Ultrasound Question

For all of the peeps out there that have made it to their first ultrasound, when did it take place? Specifically how long after TRANSFER?

The reason I ask (instead of google) is because I'm a little confused on how they calculate pregnancy. Apparently they now calculate "how far along you are" based on the date of your last menstrual period (LMP). When I went to use an IVF due date calculator last night (don't judge), it gave us a due date in October, but then also displayed that we were considered 4 weeks and 3 days pregnant. This is different than how they calculated it 20+ years ago, and I'm not ashamed to say, offends my logical sensibilities. Whatever. I still don't know if people are talking about the ultrasound being at 6 weeks based on after implant date OR based on "how far along you are" date.

I'd call my clinic and ask but a.) my favorite nurse isn't there today and b.) I have a cube and still have to keep things hush-hush. Since I always have to wait for them to call me back, I can't exactly time my privacy.

My husband has only told his Dad so far, because our previous fails have been hard on his family. Particularly his mother as his parents are much older (he's the baby of 6) and not always in the best health. He is itching to tell them, but is also wants to wait until the first ultrasound. He couldn't help but tell his father when he made his normal weekly call last Sunday.

Our breath is holding for our next beta on Saturday. Then we will hold it until the ultrasound. Once we hit that point, we will exhale, fill our lungs, and hold again. Rinse and Repeat.


Update:
my main question is:
Specifically how long after TRANSFER did the ultrasound take place.

A Years Worth of Beta

365!!! hCG. Yay!!!

Waiting Sucks

Waiting sucks.

Sitting here in my cube, waiting for an update. Checking to see if my phone is on ring. Or if somehow, miraculously, I've missed a call even though my phone hasn't been less than a foot away from me all morning.
I look at the clock on my computer and realize only a minute has passed.

Do they wait longer to call if it's bad news?
What time was the GC's blood appointment this morning? Was it 8am or 10am? Can't remember and I'm afraid to call in case she has bad news of her own from spotting.
What if everything is fine and they just forget to call? That's happened before. Even from our other clinic.
What if it's bad news and they have to wait until the doctor can call us to explain?
Why aren't they calling???

Breathe.

Sunny with a Chance of Rain

Amazing photography by zznzz
http://zznzz.deviantart.com/art/sunny-rain-259517795

130!!!

That's the hCG test results at day 12. Our GC's progesterone is 20 and estrogen is 830. That's a good solid number for 1 baby with a possibility of twins. (Could we even dare to hope?) Everything is looking great.

Well, almost everything. Shortly after the blood test this morning, our GC started spotting. I know that it's not uncommon, and it may mean nothing, but it's still scary. Add to the fact that my age group has something like a 35% miscarriage rate. Doctor's recommendation is for GC to drink plenty of fluids and rest.

I'm not going to dwell on any of that today. Today I am going to be happy. Cautiously happy - but happy happy happy.

Hoping for an uneventful 2 days followed by correct growth rate in 2 days. Stay tuned and wish us lots of baby dust. You know - the good stuff; not the cheap, crappy stuff. We need all the help we can get.

Tomorrow is the Day: Random Thoughts the Day Before

Work has been wicked busy (and good), thus I haven't had a whole lot of time to perform my usual obsessiveness during this period. With the weekend here and time so close, it's starting to creep in. I flip between wanting to look at baby stuff and then quickly switching to something else.

Tomorrow night we are celebrating my son's birthday - 21. (Holy crap - when did that happen?!?) His actual birthday is not that day, but he already had plans on his birthday (free sporting event tickets with great seats!) and I had a choose a different night. It didn't occur to me that I was choosing the night that could be either a very sad or very happy one for us. I'd hate to steal his thunder or put a damper on such an eventful birthday. Though now that I think about it, he would be thrilled at the good news. When I mentioned my poor date choice to my husband he became slightly surly and thought I was already thinking negatively; I quickly assured him I was not. 

