy dance when I reach 169 lbs and do not dip up to 170 lbs once again. 

Stim Day 11

Stim Day 11 and our Ultrasound #4 results.



Lots to talk about...!

Stim Day 10

Stim Day 10!!!! I can't believe we've been doing these shots for 10 days now! Phew! Tomorrow we have ultrasound #4! :) Praying for very mature follicles! Grow follies grow!

Stim Day 9

Stim Day 9 and Ultrasound #3 Results. Finally some good news! Praise The Lord!!!

Stim Day 8

Stim Day 8 and starting to feel the symptoms of the medication kick in a little bit. Feeling annoyed and irritated about everything today!

Stim Day 7

Stim Day 7 and the results of our ultrasound and bloodwork.......... I'm too frustrating to write out a post about my feelings tonight......maybe tomorrow.....maybe....