Pictures of Follicles

Some people have asked what I actually see when I go in for the ultrasounds. Here is an example.

This is a picture of an ovary with 2 follicles. Normally people only have 1 to 2 follicles on their ovaries. Only one (maybe 2) matures and is released each month. With my Femara cycles last year I was only getting one mature follicle so my ultrasounds looked mostly like the picture above. Now I have PCOS, so when I go in for a baseline ultrasound before I ovulate in a given month I will have tons of tiny dots that are about a fourth of the size of the follicle in the above picture. Each follicle has a chance to mature and release. With PCOS I produce tons of follicles (which are really eggs!) but they never mature so I never ovulate so I never get pregnant on my own. This cycle I have 20 eggs on each ovary. So 40 total.

My eggs this cycle look a little like the picture above! LOL! On each ovary. Well, really this picture is 8 to 10 follicles... so just double the picture for one of my ovaries! I LOVE going for my ultrasounds. It is so amazing to see how fast they grow in such a short period of time!

Pictures of the Shots

This is my Lupron. It comes in a vial with disposable needles.
This is the Lupron with the alcohol pad and the bucket I have to dispose of all my needles in.

Before I insert the needle into the Lupron vial you have to clean it with an alcohol pad.

For my dose right now, 5 units, I pull the syringe back to the "5", push the needle in the Lupron vial, push the air into the vial, turn the vial upside down like shown and pull back the syringe til it is at "5" again. This time it will have the fluid in the needle. Kinda confusing to describe!

This is my Gonal-F. The whole pen is about 6 inches long, but the needle is tiny. First I have to insert a new needle on the pen everyday. Then I have to find my dose number on the end (225), pull the white tip back, and it should say 225 in small red print. That actually loads the pen to my dose. I take the cap off the needle and give myself a shot!

Day 7

Today was my seventh day of taking Gonal-F which is my stimulation drug along with the Lupron (which has been a decreased dose). So in the past 7 days I have had 15 shots! 2 a night plus one night I ran out of medicine in one pen so I had to give myself the rest of my dose from another pen. I am feeling great! My mom said I am really calm. With just the Lupron by itself I was really irritated and snippy, but since I had decreased that dose and started the Gonal-F I have felt much better. I almost feel like I am out of it in la la land sometimes! Ha ha!

My next post I am going to post example pictures of some of the things I have experienced!

Ultrasound #1

I went this morning for my first ultrasound measuring my follicles on each ovary and my lining. Everything went great! This what I know from the ultrasound:

My lining is 9.3
My right ovary has around 20 follicles growing anywhere from 8 to 12mm and I have two around 14.
My left ovary had around 20 follicles. They are a little smaller.. around 8mm each.

The ultrasound tech was really happy that they are growing at a consistant pace and that several are growing. They are keeping my dose at 225 tonight and tomorrow night and I go in at 8am Friday morning for ultrasound and bloodwork!

I am SO excited! I was getting a little discouraged from my low E2 level on Monday, but it seems that the medicine is working! It was so incredible and a really neat experience seeing the follicles all over the screen. I wonder which one will fertilize to be our precious blessing baby?!

3 Shots!

So tonight I had to give myself 3 shots! I knew it was pretty close to me running out of medicine in my first pen.. But I really was thinking it would hold off until tomorrow. So! I am on my 2nd pen out of 3 which means egg retrieval is getting closer! So I did 150 units in the first pen tonight and it ran out so I did 75 units of the second pen, plus my Lupron. For a grand total of 3 shots in one day so far! At least I got it over with. It was not bad at all tonight! I am getting more used to the sting and finding out the best place to insert the needle! Please continue to lift us up in prayer! God is GOOD ALL the time!

Gonal-F and First Bloodwork

I have currently taken 3 Gonal-F shots! The first one went okay, the second one was TERRIBLE! It stung SO bad... the needle... the medicine... everything about the second shot was terrible! I was tearing up and that is so not me at all! Every shot that I have given myself over the past year has been a piece of cake! So I was beginning to worry. But yesterday night the shot went great as always! The first two nights my dose was 225 and last night it was 150. With me being PCOS they have to be cautious about me hyperstimulating which would cancel the cycle. So that is why they lowered it the second day.

Well, this morning I went in for my bloodwork at 8am to test my E2 (estradiol) level. It was 70.... Pretty low considering I have done 3 days of stim drugs so far! So the next two nights they are increasing my dose back up to 225 and I go in Wednesday morning for more bloodwork and an ultrasound. I tend to progress slowly on meds... I did this last summer on the Follistim. The nurse did not seem worried or concerned at all. So hopefully we will get better news on Wednesday! Until then, God bless you all and have a great Labor Day holiday!!!

Tomorrow!

I start my Gonal-F tomorrow! It was bittersweet tonight.. the last night of just Lupron. Tomorrow I will decrease my Lupron dose to 5 units and take it with Gonal-F. So 2 shots a night from here on out until... EGG RETRIEVAL! I am absolutely amazed at how fast this has flown by! Lord Willing in 4 weeks we will know the outcome of this IVF journey! I am praying for God's will! I definitely want a precious blessing to come from this adventure, but God's plan is certainly the BEST and He know what is great for our family. If that means this IVF cycle is unsuccessful, then I will be completely fine with that. Ryder has been such a blessing and pure JOY to our family! I have been extremely blessed to have welcomed one precious child into our home! Please continue to lift us up in your prayers! We for sure need wisdom, patience, and preserverance! God is GREAT. We serve a mighty God who knows ALL and loves us very much! We know His hand is upon our doctors and He will guide them in the direction that is the best care or us. I am so excited this is getting so near the end... well, the end of the beginning! There is so much more ahead for our family that I cannot even fathom right now, but I do know for certain that God is magnificant and has been so gracious and blessed our family in numerous ways!