IVF Meds {4}

This is the last post on IVF medications. After my final injection, I only had to worry about pills, patches, and suppositories. That's a little easier to manage than a self-administered shot!

After the aspiration and transfer, I took the antibiotic Erythromycin (which always makes me nauseated!) and Medrol, a steroid, for four days. The day after the aspiration, I began the progesterone suppositories (Crinone and Prometrium) in the morning and before bed. Lastly, I stuck on my Vivelle Dot Patch (Estradiol). I'll continue these along with vitamins, baby aspirin, and Ovomax (a DHEA supplement) until told to stop.

What do these do to me? I become a hormonal crazy person. I also am constantly sick to my stomach and super fatigued. Yes, I'm a bowl of fun these days. Who wants to hang out? :)

IVF Meds {3}: A pain in the bum!

Wednesday night (or more accurately Thursday morning...it was 1 am), I had my last injection. You may recall that typically the last injection is the hCG shot or "trigger shot" -- the medication that triggers a woman's ovulation to occur. Whether a pregnancy is happening inside or outside of a doctor's office, the timing of ovulation is key. You could have a perfect amount of beautiful follicles, but if you miss that small window when the eggs are released, conception simply cannot occur.

In IVF, timing of ovulation matters even more because one is paying thousands of dollars to surgically have those eggs (which are there thanks to more thousands of dollars) removed. How sad would it be if after prep and sedation, it turns out the little eggs have already moved down the fallopian tube?! This is why our shot wasn't at a normal time: one in the morning would have to do.

Every other medication thus far has come with a 1/2 inch needle that is injected into my stomach around my belly button area. They're not fun, to say the least, and I've learned I should never be a phlebotomist based on the bruising I have caused. This hCG injection came with a 1 & 1/2 inch needle! That's huge! This one is injected...you may have guessed by the title...into my bum. Of course, since I can't safely inject a giant needle into my backside, it was my hub's turn to be nurse. Surprisingly, I hardly felt the sting. In fact, I felt a little pinch, and I thought he was chickening out, so I said, "It's okay! Just do it!!!" He laughed just slightly. "I already did," he said.

I went to sleep just fine and then woke up with the right side of my lower backside (lower backside is a nice way of saying bum, you know) totally in pain! All day I couldn't "rest" myself as I normally would and had to sit a bit lopsided. Three days later, I'm still sore.

The good news is the rest of the medications do not come with any sharp points. They're still gross and will no doubt cause annoying side effects, but my stomach and bum have nothing to fear.

IVF Meds {2}

For this second IVF attempt, the docs changed up my medications slightly. In addition to Gonal-F and Menopur (which have been increased), I have been injecting Lupron every morning and night for the last week. A short Lupron (leuprolide) treatment is used to help initiate follicular growth, and since I began this earlier in my cycle, we're hoping this will help produce more follicles. More follicles equals more eggs which equals a chance at IVF!

Tomorrow, we find out if this new protocol has made any difference. We hope it has!

IVF Meds {1}

A huge part of IVF is the medications and treatments. In fact, the medications alone are about a quarter of the cost of the whole IVF procedure. The different medications do all sorts of different things, so I thought I'd explain each of them as I'm instructed to use them.

Saturday I began my first two injections: Gonal-F and Menopur. Both of these are follicle-stimulating hormones. FSH is the hormone responsible for stimulating the development of egg-containing follicles. We produce FSH naturally in our bodies, but with an IVF cycle, we want to increase the number of follicles (and therefore eggs) that are produced in a cycle. In addition to FSH, Menopur provides luteinising hormone (LH), a hormone that regulates our menstrual cycles and egg production. LH increases just before ovulation.

Both of these meds are self-injected into the abdomen area, just below and around my belly button. I've been instructed to do these for a total of six days, one in the morning and one at night. 

Now, of course there has to be a story:

Saturday morning I gave myself the Gonal-F injection with relatively no problem. It took a little psyching myself up, but I finally did it. Saturday evening, I was all set to give myself the next injection but freaked out when I saw the size of the needle. I was supposed to have been given a 1/2 inch needle; instead, I was staring at a 1 & 1/2 inch needle! Now in the measure of, say, a mile, an inch doesn't matter much. But when you're talking about sticking something into your stomach, an inch matters a whole lot. After checking and re-checking our paperwork, we realized it was a mistake on the part of the pharmacy, but there was nothing to do at that point except use it. I only pushed it in 1/2 inch, but it was still slightly traumatizing. 

When I've used FSH medications in the past, I've had quite a bit of negative side effects. So far in this cycle, I'm good. I've got three and half more days of injections, then Friday I head in for my next instructions, which may be to continue more of these or start something different. 

All's Quiet

Thursday was our first baseline ultrasound in our IVF work-up, and thanks to the cycle of birth control, things looked as they should have: quiet, to use the nurse's term. Birth control was used to suppress any activity of my ovaries so that follicle production can be controlled by medication and treatments. The ultrasound and all of my labs looked good -- it was a go for the meds!

The appointment was cake compared to the previous appointment last week. I had been so busy explaining all the emotional turmoil Robby and I were going through that I forgot to complain about how awful the pelvic exam was! They scraped my uterus (on purpose!) causing it to freak out and spasm and cramp--which was pretty much what I was doing in response. I've had some terribly painful experiences throughout all of these labs and procedures, but nothing was as intense as that. Thankfully it didn't last too long, and I recovered quickly. I like to tell myself I'm simply building up my pain tolerance for a future experience.

I began my medications today and did my first injection for our IVF. I had to do these with the IUIs, but the IVF injections are more numerous and more frequent. Two a day for the next week, and that'll use up only half of the boxes in my refrigerator right now.

Next Friday, March 1st, is a critical appointment for us. We'll get a first look at how I'm responding to all of these medications, and if all goes well, within 1 to 3 days we'll get the go for the injection that triggers ovulation. At that point, my eggs will be surgically removed and fertilized. A couple of days after fertilization, our teeny tinies will be placed inside of me. In other words, we will have our IVF completed within two weeks!

All might be quiet on the ultrasound, but all is definitely not quiet around our home. We are excited!!!