Monday...Payment Day...4 Weeks To Retrieval

I know, right? 4 weeks to ER? 4 1/2 to ET? DH and I are getting sooooo excited! We are continuing to stay positive that this IVF will work because any negativity makes us hesitate to do this and we can't hesitate any  more. This is it!!! :)

So here was our weekend:

Saturday morning - the spotting turned red. Not rusty, not dark red, but red. The time had come to start the double-dose of BCPs. I now take them in the a.m. with food and in the p.m. with food. I alerted Nurse Jackie as well. Hopefully this spotting will stop now. The cramps have been pretty painful though. The kind that kind of buckle your knees and make you gasp. Yeah. That much fun, people.

Saturday - DH's mom's side Xmas at a local hotel. There are way too many people (and kids) to have Xmas at his grandparents' house anymore. The event in a word? CHAOS. Those kids aren't parented very well sometimes and just wreak havoc wherever they go. Can't wait to be a parent to show them how its done. (man that sounded snobby and judgemental. but you should have seen it; they were destroying stuff at the hotel and no parents were even blinking at the misbehavior. they were too busy chatting with other adults and drinking beer.)

Saturday evening - my family's first ever "Sweet Swap". I made the cake balls. They were a hit! I forgot to take pictures. Sorry...we played "Scene It - Movie Edition 2."  DH and I were on a team and won 2 out of 3 games. I'm just pretty awesome at those kind of games. Don't ask me to do math under pressure though. I suck at that.

Sunday morning - tried to sleep in, unsuccessfully. Lounged around till 10 am. DH went downstairs to rotate laundry and lo and behold....the dryer that came with the house stopped working. Panic ensued, phone calls were made to parents for help on how to fix it. We determined the cost of repairs wouldn't be worth it so we decided to buy a new dryer. We have had issues with the washer too (also came with the house) so we ended up just buying a new set. Not at all what we'd wanted to do with our Sunday, much less with our money, but it'll all be okay. Our new set will arrive this Thursday.  Here are pictures of our new washer and dryer (Whirlpool Cabrio models):

The reviews are split, some love the models, some hate them. I guess they're super energy-savers with "h.e." technology and we'll have to re-learn how to do laundry, but still, not a bad deal and they're way bigger than what we've ever had. Plus we got the 5 year warranty that covers parts and repairs. Totally worth it.

Finally, we relaxed last night watching "Shrek Forever After" (okay in my opinion) and "How To Train Your Dragon". I fell asleep in the first 5 minutes of HTTYD and napped for about 45 minutes. I was so tired.

Otherwise, I start Lupron shots in less than 5 days! Whoo hoo!  Also today I'll be calling the clinic and making the GIANT payment over the phone. We can't wait to have that done so we're paid up and we know this is all going to happen.

And just for anyone who wants to know, I have orders for labs to be drawn 4 times during monitoring.

1/2/11 - E2 (estradiol) and LH (lutenizing hormone)
1/3/11 - Ultrasound
1/9/11 - E2
1/10/11 - Ultrasound
1/11/11 - E2
1/12/11 - Ultrasound
1/13/11 - E2 and P4 (progesterone)
1/14/11 - Ultrasound

They might add more but in the meantime this is the schedule we have been given. The days I get blood draws I'll do them in Iowa and then that night we'll leave for STL and by the time we arrive for our 8:45 am ultrasound appt, the blood test results will be reviewed and addressed as needed.

I start stims on 1/6/11. Can you believe it? 2 1/2 weeks till stims!