Still Keepin' On

I hate that I'm not really writing about anything but my cycle, but I'm low on time. Resident Boy is on vacation and we are trying to get ready for the holidays. So I've only had a little time for blogging. Sorry!

Today's scan was pretty good. Although Dr. Smooth almost walked in on me standing in the middle of the exam room sans clothes from the waist down. When I said "just a minute," he wasn't really listening and started to come in! I had to say again, with a bit of irritation, "just a minute," and he got the message. He felt really bad. I didn't really care that much, just about everyone in the office has seen my hooha -- although I guess the receptionist has been spared.

There were quite a few follicles, at least 8-10 around the same size. To me they looked around the 12-14 mm mark, but as usual he didn't say. And today I didn't ask. Trying the less is more approach. But E2 did more than double (up to 1600ish from that 660ish) -- so they actually backed down my meds a bit. I asked him whether he thought we would make it to trigger. He hedged of course. With how my last cycle went, I don't totally blame him -- I could crap out at anytime. But I'm thinking if we can get pretty close by day 12 of stims, that we will be okay.

On a deep level there is a tiny glimmer of something making me think this cycle is different. Whether its the dhea or the new protocol, I don't know. But last night I started actually thinking about how we could come up with dough for putting some in the freezer. And even how we'd do an FET to try for a third child later. How crazy am I? Of course, I promptly did a 180 and worried what I would do when this cycle was canceled. Ain't cycling fun?

Now I'm a REAL IFer

It's official, I am finally a full-fledged IFer. Last night, I did my shot in a public restroom stall.

Today feeling pretty bloated and a bit uncomfortable. Which makes me HAPPY. I'm really hoping things are clipping along and we can trigger early next week. Otherwise things with the holidays could get really wonky. Obviously, its most important that the eggs are happy and healthy, and I'll deal with whatever schedule changes will make that happen. But I would love to have things done so I can finish my 2ww before x-mas.

I'm dying to do the Blog You Very Much post, but want to really dedicate the proper time to it and do a great job. So, watch for it, and I'll work on it! Thanks JJ, for a great idea!

Slow, slow, slow, but steady *UPDATED*

Scan this morning. I'm not sure how I feel about it. There were lots of follicles (more than 9 I think), but they were all pretty small. I had Dr. Smooth today, in fact he is the IVF guy until Dec. And he often doesn't say much. To me the follicles looked around 5-7 mm, which isn't bad, but not great for day 5 at a pretty high dose of Gonal-f. I'm a little nervous. With that dreadful failed cycle, the big problem was I needed max meds for a really long time, too long. And with this slow start, I'm worried we will again get to day 10 or 12 and not be ready for trigger.

I told him about my spotting too, which was still happening yesterday. He was surprised (duh, so was I) cause my E2 is high enough to keep that from happening. But my lining looked fine. He said if it continues, they need to know because "that is not a good sign," but I didn't have any this morning -- so hopefully that issue is over.

Of course I was googling first thing after my appointment. One study said E2>350 on day 4 is a good prognostic indicator. And my E2 on day 3 was 229, so I'm hoping I'm close to that mark. At least that's what I'm holding on to until I get my levels and instructions today.

Dr. Smooth is nice, but I can't wait for Dr. Mumbles to take charge.

UPDATE
E2 =662, so it did double, as required. Largest follicle was 10 mm on each size. But I suspect in general, most were smaller, probably about 7s. They did not increase my meds. I think this is a good sign, but since we only have 75 IU of play until we are at max, I'm not sure if they are just trying to save it for the end. Recheck on Friday. I'm trying to believe that we are going to make it in under the wire before the stim winds up being too long, but I can't say I'm not still worried. Going out tonight for Resident Boy's department happy hour thing, and need to get ready for SIL visit this weekend. So I'll hopefully be busy and Friday will come quickly.

THANKS to all you who have been cheering me on!

For Lori

Well, Lori ... it took exactly 7 days for this to become this. Although we did need to teach him the last part of the lyrics. Ah, young boys and holiday songs. What could be more fun.

Pheww!

Thanks for hanging with me. To top things off they didn't call until almost 3 pm. But the waiting room was packed this morning so I guess there was a lot of Monday appointments. Of course I worked myself into a panic that my results were so bad that they had to consult all the doctors to figure out what to do with my crusty old ovaries.

Turns out E2 was 229. Thank G-d. A perfectly nice number. In my failed cycle I barely got over 100 by day 5, so things are definitely better. Aaahhh.

Now I have faith that we may actually make it to retrieval. They didn't even increase my meds. So, moving forward and repeat E2 PLUS ultrasound on Wednesday.