Egg Collection - Day 12 & 13 - July 21 & 22

Tuesday 

Today was our bum day.  We are both jet lagged and exhausted, so we slept in until noon.  Then we put away all our clothes into the closets so that we weren't living out of a suitcase for the next few weeks.  I felt a bit light headed after so I took another nap.

At some point in the morning, we gave Mom a tour of the place via skype and talked for a bit to catch up on everything.

Once we were up and around we went to the main house and got directions for where everything is around the house.  We even have handy little map to guide us around.

We decided to take a walk to the beach which is about a 10 minute walk.  It was gorgeous.  The water is a beautiful blue and the breeze felt great.  We did forget to take any pictures, sorry guys.  I blame the exhuastion.  I didn't feel like getting in the water yesterday, but Brian went for a walk in there.  It was really rocky and he ended up tripping and falling.  It was funny to watch from the shoreline.  But when he was drying off he realized he cut himself pretty good on his foot.  Nicely done. He now wears my Monsters Inc, Sophia the First and Minion bandaids on his feet.  He rocks them. :)

When we left the  beach, we walked to the market to grab some food to last us.  I have downloaded an app on my phone that is a dictionary where I can scan Greek writing and it will translate it to English for us...but smart us left my phone at the apartment and only took Brian's phone.  Bah!  So we relied heavily on the pictures of the packages.  It worked out in the end.


Once we had groceries, we walked back to the house.  Brian made spaghetti for dinner and we just hung out.  We watched the Avengers to pass the time and skype'd with Brian's mom.  Then it was bedtime because wednesday was a big day!

Wednesday 

It's egg collection day!

I didn't sleep well last night from the anxiety/excitment.  I woke up at 1, then at 3, 4, 5 and 6.  Finally just laid there and played on my phone.  Once Brian was up, we got around.

Our taxi was picking us up to take us to the clinic in Athens at 8:15 and my apt was at 9.  Ruth came down to make sure we were up and ready to go.  I wasn't allowed to eat/drink anything for 8 hrs before the procedure...so when she asked how I was feeling, I said "hungry" - she said "tough!" Haha,  she cracks me up.  At least I follow directions.  :)

Kosta (the taxi driver - not to be confused with Kosta the doctor) picked us up and took us into the clinic.  We were a bit early, so we sat in the waiting room and took a pre-collection selfie.

They came and got me and took me into the room to get changed into the gown.  Went into the procedure room and they put me to sleep.  I've never been under anestetic before, so it was a unique experience! I don't remember anything, and then I was awake!  I laid there for a bit and then got dressed and went back to the waiting room to meet up with Brian.  The whole process took about an hour and while I was in there, Brian gave his sample to them.

Kosta (the taxi driver) came back to get us and took us home.  I laid on the couch and I was awake!  I thought I'd be sleeply all day!!!! We watched a movie, I kept down some sips of water.  Ruth wanted to wait a bit before I ate to make sure I kept down the water...I'm impatient and hungry and ate a piece of beef jerky. :) Then she came down to check on me and gave me the okay to have some bread.    Later in the day I had my mandatory egg white omlet.  I've kept everything down so far.

I'm feeling okay.  I'm really swollen/bloated and that's really uncomfortable.  Ruth gave me some pain pills to help with that.  Apparently when they drain the follicles, they naturally fill back up with blood and that's what causes the swelling - so thats normal.  I did some reading and it should go down in a few days.  I am using a heating pad and that helps tremendously!

So...the results!!!

They collected 19 eggs!!! Holy crap!! That's a lot!!!!
Of the 19 eggs, 12 of them were mature and have the potential to be fertilized
They did ISCI (where they inject one sperm into each egg) on all 12 and we will hear back tomorrow morning on how many have been fertilized!

So thats really good numbers!  Yay!  Hopefully we have some good news in the morning and the little embryos keep on growing!  The plan is to get them to grow for 5 days and then they will take 1 and implant it back in to make the baby.

But...technically - we (with a little help from science) there was an attempt to make 12 embryos today!!!!!!  That's crazy and awesome to think about all at the same time!!!

