Creating a Miracle

 We've moved!

http://peapod25.blogspot.com/

 
-L

 Woo!  Lots to update!

Not only did I have the NP appointment today, but there was also some drama about my meds.  Turns out my insurance company wont cover the Progesterone in Oil for the injections.  I called up the clinic only to find out I was supposed to be getting the vaginal suppositories all along!?!  In any event, they corrected the order and I will be getting endometrine instead of the harpoon jelly.  There was also an error in them ordering Ganorelix.  NP said Ganorelix isn't used in patients taking Lupron.....so that had to be removed from my order as well.  I'm not terribly upset about their screwups, I guess because they are so honest and nice... and because it was all corrected in time :)

The NP appointment was great.  She went over the entire procedure in immense detail and answered all the many questions I had.  I should expect to be on Lupron for 10 days, followed by Follistim for 10 days, then one time HCG and retrieval 35-36 hours after HCG.  The eggs will be fertilized on the day they are retrieved.  The average number of eggs plucked should be around 10, and of that 10, they expect 2/3 to 3/4 to fertilize (about 5-7).  I will be notified the day after retrieval how many eggs fertilized, and depending on their growth, transfer will happen 3-5 days after fertilization.  Endometrine suppositories begin the day after retrieval and my first pregnancy test will be 2 weeks from retrieval, with a follow up test 2-3 days later.  All together, that puts us in the middle to end of May for the transfer and beginning of June for the pregnancy test.  It seems so close yet so far all at the same time.

NP says the clinic will follow the pregnancy until there is a heartbeat (around 7 weeks).  They will do weekly sonos with lots and lots of pictures to take home :)  She said I will have a family album before they are done with me!  Yay!  I asked about the success rates... she said that I would get different answers depending on who I ask.  She said with my age and hormone levels, she thinks I have a 50-70% chance of getting pregnant.  Having PCOS (polycystic ovarian syndrom) actually works in my favor.  She said I will likely react better to the meds and produce more mature eggs then a woman without PCOS (who knew!?)

So, overall, I feel very positive and hopeful.  Things continue to move smoothly which is a great relief compared to our past experiences.  I'm super relieved to be using suppositories instead of the harpoon (and I bet Rachel is happy too).  NP says the suppositories are just as effective.  Tomorrow early morning is the water sono with my original Doc, and then I'm appointment free until the 25th - Lupron start.  Woohoo!

-L

 

Yesterday was the injection class, which went well.....  The class was made up of me and two other couples, one pretty young and the other older.  The RN went over all of the possible injectables we would have to use.  Lupron, Menapur, Progesterone, Follistim, Gonaril, HCG, etc. etc.  All of the injections, except Progesterone, are injected under the skin around the belly button and should be administered each evening between 5 and 9.  

I will be using Lupron, Follistim, HCG and Progesterone.  Lupron is injected around the belly button with a small, insulin needle and injections tend to last 10-17 days.  Follistim comes in "pen" form and is also injected around the belly button.  Follistim injections generally overlap with the Lupron and last 7-10 days.  The HCG is a one time injection given in the belly or arm.  It comes as water and powder that has to be mixed and injected below the skin.  Egg retrieval takes place 2 days after the HCG shot and Progesterone injections start the day after retrieval.

Of all the injections, the Progesterone was by far the most traumatizing.  Turns out Progesterone is a thick, almost jelly like injection that is given in the muscle.  What this means is it has to be administered in my ass, using a GIANT, 22 gauge harpoon.  There are only two spots where the injection can be given, and when given for 10 weeks straight, bruising seems inevitable.  Imagining that gigantic needle being pushed into a bruise make me feel ill.

The class lasted about an hour and a half.  It was very informative, although I'm not looking forward to my Lupron start at ALL.  Due to the times which the meds have to be given, I'm going to have to do the injections myself because Heather will be at school.  I think I'll be okay with the belly shots, but I doubt I'll be able to shoot myself in the butt.  I guess we'll have to wait and see how things progress.  It will work out... it has to!

