Overdue update

Let me first apologize for the delay in updating the blog. We were in Atlanta all weekend going to IVF appointments AND having a little bit of much-needed fun with the family.

My medication dosage was increased on Thursday afternoon and I've been trucking along on the new dosage since then. My estrogen levels have been right on track; this is great news because serum estrogen levels are one indicator of how many follicles I've got and how ready they are for retrieval. For every mature follicle, there should be approximately 200-250 units of estrogen. As of today, my level was at 702. There were 20 (!!!) measurable follicles on ultrasound today. My doctor seems certain that at least 14 to 15 of them will make it to maturity by Friday, my (tentatively) scheduled day for egg retrieval.

On Saturday, my doctor added Ganirelix, another injectible medication, to my daily regimen of drugs. Ganirelix stops the LH (luteinizing hormone) surge that causes ovulation. By giving myself the Ganirelix injeciton every morning, I am forcing my body to wait for ovulation until it is time. It burns and itches more than the Follistim injections but that's just because of the slighly larger needle.

For the next couple of days, I'll continue to give myself the Follistim twice daily and Ganirelix in the mornings. I go in for more labwork and another ultrasound tomorrow morning and should know by tomorrow afternoon if my egg retrieval will be set in stone for Friday. I'm really hoping that it will be because that will give more follicles a chance to get mature enough and potentially get to the 20+ egg retrieval goal my doctor had set for me.

We have definitely felt everyone's prayers and well wishes pulling us through this past week. So far, it has been less stressful than all of last year's treatments. I am not sure if that is because we finally feel like we have the opportunity to pursue a treatment that we feel will be successful for us or if it's the fact that we've shared our struggle with everyone and so they have been able to pray for us. Perhaps it is a combination of both. Either way, we are SO GRATEFUL to everyone and everything you are all doing for us, from my mom buying low sodium beans because she knows that I'm supposed to be eating very little salt to prevent OHSS and replacing her flourescent light bulbs with incandescent so that I won't get a migraine to Jake and Jamie always offering to feed our dogs if we get home late from appointments. Thank you so much. Please continue to keep us on your prayer list.