Gross Bathrooms are for Shots too

Ug.  Doing these shots in some nasty bathrooms are always my favorite.  Yay for baby changing tables (even if there's gunk and dust everywhere...)!  This was in Bad Daddy's.  I needed a way to heat up the oil so I asked for a cup of hot water and then a cup of ice so I could ice the injection site.  I'm getting pretty good at all this improvising!

Pushing Through

This morning I woke up at 4:00 for my 4:30 Starbucks shift.  I slept better last night and didn't wake up crying, so that's a plus!  I definitely was still in a lot of pain this morning, but not completely unbearable.

I thought I'd do just fine at my shift but it was hard.  Really hard.  I'm so grateful it was only 4 hours because I could barely make it through.  I just move so slow and it hurts to bend over because that's stretching those low back/ glute muscles.  I thought I was looking forward to my 10 minute break but we only have wood chairs and I couldn't sit down comfortably and without pain.  Sooooo...that wasn't great.

My shift was super understanding and let me stay on the register so I didn't have to move around a lot.  It was kind of a win/ lose because standing still made my muscles hurt too haha. I was constantly moving my legs and trying to stretch because that made the pain kind of feel like a good stretch pain, instead of a pain pain...if that makes sense.

The day did get better as it went.  Again, I didn't think I could make it through the work day, and actually planned to leave by 4:00 (it was our late day where we work until 6) but around 3:00 I started feeling better and I knew I could stick it out. 

We will see what the next days have in store...but hopefully they have less pain in them!

PIO is really, really, really the worst.

I don't know how I'm going to survive doing these shots.  Today was so hard I can't even describe it.  I practically woke up crying and didn't stop until I got to work.  Thankfully I had the foresight to not put makeup on until I got there!  I really didn't think I would be able to make it through the day, but somehow I did.

I can't sit, stand, walk, or lay down without some pain.  The only semi-comfortable position is laying on my belly.  Last week this was super uncomfortable and definitely didn't feel good, and was painful at times.  Today I feel like I'm having a mental breakdown because the pain is so, so, so bad.  I literally cannot touch my lower back/ hips/ upper butt without pain.  I don't even understand how this is possible!

I've been looking at forums online trying to figure out if this is normal or what the heck is going on.  I feel like everyone is saying it hurts and it's "the worst" but I feel like I cannot function like this the pain is so bad!  Also a lot of the people on forums I've found are not doing these for IVF so they aren't doing them daily.  They get a break in between which would be so nice!

I'm going to have Nate give me a blessing tonight so I will hopefully start to feel better, or at least be able to cope with this.  Because right now I'm miserable, not coping well, and going to have a meltdown....

Transfer Day!

Today was transfer day!  I spent the morning working around the house and getting things cleaned up.    Then I went to lunch at Steak 'n' Shake with a bunch of the young women from my church as an end of summer party.

We arrived at the clinic 30 minutes before transfer.  I had to come with a full bladder, which is not fun.  But I did pretty well not going overboard!

Thankfully they don't put you out for this procedure, but I did take my first valium!  I actually don't know exactly what it did for me...but I guess that's a good thing!

Nate was able to come into the OR for the transfer so he got to wear this cute bunny/ Baymax suit.

Potential last picture as a family of two??

It's a pretty special experience to see your embryos on this giant screen and then watch on ultrasound while it's inserted.  It's the miracle of life right in front of your face!  I mean, how many people can see their kids when they are literally five days old.  They are just a cluster of cells with the potential of turning into a living, breathing human being.  It's crazy and overwhelming when you really think about it.  The procedure takes maybe 20 minutes.  I can't say it was the most comfortable, but it wasn't painful.

After the procedure...do I have a glow to me yet??

Here is embryo #1!  I really thought I'd have this feeling when I saw the picture and know if it was a boy or girl...but I got nothing.  The blurrier looking cells in the center are what will develop into the baby and the less blurry ones will be the placenta.  The doctor said that big cell on the lower right is some extra cell thing (I don't really know) that isn't anything bad but isn't a part of the baby.

First family picture??

After the transfer we went to our friends, the Bolin's house.  I was super tired so I took a nice 2 hour nap on their couch while Teresa worked and Nate and Matthew ran to our house to grab me my medicine.  We decided to go out to Olive Garden for dinner since we hadn't been there in probably a year and a half or more.  I just always get the soup because it's unlimited refills and super delicious!

PIO is the worst

I feel like I've handled this IVF think like a champ so far!  And then I started PIO (progesterone in oil) shots and I want to....not do shots anymore haha  I had Nate do my first one Sunday night because I've heard these are easier to have someone do them for you.  Well, I don't know if he hit something, or if my body just wasn't ready for it, but my butt cheek has been in so much pain since then!  It feels like a really severe, deep bruise every time I take a step, or stand up, or sit down.  It's lovely.

I decided to do my own shot last night and it did go better.  I didn't feel the pain right away but today it's definitely sore as well.  Yesterday I was literally walking with a limp and today I'm limping on both sides, if that's even possible.

The PIO shots are difficult because they are in oil, which is very thick.  It takes so much effort to push it through the needle!  And the needles are like 1.5 inches long, as opposed to the half inch needles I've been using.  

The worst part is, if I get pregnant, I have to continue these shots for the first 10-12 weeks of pregnancy.  So although I'm hoping I can be done with these real soon, I also hope I'm giving them to myself into November.  Just hopefully my butt adjusts to the poking and prodding and stops hurting so much...

Increasing Insurance Prices

AH!

It's time to renew insurance as the Starbucks benefit year starts in October.  I knew the prices would increase some but HOLY CRAP some of them skyrocketed.  I'm going to have to crunch some numbers over the next week to figure out what I want to do.

So here are the numbers from this last year.  I went with Cigna Platinum so I was paying $137 per paycheck.  I was thinking of downgrading to Cigna Gold in October because it's significantly less per paycheck and I really wouldn't need it for much other than normal stuff. (sorry the picture is hard to see...)

Now here are the new prices...

Not sure how well you can see that but what costs me $137 now would cost me $394 in October!!!!!  That's more than double the cost!  And if I drop to gold, I'll still be paying $50 more per paycheck than I am now so that's out of the question.  I'll either have to go to silver, or choose a different provider.  I may do both since Cigna is now the most expensive option.  It's so weird that last time Cigna was the cheapest!  I've really loved having Cigna and they've been great to work with so I hesitate to switch, but for those prices, I'm almost certain I will.