Strong and Steady Growth

Today we received some wonderful, WONDERFUL news! Do I dare say that I am super hopeful that this is actually going to work for us?!?! This whole week, since Sunday evening, my sister has been taking injections to stimulate her ovaries so next week we can "suck out" her eggs and start making babies in those little petry dishes at the fertility clinic. She has been doing so great with the injections. It makes me so proud of her and it has completely relieved my anxiety about not being the one in control of how her ovaries stimulate. I've had to work on that alot...the control thing. It's no fun when you feel like you don't have any control of how something this important turns out. But I can definitely relax, and take a big deep breath, and let the happy tears roll today!

Things started off a little rocky earlier this week. My sister was supposed to get her estrodial (estrogen) level checked on Tuesday morning at a local lab. I sent her to Lab Corp in a nearby town and when she got there they told her they could not do same day results. That was a problem. Our doctor needed to know what her estrodial level was so he could dose her medication accordingly. The nice lady at Lab Corp called around different labs in the area and found one that could do same day results, but our fertility clinic felt that as late in the morning that it was, they would not get the results until the following day which would mess up the medication dosing.  They really upset my sister (could have been the hormones) when they told her she had to drive 2 hours the next morning to the clinic to get the blood work done since she was unable to get it done locally that day.  While I was hooked up to an IV getting my second Intralipid Infusion sitting on my couch watching my DVR'ed episode of The Voice, I had my sister calling me in tears and the clinic calling me in frustration.  I played referee and called a lab 30 minutes from where we live to see if they could draw my sister's blood the next morning and get the clinic the results they needed the same day so my sister didn't have to drive two hours one way just for a five minute lab draw.  Thank goodness they were able to do it and all got smoothed over with my sister and the clinic.  They just kept her on the same dose of medication one more night and waited for her results to come back on Wednesday to determine if any changes were going to be made. 

On Wednesday afternoon I got the email from our fertility clinic nurse stating my sister's estrodial was 268 and she would continue to stay on the same dose of medication.  She also informed me, based on blood work only, my sister seemed to be the best responding donor of the week! That made me feel super hopeful about her ultrasound that she was scheduled to have this morning:)  It helped me relax and made me feel like we were going to get some great news today. And great news is exactly what we got!!

Our doctor was very pleased with what he saw going on inside my sister's ovaries.  And I was very pleased to recieve the email stating that she has 12-15 follicles all growing strong and steady! They are all around 11-13 mm today which is right on target:)  Her estrodial today was 625 and the nurse said she is still the leading donor of the week! No change in her medication dosing since they seem to have her on the right dose to stimulate evenly and not cause her estrodial level to rise to fast (overstimulate).  Doctor is pretty confident that the egg retrieval will still be on Wednesday morning! I definitely cried happy tears on my way to work today. 

On Sunday I get to finally go with my sister to an ultrasound and get to see all our potential eggies for myself! I'm super excited and hope I get a picture I can take home to save so when we are explaining our child's birth story to him or her, we can show exactly where half of him or her started out...in my sister's ovaries! Only two more nights of stimulation injections, one trigger shot, and an egg retrieval until we officially have some growing babies!

As for my part of things, I continue to do weekly acupuncture which increases to twice next week (retrieval week) and the week after (transfer week).  I have gone from 1mg Estrace twice a day to 2mg Estrace twice a day to now 2mg Estrace three times a day and will find out on Wednesday after the retrieval at my own ultrasound how my uterine lining is looking (hopefully perfect!).  I am monitoring my fasting blood sugar twice a week because being on Prednisone can elevate blood sugar which we need to avoid so we can have a healthy pregnancy.  I have not had a drop of caffeine in almost two weeks...WHOO-HOO...super proud of myself! And I got my fasting insulin rechecked to make sure it has come down since being on Metformin, which it has....and also had my heparin level checked to see if I am on a therapeutic dose of Lovenox or if we need to increase my dose.  I did that test at the wrong time of day, so my level was low and I have to get it repeated on Monday. No biggie. 

Things are falling into place and I only pray that this lucky streak continues and God continues to Bless us with the child we've been working so hard to conceive and carry and bring into our lives.  I feel incredibly blessed already, to have such a wonderful sister walking this journey with us and trying her very best to help us achieve our goal of being parents.  I feel like this picture says it all....she's not just giving us eggs...she's give us a whole new hope. 

