IVF Shots Day 10 – Stim Day 1

July 23rd, 2009

Shelton and I had a conversation tonight in which we were discussing the next few weeks of our IVF. I said something to the effect of “we’ll be pregnant in a few weeks.” And his response was that it’s really odd to be able to say that. Like “oh, no big deal, on this day we’ll be pregnant.” WHO SAYS THAT?!?! People doing IVF do. Just a reminder of the bizarre little journey we’re on.

This morning I had an appointment at the clinic to do my first sonogram and blood work to check my estrogen levels. I was told if I didn’t get a phone call from “M” then everything looked fine. In other words, no news is good news. We did not get a phone call today! My sonogram took just a minute and the tech/nurse told me that my endometrium layer looked exactly as it should. So we’re progressing the way that we should be. Yay!

Today we had one of those moments that confirmed my reasons for thinking Dr. T is fantastic and how happy I am that we found our way to him. We were not scheduled to see him this morning, yet during our walk from the lab to the waiting room he stopped us to check in. I’ve never had a doctor who just stops to see how you are doing. He asked Shelton about his surgery and how that went, how he’s doing now. He asked me where I was in my shots, how I’ve been feeling, reacting. I told him that I had a few days of hot flashes and that I still feel a little fatigued and have headaches. He said if I’ve done this well with the Lupron then the rest of it should be a breeze.

That was welcome news as tonight we started our Gonal-F. The Gonal-F must be refrigerated; it’s spent the past few weeks in the bottom drawer on top of the “guest” Dr. Pepper. (We don’t drink soda, but don’t mind accommodating those who do.) It’s also a little more complicated than the straight-forward Lupron shots. It’s in a pen, and there are all these instructions to prime it. I re-read the information given to us in our IVF handbook. Then Shelton and I watched the instructional video on our pharmacy’s web site. I primed the pen, and then Shelton must not have thought I did it right because he pulled the little button out and squeezed it again and this long stream of medicine shot out of the needle. I said “i told you so” and then reiterated that the pen cost us $1,000 and that we don’t have any to just go spraying in the kitchen.

This injection went into the right side of my stomach. Considering the left side looks like it has a black eye after this morning’s Lupron shot. He must have hit a blood vessel or something. He drew blood for the first time and this evening I happened to lift up my shirt and noticed the 1” black and purple spot.

I’m very much looking forward to the weekend tomorrow. I’m anxious to SLEEP!!!