Nurse Me

OMG! I am Horrible! I just cannot get anything done today!!! My brain just will not get off of this IVF thing. I have googled and yahooed and clicked on the blogs I read over and over and over. ARGH!!! I am obsessed, I swear!... I have got to get out of here and away from this computer! The latest, I just pulled out my meds and looked over them all... Again, for the 20 millionth time! I feel like my very own nurse... Nurse Me. I've never been interested in the medical field b/c I don't think I could take the blood and guts, but I think after all this, I could be a really good IVF nurse coordinator. It really is super neat, and I've done so much research. Na, I'm just rambling, but needles are getting less scary.

Anyway, somebody put a website link in one of their posts where you can follow blogs without having to click on each one individually. Does anyone know what it is?

No other dilemmas to report, just waiting on Thursday to get here.

:)

Morphology?

Oh, I forgot to mention that when I got the results of the SA this past Friday, the nurse made the statement that the number of sperm was good, but the shape of some of them was not too good. She also said they weren't bad but that we may have to do ICSI which will be an additional $1,500... Great! Wonderful! (I'm being sarcastic & rolling my eyes here.)

But on a positive note, our HIV and Hepatitis tests were negative... YEAAA! (Not that we were really worried - but we weren't worried about the SA either and look where that has gotten us.)

Thanks you guys for all the wonderful and supportive comments.

Piece of Cake

First Lupron shot... done! It was not bad at all. It did itch for about 5 minutes afterwards, but I just massaged the spot a little bit. Now it's gone. Well, there is a slight little bump there, i'm sure it's normal. Anyway, I just got through finding my meds their own little spot in a basket in the bathroom linen closet. They have been just hanging around on the table in the Fed-Ex box til now.

I am officially a member of the club. I must say, one club that I would rather not be a member of, but such is life. Up until now, I have just been talking about it. Now, I'm doing it, yikes.

Ok, that's it for now... bye.

Decaf Coffee...

Well I took the plunge. It was either cut coffee out all together or switch to decaf. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not a big coffee drinker. I usually only drink 1 or 2 cups in the morning. So for the last few mornings I have just not drank any coffee at all to see if I could just not drink it at all. Well, I haven't felt myself, so, yesterday I bought a bag of decaf. I just made the first pot, which is only a 4 cup pot. I had to first stop and smell the aroma when I opened the vacuum bag. It was ok, even good. Then, as it was brewing, I noticed it was still smelling pretty good. I fixed my first cup, took a deep breath and then a careful sip.... I must say it is pretty dang good. I can't believe it... YEAAAA, I can keep coffee! I guess I have been sort of paranoid that it would suck because one time at work (one time at band camp - hahaha), I tried some decaf, and I don't know it was too strong or the brand or what, but it was not good at all. In fact, it was down right horrible. I swore from then on that regular coffee was the only way to go. Well my friends, I have turned that page in my head. I am sooo relieved.

Now, on to iced tea. This will probably not be as easy. Down here in the South, it is all about iced tea now. Sweet Iced Tea. I think I am going to start with switching out one of the three family sized bags of regular with decaf and see how that goes. Who knows, maybe it will not be noticeable.

Anyway, t-minus 24 hours and counting until my first injection of Lupron.

The Deed Was Done!

Much to my DH's desire I was able to go in the little room with him. But man, talk about a sterile environment. I don't know what I was expecting. I guess maybe a low lit room with a comfy recliner or couch and a tv w/ porn videos and magazines. For some reason I was also picturing a disco ball (don't ask me why). You know, it just seems to fit in with the 70's porn music and low lighting in my head. Anyway, it turned out to be a tiny bathroom with a million watts of fluorescent lighting. There was a tv w/ vcr & tapes & magazines in the corner, but the tv was one of those teensy tiny ones w/ a built-in vcr... it's a wonder any man is able to produce a "sample." Oh, and the chair... it was a measily folding chair! YES, a FOLDING CHAIR. We both bout fell out (w/ laughter). Anyway, I got to use that folding chair while he stood up for the whole event. So, I took my shirt off just in case he missed the cup. I could just see me having to walk back into the waiting room with a freshly tried to wash it out shirt - oh the horror! And about 10 minutes later, after a gag or two (b/c he tried to shove it down my throat) we rang the little door bell for the little Chinese guy to get it from the pass window. I think he is the head Embryologist - top notch too - but we could hardly understand him - which is too funny in itself. We (DH especially) are Southern people. Anywhere we go outside of the Southeast USA, people don't understand us and vice versa. So when the lil 4' Chinese guy came to get us to go to the little room, we had to ask him to repeat everything... well, DH did. I was hanging back in the hallway trying to not be embarrassed by my going in with him.

Then it was on to bloodwork. That all went smoothly and the nurse who stuck us was very nice and pleasureable. We decided while we were there to see one of the IVF nurses to sign all the consent forms, and I'm glad we did too. My DH's work is weird and there is a chance that he may not be able to take off work to be there for retrieval and produce a fresh sample. I asked if the sample would be frozen (I thought that I had read that they freeze it automatically in case something happens on retrieval day - but they don't!). So, the nurse immediately went to the lab and checked to see if it was too late to freeze them. They were still on the warmer and we decided to have them frozen just in case. WOOSH!... one more stress taken care of.

When we got home, I went down the "Checklist for IVF Start" and was able to check everything that was left. Soooo, now I AM READY! :)

Bloodwork and SA

Tomorrow we go to the RE's office for some mandatory testing. DH gets to supply a specimen for a semen analysis, and we both get to give some blood for HIV screening and Hepatitis panel testing. He is hoping that I will get to go in the little room with him to "help" produce his specimen, but I don't think I will be allowed in there. Either way, it's one more step in this process that is finally here. I just have a question... how the hell am I supposed to concentrate on work or anything else. This is just so all consuming, argh! Oh well, it's exciting more though. One good thing is that the weather has warmed back up... thankfully! We worked in the yard yesterday in shorts and flip-flops..... YEAAA! (yeaaa to the shorts and flip-flops, no yeaaa to the yard work - friggin leaves!)

Waiting and Freezing

I had a good post earlier. But I got side tracked and now I've forgotten it. Ok, maybe it wasn't a "good" post or I wouldn't have forgotten it, right? You got me. Anyway, not much to report other than it's friggin freezin down here. I am way down South, it's just not supposed to get this cold. I am sooo ready for spring and warmer weather. Only one more week until I start Lupron. Woohoo!!!