The skinny

Obviously we wouldn't go into this, our last foray into IVF, without demanding some major changes.

The past six months have involved a LOT of research on my part. I am lucky to have full access to almost any medical journal, and believe me, I have been a'readin' and a researchin'. My RE and I have been emailing back and forth, faxing journal articles to each other, etc. etc.

I figure you might want the skinny on the changes, so here goes:

Back to long lupron but no BCPs. I've done this protocol before and had the best embryos from it (though obviously it didn't work, duh) but was possibly oversuppressed on BCPs. So out with 'em.

I'm only adding menopur if my endogenous levels of LH are below a certain level. And even then, we'll add later rather than sooner.

Growth hormone. Controversial? Sure. But why not? I'm already looking forward to feeling like the Incredible Hulk.

A freeze-all cycle. My lining has issues...namely, endometrial hyperplasia. Which, in case you didn't know, is exacerbated but unopposed estrogen. Gee, guess who has soaring unopposed estrogen levels during all her previous transfers? Oh yeah, that would be me. So we'll freeze whatever we get, go home, have a cycle, do a D&C (scrraaaaaaaape), and then go back for a transfer. More to come on what stage we'll be freezing...still some debate on that.

High protein diet. It turns out my RE believes vegetarians do worse on IVF. Who knew? Oh wait, I'd been told this before but just figured I was getting enough plant protein. Turns out I was pitifully under-proteined. So now I'm bulking up on whey protein drinks daily, in addition to beans, peanut butter, eggs (every now and again), couscous, etc. My intake is anywhere from 65-90 grams per day.

No sugar. EGADS. Let me type that again: no sugar. This has been tough, especially because of my hobbies. My RE recommended cutting out all sweets/refined sugar (though not carbs thank GAWD) for two months prior to the cycle. I've made a couple of interesting desserts with agave nectar (which is all natural and doesn't cause the blood sugar/insulin spike that refined white sugar causes) but mostly, I just gave up desserts cold turkey. And discovered that bananas are really sweet and make a delicious dessert! Can you overdose on bananas? I am feeling like a monkey many days.

Acupuncture. I started this after our last failure with the stupid hope that the Eastern way would cure me. Sadly, no natural pregnancy ensued, but my RE feels that I should definitely continue the acupuncture and the herbs. I am going weekly now.

Supplements: nothing super new here, but I'm doing the following: royal jelly, Larginine, CoQ10, omega 3 FAs, melatonin, and of course folate.

Don't think Mr. LastChance has been left out. He's still on mega antioxidants but this go 'round they'll use MICSI instead of plain ole ICSI...meaning they'll magnify his sperm 600,000 times (YIKES) to look for some tell-tale craters in the head (ewwww) and weed those guys OUT.

So this was a technical post, I'm sorry. I know it's boring. But it is what it is.

And yeah, even though we're going into this with a totally different attitude than ever before (for real, ya'll!) I'm starting to get just a wee little teensy tiny bit anxious. I mean, what the hell are we doing? Are we certifiable? Nuts? Just looking for a way to waste 20K fast?

I'm not sure, I'm really not.

But our flights are booked...two weeks from THIS Wednesday. Egads.

Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!