Birthday Shots!!!!

I am on stim day 5 today (which means today is my 5th day of taking stimulant shots). The shots have been going fine. The second night Jarrod was over his initial nervousness and we mixed them just fine. Tuesday night a few of us got together for my birthday. We ate mexican and then went bowling. Heres a group shot at the bowling alley. Thanks to my sweet friends for celebrating with me!! We are so blessed to have such wonderful friends. Some had other parties or were getting ready to have babies and we missed them, but we had a good time... except I had an awful headache:-( There's only one medicine that gives me total relief, excedrin tension headache, and I am not supposed to take it because it is loaded with caffeine. But, nurse Monica tried her best to take care of me and it did help give me some relief. Thanks Mon! Heres a group shot minus Rich and Christina and Tammy Hughes, they went to eat but didn't go bowling.

You can tell in the pic I didn't feel good and i'm sure I wasn't much fun to be around, but I think everyone else had a good time. I am usually real competitive and I could've cared less how I was bowling that night, but I did atleast try to act like it. I have to take my shots at the same time every night which is 9:30 so they had to be done in the car at the bowling alley! Monica gave them to me and she did great, I didn't even feel one of them. Thanks again Monica!

Wednesday was my actual birthday and it was a great day. I appreciate the calls, texts, emails, and facebook messages I got so much- they made my day! It was laid back at work for the most part and when I got home Jarrod gave me my presents from him- a DELICIOUS chocolate peanut butter cake, a blender (i asked for it) and a shirt that says "have a coke and a smile". He said he gave me the shirt for when I was having a hormonal mood swing and needed to smile. Ha. Ha. Ha. Believe it or not I did not feel like going to Outback so we ate at the new place in Hartford. It was good. Next we took my cake over to Amanda's to share with her and Sarahbeth and then we went to eat cake with Brooke and David (and Porter). It was a great day.

This morning I had a "stim check" appointment in Montgomery at 7am. It was SO early! i would've gone to Montgomery last night but I had to take my shots at 9:30 so I chose driving early in the morning instead of giving myself my own shots. I CAN do it, but I go slow so it hurts more and I'd prefer Jarrod do it. Besides barely being able to hold my eyes open (I will not be going by myself anymore) the appointment went fine. They did bloodwork and an ultrasound. The ultrasound is to check my uterine lining and to check my follicles (the sacks that hold the eggs). I had 6 on one side and 8 on the other (with lots of real small ones on both sides as well). They measure the biggest one on each side. Today my biggest one was .99cm. When I have one get to 1.08 I will be ready for retrievals. During the stimulation process I have to be checked atleast every other day to make sure I do not "hyperstimulate". The shots are making the follicles grow much bigger and faster than they normally would be and they have to be careful that they do not get too big. I checked my patient voicemail this afternoon for my results and they were good. Bloodwork results were- Progesterone- 0.03 which is "perfectly low" as it should be now and my estradol level was 199. I have to go in to the Birmingham office on Saturday morning for another stim check. We are still on track so as on now retreivals will be July 21. I will start taking another stim shot 'ganarelix' on Saturday.

So, as of now everything is good. I still haven't been AS emotional as I was the past couple of weeks. My tummy is definitely getting bigger (because of the big follicles). I am praying that my bridesmaids dress for Hunter and Bethanys wedding will still fit on Saturday! As of yesterday it still did. Besides that I feel good for the most part. I feel good most of the time- just a little achy, bloated, crampy feeling in my tummy. Emotionally I am doing good which is much better than I expected. This time is a little harder than last time since I know what the pain of a negative result feels like and it scares me. I really do have a good feeling about this time though- especially because of how God got everything worked out perfectly for us with the medications, etc. I also have awesome friends who are so supportive and of course my wonderful husband. I am dreading the wait between transfer and pregnancy test because that is the worst part- knowing that they is life in me but not knowing if it has attached to its Mommy so it can grow :-( Thank you for the prayers in advance- we will need them!