We called the IVF nurses at UCRM (Utah Center for Reproductive Medicine) in December 2013 to get on the schedule for our first IVF cycle. We had hoped to get started as close to the beginning of the new year as possible. There are a whole team of doctors at UCRM and each week one is assigned to do the IVF procedures (egg retrievals and transfers). After discussing it and thinking about it for a few days Ryan and I decided that we wanted Dr. Moore to do the embryo transfer (the part where they put the embryo inside me). This meant our embryo transfer would be set for the week of February 24th 2014. They sent me a calendar as well as a schedule for medication doses. I would remain on birth control pills and then start medications for the cycle on January 26.
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| My Calendar for IVF cycle #1: it hung on the fridge all month to keep me on track! |
In January, Ryan surprised me with a trip to Disney World...one last vacation as a twosome (we have had a few "last" vacations before baby, but I think this one really was it!) My big box of drugs arrived in the mail two days before we left. I would start my first injection in Florida, so I ended up having to take one of my medications (Lupron) on vacation with us (as it turns out traveling with needles in your carry-on is no big deal...I did not even have to open my bag or show anyone my prescription).
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| All the hormones and medications for egg retrieval and embryo transfer |
The first day was the hardest of all the shots. I had watched all the instructional videos and knew exactly what to do, but still decided to follow along with the video for the first shot, just to be sure. Needles have never really bothered me much and I've never been particularly squeamish about getting shots, but giving myself a shot totally FREAKED ME OUT. I sat there pinching the skin on my stomach, syringe loaded and needle posed ready to go, for about five minutes. It reminded me of being a child on the diving board at swimming lessons: standing there looking down at the water and counting to three over and over in my head but being too scared to take the plunge. I stared at that needle saying "one, two, three...go." Then nothing. So I'd start over. After I finally did it, couldn't believe it had taken me so long; the needle was so small and sharp that it slid right into the skin, just like butter. So easy! Although it did take a few days to get used to it enough that I could get it done and over with in seconds.
For the first couple weeks, Lupron was the only medication I was on. I took my last birth control pill on Saturday, February 1 then had what I hoped would be my last period in at least 9 months. On Monday, February 10, I reduced my Lupron dose and I started the Follicle Stimulating Hormones (basically hormones to make my ovaries overproduce). Lupron made me all too comfortable with the shots. I had some slight skin irritation at the injection site for about 30 minutes after for the first few days, but then I guess my body got used to it and I had no side effects. The next two injections were not so kind. There were two: Gonal-F and Repronex. The Gonal-F was a pen type injector, so preparing was different: I twisted a needle on, turned a dial to my dose, removed the needle cap, stuck the needle into my tummy skin and pushed the button until it stopped clicking (there was some math involved in this one too: I had 4 pens with different amounts of medication in each to last for the 8-11 days I would take it, so I had to plan daily doses just right). The medication went in just fine, but left some bruising after a day or so. The Repronex was awful! I had to mix fluid from one vial into a second vial that contained a powder, then change the needle on the syringe and administer the shot. This shot HURT! The medication stung going in and after left a big red welt that turned to a bruise after about 3 days. I tried icing the area first and mixing the liquid and powder before I did anything else so it had time to sit and really dissolve for sure...nothing really worked (though the ice did help some). I had so many tender areas on my stomach that I started running out of places to give myself shots without having overlapping welts and bruises. Altogether I gave myself 47 shots in my stomach in just over 3 weeks!
In the meantime, Ryan had started taking Doxycycline, an antibiotic to make sure his semen would be free of any kind of infection or bacteria when he did his duty on egg retrieval day. This was the ONLY medication he had to take (lucky man!) The hardest part for him was remembering to take it twice a day. Which brings me to my next point: all these injections had to be given at the same time every day. This meant I had to plan things around my injection time (10:00 am). It starts to feel like it controls your life a little! I have never had to rely on any medication for anything before, so it was weird to have to stop what I was doing when the alarm on my phone went off and go take my shots. With three different ones to prepare and administer (and all that practice I was getting doing it every day), it took about 15 minutes. Luckily my mornings are pretty open so it wasn't too disruptive, but there were a few times where it was a little inconvenient (still, totally worth it if I get a baby out of this in the end!)
The closer I got to egg retrieval, the worse the side effects got. Not only was my stomach sore and bruised on the surface, but I was super bloated-so bad that most of my jeans were too tight to button up, so I spent the week before and week after egg retrieval in yoga pants or pajama bottoms. Those who know me, know I don't typically leave the house without being dressed, complete with jewelry and my hair and makeup done, so pajamas are not usually daily wear. I was so bloated and my stomach was so tender that the thought of wearing anything around my waist made me want to cry. I wanted to cry sometimes anyway...don't know if that was a side effect or just the stress of it-the process of IVF felt like it had taken over my life! My ovaries were so full (and enlarged) by the end of the first week of stimulants that when my bladder was full it hurt. My boobs were also very tender and my nipples hurt, so I spent about a week wearing my sports bra (yes, I only own one) every day, and even sometimes at night to keep my boobs from moving.
