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[Waitingkay]

Amanda,
I think you both made a smart choice not to wait any longer with your cycle. It's definitely a good thing your DH got to explain your situation so that he gets to call every other day.. hang on there, the physical discomfort is annoying. It was difficult for me in October cause I didn't know what to expect and at first I was suspicious of myself, as if I thought for the most of it I was feeling lousy just cause I knew I was taking the hormones - then my RE told DH and me that he was surprised I wasn't hospitalized for just how much my E2 went up so it was an aha moment, a little ashamed to say I was kinda glad to show DH I wasn't complaining for nothing
Only 2 more days until my LH blood work and then for sure couple of days later, hormones, and only 3 more days until your ER... My 2WW will start a little over a month after yours, so listen to this! Your twins are gonna be one month older than mine! (I'm trying this positive thinking, don't mind me). I think in a way it bugged me at first when we found out my DH's problem that we didn't tell his family, because it took a long time and I FELT like I was getting the looks, you know, why am I not pregnant yet. But then when we got the results after the first ET and I had a chemical pregnancy and RE was worried it might be ectopic, and we were instructed to go to ER to have an induced m/c (which we luckily didn't need eventually) - DH rushed to tell his family and then it didn't really make me relieved in any way. This cycle, except for this forum (and if I decide to write on others too) I'm not telling people DATES I'm gonna have treatments. It's easier for me this way to just know what I have to do, and share it with people on the forum that are going through exactly the same. I know it sounds TOTALLY CRAZY but I don't want to jinx it in any way enough misfortunes already!
Wish you a lovely day, remember - every day is one day closer to being a mom. A mom!!!
K

[Trusting]

Hello Waitingkay,

I am very good with the possitive thinking agenda!!! It will be great to have twins only a month apart absolutely wonderful! We have been thinking this through for a long time so we have our names picked out for a girl and boy and even for two girls not exactly sure yet if we get two boys. I went to one of those conception calculators to see when the expected due dates would be and if we are having twins it would be Sept 22 my husband and I are both sept babies so it would just make sence that we would have our twins in sept. My levels were up significantly over the weekend I went from 394 on Friday to 1070 on Monday, YaHOOO!! I have the next check tomorrow morning with the anticipation of getting my trigger shot tomorrow night, It is really happening!!!!

I know what you mean about hubby not telling his family about his issues. Although I do have endometriosis my husband had only one percent of live sperm when we got the test done which was really shocking to us both. I had to go through surgery for my endo so everyone knew I had that going on but not everyone knows about his issue. So i feel like everyone thinks its just me.....I know it really makes no differende we still have to go through all this and it certainly does no good to blame him or me it is just a trial we have to go through together and we are certainly stronger and closer now than we have been in the past because of all this.

I am in TN what state are you in? That must have been tremendously painful to go through that my levels are no where near what yours had to have been with OHSS!!! I really cannot imagine, you must be a very strong woman to handle that! Did you ever get any word from your SIL? Will your hubby be there for most of your cycle this time? Hoping all goes well on Thursday!

Have a great day,
Amanda

[Waitingkay]

