Weaning off of Drugs - Freaked

I got an email today from the nurse (which was really hard to understand, so I had to call them anyway).

1) Estrace - 1x/day for 4 days (I'm now taking 2/day), then stop
2) Vivelle - reduce by one, every other day (I'm now taking 4 every other day), then stop
3) Endometrin - 2x/day for 4 days, then 1x/day for 4 days, then stop (I'm now taking 3x/day)

Then they said, let us know when the baby is born.  No more monitoring of levels!!!  WHAT?  That freaks me out to no end.  The nurse said, that Dr. G says I'm far along enough and he does this all the time and that it's fine.  FYI, my E2 is at 2000something (supposed to be ~500) and progesterone is at 36 (>20).  I'll be off of all the drugs 2 days before I'm 10 weeks along.

Since I see my ob/gyn on Tuesday, I may ask her to check the levels, so I'm sure they'll be taking my blood anyway.

Anyone who has had experience weaning, please reassure me!!!  I feel like they just ripped off my training wheels and are saying, "Good luck in the Tour de France -- let us know if you finish the race!"

8w4d

 

The fetus is babyfying!  Or as the sonographer referred to it, it's a gummy bear!  From left to right: leg buds, torso, arms buds, head.  Heartrate: 171 bpm.  I only got to hear it once... I could've stayed there all day listening, though I could do without the dildo cam in there all day.  Dr. G was once again detained by surgery, so didn't get to talk to him.  Tomorrow PM, I'll find out how much I get to reduce my drugs to -- can't wait for that.  But I have no idea the next time I'm due back at CCRM (if at all).  I'm definitely getting sloppy with my drug administration times (like varying the midday endometrin deposit by 2 hours) and I've forgotten an estrace once and endometrin twice in the recent past.  I'm excited, though, that my awesome ob/gyn (who curses and says that the guys have it easy, they just need to splatter their semen -- in roughly those words) wants to see me sooner rather than later, so I will see her on Tuesday.  She's a talker, so that is good, in that you never are rushed, but bad, in that you often have to wait way past your appointment time to see her.  I feel like I can bombard her with minutia whereas with Dr. G, I'm more intimidated and would feel lame asking him if soft cheeses are okay to eat, if they are pasteurized.  Or about my boobs.  Or whatever.  Anyway, I think I will get to have an ultrasound on Tuesday too, woohoo.  Brainstorm: I think there needs to be some sort of u/s co-op.  Women who want more than 2 u/s per pregnancy (I think that's all I got w/ DS) can join for a monthly membership fee.  Of course, we'll need boatloads of $$$ upfront to get an u/s machine and sonographer, but hey, I bet it'd pay for itself at some point!!!  And then you can get u/s as often as you'd like (or as much as the schedule would permit).  Wouldn't that rock?

Anyhoo, it's all starting to be more real, though I'm still pretty much in the closet... very happy with every Sunday that passes by for me (another week down).

Hope you all are having a good week and that 2012 delivers all your hopes and wishes!

Drugs Galore & Last Hurdle...

I can't get over the vast pharmacopia that is coursing through my body right now... it's tough to keep track of and I've started using one of those Sun-Sat pill boxes that I associate with "old people."  What's weird, too, is how I'm experiencing little to no side effects.  I'm off of the Lupron (yay, no more injections!) and am now taking:

• estrace - 2x/day
• Vivelle dots - 4x every other day
• endometrin - 3x/day (progesterone inserts)  So glad I don't have to do PIO, which just sounds frightening
• medrol - 1/night, steroid to avoid rejection of embryo - tastes disgusting!  Thanks for the tip, TurtleMama (take w/ plenty of liquid and do not let it linger on the tongue due to bitter taste)!
• tetracycline - 4x/day, take on empty stomach
• baby aspirin
• prenatal vitamin
• Colace - TMI, sorry -- stool softener, these drugs are stopping me up!!

My biggest challenge is timing the tetracycline 4x/day on an empty stomach (1 hour bef a meal and 2-3 hours after meals).  I eat ALL the time...  so unfortunately, some of those doses are not really on am empty stomach.  Hope that is not an issue, have not discussed w/ the nurse or anything.

Last Hurdle: Had my progesterone level checked today and according to my nurse's voicemail, "looks fantastic!"  So no # specificity, but I'll take it!

Just gotta get those report cards all done and sub plans for Friday written up and lay out all my bedrest diversions and I'm good to go.  Nervous, but cautiously optimistic.

Close, but YES cigar?

So I had my doppler u/s appointment and estradiol blood draw this morning.  I got a call back from the nurse as I was trying to park my car in the Costco lot on a VERY crowded/busy shopping day and as my DS started dry-heaving in the back seat, requesting a baggie to puke in.  Why don't the nurses ever call me when I'm calm and by myself?  I'm a teacher and sometimes the nurse calls while I'm in the midst of 24 third-graders and I have to speak in code, "Well, my monthly visitor arrived today.  Okay, so I should start taking those miniature pills when?"  Well, I got the car parked and DS ended up not puking (phew!) and I was able to grab a pen/paper to take some notes on the next steps.

Oh, back to the u/s -- triple pattern, good blood flow, 10.2 mm -- all good (thickness is supposed to be > than 8 mm).  But the estradiol level was 256 and they want 300.  : (  The nurse (Carolyn -- new) said that we can kick it up with estrace twice daily, which I've used before to beef up my lining during IUIs, but have never ingested it orally.  Which I welcome, because bright blue discharge is kinda disturbing.  As I recall from one woman's blog, "It's like I f**ked a smurf!"  Apparently they are not too worried as the wizard (Dr. G) felt that 256 was close to 300.  They're not even going to check that again.  Only progesterone on Tuesday.

So new upcoming drugs: progesterone inserts (endometrin) 3x/daily starting on Sunday.  Tetracycline (which I cannot stand due to the need to avoid dairy) also.  Medrol comes up somewhere too.  Good thing I'm a Type A organized person (how do non-Type A people manage all the details???). 

We find out on Wednesday when our transfer appointment will be on Friday.  Can't believe the day is actually nearing and that it's actually going to happen. 

Weekend plans: work (blah), raking leaves (kinda gratifying), errands, college football and DH's b-day tomorrow.  Hope I can survive the week, always busy right before Thanksgiving at school with report cards and whatnot.  Transfer day on Friday and then we host Thanksgiving -- hrmmm.... bedrest is not so conducive to Thanksgiving prep.  I should still have plenty of prep time -- besides, it'll help the 2ww pass.  The IUI 2ww was bad enough, with the higher stakes of IVF, I don't know how I will be able to stand it.  I know it's less than 2w, but still... how do others do it?  Do I need to stuff my schedule to the brim?