PUPO

Yesterday we transferred two "beautiful embryos" into a "perfect placement" in my uterus (doctor's words. In the picture you can see three little air bubbles that accompanied the embryos), and I am considering myself "PUPO" (Pregnant Until Proven Otherwise :-D). We'll have the official word in about a week or so.

The transfer went fantastically. Daddies got pictures of their beautiful embryos I'll have to ask for copies of, so I can share. I was so excited both embryos made it through the thaw looking great.

The only awkward moment was when the hunky embryologist comes in (with the embryos in his catheter), and pretty much introduces himself to my vagina, which is totally on display, hands off the embryos and walks out. Good thing I'm not modest. :-P

We all had a yummy sushi lunch (don't worry, I only had California Rolls), then nap and rest, and then Cheesecake Factory for dinner. I couldn't pass it up with one so close. It was so nice for us to spend time with Chris and Keith. It was so much fun to just hang out with them and get to know them as people a little more. The more I get to know them the more I like them, and I'm so happy we're all in this together. This was really Tony's first time hanging out with them since our match meeting, and he couldn't stop talking about how fond of them he was. I was only bummed we didn't have more time together. We'll have to arrange something soon. I love that they're so close! :-D

Tony and I are getting our relax on for the rest of the day with a Doctor Who marathon, popcorn and some leftover cheesecake. Can't wait to share some good news around here. :-D

Almost There!

Tomorrow, tomorrow, we leave tomorrow! And the day after tomorrow, I'm getting knocked up, folks. :-D So excited!

Just about finished packing, and here are a few things that were on my shopping list:
-Hair dye (Had to dye my hair a color that I can grow out without it being too obvious)
-Pineapple (There's a theory eating pineapple the night before transfer can be helpful)
-Life Cereal (Silly tradition from last transfer, ya know, to help create life or whatever)
-Lucky transfer socks (Since my feet will be on display in the stirrups)
-Wine (For Tony, Chris and Keith at our after transfer pajama party)
-Kindle and laptop (To help keep us busy during 48 hours of bed rest)

Sunday I started progesterone injections. Wanna see?
First progesterone shot The shots are going well. They hurt very little during the actual injection, and are just sore the next day, despite the heating pad and massage we do afterwards. I had a weird, but not unheard of experience the other day when, directly after a practically painless shot, my throat hurt all of a sudden and I got a strange taste in my mouth. Fortunately I'd heard of this happening to other girls before, so while it was freaky, it wasn't terribly worrying.

Had a minor freakout yesterday when I almost singlehandedly ruined transfer. We're working with HRC Fertility, so I had looked up my doctor and read that he works out of the West L.A. office, so I assumed that's where the transfer would occur, and I'm basing all my planning and hotel and everything off of that address. It wasn't until I told the guys what hotel we were staying at did it come up that we're transferring at the Encino office. So very glad that came up before we showed up at the wrong office on Friday. Today I did see on my instruction sheet where it said ENC, but I had thought that was doctor speak I just wasn't reading correctly. :-P

40 hours and counting! :-D

All Systems Go!

Wrote this Saturday and didn't get a chance to post it, so pretend it's still Saturday. :-D

Yesterday was my final monitoring appointment, and it is official, everything looks good, our embryo transfer is officially next Friday, August 22! My lining is a nice 9.3mm, with the triple stripe (triple stripe, or, in medical speak, trilinear pattern is when the walls of the uterus ate so thick they touch in the middle, and it looks like three stripes), which seems to be super important. You know you're a surro when you see the triple stripe before the tech mentions it. :-) I didn't ask about my estrogen numbers, but my nurse says they look good as well, so yay! At Monday's appointment, my lining was measuring 6.8mm, so that's a nice increase and my uterus should be extra fluffy in another week.

Tomorrow night we start the progesterone, which I have mixed feelings about. On one hand, it's a shot, and, in addition to the soreness the next day, it's just a bit of a pain in the butt to get it all ready and everything. Funnily enough, it's starting progesterone that is an impetus for me buying a new microwave. Ours broke several months ago, and we haven't really missed it, but I have a heating pad that you have to microwave, and, whether it helps or not, I always put heat on my injection site (and massage) afterwards. And it's cheaper to buy a (secondhand) microwave than an electric heating pad. :-)

And then, Thursday, we leave home for transfer! Eeeeee! Tony and I will drive down, because the travel time (driving to the airport, checking in, flying, blah, blah) either way is almost the same. And this way we'll have our car with us. Since we're talking just under 5 hours drive time, it's a much better idea for us to arrive the night before in order to be on time on Friday. And then, I believe our transfer is around noon on Friday, and then I'm on strict bed rest for the next 48 hours (feet up, only getting up to pee, pretty much). Pajama party in our room! :-D And then Tony and I will head home Sunday. And then we have to wait until August 29 for the beta test, which is a blood test which tests for hcg. Pretty much anything over 0 indicates some level of pregnancy, but I think we'll be looking for a number higher than 30.

Now, the hardest part. Making it through the next several days until transfer, and then until beta, without my head exploding. Eeeeeee!