Add dinner to tomorrows schedule of things, and then I saw that friends need help sewing costumes with a recital they are having next week. I was supposed to be in it, but I bowed out of the recital once I realized that it would be too hard with to do with the IVF cycle. Still, I had to explain that I probably couldn't help with the sewing aspects tomorrow either. I hate that, but it is what it is. Almost no one in that group is aware of our infertility problem and I can't imagine getting the phone call in the middle of all of that. Not to mention I'm sure my husband wants us to be together for that moment. 

By far this has been our best cycle and some part of me wonders if we had had the opportunity to do it here earlier (instead of India), if the results wouldn't have turned out better for the other cycles. We will never know for sure, but I suspect it may have. The cyst probably killed my first cycle and we would have waited if we weren't already in India. After the second cycle we found out that BCP lowers chances in women my age, something that is hard to avoid when you have to fly across the world and time everything. Actually, had I known that prior, I probably would have just flown out earlier and not taken any. Maybe. I'm not sure if we could have been that flexible with my husband's schedule. Who really knows except that this last cycle, which should have been the worst, was my best. By far. 

Sad to think that this is our last cycle with my eggs. Not to be Debbie-downer (I am hopeful), but if it doesn't work then we are in limbo for awhile. We will go to egg donation, but who knows when we will be able to do that or the logistics of it. While I won't feel a disconnect from any future baby we have that isn't biologically tied to me, I will feel a disconnect from my husband and his family. I don't know exactly how to explain that statement and any attempt to try would probably muddle it up even more. 

Plus , I so genuinely want to see what a mix of our genes would produce. Like most couples, I think we will/would make beautiful babies that will/would go on to do great and wonderful things. I would miss seeing the flicker of mischievousness from my Grandfather,  the possibility of light blue eyes (that have never changed due to any marriage mix), and the beauty and intelligence that I could point out from so many that came before me. Children are wonderful no matter where they come from, but there is something longing in me that wants the physical reminder of my loved ones that have passed to carry on in our future child. 

Sad to think it's our last cycle and a relief. Cycling is harder than I imagined and you have to put so many restrictions on yourself. So grateful to be able to resume wine, regular caffeine  and long hot baths. To not take a daily dose of supplements that make me rage/cry/get acne/grow more facial hair/etc.. Grateful not to have to pump more hormones and all the fun things that go with that. To not have to worry about gaining more weight; wondering if I need to buy a new wardrobe or just put my body on hold for yet a few more months. This week I was finally able to make appointments to get a cavity filled (anesthesia) and see my dermatologist (where most things Rx'd are no-nos for IVFers).  

My eggs are literally all in one basket. It can go either way. We transferred many embryos, but not more than the embryologist felt comfortable with. On one hand that makes me excited because it gives us a higher chance, on the other hand it makes sad thinking that our chances are so low to begin with that it's ok.  

Deep breath. 

Off to take a bath and think happy thoughts. If happy thoughts don't come, there's always my fallback: Grey's Anatomy. That sh#t's addictive and engrossing. Have lots to keep me busy today, so I need to get off the computer and try and dive into that. Tomorrow is the day and hopefully we will have great news. 

Question of the Day

How cruel is it that the 2ww will invariably fall right along a woman's PMS schedule?
I was totally fine until today. Gah!

60 Second Update

Embie we didn't transfer didn't make it. They left a message on my phone and I didn't feel the need to call back. It didn't upset me - not one bit - totally expected.

Tomorrow I go in for my check up appointment. I've been a little worried because I am still cramping, but I guess I shouldn't be surprised since I'm prone to infection AND I didn't take my doxycycline the night before my transfer like I was supposed to. Told the nurse on the day of transfer (when she asked about it). Completely slipped my mind to take it even though I told myself probably 20 times (and my husband at least 5)! Had to take it after dinner and dinner was after the reminder alarm went off. Damn you ADD. Oh well. I guess if I had to forget one medication -that was the one to forget.