I do start more meds tonight to prepare my body for the embryo transfer - but I'm excited to keep this process rolling!

Tomorrow we plan to go into downtown Athens and do some exploring for the first time now that the hard part is done!  So lots of pictures tomorrow night, sorry for the lack of pictures today.

Whew - Day 10 & 11 - July 19 & 20

Lets see if I can remember everything that has happened.  There has been a lot and lack of sleep might mess with my brain.  I'll do my best...

When we left off, we were sitting in the Atlanta airport waiting for our midnight flight to Paris.  We watched a few episodes of the Walking Dead and then we finally boarded!  That flight left on time!!  Most of the flight we slept and watched movies on the seat screens.  Not too intersting of a flight.  

We jumped ahead in time 7 hours on that flight, so we arrived in Paris at around 2pm Paris time.  We looked into possibly making a quick run to see the Effiel tower before our next flight that started boarding at 6ish, but every post said that you needed at least 5 hours and with all of our bad luck, we didn't want to risk it.  

So we hung out in the airport.  We walked around all the shops and bought a souvenier gift for the baby (a Effiel tower top toy) and we watched some Netflix to pass the time.  Brian got a notification on his phone that our bags were not on our flight.  Bah! So we went to a desk to see what was going on...aparently in all the reshuffling of our flights, our bags got send on a different route.  They were sent to New York, then to arrive in Athens at 9:45am on Monday.  We were going to be arriving in Athens at 11:10pm Sunday night.  So that didn't work well.  We talked to Ruth and she said we could just drop by the airport on the way home from the clinic the next day and grab the bags or the airport would deliver them to us.  So problem semi solved.  

Flight to Athens is delayed. 

More delay

Even more delay

So now we are about to board and we won't be arriving in Athens now until 1am  and thats really late for Ruth and Simon to come get us, especially when they have to drop of their family at the airport on tuesday at 4am.  So they need sleep.  So since our bags are stuck anyways - Brian and I decide to just hang out at the Athens airport overnight until they can come get us on Monday later in the morning.  We looked into hotels and they were stupid expensive for us only being there for 8 hours.  So we are just going to chill in the airport.  

We finally board, by this time we are just done flying.  We get to the airport and talk to the baggage people and everything seems to be in order.  We grab some food and walk around the airport.  We find an empty corner that we can lay down in and maybe get some sleep.  

It was cold. The floor was stupid hard.  Not comfortable, and not much sleep came to us.  But we tried.  We also noticed that our feet/lower legs were really swollen.  Probably from sitting for such long periods at a time.  I'm happy to report that all extremeties are now back to normal size.  

We woke up and walked around some more, went to check on our baggage.  My bag is there!!! Yay!!! 

Brian's bag is not.  

Brian's bag got put on a different plane that won't be in until 5pm on Monday.  Of freaking course.  So we set it up to be delivered to the house tonight.  To pass the time until Ruth and Simon arrived, we decided to watch some Walking Dead.  Just kidding - Greece doesn't have Netflix!!! WHAT??? Apparently they don't have Amazon Prime either.  W.T.F.

We watched Guardians of the Galaxy instead.  Movies it is I guess.  

We finally meet Ruth in person!!!!!!!!!  And she comes with a ride to leave the airport!!! We've never been so happy to see an airport in the rearview mirror.  

We head straight to the clinic for an untrasound and bloodwork.  My bloodwork came back and my estrodiol was over 2000 and the ultrasound showed good follicle growth in both ovaries.  Yay!  Good news.  I am responding so well to the meds that they want to get my levels down just a bit before the transfer - so Kosta (the doc) told me I had to eat 5 egg whites a day and drink loads of fluids.  (Later today, I had my first egg white meal.  Delicious).  Got the meds for the trigger shot and headed home.

We were shown to the apartment we are renting from Ruth and its gorgeous here.  Absolutely gorgeous.  Walked in the door to the apartment and we passed out.  Brian showered and I just laid on the bed and I was out. We slept for about 5 hours and then got up and went to the pool!  Ruth said that some physical excersise would help wake us up enough to last the night but then wear us out to be able to go back to sleep tonight.  (We are now 8 hours ahead of KC time).  Their pool is beautiful and we hung out in the sun for a bit.  