Hi Amanda,
I'm not even in the States, unfortunately - it'd feel good to know you were at least on the same continent. We are living in Israel, which is where we're originally from, I came back here after living abroad in Europe (not even UK) for over 12 years . This basically means that it's easier for me to write in English, hence what brought me to this forum in the first place (plus this one is so welcoming). Other than sending my mom to NY in April I am going to be stationed here for quite a while now due to treatments, while hubby travels great deal to South Africa among other places and we've also been together in Paris a few months ago - no US for me right now .
Your E2 level is magnificent! How did your check up go today?
Really i wasn't and am not such a strong woman, it's funny how I couldn't really make up my mind how painful OHSS really was until RE said he was astounded with the levels..I compare it to an infant who starts crying after falling down only when he sees how his mom's panicking:) It's the knowledge of these things we inject that are known not to be good that makes it hard I guess.
If my protocol up until the treatment method (which will be IMSI this time) is the same like the one I followed up in October, I should be starting my antagonist injections in about a week! You know, we have more girl names too. Actually we or hubby only has one name for a boy which I don't like and the one name I always loved for a boy (old fashion "Aaron" sigh) he denies me of. But we should be so lucky to have many many children to choose names for!
I have not heard a single word from my SIL. Ever since we've been living here we got family living rather close, for better and for worse and it's hard to find balance. I'd really like us (SIL and me) to be pleasant with one another, without her urge to either really be best friends or not at all. I hope that mainly for the sake of my hubby and his brother and little daughter things will soon fall into place. Maybe it's because my SIL is 9 years younger, difficult to know. Again, just like you perfectly phrased it, people don't understand how for us in our situation every visit every handling of a newborn can ache. And this does not compromise us being happy for them. It does not. Well tomorrow is finally my LH test...let's hope it's alright. Two more days to go for your ER!!! Looking forward to hearing your good news.
Have a lovely day you too, far far away.
K

[Trusting]

Waitingkay,

Wow, continents away from one another and yet sharing daily thoughts isn't technology wonderful in this situation at least! I have always wanted to spend a vacation in Israel my husband and I agreed that if we get stationed in Germany for our next duty station with the military we are going to take a vacation there. What is your favorite part/thing about living in Israel?

Sorry to hear your husband won't be around for your cycle either, kinda stinks but it is part of life for now. Who will be doing all your injections, you? We are hoping that we will get stationed somewhere else when my husband comes home in May and hopefully he will not have to serve in Afghanistan or Iraq again anytime soon.

My levels were great today 2274 and the doctor thinks I will have 12 mature follicles on Friday sure hope he is close to being right on having that many!!!! I am eager to get these precious eggs out and find out how many are going to fertilize!!!! My friend Who is 7 months pregnant came over to give me my trigger shot tonight I wanted to make sure it was right on time. I hope your blood work is great tomorrow!!! and you get started on your antagonist meds on time.

I do hope that you and your SIL can find a good balance especially for your husband and future children's sake. It would be wonderful to have that problem too many children to pick names for!!!! I like Aaron as well, we are going with Daniel Linton for our first boy and Mya Lena for our girl.

We'll i am really tired, hope you have an awesome day tomorrow!!!!

Amanda

[Waitingkay]

Hi Amanda!
I am so excited for you...so looking forward to hearing great news about tomorrow!!!
My LH level was 108, and RE said (his own words) "today's your day" meaning I'm ovulating, and calculated everything right, due to start with the antagonist Thursday the 27th. Hubby won't be here, and I think I'll inject myself - I somehow prefer it to having anybody else do it when it isn't him. But I guess I'm more used to the idea cause it'll be round number two.
Hmmm what I like most about Israel..tough one. It's not all rosy, I guess I like the food and the positive aspect of warm and caring people. I lived in quite a few places, I loved Italy the best cause everybody can feel at home there (even Elizabeth Gilbert!!!) but liked less Norway, which is where I've lived many years. Not quite homey, at least it wasn't for me. I always have a feeling that NY could have been the right place for me, but as I said instead of ever going there myself we just got a ticket for my mom to go. I hope you'll be stationed exactly where you wish to be, and especially that your DH won't serve in either Iraq nor Afghanistan. Wish for you first of all not only him, cause I know what it is like to worry for someone you love.
If you ever do come here I'll make sure to send you my private details!!! Two good friends of mine visited from abroad and we really had a lot of fun, we went to all the Christian locations, like Via Dolorosa and the church of the holly Sepulcher.
12 follicles sound excellent. A high number, but not too high to go over the quality! Well I really can't wait to hear how it went for you - if you do read this before, please remember - at least for me the ER was no biggy, quite the contrary - it makes you quit baby steps and really start seeing results! Actually baby steps sounds very good
Take care Amanda, good luck! I am thinking of you tons, crossing my fingers and praying!
K

[Trusting]

Hello Waitingkay,

Wonderful news about your levels!!!! It is always great to hear that things will be progressing as expected!! I know what you mean about not having others do the shots except for hubby. My friend was helping me and even though she is a dear friend she just didn't have the same compassion when doing the shots as my husband and it is always easier to correct hubby when he pushes the needle in too slow or pushing the meds in too fast but not so easy to correct a friend.

