The Wonderful World of Injections
Poke me once...shame on me, poke me twice...shame on you, poke me a million times: IVF
My most recent video is about the entire process of IVF from beginning to end and even addresses some of the things doctors want you to try before even getting to that point. It felt like an ETERNITY to finally start IVF, but once the ball started rolling, it was rolling FAST.
After our first medicated, timed intercourse cycle, I already had a feeling in my gut that IVF was going to be the route we'd end up going. But my doctor suggested I give 2 more cycles a try before moving on to more complicated and expensive treatments. We did 3 timed medicated cycles and they all failed. We tried to go for an IUI for once cycle but then that got cancelled because I ovulated early. That's when we decided to skip trying for more IUI's and go straight to IVF.
There is so much waiting involved in the infertility and IVF game that I basically became a pro. We waited a month to have our consult with my new doctor at Trio. Then we waited another month for a follow up after getting more tests done. Then we waited for my period to finally come....then the beautiful day finally came! I went in for my initial blood work...and my hormones came back elevated when they shouldn't have been. Went in again to recheck it. I was told that if the numbers were decreasing then it would be fine. They ended up being even higher so my cycle was cancelled before it even started. Another month down the tubes and another month of waiting to try again next cycle.
Finally my next cycle came and my hormones were yet again elevated but THIS time they were decreasing the following days...so I got to start stims right? Wrong. I got the go ahead to start the priming portion of my cycle which was birth control and 5 days of a cetrotide injection. Then I waited, yet again, for my period to come once those were done. FINALLY I was able to start stims but this was another hurdle to try and leap over because I have a massive fear of needles. Getting my blood work done so often was enough to make me squirm and the thought of needles not only going into my stomach, but also that I or Peter would have to be the ones to administer them, scared the absolutely shit out of me.
It took about 15 minutes for me to finally calm down enough to let Peter stick me, and I wish I meant that in a sexy way but it was anything but. The good news is that it wasn't nearly as bad as my brain had imagined it to be and it felt like I'd been holding my breath for a century. I could finally exhale. I could do this. The worst injection was probably the menopur because that burned like hell going in. I can only compare it to be stung by an angry wasp but luckily the stinging didn't last super long. I also found a hack for avoiding bruising! I iced the area for 5 minutes prior to the injections and then I held pressure on it for 5 minutes after. Worked like a charm and I barely bruised at all. Go me!
The thought of going in for the egg retrieval though was kind of terrifying. I kind of accidentally stumbled upon a fun little cartoon drawing demonstrating how egg retrievals are done. Let's just say that upped my fear a million degrees because they take a massive needle and basically go THROUGH.....actually nevermind. If you really want to know then google is there for ya. But it actually turned out to be fine. The worst part of it was when one of the nurses tried and failed at putting in an IV because as all nurses like to say "my veins are rolie polie." That's when I started feeling sick and shaky and started crying and the nurse mentioned that she should have given me the relaxing drugs before doing the IV. I didn't feel a damn thing during the procedure and I was awake the whole time.
Now the progesterone needles...that's a whole other story for another video and another blog. But ultimately I'm glad we decided to finally try IVF even though it was unsuccessful. It's not fun, it's grueling and although I didn't have many side effects from the stims like a lot of women do, I did cry enough at random things that I started compiling a list that looked a little like this...
Reasons I've Cried while on IVF meds:
Peter asked me if I was going to eat the pineapple in the fridge
I got Ellie & Carl from "Up" on a "Which fictional character are you?" quiz
Peter ate the rest of the spinach
I saw a squirrel and it didn't acknowledge me