Praise and Glory

God is good! Plain and simple, He is good. I had to start it this way because my heart is filled with such joy and I owe it all to Him!

The past few weeks have been a struggle but have also been wonderful all at the same time! I was able to start my injections when I thought I would. It was a bit of a bummer that with my E2 (Estradiol) numbers, I had to start taking 2 injections, Gonal F and Menopur. Gonal F wasn’t too bad, but that Menopur, it stung pretty good. I did that for a week or so, and then had to add in Cetrotide to the mix. It was a bit overwhelming at first, but got easier as time went on. The only thing I found really challenging was getting the injections in on time. I planned to do them around 7p every night, but with a kiddo, Halloween, Girls Scouts, and camping, it was thrown of a bit a few times. But, my 3 times a week appointments with blood draws helped calm my nerves and let me know that everything was working the way it was supposed to.

As the dates were closer, my appointments became daily, even on a Sunday! But my numbers and counts were still looking good. I was all set to trigger on Monday 11/6. That was a comedy of errors! It had to be done at 8:15p, and not only did I have to take the HCG Trigger Novarel, but I also had to take it’s buddy, Lupron. Lupron is no biggie as it is an abdomen injection, however, my friend Novarel was a intramuscular injection and it had to go in my upper buttocks. I passed on D helping me as he is not the gentlest of creatures, and opted for my Mom to help me. 10 minutes before the injection, I realized I didn’t have the right size needles! I had a small thin one, and a thick long one. Unfortunately, I had to go with the thicker one so it reached the spot it needed to. That sucked, I must say! But, it worked, and I was all set to do the retrieval on Wednesday 11/8! I was ecstatic and nervous, but mainly excited to get all those follicles out, they were heavy! They turn your almond size ovaries into Oranges, and you feel it all!

The retrieval was intense, not gonna lie! I had to be in Denver at 6:30a as the retrieval was at 8:15a. My Mom drove and D tagged along to give his deposit if you will! We all went back into pre-op and that is where it got real, real quick! I changed into my gown and footies, had to tape down all my piercings, put a hair net on, take out my contacts, and get the evil IV jammed into my hand. I may or may not have dropped the F bomb while he was digging around in my hand! After that fiasco, it was time to say goodbye, and I went into the back. A table with knee stir-ups, no blankets, heart monitors, oxygen, and doctors surrounding you, all within a matter of minutes. And then, as if it were nothing, they give you a nice little dose of the goods, and you are out! I woke up half an hour later, sitting in a chair with massive cramps. They gave me a nice little concoction of drugs that helped. I also got the great news that what they thought were 12 follicles they would be retrieving, turned into 19!! A few hours later, I was eating breakfast and feeling pretty good. I had mild bleeding and cramps, but really just felt tired. I slept quite a bit that day, but the next day I felt back to normal.

I got a call the next day to let me know that of the 19 follicles, only 15 were viable, and 12 had made it through fertilization. They will let them continue to grow and call me on Monday with the number of embryos that had made it and how many they will be freezing. Because I produced so many, they were worried about OHSS (Ovarian Hyperstimulation Syndrome) and told me that we would do a FET (Frozen Embryo Transfer) instead. If my scans and blood draws come out good, then I am looking at a FET sometime in January. That one was a little rough as I thought I would be doing it now, but after some time to adjust to the idea, I do think it is best.

I am extremely pleased with how everything went! It feels so surreal to be this close to having my dreams come true. Although I am trying to keep myself grounded and not get my hopes up too high, it is so hard not to visualize and dream out being pregnant! I am just so happy and blessed that God has allowed me to be where I am today and has been graceful and allowed this to work so far. All of the glory is His; I just get to be the one to share it! If you are reading this, please continue to send me your prayers and happy thoughts if at all possible! I will post more updates when I have them :)