Thirty Seven

Well I can't say if I had my choice I'd pick to spend 90 minutes at the hospital and 6 hours at work on my bday, but it's still a very special bday since it's the first one to spend with my daughter!!! I became a mom in June 2005 so April 2006 was really my first bday as a mom, but last year was the first that I really felt like a mom as I could feel my little girl kicking inside me. Oh how I used to dread bdays for awhile there. I just couldn't believe I still wasn't a mom yet. It's so nice not to feel depressed about my bday this year! It still bothers me a little in the sense that I know that "clock" is really ticking in terms of having any more children, but that is NOTHING compared to wondering when I will finally hold my first little one in my arms. She's the best bday gift possible!!! This morning she was nice enough to wait until 6am to wake up. The only other day she slept in that "late" in the past more than a week was on Saturday. She was nice to Daddy and slept in until 6:30am (he gets up with her that day and I get up with her the other 6 days of the week). I opened 4 presents this morning - 2 from my sister who lives in Turkey (a picture frame and a purse) and 2 from my hubby (a curling iron as mine is broken and a camera mask to take pictures while snorkeling in a few weeks). Nadia still hasn't quite figured out the whole tearing wrapping paper off gifts thing yet. I'm sure sometime in the next year she'll figure it out. :-) Last night when I got home from class I mentioned that my Aunt Tina had called to wish me a happy bday. Paul said, "But your bday isn't until Wed." I said my bday is tomorrow! I am glad we had that conversation last night! He hadn't forgotten that my bday was on the 21st, he just though the 21st was on Wed. OOPS!

As I reflect a little on my bday I was thinking about the fact that 5 years ago I was supervising 20 student teachers at another university and we had recently done our first round of inj (Bravelle). Ten years ago I was the principal of a Christian school, working on my doctorate, and had been dating Paul for 2 years (we got engaged in 2000). Fifteen years ago I was teaching middle school in Maryland and working on my master's degree (which I completed that summer in South Carolina). Twenty years ago I had one month left of high school and was doing a lot of babysitting. Back then I probably thought a 40 year old was "middle aged." I don't think that any more! Actually I haven't thought that for at least 10 years now. Frankly 50 is starting to sound pretty young these days. :-) Isn't it funny how your perception of what age is "old" keeps moving as you grow older? Of course 37 is 1/2 of 74 so it's possible I am not too far from the middle of my life, but I refuse to consider myself middle aged much less "elderly" even if that's the label on my medical record.

The doctor appt went well this morning. The only hassle was at the pharmacy. Calling in my refill did me no good as even though there was no one in front of me and they went to check to see if they had 2 vials of Follistim right when I checked in at 8:30, they still didn't give me my 2 vials until 9:22. I wasn't a very happy camper trying to keep Nadia entertained without toys after the Cheerios ran out. I need to find a new pharmacy. The hospital's is just plain annoying. They gave me 1/2 of the Rx for the Menopur the first time (10 out of 20 vials), but they are only giving me 2 vials at a time of the Follistim even though my Rx was for 12 vials total. If they had given me at least 4 vials last week (1/3) then I wouldn't have had to come back today. Well hopefully 4 will be enough ,and I won't need to go back. The u/s showed lots of small follicles (the biggest were 9-11mm). The RE said what he wants to see now is quantity and not any that are really big. He was pleased with the number and the fact that none were big yet. YAY!

Yesterday my E2 was 511.8 (compared to 8.7 before I started the stimming). Lowering my dosage of Follistim helped as my E2 was 693.9 today (after 4 days of stimming). As a point of comparison, in 2007 my E2 was 166.6 after 3 days of stimming so you can see for it to be 511.8 after 3 days was a big difference. Last time I stayed at 150iu of Follistim and 75 of Repronex the whole time. I am not sure if the difference is Menopur is stronger than Repronex or if it's because I'm on a smaller dosage of Lupron or some other reason. Last time after 5 days of stimming I was at 444.3 and after 7 days at 1,043. I go back Thursday morning for b/w and u/s which will be after 6 days of stimming. I need to have them use my right arm that time as my left arm is REALLY hurting me today as I've only been using that one for the b/w. After the appt on Thursday, Nadia & I will be driving to MD to spend some time with my parents and brother as I'm speaking at a conference for math teachers (NCTM) in DC on Friday.