Remember when I got my bag of goodies last week? Needles, Progesterone, alcohol swabs?
I was dreading, no seriously dreading the first injection. But, it wasn’t bad. At all.
Shane has been giving me them since Friday and he has gotten really good at it, I don’t feel a thing.
Then Monday rolled around and I couldn’t shake the fact that I was going to have to give myself the shot. I so over reacted, imagine that. I mean there is nothing fun with jabbing yourself with a big ass needle but it’s totally doable, I didn’t faint, cry or even whimper. Winning! The worst part is the the aftermath. I am left with sore bruises dotting my booty and hips. Maybe I am doing something wrong? Human pincushion.
Today is my transfer day. I don’t have any real emotions about it, I’m not nervous or worried, it’s just what it is, going to the dr. to get knocked up…hopefully.
I will tell you all about it. I mean what else am I going to do in bed for 48 hours?
6 estrogen patches did the trick, my lining jumped from a 6 to a 10. The time has come.
We met with Dr. Garzo in his office and with my stomach in a knot we looked over our embryos. We have 1 good, 7 fair and 1 poor embryo to choose from, we went with the obvious choice.
We scheduled our transfer for next Wednesday. It’s hard for me to wrap my head around this. I start Progesterone injections, prednisone and doxycyclin tomorrow. I continue the estrogen patches as is and if I get a BFP{big fat positive} then I will continue the PIO {progesterone} injections and the stupid patches through week 9 of my pregnancy. ARE YOU FREAKING SERIOUS?
I hated the progesterone injections last time. THEY HURT! But at least last time Shane was local and able to give them to me. This time I am going to have to put on a brave face and do them myself when he’s gone. This is stressing me out. I can’t wait to show you the needle.
Here’s the plan. I show up at the Dr. an hour before our transfer time on Wednesday. I sit and drink water as instructed and take my valium when they tell me to. Then I get prepped for the transfer and Dr. Garzo will attempt to knock me up. I will have a blood test 11 days later. All the while I have to stick a long ass needle in my gluteus maximus every.damn.night.
Is she done complaining yet?
I am cautiously nervous about this. The excitement I felt last time has been replaced with memories and I can’t help that. So, no need to tell me “this time it will be a breeze” because I know that it probably will be but if you know me, I worry. It makes me sad and frustrated that I have to go through all this shit to have a baby. I don’t want to give myself shots and I don’t want to pay 100+ dollars for each box of 16 patches, I change 6 of those damn things every 3 days {and that is if they all actually stay on} Never happens.
You know you’re going through infertility when your phone log looks like this.
It’s not fair and I don’t want to….pity party for 1.
I’m about to bitch, complain and worry. Ready, set, go!
I thought these estrogen patches were going to be a breeze to deal with, however now I think poking myself with a needle twice a day would be easier.
1. They are expensive.
2. They don’t stay on. I am supposed to change them every 3 days but they are falling off daily.
3. My stomach looks like a tar pit.
4. Did I mention they don’t stay on? So now I need a refill and it’s only been a week. Bullshit.
Now I have 4 damn patches taped to my stomach so I can hopefully keep them on until tomorrow. Yipee!
This whole experience is completely different than the first. Now don’t take this the wrong way but I am not concerned about getting pregnant. I feel confident that we will get a BFP on the first try. Is this foolish? Am I over confident? Will I eat my words and feel like a shit head? Maybe. I am older, so maybe my positivity is arrogant.
Getting pregnant isn’t my worry, being pregnant is. This time I am really worried about all the what if’s that weren’t even an after thought the first time. I know, I know, don’t say it. “This time will be so much easier”. “How can it be any worse?” Let me count the ways. Yes it can be worse. This time I have a 2 year old. It can be worse and I am scared. There, I said it. Judge away.
The one day, ONE DAY I don’t give myself extra time to get the the Dr. all hell breaks loose in La Jolla. Three accidents surrounding the one place I needed to be. One was a biggy and closed down the main street in all directions. One was in the intersection of the hospital entrance, so no one could even get into that area and the third one closed the entrance to highway 5, down the road. So I sat with all the other cars for a good 45 minutes until they sorted it out.
Made it into the office one hour late, sat in the room and waited another 20 minutes, why are there so many infertile people? Then once he came in, it was a wham bam thank ya ma’am sort of thing. One quick ultrasound and 3 minutes later he was gone with the wind. So. Awesome.
Who reads this?
So how did it go? Good! No cysts, “carry on good sir“. Next Friday is a big appointment. Shane must come with to sign papers, they will check my lining and if it looks good then we “should” be able to schedule the BIG day. The nurse said anywhere from 5-14 days later.
“Rules, there are no rules!!” I don’t have any restrictions until after the transfer. “Party on Wayne“.
