Day 6 of Stims

Yesterday’s appointment went so much better than Monday’s. My arm is starting to get really sore, so I think we’re going to have to switch to my left arm for tomorrow’s blood draw. My vein in the left arm is a little less accessible, but I think that would be worth it to save me the trouble on my right.

Of course, I’m obsessing as I think every IVF patient does. My estrogen was much better, up to 203 yesterday. This was more than double Monday’s number, so I feel really good about it. I would like it to be a little higher, but I certainly don’t want OHSS, so as long as things are growing and developing, I’m ok with a teensy bit lower E2 level. Because my stats were pretty good yesterday, my dosages stayed the same, which is exactly what I wanted to have happen. I think I’m hoping for an E2 level of about 550 tomorrow, but I have no idea if that’s good or bad for this stage of the game and the nurses seem to guard that information like it’s a national security item.

So on Day 6 of stims I had 13 eggs growing. After obsessively searching the internet I’ve learned exactly nothing that would help me to determine what that might mean for me from a fertilization perspective. Maybe they’ll retrieve them all, maybe there will be more before retrieval, maybe they won’t retrieve them all. Maybe they’ll all be mature, maybe only ½ will be mature. Maybe all the mature ones will fertilize, maybe none of them will, and who will EVER know what the quality of any of them will be. In conclusion, I could have 20 embryos or zero embryos on transfer day. Talk about not having control of something!

Last night my belly was sticking out like I was already pregnant. I have to admit I kind of enjoyed this look, but since I’m not pregnant, and barely halfway through my stims, it concerned me slightly. I’m not sure how I’m going to hide a massive (non-pregnant) belly, so hopefully it doesn’t get too big and doesn’t last too long.

I had to order 3 more vials of Follistim yesterday as well. I probably could have squeaked by on 2, since I have an extra 300 in the fridge, but I don’t mind having an extra vial in the event this doesn’t work and we’re on our own next cycle. I think I’ll attempt to order as many meds as possible before we lose our insurance so we can take the most advantage of this coverage. Once again I need to remind myself how very blessed we are that we have coverage, even though it is going away.

Day 6 Stims Stats
Estrogen – 203 (up from >90 on Monday)
Follicles – We saw 7 on my right ovary, and 6 on my left ovary (thankfully, lefty finally showed her face)
New Lupron Dose – 2.5 units – Same as before
New Follistin Dose – 225 AM and 225 PM – Same as before