G.C. says she is doing great except for a sore bum. LOL. I feel so bad for her. She told me that the night of the first shot that she kept procrastinating when her husband tried to give it to her. Made him keep practicing on the orange an hour past the time she was planning on taking it. Then when she finally got the shot she couldn't believe that she had been so worried over it that whole time. That it was nothing compared to what she had built up in her mind. Still, too many shots will give anyone sore spots. There wasn't an unbruised spot in my prime belly-shooting area by the time I was done. Hurt to wear pants. Sans pants (or skirt) probably isn't good for the office. Now that I think about it - why didn't I wear a dress???

That's it for now. Tomorrow is checkup for me and Sunday is prego test for G.C. Some moments I don't think of it at all and other times I wonder how wise it is troll craigslist for my dream crib. Well "troll" as in window shop, not as in act all douche-y. Why am I explaining myself? You all knew what I meant. I starting to ramble which means I need to hurry up and get to bed. Still a ton to do.

Night all!

The Day of Transfer

Day of transfer was Tuesday, not today (or tomorrow). We decided after a lot of careful research and serious talk, that waiting 5 days didn't buy us anything odds wise, but it did offer a bigger chance of loss. Results are pretty comparable with success rates overall. There are a few examples here and here. There are actually a ton more scholarly articles (many that are more recent) that pretty much bear out the same thing in our specific case, but that was soooooo Sunday/Monday and I'm not digging them up again.  

Rates are often viewed as higher because the result set of blastocyst are skewed with young women's eggs. I had to face facts, some embies that could make it to 3 day and be viable, may not make it to 5 day. 

Tuesday came and it was a moot point anyway, because there were clear leaders in the embryo pack. Very clear. Day 5 wasn't going to make it any different except that we could lose some that would have been perfectly fine. 

In their system, Grade 1 is the best, 4 is the worst. I've listed them in order of their quality. 

Here was the breakdown:

#1: 8 cell embryo - grade 2

#2: 8 cell embryo - grade 2

#3: 8 cell embryo - grade 3

#4: 7 cell embryo - grade 3

#5: 6 cell embryo - grade 3

#6: 5 cell embryo - grade 3

No perfects, but I can't say as I was really expecting any to be. #1 & #2 look pretty good. They won't make the cover of Embryo Monthly, but that is fine since I just made up that magazine name anyway. Now that I think about it they TOTALLY could make the cover, as long as I create the magazine and approve the cover. So not perfect, but still they look good. (I'll try posting pics of them later in the week.) 

#3 was ok. If I had to guess, I'd put it at a 3+. Almost a 2, but not quite. 

#4 was a disaster. I honestly don't know how #3 and #4 are even in the same grade based on the fragmentation.  My only assumption is that grade 4 must be when they start to darken. We didn't have any grade 4s, but since #4 was so sad, we didn't need to see the other 2. 

What ever we didn't put in they were still going to try to grow to blastocyst and then try and freeze, but we were essentially told, "don't really even consider that happening." I guess tomorrow I will call and ask anyway, but I will feel foolish doing so. But for the same reason I can't stop watching a movie even when it's bad (curiosity), I will be compelled to call. At least I know what to expect. 

That's it. Transfer went great. I was in the operating room holding my GC's hand as they implanted. She was a champ. Both the embryologist and the doctor were very pleased with the transfer. Very clean and without problems. 

2 week wait - here we come. Except I'm not sure if it is 2ww, because they are doing it at the 12 day mark. Weird. I've warned my GC that she may have to come back for a second if the one on the 27th doesn't give us enough info. 

Oh well - back to this:

Thanks for all the support and well-wishes!

6 Embies

We have 6 embryos. We will see how many continue. (4 of the eggs were immature). The embryologist said if they do well, then they might consider doing a 5 day transfer instead. We told her that we are not sure if we want to take that risk and to have the doctor call us tomorrow when we know more on how they are doing. 

Pros of going to 5 day: out of the embryos that survive, you can choose the very best ones to implant, resulting in a higher rate of pregnancy.

Cons of going to 5 day: embryos that could result in a pregnancy may not make it to 5 day outside of the womb. We could lose them all and have nothing to transfer. 