Paying it Forward

From the day that my sister offered me and my husband her eggs, I have felt indebted to her. How could we possibly repay her for such an amazing opportunity and possibly the most amazing gift we will ever receive throughout our lives? In the beginning of this new journey of attempting to conceive a child through donor eggs, I had to repeatedly remind my sister that it was not as easy as she thought. The doctor can't just suck out some eggs just like that. I've said it before and I will say it again, I really thought that the process would be too much for her and she would have backed out months ago. But here we are now....2 weeks into Lupron and day one of the stimulation medication! We are only 10 days away from the doctor being able to "suck them out" as my sister refers to it!

To show our appreciation of the time, energy, and dedication that this cycle has required from my sister, we have gotten her gifts along the way. We are "paying it forward" so to speak. My sister is a busy woman. She works full time, she is a single mother, and she has her own house to take care of. She's only 23 years old. In the midst of our cycle, she has applied to return to college and has been looking at houses to buy. Not many 23 year olds are like this one. Not many people can say that they have a sister who was willing to go to such extreme measures to help them have a child.

As we prepared for this week to begin, yesterday we had a little bit of a girls day. It started off with massages and ended with lunch. I knew my sister would enjoy a massage because she is always saying her back hurts and Thursday night while sitting up until 3am chatting about her personal relationship issues, even though she had to be on the road at 6:30am for her baseline ultrasound, she mentioned how much she needed a massage. She had no idea that I already had one scheduled for her! I thought it was just a small way to show her that she deserves to be pampered and a great way to get her relaxed for the week she had ahead of her.

Today was the first of eight stimulation injections. My sister worked a double today too, what a trooper. She's a dispatcher at a police station for those that don't know. Tonight I took my sister some dinner that my husband made, helped her figure out how to mix the two medications today (we aren't quite sure if we did it right...I emailed the nurse for confirmation so she doesn't mess up on day 2 if we weren't right), watched her give herself her shot which she said burned like hell, and then gave her another gift to once again say a simple "we are so grateful." Today she got a Coach clutch I scored at 50% off back in July:) Of course she loved it, and said "it feels like Christmas! I get Christmas in October, November, and December!"  Well, that's how we wanted it to feel because, if all goes well, we could be hearing our baby's heart beating a few days before Christmas and it's really the ONLY Christmas gift that I want this year.

As a little added gift, because my sister has worked doubles the past couple of Sunday's, I've been babysitting my niece on Sunday nights for her. Typically our parents watch my niece on Sunday nights and my sister has to pick up her daughter at 12:15am, get her home, and get back up to have her daughter at pre-school by 7:45am and herself at work at 8am on Mondays. Watching her daughter at her house at least cuts out the having to pick her daughter up from our parent's house and carrying her to the car especially with it getting cold outside and my niece getting heavier and heavier. Typically my niece does pretty well with me watching her but tonight she was not having it. After her bath, she changed her pajama's three times, refused to let me brush her hair, and shut herself in her closet while she sat in a basket full of her shoes crying big crocodile tears! She did not want me, she wanted her mommy. After a 15 minute phone call with her mom where she cried the whole time, she finally agreed to eat a bedtime snack with me and fell asleep in 5 minutes. She was clearly exhausted because she's been talking in her sleep while I've been typing this! Even when my niece is being difficult, it makes me want these nights so badly with children of my own. I can't wait to give baths and pick out pajamas and wipe away tears and eat bedtime snacks and tuck my children into bed!

Here's to hoping that dream comes true soon! Our next update will either be on Tuesday after my sister's blood work or Friday after her first ultrasound to see how many follicles have started to stimulate! Until then, she will continue to give herself 10 units of Lupron every morning and her stimulation injection in the evening (Follistim + Menopur).  She will continue to open one gift every day after both injections have been done for the day just to keep her motivated and knowing that we truly are thankful for her and what she is doing for us,  I will continue to take 10 units of Lupron every morning too along with my Lovenox injection, and starting tomorrow I double my dose of Estrace to keep working on plumping up my uterine lining to get ready for Baby Monnier to come on home to mommy! Stay tuned, and if you have someone as special in your life as I have in mine-remember to pay it forward!

