Thanks for all your sweet comments, admiring our little pup. She's a Labrad00dle. My sweetie has allergies, so we had to get one of those hypo-allergenic designer dogs. For someone like me, who grew up with mutts, pound puppies, and rescues, it was a little much to go buy a dog at a breeder. But, you know, this way, I get to have a dog and my sweetie gets to breathe. So I adapted. Hah. Also, she's just so damn cute. I'm attaching another photo. Her eyes aren't blue. They were when she was a newborn, but they've faded to hazel now. For some reason they continue to look blue in photographs ... She's tiny. We got a "medium Labrad00dle" instead of a "standard" size, better for apartment living. Apparently she'll be between 25 and 40 pounds when she's full grown. A standard is more like 60 - 70 pounds. Anyway, she's just a little curly puffball of love. And I tell you, running outside with her four hundred times a day to potty train her, I don't have a lot of extra time to sit around and think about infertility. It's been a joyous distraction.

So, IVF #2 took a handbasket straight to hell last week (retrieval but no transfer). Yesterday we got a puppy. I love her. A lot. Right now I'm reveling in insane levels of cuteness and constant love. And quite a few trips outside to go potty. Here is a slightly out of focus picture of her incredible sweetness.

Today's update. E2 is 725. There are 14 eggs: 6 that are mature, 4 that they are hoping will catch up, and 4 more that are too tiny. I'm to continue stimming tonight and tomorrow morning, with instructions for a trigger shot Sunday night. I know that there are still a million hurdles to jump, and a million junctures at which this could yet go awry. But whoo-hoo! I can't believe we made it this far.

Um, eeeek, maybe NOT canceled .... !! The nurse just called. My E2 is up to 544. She sees 10 follies of a good size from the ultrasound this morning. I return tomorrow for another round of blood and ultrasound. If all continues to go well, she is predicting a Tuesday retrieval and Friday transfer. Oh my god, I just got nervous.

So, if there really are 20 follies in there (which is what they said they saw on Monday), and they were growing and my E2 was rising, surely I'd be feeling it by now, on my 9th day of stims. Right? I've had some ovary pangs, temporary ones, sporadically this week. But no groaning ovaries. No carrying around a basketful of 20 eggs uncomfortable-ness. I go back tomorrow for u/s and b/w, but I'm guessing that this isn't going anywhere (again). I haven't given up. I'm doing everything I can, following every internet theory and old wives tale to raise my estrogren levels. Going to acupuncture. Eating royal jelly. Having orgasms. (Poor me, I know.) Taking supplements. Etc. But I'm feeling doubtful. I'm not trying to borrow trouble, but I do need to express my doubts to feel like I'm protecting myself.

I've got that hideous Whitesnake song from the 80's stuck in my head. (Yes, Whitesnake.) It's looking like déjà vu around here with IVF attempt #2. The official word from the nurse is "better than last time, but not good."