Budget and Bathrooms

We've been trying to finish up a remodel of our bathroom for some time... Now we have company coming out for my Birthday weekend and the pressure is on. Unfortunately, we have to figure out if my design ideas still works with our post IVF budget. (Especially if our FET doesn't work and we end up doing another cycle.)

My options are a "spa" like bathroom, or a zen inspired style. I have a "Free" cabinet that might be re-worked in the space, albeit it's a bit large... If I use it, we'd do a waterfall counter with a vessel sink. (since the sides are un-finished and will need to be cut down even more. I had planned on using earth tone materials... (limestone colors, with a seafoam green or even a fossil, "waterfall")

Otherwise, my original idea (since the space is only 4' x 8') is a minimalist Zen inspired bathroom, with wall mount vanity and interesting sink. I like this K0hler one... but would need to figure out what tiles to go with this since it's more Asian inspired than the spa one.

We won't even get into the T0t0 toilet I think is nice.

Either way, my tastes run to the tad bit expensive side... Although I do like construction, I miss my high paying jobs.

Hope

My consult was moved up to yesterday thanks to a cancellation. The news was promising. (More so than I even hoped for.) My results up to the point of implantation were good. The embryo's looked even better than last time. (the definitely developed faster) My RE recommended transferring our one remaining frozen embryo in my current "natural"cycle. (Which would be in less than two weeks!)

Apparently the intralipid infusion should still be suppressing my immunity and I won't need the Humaria either. I should still be super fertile from all of the meds I took, and I won't need to do all of the injections or even the birth control pill.

I just need to monitor when my LH surge hits, and then we'll have to do the hCG shot again. AS far as drugs, I'll only need to take the Lovenox (daily) after the LH surge and continue my multi-vitamins, metformin, thyroid meds, etc. which luckily are pills. And thus I am off again...

Too true...

Thank goodness for cats. :-)

Back to Reality

My cats stayed by me the entire time I was home resting this cycle. They got up occasionally for food or the litter robot, but otherwise, they hung out in the bedroom.

It was so nice having them there to keep my company. Even the usually aloof, "don't pet me" cat, was snuggled up by me! She also made sure she was available to help me with any citrus that I might want to eat. :-)

The black cat was actually meowing at the door when I came home from my first day back at work. I think he really missed me!

I'm slowly returning to reality. No more checking out SUV's as they drive by to see if they might be a good fit for car seats... No more wondering which room would make a good nursery, and if it was big enough for more than one crib. No more visions of beautiful blond twins in my dreams. (I never dreamt of kids before, and thought for sure that the dream about me and an adorable curly haired boy and a girl with wavy blond hair were a sign... Now that I think of it, maybe the fact that they were waving goodbye at the end of my dream was a sign.) Either way, it's hard not to start hoping when you go through a cycle.

Unfortunately, reality has a way of jolting you back from dreaming of children to the fact that they don't exist. Surprisingly I'm recovering ok, I'd like to know what the Dr thinks, but have to wait, so there's nothing that I can do until October.

The nice part is, the "don't pet me cat" still cuddles with me, so at least something good came out of this.

$$$$$ + 1 Intralipid + 5 Beautiful Embryos =

1 Big Fat Negative (My hCG was a 2*.)

On the plus side, at least this time I found out on the same day I took the test so I can stop all of my medications tonight. (with the exception of the Metformin, Prenatal, and F0lgard) Although at the moment I'm tempted to stop them too.

I have to schedule a consult with the Dr to discuss why it didn't work. I'm betting he's going to blame my BMI. Unfortunately, the Dr isn't available for a consult until the first part of October!!!

Lucky for me I managed to gain weight on this cycle, so I have even more loose than before so I guess the wait is just as well.

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*hCG Note: Anything less than 5 is considered not pregnant.

A singleton should be in the 200 range.

Bed Bug

Concerned about my addiction to the Internet, Tim banned me from my laptop for the days following my transfer. (No TV for that matter either.)

I became a bed bug instead, most of my time was spent resting or reading. One of Tim's co-workers loaned me some books. (with the exception of the F0rgotten Garden one). I read them all in short order. They were all good reads. (The two center ones being easy fluff reads the others having interesting story lines and substance.)

The transfer went well. My results (numbers wise) ended up being very similar to last time. (Although this time, the embryos developed better and were further along at day 5 . Two of the ones we transferred were already starting to hatch!) We ended up with a late bloomer (again) so had 14 in the running. Five of which were at the Blast or higher stage at the time of the transfer. We let the remaining nine grow a day, and ended up with one more to freeze.

I was a bit sore after, since I have an anteverted uterus, and I've been a bit tired lately. I don't feel pregnant, nor do I not feel pregnant, so It's any one's guess. I'm down to two shots a day. (one IM and one sub-que) As well as the Humira every other week. I have a handful of pills as well, but they are slowly reducing as the days go by.

Do they have Milkshakes?

Well, today was the intralipid infusi0n day. Essentially, you go into the office, and they put you in a big leather recliner, with a blanket and a heated pillow and hook you up. One arm gets a Blood pressure monitor, the other gets the catheter and infusi0n lines. It took over 2 hours, and although I brought my laptop, the Internet connection was PAINFULLY slow! (dial up?!?)

Luckily I had my iPh0ne, so I could take pictures of my infusi0n, surf the web, and check email while I was waiting for pages to load. If there's a next time, I'm bringing a movie, as the waiting for web pages was quite painful, and I didn't like the thought of tyring to type with a catheter and a bunch of tubes in my hand.

The intralipid liquid was a cloudy milk color. (the soy perhaps) The nurses there basically chatted at their desks about school, text books, the weather, etc. We were checked in on a couple of times, but were pretty much on our own. There was one other person in the infusion area, and she slept most of the time. All in all, it went ok.

I now have bleach wipes @ work to fight off infections, and will need to be more diligent about staying away from sick people. Hopefully the infusi0n will work, and I won't have to go again.

In other news, I MISS water!!! One liter of pr0pel / day (and NO Ice) is painful!!! I've been putting them in the freezer even, but it's just not the same. I want plain yummy water. Luckily I only need to wait seven more days...