Trying to get less excited. It's hard. 

Holy Crap

All of my past complaining of IVF in the US (especially in comparison to India), is suspended. Hopefully indefinitely.   For today I had 13 eggs retrieved. You read right. 13. I didn't even have that many follicles called out 2 days ago, though I suspected that the smaller ones on the left ovaries weren't called out simply due to their size.

Up until today, I've remained relatively flat regarding our outcome. Neither over excited nor pessimistic. Part of this is due to the busy schedule I have had to keep, part of it has been less time to obsessively research, and part has been that it's my 3rd cycle. People who have undergone multiple cycles know exactly what I mean by that last part.

Today I cried when the doctor told me. My husband wasn't there yet, and even though I clearly heard the doctor when he told me, I asked him to repeat himself. I asked the nurse again when she checked on me and told her I might cry. She brought me a tissue.

I'm tearing up as I type this.

Today I don't feel flat. I'm somewhat scared about how much hope I have right now. We have no idea how many will fertilize, but I'm still in shock over how many we have. For the first time "freezing embryos" and "blastocyst" are suddenly possible options for us.

UPDATE: Now I'm nervous again. Just realized that 13 doesn't necessarily mean 13. Some times eggs don't/aren't mature and your original number goes down. We've never run into this prior - the number we got was always the number we got. Sigh. Why does this always have to be such a damn roller-coaster?

Giggle Moment

2nd cycle tummy shot. Little red dots are from the shots.

Hubby and I burst into giggles the other night while in the middle of mixing my meds I exclaimed, 

"GET IN MY BELLY!"

After the strange outburst, we were a little worried I might spill some of meds from random giggling. 

Hard to be all serious after that. 

Day 11 - Trigger Night

Same disclaimer as Tuesday regarding this post. Half of this was written quickly at work just to get the stats up and the other half was written quickly at home where I have a zillion things I need to do. I don't have time, patience, or the general "sit down and write pretty" warm and fuzzies tonight. (Still want to post the info though.)

Let's us begin...

Ultrasound done by doctor today. I don't remember this doctor's name, but she reminds me of tall Jennifer Garner. It's kinda funny. Funny weird, not funny haha. (I've always loved that phrase.) I've met her before and she is the new doctor at the practice. 

Lining is grade 1 at 7mm. (This doesn't matter in my case except to show that my hormone levels are good.) 

Note: they looked at the right ovary first this time.

right ovary:

14mm

17mm

19mm

14mm

3 that are <10mm

left ovary:

18mm

18mm

16mm

17mm

18mm

Looks some were hiding on the right that have perked up. One of the small ones on the left decided to join in the game as well. 

Depending on my blood levels, we may wait another day before the trigger shot. Will know this afternoon. 

I was out of meds and so my nurse gave me some from the office. Said if I don't have to use them, to bring them back. They didn't charge. 

--Evening update

Triggering tonight. My progesterone is 1.3 and my estrogen is 1779. The nurse explained that when the progesterone starts rising and gets above 1, it indicates that the eggs are getting ready to release (something I did not know previously.) My hCG shot is scheduled for midnight. Haven't watched the videos for that one yet - better get to it! Dose is 10K. 

Tomorrow morning I go back for another appt. They are taking blood and going over the pre-op instructions. Not sure if I get another ultrasound, I was in my car about to leave when they called. 

My GC will start her progesterone shots tomorrow night (ouch.) I still cringe knowing how her shots are big and intramuscular. Super suck. Our transfer is slated for Tuesday. Not sure why we are doing a 3 day instead of 2, but I've put it on my list of questions. 

I've asked 2 other questions that I am awaiting answers on. 1 is regarding assited hatching: do they think it is warranted in our case. The other was about ICSI. I was surprised to find out that they did not have it planned for us. That's a bit startling given I have a low ovarian reserve and we've used it both times before. I've asked for clarification. If there is little downside, and a potential upside, then I don't want a small fee standing in the way. Plus, I've read studies where it can significantly impact small follicle/egg success. 

