Let the Double Suppression Begin!

Bless me friends, for I took a break from blogging. It is has been 10 days since my last post…

This morning I had my cycle day 14 (of being on the pill) appointment at my RE’s office. I had an ultrasound and the tech said that everything looked great! There were no cysts to be found, which was a great relief!

Last cycle, you may recall, there was some drama at my 1st post-pill monitoring appointment when they found a 27mm cyst on my left ovary, that could have been a problem with our 1st try at IVF, but did not end up causing any trouble when it shrank to 17mm, and my estridol level was low enough (41), after my first week on Lupron. She wasn’t able to find my right ovary again, but the consensus seems to be that’s okay and we can work without it. She did say that the follicles on my left ovary looked good and plentiful! I also had blood work done, which included a pregnancy test (which amuses me, because if we can’t get pregnant on our own, how would we ever do so while on the pill, but they say every once in awhile it happens).

Tonight I will start the “double suppression” by adding a daily injection of 10ml of Lupron to this last 7 days that I will be on the pill. Last cycle I didn’t begin Lupron until I was done with the pill on day 21, but starting on day 14 this time around (to doubly suppress my system) is one of the changes our RE ordered with this new protocol.

To review the plan going forward: next week, after I take my last pill on Tuesday evening, I will continue the 10ml of Lupron until I get my period (which should be 1-3 days after I stop the pill). On day 2 of my period I will go in for monitoring (ultrasound and blood work). Assuming everything looks good (the nurse today said that if there are no cysts there now, there shouldn’t be any a week from now either to hold things up), the evening of the day 2 appointment I will lower the Lupron to 5ml and then add the Follistim and the Menopur to begin the FSH & LH combination stimulation of my follicles!

My day 2 appointment will likely fall sometime between Friday, June 1 and Monday, June 4. After the stimming gets underway I will return to monitoring appointments every other day, and eventually every day, until I am told to do the “trigger” shot and prepare for the Egg Retrieval (ER), which is estimated to take place sometime between Monday, June 11 and Friday, June 15 (give or take a few days). Likewise, the ETA for our Embryo Transfer (ET) could be between Saturday, June 16 and Wednesday, June 20 (it should be 5 days after the ER). Wouldn’t that be a fun way for Bob to spend Father’s Day?! (If the ET were to end up on Sunday, June 17!) So that is my current update!

Life has been good over the past 10 days. Bob, Sean and I have been enjoying the beautiful weather and spending lots of time outside (at the park, playgroup, planting flowers, etc.)! I have continued to train for our neighborhood Memorial Day “Ridge Run” 5K race, but will make the call if I will actually do it closer to the time, after I see how my body reacts to the Lupron this time around. Last week I even taught two group exercise classes (Active Yoga on Tuesday and Cardio Mix on Thursday)!

My Mother’s Day was nice! That morning I walked with some friends and about 8,000 other women and families in our neighborhood’s Mother’s Day Breast Cancer Walk which was fun and inspiring! That afternoon we had a BBQ with both Bob and my parents, my sister and her fiance which was a great time! Bob and Sean got me a Gap Red “Inspi(red)” shirt for Mother’s Day, which I have been wanting and was so excited to receive!

Some other highlights from the past week or so in our lives…

Friday, my dad drove down and Sean, he and I went to lunch at McDonald’s, where Sean got a Shrek themed Happy Meal, and then afterwards we went to the movie theater to see “Shrek the Third” on opening day! Sean was in heaven and his paternal grandpa and Mommy had a pretty good time too!

This weekend Bob went up to Michigan to work with his dad, uncle, brother and some friends to put the pier in the water and get things ready for the season at his parents’ and uncle’s summer home. Meanwhile, Sean and I went to a baby shower for a relative and his wife who are expecting their first in July! It was fun to celebrate their impending arrival with them and Sean especially had fun playing with one of the other children who was there.

That night, after Bob got home, I went to a family women’s “Card Night.” This is a monthly event where the some women in our family get together and play card games like “Texas Hold `Em,” “CLR” and “31!” All for a little cash, a lot of great company and good conversation, not to mention yummy snack food and desserts! I actually won Texas Hold `Em that evening, a whopping $22.00, which was an added bonus!

On Sunday, Bob, Sean and I went on our neighborhood’s annual “House Walk” where we got to tour five homes in our area that were nominated for their interior or exteriors being decorated especially well or in a unique way. Sean was a very good sport the whole time, as we probably should have gotten a babysitter, and Bob and I really enjoyed seeing the variety of creative ways some of our fellow neighbors have designed their homes!

The past week I have also been in couch potato bliss watching the season finales of some of my favorite shows including: Dancing with the Stars, The Bachelor and in the days to come American Idol and Lost!

Finally, I also have been working on my Tastefully Simple business and ran a successful discount sale yesterday with 18 clients ordering products and netting me some much appreciated income, that will go to helping to pay off our recently remodeled kitchen!

That’s all for now. I will likely go back to posting more often now that “round two” is more fully underway, with the commencement of my Lupron injections tonight! Thank you for your continued support, thoughts and prayers as we get rolling on our 2nd IVF cycle!