Movin' right along...finally

We went in this morning for ultrasound #4. The firs thing Dr. M. said was, "Let's see how your expensive follicles are doing today!" Yeah. That about sums up this cycle.

Two days ago the three follies were 15-13-12 mm. Today, they're 18-16...and 11 mm. The good news is the drugs kicked up the growth rate from 1mm/day to 1.5mm/day, not quite the 2mm we'd hoped for, but better than before. The bad news is my third follie appears to have decreased in size. It's possible that it's just sandwiched in between the other two so not measuring correctly (i.e. longer front to back than it is wide), but Dr. M. said sometimes they do shrink. Bummer.

The plan is to go in again tomorrow morning for follie scan #5 (eek!) while continuing with my normal meds...meds which will be gone tomorrow morning (Gonal-F, the "magic" drug) and Monday (Menopur). He is being cautious and yet hoping for continued growth. He'd really like the lead follicle to reach 20mm and the second to reach 18mm before triggering with hCG (human chorionic gonadotripin, which will cause the follicles to burst and release the eggs that are hopefully inside). It's likely I'll have to go in Monday for follie scan #6 (OMG), when hopefully the follies will be perfectly sized, his nurse will give me the trigger shot and (please please please) we'll have our IUIs Tuesday and Wednesday.

(I mentioned to Dr. M. how I was concerned we were getting too close to when he leaves for his ski trip. He smiled and said how "cute" it was that so many of his patients - both infertility and pregnant-due-in-January are so worried, but that it will all be ok. Whew.)

This will have been our second most expensive cycle ever (the first being the IUI-turned-IVF in February). I shudder to think what the final tally will be on this cycle: somewhere over $3000 total (not including early pregnancy care, if we get to that point). Thankfully, our $1300+ worth of drugs were paid for by cash. We'll still have another $70/mo in progesterone in oil, which, if we conceive, I may have to take the entire pregnancy, depending on what Dr. M. decides (we know I'll take it past 11 weeks next time). All the bloodwork, lab fees, IUI fees, the ultrasounds and the trigger shot will be billed to us. 

Good thing we didn't have any big gifts planned this year (we may not buy eachother anything, actually...we're not really in the mood for that, but we'd like to donate somewhere or contribute to the local Adopt a Family in memory of our babies). Merry Christmas. Geez.