Belly Bruises and The Baseline

We (my sister and I) are two weeks in on the Lupron injections. My sister's stomach is covered in faded bruises from the injections because she's so skinny and has hardly any fat on her stomach to shield herself from the needle prick. She calls them "battle wounds." It's a fitting name I think, because she's fighting this battle of recurrent miscarriage and stillbirth with us by giving us her eggs that should be free of chromosome abnormalities, until my eggs which have been the main cause of our recurrent heartbreak with pregnancy loss. I feel bad, because I have plenty of belly fat and the Lupron doesn't give me any problems other than it's sometimes hard to get the needle to poke through the skin because the needle is so dull. However, I'm on day three of Lovenox and this medication is by far the worst medication to inject. I was on it with my two pregnancies in 2013 just for a few weeks before I miscarried and had the same reaction then too. I hate Lovenox. It immediately bruises my skin as soon as I place the needle to my belly. And these are deep bruises...black and blue and are so hard for me to poke through the skin, worst than the Lupron. I've started taking them before becoming pregnant this time because it should help with implantation and making sure there are no blood clots forming in my uterus before our embryo transfer according to Dr. Braverman, our reproductive immunologist specialist. I know the shots are for my own protection and my babies protection so I will deal with the bruising as long as I have to, but I still hate it!

Besides our belly's looking like a battle ground, my sister had her baseline ultrasound today! That means we are only 12 days away from our egg retrieval!! WHOOOOOOOOO-HOOOOOOO!!! The nurse said my sister's ovaries were nice and quiet and they are guesstimating she has about 7-9 follicles in each ovary right now. So I guess we are looking at a possible 14-18 follicles at this point in the game. I say "at this point in the game" because I know very well we will not get 14-18 eggs at the egg retrieval because not all 14-18 follicles will respond to the medication she will be starting on Sunday. It does make me nervous just from past experience of having 30 follicles at my baseline ultrasound and only being able to retrieve 12 eggs because I only had 12 out of 30 follicles that stimulated to maturity. It makes me even more nervous to know that even when follicles are fully mature, the eggs inside the follicles may not be or may be poor quality and they cannot be fertilized...so I know, realistically, we may be working with a smaller number than what we had to work with during our first IVF when we used my own eggs....but I am REALLY trying to stay focused on the fact that my sister does not have the chromosome issue that I have so even if we have a smaller number of eggs....they could absolutely be better quality than my own. Think positive, right?

So now that the baseline ultrasound is out of the way, the true test begins. My sister starts the medication to stimulate her ovaries on Sunday. And let me tell you, I know she is not thrilled about this part. She will be on Follistem and Menopur and has to mix the two together which does seems kinda difficult even for me. I've already warned her about the emotional rollercoaster she is about to jump on to, and if you are her friend, family member, coworker, child's father, or ex-boyfriend...this is your warning too! The 10 days between the start of the medication to the egg retrieval will be NOT the time to bring up something you know dang well will upset her. If you do, enter the conversation at your own risk! I am hoping that I can keep her spirits up and keep her motivated by the gifts I've gotten her. She gets to open one gift every night after taking her Lupron in the morning and Follistem/Menopur combination in the evening. And tomorrow kicks off the 11 days of gift giving with a special girls day that I've had planned for a week and a half now:) She is definitely deserving of what I have planned for tomorrow!

Other than these updates, I started Estrace on Wednesday to start plumping up my uterine lining. I will increase my dose every 4-5 days and won't actually know if my lining looks good until the day of my sister's egg retrieval. After the retrieval I will have an ultrasound to check things out on my end and make sure my uterus is ready to grow a baby in there. I also started Prednisone to start suppressing my immune system. I'm taking 10mg twice a day and I really haven't noticed any side effects like I thought I would...no excessive hunger, no excessive moodiness-that I didn't already have;) We'll see how it goes the longer I'm on it. Today is also my 5th day without having any caffeine! Last week Dr. Pepper started tasting "off" to me so it was really an extra motivation to just cut out the caffeine now and not wait until we transfer our little embie or wait until I find out if I'm pregnant or not. The first three days were rough....I thought I was going to kill someone-everything was annoying me. But day 4 was much better and the withdrawal headaches are gone now:) #doinitforbabymonnier!

Over the next week I am sure I will update much more as we learn how my sister's ovaries are responding to the medication. We are now at 12 days and counting...and I can't believe it! Hoping these next 12 days go my smoothly and as fast as possible....we are so ready to see what the next journey is going to be!

