February and March 2012: Preparation for IVF

On February 8^th, we went in for the Day 3 ultrasound.  I had 18-19 follicles, the most ever!  My doctor commented that we scared my follicles!  I began birth control on February 8^th through February 21^st.  On February 20^th, I had the saline test to check for any polyps.  My doctor commented that we scared my follicles!  There was a slight possibility that I had a polyp on my cervix.  Dr. Amols thought it was most likely just a ridge on my lining, but wanted to check with Dr. Patel before pursuing. Everything ended up fine so I began birth control on February 27^th.  I was on it for 2 weeks and took my last one on March 12^th. 

Our February Schedule

The meds arrive at the door... beyond overwhelming!

On March 14^th, we went in for blood work, ultrasound and medicine teaching lesson.  I had 8 follicles on one side and 4 on the other.  On March 15^th, I began my cycle.  On March 16^th, I began taking a morning lupron (20units) and evening lupron injection.  On March 17^th, I continued with my morning and evening lupron injection and added a morning menopur (150 units) injection and evening follitsim (225) injection. I took 2 pills every night of dexamethasone.  We had a difficult time choosing when to do the injections.  The most important thing was that the injections were 12 hours apart.  We decided to do the injections at noon and midnight to work with Kevin’s schedule.  My period ended on March 19^th and we went in for more blood work to check my estrogen levels.  They wanted the levels to be around 100, but mine were at 70 so they increased my follistim from 225 to 300.

Our March Schedule

The injections definitely were not easy.  I tried to put myself into a zone and reminded myself why we were doing this.  Thinking this way seemed to help.  I found using a heating pad before and after definitely helped.  As the days went on, it became more and more difficult to find places to inject.  My stomach became a pin cushion and was incredibly sore.  The menopur was the injection I dreaded the most.  It was pretty painful and burned.

What we lived by for 2 weeks!

All of the meds stayed the same for the remainder of our IVF cycle.  They were never able to decrease my meds because my body wasn’t responding as expected.  My doctor commented that anyone else my age would be in ovarian hyper stimulation.  This was pretty upsetting news.

The following was our crazy schedule for a 2 week window:

2012-03-23 :Appt at 8:45, 2 mature on right with 4-5 behind, 4-5 on left. 608 Estrogen level, morning and evening lupron injection, morning menopur, evening follitsm (300)

2012-03-22 :morning and evening lupron injection, morning menopur, evening follitsm (300)
2012-03-14 :Bloodwork, Ultrasound (8+4), med teaching

2012-03-15 :Morning and evening lupron injection

2012-03-15 Start Period

2012-03-16 :Morning and evening lupron injection

2012-03-17 :morning and evening lupron injection, morning menopur, evening follitsm

2012-03-18 :morning and evening lupron injection, morning menopur, evening follitsm

2012-03-19 End Period, bloodwork at 8am, hormones low 70 instead of 100, increasing medicine to 300iu follitsm

2012-03-20 :morning and evening lupron injection, morning menopur, evening follitsm (300)

2012-03-21 :bloodwork and ultrasound
morning and evening lupron injection, morning menopur, evening follitsm (300)
US: 7 on right and 5 on left, Estrogen level 314

2012-03-22 :morning and evening lupron injection, morning menopur, evening follitsm (300)

2012-03-23 :Appt at 8:45, 2 mature on right with 4-5 behind, 4-5 on left. 608 Estrogen level, morning and evening lupron injection, morning menopur, evening follitsm (300)

2012-03-25 :Appt at 8:30. 1134 Estrogen level, 7 or 8 follicles, morning and evening lupron injection, morning menopur, evening follitsm (300)

2012-03-26 :Appt at 7:45, 2375 Estrogen level, 7 follicles and 2 behind, morning and evening lupron injection, morning menopur, evening follitsm (300)

2012-03-27 :Appt at 8:45, 7 follicles, last lupron and menopur morning shot, trigger at 8:30

2012-03-28 :Appt. at 2:00

2012-03-29 :Appt at 8:30, 7 eggs retrieved. There was an 8th but too small.

2012-03-30 :5/7 eggs had ICSI done on them. 4 fertilized. Doing a day 3 transfer. Started progesterone injections

2012-03-31 :Progesterone Injection hurt and bled

2012-04-01 :Transfer done. 4 eggs, all C grade. 2,4,7,8 cells. 2 transferred. Very hard day. Progesterone injection okay.