Ruth and Simon have 7 dogs (I think I counted right) and they are awesome.  They are super sweet and just want pet 24/7 and cuddle time.  Pretty much exactly like Ally and Jack, so they make me happy.  I love puppies!!!  They help fill the void because I miss my puppies!!!  

We came back to the apartment and I showered.  It was the best shower of my life.  No joke.  Amazing.  Got around, ate my eggs and then headed up to the main house for dinner.  

Simon and Ruth cooked us chinese food and it was delicous.  Then we had "daddy cake" for dessert.  Pretty sure it was 150% chocolate with a crumbly crust.  I'm sure the dogs will love me with all the crumbs I probably spilt,  but it was yummy and rich.  

The airline called and they just dropped off Brian's bag!!! Yay!! 

So right now  I'm stuffed and I'm back to being really tired!!! We are just hanging out in the apartment.  I have to do my trigger shot at midnight tonight, so once that is done, I'm going to pass out yet again.  

The weather here is wonderful and so far, things are looking up!  Tomorrow we had planned on being bums, going to the beach and then the egg collection will be at 9am on Wednesday morning!  Thank you everyone for all the positive thoughts/prayers/good vibes...looks like our luck is starting to turn in our favor.  Keep 'em coming!

Here We Go - Day 8 & 9 - July 17 & 18

Friday 

Start out Friday morning and I couldn't sleep very well so I woke up tired.

I had my doctors appointment Friday morning for an ultrasound and bloodwork again.  During the ultrasound, she found 21 growing follicles and my estrodiol level was about 960.  If you aren't familiar with IVF...that means that I have 21 sacs of fluid in my ovaries that contain eggs.  Normal people (wish we were normal) produce one egg per month.  The injection drugs I'm on are called stimulants that make my ovaries produce lots of eggs for this process.  So each follicle contains an egg and its growing.  Ideally, we want them to be 18mm which would indicate a mature egg that is ready to be collected and fertilized. So right now, I have 21 potential eggs to be fertilized.  Which is a good thing!  IVF is a numbers game because not all eggs will be mature, not all will fertilize, not all embryos will last the 5 day incubation period before implantation - so the more you have, the better the chances that you end up pregnant!  So yay!  I continue on my current protocol of the menopur (which helps the eggs grow and mature) and centrotide (which prevents ovulation, so the eggs stay in the ovaries until they are collected).

Right now the game plan is to do another ultrasound/bloodwork on Monday in Athens, then probably take the trigger HCG shot (which causes the final maturation of the egg) and then egg collection 36 hours later on Wednesday and then we let them grow for 5 days! Hopefully, things keep according to plan.

After my doctors appointment on Monday, I went to lunch with my teacher buddies. The biomed teachers got together to introduce the new Freshmen Center teacher to the rest of the group.  We had a good time with good conversation!  It just reinforced how excited I am for this school year!!!!

I went home and I wasn't feeling so hot.  I was nauseous, cramping and super tired.  I really didn't' sleep well the night before, so a nap was in order.  Brian got home and we went and did some last minute shopping.  I was excited to find some dresses to wear while we are there because I feel really bloated from all 21 follicles growing and so comfy clothes sounded like a much better idea than jeans.  So we found some clothes and got some last minute things we were missing.  It was nice to just have an evening together.  I did have to do my centrotide shot in the Bass Pro bathroom...that was interesting.  Then we went home so I could do my menopur shot really quick and then head back out. We got home for the night at about 11 and then stayed up till 3 finishing packing and laundry.   These aren't from last nights shots - but I forgot to post them a few days ago...here is what shot time looks like!  I told Brian I'm getting pretty great at using syringes and he replied with....hmmm..not sure if thats a good thing!


