I am starting to feel like myself again ... thanks Target bathroom

Now that retrieval is done and I don't have to do multiple injections of Gonal F, Menapur, & Ganarelix I am starting to come down off that hormonal high and feel more like a human being again. I realize that for the last two weeks I have been amped up, even forgetting if I have had certain conversations with people. Yea, I guess the meds can do that to ya. I did have some pain after the egg retrieval. So much so that I had to take serious pain meds! Yikes! For three days I laid in bed with the heating pad. Finally today I left the house with the family and ran some errands. At Target the sudden sensation to GO hit me! I had to use the bathroom. For a while I have been a little dry and plugged up but always regular. Well apparently its been a while since I have had a normal "bm" and I am sorry for the TMI. I ran to the bathroom stall and omg, did I have to go but nothing came out. It was stuck! OMG! I panicked. I cleaned myself up and walked out of the bathroom with sweat on my forehead- I found my wife and children waiting for me. I guess I had been in the stall for a long time, that they had finally come looking for me. I told my wife, who is a Physician Assistant, what was going on. I knew she would understand and help calm me down. She gave me this look of sorrow. I didn't know what to do. I looked around and saw that Target had private individual restrooms and I bolted in. I sat down and pushed and well low and behold I birthed a ton of waste and felt HUMAN again! I was deflated. It was amazing and I was relieved! My belly and my private area are still sensitive, but the pain has subsided. My wife on the other hand is not so happy these days. The progesterone in oil shots are no fun at all! It's called PIO for short and my poor wife has to endure the after effects of the shot. So far I have been giving the shots in the butt and rubbing the butt afterwards but the pain the day after is almost unbearable. She was in tears this morning. She can eventually switch to suppositories and pills, but our RE's office is against it before transfer. We know that its all in the name of baby so we keep on moving forward. Transfer is Tuesday. I am praying that one of the two embryos stick! Cheers, Micki

Egg Retrieval

We got to RMA at 10am. Not sure why they wanted us there so early, because my procedure wasn't until noon. I guess they wanted us there on time. At any rate, I was given some good drugs, knocked out for fifteen minutes and woken up in the recovery room. The nurse informed me that Dr. M was able to get 9 eggs. I have to admit I was a little disappointed. I wanted 15 or more, but 9 is good especially for someone my age. I had cramps afterwards and went home and slept the day away. Today I went to work and felt worse. I think from the bladder infection I got. Hmm, how'd that happen? Last minute romp in bed before the 2ww? Seems suspect to me. I was in some serious pain, but on the flip I started to feel more like myself and not so "amped" up on hormones. We finally got the call from RMA to find out how many embryos were made. Out of the 9 eggs, 7 became embies! Not bad at all. Unfortunately they had to do icsi due to poor sperm quality. ICSI is where they actually insert the sperm into the egg. It's an expensive and delicate procedure! Glad they didn't have to do it on the account of my egg quality. You better believe I called Fairfax (the sperm bank) today to file a complaint. RMA will call the bank on Monday to give sperm count details and inform fairfax of what went wrong. I want my money back on the 2 vials we paid good money for last month! Sperm is not cheap! All in all, I would do this again if we had to. I surprised myself in that I am not afraid of needles anymore. Yes, my belly looks like a pin cushion but thats okay. It's all worth it. Tonight I am just taking it easy watching some Golden Girls and allowing the pain meds to work. I am still floored that on Tuesday we have the embryo transfer and will then be in the 2ww! It's as though it were meant to be.... Cheers, Micki

Fresh off the farm to the market!

I am living in this surreal moment right now! I am floating where ever I go because I can grow eggs! I really thought that my fertility was gone back in the 90s when I suffered from endometriosis and fibroid cysts on my ovaries. I remember my doctor once saying that after 25, my ability to have a child would be near to impossible. Well, he was right except for the mere fact that I am a lesbian and my wife can carry my dna to have our third little. Modern technology is amazing! Expensive, but amazing! I am not sure exactly how many eggs I have. Once it was 8, then 12, then back to 10...maybe now 11? What I do know is that all of them are growing!! We went in for our final u/s and blood work this morning and I have follicles that range from 24mm to 18mm. The doctor, whom we have never seen before said that my 41 year old eggs look GREAT! What an awesome feeling! All that kinda got shot to hell when she looked over at Andrea and asked if we were sisters. I was stunned. I mean Andrea and I look nothing alike! First off, she is five foot and in excellent shape! Lets not forget the fact that she is much paler than I. I kindly smiled, as she handled the u/s probe which was gently inserted inside me, and said that Andrea is in fact my wife and she will be carrying my embryos. The Dr. didn't have much to say after that...argghh! Really?! Tomorrow is retrieval day and I can't believe that on Friday we will find out how many Embryos my eggs and our donor sperm will create. I pray that they all develop into grade A embies fresh from my ovaries into the belly of my wife! As long as one takes, we are golden!

It's almost retrieval time

Some would say we are crazy, but we have decided to add another "little" to our family of four. Right now my wife and I have two children both her dna and full siblings. I love my babies to the moon and back and then some! I always say "I love you infinity!" They are enough and if we never have another baby again, I am totally okay with it. So, how did we come about baby #3? Well, the journey began when my wife signed up for premium health insurance. She found out that it covered ivf. It's not the only reason we decided to move forward with a "little", but it sure helped solidify our plan. We could afford it! We knew from the get go, about seven years ago, that if I couldn't carry (which I can't) that we would try at least once to help me go through ivf so that my wife can carry my dna and I guess at the ripe age of 41, its time. Wow! Not only is it really happening, but its working! I have 10 eggs so far and all are ready to hatch. Okay, well not really hatch. I am not a chicken. Ha! But I am ready for retrieval on Thursday. Andrea's uterus is ready and well, I can't believe in two weeks we could possibly find out that we are having another baby... a Little as we call him/her in our family. Cheers, Micki