Playing with Trees

Remember I told you a couple days ago that a big tree fell in our yard with those killer storms last week? Well today some wonderful men from our Sunday School class at church came over to assist in cutting it down and hauling away the debris.

This is what it looked like when we started.......

Sweetness was hard at work, after the chain saws got to work.

This is Frank, our awesome Sunday School teacher, and just plain great guy!

And newlywed Dwayne came over to help, and made fast friends with Maggie.

And this is Jeff, the "leader" of the group today!!

After they got the part that had fallen on the ground all cut up, then they pondered how to get the big tall part down that was jutting out into the neighbors yard. They ended up getting ropes tied around it, and guided it down carefully, not taking out any fences! Good work guys!

Maggie just chillin outside watching all the action!

Here are all the guys, guiding it down.....

There she goes.....

We can't thank you enough guys! Sweetness could have never gotten it all done alone! It took 4 1/2 hours and 5 strong men to get it all done, and after a pizza lunch and good cold water bottles, we were ready for a nap!

So tomorrow (yes on Sunday) we go back for our 3rd follicle scan to determine when the egg harvesting will be. I will update tomorrow and let you know. I should have about 60 eggs maturing in there, as my abdomen is feeling so big and bloated, I will be glad when this stimming is done :)

Ending tonight with a scripture-

"Be shepherds of God's flock that is under your care, serving as overseers—not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be; not greedy for money, but eager to serve"

-1 Peter 5:2

Follicle scan number 2......

Sweetness and I went for my second US this morning at 7 am to see how my follies are doing. I now have 40 total! My left ovary seems to be doing most of the work......it has 26 follicles on it, ranging in size from 16mm to 5mm. My right only had 12 today. I asked her if I lost a follicle since Wednesday when I had 13 on the right and she said maybe she just couldn't see it if it was real small.

I am soooo miserable girls! I was up most of the night with severe abdominal pain, could not sleep. I was so nervous that I was Hyper Stimulating. But they said my E2 (estrogen) level was 547 last Wednesday, which is good for Day 5, and I have not heard what it was today. But my abdomen feels so bloated and sore, I am just MISERABLE, and they said it was going to get worse before it gets better. Great! Has anyone that has gone through IVF experienced this kind of pain??

On a happier note..... we go back Sunday morning for our 3rd scan. The nurse said today that they will decide when to harvest the eggs, based on the sizes on Sunday. There has to be a certain percentage of the follies at 16mm or higher in order for them to trigger me. I only have one today at 16, but she said you want them to mature slowly not really fast. So I am on track, just really wishing this "stimming" period was over. My stomach is covered in bruises and red welts, I look like an addict of some sort!!!! LOL

Thank you for the prayers, you guys are wonderful! And for all my friends who have left notes on Facebook that they don't know how to leave a comment, scroll your mouse over the "_ sweet comments" line that is just below where it says "Trusting In Him, Heather" at the bottom of this post. Then a window pops up and you type your comment in there and you can click "anonymous" so you don't have to join blogger, and then click post. It is pretty easy once you do it once, you'll be pros!!! :)

Love you guys, and thanks for the prayers for Mom, she is doing really great!

Grow Follies Grow!

Can you say 31 follicles????

As you know today was my first follicle scan after starting the stimming meds. Well "Wanda" (the ultrasound wand) told us that I have 18 follicles on my left ovary and 13 on my right!!!! I could not believe it....seriously 31 follies??

Dr. Robin said I am responding extremely well to the drugs, but she did say she does not think we will get 31 eggs. They range in size from 3.5mm to 11 mm, with most of them falling in the 8-9 range. So they dropped down my Repronex dose for tomorrow.

There was one thing I was upset about. Remember that cyst I had aspirated last Friday that liked to have killed me? Well IT'S BACK!!!!! It has completely filled up with fluid again!! I was like NO WAY!!! Dr. Robin said they can clearly see now with all the mature follicles that it is definitely ovarian and not my tube filled with fluid, she said it will not affect anything, and she will aspirate it again when they do the Egg Retrieval (after I am under anesthesia) thankfully! And on a thankful note, they got the pathology report back on the fluid they aspirated out of it last Friday, and it showed no malignant cells and no infection. Praise God!

I go back at 7 am on Friday to check on them again, and then Sunday for the final scan!! It's actually happening! We are so excited!

For those of you who know my Mom, please say a prayer for her. She is still feeling really bad, and even had an ER visit last night. They say she is going to be okay, I just wish she would feel better now! I know she would appreciate the prayers!

Ending tonight with a scripture:

"We will shout for joy when you are victorious and will lift up our banners in the name of our God. May the LORD grant all your requests."

-Psalm 20:5

Grow follies grow........

Well we are still stimming, Day 4 down! I am very excited about tomorrow and to be able to see all the follicles growing! I hope my body responds to this medicine, since I have never been through this before.....who knows?

