Frequent Stirrup Appointments

I skipped over Stirrup Appointments 3 and 4 were on Wednesday and Friday of last week, when I reported my follicles.  Appointments on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday were numbers 5, 6, and 7.  You know, the fertility center is surprisingly busy on the weekend - who knew?

#3 : Wednesday : 11 follicles, estrogen at 229

#4 : Friday : 13 follicles, estrogen at 622

#5 : Saturday : 14 follicles, estrogen at 727

#6 : Sunday : 15 follicles, estrogen at 1468 (!)

#7 : Monday : 16 follicles, estrogen at 1813

Monday was also the day of our trigger - scheduled for 10 PM that night.  I had a bit of a breakdown at the doctor's office that day, because it felt like such an important point in the process, and I was confused.  I had run out of Bravelle, but I was supposed to take 300 IU (4 vials) - which I was told I could get from the pharmacy at the hospital.  When I got there to pick it up, they only had three vials, which is what my Rx was written for anyway.  Enter confusion, since this contradicted what the nurse had told me the previous day.  The pharmacist insisted that I should just wait 90 minutes for a courier to deliver more Bravelle, and while I was standing there, his colleague sold another person some Bravelle.  I was confused, angry, frustrated, and upset - so we headed back up to the doctor's office to try to get some answers.

Enter sweet nurse Allison.  God bless her.  She took me to an exam room, sat me down, and listed to me explain what had happened.  And she got it - she understood why I was so frustrated.  She suggested that we go get a cup of coffee while we waited for that morning's lab results, at which point, she would immediately ask one of the doctors on staff what my final stim dosages should be.  By then, the Bravelle should have arrived as well.  Thank god for her.  They did add more Bravelle - 300 IU in the morning, and another 300 IU in the evening.  I can't imagine what kind of tailspin I would have entered into if we had left the hospital with one dose, just to learn that we had to go back for another.

Allison also told us that our trigger was scheduled for 10:00 that night - on the nose - and she gave us our instructions for retrieval day, which would be Wednesday.  This was really happening, and although it wasn't easy getting there, we were finally there.