Baseline

Today's baseline tells us if this will be the magic month for egg retrieval. I'm not going to lie.. this week has been nerve wracking! When it comes to upping your chances, it's all about egg quality.

For the past two years, I've been on vitamins and supplements to help increase egg quality. We added even more to the mix about a month ago. Our nightstand looks like a pharmacy. At 39, you'll do whatever you can to improve your chances.

To add to the edginess, I've also been on a regimen of birth control this week. It's all about controlling your system so that it will do what we want -- produce a bunch of eggs at once! A few days ago, I started spotting and today I seemed to start a light period. I went in to the doc's office convinced that this wasn't normal. Turns out that it totally is! When you stop taking the pill and the hormones drop, it causes a period. Menses 101... but it's strange since I just had a period 2 weeks ago. Weird.

Before starting the hormones, the doctor basically wants four things to happen: calm ovaries with a nice group of follicles developing, thin uterine lining, a little bleeding, and the right estrogen level.

The ultrasound reveals calm ovaries and thin lining. We have around 10 follicles measuring 5mm+ and a few more slightly smaller ones that might join the party. We already know about the bleeding. Now just need to see about the estrogen levels. A little blood draw and we are out of the office and heading to the fertility pharmacy.

A few hours later, we get the call -- good to go!!! Tomorrow, I'll start three meds: an antibiotic as a precautionary; follistim (300iu); and menopur (150iu). The follistim and menopur will be mixed up into a little cocktail and injected into my lower abdomen - ouch! I hear it's not as bad as it seems. We will see:)