IVF #2 is a go!

I bought this pretty little fountain at Target... I love the peaceful appearance, but unfortunately it doesn't make any water splashy noises that I was hoping for (and that it advertised). Any ideas on how to make it more splashy???


... and it begins! I go in at the buttcrack of dawn tomorrow morning for some blood work to determine my current FSH. If I haven't explained it here already, FSH is follicle stimulating hormone. I was at a 7.5 in the spring, which is good, especially for my age. It means that your body doesn't need to tell your reproductive bits very much to get them producing an egg or two each cycle. As you get older, the number goes up. This means that your body has to get a little bit "louder" telling your ovaries, to step on the gas a bit harder, to get those eggs each month. Unfortunately my FSH had gone up to 12 for IVF#1. I was really bummed out by this, because over 10 is considered elevated, or a marker for infertility. And I was proud of my low FSH since I was pushing the 4-0! The other interesting thing about FSH is that it is generally believed that you are only as "good" as your highest FSH number. Some months things just go easier and your number might be lower, but it doesn't mean you are necessarily more fertile. When I went back and studied my numbers, I saw that when I had my 7.5 FSH, I also had an elevated estrogen in the 80s. An elevated estrogen early in the cycle can artificially surpress your FSH - so my 7.5 was probably being surpressed and the 12 may be more accurate for me anyway. For comparison, when my FSH was 12, my estrogen was in the 30s.

Ok explanatory tangent over! So tomorrow before work I go in for a new FSH. I start birth control pills on Saturday and will stay on them for a couple of weeks. As you might remember, they help to make sure the ovaries are resting and there are no cysts before you start asking them to work hard and produce lots of eggs. If all goes as planned, I will start doing the stim shots the day after Christmas. ER could be around January 6th or 7th...ET would be about 5 days after that... Unfortunately, Dr. Sunshine is on vacation from teh 26th - 3rd, which would mean my initial follie checks would be done by one of the other 2 drs in the practice. I agreed to go ahead despite this news because the other two guys are fine, and at least Dr. Sunshine would be seeing me during my final checks, and would be the one doing the ER.

Today was a big day! Mario and Randy went to the Tiger Woods golf tournament in Hidden Valley. He had a great time and got some amazing close ups of Tiger and some other golfers. He also got in a quick 9 holes in the chilly early AM!

Even though he looks really serious here, it was a challenge to keep Bogey upright! He was so excited to be wearing an outfit (i.e. getting extra attention) that he wanted to flop on his side and waggle around on the ground. Silly pug!! This pic makes me smile!

My horses in a dust cloud moving across their paddock. It got much worse about 10 seconds later, and I couldn't see the horses at all! The bins to the left are my attempt to salvage my shavings so they didn't completely blow away. I literally tucked/shoved shavings under them in a pile. It actually worked pretty well, when I got to the ranch this morning there was still a pile to be found... and Faith was curled up laying down in between the bins (the smaller one had been blown over), too cute!

Since California is experiencing areas of crazy 40-80mph winds, I decided to get an early start to my 2 solo trims and get them done before the winds started. Then I went to Target, where I got a new iron (my old one had finally quit)and a santa hat/beard for Bogey. I could not resist!

Normally this in itself would be a big day... but then I talked to Dr. Sunshine's office and got the go-ahead, and I came home to do laundry and wash the sheets and blankets because we took delivery of a new mattress today too. :) I have to admit I had a hard time saying good bye to the old one. How crazy is that?? It's like 15 years old, but I still remember buying it at Levitz (which no longer exists) and Nancy helped me get it in the house out of our old purple Dodge truck when Mario wasn't looking ~ it was a Christmas surprise, and we both break a sweat getting it in and made to surprise him. I spent alot of money on it and it was a good bed... sigh. Ok but I am sure the new bed will be wonderful and comfy, especially since it's all made up with fresh sheets and pillowcases. It's calling me right now I think!

Since I have to be in Thousand Oaks at 7:30am, I think I should end this update for now and get to sleep... but wanted to say ~ Thank you, Jean, for the beautiful email and picture. What a sweet, thoughtful surprise! Interesting timing, yes? ;)