I Kick Out Quality, Baby!

I slept with my phone right by me last night in case RCC called earlier in the morning to give me my Fertilization Report.  But by 10:30 they still hadn't called and I started getting antsy.  Then around 11:30 I tried to call, but it went right to voicemail.  So then I got busy helping my mom with a project and tried not to think about it.  But then I started thinking, "What if all my eggs were bad and they just don't know how to tell me and that is why they haven't called?!"  (Which I know is ridiculous, but it could happen!)  Then finally at 1:44pm they called.  After chatting for a few minutes about how I was feeling, my cute nurse finally said, "So, are you ready for your Fertilization Report?"  And then she told me the craziest news ever!  Out of my ten eggs, all ten were mature!  I seriously don't even know how that is possible, since those last two follicles were new and not very big at all, and the doctor was actually surprised (as were we) that we collected ten eggs in the first place.  But for all of them to be mature?  That has got to be some new record for RCC.  Then she went on to tell me that nine out of the ten fertilized normally!!  That also is off-the-charts good.  So I now have nine potential embryos!  Who would have thought that possible?!?!  Now obviously there are still hurdles to cross before transfer day, but still -- starting with nine potential embryos is waaaay better than I expected.  It will be interesting to see what happens next.  All nine could grow well and be genetically okay which means we would transfer two and actually have some to freeze (another thing I never thought possible for us...)  But also, all nine could stagnate and/or be CF-affected.  Most likely something inbetween will happen.  We won't know until we get there.  So stay tuned!       

So Far, So Great!

I want to start this post with a note about the trigger shot.  I took it on Sunday night and the injection itself wasn't much worse than the routine ones.  However, the next morning there was a red mark about the size of a silver dollar around the injection site and my whole upper leg hurt so much!  I felt like I had been kicked by a mule!  The instructions said, "may cause redness and irritation around the injection site...."  You think?!?!  I was seriously limping around all day.  I was just really grateful I did the shot in my leg and not my stomach -- that pain would have been much worse to bear.

Monday morning I got the girls ready and headed to the airport to pick up Daddy (and Uncle Blaine who came with Daddy.) We collected them and headed to the mall for a bit.  Afterwards I realized that I was quickly running out of time to take the necessary pregnancy test in the timeframe I was instructed.  So we drove down the streets of Murray, Utah, searching for a grocery store or something.  And I tell you what, if I ever desire to open a grocery store, I will do it there!  Mile after mile we could find nothing!  Finally I saw a "Family Dollar" store and told my hubby to pull over.  I went in and searched a little, but couldn't find any pregnancy tests.  My plan was to grab one, sneak into the restroom and use it, then take the empty box up to the register to pay for it.  In desperation I finally asked an employee, and she told me that they keep them under the register and the check-out girl would be happy to get one for me.  So I had no choice but to ask the only check-out person for a pregnancy test.  And to make things even better, I had also noticed that you needed a key to unlock the restroom door.  So I had the pleasure of asking the girl for a pregnancy test, paying for it, then explaining to her that I had a real medical need to use the test right away and could she please open the restroom for me?  To her credit, she was very gracious about it, but for me that still was a very long two minutes in the bathroom waiting for the test results!  (It was positive, like it was supposed to be.)  We spent the rest of the evening as a family, going to dinner and watching a movie.  It was great to have Daddy with us.

