IVF.8

Yo, as we used to say here in DC, back in the day.

Travel:

Our 1 o'clock flight was cancelled on Saturday but the good people at NWA called nice and early to inform us that we had been moved to the 3 o'clock instead. When I called back closer to the flight time to confirm that we had a legitimate chance of departing, I was told that we were actually on the 6:44 flight. Much confusion and hilarity insued before we discovered that *I* had been changed to the earlier flight but Steve and Patrick had been ticketed for the later one. Guffaw. That's what you get when you use miles from multiple accounts, just so you know.

Our cat sitter/house sitter/security guy/electrician/airport chauffeur kept calling every 15 minutes FOR HOURS to see if we needed him to come over yet and we kept saying, uh, we'll know ree-ee-eelly soon, we promise. I felt so guilty for wrecking his Saturday that I unpacked all of my emergency chocolate and left it for him. I have since regretted this generous impulse, not so much because he was unworthy but because I am now sitting here in my father-in-law's home office peering out over my favorite cemetary (oooh, the cognoscenti can now track me to my lair, give or take a few houses) and wondering whether these novelty erasers are edible.

Eventually Steve and Patrick and I were all put on the evening flight, which proved pleasantly uneventful. As the plane touched down Patrick wanted to simultaneously hold my hand and Steve's hand and Bear's paw and when we did a little bump and shimmy with the landing he hollered, "Don't be scared, people on the airplane!" It was cute.

I am still so angry about the rental car fiasco (there was a rental car fiasco) that I cannot even write about it. Suffice to say that Avis can go fuck themselves. Our past three trips I have sworn I will never rent from them again but I am absolutely done this time. They are dead to me. Fini. Our car was supposed to be waiting for us with the goddamned keys in the ignition and instead we did not get here until after midnight because we spent over an hour at the Avis counter. Actually, Steve and Patrick did while I froze my face off waiting with our luggage in the parking lot until a guy with an uncanny resemblance to Arvin Sloane from Alias asked me if I needed a ride somewhere. I seriously considered it.

IVF:

You know what's weird? Steve and I are having the hardest time remembering to do the injections. We have missed the Lupron every morning by at least an hour and last night we came THIS CLOSE to forgetting about the stims altogether. When you pause to consider that our every moment here is predicated upon fertility treatment you really have to wonder what our problem is. This morning I rolled out of bed at 8 and stumbled around for a good ten minutes before I remembered I had to be at the ShaGro office at 8:30 for monitoring. Their courier comes at 8:50 so there isn't much room for error either.

Oh my GOD! I almost forgot to tell you! The Georgetown office shares their space with... are you ready? The Prenatal Testing and Diagnostic Ultrasound Center! Quiet infertile women and exuberant pregnant ones, cheek-to-jowl and stacked like cord wood. It is SUCH an unfortunate and ill-considered pairing that I was grinning like a monkey the whole time I was sitting there yesterday. I tried to waggle my eyebrows at a fellow IVFer when an extremely pregnant woman named Poppy started planning her baby shower via cell phone but she just stared at me blankly. Then my arm started bleeding (again! on Saturday morning at the Minnesota clinic my arm failed to clot and actually SQUIRTED like a special effect when I removed the cotton ball to investigate the damage, causing the guy sitting next to me to shout "Holy Horses!" in the thickest Minnesotan accent you have ever heard) and I lost the thread.

Seriously, though, the notice in the ultrasound room requesting that SgRo patients be considerate and not bring children to appointments seems a bit absurd in the face of so-oo-ooo many pregnant women and their omnipresent offspring. It didn't bother me so much as it amused me but then I have decided that this entire experience is completely surreal. Would it bother you?

Oh, um, e2 was 800-something yesterday and I had maybe 8-9 follicles between 10 and 13 mm and another 8 or 10 or 12 that were less than 10mm. They halved the dosage of Repronex and reduced Gonal-F some more. The RE I saw yesterday said it was a "beautiful stim" so far and the nurse said we are anticipating a Saturday retrieval. We'll see.

I promised to make dinner tonight and I want to go down to the wine shoppe and get a nice white before my in-laws get home. An advantage to staying here is that my mother-in-law is an AMAZING cook and my father-in-law likes good wine but I'll feel guilty unless we try to reciprocate at least a little. Also, I think Patrick might have broken their dining room chandelier somehow and I want to see if there is a hardware store around here. It is surprisingly fun to be urban again for a while. I am so used to getting in the car to pick up our mail that the idea of walking to buy wine is making me giddy.

Oh, and I know you were wondering so I will tell you. Yes, I am continuing to enjoy a nice glass of wine in the evening despite being in the middle of an IVF cycle. So... there it is. Feel free to say I told you so later.

Remind me to tell you about my delightful new acupuncturist. Dinner prep calls.

Comments

[Laura K.]

Oooooh, am I the first with a comment? Fun!

Glad you got there okay. And you know, my philosophy is to NEVER take a ride from any Arvin Sloan lookalikes. You can just never tell if he's a good guy or a bad guy these days...

Your follicles sound good! I can't wait to hear how your retrieval goes!

Have fun hoofing it, oh, and drinking wine. Right now I'm missing both.

Laura K.

[Lisa S (& Riley, Bella, & Adelyn)]

Welcome to the East Coast! I walked to Starbucks the other day in the snowstorm and I almost wet myself with joy.

Good luck with IVF and enjoy another glass of wine!

[Siobhan]

But the most important question is, of course, what's for dinner????

Best wishes for a wonderful outcome from this trip.

[Monica]

As a former patient of the Georgetown Shady Grove office, I am so with you on the odd pairing. When I first started going there, I thought perhaps all of the pregnant women were success stories. Have you noticed that getting there early allows you to get a parking space out front instead of in the dreaded parking garage? Wishing you lots of luck.

