Cycle begins - let's go!
May 6th was CD2 (day 2 of my period) I had my first appointment for morning monitoring to see how many choc chips (follicles) I have. From what I heard during my ultrasound, I had about 15 follicles that were visible and all looked normal size for early on in the cycle.
I waited all day and FINALLY at 3:30pm I got the email to start my injections that evening:
Please pick the time for injections from 5 pm to mid-night.; please be consistent and inject meds same time every day in the evening.
Follistim – your dose is 225 IU SQ daily in the evening. Demo Video: http://www.freedommedteach.com/eng/videos.html?play=follistim
Menopur – 75 IU daily in the evening. Demo Video: http://www.freedommedteach.com/eng/videos.html?play=menopur_draw_up_qcap%2Cmenopur_sq
I chose 8:30pm as my injection time. I got everything ready to go about 30 minutes early.
I watched the videos multiple times but let me say this..... the fear of messing it up and wasting medications.. terrifying! Mixing and measuring the right amounts seems so daunting.
When the time came, I sat with the instructional video playing in the background, I chose the easier of the 2 first, the follistim. The reason this one is so easy is because it comes in a handy pen, where you simply just twist the dial to your required dose, you add the needle and it is ready to go. I had iced the area first as advised, to numb the area slightly. I stood up and shocked myself at how quickly I just stabbed my belly, I didn't even hesitate! It was so easy!!
The second injection, Menopour, is the one I was most nervous about. This one I had to actually mix 2 viles together and draw the mix into a needle. I managed to do it without messing it up, PHEW! As I started injecting it, I could feel the burn. not from the needle, but from the medication actually going in. It shocked me, because after the first needle I didn't feel a thing. #menoupur however, a whole different matter. I had heard about this, but didn't really think anything of it. But honestly, it was over in seconds and my first night of many was all done!
After 3 nights of injections, on day 4 (9th May) I went the clinic for another ultrasound and blood to check on how the follicles are growing. They were coming along nicely!
I was told to keep the same 2 needles that night, but the next day I was to introduce a third injection, ganirelix. This injection is to prevent premature ovulation. So night 5, it was now 3 needles! Luckily this one is a preloaded so all I had to do was open and stab lol.
By this stage, the needles were so easy, I just prepped and injected all in under 5 minutes.
Becoming a regular at the clinic
By day 6, I was at the clinic every single day for morning monitoring. That meant blood tests and internal ultrasounds every day. They have to check the progress of the follicles and make sure they are not growing too fast, checking that there is not 1 or 2 lead follicles taking over and to ensure you are not ovulating.
Even though I was switching arms each day, I still started looking like a junkie. My arm was bruised, my belly was bruised. It didn't really hurt, but it definitely made an impact!
As the days went on, so did the #bloating! My tummy became so enlarged and because you can't workout or do any type of exercise apart from walking, it did take a bit of a toll on my body. Emotionally I was fine, but physically I was really feeling it. Especially towards the last couple days, I started #cramping. The reason for this is because in a normal cycle, your body is only growing 1 dominant follicle, but with IVF, they are trying to produce as many mature follicles as possible. the more follicles, the more eggs.
By day 9 blood test and ultrasound, I was instructed to stop the 3 injections. Instead that night to replace the injections with my trigger shot (hCG) which is used to help facilitate a process called meiosis. In meiosis, eggs go through an important division where its chromosomes go from 46 to 23, priming them for fertilization. Also adding one shot of Lupron. This helps to control premature ovulation and helps the doctor time everything. I had to go to the clinic the next morning just for a blood test to make sure I was surging and ready for retrieval.
Day 10 was just a quick blood draw to ensure that I wasn't ovulating. Everything looked right on point and an appointment was made for the 16th May 2022 for the #retrival. Stay tuned on the results!
I wanted to share my time lapse of all my injections! As you can see, my first time I was watching the video and the concentration on my face says it all haha.