I feel like I need to post more, but there isn’t much going on on my IVF journey right now, so it’s all just kind of hurry up and wait.
I had my baseline ultrasound and bloodwork last Thursday morning. The whole point of that is to make sure I have ovulated so that I can start the Lupron shots. I had indeed ovulated, which I already knew, because I know when I ovulate, or at least around the day I ovulate, and my cycles are very regular. The one good thing in all this infertility journey is that my period comes every 26-30 days, like clockwork.
So last Thursday night, it was time to start the Lupron shots!
Lupron basically stops ovulation. The reason for this is because the way your body works for pregnancy, is that in a natural pregnancy, once you ovulate, if egg and sperm meet and fertilize, then your body starts getting ready for pregnancy, or if they don’t, you gear up for your period.
Because IVF is taking all of that outside of the body and into the lab, suppressing ovulation with the Lupron helps you time everything so that when you stop the Lupron, your body then ovulates and you implant the 5-day old embryo 5 days after stopping the Lupron. (Does that make any sense?)
So basically I’ll be on some dose of the Lupron until a) my lining is prepared and thick and trilaminar and b) they are ready to thaw eggs and sperm and fertilize them to make embryos.
Lupron basically mimics menopause, so it includes all the fun side effects of menopause, like headaches and hot flashes. Thankfully I was on this the last embryo transfer, so I know what to expect. I remember having the worse headache of my life on Lupron the last time. But I don’t remember when it was in the cycle, so I’m just preparing every day for a debilitating migraine. Thankfully, it’s only temporary.
My period is due in a few days, so once it comes, and I’ve shed my lining, I’ll go back to the doctor (tentatively scheduled now on May 13), to make sure my lining is shed, and then I’ll start on all of the estrogen. This includes patches and shoving tiny pills up my hoo hah. But again, I’ve done this before and knowing what to expect really helps me.
Tentatively the doctor has my transfer set for June 2. I think it will be earlier than that, because they are assuming my lining will take 2 weeks to plump up. But last time it took about 8-9 days, so we could be looking at a few days earlier than June 2. But it is all up in the air right now.
This also depends on the eggs all thawing, and my sperm donor’s swimmers fertilizing the eggs and the subsequent fertilized eggs making it to a 5-day embryo. Even more things up in the air!
But I’m staying positive and taking it day by day. When the time comes, we’ll need all the Care Bear Stares on those eggs and those swimmers!
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In other news, my back is doing a bit better. I can take walks and I’ve started doing some beginner/low-impact workouts a few times a week. But I had to stop taking the Gabapentin (the nerve blocker) since it isn’t good in pregnancy, and I have noticed a difference in the leg pain since I stopped taking it. Hopefully it just keeps improving from the steroid injection. I’ve also been amping up on the stretching and core exercises to help, hopefully to make it better, but mostly to not let it get worse.