I'm an Emotional Wreck!

Hello, again!

Ok so here we are, it's day 10 of my IVF cycle.  I thought I was tired, bloated, and soar a few days ago, but that day was nothing like today.  I'm an emotional wreck!  I have bruises on the inside of both elbows from the blood I have given every morning for the last 5 days.  My lower abdomen is tender to the touch, so I can't wear jeans and I'm running out of dresses to wear to work.  And honestly...  Anything can make me cry.  

Here I sit, a Saturday night, only minutes from giving myself 3 injections, yes, 3!  I woke up this morning at 6:00am to prepare the injections of Menopur, Saizen and Ganirelix.  We left at 6:45am and drove to the Littleton office of Conceptions for my daily ultrasound and blood work.  When we got home we napped for a few hours to try and catch up on some much needed sleep.  When we woke, Mr Blue Eyes left for a football game, and I stayed home to wait for my first refill to arrive.  When it arrived Sloan didn't know what to think...

The dreaded Box!

A few hours ago I got a call that the doctor wants me to add Ganirelix to my nightly injections.  I only have one, so tomorrow morning I have to get another from Conceptions, and thank god they keep a stash for emergencies.  Just incase you missed my last blog, or forgot all together, Ganirelix is the medication I'm taking to stop my body from ovulating.  I have two "leading" follicles that have reached pretty large sizes.  There is a grouping of five follicles that are trailing behind that we're trying to get to catch up, but in the meantime we are trying to save the larger follicles if possible and the Ganirelix should help.

The is the printout from today's ultrasound.

A few days ago we were instructed that Dr. Riggs wanted to meet with us to discuss the "what's next" in our journey.  There was a moment he was unsure on whether or not to advise us to continue my IVF cycle or look at the option of IUI.  IUI a.k.a. artificial insemination, was on the table for discussion as my follicle count was low as well as the sizes.  Of course the thought of this was not in our minds, as we went straight to IVF to avoid my tubes and any chance of another ectopic pregnancy.  The discussion was fairly quick, because by the time we sat down with our doctor the group of follicles trailing behind the leading two had grown to an optimistic size.  Dr. Riggs gave us the option, but his opinion was to continue my cycle and of course we both agreed.  We have made it this far and we did not want to give up.  We both felt with time and the right dosing of medication the grouping would get to where they need to be for a successful egg retrieval. 

Tomorrow morning we go in again for the next round of tests, and this time I predict I will be advised to take my trigger shot tomorrow night.  The trigger is injected 36 hours before egg retrieval and it's very critical it's taken at the precise moment they tell you to.  This is the final step in preparing my eggs for maturity.  I believe I currently have 5-6 follicles they are hoping to get eggs from.  Now as the doctor mentioned to us the other day, the larger follicles may be (in non-medical terms) over cooked, but hopefully the remaining follicles will produce mature eggs.  

Only a few more days to go before it's time!!!