Lupron day 8

The only side effects I've had include being easily distracted, unfocused, and generally a little out-of-it. And maybe that fit of crying I had at the wedding last week. AF is nowhere in sight. If I were unmedicated, she'd have arrived yesterday or today. I couldn't find any answers regarding the affect of Lupron on cycle length, so I don't know what to expect. The injections themselves are easy, with little to none of the mild burning I felt with the first dose. Only the latest three pinpricks are visible on my belly, and those very faintly. There's been no bruising at all. I alternate sides to decrease the risk of stabbing where I recently stabbed. The right side is for odd days, and the left is even because I probably wouldn't be able to remember where yesterday's shot went in.

I've decided to take the week after the July 4th weekend as a vacation. I haven't taken more than three days off (not counting weekends) at one time in over three years, so this doesn't arouse any suspicion. My supervisor just thinks I am finally taking a real vacation. Too many people at work suspected what was going on when I took two days off for IVF #1's ER/ET. And even for those who had no clue, my refusal to lift anything raised questions. I just hope the timeline works out- C is praying for ER on 7/3, a holiday, with 7/2 as a back-up. He told his boss that he'd need a day off in the first week of July to take me to the doctor. If ET falls on a work day, I'll be on my own, but he'll definitely be with me for the ER. I'd like him to be there for both, but that can't happen if they're both scheduled for working days. My ideal schedule would be ET on 7/2 and ER on 7/5. We'll see.

We selected yet another sperm donor. Since this is a planned IVF, I was told to obtain unwashed, ICI specimens. None of the donors we used previously have any ICI vials available, but we lucked out in that Ca Cryobank is offering free donor information (via rebate on purchase) this month. So I splurged and bought the baby photos along with the long profiles of two of our possibilities. Both our final choices have twins in their families. We didn't look for that on purpose, but it's another similarity between the donor and C- C's father is a twin. Not that our decision was based on looks, but my first choice was a much cuter baby than C's choice. Their family health histories helped cement our decision ... we went with the cuter baby. And, thankfully, he's an open donor. I so wanted to give that to our child.

The whole donor selection process still feels terribly arbitrary and artificial to me. I almost wish they had something akin to the eHarm0ny questionnaire, and wouldn't show me any pictures until we'd already been matched based on values and interests. Instead, it all starts with vital stats- height, weight, hair and eye color. We're planning to be completely open with our child about where he came from, so blood type wasn't a criteria. And, to be completely honest, we don't care about any of those superficial traits. We'd be happy with a baby of any color and size. That realization helped me get over the RE's policy about opening the cryotank to check the contents. If the bank sends a wrong vial, I'll use it any way. C agrees with me on that. We just want a baby. Period.

Cycle-wise, I'm still on 10 units of Lupron every morning and just waiting for AF to arrive. Then, I believe there will be a baseline u/s and b/w, with stims (225IU of Gonal-F, twice daily) to start a few days into the cycle.