Here's Sarah McLachlan performing Ice Cream. This is my 2nd last song / blog title from her Fumbling Towards Ecstasy album. Not sure how to relate this to fertility, but I have plans to go to Dairy Queen tonight.
I started stimming on Tuesday, so today is day 3 of my 2nd attempt at IVF #3. I'm on Saizen, which is a human growth hormone produced by recombitant DNA technology. It's actually produced from mice and then modified to equal human growth hormone genes. So basically I'm injecting myself daily with serum from mice as well as the urine of postmenopausal women. Just think about that for a moment. Mouse juice and pee from strange old women. The things we do to get what we want.
I've had insomnia since stim day 1, and since I don't recall having that side effect on any other cycle, I'm blaming it on the Saizen. I also finally rode my new touring bike on Tuesday for the first time -- it's been sitting in the garage for 4 months, and I've been a wanna-be cycler for months now, but finally I got on the thing and went 30 miles. DH is giving credit for that to the HGH. Which mildly pisses me off because I want all the credit, especially for going uphill most of the way back home! ;)
Here's the main study that corrolates GH with increased pregnancy rates.
I actually read the entire insert that came with the Saizen, since I'm oddly excited to be on it. Here's some highlights:
- It stimulates skeletal growth, cell growth, and organ growth.
- It increases uptake of amino acids.
- It can decrease body fat (still hoping this is a side effect -- but doubting 8 days will have an impact).
- It's contraindicated if you have a malignancy (guess it helps tumors grow big and strong).
- It can impact the metabolism of cortisol (interesting esp. since cortisol is apparently toxic to eggs & embryos -- but I'm not quite sure how it impacts it).
- Overdose can lead to hypoglycemia or giganticism (freaky, nothing better get giant, especially not my feet which at size 10 on my 5'4" frame are already giant).
At my U/S today, the tech measured 9 follicles, 7 of which were over 10mm. Things are happening fast. I wonder if my body didn't have some left-over effect from cycling just 2 months ago.
On the home front, DH's niece (18) and nephew (16) came to visit us today from FL and are staying a week. And I have a nice, 5-day weekend to spend time with them. So it'll be nice to have a distraction from what my body is or isn't doing. And very nice to be off of work during a stim cycle, for once!
