Candy striper...or is it stripper?

Today was the first day after I realized that we were going to do IVF to conceive our little bean. I'm not sure what his or her name will be yet. So for now I'll refer to them as the little bean. I feel like I've entered the twilight zone. At work, I always thought of those patients going through IVF as "the IVF patients". Cue the dramatic music....I never once envisoned myself as one. But on the other flip side, I always had the feeling that once we say the fertility doc for the first time that we would end up here. Weird I know. Weirder is the fact that now that we are actually beginning the IVF process for real I have told only two people so far at wor..and only plan to tell about one more. Some of these people I have known for a few years and have done the ups and downs of the nurse anesthesia program with...but don't feel that I can tell them what a journey I am going through. I feel like they have no clue....love them to death, but they have no clue. My friends outside work I don't worry about. But I'm being so much more carefully and secretive with this news around work people now that it actually is becomming a reality.

So here's the really strange part. At our hospital, all the OR cases for the day including the IVF cases are written on with a dry erase marker on a giant magnet. Those magnets are then stuck on an even larger dry erase board in the specific rooms that they will be done in. I had a talk with my manager whom has been absolutely wonderful to me since she has been through part of the fertility battle herself about my concerns. First of all, I don't want my name on a magnet around all the people I work with. Second, if it falls on a weekend with only a couple of guy CRNA's around to do the anesthesia, I'm not cool with that either. Her suggestion was for her to come in to do the anesthesia for the egg retrieval ...yyeahhh! I love her. Sounds great. And when it happens she will either put up a fake name, or just remove the magnet altogether. I told her if she was going to put a fake name up we should do something fun and creative...something like a stripper name...like Candy the Striper or Stripper however you spell it...or Stardust...or Fantasy or something really cool. This may be my only chance to have a stripper name! I have no other chance...me with my small size A barely B's are excited to have a walk on the wild side! If we're stuck doing IVF, we might as well make this a fun journey!

Anyways, on the whole IVF journey here's what is new. Not too much. But I get to start the pill Wednesday. Wednesday my hubby gets to go get his testing done...a day before China...yeah! I also get to go to the doc later in the day. I get to get all lab work done...testing for HIV, and what not. That's the one thing I know will be A-okay! Have it done for work all the time. Also I get to get some fun cultures done...hopefully all will be well. I also get to get another fun ultrasound...aka dildo cam to see if my ovaries are accessible by ultrasound. Gosh...sounds fun...maybe I should schedule one among a spa day sometime! Speaking of spa days...I think I may actually go sometime soon for a actual massage. I've never had one, and feel that I am due for one!

After Wednesday, I don't think there is much for awhile. My hubby will be in China for awhile for work. Hopefully he'll send some cool pics...and posts to follow. And on day 18 I'll start Lupron. In about 10 days I have a appt with my RE to discuss the fun IVF coming up and to measure my uterus. Hopefully it doesn't hurt too much. The gals on the UU site of yahoo have said it shouldn't be too bad....not too much worse than my IUI's...that's a relief since I'm a wimp!