It's the little things that make me happy...

While IVF can undoubtedly be a stressful, emotionally draining journey, I believe it will be what I make of it! So, I've decided that I will do little things to keep myself feeling good during this process. Last night, in preparation for my baseline today, I decided to paint my toenails. They are a deep purple with a glittery top coat! So pretty! Then I remembered it is no longer flip-flop season (while some beg to differ), and my toes aren't exposed. So I decided I would wear fun socks! These ones are from Little Miss Matched. They even sparked a conversation with my doctor today. Whatever it takes to keep the situation "light", as laying on the table covered in a paper sheet with my lady bits exposed is stressful enough!

As for my baseline, my estradiol (E2) levels came back at 42. Nurse Ann told me anything below 100 is great! My antral follicle count was good too. Antral follicles are small follicles that can be seen, measured and counted via ultrasound. The number of antral follicles visible on ultrasound at the start of a cycle is indicative of the relative number of follicles remaining in the ovary. Each follicle contains an immature egg that can potentially develop in the future.

The doctor changed my starting dose from 3 vials Bravelle and 2 vials Menopur to 3 vials Bravelle and 1 vial Menopur. I immediately questioned that, as my last injectable IUI cycle in September, I started on 5 vials. I wondered why this would be different, given that we would ideally want more follicles in an IVF cycle to produce mature eggs. Nurse Ann said he lowered it because of my antral follicle count. Then, the more I thought about it, I was OK with it. In my IUI cycle, we stimmed hard to get the right side (the side I have a tube on) to produce more since whatever the left side produced didn't matter. This time, everything matters since they will be removing the eggs from both ovaries. I start stimming Friday night, and continue on that dose Saturday and Sunday as well. I will head to the Clinic Monday morning for bloodwork.

Lucky for me, I have lots of fun socks (and holiday ones) to wear to all of my upcoming monitoring appointments. I love fun socks! Especially my purple striped knee socks! I might just save those for ER day!