Then this morning my hubby and I headed up to RCC for egg retrieval day!  It was actually very nice to have the whole drive alone just to talk.  Pretty soon after we got there they took my hubby back to The Room to collect his "deposit."  Then it was time for a consult with Dr. Heiner.  He basically just went over the things we already knew: that not every follicle will have an egg, that not every egg will be mature, etc., etc.,  Then he said that based on how things looked, we could expect to retrieve five or six eggs.  After the consult we were shown to a pre-op room where I changed into a hospital gown.  Then it was time for my procedure.  I was taken into the "procedure room" and covered with warm blankets.  I love that part!  There is something so relaxing about having a heavy, pre-heated blanket draped on you.  Then the anesthesiologist put a needle in my arm and I started feeling fuzzy all over.  The next thing I remember was my hubby saying something like, "Hello, Sleepyhead!" And then the best part of the day:  our nurse came in and told us that they retrieved (drumroll, please...) TEN EGGS!!!  Now we won't know until tomorrow how many were mature and how many fertilized properly (and I know not all them will), but still -- when we were hoping to start with six if we were lucky, ten seems just awesome! (And that is a new record for me as well.) Especially if you consider that up until my very last ultrasound, I only had nine total follicles showing.  So that means that even one of the smallest ones that popped up in the last couple of days had an egg.  So I am thinking that if my system was able to produce an egg from a little one, the chances of the medium-sized follicles producing a mature egg are that much greater. :)  Of course, I could be wrong and maybe only four were mature.  Who knows?  But I'll find out tomorrow!

As for the rest of today, yikes am I sore!  The pressure from all the follicles is gone because they drained them, but my ovaries are feeling very swollen and painful.  It is tolerable if I am sitting/lying down, but if I have to stand up it's like everything shifts and oh man! It is making me walk around doubled over like an old man. (If I must walk around.  I prefer to not move right now!) I am not trying to complain, merely documenting the truth for anyone who may read this and wants to know what this whole process is really like.  But this pain will go away (hopefully sooner than later!) and at least it comes with what feels like a great victory -- we got TEN EGGS! More hurdles to come, but we sailed over the first one and in spite of everything else, that feels great. :)

Triggering Tonight

I had another ultrasound/blood draw today and the results were as follows:  estradiol level of 1,032. (Dr. Heiner said that if it came back 1,300 I would trigger tonight for sure; if it was over 1,000 he would have to decide.  So I am not sure why he decided to not go one more day, but I must trust his judgement...)  The two follicles on the left were 16.12 and 15.04.  And today he found nine follicles on the right.  They measured as follows: 18.57, 18.2, 11.92, 13.44, 17.15, 11.69, 18.76, 10.25 and 7.66.  So if anything over 14 has a chance of containing an egg, I am looking at a possible of six eggs.  But sometimes the big ones don't have one, and sometimes they get surprise eggs out of small ones.  So...we'll have to wait and see!

So tonight I take the "trigger shot."  Each day as part of my meds I have been taking a small amount of low-dose HCG.  (This is the "growth hormone" that makes the eggs mature.  It also is the same hormone produced by a growing fetus, hence the mild "pregnancy symptoms" I have been experiencing.) But tonight I take a 10,000 IU dose of HCG.  This is the final push to help the eggs mature.  And I have to take it at exactly 10:00 pm, because a certain set hours after taking this shot my body will release all the eggs on its own.  So egg retrieval is very carefully scheduled to this trigger shot.  The funny part is that tomorrow morning I must take a pregnancy test.  It is supposed to come out positive, meaning that all the HCG has been properly absorbed.  If the test is negative, something went wrong.  It is just a funny experience to be able to get a bright pink line on a pregnancy test when I know it is not real!

So tonight at 8:00 I will inject my last drug cocktail, then at 10:00 inject the trigger shot and then I am ALL DONE with the needles!!  Tomorrow I don't have to do anything but pick up my hubby from the airport and enjoy being a whole family again.  Then Tuesday morning it's off to RCC for egg retrieval!

