IVF- the present

I started birth control pills on Dec. 22nd. I am on the antagonist protocol for IVF, which means less injections and shorter IVF cycle. I am excited to be here, but still very scared. What if this does not work? It has to work. My insurance will only cover 3 rounds of an IVF cycle.

The meds arrived at my house on January 5th. The price tag for the meds $3,041.15. Thank God I now have insurance for all of them now. They cost me $200.15. What a relief, this is a good start. Here is a list of all the meds I received:

-2 900iu Gonal F pens
-4 vials of menopur (I had to mix this one myself)
-4 250mg Ganirelix shots
-1 Ovidrel shot
-63 endometrin suppositories
-1 valium (I'm looking forward to taking this)

This is what $3,041.15 of meds looks like:

The meds also came with a new sharps container, alcohol swaps and cotton pads.

I started Gonal-f on Friday, January 9th. The first injection was hard. I haven't given myself a shot in months I was scared. It was also a higher does than I was used to. I did it, I gave myself the shot and it's done.

I had a stim check on the 13th and this is again where I meet the "dildo cam". I was looking good and was producing a lot of nice follicles. I received my new list of dosages and had one more night of just gonal-f.

Wednesday night I added Menopur and Ganirelix. I thought I would start with the mixing the menopur and end with gonal-f.

I mixed the menopur. The shot was ready, I iced my belly and took a long time to actually do the shot. It burned and it seemed like the shot took forever. I didn't want to push the meds too fast because that makes it worse. Yes, that was done... 2 more to go.

This is what it takes to make the menopur shot. You can also see my old lady pill case in the picture.

I squeezed in my Gonal f shot, that was my safety shot. I was a pro at that one. That caused me no issues.

Next up Ganirelix.... all I can say about this one is OUCH!!!!!!! The needle seems dull and the first jabbed it bounced off my belly? WTF? Why is the shot like this? Can't it be better? I finally got the shot in my belly and pushed the meds. I did it, 3 shots in one night. Go me! The ganirelix site still hurt after the injections. It was red, bumpy, stung and itched. What an evil drug, but it keeps me from ovulating on my own.

I had another stimm check Friday. I was still doing great, my follicles we growing and I was given the rest of my instructions. I had to do 2 more nights of all 3 shots.

I did my last stimming shots last night, THANK GOD. That part is over!

Tonight is my Trigger shot, Ovidrel. I am scheduled to inject at 8:30pm on the dot. It's very important I take this at that time, because my egg retrieval is set for 8:00 am Tuesday morning. Which is a great day, Bush will be out of office and we will have a new President!

I am freaking out about the ER (egg retrieval). I need this to go well, I need good eggs.

Aaron will do his business while I am in ER. He gets the fun part, lucky him.

We will have the Embryo Transfer (ET) on Friday or Sunday. The transfer day depends on how many embryos we have and how they are developing and splitting.

Here is what happens if they are transferred:

3-DAY TRANSFER:
1dpt ..embryo is growing and developing
2dpt... Embryo is now a blastocyst
3dpt....Blastocyst hatches out of shell on this day
4dpt.. Blastocyst attaches to a site on the uterine lining
5dpt.. Implantation begins,as the blastocyst begins to bury in the lining
6dpt.. Implantation process continues and morula buries deeper in the lining
7dpt.. Morula is completely inmplanted in the lining and has placenta cells & fetal cells
8dpt...Placenta cells begin to secret HCG in the blood
9dpt...More HCG is produced as fetus develops
10dpt...More HCG is produced as fetus develops
11dpt...HCG levels are now high enough to be immediately detected on HPT

5-DAY TRANSFER:
-1dpt ..embryo is growing and developing
0dpt... Embryo is now a blastocyst
1dpt....Blastocyst hatches out of shell on this day
2dpt.. Blastocyst attaches to a site on the uterine lining
3dpt.. Implantation begins,as the blastocyst begins to bury in the lining
4dpt.. Implantation process continues and morula buries deeper in the lining
5dpt.. Morula is completely inmplanted in the lining and has placenta cells & fetal cells
6dpt...Placenta cells begin to secret HCG in the blood
7dpt...More HCG is produced as fetus develops
8dpt...More HCG is produced as fetus develops9dpt...HCG levels are now high enough to be immediately detected on HPT

Now we are all caught up.