-L

 
-L

Phew, I have a packed schedule these next 7 days!  I have an appointment tonight with the real estate attorney and mortgage broker for the house in Mastic.  Tomorrow morning is my Day 3 appointment at the clinic and then GREEK FOOD! with Liz for dinner.  Saturday is the injection teaching (ouch!) at the Stonybrook office of the clinic and Sunday is the Ben10 party.  I will breathe on Monday and then Tuesday is the IVF meeting with the Nurse Practitioner at the clinic and Wednesday is the Honor Society Induction Ceremony at school (woohoo!)  Yowsers!  I'm a busy bee!

 

 I had my appointment this morning.  It wasn't good, but it wasn't bad.  They were able to get my blood on the first try (thank god) and the internal sono was just like all the rest.  I got to sit down with one of the Doctors afterwards which was different from the last clinic we used.  It was nice to be able to talk to her one on one.  So, it turns out there are a few things happening.  My uterine lining is thick (duh, I haven't had a period in months!), I definitely have PCO (polycystic ovaries), I have one larger cyst on one ovary and I am insulin resistant.

In response to the first three things, they are putting me back on birth control for 10 days.  It's a stronger one, in the hopes it will jolt my uterus into shedding all this extra lining.  As that happens, the cyst should get smaller and we should be back on track for our May IVF.  If, however, the period doesn't come and/or the cyst doesn't decrease in size, then we might have to do a biopsy (gasp).  But we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.  Part of me is nervous that I still wont get my period, but the other part of me is glad the doctor wasn't shocked and concerned at my current condition.  Again, we wait.

As for the insulin resistance diagnosis, that concerns me more.  Apparently, my insulin resistance could be the cause of my being tired so often.  The doctor wrote me a prescription for metformin which should help.  I just have to stay away from anything with syrup in it, pump up on the fiber and increase my exercise.  The most concerning part is that she wrote 12 refills!  That's a lot of pills!

So, here I am.... kinda sorta spotting/bleeding and struggling to get my pill case closed because it's packed full with borth control, prenatal vitamins, vitamin C and metformin.  I bought my second pregnancy magazine (they are very addicting) and spent a good 10 minutes in the baby care aisle at CVS while my script was being filled.  sigh.  I just can't wait.

-L

Ah.. My first official post!! Hello everyone! 
Laurie, I'm sure that everything will be okay...better safe than sorry is right!  You are right in front of me reading your pregnancy magazine.  It sucks that I wont be able to go to the appointments with you.  I wish there was a way around it, but there is none.   Expecially if we want to keep things on the down low.  However, I know that you are a big girl...haha, even though I get worred...  Alright, time to go to class!

-H

I made a call to the fertility clinic this afternoon, just to play it safe.  I described my symptoms (light cramping, clots when wiping, no flow).  The nurse spoke to the Dr. and they want to see me tomorrow morning at 7:30am.  I feel better going and knowing what's going on, but at the same time I'm afraid to know if something is wrong.  The nurse reiterated that it could take up to a week for the full flow to start, but I voiced my concerns that this was exactly what I had previous to the birth control.  She agreed it's better to play it safe.

Wow.  We had a very eventful, long weekend!  We were supposed to drive out near my Mom's house after work on Friday to go camping.  (Yes, camping.)  I had tons and tons of schoolwork to do and had to postpone our trip out there until Saturday afternoon.  After hours upon hours upon hours of schoolwork, we drove out and had an awesome afternoon.  The whole crew was there and we all had a bbq, Heather played catch with Heidi, we went to the playground (and I got dog poop all over my sneakers, and up my pants!).... it was great!  Well, until nightfall anyway.  It ended up being freezing cold, the kind of cold that makes your bones shiver.  So, at 1:30 in the morning, we bailed and drove home to sleep.  Sleep out there just wasn't happening!  Not to mention I had a killer headache and didn't want to take anything....I'm trying to wean myself off anything but tylenol so I'm not completely miserable when I have baby in belly.

