So, first off, I feel the need to say that I won’t be posting anything about the fucking HORRIBLE atrocity that took place at Sandy Hook Elementary—partly because a lot of other bloggers are doing such a great job of it and you should be reading what they have to say; partly because, as a treehugging pacifict Canadian, I have pretty unwavering convictions about gun control; and partly because I feel weird turning this space into anything other than a snarky infertility diary. The only thing I will say is that, according to statistics, most likely one or more of those kids shot last week belonged to parents who had gone through infertility treatment. I cannot imagine enduring years of negative pee sticks, IUIs and IVFs, miscarriages, etc., and then finally feeling like I made it to “the other side”, and then having that ripped away in an instant. Horrible.
——INSERT SEGUE BACK INTO SELFISH BLOGGING HERE——
So I received the beginnings of my IVF schedule, all of which was communicated in a voicemail message, meaning it’s a bit scattered, but whatever—still exciting. I’m on these antibiotics now, and on Sunday reacquainted myself with dear old birth control. I must say, just opening that 21-pack of tiny pills was like running into someone from university that I purposely have not kept in touch with. It was like, “Ohhhh, hey… you! Uh… long time no see? How’s it going? You totally look the same! But, like, different in a way!”
It matches my Estrace!
And it’s true—BCP hasn’t really changed, except that instead of taking Marvelon (was anyone else on that? I have this weird suspicion that I was the only person who ever got put on Marvelon), I’m now taking Apri (where on earth do they come up with these names, anyway? It’s like they just forgot the last letter of April and couldn’t be bothered to correct it). So far, no side effects, although I never seem to get any to begin with.
Anyway, after the BCP, we kick it up a notch!
Tomorrow is my teaching session for the injectables.
Dec. 27: I start on Lupron, 0.1 cc, taken at night once a day.
Jan. 11: Bloods and u/s, get other meds, return all consent forms, pay for IVF cycle and get another endometrial biopsy (which they probably won’t even look at—my doctor says they just do this because aggravating it makes the uterus extra “sticky”. Honestly, between the lasers and the biopsy-just-for-stickiness, I think my fertility doc is a little crazypants).
Jan. 13: Take more fertility meds (the Luveris, maybe?).
Jan. 15: Possible date for egg retrieval.
Jan. 20: Possible date for transfer.
Not totally sure where the Gonal-f will come in, so I need to clarify that, and I’m also not sure whether I’ll be going in for bloods and u/s every morning between the 11th and 15th (I assume I will), but otherwise it all seems pretty straightforward. There is a strong likelihood that I could be PUPO (pregnant until proven otherwise, as they say in the TTC community) by Jan. 20. Never has a date sounded so magical and full of promise… January Twentieth… just has a nice mouth feel, don’t you think?
Yeah, Science! 
Sooo exciting!! January 20th sounds like a great date to be PUPO! :) Watch her gooo!!
Yes, using birth control after two years was totally insane. :)
Whoo-hoo! Exciting stuff! I hear January is a great month to get knocked up. :)
I’ll be on a similar schedule. No lupron or BCP’s for me, but should be starting stims the first week of January.
Also, I recently read about a study (from Isreal maybe??) that showed that nicking the uterus increased fertility. I was actually thinking of asking my RE about it. So sounds like your RE is ready to try everything which is awesome.
I decided not to post anything on Sandy Hook either because what is there left to say? It’s an awful tragedy. And I had the same thought as you- most likely at least one of those grieving families had to work really hard for that child….and now they are gone.
A woman from my RESOLVE group just had her doctor nick her uterus ahead of time. It’s supposed to help with implantation.
Yay for a schedule! I hopefully get my IVF schedule this Friday! :-)
Yessssss!!! Exciting things, exciting times….
If I’m remembering correctly (and it’s entirely possible I’m not) the gonal-f will be one of the first ones when you’re telling your uterus to work overtime and start churning out a lot of fat eggs. You are the egg farmer. Coo coo cachoo.
Didn’t have to take estrace myself so please do tell me how the side effects are if you have any. I always seem to have way too much estrogen in my body.
Hey Rebecca! I took Estrace for my mock cycle, and didn’t notice any side effects at all… but then as I say, I never really get side effects from anything. I kind of wish my estrogen was naturally higher, then my blood pressure wouldn’t be as high (although then I’d be paranoid about getting breast cancer or something, so who knows)…
PUPO by Jan. 20th… It does have a nice ring to it! I never heard of the nicking the uterus plan for increased stickiness, but it makes sense. Whatever increases the odds, right?
I’ll be thinking of you as you start this process.
Oh Marvelon!! Marvelon and I went out for ten years starting in university, and when I finally broke it off Marvelon took my period away and it took me a year of pestering to get it back. Great news that you got your IVF dates! I found having a schedule to look forward to strangely comforting in an OCD kind of way.
As for the Sandy Hook thing, I thought the same thing about whether any of the parents had been through infertility. Not that it makes their grief any greater than a regular parent, but it certainly has a shitty irony to it that is horrendous for us fellow infertiles to think about.
Ha! We are seriously on the same page! It took a year for my period to come back after Marvelon, too…