It's a Numbers Game

Well, I just got back from my ultrasound appointment and things are interesting.  Let's start with the positive:
The other day my uterine lining measured at 3.97, and today it measured at 7.94, which is great!  It must be above 7 to be "ready", and 8 is actually optimal.  So that aspect of things is perfect. :) (This means that an embryo would have the best chances possible to implant or "stick" and actually perpetuate a solid pregnancy, so that is very, very important!)  However, of the nine or so follicles he measured, he thinks we can expect only FIVE eggs.  He said anything over 14mm has a good chance of containing an egg, and he likes to trigger when one or two have reached 17mm. (Today the two on the left were 14.83 and 13.8.  The seven on the left were 17.02, 15.66, 11.04, 9.34, 16.4, 15.33 and 10.43.) Now, there are still a couple of days to follicles to grow, so I still have hope that I will again have some "late bloomers" pop up and give us an egg.  (After all, on Wednesday my estradiol level was 174, and today it was 686, so who knows what could happen in a couple more days!)  We won't really know until all is said and done at egg retrieval day.  I am going back in the morning.  He is going to decide whether I will take my trigger shot tomorrow or Monday.  Personally I am hoping for Monday just to give my potential eggs that much more time to mature.

So why does number of eggs really matter?  Because for persons in my circumstances especially (meaning not fertility issues, but genetics,) it really is a "numbers game."  Meaning that for many women who have fertility issues like recurrent miscarriages, etc., they often have no problem creating embryos, just getting them to "stick." But for me, my greatest challenge is getting something to transfer!  If I can get that far, my chances of a solid pregnancy are higher than a woman who has other fertility issues.  Here is how the numbers work:

1) You take meds to stimulate as many follicles as possible....ones 14mm or bigger have a good chance of containing an egg.
2) Of all the eggs collected, only some will be mature.
3) Of all the mature eggs, only some will fertilize.
4) Of all the fertilized eggs, only some will fertilize normally.
5) Of all the normally fertilized eggs, only some will grow to a solid 7 or 8 cells by day 3. (This is when many IVF patients choose the best-looking embryos to transfer and freeze any others.)  But for us PGDers, it continues:
6) The embryos then are subjected to the embryo biopsy procedure.  They use either a teensy drop of acid or a tiny laser to create a hole in the zona pellucida (the "shell" that hardens around a human egg once it has been fertilized) and use a very tiny needle to remove one of the cells.  (The other seven cells then go on to compensate for the loss and a normal baby develops.  That's why embryonic stem cells are such a hot debate right now -- in theory each one of those cells could be turned into a new heart, lungs, liver, whatever.) The embryologist does this as carefully as possible, but it can cause the embryo to stagnate, or stop growing.
7) The embryos that survive biopsy must then grow and develop for two more days.  This may not sound like a big deal, but keep in mind that this whole process is NOT supposed to happen outside the human body.  So when you are doing it in a petri dish, (or whatever medium they use) instead, not all embryos are strong enough to make it.
8) During those last two days our biopsied embryonic cells are overnighted to RGI so their DNA can be extracted and analyzed using our personal test.  So we go to RCC five days after egg retrieval and sit down with the doctor to review the report from RGI.  Our biggest fear is that by the time we get there, the only surviving embryos will have CF.  If that were to occur, we would have nothing to transfer and this process would be over for us.  Or, as what happened last time, we had four embryos alive by day 5, and two of them were only carriers for CF, so we transferred both and I became pregnant with our daughter. :)  We literally will not know until the very last moment whether or not we have an embryo to transfer.

So can you see why there is not a ton of confidence in starting with only five eggs?  (I have a friend who just went through IVF, and she got 20 eggs from only one ovary!  What would I give for those starting numbers?!) Again, though, last time I had a few things in my favor.  My fertilization rates tend to be higher than average (I can't kick out quantity, but I seem to produce quality....) and they all survived the biopsy.  And all I need is ONE strong embryo without CF at day 5.  So I am back to what I said before:  IF I am supposed to have another baby than my Heavenly Father will see to it that it works.  And IF I am not, then it won't and I can close this door.  And mercifully this process takes a matter of weeks, not months to find out.

I Feel Icky...Isn't that Great?!

Today (and yesterday, really) I just feel icky.  Take bad menstrual cramps (and increase the intensity) and add pregnancy nausea (due to the HCG that is part of my drug cocktail) and that is a start of how I feel today.  I don't have to stop and think about whether or not my ovaries hurt; they do -- all day, with more intense aching with any physical movement. And then the constancy of the aching seems to radiate to my lower back.  And the crazy part is -- this is a very, very good thing!  The worse I feel, the better I am responding to the meds.  So I feel really lousy, and I am grateful!  (I told you this was a surreal world!)