Anyhow, our weekend was interesting, to say the least.  We did have a few chuckles over our baby plans though.  I had cleaned out my car and found the prescription bag (from the birth control... the one my Mom had sat on a few weeks back) and we threw it in the campfire, never to be discovered again!  At 10:00pm, my cell phone alarm went off, aka my "time to take your baby pills!" alarm.  Everyone, of course, was like "who's that?!?"  I told them it was a text message and my Mom goes, "and it sounds like that?!?!"  :-)  Heather and I had a good laugh over that as well.  

As for our IVF cycle progress.... no "full bleed" period yet.  Just some spotting really.  Tomorrow will be day 5 off the birth control.  I'm kind of losing hope that I'm going to get a full period.  The nurse said it could take up to a week.  So I guess I'll give them a call on day 7.....

-L

Today is my first day off of the birth control and holy hell do I feel a mess.  I'm emotional, crampy and, oh yes, emotional.  I feel like I could rip someone's face off with my bare hands and then probably cry hysterically about it.  I've yelled at Heather, cried and laughed (at the same time) and have felt completely useless and unproductive.  If I'm feeling this from just birth control, I'm afraid of what will happen when I'm on "real meds."  I had no idea that mood swings were a side effect, but holy cow man.  These things should come with a warning!  

No period yet, but I'm desperately hoping it will come soon to hopefully ease this insanity.

Heather would like to join us here in blog world.  She will be posting to the blog when the mood strikes.  You'll be able to tell her posts because they will be green and from here on out, mine will be purple :)

Today has been..... insane.  I am covering for someone in our department while she is on vacation and everything that could go wrong - did.  And then some.  The offer we made on the house was accepted.  But after all the bullshit, we declined it.  Very, very long story, totally not worth typing.  In any event, today was a roller coaster of emotions, stress and a little bit of everything else.  In the end, we're not going to buy a house right now.  We decided that we don't want to risk the stress of buying to affect the IVF and/or pregnancy.  It's just not worth it.  Besides, we really don't need a second bedroom until the baby arrives, which would be more then a year from now.

Today will be my last day taking birth control but I will continue the prenatal vitamins (and extra vitamin C).  I've heard that it should take 3-5 days for my period to come.  If that's true, I should get it somewhere between Saturday and Monday.  I have to go in on Day 3 (which could be anywhere from Monday to Wednesday) for bloodwork and a sono.  According to the paperwork, I will start another cycle of birth control that will be combined with Lupron, but I wont know anything for sure until the appointment.

I love feeling like things are progressing.  The 2 week birth control run went well.  I didn't have any side effects, the bleeding stopped and I only had a tiny bit of cramping here and there.  I'm hoping that my period will come as planned and we will be able to move on to the next step.  There is a part of me that is scared it wont come.... since I really haven't had a "real" period in so long.  Hopefully the birth control did it's job!

Today was the first day in probably almost 5 months that I didn't wear a maxi-pad!  It's funny, because you get so used to something that when it's not there you almost feel naked!  It took a lot for me not to put one on this morning because I've become so used to bleeding.  I've been blood free for some time now and decided to take the chance, and it was a success!

I finished my first week of birth control yesterday.  Today was day 1 of the second week - only 6 more pills left before we stop the pills and start waiting for my period.  It's so exciting!  I took my pills in front of my Mom tonight.... told her they were vitamin C, lol.  She fell for it..  :-)  I moved my prenatal vitamins and birth control into a pill case so I can more easily take them in front of people if need be.

So, we are slowly moving along.  March is quickly coming to an end... only 4 more days and we can say we might be pregnant next month! :)

WOW.  Easter was very, very busy!  We successfully fed 10 people breakfast, about 6 or 7 people lunch and 13 people dinner!  I cooked everything with my Mom which was fun, I really enjoyed spending time with her.  I managed to stick to my diet and have officially lost 20.4 pounds!  Woohoo!  Two of Heather's cousins were over for a little while, one is 4 and the other is about 6 months.  It was sweet to see her interacting with them, and my family too.  I kept smiling to myself thinking that next year we could have a little one of our own.

