Two weeks later...

The two week wait was a doozy. I headed to NYC for volunteer work, which gave me something to take my mind off of things. Ironically, the ivf meds give you the same symptoms as pregnancy. Morning sickness (well... for me, it was 2p sickness every day), cravings (yuummmm... chicken!), and tiredness (soooooo tired!). It really messes with your psyche... trying to convince yourself that you aren't pregnant, while holding on to hope that you are.

It turned out that the latter was true. No baby this time around.

For now, we'll just let my body recover and then decide what to do next.

Day 12/13: Roller Coaster

Todays brings a totally unexpected plot twist. It turns out that I ovulated through the meds. 'Unheard of!' they say. Well... this super ovulater proved them wrong. The big dip in the numbers meant that we lost a strong follicle and set the timing of my uterine lining off in the wrong direction. 

Decision time: we can go forward with the cycle as planned. Best case scenario, we'll likely end up with one, maybe two embryos. The odds aren't in our favor. A second option would be to convert to iui. The chance that it would take is pretty low; if it does, the risk of multiples (3+) is high. Hmmmm.... what to do?! 

Just to throw one more kink in the plan... if we go with iui, we can't use the sperm that is in the freezer. If we want to keep our options open, we need to dive into crisis mode, choose a new baby daddy, order sperm for rush shipment, and then decide what to do. Previously sperm selections took hours... days, even. This one would have to be done in less than two hours. We take a quick look back at our top picks, filter them for the iui eligible goods, and make a quick decision. 

We decide to go for the iui and hold off on ivf for now. We schedule the appointment, rub our fertility goddess, and go for it. Now, the dreaded two week wait...  

Day 10 / 11 Check in: Jumpy Numbers

Yesterday, H and I returned to the doctor for our day 10 check in. Everything went as planned... follicles developing, uterine lining looking good. Lefty was hiding, but has been an over performer all along. Righty had joined the party with several large follicles. Feeling confident, we decided to go ahead and purchase more meds ahead of the blood work results since we didn't plan on being on the side of town where the pharmacy is located.

Reality check: anything can happen. Our ivf nurse Pam called after lunch. Estradiol dropped. Rather than the 800 - 1000+ that we were expecting, it had gone in the wrong direction and is now sitting at 270. What does this mean? How could we have developing follicles and dropping estradiol. The two things contradict each other. We felt absolutely deflated.

Pam booked a follow up appointment for the next day (today, as I am writing). She encouraged us to keep taking the meds, and say a little prayer. Throughout the evening, I could feel my ovaries continuing to swell. By dinner, I could barely find a comfortable position at the table. Everything on the front side of my body is sore and swollen.

I went to bed last night preparing myself for the potential of a cancelled cycle. At the same time, feeling perplexed at what my body was telling me. Cautiously optimistic, I tried to get some rest before this morning's appointment.

Today was interesting. If my levels are dropping, we would likely see shrinking or stalled follicles. Thankfully, this is not the case! On both sides, my follicles look great. Hmmmm.... even the doctor is a bit confused. We speculate that maybe there was a mix up with the blood work or an error in the lab, but know that it is unlikely. Only time will tell...