I might have looked like I just came from the gym, but I was not allowed to exercise or do anything more than "brisk walking." I also could not take anything but Tylenol for pain and was to avoid all alcohol, tobacco and caffeine (besides the pain medication part it was easy since I had quit smoking and drinking caffeine a couple years before and did not drink alcohol much to begin with). Tylenol was not very effective for the bloating pain I was feeling. I spent a lot of time just laying around the house...it felt best when my stomach had room to stretch and I didn't move too much. <Side note: the frozen embryo transfer cycle I am in the midst of now is a PIECE OF CAKE compared to the egg retrieval process of a fresh transfer! Lupron and estrogen (pills) are all I have to take in preparation...so I feel pretty normal right now!>
The next step would be the screening ultrasound to see how many eggs I had and how mature they were, then would come the egg retrieval. AND more injections...with bigger needles and in places I couldn't reach, which meant Ryan got to give them!
For the first couple weeks, Lupron was the only medication I was on. I took my last birth control pill on Saturday, February 1 then had what I hoped would be my last period in at least 9 months. On Monday, February 10, I reduced my Lupron dose and I started the Follicle Stimulating Hormones (basically hormones to make my ovaries overproduce). Lupron made me all too comfortable with the shots. I had some slight skin irritation at the injection site for about 30 minutes after for the first few days, but then I guess my body got used to it and I had no side effects. The next two injections were not so kind. There were two: Gonal-F and Repronex. The Gonal-F was a pen type injector, so preparing was different: I twisted a needle on, turned a dial to my dose, removed the needle cap, stuck the needle into my tummy skin and pushed the button until it stopped clicking (there was some math involved in this one too: I had 4 pens with different amounts of medication in each to last for the 8-11 days I would take it, so I had to plan daily doses just right). The medication went in just fine, but left some bruising after a day or so. The Repronex was awful! I had to mix fluid from one vial into a second vial that contained a powder, then change the needle on the syringe and administer the shot. This shot HURT! The medication stung going in and after left a big red welt that turned to a bruise after about 3 days. I tried icing the area first and mixing the liquid and powder before I did anything else so it had time to sit and really dissolve for sure...nothing really worked (though the ice did help some). I had so many tender areas on my stomach that I started running out of places to give myself shots without having overlapping welts and bruises. Altogether I gave myself 47 shots in my stomach in just over 3 weeks!
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| My stomach on day 8 of FSH injections |
In the meantime, Ryan had started taking Doxycycline, an antibiotic to make sure his semen would be free of any kind of infection or bacteria when he did his duty on egg retrieval day. This was the ONLY medication he had to take (lucky man!) The hardest part for him was remembering to take it twice a day. Which brings me to my next point: all these injections had to be given at the same time every day. This meant I had to plan things around my injection time (10:00 am). It starts to feel like it controls your life a little! I have never had to rely on any medication for anything before, so it was weird to have to stop what I was doing when the alarm on my phone went off and go take my shots. With three different ones to prepare and administer (and all that practice I was getting doing it every day), it took about 15 minutes. Luckily my mornings are pretty open so it wasn't too disruptive, but there were a few times where it was a little inconvenient (still, totally worth it if I get a baby out of this in the end!)
The closer I got to egg retrieval, the worse the side effects got. Not only was my stomach sore and bruised on the surface, but I was super bloated-so bad that most of my jeans were too tight to button up, so I spent the week before and week after egg retrieval in yoga pants or pajama bottoms. Those who know me, know I don't typically leave the house without being dressed, complete with jewelry and my hair and makeup done, so pajamas are not usually daily wear. I was so bloated and my stomach was so tender that the thought of wearing anything around my waist made me want to cry. I wanted to cry sometimes anyway...don't know if that was a side effect or just the stress of it-the process of IVF felt like it had taken over my life! My ovaries were so full (and enlarged) by the end of the first week of stimulants that when my bladder was full it hurt. My boobs were also very tender and my nipples hurt, so I spent about a week wearing my sports bra (yes, I only own one) every day, and even sometimes at night to keep my boobs from moving.
I might have looked like I just came from the gym, but I was not allowed to exercise or do anything more than "brisk walking." I also could not take anything but Tylenol for pain and was to avoid all alcohol, tobacco and caffeine (besides the pain medication part it was easy since I had quit smoking and drinking caffeine a couple years before and did not drink alcohol much to begin with). Tylenol was not very effective for the bloating pain I was feeling. I spent a lot of time just laying around the house...it felt best when my stomach had room to stretch and I didn't move too much. <Side note: the frozen embryo transfer cycle I am in the midst of now is a PIECE OF CAKE compared to the egg retrieval process of a fresh transfer! Lupron and estrogen (pills) are all I have to take in preparation...so I feel pretty normal right now!>
The next step would be the screening ultrasound to see how many eggs I had and how mature they were, then would come the egg retrieval. AND more injections...with bigger needles and in places I couldn't reach, which meant Ryan got to give them!
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