Every other year or so I drag my family down to New Orleans for Mardi Gras. It’s a huge family to-do and relatives from across the country invade my Aunt Dawn and Uncle Dave and my Aunt Angie and Uncle Scott. And trust me, you don’t want to miss a party in my family! The city of New Orleans is like family to me. It’s flawed and imperfect and I wouldn’t want to live next door to it 24-7, but it’s also fun and food and belonging. We try to make it whenever possible.
This year, of course, T and I aren’t in New Orleans. We’re in the middle of our IVF cycle so we’re watching from afar as friends and relatives post Facebook photos of the Hurricanes they drink and the beads they catch and, quite possibly, the really embarrassing things that some of my cousins do! But I know they’re thinking of us and watching for updates, so this one is for my crazy family:
This morning I had my last monitoring appointment before my egg retrieval tomorrow morning. Of course, there had to be a wrinkle.
For most of my IVF cycle, including during my injections, I’ve been bleeding. It finally tapered off last Wednesday when my estrogen levels got high enough but it was back, surprisingly, on Saturday morning. So this morning I had the pleasure of seeing two of my doctors during my internal ultrasound. They want to be absolutely sure that my uterus is cooperating before planning my embryo transfer for later this week, but with 4 people in the room it was practically a party. I wish I’d brought drinks and maybe a cheese plate to make everyone feel welcome at the Viewing of Stephanie’s Uterus and Ovaries. But maybe that’s just the Southern girl in me.
Unfortunately, during my ultrasound there was still small pocket of fluid in my uterus. I’m not bleeding now, but it’s still concerning to my doctors. Dr. S. told me that bleeding earlier in the cycle isn’t that unusual but that it generally stops once estrogen levels get high enough. She told me my follicles are gorgeous, my estrogen level is beautiful, and my lining is “nice and thick.” But the fluid (aka blood) is still troubling. So, during the retrieval tomorrow she will reevaluate me again and see if they can figure out where the blood is coming from and whether we should be concerned. Dr. S. said they may even evaluate me again before my planned embryo transfer on Friday just to be absolutely sure. If everything isn’t perfect, we’ll be freezing our embryos instead of doing a fresh cycle.
Of course, I’m disappointed at the thought of having to wait. Again. But we also don’t want to waste our best chance and our best embryos if everything isn’t just right.
So tomorrow morning I’ll be heading into the hospital with a whole mess of Mardi Gras beads to hand out to the clinic staff. Because even if we do have to wait to transfer, it’s comforting to me as a Louisiana girl to know that my eggs will still be retrieved and fertilized on Fat Tuesday. It somehow seems fitting to kick off a possible life with the biggest party of the year.
Laissez les bons temps rouler!
