Here We Go- Again!

At my monitoring appointment with Dr. V today, he greeted me by saying "let's see if we have any 16mm follicles!" He is so pumped up about this sloooow and steady growth.

As he moved the sonogram wand around, two things were evident:

*My left ovary continues to be very, very lazy.
*My right ovary is apparently picking up the slack for the left, and seems to have exploded (in a good way) in the past two days!

Today's counts:

Lazy Left Ovary: 12, 10 (Dr. V stopped at that, as it was clear there was nothing to see over there)
Rockin' Right Ovary: 22!!, 19, 17.5, 10

And like a crazy fertility patient proud mother, I had the nurse make a copy of my top two follies' sonograms:

First photo! Aren't they precious? May they become babies who are equally as precious.

Dr. V and I were both shocked by how fast those right follicles had grown in 2 days- to the effect that he asked me if I'd been sneaking extra medicine (I have to admit I'd thought about it; alas, I've been an A+ patient, administering 37.5 iu of my prescribed meds Monday, 75 yesterday). I did feel the need to mention I'd had sweet potatoes to eat last night (in a batch of West African Peanut Soup- YUM!), which, you know, are known for being high in estrogen? This was met by blank stares & a small chuckle. Hey, it's all I could come up with to explain this rocket speed growth (that and my all day every day prayers & visualizations, but I didn't want to freak Dr. V out too much with my frou-frou ways).

So tonight is TRIGGER TIME with good 'ole Ovidrel! We'll have our back to back IUI's tomorrow and Friday. I am grateful we're squeaking them in before the weekend- I suspect my right ovary is crushing on Dr. V and wanting to make sure it is he who assists us this cycle, not some random weekend on-call doc. I'm totally on board with that- thanks, ovary!

February 17th will prove to be a monumental (and hopefully auspicious!) day indeed; not only is it the day my House Hunters episode premieres (link here), but it is also the day I'll do my blood work to see if this month's endeavors were successful and Baby Lambert is on his or her way.

Your prayers & baby dust are welcomed and appreciated... here we go- again!

Dear Estrogen: Me and My Right Ovary Love You

I had another appointment with Dr. V this afternoon. This morning's blood draw (which was very tolerable- yay!) showed that my estrogen levels jumped from 230 on Friday to 738 today! Those hormones must have been partying all weekend long.

My right ovary is lovin' all that estrogen as well, as seen in today's counts:

Right ovary: 13, 13, 13, 10, 9, 6
Left ovary: 10, 10, 8, 6, 4
Estrogen: 738

My left ovary is apparently feeling lazy this cycle. My theory is that since I normally ovulate from the left side, that ovary is happy to take a break, sit on the sidelines, and let the right side shine. When I said something along those lines to Dr. V he said "maybe the right side will be the one that finally gets you pregnant!" Love that optimism, and I'll take it!

Not so optimistic? Fibroid Franny's fate. As Dr. V's sonogram brushed past her "look at me NOW!" girth, he mumbled "it is really growing against your uterus" (uh, we already determined that...) along with "it is really low and would be hard to reach- have you ever heard of robotic surgery?" Yeah. Not something I really want to be thinking about right now, and hopefully not something we need to consider for MANY, MANY months. Franny: lay off the estrogen. That stuff is meant for my follicles, and we don't need you feeding & festering any further.

The best news of the day? My exponential estrogen jump gets me out of having to do any more blood draws this cycle, since we now know my levels are good!!!

In summary:

Loving the estrogen?
*Me and my right ovary. May she continue to grow fantastically fertile follicles.
*Franny (damn her!)

Not digging the estrogen?
*My lazy left ovary and my boobs, which are starting to slowly but surely get their Gonal-F swell on.

That's about right

Slow and Steady (Wins the Race?)- Injectables Day 8

At my visit with Dr. V on Friday, my follicles made it clear they were in no rush this month. I had hoped with 4 days' spacing between appointments that they'd be farther along, but Dr. V seemed just fine with the pace, as we don't want more than 3 lead follicles taking over at any given time (cue an impatient sigh over here). So much for less total blood draws this cycle!

Here are my current counts with 8 days of Gonal-F injections under my belt (literally):

Right Ovary: 11, 11, 10, 9, 8, 7, 7, 6, 5
Left Ovary: 11, 8, 7, 6, 6
Estrogen: 230

I can't help but feel like a case study in "Diminishing Marginal Returns." Way back on my first innocent cycle of Clomid, my body had an awesome response and produced 3 good sized follicles. On subsequent months with the same dosages (amazing how quickly I lose track of the numbers- I think I had 3-4 total tries with Clomid, 1 with Femara?) I never again produced more than 1 follicle.

Likewise, on my first cycle of Gonal-F back in November/December, I was on the exact same dosages I am now, but those follies and estrogen levels progressed a whole lot faster. I didn't even finish my 1.5ml pen that round, whereas this month's pen has maybe one more draw in it, and I still have days of injections remaining.

Case in point, these were my counts from day #8 on my last injectables cycle:

Right ovary: 16, 14, 14, 14, 8, 7, 6
Left ovary: 12,11,10, 8, 7

Estrogen: 582

It appears my ovaries are onto us- the gig is up.

And yes, I know it isn't about how fast those follicles grow, rather that 2-3 eventually reach that critical 20mm size. But I still can't help feeling a wee bit disappointed that the troops seem sluggish this round.

I had scheduled an energy clearing session today to remove any residual "muck" from my system toward The Great Release of 2012. About an hour before my appointment I got a call from what sounded like a frog - it was D saying she was sick, had lost her voice, and had to cancel. So now I have to just trust that my system is still open & clear and ready to embrace another pregnancy? Say what?


Patience and trust. Patience and trust. Truly believing this can happen. Trusting in the (oh so SLOW! Why is it so SLOW?) timing of it all.

And the journey continues.....

Injectables, Round 2

Today marks day #6 on this month's injectables cycle. I am experiencing (and remembering from last round) Gonal-F's side effects, to include:

*Feeling extremely short tempered & impatient the first few days on the hormones (which was super awesome last Friday night when BC was also in a bad mood. We opted to cut date night short, lest we end up at each others' throats).

*A substantial appetite increase. Gotta feed those growing follicles!

*Using the restroom a lot more frequently, but sadly, not for, AHEM, regularity. Those follies are pushing on my bladder while also stopping me up (I know, TMI, but at this point, Dear Readers, what else would you expect?)

*Very mild heat flashes

*Great energy levels- than goodness for something positive!

*Migraines. I woke up with one Sunday morning that taunted me throughout the day, and yesterday evening before dinner it came back full force. 

*Bloating: my lower abdomen feels like it is stuffed with grapefruit. I feel so heavy down there, which made yesterday's Pilates class extra challenging, and possibly the last for awhile (9-10 months?!).

I saw Dr. Vaughn for my Follicle Roll Call yesterday, and I am on almost the exact same trajectory as my last injectables cycle. Oddly enough, Trideca-Mom over here again has 13 lead follies jockeying toward The Great Release of 2012!

Day #4 Roll Call:

Right Ovary (in mm): 10,8,7,7,6,6,5

Left Ovary: 11.10,9,7,7,6

I feel ya, buddy

Dr. V thinks we'll likely trigger over the weekend toward IUI's early next week. If there is one thing I do really appreciate about these injectables cycles, it's how quickly they move along. I also appreciate that  Dr. V is spacing out my blood draws/visits every four days instead of 3 (given we now have a bit of history to know how my body responds)- which hopefully will amount to one less blood draw overall. 

The next check in is Friday to find out when The Great Release of 2012 will occur. Go Baby Lambies, go!