IVF Cycle: Stims Day 4-6

Day 4: Monday, September 12. Poke count: 13

I woke up feeling great this morning. Other than sleeping through my alarm and waking up 40 minutes late, I was good! My ultrasound and bloodwork went well. There are 11 visible follicles on my right ovary and 8 on the left. 19 follicles already! Ashley said that more could pop up in the following days since I've only been on meds for 4 days. They are still small, but that is to be expected at this point. They decided on no change in my meds for the next couple days.

I did wind up with a nice, dark blue bruise from where they drew blood. The vein in my right arm totally changes direction right where the needle goes for a blood draw. Either they can't find the vein, or they "kind of" find it and I wind up looking like a junkie.

Day 5: Tuesday, September 13th. Poke count: 15

I am starting to become increasingly uncomfortable throughout the day. There is a lot more pressure in my lower abdomen as the follicles on my ovaries grow. It hurts if my bladder is too full and it also hurts to empty my bladder! Pretty much anything that puts pressure on my ovaries hurts. The right side hurts much more than the left, but it hurts more to lay on my left side. I pretty much just want to wear sweatpants and lounge around the house all day.

My headaches are getting much more frequent as well. Instead of waking up with a headache and it going away quickly, I wake up feeling fine and it gets worse as the day goes on. I spend the majority of my day staring at a computer screen so I'm sure that doesn't help. I've been trying to stay hydrated to hopefully get rid of some of these headaches. So far all that has done is increased my trips to the bathroom!

I still can't really complain about the overall side effects of the medication. Everyone I have spoken to and everything I have read made this medication sound like torture. Even my mom said "Oh that stuff makes you crazy!" I have had a couple moments where I wanted to cry over absolutely nothing, but I hardly think I am crazy. The headaches and pressure are definitely tolerable. I just hope it stays this mild for the rest of the cycle.

Day 6 Wednesday September 14th: pole count: 18

I had an ultrasound this morning and everything is looking good. They only saw 16 follicles this time but they said sometimes you can't see the smaller ones. The ones we could see were definitely growing! They are actually visible and I can make out the individual circles on the monitor instead of just a blur of black. I was able to sneak a picture of the monitor. You can only see 3 of the follicles, but this gives you an idea of what they are looking for in the scans.

My estrogen levels from Today and Monday's blood work were good, so no change in the Menopur or Gonal- f for the next couple days. I will start the Cetrotide injections tomorrow morning, which will stop me from ovulating before they want me to. My next appointment is on Friday and hopefully the follicles will be big enough to plan my egg retrieval.

-Emily