Butt Stabbing

Here's the skinny on the meds that I have to take for my frozen cycle. First, the pros.

Less injections overall

Not every night until the last week before the transfer

That about does it.

Now, the cons.

Bigger needles

Intramuscular injections rather than subcutaneous

Thick medication = slower injection time = more time needle stays in

My upper tush is so sore that it hurts to walk. Poor G has to stab me every night, and while I try not to flinch, it's hard not to. Especially now when my injections are nightly and there's not time for my bruises to heal. Oh, that's right - bruises. They have me on baby aspirin, too - which apparently has just enough umph to give me the new superpower of "easily bruises."

The transfer is in 3 days - not sure what time yet. I am excited. The possibilities on the cusp - we're hoping for the best, clearly, but don't want to get ourselves all worked up. I will, however, get worked up about my butt bruise recovery. :) Hooray!

Checking It Out

This cycle is trickling along. I'm not sure if it's that I don't have to go in for monitoring every few days, or the every 3 day injection thing - but whatever the reason, this cycle feels soooo loooong.

Tomorrow is our monitoring appointment. If everything looks good (lining is thick, hormone levels are okay), then we are a-go for a transfer on the 3rd. So, 2 of our little baby embryos will be thawed and put back. I hope they enjoy the thawing process and have not been affected by the freeze process. If they show signs of damage, then they will simply thaw another in it's place. It only takes about 40 minutes for the thaw process. I have a feeling that the whole thing will go smoothly.

Here's to plump lining and good hormone levels. I am ready to be off of this delestrogen already!

On the Calendar

I woke up this morning with a to-do list - including "Call nurse about FET schedule." But, of course, our nurse beat me to the punch. When I came back in from walking the dog - there was a message waiting for me.

She stated that she was surprised I came in this weekend to start my FET cycle. Um... what did you think I meant last week when I said "Any day now!"? Well, anyways, she was able to fit me on the schedule for this cycle - which, as she said in the message, meant that we didn't have to cancel this cycle. Well, thanks. I guess.

I started taking the Delestrogen last night. It's an intramuscular shot that requires your love to jab you in the butt with a needle the size of a #2 pencil lead while you hold onto something for dear life. No side effects yet - but if I start pulling hair out and barking out orders like a mad woman, I'll be sure to let you know.

So, I continue my Delestrogen every 3 days until the 29th, when I go in for a mid line check (I assume this means they measure the uterine lining). Then I return on the 3rd of Feb. for the transfer.

It feels good to know that progress is again being made and that another try is upon us...

At the Start... Again.

About a month ago, G and I closed the door to the fertility scene to just sit back and enjoy the holidays, vacation, and each other. Well, yesterday we pried that door back open. Day three monitoring - bloodwork and ultrasound. It's odd how foreign the whole morning was to me - even after having been through months of it just a short while ago. No one forgets how to put those feet in stirrups (I mean, seriously, it's like riding a bike) - but the whole prick of the needle and waiting and filling out forms... I could have done that all with my eyes closed a short while ago. How quickly we forget...

So this time we are doing a Frozen Embryo Transfer (FET) cycle - since we have four frozen blastocysts in storage. From what I hear, this is like the vacations of all cycles. Minimal appointments, less injections, infrequent dates with the probe... sounds great. It did start with a bit of a hiccup though - my meds were just called in last week - six days before my appointment - and were due to be delivered on Friday for an injection start on Saturday. Well, they didn't arrive and apparently it was b/c the insurance company hadn't had enough time to process and approve said medications. So while the nurse said "It's a go!" in her adorable British accent - I was all "But..."

So, instead, today we drove up to the ONLY office open for non-monitoring appointments to sign some consent forms. They were also able to fill our prescription on the spot so that we could get this cycle started and not have to put it off for another month.

We paid out of pocket, but will likely be reimbursed from the pharmacy once the insurance kicks in.

So here's the plan: I start injections of Delestrogen (intramuscular) tonight, and will continue every three evenings for about a week and a half. Then they add in some progesterone which I will continue until the day of the transfer - which looks like it will land on the 25th or 26th of this month.

I call my nurse tomorrow to confirm the date of the transfer, and the progesterone start will begin about five days prior.

We'll keep you updated!

PS - the above shot prep materials are for the Delestrogen. I was amazed at the amount of needles we got with this one... eek.