what should I do?

How long should I stay in bed after the transfer? I´m aiming for a day, but the next day I´ll have to be out and about I think...
What have u done?

Transfer

Tomorrow is the day.

We are celebrating Holy Week here, so I told my friends that are going to the parades, to pray to all the virgins and Saints for us. So we get lucky tomorrow and we have a baby in 9 months...
Wish me luck!

Day 3 fert report

We still have 9 growing!!!

We could transfer today but the embryologist has decided to wait because they´re growing so well, and we still have so many.

Meds I´ve taken so far: Anti-nausea, sleep aid, tylenol, progesterone and another one to prevent Hyperstimulation, which indeed I have. Mild OHSS. Not much liquid, but a little bit in the lower abdomen. My ovaries are 10 cm each (normally they would be 2cm each)..that´s why I´m feeling all the bloating and pain. PLUS, the Dr. said that the fallopian tubes have moved upwards...so I feel pressure even when I breathe...

I feel better today though. Hopefully, by wednesday I´m almost back to normal.

BIG NOTE: I applaude all of you that have done this more than once. I don´t think I could do it again. It´s too much, to invasive, and too dangerous.

ANOTHER NOTE: How early can I POAS after a 5 day transfer? I´m thinking next wednesday...

Thank You all for your words of support!

ER trip

I´m on my way to the ER...great. I hate this. I will never do it again. I just hope it works the first try.
I guess Infertility is not real infertility until you have to go to the ER...

OHSS and embies report

What do you want first, good or bad news??

GOOD: We still have 9 dividing in the lab. They´re still aiming for a 5 day transfer.

BAD: OHSS. One evil evil thing...My mom thinks it´s gas because my belly has grown to a 5 month old preggo belly...but I keep telling her it´s OHSS..I have nausea, shortness of breath, pain and swelling of the belly...I´m tired all the time and it hurts so bad...We called Dr. Moron but his phone was off. So we left a message. Hopefully he´ll call us soon. I don´t know the degree of it, but I feel like I´m dying. How can I possibly carry a baby like this!

OHSS go away!!

Fert report so far

Retrieval went as exoected. Scary, as all surgeries, but pretty successful. They took 25 follies. 15 were mature to fertilize. The embriologist said that 10 were great and 5 had some think corpus something, but he did ICSI to all of them anyways. He called me this morning (24 hrs later) and said that 11 are still going strong, and that he believes we´ll be able to do a 5 day transfer on wednesday.

I feel like crap. Really bloated and in pain. I´m taking tylenol and resting. Surprisingly, my daughter did great without me for almost 2 days. I´m just so tired and hurting...They gave me progesterone pills (that i will use vaginally after the transfer) and something to prevent OHSS.

I can´t wait for this to be over. I feel so sick..

Fingers crossed!

I´m ready for tomorrow ( as ready as I can be). I already did the enema they asked for (HELL). Now I just felt like posting ¨Off to be. I hope tomorrow I am a size smaller and a step closer¨on FB, so I did. I haven´t told many people about our IVF ride. Only people that I see frequently. I just feel soooo like crap. This really is hard. The enema took me for a ride...holy cow...that was one of the worst experiences. Almost as bad as the miscariage. Really bad cramps.

And I´m on for 8:30 am. Keep your fingers crossed. I´m aiming for 6 mature good looking eggs retrieved tomorrow.

Here we go!

Retrieval is scheduled for friday. My E2 was at a little over 1,000. Not much. The Dr. said that it didn´t match with what he saw in the u/s...Still, I will trigger tonight and surgery on friday.

I feel much better today. I was so miserable yesterday. I had the worst pain I´ve ever had in my lower abdomen. Thankfully, it went away at 5 pm, right before my daughter decided to wash my Ipod touch and break it forever, and then hit her eye with the corner on a wood table and start bleeding...what a day!! I´m gald it´s over and I feel better today.

Can I take Ibupro.fen now? My Dr said that I can take whatever I want, but my aunt (who´s been cycling for 2 years) said that they don´t let her. Only Tylenol. ??? help???

I know I´m relying way too much on the blogosphere...but I have no choice. I can´t really contact my doctors unless I´m dying and I don´t know many people in my same situation. (My aunt is 40 and with a totally different protocol, plus, she is really jealous that I get to do this when I already have a child).
I hope I can get some answers from you all...
THANKS!