[Cecily]

You are only three hours away! If only there weren't all this damn snow I'd drive right down there and demand to meet you.

The blood spurting caused water spurting--out my nose, that is.

[Scully]

I just about lost lunch over the whole SQUIRTED blood scenario! EWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!

Thanks for the update!

[Lauren]

You're only ten hours from me! I should swing by and pick up Cecily and then take you out for coffee. You know, If I had a credit card I would do it. Damn it.

[dayment]

"Holy horses!" Love it.
*GOOD LUCK!!*

[Summer]

Julia: I have chocolates of many nations here at my home. Of course, I don't have running water or a functional home phone line, but if you call me on my office line I'll happily meet you somewhere with the goods. Do you prefer Belgian, Swiss, Italian, or good ol' cheap American?

[Megan]

So glad the cycle is going well so far - it all sounds good. I went in for my 1st appointment in SG's Georgetown office with a waiting room full of IVFers, and emerged to find a waiting room full of pregnant women! It struck me as comical, luckily. I am wondering if your new acupuncturist is truly delightful, or just the opposite. Keep us posted - thanks!

[Lynn]

You have now solved the mystery of why there are so many exuberent pregnant women sitting in the waiting room at SGFC's Georgetown office. To be honest, until now I comforted myself with thoughts that these were success stories, but I'm sure there's plenty of gals who aren't comforted, especially when the pregnant women are ... planning baby showers in front of infertiles. Who thinks up this torture?

I have to say, SG knows their stuff, but they are so factory-like that they are a little idiotic about the stuff that is bothersome, such as ... sharing a waiting room with exuberant pregnant women. I've seen (non-pregnant)women on stretchers in the waiting area for god knows what. Why are they laid out in the waiting room in a hospital gown between tests or embryo transfers -- is there no other place to put them?

But the best was my husband's experience giving a sperm sample there: The protocol at most places is that the guys can leave by some secret door (because we all know their delicate nature can't handle actually parading with the sample to the front desk, although it's perfectly fine to leave a half-dressed woman in a hospital gown on a stretcher in the waiting room -grr). Anyway, one morning the person in charge of samples was busy. So he had to wait in the waiting room with his flowery bag containing his jar with the sperm sample, and of course he ran into a woman he knows from work, there to get her fertility treatment or whatever. With no time to consult Miss Manners on the best approach, he decided not to ignore her, and waved -- with the hand holding the sperm-sample bag. Poor guy.

[Danae]

Okay, what's the deal with the squirting blood? Also, what was Patrick doing on the chandelier? Never mind, don't tell me.

I've been thinking about you and HOPING things were going well - so glad to hear they are!

[Brooklyn Girl]

Girl, you crack me up. Enjoy the wine.

[Amber]

Cheering for you!!! Off to a great start!

[Alice]

I also have the clotting difficulties and once had a nurse shout "Shit!" when the cotton ball was removed and blood gushed from me. I guess that's the New York version of "Holy Horses!".

[Christine]

In addition to borrowing Steve for yard work, I'm going to have to borrow Patrick for the next time I get on a plane, since I hate to fly.

Glad all is well and you and your follicles are not buried in a snowbank.

[Andrea]

I'm so glad you made it out. We had 3 feet of snow north of Boston, and all I could think about over the weekend was if you were able to get to DC. I'm so glad you did.

[Toni]

Sounds like, despite the crazy trip, that things are going well. I think that I'd be pissed that they did the prenatal stuff in the same place - esp with the "no children allowed" sign. Stupid people.

Hope dinner went well.

[Sarah]

Glad you made it to DC safely and it sounds like things are progressing ok!

The story of Patrick on the plane is soooo adorable, I'm sure he helped a lot of nervous flyers!

The blood-squirting was hilarious, but someone saying "Holy Horses" was even funnier! Holy HORSES????

Enjoy the wine, girl. It will help you RELAX, and you know what they say about the importance of being relaxed, don't ya? ;-)

[Libby]

Jules,

Just wanted to tell you that I am thinking of you and I am wishing/hoping/praying for a wonderful cycle that ends up in a healthy baby.

All the best,

PS: and I also want to know what you cooked for dinner.

[Day]

My old RE's office used to share a waiting room with an ADOLESCENT OB SPECIALIST. Needless to say I witnessed a thing or two there which taught me hard lessons about the "unfairness of things."
Good luck Julia- I've got all fingers/toes crossed for you. And, wine is good for you...don't let anyone tell you otherwise. Enjoy it now while you can!

[bec 34 f.k.a. bec 35]

I think I win...I am mere minutes from you, at least work-wise. I have no chocolate at the moment though. I forgot Shady Grove had a Georgetown office. Do you still get to see Dr. L over there?

I used to see a gynecologist that did not practice as an OB, and only changed to a true OB/GYN when I got pregnant. But I miscarried before my first appointment there, so my first time dealing with that waiting room was after the fateful night in the ER. Having never been to an OB I was not used to being in such close proximity with multiple pregnant folk, and on this particular day, one of them was speaking loudly and exuberantly to the front desk people about how she was ready to give birth any second, and about the name they had picked, etc. One of the ladies must have seen my head spinning, because she said, "we need to get her into an exam room NOW."

But I think I'd be amused too, now that I'm a bit more experienced with this kind of thing.

bec :D

[Melissa]

Like bec I am only a few minutes from you too, but I have chocolate courtesy of my colleagues. You can come hang if you want, ha.

I bet you are not enjoying the DC traffic again, but at least you missed the havoc the snow wrought last week.

Best of luck.