19 Days and Counting

19 days....say what?! In 19 days we will have my sisters egg retrieval. We will know how many eggs we have to work with. We will officially be waiting and hoping to be able to have at least one or two embryos to transfer. We will finally be able to call these growing embryos, ours.

I have a calendar at home on my refrigerator with every important "next step." And everyday I cross off another day from our fertility cycle. I cannot believe that after 8 months of talking about this potential egg donor cycle that we really only have 19 days left before the egg retrieval! I've been on birth control for 5 weeks and Lupron now for 1 week. Today is my last birth control pill and I am happy to say "bye-bye birth control!" My sister's last day of birth control is tomorrow and tomorrow will also be the completion of her first week on Lupron. Step one of our cycle, shutting down our ovaries, is just about complete!

This coming week we will start step two. On Monday my husband starts his 14 days of antibiotic. On Wednesday I start taking Estrace which is used to plump up my uterine lining, Prednisone which is used to suppress my immune system so it can't attack a growing baby, and Lovenox which is used to prevent blood clots in my uterus and everywhere else throughout my body. On Friday I finish my antibiotic regimen, and my sister has her baseline ultrasound and blood work to make sure her ovaries are nice and quiet and full of follicles that are ready to be stimulated. If all looks great for her on Friday, she starts her stimulation meds next Sunday. Both me and my sister will continue to take Lupron for the remainder of the 19 days that we have left of our cycle....for me to make sure my ovaries remain quiet, and for her to make sure her ovaries don't get a sneaky egg who tries to escape before the egg retrieval.

So...we may not have 19 kids and counting (nor would we want to, but seriously...
how did they get so lucky?!), but we do have 19 days and counting and for that, we are still blessed!

Problem/Solution

Where do I begin to explain how I've been feeling about this Egg Donor Cycle? Naturally, I've been scared out of my mind. I continuously worry something is going to go wrong. I continuously worry that we won't get enough good quality embryos to have an embryo transfer. I continuously worry that I won't become pregnant from our embryo transfer. I continuously worry that I will miscarry within the first trimester. I continuously worry that we will have to have another funeral for another child. I worry so much that what we are doing isn't going to be enough to answer our prayers. I have to stop and remind myself constantly that we are doing EVERYTHING we know to do about the problems that we are aware of in this moment in time. And there is nothing more than I can do than that.

SO to calm down my fears, I decided to make a list of the problems we are aware of and how we are attempting to solve the problems to have a healthy pregnancy and healthy baby.

1.) My Translocated Chromosome: One of my #13 and one of my #21 chromosomes are attached. This is what doctors believe has caused my recurrent pregnancy loss (stillborn daughter at 24 weeks and 3 first trimester miscarriages). Only the last two babies had genetic testing which confirmed their diagnosis of Down Syndrome caused by my translocated chromosome. We attempted IVF with PGS (preimplantation genetic screening) which failed to work for us due to poor egg quality and genetically abnormal embryos. SOLUTION: Donated Eggs from my Sister who Does NOT have the translocated chromosome.

2.) Homocystinuria: This genetic disease which prevents me from metabolizing protein and can cause blood clots which in turn can cause miscarriage and stillbirth. When I was first diagnosed in 2012, we were told this could have been the reason our daughter was stillborn in 2008 instead of the cord strangling her to death like we had thought for the past four years. Medication and diet are the only ways to control the Homocystinuria itself, but the potential clotting issue is a second layer to the disease. With my first pregnancy after getting diagnosed I started Lovenox injections at week 7 once we heard the heart beat. With my last pregnancy I started taking Aspirin daily months prior to getting pregnant and started Lovenox injections a few days after the positive pregnancy test. SOLUTION:Medication and vitamins to control my homocystine levels-Cystadane, vitamin B12, vitamin C, Calcium, Folate (been taking for months); Daily baby Aspirin (been taking for months) and daily Lovenox injections beginning 2.5 weeks before embryo transfer to prevent blood clots in my uterus

3.) MTHFR Mutation: We discovered after I miscarried our third baby that I have this genetic mutation that is associated with causing Neural Tube Defects in babies and causing difficulty metabolizing folic acid, the synthetic form of Folate. Folic acid has been an essential vitamin for pregnant woman for ages but I didn't know until after our fourth loss that there are specific prenatals that have the real form of Folate in them and that Folic Acid, because it's synthetic can actually be harmful to me and a baby. SOLUTION: Daily Neevo DHA prenatal, a prenatal designed specifically for women with the MTHFR mutation, And daily Thorne Research 5-MTHF 1mg capsules (2 per day) which is the natural form of Folate.

