Calendar!

So, finally... the calendar I've been waiting for! Our nurse finally emailed me our timeline for egg retrieval. We will leave on Monday the 10th and stop in Salina for the evening. I'm sure Mom and Dave will have some nice yummy supper for us (hint, hint) and then they are doing us a huge favor and babysitting Cooper while we are gone- he's the "easy" dog. I love them, and want them to continue to speak to me after we return from Colorado, so we are taking Barley with us (you guessed it- he's the "challenging" dog). Sounds exciting huh? Road trip for 6 hours from Salina to Denver- across flat, unpopulated Kansas with a giant bear of a dog in the back seat! I know, I know... I shouldn't brag. So we will be in Denver on the 11th and will most likely have egg retrieval on the 18th or so. Why am I there so long before retrieval? Well, I have to be subjected to DAILY blood work and sonograms to monitor my eggs. Internal sonograms. More fun for me. Matt just gets to hang out with the dog and enjoy Denver while I get to walk around with a bloated abdomen of 20 or so mega eggs and give myself multiple daily injections. I always get to have all the fun. That's ok- when this works, he's gonna owe me lots of nights of sleeping through a crying baby while he gets some dirty work! At least that's what I'm planning- I haven't told him that one yet. One bright spot about our trip- our friends who are also going through IVF with CCRM will be there at the same time getting their eggs transferred back to her (after successful genetic testing!) We hope to start our drive back to KC sometime on the 19th- also stopping again in Salina (another yummy supper) and then home. We'll know about egg count/ fertilization and all that over those few days (5 total) and know if I have to rush out there for a day 5 transfer of embryos, or if we have enough to do the genetic testing. We are really grateful that we were able to get the schedule that we did for retrieval, we were anxious that it could have been later in the month and I would have had to possibly miss my brother in law (and soon to be sister in law!!)'s wedding and I would have been devastated.

So, in a few days I start injections and I stop almost all forms of exercise. The average person going through an IVF cycle gains 20 lbs! Wow. I'm totally using statistics as my excuse when I pack on lbs. Oh, and the massive doses of hormones makes you act like a raging lunatic- so again, statistics will be my excuse. So, if you see me- please excuse the brownie in one hand, crumbs on my chin, extra pudge around the middle and the wide eyed deranged look in my eye. If you don't, I can't promise you won't be hurt.