Huge Beta

I called the clinic as soon as they opened this morning and was able to get an appt before 10AM thankfully. I was dying to find out what my beta levels were and get our pregnancy confirmed by the doc! I showed up early but thankfully they never make me wait, even if I'm early. They called me right back and took my blood. She said since this was the first test, they would do both hcg (what I keep referring to as the beta) and progesterone. Progesterone is a necessary hormone during pregnancy, esp in the early stages to maintain the pregnancy (thus why I was prescribed prog. suppositories as part of fertility treatment).

So finally Dr Meyer called me back and confirmed that I am indeed pregnant. Yay!! He said my beta was 1100 (my reaction was 'woah, really?!'). That's a pretty high number which I knew from my internet obsessions. Here's a beta chart that you can look at to get a general idea (look at day 16, today is 16 days past ovulation for me). Notice there are two charts, one shows values for single pregnancies (one baby) and the other is for multiple pregnancies (twins or more). As you will see from the chart, 1100 is high even on the multiples chart.

Dr Meyer said that beta is high enough that it may be TWINS!! (as I was just alluding to) but that it's too early to tell. I don't even have to go back for a second beta as expected since it was so high. He said my progesterone looked good (I didn't ask the exact number). So I'll finish up the progesterone I have (just a few more days) but then do not need to refill it. He also confirmed my expectation that I no longer need Avandia or Glucophage (for my PCOS) while pregnant. So other than prenatal vitamins, I am going to be drug-free for the first time in two years! I setup an appt for two weeks from now (9/18) for our first ultrasound where we'll hopefully learn more.

Now off to tell our families...

more medicines

Today I had more bw done & found my progesterone level is 33. I'm guessing that's not where they wanted it b/c they added Prometrium (another form of progesterone, though this one is not in a shot) to my already confusing medicine schedule. This one they've got me using 3x/day. Though at least I'm not wasting any of my money, I had been wondering when that big bottle of Prometrium would be used or if I should not have gotten it. (The way the IVF meds work, you have all of the meds delivered at the beginning of the cycle. So you open this giant box full of medicines, applicators, syringes, needles and then you wonder what the heck you got yourself into!)

They want me back for bw next Sat 3/3. This is the one we've been working towards. They are going to check my progesterone level again, but more importantly they are going to do my first beta! They'll do three betas and that'll let us know if we are pregnant!

got a date

Today my bw showed levels were low enough to set a retreival date (they didnt tell me what the level was though). So we go in at 8:30 Wed (Happy Valentine's Day). I still have to do more bw tomorrow (and I thought I was going to get a day off). Tonight I have to take 2 'trigger' shots of HcG at 10PM.

almost there

My estrogen levelled off today at 5206 (was 5204 yesterday). I was told that is good, but needs to go a little lower (around 4000 range) before they can give me my trigger (HcG) shot. So they gave me more of that Ganirelix Acetate shot to help bring it down. So that plus Lupron & back in the morning for bw. I don't know how fast it will go down (it went up plenty fast), but when it hits the right level, then they'll tell me to take my trigger shot & give me a date/time for the retrieval. So, I'm thinking maybe Wed...

overkill

I've gotten in this habit lately of sleeping pretty late on Saturday mornings. I know when this infertility trip is over, I'll have a lovely baby waking me up early and that's ok. But a Saturday morning trip to the doctor is NOT a good reason to be awake.

So today my estradiol level continued to climb (that's with no additional FSH or Ovidrel last night) up to 5204. Today the clinic admitted that's not great as they prescribed a new medicine called Ganirelix Acetate. This one is to 'help the estradiol levels come down' in the words of the nurse. Ok, so they pumped me full of all these drugs & they overdid it? Lovely. So I get to take another one to combat that. I actually laughed out loud when I read on the packaging that this drug is an 'antagonist'.

So anyway, back to the doctor bright & early on Sunday morning for more bloodwork & another ultrasound. Hopefully this time we'll hit the mark (I don't even know where the mark is).

tuesday bw/us

Yesterday the RN msg said to reduce my FSH to 125, keep Lupron at 5 & Microdose Ovidrel at 10. It also said my 'levels were 643'. I had no idea what that means so between diggin on the internet & asking the RN today, I found that they are measuring my 'estradiol' or estrogen levels. Being that it was 'day 3', they said those levels should have been around 200 so mine was slightly high. That is why they had cut down my dose last night. They also had me come back in today for more bw/us. The US showed that I had a lot of follicles already & she said that's why my levels were so high. We'll know later this afternoon what the levels were today & what my doses will be for tonight. Hopefully I won't have to go back for bw every day!

more bloodwork

I managed to get into Cary without too much trouble this morning, maybe b/c I left later. I got my bw done & just waiting to hear back. Should just be some changes to my dosages & then back for more bw on Wed AM.

I hate Cary

Cary is a nightmare ... of course the clinic is in Cary so I got stuck in traffic this morning trying to get to my US. I don't care if it is one of the top 5 places to live in 2006, driving there sucks.

Anyway, I did finally get there & the US went fine. BW came back fine too. So as scheduled, RE wants me to reduce my Lupron to 5units from 10. Start 10units microdose ovidrel and 150 IUs on my Follistim pen. Plus, start my estring and keep up with the prenatal & BA.

I go back on Monday for more BW & then they might change my dosages. At this point we're only about 2wks away from transfer. Not too shabby!

IVF education, Saline Ultrasound & more

Ladies.. be warned, if the nurse says 'saline' before she says 'ultrasound'.. then you're in for a treat. This is not the same as the lovely vaginal ultrasound we're alread used to.. it's very similar to the HSG (maybe my memory is a little fuzzy now but I'd say it's a close call on which was worse). Basically they insert saline thru a catheter into the uterus to see something in there better. Anyway.. I had to have this done as part of our prep for IVF. Last week I came in for some blood tests (a whole slew of tests including HIV,etc) that have to be done b4 going thru with IVF. Then DH had similiar tests done today before the class.

The class was an eye-opener. We came out of there completely overwhelmed! We watched a video on how to administer all these crazy injections, passed around sample needles, got a sample schedule (wow is all I can say on that), asked lots of questions, & signed a ton of documents. Oh and of course I was the only idiot that stabbed herself with one of the needles they passed around. It bled like you would not believe & was all swollen. That'll be fun tomorrow. I knew there was a lot involved in IVF ... but this is just crazy!