Watch out, I'm taking hormones!

With my last journey, I took both my estrogen and progesterone via injection, and the only side effect I recall was the inevitable soreness that comes from shoving a bunch of hormones suspended in oil into your muscle everyday for three months. I even avoided the weight gain a lot of women experience while on meds (don't hate me too much; I more than make up for it once I get pregnant).

This time around I'm having a bit of a different experience. It seems like the estrogen is making me just a tiny bit crazy-pants. :-D I was aware that I was feeling a bit more stressed out than usual, but I just blamed it on jetlag and our broken down van and trying to get Kismet back into the swing of school. And then I almost lost it over a pair of stained jeans. I'm usually a pretty even keel type person, but we're talking almost full-fledged tearful breakdown over dirty laundry. It wasn't until the next morning when I thought, "Gosh, that was a *bit* of an overreaction." And then I thought, "Hey, hormones!" I was so excited that I wasn't really a raging bitch. Or at least I've got a good excuse for feeling like one. :-) I'm definitely still feeling a lot grumpier and shorter than usual, but it's a lot easier to keep myself in check now that I'm more self-aware, and I like to think my body's getting used to the influx of estrogen. Hopefully I'll be able to deal with the 50% increase in dosage today. :-D

I'm currently sitting in the waiting room, waiting for my monitoring appointment. That includes a transvaginal ultrasound to check if my uterine lining is responding to the meds and a blood test to check on my estrogen levels now that I've been on it for almost a week. It should be a quick appointment once they call me back (I was anticipating traffic that didn't occur and got here a half hour early), and hopefully we'll get the results this afternoon. And then, when everything looks peachy keen, I believe we get the go-ahead to officially make travel plans for transfer. Woot woot!

Super enjoying our burgeoning relationship with Chris and Keith. I love how involved they want to be with everything that goes on on my side, and how involved they want me to be on their side. It really feels like a team effort.

Despite the fact that I am, of course, not actually pregnant yet, because of the weird way pregnancy is tracked (counting from the first day of the last period, and not from fertilization), I am sort of kind of 1 week 1 day pregnant today, based on our transfer date. :-)

It's Meds Arrival Day!

Today, arriving just in time for IF Keith's birthday, is our first, real, tangible proof this is really happening. Meds are here! Never in my life would I have imagined I'd be practically giddy over a box of needles, hormones, vitamins and antibiotics. But they're here, and I start them tomorrow! Yay!

This protocol is a little different than last time. We're doing a frozen embryo transfer like we did before, so I don't have to do Lupron. Tomorrow I start the estrogen to start plumping up my uterine lining. Last time it was one shot every three days. This time it's 2-3 pills everyday. So that part is a little easier. Slightly unfortunately (it's not a terribly big deal), we'll still have to do progesterone shots everyday, but that doesn't start until about 5 days before transfer. And I'll also start the antibiotics (prophylactic) at that time. And maybe some steroids? I gotta check out my box again. As a matter of fact, I'm going to go organize it all right now. Alas, no valium this time. ;-)

It's hard to believe, but as long as my body cooperates, and there's no reason for me to believe it won't, we will be transferring in 18 days! That's right, transfer is on August 22! I may be a little excited and might have bought a pregnancy test already. :-D It's real now. Meds start tomorrow, countdown mode to transfer, let's make Chris and Keith a baby!

How a 2.5 hour delay almost turned into a week (or more) setback

Posting this unedited, as is (written on July 31), so I can get to work on my next post. See if you can find the super important piece of information amid all my whining:

While I won't post this until we've confirmed our transfer date, I'm currently writing having just boarded our plane back to the U.S.

We woke up this morning at 6:00 in order to be at the airport in time for our 11:00 flight. The travel time between our accommodations and the airport was only about 30 minutes. But a variety of circumstances (mostly out of our hands, I'm proud to say) meant we didn't get to our gate until 12:00. So I guess it's a mixed blessing that our flight was delayed. Two and a half hours. Which is a general bummer, but nothing we can't deal with, being pretty good at rolling with the punches. But that causes further issues, because our connection in Miami is two hours. So the likelihood of us making that is pretty darn slim at this point.

So, double bummer. Especially because they're saying they can't get us on another flight to San Francisco today, and we'll have to stay the night in Miami. As much as we'd like to be home, we're not terribly averse to a little addendum to our adventure. BUT I have an appointment for an ultrasound tomorrow morning. And based on the results of this ultrasound, I'm supposed to be starting meds in anticipation of an August 22. If I miss this appointment, it's likely they won't schedule another one until the following Friday, at the earliest, as I was told they like to do transfers on Fridays, and that works out best for our schedule.

Needless to say, I'm motivated to make this appointment. I politely expressed that desire to the airline agent, and they found one seat on a flight from Miami to San Francisco tonight. But that means leaving Tony and the kids in Miami while I go on by myself. I'm almost certainly going to take the flight if it comes down to it, but I'm not keen on the idea of leaving my family on the other side of the country for a night.