I went to the lab this morning to get my bloodwork done for the insulin tests and the polycystic test.  The woman was amazing!  She was able to get my blood on the first stick, no pain!  I couldn't believe it!  I think it was THE best bloodwork experience I had ever had!

I've pretty much stopped bleeding (finally!), which is great.  I have some slight staining every now and then, but that's it.  Today will be day 5 of the birth control.  It's going well and hasn't made me sick.  We just have to finish up the 2 weeks of birth control, call the office on day 1 of my period and go in on day 3!

Happy Easter!  

We have Easter breakfast, lunch, dinner and dessert at our house each year.  We combine the families and entertain for the whole day.  So, last night I was setting the table for 12 (gasp!) and stopped for a moment at the head of the table as I envisioned a highchair being there next year.  I just can't imagine that next year there could be an infant to share Easter with!  It would be baby's first holiday and it would be a dream come true.

I'm on day 4 of the birth control and it just feels so weird.  I feel like I'm doing something bad, having to be so secret.  Just yesterday I almost messed up!  We had the papers from the pharmacy for the birth control on the front seat... and my Mom got in and sat on them!!  I freaked!  We have to be more careful!

So, hopefully today will be the last Easter without a baby......

We got the call........ and WE ARE COVERED!!!!!

I don't know what to do with myself.... We're just soooo excited and hopeful!  The nurse also called with the results of the blood work.  The results were "inconclusive" which isn't a bad thing, just means they don't know if I ovulated or not.  To play it safe, they called in birth control to our local CVS.  The plan is to take birth control for 2 weeks and then call the office on day 1 of my period.  I should go in on day 3 of my period and then we will get our next set of directions.  Everything is going so well, it almost seems surreal.

We are heading out today to get my prenatal vitamins and I am officially quitting caffeine!  I want my body to be in tip-top shape for our little ushy.  I just can't believe that we're on our way.....

As part of working with a Center of Excellence, we are assigned an RN who is our case specialist.  He or she will be assigned our case until we get pregnant.  They will be available for any questions we have along the way and are our new main contact at the insurance company.  This is a blessing when looking back at our previous experience with IUI 2 years ago.  I developed a hatred toward the customer service at my insurance company.... this new approach is sure to alleviate that stress.

I called yesterday to get assigned a case specialist and this morning our specialist Linda called!  She was very pleasant and sounded like she would be nice to work with.  We talked for a few minutes about our situation but she paused when she found out that we are a same-sex couple.  She said she doesn't think they cover single women or women in same-sex relationships.  She said the fertility benefits kick in only after 1 year of unsuccessful intercourse.  GREAT.  So I explained that we had tried IUI 2 years back and everything was covered.  I explained that I had specifically asked if they cover same-sex relationships prior to beginning treatment.  She said one of two things could of happened.  Either her information is outdated or they paid out in error last time.  Linda is going to look into this and get back to us....

So now we wait.  Hopefully she'll call back soon because this is torture.

So today marks the first day of our journey with the Reproductive Specialists of New York.  We met our Doctor, who was absolutely amazing.  He was down to earth, thorough, honest, funny and he answered almost all of our questions before we even asked them!  The Nurse and receptionist were equally as great and we feel totally comfortable and excited about going through treatment with them.  They are also considered a "Center of Excellence" which only a small percentage of clinics are across the country. 

The first step of the process was the blood work - which took 6 sticks to get - ouch!  My veins are normally difficult, but having bronchitis has probably left me dehydrated and with shriveled up veins.  The Nurse ended up getting blood from my right hand (after pricking my left arm twice, right arm twice and left wrist).  After filling 10 vials, I was left nauseated and had to lay back with my feet up, cold compress and sipping on a cup of water.  Sigh.

I will hear back from the office tomorrow which will tell us the next step.  If I've ovulated, then we wait for my period to start.  If I haven't ovulated (which is more likely the case), then I start birth control pills.  Either way, the path looks great and we should be able to do the transfer in May as we had hoped.

Stay tuned - I will be updating much more frequently now that we are finally back in the game!