November 4, 2009...BIG Day!

I started my morning with acupuncture. I know right, completely stepping out of my comfort zone with this one. Our doctor, along with several other people, recommended we (or I) should do acupuncture along with our IVF cycle. As invested as we are in this process, we thought we should really go all the way. Leave no recommendations un-dabbled. So here I am dabbling into something I never thought, in a million years, would be something I could see myself doing. Seriously, lying on a table, my body covered in needles....yeah, not so much anything I would have ever envisioned. I kind of wished someone was there to take my picture!!! But it actually wasn't too bad. I can honestly admit there was nothing to it....which is probably a good thing, because there is a recommended 8 session protocol to accompany IVF. The purpose of acupuncture, in my case right now, is to increase blood flow to my uterus and my ovaries. This will help with the implantation process. Let's keep our fingers crossed.

After spending my morning spreading my wings, I headed over to Dr. Hansen's office for my first ultrasound appointment. At this point, my ovaries look good. They are showing about 6 follicles on each side. So hopefully there will be about 12 eggs on the day of Egg Retrieval...give or take a few. But 12 is a perfectly average number, so they were happy with that. Typically they would have started me on my stimulating medications today, but they want me to wait until Saturday. If they would have started me today, then my Egg Retrieval would have more than likely landed on a weekend. Which, if they can help it, the lab "people" really prefer not to do it on the weekends. So, if they start me on Saturday then my Egg Retrieval will fall sometime during the week. Which, as of now, they are looking at sometime around the 17th/18th of November. Then on to the pharmacy to pick up my "bag of goods."  This is all of the medication that I will need from here on out. Even with our insurance coverage, I have one thing to say.....STICKER SHOCK!!!

I finished out my afternoon with a bang.....a root canal!  No need to elaborate. A LONG 3 hours later and another big check, I called it a day. I did a lot of praying today. Not only for comfort, for obvious reasons, but for peace and acceptance. It's a hard thing to grasp...the fact that we are putting all of this time, money, and effort into something that isn't even a guarantee. But we remain hopeful!