Relieved!

We got great news this morning at IM's (intending mom) u/s (ultrasound). They found 6 (I think she said 6 or 7) follicles that are almost matured to the right size and should be ready by tomorrow. There are some follicles in her left ovary that are too mature, but not too the point of ovulation. If her u/s goes well tomorrow she should be ready to start her HCG that evening and schedule the retrieval for Wednesday morning(Dec.9th)!!!

I just can't describe the relief I felt when she said those words. I had been hoping and praying that they would get good news, but part of me was preparing to hear that we wouldn't be able to do it this cycle. This puts us at possible transfer between Dec.12th to 15th. One week away!!

This week I felt like this whole thing was teetering on the edge of a cliff... a short cliff... one where we would have fallen to the next ledge, but not all the way to the ground... a cliff none the less. It was very nerve wracking. Then to top it off I lost my estrogen pills!! These are the pills that I must take 3 times a day so loosing them for any amount of time could set me back a dosage. I had given them to my 1 year old to shake (they're child lock). We were in the living room and honestly what could possibly happen. I went to go take my evening dosage and I couldn't find them anywhere. I searched every square inch of my house for 2 hours!!! If I loose these now not only do I miss this dose, but I also miss however many it takes for me to get my prescription faxed over from the Vancouver clinic, filled by the pharmacy (if they have it in stock otherwise it takes two days to order more) and then picked up by me. We were looking at a minimum of 3 missed pills!!! I didn't know what that would do to our cycle, but it didn't sound very good. I couldn't think of anywhere else to look, went to bed and laid there trying not to beat myself up over letting Brie play with them. What was I thinking!! All this would have been avoided if I would have just put them back where they go!!! I was lying there all frustrated and stressed out at myself and thinking to God, "You know where they are!! Please just tell me!!" (I had been praying fervently the whole evenings search). Then I remembered something that my oldest daughter had said that afternoon (she's 3 1/2). I was folding laundry on the living room floor and Kiley runs over and says "Mom Briea's in the garbage" by the time I turned around Brie was walking away playing with something else. At that point I didn't think anything of it. Remembering this I bolted out of bed, slowly started taking out each piece of garbage and that's where I found it. When I saw that lid I almost flopped over with relief. Thank you Lord!!! Disaster averted! Needless to say it took me a little bit to settle my nerves and fall asleep that night. That will NOT happen again! I am super anal about where they are at all times from now on.

Well anyways, keep praying that things go well!! I'm so excited now I could burst :)

Stages

I am now in another waiting stage, but this one will probably be a short one. I have done most of what I need to do to get to the implantation stage as far as my body is concerned. The IM (intending mom) however is into the stage where she gets to start all her hormones. This is an exciting step in the process b/c it really is when we get to find out if all this is actually going to be possible. She has started her injections as of Nov.26th and will be leaving on Dec.2nd for an ultrasound in Vancouver. This ultrasound will check to see how her ovaries are responding to the hormones. What they need to do is get her body to produce an abundance of eggs and have them mature in her ovary. Naturally in your body you only produce one egg (more with multiples) and it does a maturing process that starts in the ovary and continues in the fallopian tubes. The process that the IM has to undergo can be uncomfortable and the clinic said that women can have a feeling of being "full" (not in her stomach, but just in general I think) since her ovary is actually swelled with the excess eggs. The actual retrieval of the egg can be painful as well. Normally for an egg retrieval they go up through the vagina and then use a needle to go through the side of the vagina and through to the ovary. I know that this process will be different for my IM since her anatomy is slightly different. I'm not sure how the process will change, but it will be interesting to hear how. I really hope it's not too painful for her, although she did say the way they will have to do it will be more invasive. She will be staying in Vancouver until the transfer happens. Everyday she has to go get blood taken and then wait for the clinic to call her with her hormone dosage for that day. It's a very precise science behind all this. I find it so interesting.

So keep your prayers coming! We are still on track for those dates, however we should have a better idea once the egg retrieval process begins. The eggs need to mature outside the uterus for 3 to 5 days (we are doing 3 since we want to transfer two eggs, if there are two). I feel so hopeful!! :)

8mm!!!

We got good news today! My endometrium is 8mm!! YAY! It needed to be atleast 5mm for us to move on to the next step. The IM will be going off her BCP's today (from what I understood), which will essentially begin her cycle and then she will begin her hormone injections sometime this week (I think). It's confusing me right now, but basically we just do whatever the nurses tell us to. I am now taking three estrogen pills a day. Morning, noon and night and still on my synarel nasal spray.

The actual ultrasound that I had was easy and laid back which was nice considering it was an internal one. I have had one other (internal) one during my pregnancy with my youngest daughter so I knew what to expect. The dr. who did the prcedure made me feel very comfortable which was nice. It seems really funny b/c I spent half of yesterday and half of today flying here and back for a 2 min. procedure. I was at the clinic for a whole 12min. It makes me extra glad we got good news b/c it made the trip well worth it.

I just can't believe how fast this is all going! It's blowing my mind right at the moment. The IM will be going to Vancouver on Dec.2nd for an ultrasound and the most likely staying there until after the egg retrieval, fertilization and transfer. It looks like we are on target for our transfer date being sometime between Dec.8th and 10th. Wow! That's only around 2 1/2 weeks!! It's so neat to think that next Christmas could be their baby's (or babies) first Christmas!

Heading to Van

I leave on Sunday!! wow!! I am so excited!! I feel really positive about this ultrasound going well. I doubled my does of Estrace yesterday and that evening I couldn't eat dinner b/c of some nausea that appeared. I think it will take a bit for my body to adjust to the extra amount of estrogen that's in my system. I've had morning sickness worse than this so it's nothing to complain about and it's really not aweful at all it's just enough to take my appetite away. Hoenstly I thought it would be a lot worse so I think it's going awesome so far!!

So I read over the symptoms that I listed in my last post and realized that yeah I have been having more side effects than I thought. Obviously not bad considering I forgot they were even side effects, but defiantely something to note since it is all part of the experience. I have had some dizziness and lightheadedness. I was always confused b/c I would just finish eating and then I would stand up and it would feel like I had low blood sugar... now I know :) I have gotten headaches, but again thought that was just normal. People get headaches sometimes, whatever haha. So out of the listed effects I have only gotten a few and it really has been fine. Totally worth it. In fact if I hadn't read the paper they gave me I probably wouldn't have paid much attention to these.

Please keep us in your prayers Monday morning (8am). Pray that my endometrium is preparing for baby and a wonderful 5mm thick. I have two days completely by myself in a city where I don't know anyone. This is going to feel like a holiday!!