Round 2

With only two days left before going back to the doctor to find out if we were pregnant I woke up with very bad stomach pains and realized I had started my cycle.  Although I was very sad, my heart still continued to rest in the promise that God is sovereign and has a perfect plan.  Josh and I were able to spend much of the morning in the Word and delight in the many blessing that we have despite not being pregnant.

I went to the doctor on Tuesday and they were able to verify that I had no ovarian cysts and I could begin the injections again that night.  (Ovarian Cysts are a common result from women undergoing fertility treatments because they are products of failed or disordered ovulation. An ovarian cyst is formed when the follicle does not release its egg and the follicle continues to grow or if the follicle releases the egg but the hole where the egg was does not close up like it should.) So, that night we were able to begin injections of Brevelle. During the first series of shots we had used Gonal-f which seemed to work just fine, but we had won the Brevelle injections in the raffle so we thought now was the best time to use that medication.  We had to be re-trained on how to prep and administer this new kind of injection because it was very different from the Gonal-f.  It took a lot longer to prepare each night and it was much more of a painful. Over the next few days I tried to fight back the emotional mood swings this new medicine caused.  I was not sad, or depressed about anything, but I would cry off and on all day, for no reason at all.  Friday night was the worst.  Because the shots had been hurting so bad and leaving such horrible bruises on my stomach I actually fainted as Josh was trying to give me the shot.  As I pulled myself off the kitchen floor I knew it was not worth it, we needed to switch back to the Gonal-f even if we had to pay more for it.  I had a doctor’s appointment that Saturday and they gave the go ahead to switch back so I placed an online order so would arrive first thing the next business day.

On Monday, when I went back to the doctor, they checked my estrogen levels and they were at a 35 pmol/lt.  Estrogen levels in women rise as follicles are maturing and mine was still rather low.  However, by Thursday’s appointment it had rose to a level of 600 pmol/lt.  A normal estrogen level at the time of ovulation is around 500 pmol/lt.  When the doctors recognized this, they told me to continue taking my Gonal-f shots because I had one or two follicles that were maturing but were not yet 18 mm (the measurement they need to be at for ovulation).  The doctors also asked me to take a second shot each night called Ganirelix Acetate, which prevents the egg from releasing prematurely.  Fortunately, the actual Ganirelix shot did not hurt, but for about an hour afterwards it felt like I had a Charlie Horse in my stomach (not very pleasant to say the least).

Saturday morning, I went back to the doctor in hopes they would tell me that I was ready to take my last shot (of Ovidrell).  Ovidrell is the shot I take to induce ovulation.  However, after an unusually long ultrasound with the nurse, the doctor approached me and said, “We’re going to have to end your cycle for this month.”  Bummer!  My heart sank.  What they had seen on the ultrasound was not that the medicine didn’t work….but that it worked too well!  In two days I had developed 7-8 follicles that could potentially be released when I ovulated. Had the doctors not seen this, I could have been the next Octo-mom.  Yikes!!!   He actually explained to me that this was exactly how Jon and Kate Gosselin ended up with sextuplets. He said that he had never seen anyone with this many mature follicles have less than four children.  He said that because of the health risk to me and the potential babies, if Josh and I did decide to continue trying to get pregnant during this cycle, their office would refuse to see me as a patient.  They also took my estrogen levels again and it had skyrocketed to 1700!  So, after an important lesson in abstinence, I made an appointment for the middle of July so we could talk about how to balance out the medications I am on.  Although I was really sad that we were again postponed one more month, I am thankful to know that the injections I am taking are actually working.  Now we are praying that the Lord will provide us (and of course the doctor’s) with the wisdom to know what is the proper dosage of medicine I need to get my body working just right.