That said, today is where I hit "the wall" where this whole process stops being "fun" and I am ready for it to be over. I am grateful that I only have a few days more of taking stimulation medication and then it will be time for the "trigger shot."  (This is a high-dose of the HCG which signals to the body that it is time to release the eggs.  So something like 36 hours after you "trigger" you MUST go in for egg retrieval or you lose all your eggs and the whole thing was for nothing. So that day is quickly approaching.)  I am not trying to complain, merely trying to explain how I am feeling right now.  I am also starting to get antsy about everything.  Will this be successful?  Will it not?  How will I feel about actually being pregnant?  How will I feel if I am not?  Even though I am very content to stay "neutral" about everything, with the constant reminder of aching ovaries I can't help but think about it all somewhat.  And I guess tonight I don't really care what the outcome is, I am just ready to get to that point.  It's a good thing this whole process is relatively short, because dragging it out would only make the "antsyness" worse.

So tomorrow I go back in for another ultrasound.  It will be very interesting to see if all this feeling icky translates to more or bigger follicles....I hope so!  And Sunday one of my best friends is bringing her boyfriend and coming to dinner and then Monday my hubby is coming!!  So lots of things to look forward to, which will help get me through the last of my stimming days...    

When You Wish Upon a Star...

So last night my mom and I were driving back to her home after having dinner at my sister's house.  (I haven't made this very clear in previous posts, but my entire extended family lives in Utah so this IVF experience has also been a fantastic excuse to come and spend time with my family. I am staying with my parents and spending time with my siblings and their children.  Definitely helps with all the waiting and waiting that this process involves!)  Anyway, we were driving home and we saw a shooting star!  I have only seen a handful of these in my life, and I found myself thinking, "Oh!  I should make a wish....I wish that I will become pregnant!"  And then I caught myself and thought, "hmm...do I really mean that?"  But then again, earlier yesterday evening in the store with my mom and sister I saw a darling baby boy and I actually wanted to pick him up and snuggle him.  So honestly, as a surprise to me I think my willingness to have another baby right now is actually becoming wanting.  (Good thing, too, huh?  Since I am in the middle of an IVF cycle!!)

And on that note, I found out today that my first blood draw before starting stim meds my estradiol level was less than 25.  And then I took my meds for a few days and had a blood draw on Monday.  They told me they liked to see a number of 150 - 200.  Well, mine came back at 65.  So not anywhere near what they "like," but going up just the same.  So today, my estradiol came back at 174.  So still not as "good" as what they aim for, but steady improvement.  The crazy thing is those numbers are with me doing SIX VIALS of Bravelle a day!!!  That is a HUGE (and expensive!) dose.  I am just a "low responder." And the doctor wants to keep me on that high dose, so tomorrow I get to call and order another 10 vials of Bravelle, so a price tag around $500...crazy.  That's one thing about this process -- after awhile the money just becomes a figure that has to be dealt with.  Normally I would NEVER just call someone and order something for $500 without really thinking about it and really talking it over with my hubby.  But yesterday I had to call and prepay $2,500 for the PGD portion of our process that is coming up and now the additional meds.  That means that by tomorrow I will have racked up another $3,000 on our credit card.  But what else do we do?  Everyone in this business has to be paid upfront.

