Education Day...After

I shot myself! Er...I gave myself a shot! I felt like a kid that just hit their first ball in a t-ball game, "I did it Mommy! I did it!" Yes, giving yourself a shot may not be a big deal to so many people, especially those of you who are use to sticking yourselves daily, but for me, this was a HUGE accomplishment. I would get sick just thinking about it. I won't go into detail about why because I don't want my BFF passing out. Let's just say I couldn't stand the thought of it. I've never been a fan of needles. I mean, really, who is? Not that I'm in love with them now, but I confronted my fear, gave it a good karate chop, and kicked it's boot-ae! Take that fear. Take that needles.

Now...let's back up. First of all, I want to remember everything about every detail. It was a stormy day and I FREAK OUT when I think we're going to get caught in a tornado. All day I was thinking, "okay, if it's close when we're finished we could go get something to eat so we're not on the road". Or "okay, maybe I can make it back home before it hits". Of course, this made Bret's day that much more enjoyable. He loves me...really he does. Despite my fears (there's that nasty word again), we made it there and even home without getting caught in anything more than really strong winds.

Now get ready for lots of details. I really hope I don't bore you. I promise not every post will be detailed and boring!

We arrived to the clinic armed with my fancy IVF binder (more on that later) and our box of meds. You know, they didn't seem to think I was TOO crazy for all of my silly post-it notes.





We were greeted by the IVF Nurse Coordinator. She was so friendly and sweet. Which, of course, helped TONS. She gave us a tour of the facilities. She pointed to where I would be getting ready for the retrieval and where it would actually take place. Next was the area for the transfer (we get to choose from a ceiling with clouds or a ceiling with clouds and pretty pink flowers...flowers please). Next we sat down and she answered all of our questions. I didn't realize we had so many until we got started! Here are a few questions we asked:

• Bret wanted to know how bad the hormones were going to be (giggle). She actually said that it's usually no worse than PMS. Mine isn't bad, so we can only hope :) Oh wait...I usually cry the day before my cycle starts...every month. Uh...oh!
• I wanted to know their opinion on acupuncture and IVF. She said it wasn't her expertise, but I could ask the RN. She said she was a fan of it.
• I wanted to know if the 3 "rest at home" days really meant stay at home. She said to just take it easy.
• What were all of our options for the other healthy embryos (if we're lucky enough to have lots) that aren't implanted. We knew about freezing. She said we could also donate them for adoption or give them for research.
• Then lots of questions about the meds...as I'll talk about in a second.

Once we went through our initial questions she started going through our calendar and the meds. First is the Follistim that's administered by the Follistim Pen . This is the big one. This is the expensive one. This is the refrigerated one. This is the little high maintenance princess of the meds. She showed us how to take the pen apart, put in the medicine cartridge, and change the needle. Then we took a fake belly and rubbed it with alcohol, pinched it, and pretended to give it a shot. I swear I thought I would start shaking. I will be giving this to myself the same time, every day, for 10 days. Next was the Ganirelix Acetate. The RN will let me know when I should start giving myself this. I have 5 just in case. It's to basically stop myself from ovulating too soon. Can you imagine!?! Going through all of this and losing all of those eggs!?! Then when all of our little follicles/eggs are ready, the RN will let us know to stop injecting the Follistim and Ganirelix. I will bring in my HCG shot to my last visit (oh did I mention this whole time I will be coming in often to have blood work and ultrasounds to monitor my ovaries). They will prepare the HCG. It will be a nice shot right in the toosh...that Bret will have to administer...NICE. Within 30 hrs of the HCG shot, we will do the Egg Retrieval. Yay! On the day of the Retrieval, we will know exactly how many eggs I had and how many are mature. She will then fertilize the eggs that evening and call me the next day with an update of how many were fertilized and how they were progressing. Three days after the Retrieval, we come back in for the TRANSFER! We have already decided that if we're lucky enough to have two healthy embryos, that's how many we will have transferred. Then I rest at home for 3 days. We'll have to wait 2 very long weeks to find out if everything worked. We come in for a urine and blood pregnancy test. We will be able to find out that day! Yay!

After going through all the details of the meds and the calendar, she started preparing a syringe. I was so confused because I thought we had already gone through everything. Oh no...apparently that was for ME to test everything out and show I had been a good student. Um...what!?! Now!?! Here!?! In front of everyone (aka her and Bret)!?! I was so nervous that I opened up the alcohol swab and didn't even use it. Great...I'm gonna give myself an infection on my first shot...of saline! lol. After that, I put it to my skin and just pushed through. I took a deep breath and said once (not a million times like I usually do for things I'm nervous about) "Just do it". I put my big girl panties on right there and just did it. I was so proud. My eyes got really wide. I said "I did it. That wasn't bad at all!". I swear, I truly felt like Bailey or Jake talking to Andrea saying "I did it Mommy. I did it!"

And so our Princess of the meds (Follistim) doesn't feel left out, here she is in all her glory in our refrigerator. She was keeping cool. However, we were told since it's so close, we don't have to worry about keeping it cold. In fact, I'll want to get it room temperature before injecting it. She said it hurts less that way. I will fo sho be doing that!



Next....my baseline blood work and Ultrasound this Friday. Oh...and pay...and STD tests (required). Fun fun fun.