They're In!

We had our embryo transfer today. It was really a great day - Jeremy had the whole day off (as did I, of course). I had acupuncture this morning and then we went to Granite City for lunch before the transfer. It was delicious, as usual.

Then we went in and transferred two embryos. We have five embryos they have frozen already and five more they are watching and will freeze whatever they can.

Here they are:

Awww - so cute!

Silly Me

So I posted a while back about this great new song I love that I just heard and had to run out and buy the cd and it's so great...



This wasn't the exact version, this is the official video and it came out more recently than the live version I posted.

Anyway, I was talking about it at work and saying how I had to run out and buy it right away because I liked it so much. Amy, one of the girls I work with was like, "Uh, Reanna, you already have that cd, you made me a copy." "No I don't Amy. Why would I buy two of the same cd?"

I really don't know how this happened. The only thing I can think of is that I must have been ordering some other cds off of Amazon.com and threw this on my order because I needed something else to get me over $25 for free shipping.

Needless to say, you were right, Amy!

Fertilization Rates

Praise God for the good news we received today! Of the 18 eggs that were retrieved, 17 were mature and usable. And of those, 13 fertilized - THIRTEEN!

I think we'll probably just transfer them all at once, you know, improve our odds...

JUST KIDDING!

Eggs are laid

Well, not so much laid as extracted with a syringe, but you get the point. They retrieved 18 eggs this morning and I tolerated it much better than last time. I think they gave me more drugs - yea!

Anyway, just resting and taking it easy today - a little sore. We'll find out tomorrow how many fertilized.

Thanks for reading!

We're set...for now...

Just got home from my ultrasound and blood draw today. Ultrasound looked good and based on that we set up the retrieval of the eggs for Wednesday morning. This could change if my Estradiol level comes back too high.

If we do the retrieval Wednesday, we would do the transfer next Monday (2/28).

About.com had a good article about IVF here. It really explains it step-by-step if you aren't familiar.

I don't have any pictures that pertain to this post but you can't have a blog post without pictures, right? This is J and I on our dinner train ride for Valentine's Day.

Delectable

I LOVE chocolate covered strawberries and when I saw this recipe I had to try it. They are called Strawberry Puffcakes. They are chocolate cupcakes with this puffy strawberry cream frosting then dipped in chocolate and topped with strawberries.

They are DELICIOUS!

(Ignore my Ovidrel injections in the background)

I plan to eat at least three of these tonight.

This is an infertility blog after all

We are smack dab in the middle of another cycle of IVF right now. My days are filled with shots, ultrasounds, and blood draws. Not to mention ovary pain, a swollen abdomen, and estrogen-induced psychosis.

Like last time (December 2009) we did this, I am responding VERY well to the stimulation drugs. I started with 150 Units of Follistim in the morning (same as last time). This is my second favorite shot. It is a pen injection and so I just dial up the dose I want and stick the needle in the belly and push the button. At night I do my Lupron injection which is the number one favorite because it is only 10 units, I use an insuling syringe to inject it, it doesn't hurt and Jeremy usually gets it ready for me (he's so helpful). Since we are now stimulating, I am also doing Repronex (above picture) at night. I started at 75mg on this one (150mg last time). This one sucks. I have to mix it. The drug itself is a powder and I mix 1mL of sodium chloride to reconstitute it and I have to inject that entire amount subcutaneously. And it stings. The first night I did it I cried. It hurt and I feel like that is just too much liquid to be injecting subQ. Anyway, I got over it.

So those are my shots. Three a day right now unless I have to change my Follistim cartridge in the middle of my dose, then four shots a day. I have been responding very well and they have backed off my doses. I am down to 37.5 Units of Follistim and 0.5mL of Repronex.

Staying on the topic of needles...I'm seeing a new acupuncturist. I started going to Family Acupuncture in Johnston. They are for real. First off, they're Chinese. Nuf said. Second, this is what they do. They are not some other sort of professional who got a certification to do acupuncture. I don't want to rag on my chiropractor who did it last time but I didn't really feel like they knew what they were doing. And I can't blame them. It isn't their specialty. So anyway, when I would go to my previous acupunturist they would put in about 10 needles at different points on my arms, legs, and over my ovaries. Diana, at Family Acupuncture used about 30 needles and put some in my head, my ears, arms, legs, and probably about 8-10 in my abdomen. Now, I understand sometimes less is more, but I think this lady knows her business! I've only been once and have another appointment coming up. Studies have shown acupuncture increase success rates with IVF. Also, my mom told me she read something that showed seeing a clown after having your embryos transferred also improved success rates...I don't even know what to say to that...

What else? Hmmm...

Oh yeah, estradiol levels. So when you are stimulating like I am you go in every other day for an ultrasound to look at your ovaries and a blood draw to check your estradiol level. My baseline level (before starting stims) was 90. Wednesday (1st ultrasound) was 443 and Friday was 1224. So yeah, estrogen-induced psychosis. Psychosis might be a little dramatic. I'm just kind of moody and short-tempered. Jeremy bears the brunt of this but bless his heart, he puts up with me and doesn't complain. I go in again tomorrow and hopefully it won't go up too much more. If it goes over 5000 I am at increased risk for Ovarian Hyperstimulation Syndrome (OHSS). Last time I did go over 5000 and we had to "coast" a day. Hopefully we'll be a little more controlled this time.