But back to today's ultrasound results.  (Sorry - this post is kind of all over the place, because that is how my mind is feeling tonight.  Everything is happening so fast and I am trying to process it all, but tonight I am tired and my mind is wandering...)  I didn't catch what my uterine lining measured at, but hopefully it is doing what it is supposed to.  (It has to get to a certain thickness to make implantation of an embryo possible...)  But as far as follicles go, he found two on my left ovary measuring 10.84 and 9.56.  Then on my right side he found a 13.38, 11.93, 7.64, 12.3, 10.56, 6.51 and 6.23.  The little 6 and 7 ones are very small, and may not end up with a mature egg inside.  (Though they have a few more days to grow....come on little ones, you can do it!)  So right now I am showing a potential of six mature eggs, hopefully maybe seven or eight if I am lucky.  What do I think about that?  Well, I don't know.  I don't know because the last two times I think I started off even worse, and then was a "late bloomer," meaning I had lots of small follicles decide to develop in the last two days and ended up with mature eggs from them.  But my med protocol was also different.  So I am really, really hoping that my system does that again and I can get a few more eggs.  Six is just SUCH a low number to start with.  But the truth is, it only takes one.  So I am not worried.  I am hopeful that more will develop, but at peace with what is happening so far.  Especially because I really think I have more big ones at this stage of the game than I did last time.  So I am not going to "worry" until my next ultrasound.

One last thing for today's post.  Around 5:00 I got a surprise knock at the door.  It was a person delivering three vases of flowers!  A big one for me and two little ones for my girls.  They were of course from my sweet hubby.  The cards just said, "I miss you!" "Love, Daddy" and "I can't wait to see you!"  And I have to say, I have been given flowers a handful of times in my life, but these are so beautiful!  My arrangement features 15 small yellow roses, two yellow tulips, two fuschia pink gerbera daisies and a large bunch of delphiniums.  And that meant a lot to me, because delphiniums were the main flower I used for my wedding...I love them!  They are a cobalt blue wildflower, and I just love them.  The flower guy told me that my hubby wanted something "bright and springy for my girls."  It really made my day.  And my little girls were so thrilled to receive flowers of their very own.  So for tonight I will end with a picture of the gorgeous flowers....thanks hon!

Not much to report today.  Went in for another blood draw to monitor my estradiol level but I haven't heard back from them yet.  But I really think my ovaries have been hurting a little bit today.  (Which will be interesting if something is indeed happening already, since last time I went days with very little changing.  But this new protocol is supposed to work better, so...)  Wednesday I go in for a blood draw and another ultrasound.  That's when I will find out how many follicles look like they are starting to grow.  Will be interesting!

My New Drug Habit...

So yesterday I officially started my stimulation meds.  This means that twice a day (8 am and 8 pm) I get out a collection of little glass vials, syringes, alcohol wipes and needles and mix my drug cocktail.  Honestly - I think this part is kind of fun.  It is a bit tricky to do it correctly, so I take about 15 minutes to do it to make sure I don't miss a single drop of my special concoction.  Then when I am done I take the syringe and inject it in my leg or stomach and it's like plunge - there goes $300.  That part of is very crazy.  It makes me feel like a heroin addict -- sinking 100s of dollars a day in one little syringe!  And I had forgotten how much it stings as it goes in!  And my skin goes bright red around the injection site.  But both effects only last for about five minutes, so it really is quite tolerable.   So if all goes well, in a few days I should start feeling my ovaries swell as multiple eggs start growing....good times. :)

Supplies used to mix my stimulation cocktail (and no, I don't inject with the big needle...that is for mixing only.)

A Good Start

Today was my first "monitoring" appointment at RCC.  So that meant going in for a blood draw followed by an ultrasound.  I made sure to have the heater blasting in the car on the way down, (plus it was cold outside anyway!) so the blood draw went smoothly.  Then it was time for the ultrasound.  Today I had eight antral follicles on my right ovary, and three on my left.  So it looks like I have eleven total potential follicles.  (Which translates to a potential total of eleven eggs for this cycle.)  Wish it were a few more, but eleven is at least something to work with.  And the even better news:  my "uterine congestion" is all cleared up!!  He said my lining looked nice and thin, like  it was supposed to today.  So I still don't know what caused that congestion last time, but hooray that it is gone!!

