IVF Update #3: Shots, Shots, Shots

Hello friends and family, We can tell you are praying for us! So far, this has been a pretty great week.  Jess is responding really well to the medication - she has quite a number of follicles growing and maturing so the doctors seem pretty confident that we will get a good number of mature eggs at retrieval time. We have progressed to Phase 2B -- this involves a third injection given in the morning that helps her body from releasing the eggs before they are harvested.  She describes this one as a little more painful to insert, but the actual injection of the medicine burns less so it is fairly tolerable as injections go. Physically and emotionally she has been doing pretty well too.  The drastic rise in estrogen from the medications has caused nausea and daily headaches, soreness, and fatigue.  Apart from your prayers and lots of naps, she is also using her essential oils and that seems to be helping. We have "graduated" up to daily appointments.  This is exciting as it means we are getting closer to the end.  The only downside is that it means daily blood draws for Jess and she is looking a little black and blue in the arms. We are waiting for the follicles to grow to between 18-20mm in size before harvest.  Yesterday they were 10-11mm and today they are about 13-15mm so we are getting close.  Prayer Requests:

1. Please continue to pray that everything goes well!  So far it is all going great and we are praying that it stays that way. 2.  Please pray that Jess would respond to the medication that we have and not need anymore.  The insurance company only approved four vials of this third injection that we added in.  Our doctors requested five and we are hoping not to have to need a fifth as that would be out of pocket and hundreds of dollars for just one shot. 3. Lastly, please pray for peace.  As the egg retrieval comes closer Jess is beginning to experience anxiety about the surgery part.  She has not had great experiences with anesthesia or surgery in general and is not looking forward to this part.   Videos We have been doing a little video documenting of this IVF journey and thought we would share some insider glimpses of what this has looked like for us. The first video is Jess unboxing all the meds we received for treatment.  The second video is Day 1 & 2 of our injections.

Thank you again for all your prayers and encouragement. Love to you all, Doad and Jess