Dolorida

Yes, I am dolorida (in pain).

I just got back from the u/s and HOLY COW, it hurt. My ovaries are going nuts. I guess, due to my PCOS, my right ovary is producing 25+ follies. Only about 5 are over 16 mm. The rest are too small. The Dr. told me that they only categorize 18mm follies as mature. BUT my ovaries are too full, too big. The left side is quite behind. It has lots of small ones and 3 or 4 at 16mm and more. They want me to come back in 3 hrs to see what we do when they get the E2 levels.

So all my joy just went down the drain. I thought I was in great shape...it´s not looking so great because not many are maturing. If my E2 levels are too high, we have to trigger soon and that means that the smaller follicles won´t have enough time to grow to maturity...awesome! So, it looks like Dr. Moron was right and this protocol is not going to give us a lot to work with.

We only need ONE good one. One embie, one baby. Only one. Please, only one....and maybe two more to freeze so I don´t have to do this again. Please.

Questions...

I have a few quesstions that some of you may be able to help me with:
1. How can I make the bloating more comfortable? I feel like a balloon!
2. Any ideas to make the bedrest after retrieval and transfer easier (healthwise). I have read about gatorade after surgery...Should I stay away from my toddler for more than a day? She´s really attached to me...
3. How long do I need to be resting after retrieval and transfer? I´m having a hard time finding people to take my daughter for 4 days...Do I need 2 full days after each one?
4.Can they fertilize 10mm follies? I´ve been told that they won´t even retrieve them if they´re not 10 mm. Has anybody heard of 10-15 mm follies make it to baby??

SO FAR I have TONS of follies. As of yesterday I have about 18 in each side (that´s counting some that were 10mm). The right ovary is carrying the biggest load. The follies are more mature there. Some 18 mm, 16 mm,15 mm...and 5 or 6 that are at 10mm. The left ovary has one that´s 15mm and some more that were between 10 and 12 mm. and another 5 or 6 that were 10mm.
I left the hospital feeling very optimistic. Now, thinking back (and trying to convince myself that it´s not going to work), I´m a little worried about those that were 12 and 10 mm. Dr. Moron said that we were going to get less follies with this protocol...I don´t think that I can handle more bloating!...I look like I´m 5 months pregnant!! I´ve only gained 1.5 kgs...I guess that´s good. How many more follies can a woman make? Really? what´s the max? My E2 was at 570 on thursday. They´ll check it again tomorrow. Lining at 10. Is that good??

I know I said that I wasn´t going to research anything, or analize the results or drugs, and that I was going to trust them....but....I just need to know!! Are these good results or not?

On another note, my husband did AWESOME!. His first SA, he had 5-10 million! with 70% mobility! We´ve never gotten results that high...never in 5 years!. We were all so proud. The second and 3rd were his usual few non motile. The embriologyst said that with we have enough with the first sample. By the way, they froze all 3 samples. I´m trying not to stay positive, but I think all these are good news.

I´ll know for sure tomorrow, but most likely, retrieval will be on friday. I guess we´ll trigger thursday night? We´ll see.
I can´t wait to get the show on the road!!

Good things

Lately, I have been thinking that my blog is very negative. I just vent about things that I don´t like, or things that go wrong. Obviously, in the IVF world, we find most things going wrong, but still...My life is great.

I love my husband so much. He´s been here, in Spain, for a week. We have done lots of fun things..including a mini vacay to Santander that was just perfect. I have no stress thanks to him right now. He leaves on monday though, and retrieval should be around wednesday. He´s not going to be here to help out with my bedrest, which means that gordi will have to stay with her uncle and my cousin (who she loves). I hope she doesn´t go crazy when I´m not there.

They told me to start another hormone shot on thursday. It´s called Cetrotide. Not a lot of fun. The needle is longer and I have to give the shot at a 45 degree angle...I´m not good at math, ok?? DH kept laughing at me for not being able to figure it out...whatever. It hurts, and I have to push too hard, and I´m afraid that I´m going to push too too hard and it´s going to hurt even more. I´ve decided that I´m going to do all my shots because I can´t rely on anybody being here at 8 pm. everyday. I´m almost running out of space in my belly!! Can I give them in my thigh??

