When Robins Attack

The way our house is constructed, the garage is level to the street, but the ground slopes down steeply from there, so the basement is almost completely above ground and the main floor is about one story up. Because of this, to enter the house, there's a deck that runs around the side of the garage to the front door and also to the kitchen, where a sliding glass door opens onto the deck.

For the last two summers, a robin family has made a nest under the deck. It's by the entrance to our basement where we store our yardwork tools and supplies, so it's not a great spot, because we sometimes scare Mrs. Robin off when she should be sitting on her eggs. Despite that, the two return each year, and mama robin is clearly sitting on eggs right now.

Mr. Robin is very protective. He chases us around the lawn, and for the last two days, he's taken to staring through the kitchen windows at us from a perch on top of the deck. Earlier today, I heard what I thought was DH in the kitchen. Upon entering the kitchen, I discovered that it was actually papa robin, repeatedly hopping up and pecking our sliding glass door. Hop, peck. Hop, peck. Hop, peck, peck, hop. My first thought? "Dude, I totally get it. Trying to have kids IS a lot like pounding your head against the wall!"

Here's hoping his brood is successful, and mine is too!

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It Is Finished

I am a huge Broadway musical fan. I know pretty much every word to every Andrew Lloyd Weber, Boubil and Schonberg, and Wildhorn show, plus a good dozen more that no one has heard of (Jane Eyre, Chess, the Civil War, anyone?). When I'm super stressed, Jesus Christ Superstar is the one I play, specifically the song Gethsemane. It's a rock opera, and during that song, Jesus questions his fate. There is something about the lyrics, music, and cadence of that song, all combined, that perfectly captures what deep mental angst feels like to me. So I listen, way too loud, and it's relaxing. Weird, I know.

At the very end of the show, as Jesus is dying, one of the last lines he utters is "It is finished." Given my current state of mind, that sums up my 15 nights of stims pretty well. (Side note: Perhaps we need a rock opera about infertility? Heck, if one about chess could make a go of it, why not? ) My lining didn't improve after another day of stims, sildenafil, electro acupuncture, and estrace, although my E2 went through the roof. So we triggered yesterday. Now we wait. For the nerdy, this cycle's details are below, with some earlier cycles included as well for comparison. I got my full records from my clinic, and was able to correct errors in things I'd been verbally told about past cycles.

May 2018	AFC	6
	Stim Day	4	8	11	13	14	15
	L follies	5, 4.5, 3	3	3.5, 2.5	0	6.5	8
	R follies	5.5, 5, 4.5, 4	9.5, 9.5	14.5, 13	19.5, 18	19.5, 18.5	22.5, 20.5
	E2	725	252	348.9	812	2124	3119
	P4	<.05	<.05	<.05	0.17	0.29	0.38
	LH	1.32	0.51	0.73	0.99	1.42	1.26
	Lining	4.97 triple	5.2 triple	4.6 triple	5.48	6.71	6.7 heterogenous
	FSH	1100	2200	3100	3700	4000	4300
	Menopur	300	600	825	975	1050	1125

Older cycles

16-Jul Twins (3 CL cysts)	AFC	9
	Day	4	7	8
	L follies	12.5, 8, 8	19.5, 13.6, 7	22, 18, 7, 4
	R follies	11, 9, 8.5	16.5, 15, 10, 8	18, 16, 10, 8
	E2	803	1294	1690
	P4	2.68	1.66	2.59
	LH	8.24 miu	1.03	0.76
	Lining	6.9 triple	6.9 triple	7.3 triple, cystic patches
	FSH	600	1050	1200
	Menopur		0	0

17-Feb Quinn (2 CL cysts)	AFC	4
	Day	4	7	9	11
	L follies	6.5	9.5	11	14
	R follies	9.8	14.5	16.5	20.8
	E2		432	1027	-
	P4	<.05	<.05	0.12	-
	LH		1.15	1.15	-
	Lining	5.9 triple	7.0 triple	7.9 single	7.9 triple
	FSH	600	1275	1875	2475
	Menopur	0	0	0	0

18-Feb MC	AFC	5
	Day	4	6	8
	L follies	14, 11, 8.5	16, 13.5, 9.5	21.5, 17, 13.5, 6
	R follies	7,4	9	14.5, 9, 6.5
	E2	622	1023	1153
	P4	0.07	0.08	0.1
	LH	2.12	1.61	0.72
	Lining	5.7 triple	7.77 mixed	5.5 triple
	FSH	1100	1350	2200
	Menopur	300	450	600