Checking out of the Fairfield Inn

Since I work in the hotel industry I thought that the easiest way to describe what will be happening to my embryos would be to describe it like a hotel. You see right now 12 of my eggs are living in a test tube at the Center for Assisted Reproduction. The Test tube is nice and clean, it provides all the basic amenities that they need to survive and is comfortable for just a few days. However tomorrow two of the very best embryos will check out of the Fairfield Inn and check into thier new home for the next 9 months at the Residence Inn also known as my uterus. You see the Residence Inn will provide all that my embryos need for such a long stay like complimentary food, a nice cozy room with comfortable furniture and space to spread out. I hope they enjoy their new digs and don't decide to check out early (miscarriage). Because after 9 months Mommy will introduce them to the Ritz Carlton (also known as our world). So here we go.....embryos....fasten your seat belts and have a safe trip to your next destination. Your room is ready.

12 is our lucky number

I went for my egg retreival yesterday and everything went great. We were able to retreive 14 eggs. That is just an amazing number. Spent yesterday resting and watching football with Chris. GO RED RAIDERS! This morning the embryologist called to let me know that 12 of our 14 eggs fertilized!!! Average is about 50% so we are well above average. I am so excited to hear that we have such great numbers. So our 12 little embryos will just keep growing for the next few days and then on Thursday we will go back to the doctor for our transfer. Things are still looking really good!

Your ovaries are like a.....

Fright Train. They take a while to get going but once they start they can really do some work.

That is what Dr. Kevin said to me this afternoon at my appointment. That was his way of making a little funny. Dr. Kevin is such a nerd, but for some reason I really LOVE him and trust him. Over the last 18 months we have really come to understand each other. Yes just like any relationship we have had our ups and downs. Like the third time I went to see him and I left the office only to get in the car to call Chris and cry. I thought he had the worst bedside manner of any doctor I had ever met. I just couldn't believe that his staff wasn't all warm and fuzzy when I walked in the door. But over time I have learned to love the staff at the Center for Assisted Reproduction or CAR as I call it. We have laughed when it took 7 tries to do a blood draw. We have cried together when we found out that I wasn't prego for the 4,5,6,7th time. Thanks to CAR I now know that I am highly allergic to hydo-codone, my blood type is O negative, I don't have HIV and neither does Chris. You know the important information. So on Saturday I will go back to CAR and have my Egg retrieval. I have 22 of these little babies ready to make great little embryos. Dr. Kevin is going to come in on Saturday just to do my egg retrieval. The nurses today told me that I am one of their favorite patients and they are all praying for me and Chris. So on Saturday Dr. Kevin , me, and bunch of nurses, and I guess Chris will hopefully make babies together. I guess Hillary Clinton was right when she said it takes Village!

473

That is my Estrogen level for the day! Woo Hoo! Wow that Follistim really does work. It went from 163 on Saturday to 473 today. We have 22 eggs that are all just growing slow, but that is a good thing. We go back to the doctor on Wednesday and reterival will now be on Friday or Saturday. Which means we will have to miss the Zen Wedding were invited to in Houston this weekend. More on that later.

Things are Looking Good

Results from the doctors appointment on Saturday.

I have just over 20 follicles (eggs) developing. They are all a good size and are growing well. My estrogen level dropped to below 200 so the doctor is raising my medication to get it back up. No worries just need to get it over 200 again. We will most likely do an egg retrieval on Thursday or Friday of this week. This is the process where the Dr. will go in an remove the eggs from my ovaries and then combine them with Chris's swimmers to make embryos. We head back to the Dr. on Monday morning so I will have more information then.

I look like a mess from all the needle sticks. You can't get blood from my arms so I have to have my blood drawn from my hands and they look terrible. They are so bruised and sore. My stomach looks even worse. For some reason I keep hitting blood vessel when I do my injections so there are at least 35 bruises all over my tummy. The good news is that they don't hurt. Just look yucky.

I rewarded myself with a pair or new shoes for being a good patient! Way better than the sucker my Dr. gave me when I was a kid.

The Egg Hunt

I went to the doctor on Thursday and here is the latest information:

I Have 14 eggs developing right now! There are apx 7 on each ovary and they are all growing at the close to the same rate. This is a great sign of good egg quality as we don't want some to be really big and some to be small. Consistency is the key.

My estrogen level is at 268. Another great sign that I am responding well to the fertility drugs.

So far we are on the right track.

I go back to the doctor on Saturday morning where we will do a little more intensive sonogram (or as I like to say egg hunt). We will count every egg and measure every egg.

That's all I have for now. I will try to blog about something more interesting over the weekend!

$200 per day

So I have a drug addiction..... To fertility drugs that is. This drug habit is costing me about $200 per day. Yes you read correctly $200 for 3 shots per day. How crazy is it that. So I thought to myself what do other drug addictions cost. Does anyone know what the going rate is for Crack,Cocaine, Heroine, or Pot? The only difference is that these drugs make their user fell good for a little while. I only get hot flashes, sweating, bursts of erratic behavior, nausea, pimples, bruising all over my stomach, and mood swings. Oh yea but in the end they end up dead, in jail or in rehab. I'll end up with a beautiful baby, or two, or three. Yep. I have a better addiction than any crack-head out there.

Many of you have asked us how things are going and I just wanted to give you the latest from our doctor. My estrogen level on Tuesday was at 126 (The doctor likes for it to be over 100 at this stage). So things look great right now. I go back to the doctor on Thursday and we will go on an "egg hunt". This will be my first opportunity to actually see how many eggs are starting to mature. We hope for lots of big juicy ones! Thank you for all you great thoughts you have shared with us. We are blessed with some of the greatest friends in the world! I will update more on Thursday.

PS.... To all you crack-heads out there reading my blog. Please leave a comment on the "market rate" for street drugs..... I am just curious.