Numbers

A long time friend just posted a happy birthday message to her son, who was born 12 years ago today and died about a week later. I remember the day her water broke. We were both living in Panama, far from home, near an unfamiliar hospital and doctors who spoke another language. I was so scared for her, being only 6 months along with her first child. Just a couple of nights prior to that day I had taken pictures of her growing belly. I was hopeful when her little one showed ability to breathe on his own, but so sad that she couldn't take him home yet. Then one day I called to check, and she told me he had passed. I had no words. Just empty. Little did I know I'd face the same thing a decade later, and she would be there for me with comforting words.

Back to the present. Last night's injections returned to the painful levels of previous cycles, as did this morning's. They had to put the turniquet on so tight for my blood draw I thought my arm was going to fall off. My veins just kept disappearing into the depths of my elbow. All is well, though, with an estradiol (hormone produced by developing ovarian follicles) level of 212, higher than my first cycle of IVF when it was only 135 at the same point in the cycle. I guess the higher the level, the more follicles are growing. When my eggs are ready to be harvested, there should be approximately 200 points of estradiol per follicle. Mine seems to be well within the normal range of someone on day 5 of fertility drugs. Another good piece of information is that my Follicle Stimulating Hormone (FSH) was only 4.7 before starting meds--anything under 9 is "normal", indicating I should have a good response to ovarian stimulation. The higher the number, the lower the ovarian reserve and the less likely it is to have good embryo quality. http://www.advancedfertility.com/day3fsh.htm

Friday night is "date night", so I'm looking forward to dinner out with my husband, and probably our last weekend to relax before our limitations set in. Time to enjoy!