Showing posts with label fertility. Show all posts
Showing posts with label fertility. Show all posts

Friday, December 9, 2011

Trigger Happy



Day 14: No one tells you that the Novarel (aka trigger & HCG injection) is going to feel like its attacking you from the inside.  Barely slept last night because of massive cramping, and what I had convinced myself at 3am, a heart attack (aka heart burn, shouldn't have eaten that Red Baron pizza).  This is all normal folks.  The nurse said that these are normal side effects and that mine were just much worse because my numbers are so high.  It's all a trick, to get you to take the injection.  Those sneaky little honey badgers.  

Today I get no injections, I just get to sit back, relax and enjoy the cramping.  Our nurse called to prep us for the "procedure" and her prep notes were....

1. "no eating/drinking after 2am" - You know I'm gonna sit up until then eating 
cookies and drinking everything in sight.

2. "check in is at 11am" - Totally normal, we'll be there at 8am because I'm known as the early bird thats always there WAY too early.

3. "don't pee to much before I get there" - I'm nervous...in my world of bladder, if I have to pee I start the pee pee dance immediately....not sure how I'm going to withstand a 
30 minute drive in the car over bumps.

4. "wear warm socks" - Yes ladies & gentlemen...this is the MOST important note of them all.  I wonder if this includes Uggs.  Although, I'll be in such a happy place with all the meds that I'm sure I won't have any clue as to the temperature of my toes...I will be wearing warm socks.  No worries mom & dad, I follow directions. 

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

floating



Day 11: All we need is 1 egg, but my body seems to want to make 60 for some annoying reason.  Today we found out that I am reacting "too well" to the medicine and I had to be taken off.  My E2 (estrogen) level is at 7328 which just crazy and I am feeling it.  I imagine this is kind of what it feels like to be uncomfortable during pregnancy; my back is killing me, my stomach feels like a rock and I'm nauseous all the time.  

The doctor has put me in a "floating" state.  What this means is that I won't be injecting any more hormones but will continue my Cetrotide injection in order to halt my LH surge.  I'll be going to the doctor every day now because they have to watch me closely as I am on the verge of hyperstimulation.  We don't want this to happen, it is a BAD thing.  They are hoping that without the hormones my body will naturally lower my estrogen level.  Let's hope it does because they can't do the surgery until it goes down.  Stupid hormones.  

In our ultra sound this morning, the technician said that I had over 30 follicles in just my left ovary...she wouldn't even give me the count in my right.   I do love this woman though.  She has done most of my ultra sounds and she remembers me every time because I seem to always have the most follicles.  She gives me insight to what the doctor is going to most likely do with my treatment that day.  She has always been right so far.  She's brilliant. 

All I can do is continue to waddle around and wait for my body to do its thing.  Let's hope it moves a little quicker then I am at the moment.  

Friday, November 18, 2011

Holy $hot!!!




Love hipstamatic, it makes everything look better, but don't let it fool you.  All those med's are going into me.  I’m not gonna lie, I was a little overwhelmed when I saw it all.  My husband unpacked them and took inventory and the moment he finished he called me and professed his love to me and gave me the ultimate “card”.  You know the “card”, the one I get to hold up in situations where he is being an ass and I get my way because I’ve done him an enormous favor.  Well, the favor this time is injecting all those medicines into my body while he just sits around waiting to do his part.  This “card” is a picture of a bunch needles going into my stomach and I’m going to use it for as long as I can. 

Lets break it down; the injectable medicines ended up costing us $2,940.45.  The pills (which no one told me about until I was basically picking them up) cost about $123.73.  Luckily those are actually partially covered by my insurance!  Praise the Lord!!! 

Off to injection lessons we go.  Now…they give you one lesson on how to do this all.  My husband secretly records the entire thing on his iPhone, because knowing us; we will most likely forget the process the moment we leave here.  There is a nurse on hand at all times that you can call and there are loads of videos emailed to us as well as websites that have them all.  But other then that we are on our own.   Our lesson became a chemistry class.  It took me back to high school, sitting in front of those freezing cold black top tables, only now we are sitting in uncomfortable chairs using the top of a file cabinet as a workspace in the smallest room they could find.  We mix water with water in our class to show us how to mix the solutions and powders.   There are different size needles that we have the capability of changing.  They give us a fake belly pad to practice on.  The hubby goes to insert the needle and my face turns to horror.  He’s forgotten to remove the 20 gauge needle!  For those who don’t know how long that is, it looks to be about 2 inches to my horrified eyes.  YOU AIN’T JABBING ME WITH THAT NEEDLE, BITCH…he stops just in time and realizes.  That poor fake belly almost got it. 

Maria, our nurse, suggests that my husband do all the injections while I lie down.   Did she not just see what happened?  At the end of the day, I agree that it’s probably the best idea.  I do have a high tolerance for pain, however I’m not sure if I have the guts to jab myself 2-3 times daily with something I know won’t feel good.  She gives us our calendar, which explains what shots I’ll be taking when and an idea of the timing of my retrieval surgery.   I love me a calendar. 

I’ll be taking 2-3 shots every evening at 9pm.  The timing was my choice, but it had to be an evening time.  I start with 2 shots and then move to 3 when my body is “ready” for it.  On day 7, both the hubs and I start on a z-pack.  Not sure why, but I’ll find out closer to that day.  I’m assuming it’s to kill any infections in our body so that my eggs and his sperm are at their prime.  I have no idea what these shots do exactly.  Other then the fact that they are hormones and they will make my body drop more eggs, I really don’t know what they are.  In my case I’d like to keep it this way.  To much information can make me a crazy person.  No need for me to obsess over something I can’t control. 

Once the shots have done their thing, and my body is ready for retrieval, I’ll be headed to the surgical center.  Out they go and I start on all of the oral meds (and another type of med that I’m not gonna chat about because I have boundaries to grossing people out, but lets just say it may as well be a tampon).  As of right now Maria says that these meds are to make my uterine lining the thickest and bestest it can be for embryo attachment.  YAY for modern medicine!

And there you go, a quick download on the meds and the process.  All I have to wait for now is for the “flow” to arrive.  We take off on a jet plane tomorrow and head to my parents.  Our amazing families have moved Thanksgiving to Monday so that we can spend it with them since it looks like I’ll have to fly home before the actual Thanksgiving to get the process started.