And now we wait...

As I stated in my last post, this IVF process officially started on the Tuesday after Memorial Day. As a part of the process, I was required to go to the doctor's office every couple of days for blood work and an ultrasound. The blood work was to monitor how well my body was taking to the hormone injections, and the ultrasound was simply to see how my body was progressing in the process. Each time I went to the doc, I would be contacted in the afternoon with my instructions for the next few days (take this medicine at this dose, take this med at this time, etc.). This went on for just about two weeks.

On June 6, 2008, I went in for my routine blood work and ultrasound. That afternoon, I got the call I had been waiting for: it was time. That evening, my husband had to give me the mother of all shots (and he did an AWESOME job)! This medicine has to be given at a precise time as it usually corresponds to the schedule of the operating room. June 6th was a Friday - which meant that I was to have surgery (for the egg retrieval) on Sunday, June 8th.

Although it was a rough day for me, the surgery was a success. The doctor's were able to retrieve 17 total eggs of which only 16 were mature. The office would call the next day with the number that actually fertilized, which ended up being 13. Their plan was to transfer some of the embryos back on June 13 - weird how the number 13 keeps popping!

Everything went pretty well that week. On Friday, we showed up at the doctor's office where we found out that most of the 13 were still doing pretty well. Based on my chances and the health of the embryos, they decided to transfer 2 of the best looking ones. Success rates are becoming better with IVF, so they try not to transfer more than they believe is necessary. They then told me that two weeks later, I would go back from my pregnancy test. TWO WEEKS!

While I wait, I still have to blood work done every couple of days. They only call if there is an adjustment to be made in the medicines, but that I am not supposed to panic. You ever tried to not panic when someone tells you not to??? My first blood work, I was called. I wasn't too concerned about it, they just started me on some new medicine. It actually helped me to feel better, so I accepted it. Last Friday, I didn't get a call after my blood work - Yeah! Everything is good!! Today, however, they called again. Seems that I have a hormone level that is dropping - and that I should not panic! I should just take some more medicine and wait until Friday. Yep, this Friday is my pregnancy test - scary indeed.

You know, I waited for so long for a dream to come true, and now here it is just around the corner, and I am scared to death! I worry, a lot! Am I truly ready to be mother? Are we ready to be parents? What will happen if the test is negative? Can I/we handle news like that? I'm trying to stay positive, yet sometimes that truly is hard to do. Waiting is not fun - but Friday is only 4 days away (that is 10 less than it was when they first transferred the embryos back, so I guess that is a good sign)!