Actually, It’s my coffee that I can’t live without, am really worried about stopping. If you were reading this blog from the beginning than you might remember how bad my headaches were in the beginning of round one. We never did figure out if it was caffeine withdrawals or the Lupron injections.
I also had an estrogen blood draw to see how my levels are. I will add 2 patches if my estrogen is low or remove a patch if it’s too high, I think I can handle that.
I’ve had a many of these. Blood draws and code receipts.
By the time this was all said and done I was running late to pick up Kaili. That one big accident was still detouring traffic so it took me awhile to get to her school. However, after all my bitching I don’t want to seem heartless. My problems are nothing compared to whomever was in that vehicle and their family,so even though I was pulling my hair out and cursing myself for not leaving earlier, things could be worse. I am not blind to that.
As much as I miss my K bear, leaving her in good hands was the best decision. I’m taking full advantage of having a childless vaca. Showering with the music blaring, floating in the pool with the music blaring, getting ready for a night out with the music blaring.
We spent most of the day in the pool and then cleaned ourselves up and met our friends at Salty Senoritas.
The drive from San Diego to Phoenix, Arizona is almost as boring as the drive from OC to the Bay Area… Almost.
Alas, we made it! Our rental is as nice as I had hoped but…this is a big but, it’s not exactly wheelchair accessible. I mean, yes a chair can enter the house and maybe it’s my fault for not being thorough enough in my search but we had an issue I wasn’t happy about. I’ll tell you more about it later, I’m too busy snuggled up on the couch with a glass of wine.
Here are some pictures of our abode.
Today was my saline sonohysterogram. I was told to show up at the office with a full bladder, and as I was sitting there waiting, wishing I hadn’t drank that last sip of water the past came rushing back. All the memories of sitting there waiting for blood tests, IUI’s, ultrasounds, more blood tests, more IUI’s. There were a lot of people in the office and a few women were leaving in tears. This is heavy stuff and I felt for those women whom just learned something negative, whatever it may be.
After a quick ultrasound the sono began the same way a pap-smear does. Then a thin flexible catheter is inserted through the opening of the cervix, so that the catheter lies within the endometrial cavity. A small amount of sterile saline is introduced into the endometrial cavity through the catheter. This saline distends the endometrial cavity, allowing better assessment of the contour and shape of the endometrium, checking for polyps and fibroids as well. He said all looked great and we were ready to proceed. The nurse gave me an antibiotic just to ward off any infection, better safe then sorry since they did enter foreign objects inside me. <–I don’t think that is correct DR. lingo but that is all I had. The worst part of this procedure is that all the saline that made it’s way inside, eventually finds its way out. Isn’t this romantic?
Now I wait for cycle day 1, that is when I will start on an estrogen patch for 84 hours. On day 3, I go into the office for another ultrasound to make sure everything still looks good. This being a frozen transfer, it’ s a new protocol then our fresh transfer, so I’m not sure what will come next. For now I wont stress about it. I have a vacation coming up which I intend to enjoy to the fullest.
Since Kaili is still a little sick I didn’t want to take her to school, and there was no way I was going to take her to the Dr. with me. Luckily her uncle Brian was available to watch her. Looks like they had a fun time.
We had a nice healthy run but it’s come to an end. Tuesday Kaili developed a low grade fever and some mediocre whining, nothing else. Wednesday night was rough, she woke up every few hours and at 2:00 A.M. she was burning up. I took her temperature 3 times and it averaged to a 102 degree fever. I gave her some Advil and went back to bed trying not to worry. I laid there until the sun came up, checking on her every so often.
Kaili was yelling “mommy, I wake up” by 6:00, this was going to be a long day. Thankfully, I already had the day off and Shane would be home soon.
Her Advil wore off and her fever came back along with hoarseness and a cough. She is in a decent mood considering and she goes through some sever whining fits but fingers crossed this is the worst of it!?!?
Keeping her busy
Tomorrow, is my last scheduled day of work for now. I really enjoy working but I also miss having some free days. The grass is always greener I guess.
Monday is my sono aka Sonohysterogram at Reproductive Partners, here we go again….Ready for all the fertility lingo?
Sundays are spent in front of the T.V. and it looks like Seattle is going to make it worth our wild this year.
So in honor of our winning season I made some football food. Wings and pizza, can’t go wrong with either of those choices.
I made about 20 wings. Started off seasoning them with garlic salt, cumin, cayenne and ground black pepper.
I baked them at 400 degrees for 50 minutes, then I hit them with the broiler for a few extra minutes to crispy up the skin.
I melted 1 Tbs. butter and 1/2 cup Franks extra hot sauce in a sauce pan over low heat until warmed through. Then you toss the wings with the sauce and voila! Baked chicken wings.
The Art of Thyming 