My brother-in-law did a great job giving my sister her first estrogen shot tonight. I must admit he had an excellent coach to guide him (my hubby). All 4 of us were a little nervous, but James did great. I'm sure it's kinda odd sticking a 1 inch needle into your spouse for the first time. The good news is that the estrogen shot is not a daily shot - she just needs it every Monday & Thursday. If all goes well, she'll continue with these shots until she's 12 weeks pregnant. ;) My sister is now up to 9 shots a week... such a trooper. Good night!!
Shot Regimen for Me: - 10 units of Lupron daily in the AM (since 1/19)
Shot Regimen for My Sister: - 10 units of Lupron daily in the AM (since 1/19) - 0.3mL of Estradiol Valitrate every Mon & Thurs (since 1/31)
Good Evening! During these treatments, I pretty much have our calendars memorized and have all of my appointments (and any potential appointments) blocked off on my work calendar. So the fact that I had an appointment on Jan 29th for a baseline was engrained into my brain. I decided to work from home that day - which I do about once a week when I can. I'll admit that I don't usually shower on those mornings, but of course I did yesterday. As I was having breakfast with my husband yesterday morning, he asked if I got all dressed up for "my co-workers for the day" - meaning him and our cat. It was then that I realized he had no idea that I had an appointment that morning. I told him I had my baseline appointment and asked if he thought I was just going to keep taking Lupron forever. ;) I also asked him if he knew that we were trying to have a baby and he was like, "Who? You and me?" Hee, hee! Then he said that he's already done his part and his boys are just waiting on ice for my eggs to be ready. I guess I just assumed he knew - since I knew. For our 1st round of in-vitro, I'm sure that we would've talked more about the baseline appointment - just because of all of the unknowns, but this is not our first rodeo. Anyway, he's going to go with me to my future appointments where Dr. Williams will be checking in on the follicles. Those appointments are more exciting than the baseline appointment.
Baseline Appointment: The purpose of the baseline blood test and ultrasound is to make sure everything is good for the cycle to continue. I went to the LabCorp office that's just a few doors down from ORM for my blood draw at 9am. There was no line, so I went straight to the room. They were super-quick and very nice - I got my blood drawn in no time. Then I headed back down to ORM for the ultrasound. As you can see from the picture I posted yesterday, the rooms at ORM just look like normal gyno rooms (stirrups and all) - with an ultrasound machine. When the nurse took me into the room, I expected her to just tell me to undress form the waist down - which is the normal protocol. (Because of that, I always wear a longer shirt - so that there's no crack showing while I'm waiting for Dr. Williams.) So I was a little surprised when she told me to get completely undressed and to put on a blue gown with the sheet over my lap. I knew Dr. Williams would have to check under my hood - but wasn't sure why my top half had to be accessible. I asked, "Completely undressed - like everything?" to be sure - and the nurse responded with "Yes, everything." I didn't ask any more question and just went with it. Part of me thought that maybe they changed their policy or something. At this point, I'm really not that self-conscious around doctors - so I wasn't really that concerned, just curious as to why the change. When Dr. Williams came in, he smiled, shook my hand, and said his usual greeting, "Ann? Dr. Williams..." He quickly explained that in addition to the ultrasound, he needed to do some other FDA required tests since we're using my sister. One of the tests was just a quick visual scan of my front and back to make sure there weren't any signs of drug use or rashes. Lovely! ;) Then he said "No" to a bunch of questions he was reading off the sheet, asked me to stick out my tongue real quick, then responded with "No" to a bunch more questions. So I'm guessing I passed the test. He also had to do a culture (pap smear) to send in to the lab to make sure I didn't have any crazy STDs. Geez.... so much work to let someone else try to have your baby! ;)
After that, we could get down to the actual baseline part of it all - the ultrasound! Since there's no baby - the ultrasound has to be done inside and not on the belly. So the lovely wand that you can see in the photo from yesterday's post is what is used for the internal ultrasound. Dr. Williams showed me my uterus up on the screen and said it looked good. He did say that there was a 3cm fibroid on it - but that it was nothing to be concerned about. I know when I had my surgery back in June 2010, he found the fibroid but said it was a non-issue. But I don't really remember him ever pointing it out on the ultrasound screen to us before. So kinda weird - but if he said it's nothing to worry about, we won't worry about it. He also located both of my ovaries up on the screen. After that, the examination was done! Dr. Williams wrote down a few notes on my chart, shook my hand again, and told me that Nancy would be waiting for me.