Saturday 

We woke up this morning and Brian started us out right with cinnamon rolls. YUM.  We did the last minute things and then Mom and Dad showed up to take us to the airport.  We got an email that our flight had been delayed.  The original plan was to go from Kansas City to Minniapolis (I asked Brian how to spell that...he said "umm...a lot of nnnn's and an apolis".  Helpful)  then to Amsterdam and finally to Athens.  We were supposed to arrive tomorrow (sunday at 1-ish).

Well flight out of KC delayed enough that we would miss the flight to Amsterdam - so that re-routed our entire itinerary.

New plan, leave KC, go to Atlanta, to Paris then to Athens and we would arrive in Athens at about 2pm.  Okay, not too much different - sounds fine to us.  We were super happy when my checked bag came in at 49 lbs when there is a 50 lbs limit!!!  That was super exciting!!!!  Especially since I packed the whole thing and Brian used to not let me pack because I didn't do it right!  Go me.


This is us before we board for Atlanta.


So we get on the plane and we got assigned the emergency exit spot...look at all this leg room!!! Yeah!!!!


We get over Atlanta and there is bad weather.  We  can't land.  So we hover over the city for 40 minutes.  Enough to be annoying and make us miss our flight to Paris.  So we have to go to the Delta line to get re-routed yet again.  We stand in line for 30 minutes.  We finally get to a lady and she says she can't do international flight changes.  We have to use the phones.

Well that information would have been nice to know BEFORE we stood in line.  So I get on the phone.  And I'm on hold for another 30 minutes.  As she is telling me the new plan, she hits a wrong button and hangs up on me.  There is no redial option.  BAH!

So we give up on the phones and go to the international desk.  We stand in line again.  Finally we have two options.

1 - arrive in Athens at 11:10 pm on sunday
2 - arrive in Athens at 2pm on Monday

Well each has downfalls.  We really didn't want to get there late in Athens because that's when the protesting is occuring.  Ruth and her husband are picking us up and we didn't want them to have to drive up there.  But with option 2, we might miss my scan/blood work apt on Monday and thats not good either!  So since it was 2AM in Athens when we had to make these choices and couldn't call - we went with option 1.

So now we are sitting in Atlanta...waiting for our midnight flight.


A good thing is that we took Cassie's advice and we are getting a small souvenier for the baby at each stop, and so this is the first one from Atlanta.



One thing we have learned in Atlanta is that neither one of us knows how to walk.  I swear, every 10 steps one of us is tripping over our feet.  I think the airport has it out for us.  For now, we will sit and watch a movie until we get to board our flight.

Here's to a safe flight and hopefully no more delays!!!!!!  Athens, here we come...eventually. :)

Too Much - Day 7 - July 16

If you know me, you know that I am normally a pretty happy person.  I'm very organized and I like to be on top of everything.  So far through this IVF process, I've done a pretty good job of staying positive and organized...

But today I'm struggling.

For the most part, IVF abroad has been pretty smooth sailing.  There have been a few hurdles along the way...but nothing I couldn't handle.  It looked a little like this.

After the last 24 hours, it looks more like this. 

The first issue - reaction to medicine.  

I did the centrotide and menopur injection last night and both were a lot more liquid to inject than I had been doing with the follitism.  So that was painful, then my abdominal area was really sore.  I felt nauseous and really swollen.  There isn't really a different way to explain it.  Just really uncomfortable.  That continues all night and still today.  So I'm dreading my injection tonight.  Ugh.  

Next issue - money. 

The way the IVF abroad program works is that you pay for the clinic when you start the process (so when you start injections).  To pay, you have to transfer money to an international exchange company and then they transfer it from US dollars to Euros and send it to the clinic.  Well the company took longer to get me the official log in info and then the transfer takes 2 days to complete.  I finally log in this morning and they are having technical difficulties and so it takes a few hours to finally get it set uphat to do.  I go in, we start the process and then the Assistant Manager comes out and tells me that the bank will not transfer money to Greece because of their current economic status.  At all.  No money transfer will happen from wiring money.  

So I have to call Ruth and make sure its okay that I send money to the exchange company via credit card, even though I have to pay a larger fee and it takes longer to process on their end.  She says that's fine and they will just have to get over the fact it will take longer for them to get their money.  While I'm on the phone with her, I find out another problem. 