And as if we did not have enough to concentrate on right now, the toilet in the guest bathroom has leaked all over the floor! Ughhhhh! I have called the Home Warranty people, still waiting for them to call back. Then the killer storm we had this afternoon, decided to lay down the mammoth oak in our backyard. So now we have to figure out how to cut and haul away all the tree limbs and wood! It is always something, but I will count it ALL joy!!!!

I will update you tomorrow with how my follies are doing!!! Grow baby grow!

Ending tonight with a Scripture-

"If you declare with your mouth 'Jesus is Lord', and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved."

-Romans 10:9

I feel like a Pin-Cushion!!!!

Well this is exactly how I am feeling! I have been stuck so many times in the past 3 days (5 x a day), that I am beginning to be a pro at this! We still have 7 days left of this! The one medicine Repronex is the worst one. It burns going in and it leaves a big red knot on your stomach where you inject. I called the clinic today and asked the nurse if I was allergic to it or something else, and she said this is pretty normal for this medication. Has anyone else out there experienced the same thing with Repronex, or Menopur (same thing)????

Nothing else to report really, just cranking down the days until my egg retrieval!!! Thank you all for the sweet messages, they really mean alot as I ride this roller coaster trying to get all my follies to grow! First scan is Wednesday, I will update then, and let you know how we are progressing!

Ending with a Scripture:

"All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness"

-2 Tim. 3:16

Stimming .......Day 2

Hey peeps!!! Well I am beginning to feel the effects of all these medications I am pumping my body full of around the clock!!! I am so irritable- poor sweetness, he really is taking all this in stride.

This really is a bit more difficult than I thought it was going to be. My stomach is so sore and has little bruises all over it from all theses injections. I am trying to stay positive as I know it increases the chances of IVF being successful, but today I feel so yucky I am wondering if this is even going to work! It's like a roller coaster of emotions.

So we still have 8 more days of doing this "stimming." My first US to check and see how things are progressing is on Wednesday. I will let you guys know then. Sorry I don't mean to be negative when this is such a positive thing, I am just really feeling cruddy from all these hormones.

And is anybody out there reading this???? Please leave me a comment and let me know you stopped by. I hardly ever have comments so I just wanted to be sure I am not writing this to myself!!!! It's simple to do, at the bottoom of the post it says "_ sweet commnets", just click on that and type something in the box. If you are not a member of blogger, just click "anonymous" and sign your name in the post so I will know who sent it. See????Not so bad!!!

I have a very long, stressful week at work this week, so I may only update the blog after my follicle scans! Bear with me. I will take pictures on Wednesday at the clinic. Thank you for the prayers, please don't stop, we need them, and we feel them!!! Love you all!!!!

Oh- Mom came home from the hospital today!!! She is doing so much better. They found out she needed 2 blood transfusions she was so anememic. After that, her horrible migraine is gone and she feels great! She even walked up the stairs to get into the house!!! Go Bonnie Go Bonnie!!! Thanks so for the prayers for her continued recovery!

Ending tonight with a scripture-

"Hear my cry, O God; listen to my prayer.
From the ends of the earth I call to you, I call as my heart grows faint; lead me to the rock that is higher than I. For you have been my refuge, a strong tower against the foe."

-Psalm 61:1-3

It's Baseline Day!!!!

Well hello Peeps! I know I have not posted in a couple of days, but there was not much to report. We have anxiously been awaiting this day to get here because it is what's called "Baseline Day" in IVF land.

Today they did a follicle scan to get baseline measurements before we start the stimming medications tomorrow. They saw 6 follicles on one ovary and 7 on the other. Well they also looked more closely at this 4 X 9 cm cyst I have had on my left ovary for about 3 years. When I first started going to the fertility clinic, they said it was no big deal, but for some reason today, they decided it needed to be aspirated. Ughhhhh......

So sweetness took me back at 5:45 this evening, as they aspirated the fluid off. Let me just tell you, they said it would feel like a menstrual cramp. WHATEVER!!!! That needle was over 12" long, when she stuck it into the cyst, I about came off the table!!!! They are sending the fluid off to pathology to see if they could tell if it was really an ovarian cyst or fluid that got trapped in one of my tubes. They are not sure as of now.

But now that that is done, we start stimming tomorrow morning, and I go in for my second follicle scan on Wednesday. We are in it now baby!!!

Update on Mom: well yesterday was a very trying day. The surgeon came in the morning and tried to pull the drain out of her knee, and it BROKE OFF in her knee!!! Seriously! He said he has never had that happen in 1000 knee replacements! SO she was NPO all day, and then they took her back into surgery last night to remove the drain. She came through it pretty well. Today she has battled a migraine all day (vomiting, chills, yuck feeling), so she has had a bit of a rough time. They are thinking of sending her home on Sunday now. Thanks for all the prayers, letters, flowers and calls. She and I are so appreciative!!

Sorry I did not take any pictures today, I am slacking, but just wanted to update everyone on our progress! We are keeping our eye on the prize!! It's gonna be worth it!!!

Ending tonight with an awesome Scripture-

"Rejoice in our confident hope. Be patient in trouble, and keep on praying."

-Romans 12:12 NLT