Waiting Game....

Waiting game... nobody likes to play the waiting game.... especially this girl! After C and I went to the couples learning session, I knew that it would be another month of waiting to start the process until I had my next cycle. As much as I feared that I wouldn't start my cycle "on time," I just had this hope deep down that I'd start my cycle naturally. Something, anything at least would go right and I'd start my cycle and we'd move on! At least that's what I had hoped for...

Unfortunately, hope was not in our corner this time! Good thing they have medications that will kick start my cycle. I am taking 7 days worth of provera pills to kick start Aunt Flo. For now that's where we're at... waiting for the cycle to start! After my cycle starts I'll have to start a daily routine with a handy dandy little calendar which will tell me what to take (pills or injections) on what days.

• Week 1: Daily birth control pill and a "baby" aspirin

· Week 2: Daily birth control pill, a "baby" aspirin, and 2 types of antibiotics to rid my body of nastiness!

· Week 3: Daily birth control pill, a "baby" aspirin, and start injections of Lupron (Responsible for stimulating the ovaries to develop follicles and has the effect of "quieting" the ovaries to prevent the spontaneous release of the eggs prior to the egg retrival)

· Week 4: Daily “baby” aspirin, Lupron, a baseline ultrasound to make sure everything is developing well and start with injections of Repronex & Follistim (both stimulate the ovaries to produce several eggs in one cycle)

· Week 5: Daily “baby” aspirin, Lupron, Repronex, Follistim, and every other day scans and blood draws to check the progress!

· Week 6: Egg retrieval process should happen sometime at the end of week 5 into beginning of week 6 after an injection of Ovidrel (causes expulsion of the egg from the follicle). Progesterone injections (help maintain the endometrium to help prevent miscarriages) start up until the point of embryo transfer.

· Week 7: Late week 6 into early week 7 will be the embryo transfer day!!! Bed rest the day of the transfer and the day after and Corey will have to take me as I “get” to take a valium tablet before the transfer.

· Week 8: After the transfer I wear a Vivelle skin patch (estrogen), not sure for how long as the information sheet copy was cut off at the bottom of the page.... handy.

Again, the waiting game will occur during these weeks, but I can only expect that hope will be in our corner this time and finally baby J will become a reality. I am still super nervous and anxious as I was after the couples learning event. I don't know that either of those will go away until I can see the reality that baby J is on their way into this world. The clinic provided me information sheets on all the drugs, risks of in vitro, side effects of injections, and a handy sheet on stress and infertility. The nurse at the clinic expressed that if your life was stressful at this time or your job was stressful, maybe you should wait to start the process. Seriously....this entire process stresses me out... I have hope that I'll start to settle down once things get going...

I'll appoligize now that if I act different than normal, act in a rude manner, or disinterested in any conversation/situation with you (my audience), I am truly sorry! No doubt will all these stimulation drugs, the stress of the whole process, and farm related things will cause me to be slightly preoccupied....! Just know I count on you all as my support system and love you all very much!

HAHA now you all get to play the waiting game until my next update.... how you like that?

ALJ

Words

I've been trying to come up with the right words for this post for a while now. I'm still not sure if I've got them or will ever have the right words, but here goes....

Our world was rocked with the sudden passing of Corey's brother Chris. At this point in time, I'm not sure that we understand god's plans for Chris or the future. Right now I know that we will miss this very kind and loving husband, father, and brother more than words can express. Our hearts go out to Julie, Allison, and Casey.

Corey and I made it to the couples learning session at Mid-Iowa Fertility. This was a 2 hour power point session! All of the information about the in vitro process was good to learn and talk about, however, very overwhelming. Overwhelming in a sense that there was so much information thrown at us in such a short period of time. The nurse also described the medications that I will have to be taking, how to inject the medications with syringes, and how to mix the medications. I have a lot of anxiety about all of the injections that I will have to give myself. I am definitely not a needles person at all and have never given myself a shot before. Eventually, I will need to have a shot in the back side of my hips...the nurse mentioned that this would be the worst shot and the biggest needle. She mentioned that this shot would most likely need to be injected by someone other than myself. I am unsure if Corey will be able to give me this or any of the shots for that matter, but we will cross this bridge when we get there...

I am somewhat confident that this whole needle / medication process will be alright once we actually get started. I just need to get over this beginning stewing and fretting stage! Medications will most likely start mid to late March. The nurse said that it takes about 35 days from the start of medications to the egg retrieval process - if all goes well. Approximately 5 days after that will be the embryo transfer. Again, a lot of anxiety because this all sounds so good and I will have a nice little calendar /plan to follow, but there is no guarantee that this will create baby J. I will always stay positive and never give up, but I think it is normal to have anxiety about the process.

My thumb continues to heal at a steady pace. The nail has grown about 1/3 of the way across the nail bed. I am able to use my right hand for a few tasks, but do experience pain when I forget that it is sensitive! I had a doctors appointment on Tuesday. The doctor who performed the surgery said that my thumb looked like it was healing well. He proceeded to squeeze on the sides of my thumb and asked if that hurt... well it was a little sensitive...! He squeezed out a little bit of infection.... Soooo, I am on antibiotics and he was going to do a lab test on the infection. Dang it! On the plus side, he still said it looked good and mentioned that I wouldn't need to come back! Hoping that before I know it I'll be back to normal and using my thumb more than EVER!!!

I hope you all can take the time to express to your family members how much you love them, as one never knows when the unexpected may occur. With that said, I love you and miss you all.

Until next time,
ALJ