Next problem - lack of meds 

I asked her about the centrotide, because I have two doses left.  One for tonight, one for Friday.  She is confused and said no, I should have gotten 5 doses of it to last me until Sunday night.  Nope.  So she checks the prescription she sent and sure enough, it only had listed 3 doses instead of 5.  It was a simple mistake..but crap.  Now I need at least two more and we leave on Saturday.  So she quickly sends a new prescription for 3 more vials to our doc here (Brandi).  I also call and email Brandi to make sure she got them...no reply.

I call Walgreens Specialty Pharmacy...they can get me the meds by tomorrow if the whole thing is processed by 6:30 tonight.  While I'm on the phone, I realize that its Thursday.  Brandi is off work on Thursday and Karen is on vacation. Well crap.  I need someone to enter in that prescription!  

So I call the main office and ask if anyone there can enter the prescription and she said that she would transfer me to the triage nurse, and as soon as she answers, I get an email from Brandi saying she just send in the script!  Whew!  One bullet dodged.  Sorry triage nurse, guess I don't need you after all.  

I give Walgreens a bit to process, call to make sure they have it...and they do!  It's being processed now and they will call me with payment info and delivery info soon.  

Next problem - money

The three new vials of centrotide will cost $580.  So now we have racked up more medication costs.  

Initial cost for meds from the UK: $1200 (with FDA currently)

Cost for 2nd set of meds from US: $2200

Cost of follitism because meds didn't show up on saturday: $536

Cost of more centrotide: $580 

That's a grand total of $4516 dollars on meds.  When we had budgeted to spend $1500.  Its just frustrating beyond words.  The FDA is still holding the original meds from the UK and no release date to be given.  If you've read the other blogs, you know that my parents and Brian's parents are helping us pay for this whole process.  I am beyond grateful that they are willing to help but asking for more money over and over is awful.  I know we will pay them back and eventually we will have paid for this whole process ourselves but this just sucks.  Its just one thing after another.  The main reason we were going over there is because it was so much cheaper.  Now we are spending the same amount we would have spent here. 

Next problem - name on my medications

I've also had to be on the phone with Walgreens today about the name on my prescriptions.  They have my name spelled wrong.  They spell it Rachelle instead of Rachell.  So it doesn't match my ID.  I have a letter from them explaining their error, and will get an official letter on letterhead tomorrow via FedEx...but I called TSA to check how that will effect bringing them on the plane.  They said they won't have an issue - but customs might.  I called customs and all I get is a busy signal.  Phone won't even go through.  I'll keep trying.  

Final problem - the issues in Greece

If you've looked at the news, you know that Greece is not in the best state right now.  We have been talking to Ruth about it and she said we would hardly notice while we were there.  We are staying in her apartment, so will be 40 minutes outside of Athens where all the chaos is occurring.  But the clinic is in Athens and we will have to go there at least every other day for scans and blood work.  It's been peaceful protests but as of last night there were petrol bombs and teargas used.  Obviously there is nothing we could do to change this, but good God.  Its just one more thing to worry about.  I know family is worried about it and so are we - but we are so vested now that there isn't much else to do.  

This is a really long way of saying that today is a bad day.  This is just too freaking hard and too much to deal with.  

Brian sent me some Cool Runnings motivation and it helps...but I just need the rest of this process to be smoother.  I'm done with all these dang hurdles.  It should not be this hard to get pregnant.  Those of you who it happens naturally for, don't ever take advantage of it.  Pregnancy might suck, the cost of having a kid might suck, but on the bright side, at least all you had to do was have sex to get there.  

Even though I'm frustrated, I can't help but look at this picture and only see the Nike icon.  "Just do it."  So that's what we will do.  Just. Do. It. and hope for the best. 

Family Time - Day 4, 5 & 6 - July 13-15

So the post everyday didn't happen...but here is what I've been up to..

Monday

Today was all about the money!  I slept in, got around and then headed to Johnathan and Ashley's place.  They bank at Commerce bank and were able to exchange our money for euros for us.  Yay Foreign money!  As Ashley would say, its so pretty!

