The "Stims" Have Started!

So, Thom and I have officially made it through the "first round" of shots (Lupron) and I even managed to do them TWICE on myself while he was away this week. Yep, it took me a looong while the first day but I was finally able to trick my brain into not thinking about it by pinching another area of my belly while giving the shot. Whatever works, right?! The Lupron has otherwise been going well-no real side effects except for some MAJOR night sweats. It's pretty nasty, actually, but much better than some other side effects I read about so I'll take it. I stopped the birth control pill on April 16, which meant today ("day 4" of my cycle) was baseline testing day. This includes some bloodwork and an ultrasound to make sure the Lupron has done its job hormonally and that my ovaries have not developed any cysts as a result of the medications. I recently found out that this is also the "make it or break it" testing-if hormone levels are off or any cysts have developed, the whole cycle is cancelled. Yikes! So, of COURSE there had to be a little drama yesterday (for those of you who know me well, it wouldn't be a Kristin story without it) when I got diagnosed with the flu. The IVF team doctor told me that a fever this morning would mean I could not go for testing, which would compromise the whole cycle! Well, after a lot of worry, rest, fluid, and prayer I woke up fever free and was able to go ahead. PHEW! Things went well with the testing aside from a "runaway ovary" scare. The ultrasound tech almost had me convinced that I only had one ovary because she could not find my left one. I think she asked me three times "So, you're SURE they didn't take an ovary when they did the surgery?" As much as I'm not the biggest fan of the docs who were in charge of my care, I'd like to THINK they wouldn't try to pull the wool over my eyes on this one. So I just kept saying "Ya, I'm sure. Can you keep looking?" The tech finally refused to torture me with any more poking and prodding, decided to do an abdominal ultrasound, and found the left ovary all the up by my ribs! Little bugger. SO, the hope is that once the stimulation meds start to kick in (which apparently make the ovaries swell to the size of grapefruits-what???) the left ovary will drop down a bit. If not, we're looking at possibly having to perform the egg retrieval abdominally, which is much less common and a bit more risky of a procedure. We allll know that Thom and I could do without that concern so (never thought I'd say this) please pray for my left ovary! :) So what does this all mean?? Since all looked good with the testing, I got the go ahead to start my Follistim tonight. This is the medication that will stimulate my ovaries to start producing lots of follicles, which will eventually hold the eggs. For those of you who need a biology refresher as I did, the normal female cycle produces just one egg per month. The Follistim (the "stim" med in IVF lingo) will hopefully cause my ovaries to produce as many as 30 eggs, which is why the ovaries get so big. Of course, along with this comes risk of overstimulation (OHSS) which is just another thing that makes my little worry wheels start turning. I don't mention all this to be a downer or to get sympathy-I just promised I'd include you all in the good, the bad, and the in between so I want to be honest about everything that goes along with this journey. I will be taking Follistim injections every night at 8pm and again the next morning at 6am, along with the Lupron at a decreased dose. Poor Thom is really being put to work now as my designated "shot giver" so keep him your thoughts!! I will go for more testing on Wednesday AM at the Brigham, which will be our first insight into how my ovaries respond to the stimulation medication. We'll hopefully get some more good news which will lead to more progress! I HAVE to include the fortune I just broke out of a cookie as its very pertinent to this blog!! It says "May your faith always exceed your fears--no price is too great to go through life afraid". Does God speak through fortune cookies?? :) I think I need to take these words to heart a bit more in this journey. Please continue to keep us in your prayers for big results, little worry, and LOTS of progress-we're potentially 10 days from retrieval and 13 days from transfer!! Thanks for reading! :)