More Ultrasounds/ Bloodwork

After you start stims (the injections) you go in for ultrasound and bloodwork every 2-3 days.  This is so the doctors can see how your ovaries look and how many follicles are developing.  They are looking not just for the number of follicles you have, but how big they are.

My clinic told me they wanted my follicles to measure 17-19mm each before they would be ready for the egg retrieval.

It really is super crazy to see the follicles on your first ultrasound and come back a few days later and visibly see how much they've grown.  The first day you see all these little black spots on the ultrasound and by day 9 or so you can only see a couple at a time because they are so big!  I want to get copies of a few of my pictures from the clinic so I can post the difference.  I have to work on that though!

 June 26

June 28

June 30

I thought I would talk about how these meds have made me feel over the last week or so.  Surprisingly, I didn't feel totally crazy!  I actually only felt sad one day and that's probably because Nate had to leave town for a few days and I was missing him.  Oh, and I watched Coco (seriously one of the best movies ever and if you haven't seen it you definitely need to!!!) which was a mistake.

I thought with my ovaries all hopped up on drugs and growing like crazy it would be a little painful.  But it really isn't painful at all!   Now, it doesn't feel normal, for sure.  It is more discomfort than anything.  It kind of just feels like my ovaries are heavy and instead of staying out to the sides (like you see in a textbook) they feel like they are hanging down.  Weird description but best I can do.

At my appointment today they said I am ready to go!  My follicles are large enough to schedule the egg retrieval!!  I'm going to do my trigger shot later tonight and the retrieval will be scheduled for Monday morning.  I'm so glad it's finally here!

The Actual Celebratory Dinner

We finally got our act together and decided on Chima Brazillian Steakhouse for our celebration dinner!  Since I'm an idiot for picking to do shots at 7:30, I had to bring them with me.  These two meds actually have to be refrigerated so I had to get creative!  I grabbed a Yeti, filled it with ice, and stuffed the medication in it.  I'm pretty proud of myself for that one!  You have about an hour leeway of when to do the shot (doesn't have to be at exactly 7:30) but we stopped at the mall before dinner so I could just do it at home. 

Not only did I do it not at home, but I did it in the car.  Gotta do what you gotta do! 

With our friends, the Baldwins and Bolins.

Starting Shots

Ahhhh!!!  The big day has arrived!  Well, the first of many big days.

This morning started with bloodwork and an ultrasound.  I had to find someone to take the first part of my Starbucks shift this morning because I was scheduled 4:30-1:00 today and they only do monitoring appointments from 7:30-8:30.  I got there at 7:35 and there were already like 4 ladies in front of me!  I barely made it to work at 8:30 (when I told the person covering me I would be there) but I squeaked in.

I decided to do my shots at 7:30 pm.  It actually wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be!  I started with two shots today and will continue with those for a few days.  The needles were smaller than I expected and the videos are super helpful so I wasn't nervous about doing something wrong.  Okay, I was still a little nervous...I mean these are dang expensive meds so I didn't want to mess anything up!

The Almost Celebratory Dinner

I really wanted to go to a nice dinner to celebrate starting stims and the beginning of this crazy process.  We decided to go to EPIC Chophouse in Mooresville because we've never been there and it's a little too expensive to go just for a normal dinner.  We are always looking for excuses to go out to a nice dinner though ;)  I picked EPIC a few weeks ago so we would have something to look forward to.

Well, long story short, we didn't end up at EPIC, but went to La Unica, Nate's favorite Mexican restaurant.  We went with some of our best friends and had a great time.  I still want to go to a fancy dinner because this really is a cause to celebrate! 

I wish I had taken a picture...but I forgot....

Meds Arrive!

Yay!  My meds finally got here!  Things are starting to get real now.  I'll explain what I have pictured, but everyone is going to be SO different so you may have a totally different concoction.

1) Gonal-F.  This is a pen injector so you don't have to draw up any medication, you just change the needle tip each time.  This medication helps to grow your eggs.
2) Lodose HCG.  This one you do draw up.  I did it in a small insulin needle so it's really not bad to inject!  This one also is helping to grow your eggs.
3) Cetrotide.  This is the most complicated one of the lot.  Each box comes with everything you need though, so that's helpful!  It comes with 2 vials, one is a saline solution and the other is a powdered medication.  You have to draw up the liquid with one needle, inject it into the powder, then redraw it in the needle and inject yourself.  This med helps to prevent ovulation so that they can decide when you ovulate.
4) Pregnyl.  This is part of the "trigger shot" to induce ovulation.  This is another one you have to mix yourself before injecting.
5) Lupron.  This came as a pre-filled syringe so you just have to attach the needle and go!  This is the other part of the "trigger shot" to induce ovulation.  More on that when we get to it.

As I mentioned previously, I bought some of my meds overseas.  The gonal-f box is entirely in Dutch(???).  Not sure exactly what language this is!!  But there are great videos online to teach you how to inject each medication.  I HIGHLY recommend checking out Freedom Med Teach before injecting anything.  They give you step by step instructions so it doesn't matter if you can't read the box ;)  

I start injecting on Friday!

CD3

CD3 is a pretty common term once you start down the infertility route.  It stands for Cycle Day 3.  It goes off of when your period starts.  The first day you have full bleeding is cycle day 1.  This means if your period starts on Monday, your CD3 is on Wednesday.  This is a common time for you to have bloodwork done.  At my clinic, I've had many CD3 blood draws.  I'm not a doctor and don't understand all they look for at this time, so you can do your own research as to why this is important if you're curious!

My CD3 fell on June 4th.  Perfect timing since my insurance just kicked in on June 1st!  I waste no time.  I called my clinic on the 2nd and they scheduled me to come in today.  My clinic does bloodwork and ultrasounds from 7-8:30 am.  This is so they can process the bloodwork and let you know your next steps by later in the afternoon.  I would think most clinics would have a similar process.

They called this afternoon and said everything looked great and I can start birth control tonight!