So I start my stimulation meds tomorrow.  But Dr. Heiner told me that they have been working with a consultant to increase their pregnancy rates, so they are doing things a little bit differently this time around.  For one thing, they have added a steroid pill to the mix, which is supposed to help "beef up" the eggs or something.  Then last time, they started me off on a lower dose of Bravelle, and then as time went on (and I wasn't responding super well,) they kept upping the dose.  At the end, I was using five possibly six vials at a time.  But this time I am starting with the highest dose, and they will supposedly decrease it as I progress.  Also they are splitting the meds into two doses -- one in the morning and one at night.  So tomorrow I will make my drug cocktails using three vials of Bravelle in the morning and three vials at night.  This also doubles the amount of HCG as well.  It will just be interesting to see how my system reacts to the changes.  Before I was dubbed a "late bloomer," it will be very interesting to see if this new protocol changes things.  So stay tuned!

And one more thing...As we were heading down to Utah the girls finally asked me why we were going.  So I explained to both of them that a doctor was going to help Mommy and Daddy get another baby in Mommy's tummy.  Then I asked them if they wanted a baby brother or sister.  And both of them got really excited and said, "Oh! That would be so cute!!"  So today, they knew I was going to the doctor because they stayed home with Grandma.  So when I got home, Sophie came up to me and softly patted my tummy and said, "Is there a baby in there?"  It just melted me.  I told her that it would take some time but that I was trying.  Regardless of what I want, I really hope this works so that I can have the pleasure of telling my precious girls that yes, there IS a baby in Mommy's tummy!

Cold + Dehydrated = Ouch!

Today I went to RCC to do a blood draw to measure my FSH level.  I found out today this means "follicle stimulating hormone" level.  In other words, it helps the doctor get a starting point for what my stimulating meds need to be.  Now I don't mind needles (good thing, too, because this process is FULL of them!!) and normally I don't really mind having my blood drawn.  But normally I also have a really good vein in my right arm that is really easy to access.  But today when I pulled up my sleeve -- I couldn't see any veins!  And even when they put the elastic thing on my arm, still not much to work with.  And then the nurse asked me if a) I had been drinking enough water, and b) if I was cold.  Apparently both being dehydrated and being cold make your veins constrict and difficult to find.  So she did the best she could, but she ended up having to dig a little...ouch!  Hopefully if I can remember to drink lots of water between now and Friday (and blast the heater in the car on the way to RCC) Friday's blood draw will be easier.

The First of the Waiting

After spending a few days washing (and ironing!) what felt like every article of clothing in my home, I finally packed up all our stuff and headed to Utah.  Saying goodbye to Daddy wasn't fun, but the girls were excited to get to Grandma and Grandpa's house.  Plus - my sister and her kids were visiting as well.  So after a very pleasant five-and-a-half-hour drive (the girls were so good!) we arrived.  It was chaos as expected with all the kids running around together, but a happy chaos just the same.  And Grandma whipped up a batch of homemade doughnuts, too, so that was fun and tasty as well!

Then this morning the kids played until it was time for my sister to go home.  That left me and my girls at my parents home by ourselves. (My parents had somewhere to be.) Not that this is a bad situation--my girls have happily been playing on the swingset in the backyard together, etc.,--just sort of strange.  Meaning I just feel kind of out of my element today.  I am here in Utah, but I am just waiting to get started.  Really this whole process involves a LOT of waiting, so I better get used to it.

And So It Really Begins...

A few days ago I actually had to write RCC a very large check. (So large, in fact, I  had to actually stop and think about how to write that amount...)  Plus I had to pay a large bill to Rox-San Pharmacy for all my meds.  Up until this point, everything had just been a "plan."  But now we have actually "put our money where our mouths are" and it suddenly became very real.  I am not freaking out though, it will be okay.  Eventually loans will get repaid, right?

