Scrips and Stuff

We have finally got the contracts finalized, signed, notarized and the agency has given the clinic "legal clearance" to proceed. The clinic's pharmacy overnighted my meds to me last night, and the clinic has emailed my instructions. They are as follows:

These directions are complex. Please read them thoroughly prior to starting your cycle. Call our office if any of the instructions seem unclear to you.

1. Begin birth control pills as directed. Stay on active pills only.

2. Begin 10 units of Lupron on 8/10/10. Take the Lupron each night between 6 and 9 pm.

3. Take your last birth control pill on 8/16/10. Continue to take the 10 units of Lupron each night. You should get a period approximately 3-4 days after stopping the birth control pill.

4. Call with your period. If your period starts over the weekend, call the donor egg nurses on Monday morning, but begin taking the estrogen once your period starts anyway.

5. Start estrogen after speaking with a donor egg nurse (unless you start your period on a weekend, in which case start the estrogen once your period has begun, and call the clinic on Monday). You have two forms of estrogen: Estrace, which is a 2 mg oral tablet, and Vivelle, which is a skin patch.
a. Estrace is taken twice a day, 1 tablet in the morning, 1 tablet in the evening.
b. Vivelle is changed every three days. Keep the Vivelle on for a full three days, and change it on the morning of the fourth day. You will remain on these medications throughout the cycle, and into the first trimester, if you are pregnant.
c. Continue to take the 10 units of Lupron each night.

6. You will have an ultrasound after you have been on the Estrace and Vivelle for 7-9 days. This is done to measure your uterine lining. We may increase your dose of Estrace based on your ultrasound results.

7. Progesterone: Begin the Crinone vaginal gel on the evening of the donor’s egg retrieval. A Boston IVF nurse will call you with this date. You will be instructed to stop your Lupron at this time.

8. On the day after your initial progesterone dose you will continue progesterone twice daily using Crinone. The medication should be administered morning and night.

At this point you should be taking:
Estrace, twice a day
Vivelle patch, every three days
Progesterone: Crinone twice a day


You will be given a date and time for the embryo transfer by a (clinic) nurse.
You will have a pregnancy test scheduled 11 days after the embryo transfer.
Do not stop any medications unless instructed to by a (clinic) nurse or Physician.

Good luck!

Snail's Pace

I’ve heard back from my IF. He’s had his genetic testing, and the test results confirm that he is not a carrier of Mucolipidosis Type IV. So we know there’s less likelihood of the baby getting it. This is good news. Our egg donor, however, is out of the country on vacation this month, so no hope of beginning the cycling process till August at least.

I did hear back from the lawyer, as well. We went over the contract, he suggested some changes and we fixed a couple of typos (Hee hee!) I’m not sure when the agency will get it back and what kind of responses they’ll have to our responses, but I hope it doesn’t take long. Legalese makes me twitchy.

To be perfectly honest, I’m getting a little annoyed at how long all of this seems to be taking. I signed on with this agency almost a year ago (September, 2009) and we still don’t even have a timeline for when the cycling is supposed to begin. Don’t get me wrong; I want to do this. I’m excited to do it; I think that’s part of the reason I’m getting so annoyed. It’s hard to wait for an undetermined length of time for something I’m really psyched for. Hopefully we’ll hear SOMETHING has become concrete soon.