As good as my numbers look, I was reminded on how good they looked last cycle. In fact I had 12 good sized and 14mm one; only 4 eggs were retrieved. I guess I have to hope that they will have better equipment/process/tweaks of protocol here to release good eggs. Hate to put it that way because quite frankly, my last cycle in India was waaaaayyyyy less stressful than this one here in the states, but a little part of me is hoping that something will be better here. 

My post-op visit (that's new!) is scheduled for the 22nd. Our pregnancy test scheduled for the 27th. That seems kinda early, so I told our GC to expect that she may have to come in for a second one. With her starting a new job only a month ago, it's better for her to know the possibiliy of these things in advance. Heck, I know I would want to know that too. 

Saturday is retrieval day. I've been so busy, I haven't had time to worry [too much] with google or otherwise. Our appointment is at 11am, but we have to go in at 10:15 to speak with the doctor. It's weird to see all these different doctors and nurses. I haven't even seen our doctor since our cycle started, and now she won't even be doing the retrieval. Sigh. I know the other doctor is considered awesome and I've met him once before, but it's still hard. In India I saw my doctor and the same nurse every day. 

That's it. Gotta go hussle and get things done. Haven't even had dinner yet. Wish me luck!

Tuesday's Update (A Day Late)

This post is a bit cryptic as it is one of those posts that works as a handy dandy reference for me down the road, and thus the information is more important than the "elegance" of how it is written. If I wait till tonight to write it (instead of quickly at work) then a.) I might not get it done and b.) it loses it's value of reference to me later when it is delayed too much.

What I am left with is my notes I made to email hubby, mom, and surrogate - polished up a tad from their original version. (Otherwise, my mom would have no idea what I meant.)

Here's the deets

Left ovary, follicles and size:
15mm
14mm
12mm
14mm
3 that are small at 10mm

Right ovary, follicles and size:
15mm
14mm
2x at 10mm

Still a couple of days away from trigger shot. Looking for lead follicle to be in the 19-20mm range.
If we have to order more meds (only have enough for Tuesday and Wednesday), then there is a local pharmacy that can fill the order. Shouldn't be a problem with insurance since it would be a one time deal. They also have some in office if there was a problem with the other.


Trigger shot will potentially be on Thursday. Normally I take my stimulation meds at night, but I wouldn't take my other meds on same night I do trigger shot. Depending on what day trigger is, we can expect retrieval on Saturday or Sunday.


I was worried that my doctor (Dr. Carpenter) would not be available on the weekend as we never seem to have any staff we know when we come in on the weekend. My fear was correct and our new nurse (who I really like) told me that Dr. Toner would be the doctor if retrieval occurs on this weekend. We would meet him before going back to the OR. He is director of third party and our nurses direct boss.

Our other nurse emailed me later in the day and said my lab results look great. Estrogen at 969.8 and Progesterone 0.9. They want me to continue with my same dose of medication on Tuesday and Wednesday: 6 vials of Bravelle, 2 vials of Menopur, and 1 ganirelix. Thursday 1/10 I am to return to the office at 8am for another ultrasound and blood work. I was initially concerned about missing Wednesday, but the nurse confirmed that the doctor did not feel I needed to come in on Wednesday.

Begin at the Beginning...

From: http://aliceinwonderland.wikia.com/wiki/King_of_Hearts

“Begin at the beginning,” the King said very gravely, “and go on till you come to the end: then stop.” 
~Alice in Wonderland

I feel so behind on blogging about what is going on.  Ok. Let's start at the beginning. Or at least the beginning highlights of IVF cycle #3.

Christmas Day I starting on my Viville-dot .1 estrogen patch. The instructions were to change it out every other day until I started my regular cycle meds. Once I began those, I was to leave the last patch on for 3 days. 

Day after Christmas I started my protocol of injecting Ganirelix 250 mcg for 3 days. 

Friday night (12/28) my period started, and that brought me into the ACRM office on Sunday morning to do our baseline ultrasound check: 11 follicles. 

