5 years ago...

june 25, five years ago, on a warm summer evening in a beautiful garden, i married my best friend. i married the man who makes me laugh & smile. the man who comforts & protects me. the man who encourages & supports me. the man who understands & motivates me. the man who is a wonderful husband. the man who will make a wonderful father.

in five years we have adopted our first baby- our furbaby we named sadie.

in five years we have moved 2 times.

in five years we have bought our first home.

in five years we have traveled to the Caribbean, Mexico, San Francisco, L.A., NYC, D.C., Breckenridge, Charleston, Asheville, and Chicago.

in five years zach has changed jobs and started his own business.

in five years we have spent every holiday with one or both of our families.

in five years we have learned to cook!

in five years we have enjoyed our life and planned for our future.

in five years we have talked about the day we would be ready to start a family.

after five years, the day has finally come...

our embryo transfer is at 9:30 am tomorrow morning.

Tomorrow will {prayerfully} be the day that we begin the next chapter of our life together as parents and we can't wait!

(which is why i'm up and posting on the blog at 3:15 am! I can't sleep!!! haha! )

1st Report

Ok, here's the breakdown of our 14 little eggies...

6 were icsi'd and all 6 fertilized

7 were done 'conventionally' and 4 fertilized

1 was immature so it was not used

So... we have 10 embabies!!!

Egg Count

Can't wait for the fert. report tomorrow afternoon! Ok, going back to bed now.... xoxo

Retrieval Eve

"I don't know what the future holds...but I know who holds the future."

I've been carrying this quote around with me since last summer after I had my lap and was so down and disappointed. It has carried me through the ups and downs of this year and will continue to carry me through the night tonight as I anxiously await tomorrows egg retrieval.

Praying for sweet dreams, a calm heart, and a successful retrieval tomorrow morning.

xoxo

Waiting ... UPDATE ~ Trigger Tonight!

Thanks you guys for helping me out with my question about good follicle size. I actually ended up having a follie scan and appt this morning and asked my ivf nurse too. Like A.E.'s, she said between 1.8-2.2. As of this morning, I have 19 measurable follicles; however, only 14 of them are good. The other 5 are 'filled'.

Here's where we are:

Right Ovary: 2.1, 1.7, 1.5, 1.4, 1.4, 1.3, 1.3

Left Ovary: 3.2, 2.8, 2.0, 1.9, 1.9, 1.7, 1.7

My ivf nurse said everything looked great and she was anxious to get my estra.diol number. She said I could go either way as far as triggering. She said I'm 7 & 7. 7 are already at ideal size and 7 more are very close. She said Dr. K may want me to do one more shot of lu.pron & foll.i.stim to get those little ones one more boost but on the other hand, he may say trigger tonight so I don't over stimulate and get sick.

So now I wait. I'm dying to know if we are triggering tonight!!! As soon as I find out, I'll update! Thanks again, ladies! It's so fun sharing this craziness with someone who understands all of this! Trust me- I NEVER in a million years thought the highlight of my day would be measuring follicles!!!

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UPDATE~ Got my estra.diol number: 2149 and.....We trigger TONIGHT!!!!! OMG! I'm freaking out! I actually cried for a minute after I hung up the phone. I mean, excited but kinda scared to death all at the same time. I suddenly feel like I have forgotten all I know about the ER and hoping Zach remembers how to concoct our little trigger shot medicine for our 8:00 pm shot tonight! YIKES!

Slowing Down

Hmmmm.... well things are progressing but I'm not sure what it all means...

I went to the dr this morning but my usual peeps weren't there (weekend staff instead) so I didn't feel as confident in asking questions...

Maybe you can help...

Today's numbers:

estra.diol 1669

Right Ovary: 6+ follies: 1.6, 1.5, 1.4, 1.3, 1.2, 1.0

Left Ovary: 9+ follies: 3.3, 2.5, 1.5, 1.4, 1.3, 1.3, 1.3, 1.2, 1.1

On that left ovary, the 3.3, 2.5, 1.5 are filled which I did ask what that means and she said it means no egg- fluid or perhaps an ovarian cyst instead...

The dr. dropped me down on my dosage. He wants to slow things down a bit so nothing gets too big. NO foll.i.stim tonight and only 100iu in the morning. I'm anxious to see what they say tomorrow! Maybe trigger tomorrow night???!?!!

So here are my questions for you ivf gals out there--

1. what's a 'good' estra.diol number for triggering?

2. how big do the follies get before triggering?

I'm just trying to get an idea of how much longer we've got! :)

They're Groooowing!!!

Ladies, thank you so much for checking on me and allowing me to vent. I sure needed that! The antibiotic is still making me feel yuck, but the good news I've been getting from the dr. has helped.

Since I've posted last I've started daily monitoring appts. They are going great (aside from having yet ANOTHER shot and that dang vag ultrasound)! The ultrasound girl i work with is really cool though and we talk and she tells me what she sees, etc...

On Monday, Day 4 of foll.i.stim and the first day of daily monitoring, she found 2 measurable follicles. One on each side. My estra.diol level also increased from 23 to 116! Dr. K said I could skip Tuesday's appt and keep at the same dose of foll.i.stim.

So today, Day 6, I went back. Are you ready for it.... I went from 2 to 7 follicles!!!!! WHOA! AND they are 'watching' 10 more!!! Yikes! Dr. K says I have 'over achievers' in there and that he is very pleased with how well my body is responding to the meds. oh, and my estradiol number has increased to 323.

Right Ovary: 1.0, 1.0, 1.1, 1.2, 1.3

Left Ovary: 1.0, 1,2

So... at the moment I have a tentative ER Monday or Tuesday and the ET Friday or Saturday!!! OMG! It's happening so fast! :)