I Heart Nancy: By the time I got dressed, Nancy was waiting for me outside. She told me how cute my hair is again - she's so sweet. We went to her office because she had a verbal questionnaire that we had to do - more steps because of our gestational carrier. For those of you that have donated blood, the questions were very similar to the types of questions that the Red Cross asks you before you donate. Nancy's reactions to some of the questions were quite funny - so I don't think she's a regular blood donor. ;) We breezed through the questions - she was marking them "no" even before I responded. There was a question about whether I had done acupuncture in the last 12 months. Since I did try it once - I said, "I have done it...." then paused to think about whether it was in the last year or not. As I was thinking, Nancy whispered - "Your sister won't care - we'll just put no." LOL - she was cracking me up and so right. The good news is that my acupuncture nightmare (I mean, experience) was in Dec 2011 - so it wasn't within the last 12 months.... whew. ;) When we got done with the questionnaire, she looked at me very sincerely and said, "I really hope it works this time for you guys." I thanked her and said that we're hoping that is the case. She told me that Teri would give me a call tomorrow and let me know about the estrogen results and next steps. Later in the day, I asked Joby if it would be weird if I invited Nancy to one of my baby showers - he said he wouldn't be surprised.
Phone Tag with Teri: During one of my morning meetings this morning, my cell phone was blowing up from Dr. Williams office. But I was leading a weekly status meeting, so couldn't really take the call. Teri left me a voicemail saying that my estrogen levels came back fine - so we're good to continue with the cycle! And that on Saturday I should reduce my Lupron to 5 units and start taking my Gonal-F shots twice a day. She also said that she would be calling my sister to tell her to start her estrogen shots tomorrow. Another step in the right direction - yay!! :) At the end of the message she asked me to call back to confirm that I received the message. During lunch, I gave her a call back - but ended up having to leave her a message. I told her that I got the message and just asked what the timing was for the Gonal-F shots. I wasn't sure if it needed to be 12 hours apart or not. She called me back during another one of my meetings and left me another voicemail with the answer to my question. Teri said that we just need to make sure the Gonal-F shots are 10-12 hours apart - which shouldn't be a problem. I'm thinking we should do them at 6:30AM and 6:30PM - but my husband is thinking we should do 7AM and 7PM. We'll see where we land! ;)
Whammy Sisters: Since we both took our last birth control pills on Saturday, we were both expected to get our periods at some point this week. Mine showed up yesterday and hers did today - so I guess the birth control pils did their job to get our cycles all synched up! Let's hope that after these periods, we don't see any whammies for awhile. Our one friend offered to order "No Whammy" t-shirts for us all to wear.... too cute. We appreciate all of the prayers, love, and support from each and every one of you out there!
Daily Regimen for Me: - 10 units of Lupron in the AM (since 1/19)
Daily Regimen for My Sister: - 10 units of Lupron in the AM (since 1/19)
Good Evening! Today I was reminded of the circle of life with the birth of our new neighbor (little Annalyn) and the passing of a close friend's grandpa. Crazy thing is that today was actually my friend's grandpa's birthday. So first of all, I'd like to shout-out a happy birthday to the newest neighbor on the block and to heaven's newest 89 year old angel! Love you, EW!!
Tomorrow morning I'm going in for lab work and an ultrasound. This is just to make sure everything is good to go before the fertility shots (Gonal-F) begin and also give them a baseline to compare to throughout the cycle. Since I have to go to ORM for the ultrasound, I will just go to the LabCorp that's a few doors down from their office. Assuming all is well, they will probably have me start the Gonal-F shots over the weekend.
My Week
On Thursday, it looks like my sister will be starting her estrogen shots. We need to get her womb (aka "Wamba Land") ready for the embryos - so the estrogen shots help with that. Our Lupron shots are subcutaneous and can go into our stomachs - but the estrogen shots are intra-muscular (with a longer needle) and need to go into muscle either in the thigh or in the upper buttocks/lower back region. I don't think she's going to be able to do these herself - so we will need to either be her night-time nurses or train her hubby. We'll have to have another shot training session on Thursday!