Monday (12/31) I started my Bravelle (6 vials of 75UI) and Menopur (2 vials of 75UI). You can see my discussion about that process here.

Friday I had my ultrasound and was introduced to my new nurse. Our old nurse/third party coordinator was promoted to Director of Nursing (or some similar title) and I was a little apprehensive of having to start with a new nurse. Even though our old has frustrated me a few times. Both nurses were there on Friday and I was actually pleasantly surprised with our new nurse. My fear was that she was going to be a total noob, but I couldn't have been more wrong. Apparently she was the former Director of Nurses took 6 months off, and was coming back as the new third party coordinator. She instantly made me feel at ease with her knowledge and bedside manner. Brava because I was very irritated with my clinic that day. 

The ultra sound showed 6 follicles growing on my left ovary and 3 on my right. All in the 10mm category. She explained BEFORE the ultrasound (which was really smart in my opinion) that it was very early and the number we were going to see that day could change. Not to worry if we only saw a few. At 9, I was pretty happy. 

After the ultrasound, I requested to meet with the financial coordinator. She was supposed to have called me back on Wednesday after speaking with her manager about a mistake they made, but did not. This meeting ended up with manager joining us and I will save that for another post. Suffice to say, I was not pleased about a mess-up and I let them know. 

The rest of the day saw me at work, running around trying to get required IVF forms notarized, and finalizing the attorney items. A busy day indeed. The mountain of forms you have to go through is staggering. 

Saturday my GC had her ultrasound and mock transfer. All went well, but neither one of us was informed before hand that she would be having this mock transfer. I'm guessing it was a bit of a surprise for her. 

Which brings us to today. (Shew.) Another ultrasound and blood work. Lining (where I have it) is striped and at 7mm. There are 4 follicles on the left that are 10mm or greater, and 3 on the right. Several smaller ones that may still be recruited. We will know more at my ultrasound on Tuesday. Blood results came back this afternoon and estradiol is looking good in the 500s. As long as it was in the 300's that was a good sign. 

That pretty much brings everyone up to speed. Well, everyone that reads this anyway. Not technically "the end" but a good place to stop for tonight. :-) 

Time Out for this Message about Meds

I'll freely admit now that despite what one might think, doing IVF with surrogacy in India was much easier for me. Administering meds is a prime example. I simply went to the clinic every morning, laid on a cramped patient table, and let them stick a bunch of needles in my belly. Some days hurt worse than others, but overall not too bad and the security of having someone who does this every day for years was great

Here in the US, you do it all yourself. The ordering, the mixing, the injecting. The day of my first ultrasound I was supposed to have injection training, but then I found out they wanted to charge an extra $160.00 for the training. Our pharmacy has online videos for our specific meds, so when they told me of the extra charge, I declined. Chances are I wouldn't remember what they said  when I got home anyway and would have to pull up the videos and instruction sheets. I ended up watching a bunch of videos from a bunch of different websites and then picking the best one to show my husband so he could watch me and make sure I was doing it right.

Video from my pharmacy on injecting Menopur.

This gives you a bit of an idea, but I had a lot 

more vials

Basically the process is:

• sterilize counter and tops of vials 
• wash hands thouroughly and carefully
• get syringe and remove the big needle
• attach a q-cap
• add a little over 1mm of air to the syringe
• puncture sodium cloride and push in air. This helps draw out the needed +1mm of liquid back into the syringe
• puncture vial of Bravelle and add liquid from syringe. Make sure everything dissolves, but don't shake too much. Add back to syringe, making sure to get all the liquid
• repeat with adding the newly mixed liquid into the next vial of Bravelle. 
• repeat with all vials of Bravelle and Menopur. Should still only have about 1mm of liquid in the syringe when done, but all 8 vials will now be dissolved into that 1mm of sodium chloride.
• remove q-cap and attach smaller needle for subcutaneous injection
• alcohol wipe your belly, make sure no air is in syringe, pinch a fatty area of your belly, and insert needle at about a 90 degree angle. 
• slowly inject medicine. 
• make ouchy face

No one really warns you that some medications in the vials dissolve better than others (no rhyme or reason) or that liquid can get caught in weird places in the vial. They don't tell you about your heart skipping a beat when you almost drop a syringe full of $500 meds. They don't tell you that it will cross your mind on several occasions "shouldn't someone more qualified be doing this?" They may have gone over this in the $160 training, but somehow I doubt it. 