That would be so awesome to see the Via Dolorosa and visit the places that Jesus walked. Certainly a desire of mine to visit some of the places that I have read about in the Bible and to see a different culture. I have never ventured out of the United States so seeing another culture would be very intriging especially Israel were my Lord and Savior walked. What is your religion? Are you Jewish? I am a Christian and I attend a Baptist church here in TN. I accepted the Lord as my savior late in life I was 28 years old.

My ER went great and we had fifteen eggs!!!!! Of course we don't find out until tomorrow how the fertilization is going but I am so excited I hope they are good quality! I do have alot of sharp pains from my ovaries but not real bad and the Demorol is taking care of it.

Hope you have/had great day,
Amanda

[rph]

Was hoping to join in with you ladies.....I am also going through my first IVF cycle. I'm on day 5 of stimulation now--had an ultrasound yesterday that showed 12 little follicles and they doubled my meds (yuck)....I'm just so nervous going through this--so far everything is "unexplained" and I am hoping IVF is the answer....

[Trusting]

Hello rph,

it would be great to have you join in. It is very nerve racking to go through this. They doubled my meds after the third day and I stayed on double dose of Repronex until my trigger shot. You probably read my previos post so you know we had 15 mature follicles today!!!

Did they give you an estimated time for ER? where are you located? Me Clarksville, TN and my procedure was done in Nashville, TN. I have my Embryo transfer on Monday can't wait to get the call tomorrow to see how many fertilized!

Have a wonderful night,
Amanda

[Waitingkay]

Amanda hi!
These are awesome news!!! I truly hope all or most of the 15 will be successfully fertilized - normally it is a good number that do. I was really shocked to hear you were in Nashville! My DH's cousin is living there, going to med school there (he's American born and we don't see him very often). I was born Jewish secular, my parents unfortunately didn't really respect religion very much, just good morals. I started really believing in God when I was 19, but I don't practice any certain religion. When I lived abroad I had many good Lutheran friends and an ex boyfriend and was celebrating both Christmas and Hanuka. I think in Israel I can be called "culturally Jewish" for keeping traditions, but the main thing for me is I'm a believer. DH isn't which makes it sometimes complicated. Maybe he will see once we do get babies. It will be great to show you around all these exciting places here, my former boss (he's Dutch) visited me here with his wife, and they really wept when stepping out of the Church of all Nations. It was amazing, they were praying for their sick son (he's anyhow better now). I've never been to the US but on the other hand know Europe pretty well, we should just take turns getting to know another continent!
I'm sorry to hear you have sharp pains, but if it's anything like what I went through it won't last for a long while - and I hope you agree that the procedure itself isn't so bad. ET you are not supposed to feel at all, so you are over and done with the worst part, congrats!!! Now soon I'll be here to support you on your 2WW. Remember the stims and trigger are still in your circulation making you more sensitive and swollen (basically ALL the benefits haha). The suppositories also have some effects.
Hello rph!
Like Amanda said please do join us! The meds are bad but IVF has terrific success rates, so it's easier to keep positive. You girls are both ahead of me with treatment! I already want to get started - feel kinda stressed.
Well, I'm off to baking a cake, wish you two an excellent day!

