Baseline: Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Preface: The posts in this series were written in the past. I am posting them chronologically, but these events are not taking place right now, they already happened. The date in the title of each post is the date it was originally written.

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This morning the process got real. A year ago I would have told you that the process would get real to me with the first needle I stuck in my belly, but after going through a similar process for the 4 IUIs, that doesn't really phase me anymore.

This morning was the "baseline ultrasound" and blood draw. There are a lot of ultrasounds when you are undergoing fertility treatments. Even more when it is IVF. This was the first one, the one done before you have pumped any stimulation drugs into your body so the Dr can see where you are starting. Next week I'll be having an ultrasound every other day at a minimum because they will be closely monitoring the eggs I am growing.  We'll know all the new nurses by name in no time.

Tim loves ultrasound appointments. "Counting Eggs". Today, since there were no eggs yet to count, I suggested he could just skip this appointment. No big loss - mainly it was me laying on a table looking at a screen and pretending that I recognize what I am seeing. (I wonder if everyone does that at ultrasounds?) I got pretty good at counting the eggs before, but it's a lot harder to spot ovaries when they are little and not overflowing with follicles. Right now it's just a dark patch on the screen.

The nurse was new. She's a PA, actually. Maybe she is not new but I never worked with her before - she may just specialize in IVF. She said everything was perfect and she thinks this will be a great cycle. I wonder if they say this to everyone?

I've already started and stopped one medication, and I'm several days into mediation #2, an injectable. In a couple days, I'll begin #3 (another injectable) and #4 (a pill). By my count there are more than 10 medications in this cycle.

We're talking more about "the babies" now. I'm dreaming about them, too. They are always twins in my dreams. This week Tim's sister opened an egg and found that it had 2 yolks. I'd like to think it's a sign. I'm probably reaching just a wee bit with that, huh? I clearly have IVF on the brain.