Third Party Coordination Goes Awry - Meds Edition

A few weeks ago I had to figure out where to order my and my surrogate's meds from. ACRM recommended 3 pharmacies and called the Rx in to all 3, allowing me to compare prices and such. One of these pharmacies, Village Fertility Pharmacy, actually had the forethought to test my insurance coverage even though I told them it wouldn't be covered. Thankfully I was wrong, so we went with them (a huge bulk of mine were covered!) I ordered both mine and my surrogates meds, shipping to our respective homes. Mine took 1-2 days. 

Since we paying ACRM extra money (~$3100) to do "third party coordination", I naturally thought that if I ordered the meds, that they would do more of the "coordination" and stuff. Honestly, they have not done a good job with this. Repeatedly I feel like I'm running around like a crazy person doing the bulk of the coordinating. With my ADD and new job, this is terrifically difficult for me. 

When my GC came in for her appointment on Monday, they gave her a written Rx for her meds and told her to fill it. No one thought "hey, we've already placed an order with the IP a few weeks ago, maybe we should check on that." The reason I found out? The nurse copied me on an email to the GC that said "You don't need to pick up the Lupron in your original order." All of a sudden I was like "Is this a double order???" The nurse emailed me at first and said that maybe the fertility pharmacy sent the Rx to Kroger. I asked my GC, and she said no - no one told her  about the previous med order and ACRM just gave her the Rx when she went for her baseline ultrasound. She was suppose to start meds that day and not one red flag was thrown up. A few back and forth emails, and it was apparent that no one on their end was really keeping tabs on this. 

Truthfully I should have checked that her med order went through smoothly weeks ago when I got mine. I had informed my nurse that I had received mine, but then got violently ill and forgot to double check if our GC got hers. I had no reason to believe she didn't and I guess with all the balls I am juggling, that was another one I dropped. I'm terrible at organizing these types of things, which is why I didn't mind paying the extra money to the clinic to do so. And I really don't consider $3100 a small fee to do this. As I am sure you have already guessed, our GC did not receive her meds from Village Fertility and it upsets me that I feel like I'm having to do the bulk of "third party coordinating" while paying them a chunk of extra cash. (Yes, I know some of this goes towards the medical aspect, but we were also told it goes towards things like this.)

All of this resulted in frantic phone calls, in the middle of a workday, with my very public cube, to multiple people. This is sucktastic for me to have to do at a new job. Village Fertility Pharmacy said they did not ship the GC order because they had left 2 messages to set-up a profile for the GC and she did not call back. My GC said she never received the messages and I 100% believe her. I asked Village why they didn't call me when they couldn't reach her, and they admitted they should have. (As a side note: I am very forgiving when people admit mistakes and then do whatever they need to do to correct it - Village did this.) Village apologize and after I altered the order (minus the no longer needed Lupron and minus the already procured Estrace), they were able to ship out overnight. 

In the long run, I think the mess-ups of everyone (me, the clinic, and the pharmacy) saved me money, but that still doesn't give me a warm and fuzzy. Especially mid-cycle. I'll write more later on my HUGE upset about a screw-up in charges. It's a freaking shame because we adore our doctor over there. 

How to be Good Friends with an Infertile

Excellent read for those of you that are not infertile, but really want to know how to be awesome to those of us who are. Hell, who am I kidding? Excellent article for us infertiles to pass on to our fertile friends. At least the ones that haven't already violated every "do not" on the list already...

http://tertia.typepad.com/so_close/2004/05/how_to_be_good_.html