Day 22 blood test, take #2 - whoo hoo, we are on our way!

Well, it is actually Day 26 of my cycle but my D22 blood test showed that I hadn't ovulated. I have now though - blood test showed progesterone levels of 39 nmol/l. The level goes up once the eggs is released and the follicle turns into the corpus luteum. It keeps producing progesterone until it runs out of steam, or an embryo implants and starts making its own.

I can't help but be reassured once again that I am actually ovulating. The temping and peeing on OPKs is all well and good but a blood test is better. And I also can't help but be positive that we might just manage to conceive ourselves this month. That is assuming I ovulated on Monday, after the weekend action. We've had no more baby-making sex this week, due to husband being away, and needing to abstain before the semen test. As long as I am ovulating, I don't want to give up hoping. As usual, I've knocked off the alcohol until I get my period, just to be on the safe side.

Anyway, the plan is to start Lucrin tomorrow and continue until next Friday when I have my next blood test. I will stop Provera on Monday. It was like I was in another clinic this morning, compared to Monday. I was seen as soon as I walked in at 7.45am by a nurse, not the phlobotomist. She explained that there had been two people off on Monday and they had lots of women in for blood tests, so it was mayhem. No worries with the blood letting today - my veins are behaving themselves so far. They have a tendency to hide deep below the surface, making it hard to draw blood at times.

She asked if I was having any side effects on Provera and I said none whatsoever. She said the Lucrin and especially FSH cause dehydration and I should start drinking more water now to be ready for it - 2 litres a day (I'll be peeing constantly!).

Lovely husband won't be here to hold my hand tomorrow when I give myself my first Lucrin injection - he's gone to New York for a few days. He gave his sperm wash sample yesterday morning. He said there was some new 'mildly errotic' porn (as they call it) available since last time. He showed me an envelope of porn photos that I mistakenly thought had been given to him by the clinic - he was rolling about laughing while he explained that he had downloaded them from the internet himself!! :-)) He didn't think the $8080 he paid them yesterday would cover take-away porn (lol). More on the costs in another post.

Actually, he was pretty nervous the first time he had to go and give a 'collection'. This was back when we were still at the GP consulting stage and he was extremely reluctant to get his sperm tested unless he absolutely had to. It was more about the 'collection' than the results but he's well and truly ok with it now.

I'm sitting in the garden writing this and it is a beautiful day and I'm feeling very positive about IVF and the baby thing in general. If IVF is a rollercoaster, I've just got on and excitement is building. I had better enjoy it while it lasts.