My "Double Rainbow"

Where to even begin?  What an amazing weekend!  My mother-in-law was in town from Texas from Wednesday through today and boy did we stay busy!  JCH had to work on Sunday so my mother-in-law and I ran around town until JCH was ready for our 4 hour road trip to Jacksonville, Florida.

The trip (on Sunday) started off with a minor lapse in memory to START MY DOXYCYCLINE (prescribed to proactively prevent infections after the trial transfer) on Saturday morning (1 day late) and of course I didn’t bring it either (now 2 days late).  When we met with Patty (the IVF Nurse Coordinator that I fell in love with over the phone) she joked with us that we are her “problem children” after learning that I forgot my DOXYCYCLINE and JCH almost left our information packet (pretty much our IVF BIBLE) in the exam room (I think he maybe was a little nervous and/or preoccupied-lol).  As I laugh about these little “oopsies” of ours, it’s crazy to think that we are hoping to be parents since it’s painfully obvious that WE might still need someone to “parent” US.  Do you have children? Do you ever feel like that?

Patty spent over an hour going down a check list (a lady after my own heart) of information from anesthesia to sperm donors and (my favorite part) injection training.  JCH really enjoyed injection training.  I didn’t.  Against my better judgment we have decided that JCH will administer my shots (1 hormone shot will go in the belly and the other in the side of the thigh-“the saddlebag”).  The needles are pretty small and Patty gave what seemed to be a wonderful tip of “putting an ice cube on the skin for a few minutes prior to injection”.  You know I’m a huge whiney-baby so rest-assured that I will let you know how that goes.

After meeting with Patty we went into the exam room so that Dr. Winslow could perform the “trial transfer” himself (since Slowey indicated a difficult path due to my introverted uterus).  While the previous doctor spent somewhere between 30 and 45 minutes wrestling with my insides, Dr. Winslow literally completed the entire thing in less than 1 minute and with absolutely no pain!!!  (Read post “OUCH! OUIY! and OH!” for a painful reminder of the first trial transfer).

As you can see, I’M SOLD!!!! I absolutely love this place!  I’m back to being excited about this whole process and 100% comfortable that I am getting the treatment and care that I deserve (and that we are paying for).

Quick timeline rundown:  Last month the dates were “all about” my period and when I would get it.  This month the dates are “all about” my eggs!  I begin “stimulating meds” (hormone injections- Bravel and Menapur) next Tuesday, October 18^th.  A quick note that I have left out— Winslow is working closely with my OB-GYN here in Charleston so that I can do my TWICE-WEEKLY blood work and ultrasounds for follicle monitoring here in Charleston and not have to drive down to Jacksonville. I will go in for follicle monitoring and blood work 10/18, 10-21, 10-24, 10-27 and than will head back down to Jacksonville for one last monitoring on 10-29.  Winslow has decided that JCH and I will have different “retrieval days”.  JCH’s sperm retrieval will be on Monday, October 31^st, and my egg retrieval will be on Tuesday, November 1^st….leaving IMPLANTATION DAY to hopefully be on November 7^th.  You can start the countdown (or at least tentatively)!