We've Got This!

Well we finally got our meds all ordered….they ended up being a total of $5,366.77. That doesn’t even include the 5th Gonal-F pen that was selflessly given to us by a woman that I met through an IVF support group on Facebook. That would have been an additional $1,200. Fortunately for us, our insurance did cover all but one of the meds and with the purchase of them we have met my $4,500 deductible, and nearly $8,000 of our $11,900 family out of pocket max.

So now we are 13 days into our first IVF cycle and I will be honest, it is not as bad as I thought it would be. Yes I have had bloating headaches and upset stomachs. I have never felt so tired before in my life and my back has been pretty sore but overall I feel like it could have been a lot worse. The shots are not bad at all now that I have gotten used to them. The first shot was by far the worst and has a pretty entertaining story to go with it. We were supposed to inject it at 7:30 pm and finally got the job done at 9:30pm once I let my husband do it, but not until after I got to poke him in the stomach with one of my extra empty syringes just for proof that it didn’t hurt that much. He took it like a trooper though! My husband has been amazing and has done every single shot for me, I cannot seem to do them myself and I know I couldn't do this without him. He prepares the syringes, and then “shoots me up” morning and night. I have only had two minor bruises, one after the first day of 5 shots because we did them all in the same spot in one day, the second because my hubby accidentally dropped the Gonal-F pen while it was still in me. Tip: rotate your shots, do morning shots on the left side and night shots on the right side, seems the keep the pain minimal. He has also gone with me to every single appointment and scan, it's almost like an everyday morning date haha.

We are doing the MicroFlare protocol without birth control so our schedule so far has been:

Cycle Day 1 (my period started) – called the doctor. Cycle Day 2 – nothing Cycle Day 3 – baseline scan and bloodwork, start Lupron at night. Cycle Day 4 – Lupron morning & night. Cycle Day 5 – Officially start STIMS. Lupron & Gonal F morning and night. HCG at night Cycle Day 6 - Lupron & Gonal F morning and night. HCG at night Cycle Day 7 - Lupron & Gonal F morning and night. HCG at night Cycle Day 8 - Lupron & Gonal F morning and night. HCG at night. Scan & bloodwork. Cycle Day 9 - Lupron & Gonal F morning and night. HCG at night. Cycle Day 10 - Lupron & Gonal F morning and night. HCG at night. Cycle Day 11 - Lupron & Gonal F morning and night. HCG at night. Scan & bloodwork. Cycle Day 12 - Lupron & Gonal F morning and night. HCG at night. Cycle Day 13 - Lupron & Gonal F morning and night. HCG at night. Scan & bloodwork.

Our Med protocol/doses are:

Microdose Lupron – Morning & Night – 2.0ml Gonal-F – Morning & Night – 225 HCG – Night Only – 10 units

Scans haven’t been too bad, the first one while I was still on my period was pretty painful but the others after have not been bad. I actually find them less painful and awkward than a pap smear. I also learned that I have a retroverted uterus, I was never told that before in my life. Basically it means my uterus points towards my back rather than toward my stomach like most women. This explains why I have bleeding after sex and such painful periods and ovulation. Due to the retroverted uterus, my fallopian tubes and ovaries are situated lower than they typically would be.

My progress so far:

CD 3 Baseline Scan: 1 follicle on my left ovary, 4 on the right. Estradiol – 32. HCT – 41.3 CD 8 Scan: 4 follicles on my left ovary, 5 on the right. Estradiol - 229 CD 11 Scan: 7 follicles on my left ovary, 5 on my right. Estradiol - 619 CD 13 Scan: 8 follicles on my left ovary, 6 on my right. 6 follicles are above 10mm. Estradiol – 1,163. Progesterone – 0.9

So far so good, I am responding and reacting exactly as I should be. We go back for another scan tomorrow and as of now it is looking like I will be ready to trigger on Wednesday for retrieval and hubby’s MicroTESE surgery on Friday. Until then we keep going, praying and hoping for the best! We’ve got this!