11/15 Update

We've hit a small speed bump on our fast road to IVF. I had my first bloodwork/sonogram appointment on Tuesday to check to make sure my ovaries were "resting" and that we had a clean canvas before we started the stimulants. As uncomfortable as the appointment is (pictures to come!), it was a GREAT appointment! The doctors and the nurse said I looked great, no cysts or other abnormalities in the ovaries that would prevent a successful cycle. I also have 6-8 follicles on each ovary which is a healthy producing ovary (I am 27 after all, who would doubt that!) Matter of fact, Dr. Mayer even gave me a high five on the way out! If that doesn't boost your spirits, I don't know what would!

To push my excitement along even further, the nurse said, "the next step is to recruit, recruit, recruit!" [the eggs]. and I'm thinking in my head...that's fantastic! I recruit for a living so I should be great at recruiting my own eggs! Then we'll go through the interview and selection round and I know how to interview so i'll select the best and brightest...and then to push it along even farther i'll put the eggs through some pre-employment testing and make sure we're really top notch. Quite geeky to align the IVF cycle with my profession, but I thought this was a good sign that I'm making those connections.

Well, then the 3pm bloodwork results come in and turns out the Lupron isn't working well enough to bring my estrogen levels down to where they need to be. In doing some research i don't think I'm too far off, but it's not where it needs to be. (I guess i'm a more "girly-girl" than I thought since I'm estrogen filled). So we've postponed the calendar a few days and I'm continuing on the Lupron to see if we can bring those levels down. Since I'm not as low as I need to be, maybe that's why i'm not getting any adverse reactions to the medicine that I thought I would have? At the start of the stimulants I should have an estrogen level <70. At the peak of the stimulant cycle I should have an estrogen level around 3,000!  Since I'm at 102 now, I don't think I have a terribly far way to go since the range is 70-3000 in a matter of 2 weeks! See the chart:

 

So for now, we're a few days behind the published calendar which messes my brain all up because I have a mental picture of the previous calendar. Now I'm even more lost on dates. I just hope it's not pushed back too much - timing was working out perfectly with the holiday breaks and downtime in work; my absences for the surgery wouldn't have impacted much at all (and holiday weight gain will be masked with IVF weight gain...excuses excuses). 

But in the spirit of having spirit and hope - our calendar wasn't stopped. My sonogram was great. I'm 27 with healthy ovaries. The doctor gave me a high-five. I've gotten a lot of support from friends and family. It's still a favorable time of year to do the procedure. Still need to stay positive, we're still just in the beginning stages.