4.) PAI-1 4G/5G Genotype with Insulin Resistance: This is something we just recently discovered thanks to several friends who told me they were put on Metformin due to their insulin level which can affect egg quality and can cause miscarriage. When they told me what their insulin level was when they got put on Metformin, I looked mine up from my fertility testing in January before we started our first IVF cycle. My level was higher than theirs was...so I was really upset this was not addressed! When we went to New York to see Dr. Braverman he right away said I needed to be on Metformin because my Insulin level was too high and could cause me to miscarry and likely caused my eggs to be really poor quality. My fertility doctor here in Ohio agreed to prescribe it to me, but when we switched to the other doctor in his practice she ran a genetic test on me that we had never heard of or done before-the PAI-1, which she said can cause miscarriages when associated with Insulin Resistance which is what I had. Sure enough, the test came back that I had the moderately severe genotype which is associated with causing coronary problems and blood clots. SOLUTION: The only solution for this is Metformin. I take 1500mg daily and will throughout the pregnancy.

5.) Elevated Thyroid Stimulating Hormone: We discovered after our third loss that my Thyroid Stimulating Hormone was too high when we did our initial fertility testing. Elevated TSH has been known to cause miscarriage SOLUTION: I've been taking Synthroid-75mcg daily since April 2013 and my levels have been controlled. My new doctor just added Selenium-200mcg daily.

6.) Poor uterine blood flow: When Dr. Braverman did a color flow doppler on me he said my blood flow to my uterus was "resistant." This test was done in July of this year. SOLUTION: I've been doing Acupuncture every 2-3 weeks since the middle of August. I'm going to start going weekly for the next three weeks and then twice the week of my sister's egg retrieval and twice the week of the transfer. Acupuncture is known to help increase uterine blood flow. I've been taking L-Arginine and Coq10 also, and the Lovenox injections that I start next week will help too.

7.)Possible Autoimmune Issues: I have some elevated cytokines which are the chemicals inside of cells that can be indicative of auto-immune problems. I have had Psoriasis, an autoimmune disorder, since shortly after my daughter was stillborn. I've had elevated Anti-nuclear antibodies after my third miscarriage which is evidence of my body attacking itself. I have low T-reg cells which are needed to recognize what is a normal invader and what is an abnormal invader in our bodies...a low level means almost everything appears to be an invader. There is a definite possibility that my body views a baby as an invader and attacks it to get rid of it. SOLUTION: I will get Intralipid Infusions every 2 weeks-I had my first one on Monday. And I will take 10mg of Prednisone twice a day which will both work together to suppress my immune system so it stops working in overtime all the time. My dermatologist thinks this will help my Psoriasis too! I've seen a little bit of improvement which just one Intralipid Infusion and my legs and joints don't seem to hurt as much either...so I think this will help in more ways than one!

8.) Low Progesterone: I was on oral progesterone for my last pregnancy and that shot my level up really high but apparently oral progesterone doesn't get to the uterus. With my first IVF cycle I was on Progesterone in oil injections everyday and that did not seem to help my levels at all. SOLUTION: My doctor insists that the injection form of Progesterone is the best and wants me to try it again. I'm agreeing to try it again only because she agreed to check my level 2 days after transfer and will add Progesterone suppositorys if my level it too low.

9.) My husband's poor sperm morphology and borderline high DNA fragmentation in his sperm: With our first IVF we just did ICSI (Intra-cystoplasmic sperm injection) which increased changes of a normal sperm fertilizing my eggs but our embryos' development was so poor due to fragmentation issues which could have been the result of problems with the sperm. SOLUTION: For the past couple of months my husband has been taking tons of vitamins to improve his sperm...and they did improve his count and motility but not morphology. He takes Antioxidant, Coq10, B Complex, Multivitamin, Vitamin A, Folic Acid, and Vitamin D. This past month he also started taking ProXeed which is a male fertility supplement recommended by Dr. Braverman to improve morphology and fragmentation issues. We will still do ICSI to be on the safe side. He will also take an Antibiotic for 14 days starting Monday which will kill any potential bacteria in his body that could affect sperm quality.