We hung out at their place and we played with the kiddos.  Miles was actually awake most of the day!  And he is one wiggly kid!

That evening, my parents and Brian joined us for dinner.  The boys grilled out and we hung out in the air conditioning.  The joke of the night was the yellow watermelon.  Mom and Dad were bringing over the meat/buns and Ash and I were in charge of sides.  So we went to Price Chopper and wanted watermelon.  The sign said "seedless yellow watermelon."  Well we really didn't think it was actually yellow.

Oh no, it was yellow.  It tasted exactly like regular watermelon, it was just yellow! Weird.  But we were the butt of all the jokes the rest of the night because we didn't think the sign meant it would actually be yellow!

I was able to give the kiddos their souvenirs from my time in California at Universal Studios.  River got a Sully jacket and she was freaking adorable in it!

We stayed up late watching Jupiter Ascending...and it was okay.  Meh.

My shot of follitism went fine.  The headache is getting more intense and hurts.  Just trying to think bigger picture, it will be worth it.

Tuesday

Tuesday was all about cleaning!  I detail cleaned the bathrooms in the house...literally detail cleaned.  With a toothbrush and all! Whew!  It was exhausting.  I cleaned up the rest of my house and tried to work on my stats project that is due on friday - but I still don't have all the data I need.  EEK!  Starting to get a bit freaked out about that one.  I also gave the puppies a bath!  Jack was normal, Ally at the soap.  Pretty much normal for them!  They were running laps after and I tried to get pictures, but Ally moves too fast to be photogenic!

On the positive note, the meds we ordered from the US (the 2nd set, since the first set are still stuck with the FDA) arrived!  Yay meds!

Tuesday evening, I went down to the Title Boxing Club in Belton with Mom and Ashley to go to their Ladies Night Out Event!  We did a class, got some food and a gift bag.  The best part was the massage afterwards!  AHHHH!  Glorious.

Then we went back to Mom & Dads and hung out.  When I box, I don't wear shoes so that I can turn my feet easier and so by the end of a class, my feet turn black from the rubber mats.  Well River kept seeing them and would say "UCK!"  So I told her to fix it...she goes into the kitchen, grabs a dish towel and starts cleaning my feet.  It was hilarious!!!

Then she saw me put my bandaid on after I did my injection and she said "owe!"  The rest of the night she would raise up my shirt, point to my bandaid and say "owe!"  She is stinking cute.  Love that kid!!  

Came home and watched a few episodes of The Walking Dead.

Wednesday

Scan day!  Had to wake up early this morning, but it was worth it because its Scan day! Doc in Greece wanted me to have a scan and bloodwork done today.  Yay needles!  Good thing needles don't bother me or this whole process would be a lot worse!

The results were...

Endometrium 7mm
Right ovary follicles: 12mm, 11mm, 10mm, 13mmLeft ovary follicles: 17mm, 11mm, 10mm, 13mm, 9mm, 14mm, 12mm, 13mm 

Estradiol today on July 15,  is 432 pg/mL

After hearing that, the doc in Greece wants me to do Centrotide at 7 tonight (so I better hurry up and finish this **just did it - that was a lot of meds to inject!**) and then Menopur at 8pm.

After the doc appointment, Mom and I did some window shopping and she helped me run a few errands.  We went to Jason's Deli for lunch and I made the most perfect ice cream cone!  So pretty.  I was very proud of myself. :)

We did run into another problem with the meds.  (Of course - I swear, meds will be the death of me)  Walgreens has my name spelt wrong - they have Rachelle instead of Rachell.  Well, when I told them this a year ago, it was no big deal because they knew it was me.  Well - it is a big deal with I go to fly with them on Saturday.  The prescription won't match my ID.  Freaking perfect.  So I had to call them and they can't send new labels for security purposes, but they are sending me a letter explaining that they are my meds and such.  Bah!  Just one more hurdle. I'm going to call the airport tomorrow and make sure we will be okay.

