IVF Calender & shots

I know they do this for all of their patients but let me just say, this is perfect for me. At my "plan of care" apt we sat down with Tonya and went over my calender.

May was not very eventful - I started my period May 13th so that's the day I actually started BCP (birth control pills). PNV is prenatal vitamins. BA is baby asprin. So green indicates the start of a medication and red indicates the end of one. Yellow means a visit to the office/blood draw. 

 

So I started the stimulating medications on Monday and then next Monday I go in for my first ultrasound to check how my follicles are developing. They could be ready Mon, Tues, or Wed - whatever day they look good (as in lots and the right size) then I'll go home and that evening give myself the HCG shot to induce ovulation. 36 hours after that they would do the egg retrieval - which is why on the 24th it says "a common day for egg retrieval." We will just have to wait and see what happens! Then we'll see how many eggs fertilize, then 2-5 days later put them back in! Then wait! 

I have to say - I just LOVE this calender. I sit and look at it and it just makes me happy. :)

So now that I'm giving myself 3 shots every morning this is what my morning looks like: 

(don't worry, Ness, no actual needles have been photographed. Yet.)

 

The pen is my Follistim - you put a new little needle on every day and I put a cartridge inside it with the medication that lasts for two doses. This one doesn't hurt at all.

The orange normal bottle is the Lupron - that's the easiest one, I always do that one first. The medication stings when it goes in. And these needles are tiny but don't always want to go right in, like some of them aren't super sharp or something so it's a little hard poking yourself hard enough! 

The two little glass bottles are the Menopur - well, the one with powder in it is the actual Menopur. I have to mix it with the little Sodium Chloride bottle. I feel like a chemist. 

Robby is so cute - every morning he loves to watch me give myself my shots. When I'm hesitating and deep breathing about to poke myself he chants, "Go mommy! Go mommy!" He's the best cheerleader! Rob is usually already gone to work but the other day he was here and I made him sit and watch and I think he gained even more appreciation for me. :)

Now the only problem is I feel like I'm running out of room to poke myself... my hand is covering my belly button - I'm supposed to do it just in this area under my belly button and I alternate which side I do them on each day but the Follistim and Menopur leave these little marks and it's looking like I have chicken pox or something!

this stomach should not be photographed for any reason but to share all these lovely details with everyone! yikes! and it looks even worse in person, the shots I mean... fyi...

I would say I haven't had any negative side effects from the drugs but today I'm feeling exhausted and had a bad headache and my vision was all weird for like 30 minutes I was seeing stars.... but usually I feel pretty normal. I wanted to get a lot of cleaning done today in anticipation of probably wanting to be resting a lot next week after the egg retrieval (like you know how you want your house clean before you go out of town? That's how I feel) but so far I'm just mostly laying in bed... oh well! Maybe tomorrow!