We also had the chance to buy a new dresser for a bedroom at a fabulous price (normally $1,200, got it for $200...gotta love RC Willey's "Wild Web Wednesday" sales!) So yesterday I moved my old dresser upstairs to what would be the nursery/playroom, and moved the new one into my room.  And as I did that, I found myself thinking how cute that dresser would look next to the crib, and how it would have plenty of room to hold all the baby's things.  And then I kind of laughed at myself.  I am not saying that I am jumping for joy at the prospect of become pregnant soon, just that the idea is growing on me.  I am saying that I am indeed slowly warming up to the concept of actually having another baby.  Then today, I ran into a friend at the store and saw her new baby for the first time, and I actually felt the smallest glimmer of excitement inside.  I am grateful that I have not been feeling anxious or uneasy about moving forward with this plan, but here's the problem:  I don't want to be really excited or expectant -- that only sets me up to be crushed if things don't go well.  So honestly I am trying to just not think about it much, and just go through the motions.  That way I can just take it one day at a time and deal with things as they happen. Though there IS excitement about actually starting for real -- kind of like embarking on a spontaneous trip, not knowing for sure where you'll end up.

With that said, tonight I started my Lupron injections!  I had to call my sister-in-law for a few pointers (thanks Rosie!) because I sort of forgot how to do them.  But she walked me through it and all went smoothly.  And in a little over a week, I head down to Utah to start the big stuff....crazy how fast it is all happening.

Crinone - My New Best Friend...

So my big cardboard box of drugs arrived today. The first time I experienced this, I opened the box and was so overwhelmed by the array of needles, syringes and little glass vials that I just wanted to cry.  This time it was just a matter of going through the checklist to make sure that it was all there.  It really is amazing how much less scary that big box was since I have dealt with it all before.  And in fact, I actually think mixing my own "drug cocktail" is kind of fun, even though it is a little tricky to do correctly.  But the really, really big news about this box of drugs is that it contained CRINONE, instead of injectable progesterone-in-oil (or the spawn of the devil, you choose...)  And Crinone is going to be my new best friend!  Let me explain why:  when a woman releases an egg  from her ovary naturally, the lining of the follicle where the egg was (called the corpus luteum) begins to produce progesterone.  That progesterone acts as a chemical signal to the body saying, "Hey! Possible chance for a pregnancy here...don't have a period!" And as long as enough progesterone is being produced, the sloughing off of the uterine lining (or a period) will not take place.  And if an embryo manages to implant, the placenta takes over producing the progesterone.   So this progesterone is very, very important!  But in IVF cases, the process of egg retrieval also removes the corpus luteum, so no progesterone is being produced.  As a result, it MUST be   manually introduced into the picture.  And in the past, the only reliable source for doing this was daily intramuscular progesterone-in-oil (PIO) shots.  But let me just tell you, those injections may be reliable, but they are just plain awful!!!  The oil is very thick, and actually difficult to inject. (Although I learned at the very end that warming the vial up in hot water in the sink first to make the oil "thinner" really helped!)  Then because the long needles are going into muscle, and a shot must be given everyday, my whole body got so achy and sore.  It felt like how I feel after the first day of a new snowboarding season -- where it hurts to move at all and I just want to  lie in a warm bath all day -- only it never goes away. So for THREE SOLID MONTHS I am pretty darn miserable.  But now enter CRINONE!!!  Crinone is a vaginal gel that delivers the progesterone right where it is needed.  And in tests it has been proven to be every bit as effective as the PIO shots.  So my doctor has officially switched to Crinone!  (Apparently a lot of whitish discharge must be dealt with, but I will gladly stock up on pantyliners rather than deal with the PIO shots...)  When I found this out I was so happy I almost cried.  The news that the absolute worst part of the whole entire process was just gone did wonders to improve my attitude about the whole thing. :)  (And for any of you doing an IVF cycle, ask your doctor if you can use Crinone instead.  And if not, the PIO shots are awful, but hang in there....the end result is so worth it!)

My box of Meds and Supplies

This is the main "stimulation" drug.  Each little vial costs $49.75!  And on some days I will inject five or six vials at once...