We had our IVF consultation yesterday. I can't believe how fast the time has gone. It feels like just last week we were making the decision to put things on hold, and here we are, moving forward with what has the potential to be a life changing decision. The consult was overwhelming but fantastic. I love the IVF nurse we met with and I discovered its one thing to read books about things you will be doing in the far off future. Its completely different to be sitting in a room with the nurse showing you a calendar saying "ok, you will take this shot on these days, and this med on these days, and come in for ultrasounds on these days, and if everything goes right, you come in for a blood test on this day and do an ultrasound to confirm the pregnancy on this day." By the end I was very excited and very nervous. They called in the meds to the pharmacy and I ended up with over 10 prescriptions, and over half of those are injections. Some of them are intramuscular, meaning that Rudy has to learn to give them to me because they are given in the butt. The nurse described what each of the meds do and what cycle days I will need to take them. She said the biggest fear every IVF patient has is that she will mess up her medications and I can see why. When I did IUI it was just one med, one injection each night and a final shot to trigger ovulation. With this its multiple injections, some at night, some in the morning, plus a bunch of other stuff and its all balanced on a very particular timing scheem.
I did really well the day of Thanksgiving. I had planned out what I was going to eat and I did really well sticking to it. I even went to the Y for an early morning workout. I did a cardio dance class and then ran for 30 minutes on the treadmill. The class was hard... really hard, but I felt good after, so I didn't think much of it, until Friday morning when I could barely get down the stairs my legs hurt so much. I skipped my workout that day and Rudy and I went to see a movie at the cheep theater instead. Even worse is that I neglected to track my food intake. I didn't go overboard, but I'm sure I'll get chewed out by my MITLI trainer on Thursday for not tacking. Saturday was just as bad. I stayed in my PJ's all day and read a book. Didn't track calories again and skipped my workout again. Yesterday was a little better. I had to be at a photo shoot by 8:30 a.m., so no staying in my PJs. I was there until 2, then went to help some friends move. I plugged in my calories from yesterday when I got home and was happy to discover I was about 200 under. I didn't get home until late, so no formal workout, but I figure I can count the moving things as part of my weight training.
Weigh-in last night revealed that I had lost another 5 pounds this week. This makes 23 since starting the MITLI class 8 weeks ago and 27 total. I feel good. I feel really good. The hard part comes next weekend and through the month of December. I really want to keep up this good progress, so I'm going to do my best to avoid temptation and when I do give in, to only do it in moderation.
Its done (aside from some minor paint touch ups)! I hung the last shelf last night. It feels amazing to finally have this room back in order and I absolutely LOVE it! I now have one room in my house exactly how I want it. Can't wait to get started on the next. Not sure if it will be the downstairs bathroom or the kitchen that I work on next. I'm sort of thinking the kitchen, since all that needs to be done there is painting the walls a new color. I might even do that over Thanksgiving weekend, since I already have the paint. The have bath is slightly more complicated. I need to pick out a new vanity/sink, then rip out the old one which is attached to the wall. Probably will need to update some plumbing as well... but I've got the wall colors picked out, so thats a start. I'll post pics of the completed bathroom as soon as I find my camera back. Its somewhere in the house, probably up in Rudy's room.
As of this morning I have lost 10% of my body weight. I am down 25.8 pounds, taking me from my all time high of 262 down to 236.2. If I continue at my current rate, I should be under 210 by the time we do IVF in 11 weeks.
I put the $700 deposit down on our IVF treatment. We are officially scheduled for February. Wow! this makes it feel real. I'm excited and nervous at the same time, but I can do this. I know I can do this. It will be totally worth the money and doctors visits if I can hold my baby in my arms at the end of it all. I am cautiously optimistic. By this time next year, I could be a mom. There is only 2 months and 19 days until the start of February. Less than 3 months and my life could change forever. That time is going to go by so dang fast. We have our initial consultation with the IVF nurse scheduled for December 2nd. After that we meet with the person in billing to go over our payment schedule and the cost of everything. Wow this time is going to go fast, and the fact that we are doing it over the holidays will make it go even faster. I must stay motivated. I think this will help. I'm down 21 pounds. 19 to go to hit my goal. I'm confident I will blow past it before February (as long as I can stay away from the Christmas goodies).
or at least loves to toy with me. I haven't have a period in 3 months, and what happens the day I go out of town to visit friends? Yep, you guessed it. My uterus decides that is the perfect time to shed its lining. And of course the friend I was visiting is on Depo, so she didn't have any pads I could quick grab. I even had that feeling in the back of my head before I left that maybe I should pack some, just in case, but I ended up rushing around and didn't really think I would get it anyway, so that thought go overlooked. Its funny how that sort of thing can come back to bite you. My body is a real joker. It seems that I don't get a period for months and months (sometimes its even over a year from one cycle to the next), but its always when I'm going to be traveling that I seem to get it. I had it when I went to Europe. I had it when I went to Alaska. I even got it when I went to Wyoming last summer. WTF?
I know I should have waited, but I just couldn't help myself. I normally weigh in on Mondays, but yesterday I was able to fit into a size 18 pants from Old Navy (when I started I was in a size 24 and couldn't even get the 18's zipped up), and at class last night one of the girls commented that I looked like I had lost another 5 pounds since she saw me last week Thursday, so I stepped on the scale this morning and got a very happy surprise. On monday I had lost 1.9 pounds and was down to 245.3, but I also knew I was probably retaining water from some of the stuff I had eaten over the weekend. This morning I was down another 3.6 pounds, putting me at 241.7 (down from 262 when I started) and giving me a total of 20.3 since I started on livestrong.com 8 weeks ago. I am halfway to my goal and I still have 12 1/2 weeks left. Yay me! Also, Rudy commented last night about how good I look (and especially how good my boobs look... which I attribute to the many chest presses and push-ups I've been doing since this class started).
So first off, here are my stats after 5 weeks of Move It To Lose It Class (only a few days later than I said I would post them): I lost 2 pounds last week, putting me down 12 pounds since the class started and almost 17 since I started counting calories. I lost 3 3/4" around my waist. 2 3/4 around my hips and and abs, 1 1/2 around my bust, and almost an inch around my neck. I feel pretty darn good about those numbers.
