Daily Monitoring, What should I ask the nurse when she calls

[Santee]

Hello Everyone,
I've been poking around on this site and decided to jump right in. My hubby and I have been married 6yrs. He is 34 and I'm 35. We have had 4 miscarriages from natural pregnacies, Over a year of unexplained infertility, 3 failed IUI's and we are currently on day 5 of our 1st IVF cycle. I am currenly on Lupron and Follistim injections and am being monitored daily.

So here is my question. I get a call daily from my nurse to tell me if I should change my medicine dosage or keep things the same. When I go in each morning they take my blood and do an ultrasound. So what questions should I be asking the nurse? How many folicles, what are my numbers, heck I don't know...today I just noded and thanked her for the call.

Can somebody help me? Anybody in the same cycle as me, let me know we can swap stores...

[moorebaby]

welcome! why don't you join us over on the january/february 2010 thread? there are a LOT of us, so you can definitely learn a lot. plus we give each other so much support & encouragment. i love it!

as far as your question goes, you can ask your nurse about your #s & your follicle #s & sizes. don't feel like you're being a burden...that's what the nurses are there for.

i'm really sorry to hear about your previous unsuccessful attempts. fingers are crossed that this will be your time.

but like i said earlier, definitely join us on the january/february 2010 thread. hope to see you there

[Santee]

Thank you so much for the response. I saw the Jan/Feb 2010 thread, but didn't know how to jump in. I guess I should just do it, but feel a little challenged cause I don't know all the lingo and abbreviations. Thanks for responding.

[moorebaby]

under the "general forum" the 3rd one down is a whole bunch of abbreviations. but believe me, in a week, you'll be a pro!

[Santee]

Thanks! That is SUPER helpful...

[DandMe]

Hi Santee..yes..join the jan/feb board.. it's very nice, and vrey busy. hard to keep up but all are super friendly.

What I ask and take note of daily:

Estrogen Level
Number of follies
Size of Follies
Lining thickness

You may also want to know:

What your AFC was (anterial follicle count) (spelling?)
Your FSH level (follicle stimulating hormone)
SA results (semen analysis)

Now it all means something to me because I am a research hound! These numbers, when written down, can paint a pretty accurate picture of what you can expect for egg retrieval, fertilization and implantation chances.

After ER, (egg retrieval) you'll want to know how fast the cells are dividing, how many fertilized, and the grade of each embryo. Hope this helps!!

[Santee]

Thank you so much DandMe. Heading over to the jan/feb board this evening when I have time to dig in.