Chrissy's Week
For now, my sister and I are still on the 10 units of Lupron each morning. "What's the Lupron for?" you might be asking. The purpose of Lupron is to suppress ovulation. We obviously want my sister's ovulation to be suppressed because we don't want her to ovulate. :) The reason that I'm on Lupron is because they don't want me to ovulate..... until the time is right! We both took our last birth control pills on Saturday - so bring on the baby (or babies)! :)
Happy Birthday to my IVF Buddy! Hoping she felt the birthday love today. Continued prayers that she and her hubby will get the family they've been trying to have for so long. Although it is nice having someone that can really relate to the baby challenges - it's hard to watch someone else go through it, even when you're living it, too.
BCP & Lupron: This week we are continuing with the birth control pills and Lupron shot each morning. My sister's been doing a great job administering her own shots. She's traveling to Chicago for work tomorrow and will have to take her Lupron and supplies with her on the plane. She just had to get a letter from the doctor - in case she gets any questions during security. But when I had to travel with my shots back in 2011, they didn't even bat an eye in security. Hopefully it's a non-issue for her as well. My shots are going well, too - though I've had some bruising afterwards. I told my "nurse" about the bruising last night - which led to a little bit of tension. I'm sure you all have little tiffs with your spouse about the shots they have to give you each morning, right? Ah, the joys of IVF. ;) The good news is that we have plenty of shots to work it out - the fun has just begun.
What's going on this week? Below are our calendar snippets for this week. Tomorrow morning I need to go in and get some blood drawn in the morning. In looking at the lab order sheet, this seems to be a step specific to the fact that we're having a gestational carrier. I think it is probably some type of required blood test right before the cycle starts to make sure I'm safe - so we can put some embryos in my sister. And on Saturday, we will both take our last birth control pill - but the Lupron shots will continue.
In closing, just wanted to reiterate again how thankful I am for wonderful family and awesome friends. Enjoyed a girls' night out on Friday to celebrate a friend's birthday and a dinner party tonight with my Fiserv girls. And we had a great weekend in Pittsburgh with my parents, aunts/uncles, cousins, and my cousins' adorable boys. I had fun at my cousins's baby shower on Sunday and look forward to my next cousin's baby shower on May 4th. 15 weeks and counting according to sources in Arkansas! Good night!!
Daily Regimen for Me: - Birth Control Pills (since 12/26) - 10 units of Lupron in the AM (since 1/19)
Daily Regimen for My Sister: - Birth Control Pills (Daily since 1/6) - 10 units of Lupron in the AM (since 1/19)
Good Morning! :) Up until now, both of us have just been taking the birth control pills - which help to reset our cycles so the medicine/drugs can take control. I started my new packet of pills on 12/26 and she started hers on 1/6. This week would've been the start of the "sugar" pills for me - but Teri instructed me to refill the prescription and continue taking active pills.
This morning my sister and I had our very first shots of this exciting cycle. Both of us will now be getting a shot of Lupron each morning. As long as we administer the shot within the same 2 hour span each morning - we're good to go. I'm going with the 6-8am timeslot. :) Since it was my sister's first shot, we walked down to her house and had Lupron 101. She was a very good student and my husband was an excellent instructor.
Kinda ironic watching her give herself a shot this morning with no complaints - because in high school she used to bawl every time my mom said we had to get flu shots. We are very lucky she's not deathly afraid of shots anymore and that she's so willing to participate so actively on this journey with us!
To welcome her to the wonderful world of shots, we gave her a little goodie basket full of band-aids, gauze pads, extra alcohol wipes, prenatal gummy vitamins, a travel bag for her Lupron/supplies, and some other non-IVF related treats! My husband and I are heading to Pittsburgh today for my cousin's baby shower . And my sister is heading to Cincy for her husband's grandma's 90th birthday party. So she'll be on her own tomorrow morning for her Lupron shot - but I think she's got it down!
Below are our daily regimens and little snippets of our calendars from Teri for this past week! For now, it's pretty easy - birth control pills and a shot of Lupron each morning. But things will definitely start to get more exciting as we get closer to February. Hope you have a wonderful weekend! Cheerio!
