1week and counting...

Thats right...only 7 days until we take our first IVF steps (and write one whopper of a check!). Tuesday, I spent an hour on the phone with the online pharmacy that my Dr's office recommends. For anyone needing fertility meds, I HIGHLY recommend them...Freedom Pharmacy. My pharmacist was SO helpful and even let me know that about 5 of my meds would actually be cheaper through our local drugstore. She saved us about $100 on those meds. At the end of the call I waited while she calculated our final total...I was dreading this part. The nurses at REACH had warned us that the meds would probably be between $3,000 and $4,000 per cycle. "Please let it be $3,000, please let it be $3,000" I silently prayed. As I'm whispering my prayer I hear the pharmacist say, "well, that can't be right, let me run those again.". "oh great," the Princess of Darkness said "it's probably even MORE than $4,000...". The pharmacist comes back and said "I didn't think this sounded right, but your total is only $2114". I thought I'd never be so happy to hear that something is ONLY two thousand dollars, but this time I sure was! Then she and I both laughed at how ridiculous that sounds to say ONLY two thousand dollars and she proceeds to tell me that she's had to give people grand totals as high as six and seven thousand dollars...YIKES! Thank you Jesus that our meds are only 2k! So the goodies will be delivered Saturday morning. I have to be at home to receive them since they have to be refrigerated immediately. The Italian has final bloodwork tomorrow, then I have my labs and ultrasound on the 7th and if all looks right, I'll probably start injections that day or the next. From that point, it's only 9 to 12 days until they go in to retrieve the follies. For my prayer warriors out there, prayers for large healthy follicles and plenty of tthem will be greatly appreciated!

Hi Ho, Hi Ho - it's off to the doc I go!!! (Tomorrow)

OK - so I just had to shoot up my follistim drugs sitting at my desk - that was one of the weirdest things I've done so far. These shots have to be taken at very certain times and unfortunately with my job, I can't always be in the privacy of my own home when THE TIME comes! It's super weird having to live my life according to my body's schedule. I'm used to telling IT what to do and when, not the other way around.

Doctor's appointment tomorrow which I'm actually looking forward to. I always like going to see the doctors at REACH...at least I feel like I'm moving forward when I'm meeting with them...during the 2ww (2 week wait) it feels like everything is standing still and I'm just waiting, waiting, waiting.

I do feel like a lab rat though...at the dr's for bloodwork several times each month and then the lovely ultrasound and not the cute kind you get where they rub jelly on your belly, you hold hands with your hubby and get to see your precious little baby growing inside of you. At this ultrasound, it goes IN, yup INSIDE...WAY INSIDE. The first time they did it I was totally freaked out. It goes in, WAY IN and moves around and they measure all sorts of things - the thickness of your lining (I was actually flattered at my last appointment the doc said, "lining looks good...REAL good and I don't say that to all the gals" - geez doc, you're making me blush), they also check both ovaries to see how many little baby follicles are growing (follies are basically little baby eggs - a "normal" woman produces one good one each month and then ovulates (releases one of the eggs) out of one of her ovaries).

For the past 2-3 months I've been on drugs to help stimulate follicle growth because I wasn't ovulating on my own, but Dr. Katz wasn't totally satisfied with the size of the follicles. My right side is PCOS which stands for Poly Cystic Ovarian Syndrome which means that too many little baby follicles develop and there's so many of them in there that there is no way that any one of them can mature enough to release (ovulation) - so he started me on this Follistim stuff (the shots) - not as bad as I thought it would be, by the way...I'm actually getting to the point where I'm hardly fazed by needles anymore (is that even the way you spell that in this context? fazed, phased, phazed, whatever I'll spell it however I want).

Anyway, back to the appt...Tomorrow, HOPEFULLY I'll have SEVERAL decent sized follies (in the 20mm+ range) on both sides and he'll tell me when we can schedule our 3rd IUI. If the days add up correctly, it should be Tuesday...praying that it's Tuesday, please make it be Tuesday. We have a super fun vacay planned with some of our best friends up to our old stomping grounds Boone, NC for the holiday weekend and I don't want to have to cut it short, but we'll see! (again, adjusting to living life according to "the dictator" a.k.a. my hormones...which aren't even mine anymore come to think of it).

And speaking of this vacation - it is a perfect example of my type A, obsessive compulsive, anal retentiveness...this morning I sent my girlfriends a 3 sheet, Excel workbook detailing out our meal plans, tentative itinerary and shopping lists for the weekend. Thank God people are willing to put up with my craziness! I'm a real handful!

But you know, I've been this way forever. I remember when my parents moved when I was in college I found a box with my old diaries in it and instead of "Kelly loves so-and-so" or "She is so mean, she made fun of me for wearing Jordache instead of Guess", I had timelines and agendas for everything - Camping Trips, Vacations, Christmas Eve Dinners (i.e. Grandma & Grandpa arrive at 5:00pm, 5:30 pm Dinner in the Dining Room, 5:45pm open presents in Family Room (I was always anxious to get to the presents)), my self thrown 13th birthday party (that's right my parents wouldn't throw me a birthday party that year, so I made my own invitations, sent them out and planned my own...it was a smashing success until my parents called all of their parents and everyone had to go home)...I think I MIGHT get some of it from my dad, but it must have increased in potency with the next generation. If I weren't me, I might be quite annoyed by me.

So anyway, if it comes to mind, please say prayers for big healthy follies (but not too many - don't want to be Kate Gosselein, I can't pull off that haircut and there's no way Dave could pull off the Ed Hardy apparel once we reach our demise).

Happy Memorial Day friends! Hope you all have FUN plans for yourselves!