IVF - so far

I feel like I've been waiting for this IVF cycle for a lifetime. We made the decision to get a second opinion way back before Christmas, but weren't able to get in and see a new specialist until the beginning of February. Then there were more tests for us both, before we got the go ahead to start in March.

I started taking birth control pills in mid-March, something that I found completely bizarre. Birth control while trying to conceive? So weird.

While we were in Thailand last week, we added in a new phase - sniffing Synarel twice daily at exact 12 hour intervals. Synarel is an evil, evil nasal spray. It essentially shuts your system down, ensuring that you don't ovulate at all and that your reproductive system is in sleep mode. From what I've been reading, it's like experiencing early menopause - except that combined with the end of the birth control pills, it also resulted in a period. (Hopefully the last one for a while, if we're lucky?)

Yesterday, I had my first injection for the stimulation part of the IVF cycle. The first thing I had to, which was more painful than the actual injection, was paying off my cycle in full.

It's the most I've ever put on my credit card, that's for sure.

After that, I met with my nurse - she was such a sweetie. As she was preparing everything for me, we talked house stuff and baby stuff, and then she showed me how to put all of the injectible stuff together. I was feeling fine until it came to the actual injection part. She showed me how to put the pen together, how to put the needle points on. Then, I sat there, gripping my belly roll in one hand & the needle pen in the other - and I froze.

The nurse was lovely. She walked me through it. She saw that I was struggling, and she was so patient with me. I asked her if I could just literally JAB it in and be done with it - she told me to relax, I'm not a pincushion! ;) After a few minutes, I finally got the courage to do it - and it was fine. Not bad at all, actually. I self injected this morning at home, and it was nowhere near as scary. I think I'm going to be just fine.

I'm currently still taking Synarel twice a day - this will continue until the egg retrieval in a few weeks, all going well. So, every 7am and 7pm, I snort the nasty spray & try not to gag. I could choose when I wanted to take my injections, but since they must stay in the fridge, I decided to continue doing those at 7am as well, since I'm always home at that time in the morning. In the meantime, here's my wee drug stash for the next few weeks.

I will be having bloodwork taken next week, and then have my big follical scan ultrasound booked for Monday 23rd (the day I go back to work) - my nurse said if all goes well, I should be looking at egg pickup between 26th-27th April. Two weeks away! Crazy eh?

So... that's what's happening! I'm sniffing and jabbing and praying.