K

[Trusting]

Hello K,

We recieved the call today telling me we have 6 that fertilized out of the 15 I was kinda surprised I expected more but I am also very grateful to have those six!!! We are planning on transfering 3 so that will leave 3 to freeze so we can have another set of twins or even triplets later on!!! I certainly don't want any more than 3 at a time becuase it is so dangerous for the babies.

Today it just feels like I have cramping sorta like just before my period starts so it is not bad at all. I certainly don't think the ER was that bad at all. I have been pampered by my SIL and MIL it is wonderful to have them here going through this with me they are truly a blessing. I hope you can find a way to relax and not be too stressed, I know it is much easier to say than to do!! I was thinking about making a celebration cake for our embryos and just for the opportunity to have this procedure done, I know women who just cannot afford to get it done and will probably never have kids. It would really seem like the price would go down but it hasn't over the years, I guess because not that many doctors specialize in fertility the prices are still way up there. We paid $13,000 for this procedure and I know we will not be able to afford it again unless I can find a job that would cover part of it with insurance.

Time to eat some dinner so I will talk to ya later, when do you start stimms?
Have a great day, Amanda

[Waitingkay]

Amanda ho are you?

Congratulations for your 6 embryos!!! 6 blessings from you and your DH together! A beautiful number! It is so amazing when after such a long road you suddenly have good news, ain't it. I am praying for the first try to work and for you to get either triplets or twins! I'm also very happy to hear you are being pampered properly!!! Wonderful to have loved ones around you, just understanding women. Great stuff.
About the finances of treatments..we know also here about the health care situation in the states, I'm generally interested in such issues. It's absolutely hard to understand why exactly in the states which is so superb in many other ways exactly this issue isn't the strongest. It's HEARTBREAKING to think (and I'm so very fond of you for saying exactly the same) that women that can't afford this just won't have their own baby. Heartbreaking, and not right for the 21st century. I feel incredibly lucky because in Israel it is all covered, I mean the minute a couple has an actual infertility diagnosis, and not just that the couple hadn't been able to conceive after some months and wants to speed things up. DH and I pay rather little for treatments, we are charged a minimum amount for every procedure and meds. We could also choose to do it private, but are saving up to afford moving to a bigger house (for our twins, you know, it's the confidence that counts ) My heart goes for people who can't, it should not be depending on money! So many people have babies they don't even care for or want!
On Thursday I'll start injecting the antagonist, and by the 8th of February I should be starting the stims - but I'm first scheduled for blood and u/s on the 7th. Tonight DH is leaving..
Yesterday was a painful day. I know I'm being petty and even childish but boy was that hard for us. We had an enormous family gathering at my in laws. We have lunch together pretty often during weekends, but yesterday also the parents and bro of my SIL were there. Of course the around 20 adults there just fussed around the baby. She is one gorgeous baby, no doubt about it, but it's hard to see DH in pain when his younger brother is so overjoyed with his daughter and we still live i such uncertainty after two failed trials of actual IVF, not just IUI or anything, when even ICSI didn't work for us and DH has 100% abnormal sperm-head morphology It's the uncertainty that aches the most.
SIL was blossoming, already lost some weight in the two weeks after the birth, receiving presents from everyone (although there is a big party planned ahead in just a few weeks). Then she went on in front of everybody how right it is to have children at her age (25) and how at a certain age it just IS TOO OLD, one MUST acknowledge. Normally she says these things when my DH doesn't listen cause she is careful when he's concerned. Yesterday he did hear - and approached me about it himself, but he thought she was just being absent minded (again) and she actually meant no harm. I told him I have serious doubts just because she knows what we are going through, she just had a baby, why can't she be happy and let us be? I was so upbeat, I know I should, I know I should have faith - but it was hard, and such a weight on DH and my relationship.
I felt so stupid for bringing a cake over there, it felt like I was feeding snacks to SIL who just wanted to cause us harm. But after you were mentioning a celebration cake for your embies, let's just say the cake I made (A dynamite black forest cake)was to Honor you and your upcoming happiness and blessed enlarged family!