Daily Regimen for Me: - Birth Control Pills (since 12/26) - 10 units of Lupron in the AM (since 1/19)
Daily Regimen for My Sister: - Birth Control Pills (Daily since 1/6) - 10 units of Lupron in the AM (since 1/19)
This morning my sister & I met with Teri! We each received our own folder for the cycle. Mine is gray and hers is red... Go Bucks! ;) Teri gave us our calendars for January & February. My cycle predictions were pretty much spot-on. For now, we both continue on with our birth control pills. And we will both start the Lupron shots on January 19th. :)
Our drugs were also delivered today by FedEx! Well, they were attempted to be delivered - but my husband was at lunch with our brother-in-law. ;) Our options were for Fed-Ex to deliver on Monday or pick it up at their center. Even though we don't need any of it until the 19th, we knew some of the medicine (like the Gonal-F) needed to be refrigerated upon arrival. Since we weren't sure whether the ice packs would last thru the weekend - we went to pick it up. We delivered my sister's box of drugs to her as well. We have our calendars, our drugs, and we are ready to go!! Good night!
Just wanted to give everyone a quick update! Things won't be moving along quite as fast as I originally thought - but that just means more time for positive thoughts and prayers. During our in-vitro cycle, I started the Lupron shots about 2 weeks after I started the BCPs. So I assumed that would be the same this cycle. I talked to Teri (one of the Donor nurses) on Friday and she needed to know where Chrissy was in her cycle. She was actually on her period, so Teri said that she should start a new packet of BCPs on Sunday, January 6th. She also wanted to know whether we could come in on Thursday or Friday of next week to review the calendars and protocol with her. I asked how soon I needed to start the Lupron shots. She explained that with a donor type of cycle - you start the Lupron two weeks after the last person starts their BCPs. So while I thought I'd be starting Lupron sometime next week - it won't really be until Jan 20th or so.
Below is a picture of my IVF calendar from 2011 - just to give you an idea of how the cycle will go after the Lupron shots start. Basically about 2 weeks of Lupron, then we add in the Gonal-F (follicle stimulating drugs) shots. Then the egg retrieval within the next 2 weeks and the transfer 3-5 days later. Pretty exciting! :) Here are my predictions....
1/20 - Lupron Starts (the baby shots)
2/1 - Gonal-F Starts (the sightly bigger shots)
2/13 - Egg Retrieval (lots of beautiful eggs will be retrieved and fertilized)
2/18 - Embryo Transfers (transfers embryos to two wonderful wombs - one more experienced than the other)
2/27 - Beta Tests - aka Day of Mass Rejoicing!!! :)
We'll see how close I am. Feel free to place your own bets. As long as the "mass rejoicing" part is right, I'll be happy. We are going to plan to meet with Teri next Friday morning. So next week, I will have the real calendars to share with you. The real calendars still won't have the exact egg retrieval, transfer, or best test day - as the retrieval depends on how the follicles are looking. And the transfer date depends on how well the embryos are doing. The beta test day will always be 2 weeks after the egg retrieval day - regardless of the transfer. Kinda crazy how much of an expert I have become on this topic. Live and learn! ;)
Happy New Year to our family and friends that follow our blog! ;) The fact that you're still following along either shows that you are a glutton for punishment (hee, hee) or you do actually believe that someday we will get our family started somehow, someway. Either way, we appreciate your love and support!
I also wanted to be the first to officially welcome you to "The Year of the Johnstons!" Those of you that follow Giuliana & Bill know that 2012 was "The Year of the Rancics." And now that they have their precious little son, Edward Duke, we're thinking that it must be our turn. We've had a lot of hopeful New Year's Days in the past - but I really think this has just GOT to be our year. So we thank you in advance for your thoughts and prayers for a successful in-vitro cycle that will result in one (or two) pregnancies that will then result in a Baby Johnston coming home in 2013! We will need all the love, support, and prayers that we can get. We hope that "The Year of the Johnstons" will also bring you and your families much health, happiness, laughter, and love!
My husband and I got married in 2005 and tried to start our family back in January 2008. We started our 1st round of in-vitro in December 2010 - which is when this blog was started. Despite a near perfect cycle, it resulted in a negative pregnancy test in February 2011. We were fortunate to get 6 extra embryos from that cycle that were frozen. In March 2011 we started a Frozen Embryo Transfer cycle. Despite another great cycle (on paper), all 6 of our frozen embryos had to be thawed to get 2 good ones for transfer - which failed to result in a pregnancy. In 2012, we took the first half of the year off and then tried a couple rounds of IUI with and without fertility shots - still no baby. In 2013, we did our 2nd round of in-vitro with my sister offering to be our gestational carrier. We ended up transferring 2 embryos into each of us and were blessed to welcome 4 babies in October 2013.