Suppression Appointment

We had our suppression appointment on Wednesday. I had labs (normal results), an ultrasound (ovaries are suppressed!), and a mock embryo transfer to make sure all goes smoothly in about 2 weeks. We want those embryos to be safe and sound in the back of my uterus. We met with our nurse, Brandi, and discussed my new schedule of meds. She wanted to "remind me" that I am to stop all activity/exercise starting Sunday. I was sure I could walk Vegas as usual, but this is not the case. She explained that my ovaries will be getting very large & heavy. With any jostling they could flip. There is a chance I could lose an ovary! WHAT!!??

Now I am having lots of fears about continuing to work after starting my fertility drugs on Sunday. I also have to take a couple days off after egg retrieval to recover from surgery. After the embryo transfer it is REALLY important to be on bed rest in order to aid successful implantation. I think I'll be spending a week in bed with my legs above my head!! So, basically I need to be off work for the next 3 weeks. I don't know how I'm going to manage that...I'll keep you posted. I'm trying not to get overly stressed. Hopefully I can get everything straightened out on Monday.

Despite being stressed about the possibility of losing my ovaries, I am excited to start the stimulation phase. Fertility drugs here we come!! :) I go in for more blood work on Tuesday to make sure the drugs are working. If my levels are too low, they will cancel the cycle. So everyone be thinking "grow eggs grow"!! I will continue the injections for about 10 days, having ultrasounds every few days to check my progress. Brandi said that by Friday we will have a pretty good idea when my eggs will be ready to be retrieved! Exciting stuff :)

I have been trying to stay very positive this week and have managed to have several wonderful dreams of holding our baby in my arms. I had a very vivid dream that we had a beautiful baby girl and named her Addison Claire. Hmmm...pretty cute name, I think. I've never had any thoughts of that name before my dream. Kind of strange. I've been reading more statistics on IVF success rates & the incidence of twins and have been feeling more optimistic. If we make it to embryo transfer (meaning we have healthy embryos 5 days after egg retrieval), there is about a 60% we will get pregnant and have a baby. Also, if we have 2 healthy embryos to transfer, there is about a 35% chance we will have twins!! What a blessing that would be! I can't stop smiling just thinking about it. This has got to work!

So, the countdown has begun!

• Sunday (today): Start Gonal F & low dose HCG (these meds make a bunch of eggs), continue Lupron & Dexamethasone, and of course continue taking prenatal vitamins, extra folic acid & baby aspirin.
• Tuesday: Labs (cross your fingers for high numbers)
• Friday: More labs and an ultrasound to count eggs (grow eggs grow)