Nurse Dave

Dave administered his first IM shot to me this morning under the watchful eye of our neighbor.  Ouch!  It hurt a bit.  She says he needs to do it bit faster next time.  I'm glad that is done.  I'm impressed that he was able to do it and didn't seem squeamish.  He's flying out until next weekend, so he'll get a second chance next weekend.  Can't wait.

Now, just back to watching the days drag by......

Two

We went in this morning for our transfer.  Two embryos were put in.  They were both 8-celled with some fragmentation - and both grade 3.  Now the god-awful 2 week wait.  Tick.....tick.....tick.....time will actually slow down in the next 2 weeks....

In the meantime, the lab is watching the last 7 embryos to see if any make it to the blastocyst stage.  If so, they will freeze those too.  If we get a negative pregnancy result, we can start this whole procedure over again in November with frozen embryos.  The chances will be lower, since many embryos do not survive the freezing.  Plus, I don't know that we even WANT to try this again.  I'm tired and sore and sick of hormones!

This morning, our neighbor (who is a nurse) came over and showed Dave how to do the IM injections.  She is beyond awesome and is coming over again tomorrow to talk him through his first one.  After that, we're on our own.  Dave is all confident, but it's not his butt.  I'd be confident too if it was HIS butt on the line.  Did I mention that I'm sore??!

Nine

The andrology lab called.  Out of the 10 eggs, 9 fertilized.  They froze 2 at this stage, just in case.  They will tranfer 2 to me on Saturday.  Then, they will see if any of the leftovers make it to the blastocyst stage and freeze them as well.  Pregnancy test is set for Sept 29th.  I'm incredibly nervous.  I don't think I can handle a negative after all this money and effort and agony.  Prayers please!

Ten

The donor had her retrieval surgery today.  They retrieved 10 eggs.  The doc said they usually retrieve between 10 and 20.  So 10 seems low to me.  And it will get lower in the next few days.  Tomorrow they will call and tell me how many of those eggs are mature.  Then they will tell me how many fertilized.  Then they will see how many survive in the petri-dish for 3-5 days.  Sigh.  But, the doc says, "This is a good amount."  I suppose you would have to say that to someone who just handed over their life savings.

In the meantime, I had my first big shot this morning.  A nurse friend of mine is willing to help me out here.  The shot didn't hurt, but, damn, it feels like someone hit me in the butt with a bat! I'm leaning against a heating pad now.  Dave is gone for the week.  On the weekend, another nurse friend of mine will give Dave instructions and he will use me as a guinea pig to do his first IM shots.  I'm extremely nervous about this.

Stay tuned...

Solid dates

Our donor is ready!  It's a day later than expected.  She gets her HCG shot today.  Wednesday is her egg retrieval surgery.  Thursday they will call us and let us know how many eggs there were and how many fertilized.  They will also let us know our transfer date.  It could be Saturday (for a 3 day transfer) or Monday (for a 5 day transfer).  The doc says I have to lay low the day of and the day after the transfer.......movies and reading.  I am not supposed to do any exercise that will raise my body temperature until I get a pregnancy test at the end of the month.   This is different from my last IVF at a different doctor's office.  They sent me back to work after my transfer and also told me I could exercise that same day!

In addition to my nightmares (3 so far) about these upcoming shots (that start Wednesday, boo!), is a conversation that Dave had with me tonight.  What prevents a donor from coming back and claiming her baby at some point?  Good question.  The doctors have done an excellent job shielding us from these legal issues.  It makes me nervous that the doctors are nervous about answering such questions.  Dave has an appointment with them on Wednesday and he plans to ask this question.  For me, ignorance is bliss.  I choose not to think of such things.

What if??

All along I've been very focused on getting through this process.  Today, I'm filled with an overwhelming feeling of 'what if this doesn't work?'  I haven't let myself think of that a lot.  The counselor asked us that question, but we were so far from actually going through it that I wasn't that worried.  We have a 49% chance of it working.  That's HUGE compared to the 9% they gave us when we first tried IVF with my own eggs.  I'm less nervous about a potential baby having serious defects since we're using a younger (30 year old) donor.   When we used my 42 year old eggs, I was freaking out that we'd have a baby with some type of syndrome.  As sad as I am that I won't be able to have a child that's biologically mine, this is a bonus.  So, what if this doesn't work?      I       don't       know.

Migraines are still tearing my head apart.  Usually it lets up by now.  Very unpleasant, to say the least.  I know it's the Estrogen.  Can't wait to see what side-effect horrors are lurking around the corner with the Progesterone.

Migraine from these hormones again

Well, we are paid up.  Today is the day that the donor will start her stim shots.  I don't know her, but I'm so thankful that there are people out there like her.  I think it would be very difficult to give up your eggs knowing that someone else is raising your baby that you will never know.  The doc says that the donors are usually girls who have a friend or family member with infertility.....not girls who need $5k.  Interestingly, they are only able to donate 6 times since they are local girls and this cuts down on circumstance of kids from donor eggs meeting and marrying later in life.  Weird, huh.

I started the Estrogen patches and pills.  Like usual, I ended up with a horrible migraine.  This is the second day with it and no relief in sight.  I'm trying to stay away from my migraine meds because this hormonal migraine always comes back anyway and I have enough "drugs" going in to my body on a daily basis.  I've been keeping ice packs on my head to try to keep it numb.  This should level out in a day or two.  Ugh.