Mom and I went back to her place and I took a nap.   Then we headed to Title to get a workout in.  My stomach started cramping at the end, so I backed off a bit.  I did want to workout though because when I worked out last night, I didn't get my headache after meds. So we thought the workout probably helped.  I hope it does the same tonight!

Now I'm home.  Brian is cooking dinner and its time for shots!  More Walking Dead probably and then just a relaxing night at home.

Coming up in the next few days, its prep time!  Time to do last minute laundry, pack and get things going!!!  I have another scan/bloodwork on Friday and we leave on Saturday!

Naps are Glorious - Day 3 - July 12

I think the theme of this weekend was to relax!  And we were very successful at it!

Brian let me sleep in again and then we went to the Egg & I for breakfast.  While waiting on our food...Brian thought it would be hilarious to do a thumb war.

As you can see, I'm at a complete disadvantage!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I can't help it I have really short thumbs!!!!!!!!!!!!  Needless to say...I lost.

After brunch we went grocery shopping.  We decided to do some shopping for snacks for Greece at the same time to put in our checked luggage.  Our last time in Europe, nothing looked good to eat at the grocery store.  So we ate the creme filled wafer cracker things.  And now I hate  them.  So Brian thought it was funny to suggest buying some - No.  That didn't happen.  But we did get some other snacks that will last us if we run into the same situation again.

We came home with all intentions to deep clean the house.  While Brian cleaned his gun, I fell asleep on the couch.  He said it would only take 10 minutes and he would wake me up to clean...but he didn't.  I got a 2 hour much needed nap.  Yay!

We ended the night with a trip to Taryn & Andrew's for dinner and game night.  We played Bananagrams and I won, Taryn won and Brian won.  Then we played Name 5 and Andrew kicked all of our butts.

It was a good night.

I did my second injection while we were over there.  Not too many symptoms.  Some pain and then cramping but not as bad as the first time.  The worst thing is the headache.  It's not a full on migraine, its just a dull ache on the right side of my head.  It's annoying and it hasn't gone away since about an hour after my first injection on Saturday.  I just have to keep thinking, bigger picture.  A small headache is definitely worth a baby!

That's it for Day 3.  Only 5 more days until we leave for Greece!

A little relief - Day 2 - July 11

It's not surprising that  I needed a little relief after the stress of day 1.

To start the day out, Brian let me sleep in!  Ah!  So relaxing.

Once we were up and going, Brian mowed the lawn and I worked on homework.  I was able to finish my last Statistics Exam!  Yes!!  The only schoolwork I have left before we leave is my Statistics project which is about 80% done and I'm just waiting on some data to finish that up.  Once its turned in, I will be officially 2/3 done with my Specialists degree!  By this time next year I'll have my 3rd degree in one hand and hopefully a baby in the other!

The rest of the afternoon was pretty laid back, we cleaned a bit, watched some TV, fixed the bed frame and then I took a nap!  Sleep is one thing that seems to be evading me lately.  It's probably all the stress and anxiety but I don't stop naps when I finally feel like I can get some sleep.  A little nap goes a long way.

Brian's parents came over for dinner and we played Blockus.  I'm normally pretty good at the game, but the first round was awesome!  I played all my tiles!!! That's never happened before!! See, everyone else has tiles left and all the red ones are gone!!!! Yeah buddy.

 At 8pm, I did my first injection of follitism!  Ruth told me to pick a time that is later in the evening so that we could have the scans/bloodwork back and make decisions before it was time for the injection.  So we chose 8.  I thought I would have Brian do it but when it came time, I felt like it would be easier if I just did it and had the control.  So I watched the instructional video, loaded the meds into the pen and bam!  First injection done!

The minion bandaids provided by Cassie really do help :)  I didn't have terrible side effects.  I did have some pain after the injection and some cramping after, but nothing too bad.  About an hour later I got a headache but I don't know if that was medicine induced or if it was just a normal headache.  No awful symptoms, so that was great news!

Once our visit with Brian's parents was over, then we stayed up (probably too late) and watched a few episodes of The Walking Dead.  Nothing like some good ole zombie action before bedtime. 

Its was a great Day 2.  Much more relaxing and less stressful than Day 1.  Thank goodness!