Did the dryer shrink my pants?

Or is it 3 months of fertility drugs going straight to the blasted hips? Or perhaps it's the little embryo(s). I have no idea, but definitely wasn't prepared to have my pants shrinking this quickly!!!!!! It just can't be the mass quantities of saltines, gingersnaps and 7-up I've been consumming lately!! I guess we'll find out how things are progressing @ Monday's ultrasound appointment. It's strange to not be at the drs. office every other day...somehow it was comforting knowing how things were progressing. Now, I feel really helpless without the daily updates. But the constant nausea and fatigue are good signs. AND my social life just might make a comeback (as long as I'm home in time for the dreaded progesterone shot) So, not quite the crazy pre-IVF life, but somehow I feel somewhat normal again...except for the crazy shrinking pants!! Any other members of the "sisterhood of the shrinking pants" out there?

It's Official!

I'm still in shock, but Friday's beta was 120 and Sunday tested at 290. Whoo Hoo! We really truly feel so blessed and still can't believe the good news. We had prepared for the worst after discovering our embryos weren't strong enough to freeze and it seemed like this just wasn't going to happen on the 1st IVF attempt.
We'd love twins, but ALL we are praying for is a healthy pregnancy and healthy baby!!! Because we're being treated for male infertility our dr. said that I won't be high risk if we get through the next couple of weeks and everything is normal. That surprised me. Somehow I thought all IVF pregnancies were high risk!
I go in on the 2nd for a pregnancy ultrasound and a few weeks later for the heartbeat ultrasound. Meanwhile, I've lucked out and suffer from the enviable 24 hour morning sickness syndrome! Gingersnaps and 7UP are quickly becoming my best friends!
Thanks to all the wonderful people who have been encouraging and praying for us on this crazy journey to "pregnancyland"!!!

2WW expires tomorrow!

But, we couldn't resist a home test (actually 2 of them this week).

Progesterone is completely EVIL!!

I can't even begin to describe how much I hate progesterone injections...it's sheer torture. Heating pads, massaging, moist towels---NOTHING takes the sting and ache away. This weekend I'm going to plan B (the lovely suppositories)to give myself a break. The 2WW is bad enough, but progesterone in all its horrible glory is making everything a gazillion times worse! :-)

A girlfriend of mine e-mailed this fun website containing a huge list of random, bizarre and quite interesting facts. I've decided that my posts are going to contain at least a few of this outlandish and funny facts. Somehow the last couple of weeks have driven the hubs & I to light and humorous reading (think Calvin & Hobbes, Astrix, TinTin and a few other British comic/graphic novels). It keeps our minds of the inevitable D-Day coming up next week...so enjoy some fun and completely useless posts in the next few days!

More Monopoly money is printed in a year, than real money throughout the world.

Caesar salad has nothing to do with any of the Caesars. It was first concocted in a bar in Tijuana, Mexico, in the 1920's.

One quarter of the bones in your body are in your feet.

Crocodiles and alligators are surprisingly fast on land. Although they are rapid, they are not agile. So, if being chased by one, run in a zigzag line to lose him or her.

Seattle’s Fremont Bridge rises up and down more than any drawbridge in the world.

Right-handed people live, on average; nine years longer than left handed people.

Ten percent of the Russian government's income comes from the sale of vodka.

In the United States, a pound of potato chips costs two hundred times more than a pound of potatoes.

A giraffe can go without water longer than a camel.

Nearly 80% of all animals on earth have six legs.

In the marriage ceremony of the ancient Inca Indians of Peru, the couple was considered officially wed when they took off their sandals and handed them to each other.

There is approximately one chicken for every human being in the world.

Most collect calls are made on father's day.

Come on little embies!

Embryo transfer on Sunday went well. Started out quite chaotic. My appointment was set for 11am. At 8:30 my phone rang and it was Dr. Patel’s office asking why we weren’t at our 8am appointment. WHAT?? I told her we live 40 minutes from the office, but that we’d leave right away. ARGH!!!! So DH and I jumped in the car while I chugged a liter and a half of water in record time during the white knuckled drive up there (knowing I HAD to have a full bladder for the transfer). Poor hubby was so stressed out. Strangely I was the calm one. We showed up at 9:15 and Nan the clinic manager apologized immediately. She forgot to call and tell us that our time had been changed to 8am because we were the only procedure for the day.
Dr. Patel didn’t do the transfer since he was sick, but he did stop in to make sure we were ok with Dr. Larson doing the procedure and also to discuss our embryos. Apparently we have normal to below normal embryo quality. They chose the 2 best for transfer and will place the others back in the incubator to see if they will survive to blastocyst stage. It looks pretty likely that we won’t have any viable to freeze. One valium later and a very cooperative bladder the transfer was finished. We have the ultrasound picture of the two little embryos posted on the fridge! We are just praying and hoping the two little transferred “embies” make it! The pregnancy test is on the 23rd. Thankfully we’ve been so busy that the BIG day will be here before we know it.
Oh, and our two favorite football teams won over the weekend. Hubby is a DIEHARD Eagles fan. I’m rooting for the Cardinals! My hometown Seahawks just didn’t have the gumption this year!

And the count is...

