Frozen Cycle

I've been a bit MIA from the blog world lately.. for a few reasons.  First, there hasn't been much to write about.  Second, I've been in a bit of a funk lately and didn't want to spread my negativity to others.  People (who have NO IDEA what we infertiles go through) can be so rude and just plain ignorant at times!  Personally, I would like to slap them in the face and kick them in the shin.  Hard.  Oh, and let's throw in the dead-beat parents there as well.  You know, the ones who breed like it's their job (it probably is), have no real job, could care less about their kids, and constantly complain about their kids and their stretch marks and their weight gain.. and I could go on and on and on.  Sorry, I will spare you from that!  Or the teen moms who think they are going to play house and life will be magical.  Third, I feel like I have spent most of my time on the phone with the insurance company and OBGYN trying to figure out who screwed up and in the end just getting more frustrated at the fact that we have absolutely no infertility coverage, yet people can get an unlimited number of abortions.  Makes complete sense, right?  See, here I am.. spreading my negativity.  So, onto bigger and better things.

We have officially begun our frozen cycle.  I patiently waited for good old AF to rear her ugly face for approximately six weeks after my D&C.  I can honestly say that I have NEVER wanted her to appear so badly!  She finally showed up on the evening of July 5th, making the first day of our cycle July 6th.  I began taking birth control pills on Monday, July 8th.  A frozen cycle works backwards compared to a fresh cycle.  Our transfer has already been scheduled for the middle of August, so the entire cycle now revolves around that specific date.

I will take 21 days worth of pills, and then we will begin another round of injections.  After about two weeks of injections, we will have our transfer.  There are significantly less appointments that go with this type of cycle.  In a fresh cycle you go for blood work and ultrasounds almost daily during the injection period.  This cycle will consist of two appointments (as long as everything goes according to plan) and then the transfer.  I will have a baseline ultrasound at the end of this month and will begin the Estrogen injections that day.  Ten days later I will have a second ultrasound to ensure that the uterine lining is building itself up so the embryo(s) can stick!  I will also begin the Progesterone injections that day, and they (as well as the estrogen injections) will continue for an indefinite amount of time depending on the outcome of the transfer.  The biggest difference between the injections this round compared to last round--these will be intramuscular.  This means they will go in the muscle right above my butt.  I'm not going to lie, I am more than a little nervous for this.. but it will all be worth it in the end.

Here is a snapshot of our protocol.

DATE	Period 7/6/13
7/8/13	Birth Control Pills:  Please take one active pill daily for 21 days
7/28/13	Take last Birth Control Pill
7/30	Baseline Appointment on day 2 after your last birth control pill:  Please make sure your signed, notarized consents have been turned in to your nurse.  (**See below**)
	DEL ESTROGEN Do not begin until instructed.	PROGESTERONE Do not begin until instructed.
7/30 appt.	0.2 ml IM (intramuscular)
31
8/1/13
2	0.2 ml IM
3
4
5	0.2 ml IM
6
7
8	0.2 ml IM
9
10 appt.	Office visit for Ultrasound of lining,  P4 ______, E2 _______	***M.D. and R.N. will instruct you when to begin your progestrone***
11	0.2 ml IM
12
13	We call you with time for Transfer
14	0.2 ml IM
15	TRANSFER
16
17	0.2 ml IM
18
19
20	0.2 ml IM Q3 days until Beta test	Continue until pregnancy test
21
22

Again, all of these dates are tentative.

On another note, we have had some great family time among other things over the two weeks.  We spent a few days over the Fourth at my parent's house in Central PA.  A little relaxing, some dog walks, craft show shopping, festive drinks, and hot spot dinners!

I refer to this as Heaven in a crockpot.

We also traveled to Quantico, VA to attend a good friend's retirement ceremony (from the Marines!) and their wedding a few hours later!  It was a beautiful weekend.

Marine Corps Museum

Chapel

So happy for you two!

As I stated before, we are also doing some serious organization and rearranging in our house.  We have moved furniture, removed the same furniture, cleaned out closets, made more of a mess in the basement (hey, it has to get worse before better, right?), and organized cabinets, pantries, and vanities.  Exhausting, but so worth it.. especially since I am a bit of an OCD freak.

Our next couple of weeks are pretty busy, so the 21 days of pills should pass rather quickly. Matt is coaching a youth basketball camp this week.  Tonight we are heading to an Orioles game with friends.  This weekend we are playing in a golf tournament to benefit a scholarship fund in memory of one of my former lacrosse players that was tragically killed in a car accident. #flyhighgaby  Next week, our poor little Rooney is going to lose his manhood and we will be traveling back to my parents to help out with my a public sale at my Grandma's house.  We also plan on heading to Knoebel's (a pretty kick a$$ amusement park in Central PA), and we are going to see Jay-Z and Justin Timberlake in concert!  Yum :)  Oh.. and throw in a week long grad class during that time as well!  Sometimes I think summers are more crazy than the school year.

I'm going to end this post with a simple request.  Some of my ttc girls are going through just as tough (many of them tougher) times as I/we are right now.  A quick, simple daily prayer for all of us would be more than appreciated.  It is amazing what the power of prayer can do!

Happy Hump Day, everyone!