Stimming Day 8 + More Pics For You

As of right now, I've been stimming for exactly 7 1/2 days. Once my needle session is done this evening, I will have stimmed for 8 days. Wow. It's been quite a ride so far. I was thinking yesterday, while reading some other ladies' blogs where they're just starting their cycles, how much I wish I could go back to that point but knowing what I know now. I never heard of fluid in the uterine cavity during IVF. I never thought of ordering more Follistim and Repronex in case my dosages were doubled. And strangely, this whole IVF excitement has reminded me of the build-up to my wedding day and the honeymoon. This is really weird, but I feel like we're doing that now, but in reverse. We're in the "honeymoon" of the IVF cycle and then the "wedding" is next week when we do the transfer. Is that strange? It's something we've looked forward to and planned for so long and it's finally here!  But we spent our honeymoon in Jamaica and I wish that's where we were during all of this. The drive back and forth from home and St. Louis is starting to get to us a little.

But, if you think of this as an IVF Rollercoaster, then here's a good one for you: you know how when you go on an amusement park ride and they take your picture when you're going over the big drop and when you're done with the ride, you can buy that picture of you looking like a fool? Well we're getting that exact same picture. When going through Hannibal on Tuesday night, the roads had been pretty slick but we'd had a nice section for a mile or two so DH was going about 55 mph in a 55 mph zone. Suddenly the speed limit dropped down to 45 so he took his foot off the gas to slow down and by the time he'd done that it was then 35 mph with a yellow light up ahead. On normal roads you can press the brake and slow down. Well we hit a sheet of ice covering the roadway and had to just let it slide to avoid losing control.   


Through a red light intersection.    


With a police camera.


Smile!!!!


When it flashed (which blinded us by the way so how safe is that?!), DH was itching his nipple (he told me this afterward) and I was making a weird face (I'm sure) and my hands were up in the air like, "what were we supposed to do, yo????"  The yellow light was like 2 seconds long and there was no way we could have stopped with that icy road. So we'll try to fight it when it shows up in the mail.

We get to a gas station up the road and go in and after going to the bathroom, I asked a worker there (and remember I was hopped up on fertility drugs and beyond tired) about "the flashy thing in Hannibal".  She goes, "It's called a camera." in a really bitchy tone. Oh whatever. I laughed and asked if it worked. She said she didn't know (didn't seem to care either) so I quit worrying about it and DH and I laughed. I said we should frame it when we get it with a cool roller coaster frame.

Good times.


But let me back up a little. The evening started with us driving about 40 minutes and we stopped at a McDonalds so I could go do my 7:00 pm shoot-up and get some dinner (I know it's not super-healthy, don't judge....) and DH went and got gas and a giant diet Mountain Dew (I can't get him to stop drinking that crap so whatever).



Here is how it went at McDonalds which thankfully had a single bathroom for me to work with:

Step One - after walking into McDs with a big cooler,
go into the bathroom and take an obnoxious picture.

Step Two - wipe off entire counter space with alcohol wipes
because you know it can't be sanitary there, then take
another obnoxious picture of yourself while stalling
because you know your belly can't take much more of this shit.



Step Three - Get out your meds and begin getting the needles ready, mix
your meds and prepare for some pain and bleeding; then take another
picture of all your stuff on the McDonalds bathroom counter because
honestly, when will this really happen again?  Also tell the knocker at the
door that the room is "Occupado!" and then giggle to yourself.

Step Four - Inject yourself with the contraband and then
remember that you wanted to show the internetz your med
cooler from the inside because you keep your stash cold
with two frozen water bottles in a ziplock bag and you
like to think of yourself as a little miss MacGuyver.

Step Five - Finally, take a picture of your swollen, bruised and
bleeding belly because you are both a masochist and a narcissist.

Are you thorougly grossed out yet? Sorry for the TMI.

For your viewing pleasure, monitoring appointment pictures:



Kitty socks!!!!

I feel like my ankles look swollen but they're not.

It was a weird angle with the cell phone camera.

DH said those were lucky socks so I should wear them to every appointment now. But I bought fun socks for each one including amazing socks for the retrieval and then another pair especially for the transfer! I dunno. I think I'll bring them with me now. You shouldn't be surprised that two former high school and college athletes are being superstitious...

Here's us waiting...DH looks tired.

It's a good picture though as we don't typically photograph well.

Okay I don't think I photograph well.

You know that book, "If You Give A Mouse A Cookie"?

How about this - If You Give An Infertile A Camera.....

...She Will Take Pictures Of Ultrasound Wands....or something like that.

I'm sure the publisher and editor of that book make some changes...

Also DH couldn't believe I took a picture of this. So I went even further:

My clothes. On the floor. With my undies tucked into the shorts inside my

jammie pants. I never let my panties out for people to see as they are my

discreet lady delicates. Well....they're Hanes comfort fit granny panties or whatever

that I boughtat Walmart like six years ago. But still.  I like to keep the mystery alive....

So that's it for pictures. We had fun talking to a different nurse who went over everything with us as we go forward. She clarified for DH that he can "relieve himself" tonight and tomorrow and then he must abstain until the retrieval. We all had a laugh at the "relieve himself" comment. And then he said he's afraid he'll be falling asleep while relieving himself at Monday's retrieval because it'll likely be 4am. Then the nurse laughed and said she got a visual of a guy doing that while falling asleep - but that DH just needs to get "it" in the cup. She was funny.

Otherwise, I've been completely doubled on meds now as I used to be on 200 IU Follistim a day and now I'm at 400 IU a day and while I was on 75 IU Repronex per day, now I'm at 150. I should have enough Repronex to last me but I ordered an extra box just in case. I have to go have my blood drawn (Estradiol and Progesterone) at noon because I sat and waited so long this morning before work at the lab and they never called my name - so instead of the both of us being super-late for work, I decided to go back at lunch to get it done. Bummer but the results should be in by 4pm today. Hopefully.

Long post, sorry, but I wanted to get those pictures uploaded. Not just for you lovely and so supportive ladies, but for myself to look back at someday. I'm glad I have this blog to do that because I was always terrible with diaries and cameras. Oh, and for symptoms, my belly hurts, inside and out. I'm super-bloated and the Doxycycline is making me pretty nauseous when I don't eat food with it. So lesson learned. Otherwise, no real headaches or anything like that. I wish Follistim was a sleep-aid on a regular basis because that stuff has given me the best sleep for the past week!

In closing...DH, his parents and I are going to STL tomorrow morning for the final monitoring appointment and then we'll be spending some fun time doing the tourist stuff (beer tour, seeing the Arch, and shopping!) until Sunday. His parents are fun to travel with and they've been the only real IRL people being so supportive of us through all of this and they will help with the driving. So yay! We'll be down there from Friday to Monday and we're planning on being home around Monday evening. The retrieval will be around 4:30 am so I'll go back to the hotel afterwards and rest till about noon and barring any severe pain or whatever, we'll drive back that day. I should be fine - I have some Vicodin left over from my last laparoscopy. Strangely though, I didn't have any Valium prescribed for the ER. I'm told I'll be given Propofol and Versed. Well that knocked me out at all my other procedures so I should be asleep. Hopefully......