Have a splendid day!
K

[Kamina]

Hey girls,

Heading to dinner just got back from doctors office. Good news and bad. I will have to read and get caught up on your details. Thanks for the invite to your group.

[rph]

Hi Ladies!

I'm at 11 follicles, all <10 right now. I'm so scared that I'll end up with no eggs, or none will fertilize--I think the meds don't really help my mood at all either! My sister went through this 4 times and no luck--though now she had adopted two beautiful twin baby boys. I'm working a lot right now, both to make up for the days I'll be taking off for the transfer and such, and also to just keep my mind off of things.

Amanda-
Congrats on your 6 embryos! How exciting! I'll be thinking of you for your transfer on Monday. How did you guys decide on 3? You are very strong for going through this while your husband is away--I don't know if I could do it!

K-
I completely understand how your SIL's comments made you feel--I always think of so many "witty" remarks to make....always long after the moment though. I'm sorry you had to endure those comments. On another note, I live in the states but my hubby is Israeli and we have been aching to visit again--will probably be one of our first trips with our future babies. What city do you live in?

Talk to you both soon!

[Waitingkay]

Hi rph, Kamina and Amanda!

Amanda - I'm so thinking of you and hoping it went super great yesterday! I know you'll prolly want to relax the next couple of days and I'll be waiting patiently to hear your news.

Kamina - welcome! Looking forward to hear all about you and go through this ordeal together

rph - Wow! So your DH is Israeli? Such a small world! I grew up in northern Tel Aviv, but ever since I came back to live in Israel I live in Ramat Hasharon which is a small town just a few miles north of Tlv. DH and I are planning to move out of the center with the intention of having less of an urban and greener surroundings for the kids (when they finally choose to show up that is, takes them a while). So you're an American married to an Israeli? When you'll be here for a visit, just like I told Amanda, I'll make sure to give you my private details so that we can meet! It's great knowing ppl that are going through the same. I think you should be calm, your follies sound normal to me. RE's know the right moment to go to retrieval and by then they'll be nice and puffy! Eventually, and it's a very reassuring thought nd knowledge, clinics want and depend on good statistics, so your success is theirs as well. I regret quitting my job a few months ago. Back then i felt like I couldn't juggle job and treatment together. Now I have too much time at hand and of course we could use my income to make things smoother when looking for a house. So all in all I think it's difficult but good to have a job one can concentrate on even and particularly at times like this.
Indeed, moving back to Israel meant dealing with in laws on a regular basis. What surprises me most is my lack of ability to shut these experiences out..Instead I waste a lot of time and energy just thinking of what she says and how she can dedicate any planning to what to say to me when she has a 2 weeks old beautiful girl. a lot like what you're describing, I can get so snappy and witty in other situations yet right then and there I shut off and don't come up with any good answer. I don't even want to really answer SIL back - in the back of my mind I know that even the wittiest of answers will be interpreted by her like I truly give a #### about what she thinks. Nonchalance is the answer yet so difficult to embrace...

Have a great day,
K

[Kamina]

Jan 6th I was to start my protocol. Well guess what I'd already ovulated and had two follicles without any meds. 10 and 22.
So the doc had me ttc naturally. I was on prometrium and estradiol.

I started spotting on Friday and figured it was over like all the times before and called for an appointment first thing this Monday. I'm already to start and guess what, I already started forming another follicle 20. So I am back to ttc naturally again. I am only on CD24 and Im creating another follicle? These meds are making my body is so out of wack now. The doc told me my AF will not be coming as long as I am taking the Prome. Today I feel bloated and terrible. I wonder if it is the estrodiol. All I know is sex hurt like hell and the semen burned. My PH must be wacked too. Great.

Amanda and Trusting congrats on your embryos! Way to go.
rph and Waiting Kay = hello

And I just realized in all this at 1 am in the morning.... I forgot to take a pregnncy test when I started spotting.