Our retrieval will be either Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday this week, assuming all goes according to plan. Then our embryo transfer will be either February 28th, March 1st or 2nd, again, assuming all goes according to plan.

Let me know if you have any questions about IVF - the process, how they take out the eggs, how the fertilize them, anything at all really. I don't want to brag but I'm kind of an expert.

Sew What?

I don't sew. I wish I did. I admire people who can. I think its a lost art.

For Christmas my mom got me this:

Gee thanks Mom. What the heck and I supposed to do with that. I'm just kidding, I said I wanted a sewing machine several months ago and she remembered and got me one! Yes, she also got me the Toms from my last post. She went a little overboard on Christmas in my opinion. Love you, Mom.

Anyway. I decided to set it up today and fix my pillow cases. We got new bed sheets for our king size bed which came with king size pillowcases. We have standard pillows. So they looked like this for two months:

Well let me tell you setting up a sewing machine is not as easy as one would think. After about 30 minutes I was proud to have this accomplished:

And what on earth is this thing??

And this? Seriously, if anyone knows, tell me...

And would you believe that neither the sewing machine nor the sewing kit comes with any thread?? So we made a trip to Hancock Fabric for some of this:

I was able to thread the bobbin and only screamed once:

And this is what I ended up with:

SUCCESS!!

They are by no means perfect and in fact, I'm sure they're different sizes completely, but they look better than they did!

Anyone know of any sewing classes?

Toms

I LOVE TOMS! "What are Toms" you ask? Well, let me tell you! They're shoes! But they aren't just any old shoes. They are shoes with a purpose. For every pair of shoes you buy, Toms donates a pair of shoes to a child in need. One for one. Click here to check out their website.

My mom gave me my first pair of Toms for Christmas and I LOVE THEM! I might have mentioned that already...anywho...

These are my Toms:



They are REALLY comfortable. I love wearing them to work. They conform to your feet and are pretty much amazing.

I want these:


And these:


And these:


And many more.

More important than all the shoes I want though, is this:



What an amazing idea! A great way to promote Toms and to raise awareness. Who's with me? Go ONE day without shoes and then go out and buy a pair of Toms so a child doesn't have to go one MORE day without shoes.

Thanks for reading!

Flowers and Shopping

I am, and always have been, a soft-hearted person. Just ask my mom. Every day when I went to kindergarten I cried and had a tummyache because I missed my mommy. Hallmark commercials make me cry. I refuse to watch Radio or The Notebook because I know I will cry. If someone else is crying, I'm crying, guaranteed. Something that has really got to me the last couple of days is everyone posting their flowers they received for Valentine's Day on Facebook. It hurts my heart to think of how that feels for everyone who is single. I know how bad it hurts every time someone announces they're pregnant. This coming May will mark three years of trying to have a baby for us. You can imagine how many people have gotten pregnant and had babies in that time. It hurts. I am bracing myself for "getting lapped" when people who got pregnant after we started trying are going to start announcing their second pregnancy. I know it isn't a race and God has a perfect plan for us but that doesn't take away the pain.

So back to flowers. I woke up to these Monday morning.



Thank you to my better half for these wonderful flowers. But more importantly, to anyone who is single and waiting on their better half, God has a plan for you too. It is immensely better than any plan you could conceive of; trust in Him.

For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Jeremiah 29:11

Well, that takes care of the "Flowers" part of the title of this post. On to the "Shopping!"

I went to the mall today. I know. Shocker. But I got some REALLY good loot! For great prices!

The Spread:


I just LOVE this gray and yellow combination ($7.50 Old Navy):


I think I'll wear this denim shirt/dress with leggings ($20.49 Old Navy):


This pink lace number is a.dor.a.ble and wore it tonight with black tights and a black cardigan on our Valentine's date ($22.80 Forever 21):


More gray with yellow and black ($6.99 Old Navy):


Detail:


This looks better on but I LOVE the sheer fabric. Though I HATE built in camis. They always get all twisted so I cut them out. ($7.99 Old Navy)


Pretty in Pink ($6.99 Old Navy):


Lace Detail:


Of course a cardigan...I have "a thing" for cardigans ($17.50 Old Navy):


Detail:


I also got two infinity scarves from Forever 21 for $4.50 each - cream and orange. They are SO soft.


Goodness gracious, I think that's enough for tonight. I hope you all have a lovely week!

Three Things That Make Me Happy

1. Strawberry Milk



2. Zac Brown Band - Colder Weather



3. Playing Rummy with my husband and these DMB playing cards...I guess that's four things!




Hope everyone has a great night!

Day Off

Tuesday is my day off and it was a good one! I ran errands this morning then came home and made beef stew in the crockpot. Then I made chocolate cookies that are too good and I can't stop eating them - yum-o!

One of the places I stopped this morning was Target where I got these lovlies:



I know it was completely ridiculous to buy shoes like this during a blizzard but I am SO ready for spring and I needed a little retail therapy after a rough start to the day. These did just the trick...well, these and the raw cookie dough I consumed while making the above mentioned chocolate chip cookies.

I also got these miniature pots with forget-me-nots at Target for $1 each - I'll post pictures if they grow when they grow.



This afternoon my lovely friend Carrie stopped by to return my cooling racks and brought me this:



Adorable and delicious! Thanks Carrie - you are too much!

Tonight I made some ❤ Valentines ❤







All in all it was a really good day! Now I'm watching Weeds on Netflix and eating more cookies!