Other things that I am taking are Estrace which is used to thicken my uterine lining since my uterus has to be ready to accept an embryo that has already started developing outside of my body. I responded really well to my trial on Estrace so I have no doubt my lining is going to be just fine this time too. I'm taking Vitamin D because I've had a Vitamin D deficiency after my third loss and that can cause miscarriage too...but my level has been fine since then and I want to keep it fine. And Finally I'm taking Fish Oil which benefits me in multiple ways and was recommended by Dr. Braverman.

Looking at this, it is a lot of information to take it. It is a long list of problems which all have the potential to cause harm to me and a growing baby. It's easy to get overwhelmed and to feel like I am doomed to always miscarry or to never be able to have a baby. I have to stay focused on the solutions and have to remain thankful that we have solutions to these problems, and I have to trust that these solutions are going to work for us. My number one solution to my biggest problem-fear, is praying for peace to overcome me and trusting that ultimately, God is the one in control.

#doinitforbabymonnier

When you are desperate for a baby, you will do just about anything and go to uncomfortable lengths to get to that baby. Woman and men going through infertility treatments and high risk pregnancies are the most courageous and strong people you will ever meet. And every once in a while they will have a third party who has jumped on the infertility train with them and will ride the train until the goal is met-a beautiful baby. That's the case with us. My sister jumped on the train back in May and she continues to ride the train with us and has really amazed me this past weekend.

Our cycle began on September 28th with my first birth control pill. I started my fifth and final week of birth control yesterday. Because me and my sister's periods were a little over 2 weeks apart, her part of the cycle started on October 16th when she re-started her birth control. So we are now getting synchronized and in order to full sync our cycle, we both needed to be on Lupron injections to get our ovaries nice and quiet in there. I had my first injection on Saturday. It's not my first rodeo so these injections are nothing to me now. But my sister, she started her injections on Sunday. Because she has NEVER had to inject herself before, I thought for sure I would be going over to her house Sunday morning to give her a pep talk and give her enough courage to go through with the injection. Instead, I woke up to a text message saying "I already shot up. It wasn't that bad." Shocked the hell out of me! And it also made me incredibly proud of my sister to have had the courage to give herself an injection for the first time ever when it's not even for her own benefit. She truly is amazing, at only 23 years old!

When we first started our egg donor journey, a fellow Baby Quest grant recipient who lives in California had already been through the process and told me she had purchased a gift for her sister to give to her on every day that she had to do the stimulation meds. I thought it was a great idea-a way to show our appreciation to my sister. I started collecting gifts for her before I even knew if she was going to get approved or was going to follow through on her offer. One of the first gifts I purchased was this, and I gave it to her yesterday on her first injection day because every last word of it is so true and she proved that when she took her first injection with no help or complaints:

Along this egg donor journey to what we hope will be our Rainbow Baby, we all three have our jobs, and we all three have to do uncomfortable things or take medication with terrible side effects. And we are all #doinitforbabymonnier. That is amazing to me. If one of us did not do our part-this definitely would not work. With all of us doing our parts-this could definitely work! My sister obviously has to take injections and pump her body full or hormones which will eventually make her an emotional wreck and bloated beyond belief. She is doing that to help us bring home Baby Monnier. My husband has to drink packets of ProXeed daily which he states are disgusting but are to help his swimmers multiple and become better developed. He has to take an antibiotic for 14 days starting next week and he gets sick (like throwing up sick) when he takes antibiotics. He has to go inside a small room with a cup and come out with the cup full of sperm in a few weeks, with someone likely waiting on the other side to go in for their turn. He is doing this to help us bring home Baby Monnier.

