Grow little eggies, grow!!!

Last night was my last testosterone patch and today was the first day of my 'cocktail'. We prepare the Lupron that I have been taking, then prepare a Gonal-F pen, then inject both of those into a Menopur vial, then pull all of that into a syringe and inject all of it at once. That's how I only have to have one shot twice a day rather than 3 shots twice a day. I'm feeling a little flushed and sleepy but we had a healthy breakfast and I've been hydrating so hopefully I won't feel too weird for long. Justin is driving me to my acupuncture appointment now, and I'm pretty sure that will help as well. We have our first monitoring visit on Wednesday. They will take a look at my eggs via ultrasound. I will have a visit like this every couple of days after that until the doctor sees that the eggs are mature enough for ovulation. At that point, I will stop my cocktail and then take the meds that make me ovulate at a specific time. I'll go in for retrieval like a day after that, then go back for implantation 3-5 days later. Then, I can take a pregnancy test 8 days later! So, let's get through this stimulation portion- grow little eggies, grow!!!!

Injection Videos

Here is a video of what went down this morning. This is the real deal y'all - just rolled out of bed & looking rough. Justin did a great job! Beware - you will see a needle and some of my chubbiness if you watch all of them ;-P

Injection #1!

The right meds finally made it here! Justin gave me the shot this morning and everything went fine. I will post some videos later today!

Hope

Adam made love to his wife Eve, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Cain. She said, "With the help of the Lord I have brought forth a man." (Genesis 4:1 NIV)

Along with this whole baby goal I have for 2012, I am also trying to read the Bible front to back within the year. Obviously I am only on the fourth chapter of Genesis so I haven't gotten too far yet, but I sure am reading with new eyes. Im sure I've skimmed right over this verse several times in the past but Eve's words really stick out to me now. I think about how often expecting parents say things about how they created life, or how hard they worked to get pregnant. On the flip side, we sometimes hear about how getting pregnant is something that happens to someone as though they are an unsuspecting bystander and how their pregnancy is a sudden happy or not-so-happy 'accident'. Eve didn't assume either of these positions. Upon learning of her pregnancy, she responds with a sense of responsibility and honor. She was chosen by the Lord to share in the creation of another person! The Lord first chose to create her, then witnessed her disobedience and STILL chose to give her the great honor of participating in creation. This gives me such hope since God is still the same today as He was then. God knows me, my heart, my desires and my sins and he still chooses to use me for His purposes. We are praying we are within God's will for want he wants for us, and with the Lord's help we can do whatever it is he would like us to do.

Side effects?

Soooo tiiiiired. I can't find side effect info online for women who are taking Androderm (generic: testosterone). Looks like IVF clinics use testosterone off-label as a Pre-Treatment for IVF cycles because it has been shown to increase egg quality. Since there have not been any clinical trials in which women were administered Androderm/testosterone, there is no side effect info for women. All I know is I'm exhausted! But that could definitely have something to do with getting back into the swing of things after being on vacation. Also- let's pray that the Lupron gets here today as I am supposed to start it tomorrow!

Medication Mishaps

I guess with this amount of medication, we are bound to have a few problems. I received a call from the doctor yesterday and I learned that they had ordered the wrong type of Lupron, so they had called the pharmacy to order a different kind for me. This is the medication that I am supposed to begin on Thursday. I heard from the pharmacy yesterday and the right meds should be here tomorrow! Luckily we only paid $5 for the wrong meds so we didn't lose too much on that mistake and since we haven't opened the medication, we can donate it to Carolina Conceptions for them to give a patient who doesn't have insurance.

Here we go!

Baseline ultrasound showed a nice thin lining on my uterus and my estrogen levels are good so I'm good to go! I will take my last birth control pill today and start the Androderm patch tonight. Justin gets to start giving me shots on Thursday. I also had my 2nd acupuncture appt today and let me tell you I am starting to love that stuff. Thanks once again for all of your prayers!

we're jumping on this baby train!

Here we go. Tomorrow is our baseline ultrasound along with some more blood tests. They will take a look at my ovaries and determine if I'm ready to begin hormone injections. Please keep us COVERED in prayer throughout all of this!

Aaaand just because pictures are fun, here is a picture of the portraits Justin and I did of one another during our date-night painting class we took on Friday. The instructor lead us through creating a Picasso-like painting as we sat across from each other. It was a total blast!