Day 2

This morning I woke up with a bad Head Ache that lasted for most of the afternoon, Head Aches are one of the side affects from the Injection. For the most part the Day wasn't so bad, Mark was home today so he got experience the whole Injection process with me. I am switching Injection sites every day from one thigh to another, I am allowed to to it in the Abdomen but with how it burns when I give my self the Injection I thought I would stay away from my abdomen.

So far so good! 

Day 1 down!

   We went to the Dr. This Morning and they did more Blood work and an Ultrasound. The Blood work went over well but when they did the ultra sound the found a small fluid filled cyst on my left ovary from the Birth Control I was on the past 2 weeks. The Dr. was some what concerned But said we should wait and see what the Blood test says. So they called at 4 and said that my Estrogen level was great and not to be concerned about the Cyst at all and to go ahead with the Injections.

 Toady at 4:00 I gave my self my first Injection, I was actually excited to start. The Needle that I gave the shot to my self with is a shorter needle that goes into the fat instead of the Muscle, It didn't hurt at all. The only part that hurt was injecting the Medicine, It burned and now feels like i have a hard ball under my skin. I also started taking 1 81mg of baby aspirin and prescription prenatal vitamins.

Above is a picture of everything placed out on the counter before my injection, I mix 1cc with 3 vials bravelle of and 1 vial of Menopur That way it is only 1 injection a day

Keep your fingers crossed for us!

Our Medications are here!

This Morning we were greeted by FedEx when they delivered our package (below) and inside was all of the Medication we are going to need for the next 2 weeks before our Egg retrieval.

I have posted all of the medication that are inside this box and what they are for and their possible Side affects.

                                          Here are all of the contents that are in the box.

      Above are 6 of the medication taken by mouth, Below are what they are from left to right and a description of what they are for.

-PROGESTERONE: Taken Twice Daily

-Helps prepare your uterus for Conception and Pregnancy.         ~Nausea, Acne & Fatigue

-PROGEST: Taken Three times Daily

-Taken to prepare your body for conception and Pregnancy.           ~Breast Tenderness, Nausea, Acne & Fatigue

-PERSCRIPTION STRENGTH PRE NATAL VITAMINS: Taken Once Daily

-PROPOXYPHENE: Taken one tablet every 3-4 hours for pain    -This is a pain killer taken after the Egg retrieval.           ~Nausea, Constipation, Sedation, Dizziness, Vomiting,                Sweating, Anemia.

-ESTRADOL: Taken twice daily

-To help thicken the Endometrial lining.

~Dizziness

-DORYX (Doxycycline): Taken twice daily

-Around Egg retrieval time, You take and Antibiotic to                reduce the chance of infection from removal.
~Sensitivity to sunlight, Nausea, Vomiting, Stomach Pain.

 -MENOPUR: Provides a Follicle Stimulating Hormone and             Lutenizing Hormone to help provide healthy Egg's.

~ Breast Pain, Back Pain, Cough, Chills, Dizziness,                   Hot Flashes.

                       Two Boxes 5 vials each

-BRAVELLE: Also contains the Follicle Stimulating Hormone for     Healthy Egg growth.

 ~Vomiting, Injection Site pain, Chills, Fever, Nausea.

                        6 Boxes 5 Vials each

                                                            -Needle Disposal

-BABY ASPRIN: Taken once daily

-Keeps Placential blood vessels open to aid implantation

                                                        -22 & 27 Gauge Needles 

Busy couple of weeks!

My Nurse called yesterday and we have a date! 

Tomorrow I will be expecting a package with all of my Medication and Injections in it, From their we will meet with our Dr and nurse to go over all of our Injections and do a Mock Egg Transfer.

I will Start Injections Next week and will have to go in to the Dr's office on March 20Th, 23rd & 25Th for Blood work and Ultra Sounds to see how well my Follicles are developing and how many Eggies i have. 

I will go in on March 27Th for the Egg retrieval under General Anesthesia , From their they will go ahead and fertilize all of the Mature egg's and let them "cook" for 3 days.

On March 30Th we will have to go back in and Have the Egg's transferred, It is a simple procedure. While i am laying on the table my Acupuncturist will than go ahead and do one 1/2 hour session at the Dr's office.  From their i will have to go straight home and on Bed rest for 2 days and to take it easy for 3 weeks. No exercise or lifting anything over 8 pounds.

Needless to say this month is going to go by fast!!

Some Good News

I went to my Acupuncture today and told my Acupuncturist (who deals with only IVF patients) what my FSH level was (3.5) and She started laughing, So i asked her what was so funny and she said a 3.5 FSH level is an AMAZING level and that i am (in her words) Incredibly fertile and that she cant see why we wont get pregnant on our first IVF cycle! 

That just made my day and I thought I would share it with all of you.

xoxo

FSH & the next step

Well good news, Mark got the Go ahead from his Dr. So he is good to go with the IVF. I went in the other day and had more Blood taken to test my FSH (Follicle Stimulating Hormone) Your FSH level is the Main Hormone involved in producing Mature healthy egg's. My level was a 3.5 and they said it was a good level and that my Ovaries will respond well to the Stimulation injections they are going to put me on. 

They told me to start the Birth Control they prescribed to me. Birth Control i know! You are probably asking why birth control when i cant get pregnant as it is, Well the reason the prescribe birth control is to suppress my body from ovulating naturally. IVF is planned to the hour so the Birth Control puts everything on hold until i start Injections.

Acupuncture

After our failed 6 month attempt on Clomid, Our next step was heavier fertility drugs. I knew their had to be one more shot before having to inject my body with all of the intense hormones, I had heard about Acupuncture and infertility but never thought twice about going to it until my friend Kacey had mentioned that she had gone and it worked for her. She recommended me to a Dr. in Santa Monica that she went too. I made an appointment and went to see her, She talked to me and told me about all sorts of interesting things about your body. How your spleen, Kidney and liver are all big factors in your reproductive system. I wasn't so sure about it, It all sounded like a bunch of Hocus Pocus but i went along with it, I mean at that point why not! Acupuncture ended up being AMAZING i went from not ovulating on my own to ovulating, Feeling so much better and healthier, Sleeping better and feeling better overall.

  When Dr. Kolb told us that we had to go forward with IVF for a baby i immediately cancelled my appointments after i silently freaked out about how much the IVF was going to cost us i didn't want to add another cost of Acupuncture along with it. Since i am a nut on the computer and Google i thought why not look up Acupuncture and IVF and well it turns out that while going through Acupuncture and IVF increases your success rate, So after mark and i talked about it (and i was secretly obsessed with it) we decided that if we are going to spend this much money for it might as well make my body as healthy as we possibly can for the IVF. So today i started with a new Acupuncturist in La Canada (I was sad to leave my old Dr but glad that we didn't have to make that hour drive in traffic once a week) I had my first appointment with her today and she is AMAZING i have high hopes with her. I am going to continue going once a week until i start with the Injections than she wants to see me twice a week until the Egg Retrieval. Than the day of the Egg transfer i will have a 25 minute session with her before the transfer and she will come to the Dr's office with us and do another 25 minute session immediately following the transfer while i am laying in the Dr's office to calm my uterus and accept the Egg. Who knows if it will help but at this point why not!