IVF: Retrieval Complete

We just finished the procedure and I am sitting with Leandra in the recovery room waiting for the drugs to wear off. Everything went well and she is taking a little nap right now.

The process officially started for us at about 12:42 pm when Leandra popped her Xanax pill in advance of the procedure. We arrived at the clinic and found out that there were four scheduled procedures and we were the last to go.

I was in the room with her the entire time as the doctor was working his magic. It was funny talking to him about the NFL, MLB, NBA and NCAA during the process. (Total sports fan.)

I'll skip the details except to say that there was some noticeable discomfort at times. The ultrasound was pretty cool as he was moving around the ovaries and sucking out all of the follicles.

We ended up with 15 eggs. Even though we had around 30 follicles for both ovaries, therie was no guarantee that there would be an egg in each of them. The eggs they did obtain will be looked at to make sure that the healthy ones are used.

Now that she is done and resting, it's "my turn." Don't worry, I won't be writing about it. If you can't figure it out, then talk to your kids. They can fill you in.

IVF: Retrieval Scheduled

Leandra had one last round of bloodwork this morning. The clinic wanted her to come in one more time to determine the retrieval date.

This afternoon, she received a phone call and was told that the egg(s) retrieval will take place Monday afternoon at 1:30 pm. Luckily, we both already took that day off. I was also took off Tuesday...just in case. My work has been pretty flexible under the somewhat uncertainty of the circumstances. Hopefully, Leandra's employers will be just as flexible.

The one downside to our schedules time is that I have to give her a shot...probably the most important shot...36 hours beforehand. Not that big of a deal, except that we have to be awake at 1:30 am this morning to administer it in her butt. (Heh, heh.)

Not Going the Duggar Way

Leandra had her last ultrasound this morning and all is still looking good. In fact, it looks really good. According to the nurse, her left ovary had 19 egg follacles (sorry, no pictures this time). I have no idea how many are on the other side.

I think it is safe to say that we will not be going the route of the Duggar family and put to use every egg that is viable. That said, it would give us our own reality show niche. Where the Duggars had their 19 children "naturally," we could market ourselves as the parents who had 19 children through the help of science.

Regardless of whether or not it would make for good TV, we'll be stopping at two (if I have anything to say about it).

IVF: Bursting at the Seams

Leandra had her second ultasound today and she sent me this picture. This is what one of her ovaries looks like. All of the black circles/ovals (middle of the picture) are egg follacles that will be extracted next week. From this angle, there are apparently eight visible, bit it is a little hard to tell.

When we started the process, the doctor was telling us that her ovaries would get big...and she might even be able to feel the difference in size. She has yet to tell me that she feels "bloated."

While it is not the "happy-happy, joy-joy" picture of an unborn baby in the womb, this is a good sign for us. She has one more ultrasound on Friday and then the weekend comes which is the start of the home stretch.

IVF: $800 Refill Averted

One of the fertility drugs Leandra had been taking is called Follastem. It comes in this little glass vial and provides up to 900 units. When we started taking three shots, her doseage was 150 units which would last six days.

At day four (which was Monday) of taking the triple shots, we were down to 300 units which would last us two more days. That morning, we had an ultrasound and bloodwork done. The bloodwork would tell the doctors if she needed to change her doseage. Without the bloodwork results, we had to plan ahead and order an extra vial of Follastem. I think my neighbors heard my jaw hit the floor when we were told the cost of the vial was $800. YIKES!

We had some relief when the bloodwork results came in. She was able to drop her doseage to 50 units. With 300 units left, this would fit perfectly. We talked about cancelling the order, which made sense, EXCEPT...she has another round of ultrasound and bloodwork tomorrow (Wednesday) and they could re-up the doesage.

As it turns out, a friend of ours (and my former co-worker) just did the IVF process and is "heavy with child." No longer needing the vial that she has (which is around 500 units full), she offered it to us. Leandra immediately called the pharmacy and cancelled the order, although we are still paying for the overnight shipping costs. No worries, I will take a $30 (I'm guessing) over $800 any day!

By the way, if you are interested, here is a picture of all of the drug Leandra is currently taking:

This includes (in no certain order):

• Follanstem (that's the pen looking thing on the case)
• Lupron (which she has been taking from the beginning)
• Menopur (which has two small vials that need to be mixed)
• Some pill that I don't know the name of (and we have to cut it in half)
• Some kind of antibiotic pill (that we are both taking)

The Next Ultrasound + Other Updates

We went in this morning for Leandra's ultrasound to get a look at her ovaries and see make sure they are responding to the fertility drugs. As it turns out, I guess there are about 10 follicles on each ovary that are working towards maturing. I'm just happy that we are doing the drugs correctly.

I apologize that I was unable to get a picture to include here. I'm not sure how mind-blowing the ultrasound would look, but I don't have it so no worries. She will have another ultrasound on Wednesday and if all is clear, they will be harvesting them on Monday or Tuesday of next week.

On another note, we needed to get a "refill" of one of her drugs. The cost? $800! That's right! $800. That means that when we got our "big box" of drugs and needles and other stuff, everything else in the box cost $350. Crazy...

The Next Phase of IVF

We've hit a bit of a turning point for us in the IVF process. Up until this point, Leandra had been taking one shot a day of one of her drugs (it starts with an "L"). This is the drug that makes her body think it is going through menopause. She's been pretty misearble the last couple of days.

She went in for her first of three ultrasounds to make sure everything still looked OK. Along with some bloodwork, this was considered sort of a baseline testing. I guess everything was fine because we didn't receive any altered instructions, but it does mean that we are taking things up a notch.

Along with the first drug that was being injected (by me), she now is adding two additional drug that have to be injected (by me). Additionally, she has a two pills she has to take. One of the pills is an antibiotic that I also have to take...to make sure the swimmers are healthy at "crunch time."

I think the hardest part is that Leandra is somewhat susceptible to headaches and migraines, which is a side effect of the drugs. Of course, she can't take anything so she has to tough it out until it goes away.

Just to show what we are going through, I am going to see if Leandra would be OK to video our routine. I think it would be interesting to share. (This would also give my cousin the chance to turn back because she starts her IVF process soon.)

After next week, we hit our window of time where they extract the eggs, I make my "donation" and then they put it all back into her. Sounds like fun.