He's eating cake.

Day #12, January 5, 2010
Ganirelix injection
(125 mcg half dose in the AM)
Dexamethasone tablet
(1 tablet in the AM)
Folic Acid supplement
Prenatal Vitamin
**NEW** Delestrogen IM injection
(0.2 mcg in the PM between 4pm - 9pm - intramuscular injection)

As Keith sits beside me enjoying his collapsed confection of cupcake, I'm eagerly awaiting my pajamas and pillow. I'm so tired! 5:00 AM arrived too early this morning after getting home at 10:30 last night from Dallas. Yesterday was a great day. We arrived for our appointment right on time after leaving at 4:30 yesterday morning. I decided to be extra sweet and offer to drive part of the way. I ended up driving all the way to Greenville. I actually enjoyed the drive. We ran into about a twenty minute delay outside of Texarkana around 6:30 when sleet started falling and freezing to the road. About four cars slid off a bridge and had traffic backed up. I never slid and was thankful for that.

There were three other ladies at the clinic yesterday, and I found out while I was there that we are all cycling this month. SHER keeps all of us on the same calendar, so our appointments are all around the same time. Our appointment was at 10:45, and at 11:30, we were still waiting for an exam room. They were nice enough to let us sit in the holding and education area where I enjoyed browsing the study material and free stuff. I found a neat cycle calendar, complete with stickers to mark meds, retrieval dates, etc. So neat. I loaded up my red carry-all with as much stuff as it could carry. The nurse drew my blood for an estrogen check.

Dr. Saleh was looking handsome in his pressed blue plaid Ralph Lauren finest. He is a man of few words, but he is so kind and caring. He pointed out my ovaries on the ultrasound machine and said they looked exactly as they should during this stage....resting and quiet....and there were no cysts. The entire exam lasted about five minutes. He said everything looked great, and he'd see us back on Cycle Day 9, January 18, at which time I'll have another ultrasound in hopes of seeing lots of eggs! We wrapped up the appointment after a brief meeting with our nurse, Titi. We had to sign all of consent forms yesterday for the ovarian stimulation, retrieval, transfer, egg freezing, and CGH testing. We decided to decline the CGH testing for several reasons. First of all, our insurance does not cover the testing. Second, Dr. Saleh didn't recommend it for us because of my possible poor egg quality. In short, CGH (comparitive genomic hybridization) testing is genetic and chromosome testing done on embryos to rate the embryos quality in an effort to transfer the absolute best embryos in hopes of a pregnancy. These tests check for chromosomal defects and other birth defects and dramatically reduce the incidents of chromosomal miscarriages. Being that the best embryos are chosen for transfer, this means fewer embryos are transferred, which results in fewer multiple births. The SHER Institute is so confident in this testing that if a patient qualifies for the program, they offer an IVF Refund Plan where they offer a complete refund of all fees involved if the IVF does not result in a live birth. We also had to sign a form giving the clinic permission to discard our embryos if I die, Keith dies, or we both die with embryos frozen at the clinic, or if more than a year goes by without them hearing from us or paying storage fees.

We left the clinic around noon yesterday and immediately found lunch. Keith wanted breakfast, so we hit the Cracker Barrel. I was utterly disgusted when I was brought chicken tenders instead of the chicken tenderloin I thought I was ordering with mashed potatoes, turnip greens, and cornbread. I'm not sure if I ordered wrong or it that's what they are calling chicken tenders now....chicken tenderloin. Right. There was not a thing "tenderloin" about those four whimpy pieces of chicken on my plate. Our waitress was rude. Keith dropped his fork on the floor before our food arrived. She rolled her eyes when he asked for another one. Needless to say, she didn't get a tip. I did find an excellent bargain in the gift shop though....a big brown floppy straw hat with stones around the brim. I have a straw hat already that I wear when doing yardwork, but it doesn't fit on my big head that well, and it tends to blow away with the slightest wind gust. This one seems to fit better, and it came home with me for the incredible price of $5. After a 45 minutes lightning quick stop at Sam Moon, we hit the road. I love Dallas. The traffic is crazy, and the city is hugely overwhelming. But, there is this wonderful aura there that captures my interest that I can't explain. All of the people and the shopping and the restaurants....I love it. Maybe it's because my heart and soul is wrapped up there right now.... my main agenda..... my eye is on the prize.

Tonight was my first intramuscular injection, the Delestrogen. We were alittle bit nervous about this one, being that it is given in my hip muscle, but Keith did an excellent job. Everything I've read recently talked about how incredibly painful the intramuscular injections are, so I was worked up and prepared for the worst. No problem for me though...I didn't even flinch.

I just had the greatest orange popsicle ever put on a stick.