12 mature eggs and 7 fertilized (thank goodness for ICSI, hubby was so worried that there wouldn't be any good ones due to his morphology issues). Anyway, I'm scheduled for the transfer tomorrow @ 11am. Strange, but I've been so incredibly busy with work and life, that everything seems like it's happening so quickly. Which is a good thing, but where is time going?
I am looking forward to having Monday off (dr. says I need to be a couch potato for a few days--that is going to be SO rough!!!) Oh, and I managed to drag myself into work yesterday only to discover that a furry rodent (aka a mouse/rat) raided my snack drawer. EVERYTHING was chewed (tupperware, teabags, bags of microwave popcorn and my oranges). Maintenance came to set some traps. Hopefully when I get back to the office the mouse/rat is GONE!!! Can you imagine if I opened my drawer and found the furry little vermin in the midst of his noshing? Oh my gosh. It practically makes me hysterical thinking about it!!

Good work ovaries!

Yahoo! 15 eggs retrieved this morning! Higher than the original 8 we were told earlier, but we'll find out tomorrow how many were mature and if any fertilized. Now begins the excruciating part. The waiting, waiting and more waiting! :-)
ER wasn't as terrible as I thought it would be. I'm just super glad that the nurses let me keep my socks on under the booties (my feet are ALWAYS freezing) AND that we had an outstanding anesthesiologist. I was awake and chatting up a storm before they even wheeled me out to the recovery room. After a nice long afternoon nap, a steaming hot bowl of my favorite Chinese take-out Wonton soup (thanks hubby for taking such good care of me)-- I'm heading calling it a day and heading off to catch some zzz's. The 5:15 am wake-up is going to be a killer tomorrow. Would love to take the day off...sigh. Oh well. TGIF!!

Fedex, follicles & jury duty???

Fed-ex drama galore yesterday because they didn't deliver my Saturday shipment. After frantic calls to and from the pharmacy over the weekend and most of yesterday morning spent on the phone, pharmacy girl 1 informs me that there's a 24 hour delay on my shipment because I changed the delivery address. Gee, thanks for telling me about the delay earlier! I tell her this is unacceptable. I needed the shot 12 hours ago and absolutely MUST have the injection before 12pm. She needs to talk to her supervisor and will call me back. Meanwhile another pharm girl (same company) calls me saying Fed-ex shipment can be picked up at the airport AFTER 5pm. Again. Not happening---I explain everything all over again. She needs to talk to her supervisor. Pharm Girl 1 calls me back and says we have the Fed-ex guy on the other line, he thinks he can deliver by 11am. pharm girl1 and crew convinced Fed-ex to flag my package as a medical emergency delivery and it was put on a truck for urgent delivery (no duh!!!) and she rattles off a street address which is 2-3 miles up the street---my office is the last stop on his morning run. She is literally stalking the Fed-ex man. I am ready to jump in the car and start driving the streets of downtown Phoenix looking for him...

I needed the injection 12 hours ago I tell her, but if I get the shot by noon it shouldn't mess up this cycle. However, we can't trust Fed-ex to deliver so you'd better give me a Plan B!!!! She calls my nurse and asks if this is qualifies as a medical emergency (ARE YOU KIDDING ME) and that she needs a supervisor and a credit card to to provide me with the meds. My nurse tells her to GET me the meds or we're going to lose a $25K cycle because of a $500 Gonal-F pen. Pharm girl1 calls in the prescription to a local pharmacy and instructs me to call her at 11:10 am if Fed-ex hasn't arrived and she'll pay for my prescription while I jump in the car and drive like a madwoman to the pharmacy 30 miles away! Meanwhile, hubby is panicking and texting me every 30 seconds to see if the package has arrived. 11:10...nothing.11:12...nothing.11:13..nothing-----I start frantically dialing pharm girl1 at 12:14 and literally in mid-dial our receptionist buzzes me saying that Fed-ex arrived. WHEWWWWWWWWWW. Literally, my knees shaking, dizzy and lightheaded I run to the ladies room with the precious Gonal-F in hand. Good grief. What did I do to deserve this level of STRESS!!!!!!

On to good news, the follies are ready so I'm scheduled for egg retrieval first thing Thursday morning. BTW---Has your dr. ever asked you if you talk to your ovaries? I was shocked when he asked me if I'd been "talking to my ovaries". I'm not really sure what to say to them, but it's helpful to know that they might respond or even listen to my coaxings! :-) I'm thrilled to have a shot free day tomorrow!!! YAY, Yay and yay!!!!
Ah yes, and that blasted jury duty. Somehow I'm still in the jury pool. Need to call in at 11am to see if I'm needed. Right. I'll do that right after my pre-op @ 10am. They couldn't just dismiss me, eh? Wowsers. Seriously, am I nuts? It sure seems like lots of insanity---none of which I can do anything about.

Gonal-F and mass pandemonium ??

Eeeks. Had a major episode with the pharmacy today regarding meds (or lack of them). short and sweet version is that my much needed shipment of Gonal-F and Repronex was to arrive yesterday. somehow Fed-ex messed everything up and didn't deliver. so @ our morning ultrasound and appointment today i mentioned the problem to our nurse. you'd think that in a metro area of 5 million that ONE pharmacy would carry a Gonal-F pen on Sunday? ha. not a chance. so, i don't have my full gonal-f dose for today. needless to say, the hubby and i both panicked until our nurse called me with the blood results and said it's ok. i can catch up on my gonal-f in the am when my shipment arrives @ the office. now, here's PRAYING that dang fed-ex delivers the meds to my work address tomorrow morning. :-)
dr says i am running a day or so behind normal with my stim cycle. so it looks like retrieval will happen this thursday or friday.in the midst of all this i also might end up on jury duty wednesday. oh well, all this pandemonium keeps life interesting.