I will be doing the Lupron Flare/ Mini Lupron protocol, which sounds a lot better to me considering my low ovarian reserve. I ordered my Menopur today and spent the equivalent of a Walt Disney World Vacation. Like how my mind works? Now, I just wait for my period. I'll go in for my blood work, baseline ultrasound and uterine sounding, start Lupron on CD2 and stims on CD3! Now that I know that I will definitely be doing 75% of my shots alone, I am getting pretty freaked. I am especially nervous for the Menopur burn that I've heard so much about. Can anyone offer me any insight? At least Mike will be home by the time I have to start PIO.
We are a military family but are very fortunate to now be stationed only about an hour away from one of my brothers. You might remember that my brother was diagnosed with azoospermia last summer and was told that IVF with ICSI would be his only chance of having a biological child. I knew that they were gearing up to do IVF as well but I found out last night that my SIL and I will be two or three days apart in our cycles! We will be on stims and have our egg retrievals within days of each other. How crazy is that? I was brought home from the hospital on my brother's 11th birthday and he likes to tell everyone about how I ruined his day. We were living in NM at the time and it showed that day! All of his friends wanted him to go out in the snow to play but my mom made him stay inside with his new baby sister. The snow was gone by the next day--haha! I said to him last night, "If this works for all of us we could have kids within days of each other! My kid could ruin your kid's birthday!" Ha!
I'm trying to remain positive but so many months of disappointment have turned me into a negative nancy. I just keep thinking, "What if this doesn't work?" and now "What if this only works for one of us?" I am doing my best to push all those scary thoughts out of my mind but it's extremely tough. I really want to turn my attitude around because I've ready so much about how beneficial a positive attitude can be. Who has some tips on how to remain positive during an IVF cycle?
I have been fighting a flea problem since the cats came home from the kennel with them. After three treatments, a spraying of all the carpets and multiple flea bathsI think I have finally taken care of the problem, at least I hope I have. I haven't been sewing as much as I'd like but I'm trying to remain as stress free as possible right now and don't want to get overwhelmed with too many orders. My waiting list is nearing 100 people long though and I'm still working on orders from July. Once I start meds, I have no idea how I'm going to feel and I already know that I will need a few days off for appointments and bed rest after the ER. I'm sure the people on my waiting list aren't going to be very happy but I don't really feel like it's any of their business what is going on in my personal life. I just know that the majority of them would not understand and would try to offer well intended but unwanted advice.
Our Christmas last year was really, really hard and I actually cried myself to sleep on Christmas Eve. This year, we're not able to go anywhere for Christmas because of the financial strain of IVF but I'm hoping we'll at least get to spend Christmas with my brother and SIL. I hope we all have a good reason to celebrate!
I do not have tips on staying positive during anything. Sorry. :P
ReplyDeleteI hope everything goes as planned for you! I've got my fingers crossed for you!
I sounds like we will be cycling very close together! I look forward to following your journey!
ReplyDeleteI'd love to give you tips on how to stay positive, but I was clearly a nervous wreck during my cycle and probably didn't set the best example! The one thing that helped was setting mini goals (ie: respond to meds, make it to trigger, get eggs, make it to day three, make it to day five, etc.) and celebrate each one for at least a second (ha) before starting to worry about the next.
ReplyDeleteI was on luveris instead of menopur, but my doctor said it was pretty much the same thing--meaning, it burned A LOT (so does ganirelix, though I'm not sure if you're on that?) Anyway, I tried icing and all that stuff, but the only thing that worked was pinching my skin so hard that I focused more on the pinch than the burn. Yeah I know...it sounds weird, but it did help a little!
I'm sorry Mike won't be around for the majority of the stims, but I'm sure you'll be a pro by the time he returns :) I actually preferred to do mine when Felipe wasn't there--and when he was, I wouldn't do it in front of him. I think having an audience made it worse.
(Wow, sorry this is so long, but) I hope both you and your brother have something to celebrate at the end of all this. Having a cycle buddy can be wonderful, but it can also be hard... I had a few from the blog world and 3T, and I definitely oscillated between loving the camaraderie and going insane from comparing our stats--I constantly felt like I had too few follies, my E2 was too high, they didn't retrieve enough eggs, etc. etc. You are likely not as crazy as I am, but if you are, my only advice is to take/give as much support as you can, but avoid comparisons at all cost. This is still *your* cycle, even if it coincides with your SIL's...
I'm so excited for you, and I'm praying that this is it! I can't wait for all of your updates =)
Staying positive during IVF is really rough. I will admit though that I somehow did it with my cycle. When they only retrieved 5 eggs, instead of getting super upset I just decided to call them my "Fab 5" and have confidence that it would work. Like so many other less than awesome circumstances, it is just a mind over matter thing. I tried to be thankful for the opportunity to try, thankful that I had a chance, hopeful for what was coming. I also just blocked out the "what ifs" about it working or not. I just didn't think about it. I told myself I would cross that bridge when I came to it.
ReplyDeleteI also remember immersing myself in my work and friends. Trying not to perseverate on every day or count. I also worked with a woman who had done 8 IVF cycles (all failed unfortunately) and she helped me A TON. She is also a therapist so her ability to listen, talk, and hear me was incredibly helpful.
I can see how cycling with your BIL and his wife would be bittersweet. Lots of "what ifs". If I were you, I would chat with her about your feelings. Becuase lord knows, if one of you gets pregnant and the other doesn't it will be a tough situation. Of course, best case scenario is that you have babies within a few days of each other and that the cousins grow up together as BFFs :). I will pray for that scenario, but just in case that doesn't happen, I recommend chatting with her BEFORE the let-down and emotions and hormones are involved.
Hang in there! The IVF cycle will fly by. I am VERY hopeful for you!
Hi :)
ReplyDeleteIf you're doing IVF this month, I will not be close to cycling with you :( I ordered my IVF meds for my January transfer because our insurance paid for most of them and I think they're going to cap in 2012, so we bought them in advance.
I can't wait to read your posts about it! <3.