I had my second monitoring appointment this morning (day 5 of stimming) and was very pleased to learn that the ultrasound (u/s) tech found 12 follicles today! She measured 1 – 10, 2 – 9, 1 – 8 and the rest were less than 8mm. It seems good that at least four seem to be developing at roughly the same rate, thus far. I hope that they continue to develop and keep pace with each other, as last cycle there weren’t enough close in size when it was time trigger. My edometrium lining today was 4.5 and on Monday it was 2. My E2 (estrogen level) from Monday (day 4 of stimming) was 56. My LH on Monday was 3.22 and my P4 (progesterone) was less than 0.20.
When comparing my measurements from this morning with the previous two cycles, they seem most like those from my day 4 of stimming appointment, from our 1st IVF cycle, at which point I had 11 follicles (with 3 – 10, 2 – 9 and the rest less than 9mm). So from that perspective I would currently be a day behind (as far as follicular development) from where I was at with that cycle. For fun I plotted it out and determined that if I keep pace with that cycle, and our RE were to trigger me a day earlier (as he told us, after the fact, that in retrospect he wished he had that cycle)… that I would trigger on Monday, July 30, with my ER on Wednesday, August 1 and my ET on Monday, August 6. That said, I am not a Dr. and I don’t know how the Repronex (which I was not on with IVF#1) may effect my follicular development this cycle and it is possible that my follicles might develop faster in the end. Also, tomorrow evening (Thursday) I will begin Ganerilex injections, which are supposed to keep me from ovulating on my own. In the past I was using Lupron to prevent ovulation until trigger time. So it will be interesting to see how that addition may effect me and my cycle.
I do realize that I am spending more than enough time analyzing the details and data of this cycle. But, as I have shared before, when I do this it helps me to feel some level of control over things and I like to feel in control, even when I know that really I am not. 😉
I brought Sean with me again this morning, as when I am only there 10-15 minutes sometimes it just seems easier for everyone involved. The whole time we were there we never saw or interacted with any other patients, which I was pleased with since Sean was there (as I was hoping not to make it hard for anyone, who could have been there, who doesn’t have any children yet). Sean was very well behaved and the nurses, u/s tech and the woman who draw my blood (there is a name for her, phlabotomist or something) seemed to really get a kick out of him today, as he was being very social and showing off! I had brought a couple library books, as on Monday I forgot to bring things to keep him busy during my appointment. He loves books about “Maisy” and the two we had he has read so many times that he has memorized them. So while the u/s tech was measuring my follicles, Sean was “reading” aloud! She was so impressed that he could read already and asked me how old he was! Too funny! I explained that he would be 4 in October, but that he was really just reciting the stories, not technically reading them!
After my monitoring appointment I took Sean to one of our local movie theaters that shows free movies (that aren’t first run/out on DVD already) for kids and has deals on the popcorn and drinks every Wednesday morning. Today’s movie was one of his favorites, “Flushed Away!” It is one that he actually has on DVD here at home, but I know how much he loves to go to the movie theater and thought he would get a kick out of seeing it again on the big screen, which he did! Then we went to his pediatrician’s office to have his arm checked for where they did his TB test on Monday and to pick up his completed medical forms for preschool. He got the all clear/negative for his TB test and we were free to go home. Later this afternoon we will join some of our neighborhood friends at our weekly playgroup gathering, which Sean and I both look forward to!
Unless I get a call from one of the nurse at my RE’s office this afternoon telling me to do something differently, I will be continuing on with 300 IUs of Follistim in the evening and 150 IUs of Repronex in the morning, as well adding 250 IUs of Ganerelix Thursday evening, until my next monitoring appointment Friday morning. I am not sure yet if I will have monitoring at the downtown office over the weekend or not. I venture to guess that I will, but time will tell and I may not know for sure until after they get my blood work back Friday afternoon from my monitoring appointment that morning.
I will check in sometime after my appointment on Friday, if not before. Thank you for your continued support, thoughts and prayers as we move forward with this 2nd try at IVF#2! I have a good feeling about this cycle, after my monitoring appointment this morning, and hope and pray that things continue to go well in the days to come…
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