Step by Step, Day by Day

We knocked out the Saline Ultrasound on Tuesday. It was literally less than 5 minutes for the whole process. I was a little crampy during it but it wasn't bad at all. Good news is, my uterus is clear of any scar tissue, polyps, and fibroids. That means there should have been no other reason why our previous IVF didn't work other than possible genetic issues with the embryo, maybe lining issues since I don't remember them ever telling me how thick my lining was, and possibly my progesterone level not rising properly. So hopefully this next time, we are able to prevent all three of those things from happening.

I think we have a pretty good prevention plan-with doing this test cycle we will get to see how thick the medication I will be on during the actual cycle will make my uterine lining. With doing Progesterone suppositories instead of shots, we will know the progesterone is being directly absorbed into the uterus and won't have to worry about rather or not we are doing the shots correctly. And finally, by using my sister's eggs instead of my own-we hopefully won't have to worry too much about chromosome issues with the embryos-although I do know it could still happen as a random "one of those things that happens." It is my biggest fear that our luck could be so terrible that that would happen to us, so I know for sure we will do a 5 day transfer to make sure we pick the embryos that are the furthest along in their development and the best quality.

I started the Lupron injections yesterday which is part of my test cycle. The goal is to make sure my ovaries are shut down and not releasing any eggs. Of course, I forgot to take my injection today before I left for work, so I need to try to remember to take it as soon as I get home tonight. I was on Lupron during our last IVF cycle too, and they are just as hard to give as they were the last time. The needle is hard to push in-its not like the needle for the stimulation meds that just glides right in. But-these injections are no where near as hard as the Lovenox injections I had to take during my last two pregnancies and will have to take during any future pregnancies.

Speaking of Lovenox injections, I am so impressed with Dr. Hofmann at Bethesda Fertility Center. During our consult with him he was concerned that I had been on Lovenox in the past. I told him it was because I'm at risk of developing blood clots during pregnancy due to having Homocystinuria. So he checked my Homocysteine level that same day and it came back high at 41.3. He called me himself to tell me those results and to tell me he did research on Homocystinuria and he is in agreement that I would need to be on Lovenox to protect myself from blood clots. During my Saline Ultrasound he told me that him and his intern "learned a lot about Homocystinuria recently." I am just completely impressed that he chose to educate himself on a condition that I have that DOES impact pregnancy. I know my level was high because I sometimes slack on taking my medication and food supplements and eat way more protein than I'm supposed to. So I gotta get that back in check before we get to the point of transferring a growing baby in me. I need my body to be a good home for 9 months!

Really, the last thing to do before we go "gung ho" with this egg donor cycle is to meet with Dr. Braverman in New York to make sure there are no other issues we should be treating to make sure my body is baby friendly. We have our appointment scheduled and hotel booked! We decided we will be going to New York from July 26th-July 29th, celebrating our 2 year wedding anniversary on July 28th and meeting with Dr. Braverman early on July 29th! We got a 50% discount on our hotel room thanks to our Time Share package and hotel discount certificate, and thankfully, the I was able to find a hotel that was not listed on the Bed Bug Registry. You wouldn't believe how many hotels in New York were listed on that site....unbelievable. So the Sheraton Tribeca won our 3 night stay, and it seems to have great reviews and is close enough to the majority of the things we would like to do while we are there. Now we just have to decide if we will drive or fly. I say drive, but my husband is not so keen on this idea since he hates city traffic and long car rides. I just hate the price of flights right now.

It's a step by step process that I'm trying to take day by day. I know I tend to think far ahead about things, but I'm working on that one. I've been feeling a lot less stressed out about all of this lately, because I know we are doing everything we can to make this last attempt go right.