I have another u/s tomorrow (sunday) at 9:30 am to check the follies. On thursday I had many (around 20 on right side and 12 on left) but most were under 10. The right has the worst PCOS presentation, so I have tons of follies around the ovary that are too small. They saw 4 or 5 that were between 12 and 14. The left only had one that was 12. So they added the 2nd shot. We´ll see tomorrow. I feel a lot more bloated and uncomfortable, and I´m getting sharp pain on my right side..like bad cramps. I am guessing it´s normal. They didn´t tell me my E2 over the phone. I´ll ask tomorrow.

One question: Does my lifestyle NOW affect my future embryos? I mean, can I drink and have coffee now? or will it affect my embryos a week from now. I´m growing the eggs right now, so it should affect them...but my Dr. said that I could do whatever I wanted until transfer day. I also have a cold. I want to start antibiotics now, so I don´t feel like crap afterwards, when I can´t take anything...should I? I´ll ask the Dr that one too, again...

I will try to be more positive from now on. AND I will post a pic soon..well, as soon as this crappy computer decides to read my SD card!

Gross

This is just gross...first I was really excited to get started with hormones, and to overcome my fear of needles, but after the first and second shots, I just hate it even more. I can´t wait to be done. I´m really thankfull that I don´t have to do PIO shots...

I´m starting to realize that all of this, all that we´re doing to have ONE MORE baby is just not proportional. The first time around, I had gone through a lot of hard moments, but none of them included physical pain (or whatever you want to call it). I guess it was easy..even though I never thought of it as easy, not at all. But this time around...I hate the doctors, I hate the nurses..they treat me like crap. The swing their wonderful u/s wand like my daughter does with her magic wand, and they don´t care if it hurts or it bothers me like crazy. I hate the needles. I hate the unknown. I hate that I have to go through general anesthesia for this. It´s scary to think about.
Oh well.

First shot!

So tomorrow I start. Today I went to the first real appointment where they measure everything. I wasn´t able to write it down, and they use different measurements here anyways...it would be way too complicated to translate it all and then, compare it to other people´s experiences. I think I´m just going to trust them.

Dr. Moron yelled at me for getting that lady Dr to move things up so I don´t have to change my flight...I guess he wanted to do one protocol, and now we are doing the opposite. He says that I´ll probably end up with less eggs retrieved...oh well. It´s done now. He also mentioned that since I´ve been pregnant before and I´m young, that they might be able to do a 5 day transfer. Does anybody know where I can find info on 3 day transfer versus a 5 day transfer? He also said that he doesn´t agree on the whole eSET (elective single embryo transfer), unless we have a perfect embryo on day 5. So we most likely transfer 2 embryos. The do freeze them also ( I didn´t know before today). So, if we have enough, we might be able to do a FET in the future.

Well, tomorrow is the day. I watched videos and all. It doesn´t seem too hard. I think I´ll do it to myself. I´m a bit crazy and I think it will be done better if I do it on my own. My husband will be here for the 1st shot. I´m really happy about that. I´m starting with something like Gonal F called Puregon. 150 UI. For 6 days until thursday when I get another ultrasound and b/w to check my estradiol...whatever that is...

Wish me luck with the needle!!

We start on Friday!

Yes, we do!!

I´m beyond excited. I got back to Spain on th 2nd and met with a new Dr. on the 4th. She was nice enough to move things up a bit, since I was told (by Dr. Moron) to start the pill this cycle, when I wasn´t supposed to ( according to my program). So, she gave me my prescriptions and my pen (to put medication in, and inject me). I had to get the prescriptions signed somewhere else, and when I went to the pharmacy to get them, they charged me.......drums......ARE YOU ALL READY??

9.50 Euros ! ! ! ! ! ! (=$14)

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSS

So, I´m happy. I really don´t know what they ordered for me, and at this point, I know what to expect from the hormones and I´m as ready as anybody can be. I don´t want to dwell on what medication is better or worse for some people and all that. I´m going to trust them...yes, I wrote THAT, I´m going to let it go, and trust them. I don´t think I have a choice in the matter.

Everything seems to be pretty similar to US standards. I will post more when I find out more.

DH is coming on friday also, and leaving on the 22nd. It´s going to be GREAT. we both miss him.

I will come back on April 14th. I should know if I´m pregnant or not and what the next step is by then.
TTL!