Day 1

I didn't post yesterday because it was a very long day.  We woke up by getting a few phone calls from friends telling us that a dear friend of ours from college had passed away the night before.  He and his wife are wonderful people who love the Lord.  Jim was a huge reason that I wanted to join onetimeblind when I was in college.  His love for Jesus was intoxicating. It was a sad morning as we called friends and informed them about the situation.  This season has been so hard for so many people.  We are continuing to pray for our family and friends. Hug one another today. Don't go to bed mad, it's not worth it. Share with the world the Hope and Love of Jesus. I think they need it.

Ok, so today is day 2 in reality, but my first day of injections. Yesterday after finding out about Jim I started and needed to call the dr. office.  I called at 8:30 and there was no answer - like the phone just kept ringing and ringing.  I thought that was weird so I looked up their hours and found out they open at 9.  So I waited till 9 and called.  Again, just ringing and no answer machine.  I called at 10....10:30..same thing.  I looked at Drew and said, "Something isn't right. There's gotta be other people trying to call in. We are all on the same cycle there.".  I looked over all of my paper work looking for an additional number to call but there was none. I DID however find the paper that told me "Call on DAY ONE"of my period. I might have started to get a little nervous, but the paper said if your day 1 was on the weekend then you had to come in by day 3 to have an ultra sound and start your meds. So I figured we would just drive in Monday morning at 7:30 and show up for an appt. I wasn't that nervous, but then the phone rang.

"Kathlene?"
me-"yes"
nurse-"Have you been trying to call? We just found out our phones are down".  

Aaaaahhhhhhh....yes.......of course they are.

I'm very thankful that she called. She was trying to think of anyone that might try to call that morning and I was one of them. She asked if I could come in at 11:45 and I was surprised but of course said, "YES!".  I thought we would have to wait until Monday anyway since it was later in the day.

(side note: we took our truck back in again--yeah a bit laughable at this point--we think there's a short in the check engine light or something, it keeps coming on. just one more thing = life)

We arrived at the dr. office and we prayed for our friends and then prayed that God would bless our appointment.  I was very nervous. I knew we had to have a good number of follicles to continue the process.  We went in and they were running a bit behind, which was ok.  I got my blood taken by the smartest nurse I've ever met.  Patti is so kind and always has information or advice to give me which is great. She told me to baby my veins because they will be taking blood every day next week (not this week but the following) until they know I'm ready for retrieval.

We had our ultra sound and it went amazingly well!  He said my ovaries look great and he counted 13 follicles! I usually have more follicles on my right side, but this time they were on the left. That doesn't mean anything but just that it's interesting. Nurse Patti said not to look at the numbers.  She told me many times there are little follicles that the dr's don't count and so we never know how many eggs there will be until the retrieval.  She also told me multiples are more likely in older women for some reason. It's all very interesting. :) The Dr. said my uterus "looked like a 35 year old, or maybe even 25".  I thought that was such a blessing to hear.  2 years ago my gynecologist told me my uterus looked like a 26 year olds.  I felt that was the blessing of the Lord. I find it very God-like to hear that word spoken over me again. Especially from this Dr. who always reminds me that I'm in the 40 crowd. Not to be mean, but he has to look at the stats etc. I get it. But I believe in a God that waits till people are "old" to start a promise.  He's funny like that.

SO---that brings us to this morning.

Injection #1.

Not bad. Drew did a great job. :)  It didn't hurt, it went fast and I think the morning shots will be ok. Yes, I closed my eyes after this picture was taken. Tonight will be a different story.  There are 3 different meds mixed together in one shot. I've been told they sting a little.  But I'm reminding myself that there are only 22 shots at the most. I'm praying for 14-16.  So please pray for that! The number of shots depend on how I "boil" as nurse Patti says. She explained it like growing flowers. The meds help the follicles grow all at the same time instead of one faster than the other.

This is so they can retrieve all the eggs at the same time and hopefully the same maturity.  

So this week we concentrate on being stress free (haha) and we take one shot in the morning and one at night.  I've tried to add a widget on the right side of my blog to show my December Calendar, it didn't work the greatest, but here's the basics: 

Day(December1) 1: start period. 

Day 2: ultrasound & blood work (all came out great!)

Day 3: (today) start shots. One in the morning, one at night. Morning shot is Lupron. For me, it basically prevents/controls ovulation. (the website link provided is NOT my dr, but it's a good resource). My night time shots will be a mixture of lupron, bravelle and menopur. 

Day 4: continue with morning & evening shots

Day 5: continue with morning & evening shots

Day 6: continue with morning & evening shots - eat chocolate

Day 7: continue with morning & evening shots

Day 8: 7:45am ultrasound & blood work. Adjust meds according to results. 

Day 9: continue shots. 

Day 10: 8am ultrasound & blood work. Adjust meds. 

**This week Determines if I've "cooked" enough and every day could possibly be a plan for egg retrieval. Appointments etc. will change based on results.  

Day 11: 8am ultrasound & blood work. Adjust meds. 

Day 12: 8am ultrasound & blood work. Adjust meds.

Day 13: 8am ultrasound & blood work. Adjust meds.

Day 14: 8am ultrasound & blood work. Adjust meds. 

Schedule will go like this until I look ready at which time I will be instructed to take the "trigger" shot of Ovidrel or hCG. Then 36 hours later I will have the retrieval. After the retrieval the embryologist will create the embryo's.  I will get daily updates on how they are doing etc. I have the day off after retrieval (YAY!) and then I will start taking progesterone daily until I find out that I'm pregnant. But no more shots! Once the embryologist decides the embryo's are ready we go in and they do the transfer. This will be a very great day. The hard parts will be over!

After the transfer I plan on resting for 3 days. Praying, resting, eating chocolate. :)  I wish I could plan it out more and know exactly what days were going to be what, but I guess that's part of the fun. :) I'm asking for prayers that everything goes well and quick so I don't have more shot then necessary.  

If you're still reading - BLESS YOU! I know this is a long post, but I just had to get all of that out. I will post the next few days, but they wont be exciting.  Just shots every day and regular life stuff.  Hope all of you are having a wonderful day. 

kat