baker's dozen...

Well we had the retrieval this morning at 930 am. Every thing went really well, we have 13 little eggs that they will fertilize and hopefully we have a good portion that continue to develop so we can freeze some for later. Depending on how they progress, we will do the transfer either Friday or Sunday. Kathy will be on bed rest for that day and the next, so Sunday would work out well for missing work. Kathy and I are both so excited we can't wait. It has also been good for kathy no injections the last two days.

We will be saying some prayers and hopefully posting again after the transfer.

Last Stim med...

Kathy had an ultrsound and esterdial Friday. The esterdial was 1296 and she had 1 follicle on the left side over 11mm and 9 on the right side. We had another ultrasound this morning, we don't now the esterdial yet, but she had one really large follicle on the left side (20mm x 23mm) and 5 over 15mm on the right side. She also had 5-10 that were 13 or 14mm on the right side. With that in mind the nurse said we should be doing the HCG trigger shot tonight. She has to talk to the doctor about it first, but it looks like we will trigger tonight and do the retrieval Tuesday morning. If everything goes according to plan then we would do the transfer next weekend. They also said her lining was looking really good. I think the nurse actually compared it to a feather bed. She said any little embryo would love it :) kind of funny, but if they are excited about the lining then we are too.

If we do the HCG shot tonight, then Kathy is all done with stim meds for this cycle. No shots at all tomorrow. It would also mean we have a full box of follistim left over, save just in case.

If all goes well we will have a dozen little eggs Tuesday. More to come :) so happy

esterdial and ultrasound today

Kathy had an esterdial and ultrasound this morning before work. She has 7 follicles over 10.5mm, which is really good for this early. The doctor/nurse/nurse practitioner (what ever that lady was) said that there is a very good chance we will have at least 13 good eggs to retrieve. She also said there is a chance we could trigger this weekend and do the retrieval Monday or Tuesday next week. So far so good. more to come Friday.

Well the Menopur turns out to be the most painful injection so far. The Lupron and Menopur in the morning and Follistim in the evening. I think the Menopur is more painful, because there is a lot of liquid so it takes a while. We had to come home from the 4th early, because Kathy had an esterdial this morning. She has another one with ultrasound Wednesday morning before work. Hopefully with fingers crossed we are about a week away from the egg retrieval.

We had a really nice 4th with our families back in the Detroit Lakes area. We got a chance to talk with Kathy and Scott, who had little Isabella two years ago after going through IVF. It is so nice to have some one to talk to about this stuff. Next weekend we will be going to Shannon and Doug's for Sammy's Birthday party, another family member who has went through IVF.

Doctors office called and knock the Follistim down to 100 from 150. They said that everything is progressing well.

Quick Update

Kathy had her baseline ultrasound and estrodial today. We should be knocking the Lupron down to .5 ml for tomorrow. We start the stim meds on July 2nd. Then have another estrodial on July 4th. Kind of messes up the long weekend, but it is totally worth it. Kathy stopped drinking when we started the Lupron shots, I don't think she needed to yet, but it is better to get used to not drinking now, then after this works :) a guy can hope right.

Now off to a Twins game...That would be pretty cool if we ended up with Twins ( I'm so going to regret saying that when I'm changing twice as many diapers)

Started

Well Kathy started with out me Sunday. I was at a bachelor party for one of my good friends, so her mom was nice enough to give her the first and second Lupron shots. She is still taking the birth control pills as well.

Of all things you would think a bunch of guys at a bachelor party would be talking about, one of Aaron's friends and I started talking and it turns out he and his wife are going through the same thing this summer. They are at a different office in Minneapolis that has a three try program. It was kind of nice to talk to another guy about the whole process and everything.

My cousin Shannon is having a birthday party for her daughter July 9th, a daughter she had doing IVF. Kind of feels like a good omen, considering they are predicting we will do the egg removal around July 10th. It is always nice to see families that have went through this, started a family and moved on to happier times.

Lots more to come :)

All ready to go...

Well we are all ready to go for the first shot June 19th. Kathy ordered the Lupron ahead of time, the doctors told us there was a shortage, so we should get our order in right away, that arrived this morning. I called in an ordered to an online pharmacy, Fairview Specialty Pharmacy, which funny enough is located next to the U of M campus. So I was able to pick all of that up after work. Below is a list of what we all have for medicines right now.

Lupron

Follistim

Menopur

Generic HCG

Tetracycline

Valium

Vivelle

Progesterone in Sesame Oil

Kind of seems like a lot, but it should be too bad. I took HCG shots three times a week for 6 months and when we were at Pracs we got stuck many times a day. Now that I think of that, I wonder if all those meds I took, caused this little problem...Hmmm. Oh well. I think the hardest thing for Kathy will be all the hormones. Some people say that the hormones get a little out of hand, others say it isn't too bad. I guess we will see. If I start asking if I can stay with you, you know it's getting bad. I'm just kidding.

Today is Kathy and my 8 year anniversary. We met 8 years ago May 24, 2003 at Tim and Sam's wedding at the great Doublewood Inn. I was DJing my first wedding dance (technically assistant DJ, being it was my first). I saw Julie, who I knew from NDSU, and visited with her after the dance was done. Kathy walked up to me, a little drunk, and asked if I had seen her shoes. I found them and returned them to her. The next day I invited Julie and Kathy to a bonfire at my parents house. Unfortunately, it was Sunday in Minnesota so no one could get beer. The only people to show up to my last minute bonfire...Lance & Kelly and Dustin. We still had a good time, and Kathy called the next day to thank me for the bonfire and I asked her on a real date. The night of June 3, 2003 we laid in her room watch a movie, I wanted to ask her to be my girlfriend, and I really wanted to do it that day, because I knew I would remember it, because "3" is my favorite number : ) Unfortunately by the time I got the nerve to ask it was 1AM on the forth. Kathy was nice enough to pretend the 3rd was our anniversary untill Sept 9, 2006, when that became our new anniversary date.

Kathy,

The last 8 years have been a lot of ups and downs, here and there, but I wouldn't change a thing. We are so close to having our dreams come true, with a child of our own. There are some tuff times ahead with all of these shots, but if everything goes well, our dreams will come true. I love you so much. Thank you for saying yes 8 years ago and making me the happiest person alive.