So far, so good.

Testing in the morning

Tomorrow is 12 days since retrieval so I'm going to take a digital home pregnancy test in the morning. I hope I can sleep tonight. Obviously I want to see a positive, but a negative could just mean I'm too early. I'm so nervous because I just don't know what I'm going to do with myself if it didn't work this time around. I might need to get some counseling to cope with my issues.

There isn't much of anything else going on with me. We're starting to decorate for prom this week. Woohoo (sarcasm)! I love staying after school and not getting paid much extra. I hope they don't need me to lift anything because I don't want to have to give some lame excuse that starts up rumors.

The weather has finally turned nice again so we're enjoying the outdoors with Euclid. It'll be fun getting our landscaping and patio done this summer. At least we aren't moving like last year. That's a bunch of unneeded stress.

Until tomorrow...

Two week wait blues

I'm 4dp5dt so I could potentially start to home test any day now and get a reliable positive. The thing is - I got lots of positives last time and they don't tell you if it's ectopic or not doubling normally. I really wish my blood pregnancy test was earlier. That's me - always impatient!

Here are my symptoms so far (too bad progesterone could be causing them): WARNING TMI ahead!
-fuller, veiny boobs with enlarged nipples
-occasional shooting pain that travels to my nipples
-light, strange cramping for the last couple of days
-last night I felt a pulling sensation down low when I was laying around watching TV
-weepiness, hysterical laughing that leads to crying also
-copious amounts of CM
-very vivid erotic dreams
-sensitive female parts - sometimes I feel very tender when I first sit down

That's all I can think of right now, but basically I feel just like I did last time I was pregnant only a little more emotional. I think my emotional issues have to do with finding out people I know are pregnant. I won't get into that here since those people aren't letting their news out to the general public yet. I wish them both well, but it makes me sad to think I might not join them.

Unfortunately Jon is on call most of the weekend so he won't be around to distract me. I might have to go do some retail therapy or get a good book to read. Otherwise I'll be on the internet all day and looking at charts on fertility friend. My parents just called and want to know what's going on in the baby-making process and I kept them in the dark. I'd like to give them good news in about a week instead.

Hopefully I'll be posting a picture of a positive pregnancy test soon!

Transfer news

The transfer went well yesterday and two embryos were put in. I'm really mean today so maybe that's my first early pregnancy sign. I can't wait to find out if these little guys decide to stick around. The top picture is all of the embryos that were cultured. The remaining 5 weren't doing so great yesterday so I'll be surprised if any of those make it to be frozen today. The 2 we put in were only graded as fair so that's the main cause of my bad mood. They said they've had lots of babies that started out like that though. The bottom picture is the ultrasound while they were doing the transfer. The big black space is my extremely full bladder. Below that is my uterus and the little white spot is the embryos (my lightning bugs). I'm glad to be off of bedrest. I really need to get out of the house!

Here's an incredibly flattering picture of me right after the transfer was completed. Aren't I a cute pregnant lady?

I'm an egg factory

The egg retrieval went well yesterday. They were able to retrieve 24 eggs. That's so much better from last IVF where they only retrieved 11 eggs. We just got the fertilization report and it was more good news. Fifteen eggs fertilized with ICSI so they froze 8 right away for future frozen cycles and they're culturing the other 7. The transfer will be on Tuesday, April 10th and we'll be transferring two embryos. Twins would be scary and fun all at the same time. I'm going back to relaxing now, but I wanted to post the great news.

Thursday is the big day

The doctors decided to have me stim for one more day to get as many eggs mature as possible so my egg retrieval is Thursday. That moves my EDD to December 27th. I find out tomorrow what time I go in for the surgery and when to do the trigger shot. I'm just glad to have only one shot of repronex left. I had to do twice as much yesterday as usual and it hurt twice as bad. Unfortunately I have that same dose tonight. I'll be limping more equally that way. See - I'm trying to find the positives. The next time I update this I'll hopefully be sharing that they retrieved 20+ eggs and 10+ fertilized and transfer will be on Tuesday the 10th.

Easter eggs

I just got back from my ultrasound and things are looking very good. The technician measured 27 follicles with the biggest being 19mm x 19mm. My lining was at 10 mm. That's all great news for those of you that don't know much about IVF. My estradiol was at 1782 so I'm doing okay with hyperstimulation and I haven't gained any weight which is another good sign. I go in for another ultrasound tomorrow afternoon to make sure I'm ready for the trigger shot tomorrow night. That means my retrieval date will most likely be Wed., April 4th and transfer will hopefully be on Mon., April 9th. That will give me an EDD of December 26th, but with twins we'll go early anyway. I'm obviously feeling optimistic right now. I have more stimulation shots tonight, but these may be the last of that type of shot. Shucks!

Now I need to call my principal to let him know when I'll be gone and call my sister to let her know when I'll need her. I'm so excited to be this close. All of the techs, nurses, and doctors have seemed very hopeful this cycle. They all think it's going better than the last one. I hope that translates into lots of eggs, then embies, then babies, then frozen embies, then more babies. Hope springs eternal.