Ive Started

So Ive started with the Lu.crin injections. After putting all the important dates on a calendar I noticed that my donor and I are only 1 day apart (it takes me 4 full days to get AF after stopping the pill). I was concerned as I don’t want to run the risk of not growing my lining sufficiently so I requested that I start the Lu.crin earlier and stop the pill earlier than suggested, that and I was impatient aswell 🙂

So now I stop the pill on the 11/11 ( sign of twins maybe?, pathetic… I know), my day 2 should be next week Tuesday and my Intra.lipid drip will be Friday 20th Nov. My donor then starts stims the very next day. Shoo what co-ordination!

Yesterday I felt very, very down just about everything. Starting all of this again, trying to remain positive and up-beat. Wondering if this will be THE cycle, basically just over analysing everything. My dreams are ridiculous at the moment. I dreamt the other day that I was given a tiny, tiny baby boy to look after and if I passed the test then I could have a baby of my own. I looked after the baby so well but it kept on getting smaller and smaller and I was getting worried but I finally passed the test and was allowed my own baby, it was such a relief and I was so happy in my dream.

Im taking Bi.ral for my anxiety at the moment and I think its helping, Ive stopped my wine (boo hoo 🙂 ) and Ive booked my first acupuncture session with a guy who seems very clued up on IVF acupuncture which pleased me because I aint explaning to one more acupuncturist what IVF is and why I cant use herbs to try and conceive. Id rather do acupuncture on myself thankyouverymuch.

Im not doing hypnotherapy, castor oil packs, drinking fish oil, holding a fertility statue, counting backwards from 10 billion, standing on my head chanting or any other famous fertility tricks, just trying to be healthy, stay calm and remind myself what the end goal is.

We just had a presentation on our medical aid benefits for 2010 and I must say that the maternity benefits, I think are the best Ive seen in a medical aid – 12 gynae visits, free scans, full payment of theatre fees, hospital stays and delivery. I mean who wouldn’t want to be pregnant? Now I just need to get there.

My PoA

Quite a few people have been asking me what my next plan of action is going to be – we are going to be doing a shared cycle in December. After my failed DE cycle I started thinking of how we could possibly afford to try again and then this shared cycle idea popped up. I will be sharing eggs with another woman doing an IVF cycle in December and the best part? Its not going to be anonymous. I know the person quite well and we have been trying for almost as long as each other, OK granted she had a baby inbetween (also from IVF). Her issues stem from male factor and her eggs are apparent very good.

Another plus is that we know how she responds to meds, shes been through the process before and she is a proven donor (has a baby). In a shared cycle you get half of all the eggs retrieved. Considering my donor only produced 10 eggs, I will be quite happy with even 5 good eggs. In all 5 IVF’s that I have been through, I have never had anything to freeze so my mind-set is now to get the best embryos for transfer day and forget about freezing anything.

The cycle will be done in Jhb (with my old clinic) as my friend is a patient there. We also have the same doctor which is also a blessing as he knows both of our historys.  I was very excited to start at my new clinic but if this cycle is unsuccessful (good grief, please let it work!) then we will be doing a cycle in April next year (see Astrology post for reasons why) with my OWN eggs. Yes people my own.

For now Im on Provera coz Im on Day 40-something and my prog cam back as 0.8, so I know I didnt ovulate. Then I start the pill – whoo-hoo!

So we are back on the 1 million supplements, well my husband is at least. This is the concoction I give to him everyday:

Spe.man from India which is supposedly excellent in improving motility and morphology (although we are still going to do ICSI Im sure)

L-carni.tine – to improve the sperm DNA

Vit C – Motility improvement

Vit E – antioxidant

Go.ji berry extract – antioxidant

Omegas, magnesium, sel;enium, zinc. (Shoo)

I sometimes cannot believe that Im going to be doing this all again in 2 months time but I think that this time round Im a bit more relaxed. Just knowing who my donor is and being able to contact her as I want to makes me feel a whole lot better. If you remember last time the cycle was delayed by 2 weeks because my donor got sick, I didnt know when she started stims and didnt know the number of follies up until trigger day. Im a more is better kind of girl and prefer just being able to pick up the phone and ask myself than have a message relayed to me. Another thing is that should this work my friend has offered to donate again if we would like a sibling, which is great as that also weighed a bit on my mind before.

So we are off again and if all goes according to plan we should know the results by Christmas. I pray that this year we get the best Christmas present ever!

And just on a side note, there have been so many BFP’s in the cyber-world that I have had to rearrange my blog roll and my Google Reader. I just cant believe that almost every blog I read has had a BFP in the last few weeks. What amazes me is its alot of BFP’s from VETS, 4+ IVF cycles, so there is hope for me 🙂 . Congrats to all but how I wish it could be me….

10 Eggies!!!

YAY!!! So ER was today, we got 10 eggies which I am super relieved about. We ICSI’ed all of them and now we wait.

Got a message from my donor that almost made me cry, basically she said that she is thinking of us, sending us love and praying for a good result. After not knowing a thing about this cycle and wondering how/what/why/when etc I was quite relieved to hear that everything went ok. My lining is at 9.3mm and I started prog supps today (wonderful things arent they?).

Now I cant wait to see how the babies are doing tomorrow (I will be close by as Im having the Intralipid drip again). For now I am happy and cant wait to have my babies on board with me! SHOOO!!