Day#9, January 2, 2010
Ganirelix injection
(125 mcg half dose in the AM)
Dexamethasone tablet
(1 tablet in the AM)
Prenatal vitamin
Folic acid supplement

(CYC Start)

Wow, today's the ninth day already! So far, so good. The bubble in the Ganirelix makes me nervous. I lost some of the medication this morning when expelling the bubble, not much....but still. Enough for me to think if the worst happens and this cycle doesn't work, it's all because I didn't take enough. It's a very thick liquid, and it doesn't thin out even when I allow it to come to room temp.

I started counting my calories today on My Fitness Pal. I used this website back when I lost all my weight on Weight Watchers. I love the site. The best part is it's free. I also Turbo Jammed tonight for 20 minutes. My face looked like a beet when I was done, but I felt accomplished.

Thanks to one of my dearest friends e-mailing and asking about our six night Dallas stay that is coming up soon, I thought I'd summarize the IVF process. I forget that not everyone has lived and memorized the process like I have.

Beginning on Dec 25, I began taking suppression hormones (Lupron and Ganirelix) to "trick" my body into not ovulating. These hormones stop signals from the brain which normally trigger ovulation. My ovaries are resting....on a beach somewhere in the Caribbean....just kidding. But seriously, they're snoozing.

Monday, Jan 4.....10:45 appointment @ SIRM (SHER Institute for Reproductive Medicine) in Dallas - Ultrasound and E2 check. Both tests are to check the ovaries to make sure there is no partying going on.

Tuesday, Jan 5 and Friday, Jan 8....E2V Intra-muscular injections (preparing for ovary stimulation.) I'm not 100% sure what these two injections are for. All I know is Keith will have to help with these because the needles are huge, and the shot goes in my hip. There's a trick to making sure the needle actually gets in the muscle. He took notes.

Monday, January 11 thru Sunday, January 17...the fun begins! I begin the Follistim and E2V suppositories. The ovaries should start doing what they were created to do.....except in over-drive. Normally a woman's body makes one egg per month. We're going to hope for at least twenty or as many as God gives us.

Thursday, January 14 - Sunday, January 17 ... add the Menopur injection (another follicle/egg stimulation hormone.)

Monday, January 18 thru Sunday, January 24 - Retrieval week - we'll be in Dallas this week preparing for egg retrieval. I'll have an appointment each morning or every other morning for an "egg" update. Once the clinic says I'm ready for retrieval, there will be a "trigger" injection which initiates ovulation. The next morning, the eggs will be retrieved thru a catheter-type instrument while I'm mildly sedated. Hopefully, we'll have lots of eggs.

Five days after retrieval.....we should know how many eggs fertilized and how many made it to blast stage. Only if a fertilized egg makes it to this stage can an embryo be transferred to the uterus. Our hope and prayer is for at least three embryos to transfer. My numbers suggest I am pre-menopausal, which means my egg quality and quantity is not good. I am on the most aggressive IVF protocol SIRM offers in hopes of getting a large number of eggs, a large number of fertilized eggs, and a large number of good quality embryos to choose for transfer. If we are fortunate and blessed enough to have more than three embryos fertilize and make it to blast, they will be frozen for the future. Wow....amazing.....I still can't believe we're doing this.

Ten days after transfer (God willing we make it to that point,) we'll return to Dallas for our first pregnancy test (Beta#1.) Two days later, we'll return for Beta#2 and hope for our first numbers from Beta #1 to have doubled, tripled, or more. If it does, there are no words that I can come up with now to express just how happy I will be. But, if it doesn't, I'll surely be sad....more like devastated. And at any point during this month....if my ovaries don't respond to the medication, if we have no fertilization, if no embryos make it to blast to transfer......it could all be over. But it won't be the end. I know I'll never be completely prepared the outcome, whatever it will be. That's the hardest part of this whole process....the "not knowing." So...I will continue to cling to what I do know........

"For I know the plans I have for you," says the Lord, "plans to prosper to you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11.

The unending injections, the protocol, the calendar, SIRM, my wonderful doctor and nurse....the whole process and each delicate stage of it is in His hands. God is in control. Our lives and our future baby's life in His hands, and we leave it there. Thanks to all for the prayers, kind words, and thoughts for us during this exciting, overwhelming, and stressful time in our lives. Keith and I are truly humbled by all of the e-mails and encouragement and just the overwhelming interest. Please keep the prayers going up for us everyday as we strive to stay peaceful and hopeful.