And me....I probably have the toughest job of all. I have so much medication that I have to take between oral, injections, and infusions, but it is all to be able to bring home Baby Monnier! To prepare my body for the embryo transfer, I have to take the normal stuff-the antibiotic, the Lupron, the Estrace. But because of my history of pregnancy loss and some things we've discovered on blood work, I also started Intralipid Infusions today and will get the infusions every 2 weeks until we confirm if I am pregnant or not at the beginning of December. I get the infusions in my home from a home health nurse which is nice because I got to stay in my pajamas the whole time. The medication though was FrEeZiNg going in my hand and with 30 minutes left of the infusion my vein blow and blood and medication from the IV spewed all over my hand, the couch, and the carpet. All was good though....the nurse rushed to me and started cleaning me up with her bare hands and alcohol wipes (I ensured her I do not have HIV or Hepatitis...that's the good thing about going through fertility treatments-you get tested for all that). We repositioned the IV into my elbow and finished out the infusion just fine. My hand is still sore....but as long as I am #doinitforbabymonnier I don't even care! Next week I get to start Prednisone, which I've heard is a real treat, and Lovenox injections, which burn like hell and bruise the f*** out of my stomach....but I'm #doinitforbabymonnier! Let's see what else-I've been on Metformin for about 5 weeks and it has torn my insides apart, or atleast it felt that way...I think I'm finally getting use to it. And I get needles poked in my forehead, wrists, 5 different spots on my abdomen, knees, ankle, and feet about every 2 weeks for acupuncture, which will be increasing to weekly for the next three weeks and then twice a week for two weeks. My chiropractor is not a trained Chinese woman who is a professional acupuncturist so it really is not as relaxing as it was supposed to be. And then finally, I get to wake up every morning starting the day after my sister's retrieval and let my husband jab me in the ass with a long needle to pump my body full of progesterone:)

Doesn't this all sound like so much fun?!?! I just keep telling myself we are #doinitforbabymonnier and all of the uncomfortableness, pain and bruises...that all doesn't seem to matter. If this is what it takes to bring home Baby Monnier, I would do it 10 times more! Ok...maybe not 10....but maybe once or twice more:)

For all the woman who are out there who feel like a pin cushion and pull junkie...just remember, you are #doinitforbaby------(fill in the blank:)) Best of luck to everyone on a November cycle with us!! Baby Dust to all

Ready to Rock out this Cycle

Over the next few days our cycle is going to be taking off! My bags are packed for my slumber party tonight at my sister's house, and my car is gassed up for her to drive down to Cincinnati for her appointment with our fertility doctor in the morning. I get the pleasure of spending the morning tomorrow with my niece who has so graciously offered her bed for me to sleep in tonight! Tomorrow's appointment is nothing spectacular or interesting, just some repeat blood work and physical that is required of egg donors within a few days of starting injections.

But what this means is....Injections start this weekend:) I start taking Lupron on Saturday and my sister starts her Lupron on Sunday! I explained what Lupron does during my first IVF cycle, but as a refresher or for those who have recently started reading my blog-Lupron is used to essentially "shut down" the ovaries. For me, because we aren't using my eggs and are only using my uterus-we need my ovaries to really shut down. We need them to be quiet and to stop ovulating. For my sister who is donating her eggs to us, we just need her ovaries to retain all the eggs she has so we can eventually stimulate her ovaries to produces many large follicles that we can retrieve some eggs from in a few weeks. Lurpon is the one injection that we will both be on the remainder of our cycle.

This is a scary process for my sister who has never had to give herself injections before. Her first injection is actually during her double shift as a dispatcher on Sunday so I will be going there to train her on how to draw out the medication from the vial into the needle and how to inject herself. Knowing that every day around the same time we will both be giving ourselves Lupron injections with the hope of creating a beautiful baby that me and my husband can love on and raise for years to come....that gives me chills and tears! What a way to bond with my sister.

In other news, I will also be starting my Intralipid Infusions on Monday:) At 8:30am Monday morning I will be hooked up to an IV on the comfort of my own couch watching t.v. as I get infused with the medication over a 2-3 hour period. We are doing the Intralipids at the recommendation of Dr. Braverman, a reproductive immunologist in New York, who believes that my body is partly to blame for our recurrent losses. The Intralipids will treat any autoimmune problem that I am having so, if my body is attacking itself or the babies that I have been pregnant with, it should no longer do that. The great news is that the infusions, which are $500 a pop and will be done every 2 weeks, will only cost us $27 after insurance which we never thought would cover them! Why didn't we think about doing this sooner?!?!?!

The only resolution that we got on the billing issues with our fertility clinic is that we can try to submit my sister's screening blood work and ultrasound on our own to the insurance after the cycle is completely over. Whatev. It's worth a shot so we will be doing that to see if we can get any of our money refunded by the insurance company.

So lots of great things will be happening soon and I'm sure I will write on the experience of them all as they come.