I'll admit, I was SO naive when I first went into the In-vitro (IVF) Dr last summer. I truly thought there would be a couple of appointments and then the embryo transfer would take place and we would know within a couple of days if we were pregnant. Not so, my friends. There is a WHOLE world of appointments, medicines, and charting of calendars that I would soon venture in to. So, here are all the dirty details for your reading pleasure :)
- Start Birth Control (on this for at least 2 weeks) to help control when the cycle will happen.
- At least 2 weeks into the Birth Control (up to 4 weeks if needed) start the Lupron injections (Needles. I. Inject. Into. Myself. Gulp!)
- Go off Birth Control and continue Lupron shots (this is when the dreaded monthly visitor comes around :)
- At this time, you start 3 shots a day of Lupron, Repronex, and Follistim (side note. The Repronex is PAINFUL stuff) In this time, I discovered I bruise EASILY. I really never knew this about myself, so I was surprised to see my body spotted with purple bruises.
- After a week and a half of this funness, you go into the dr every morning for ultra sounds and blood draws. You do this until they say your eggs are 'ready' for a trigger shot of HCG they give you. This has to be timed perfectly with your 'egg retrieval' at EXACTLY 36 hours before your procedure. The needle is HUGE but I had an amazing friend that did a great job and I didn't even cry :) (from the size of the needle, I really had worked myself up into a panic and thought I would pass out :)
- You then stop the previous 3 medicines and start taking an antibiotic the night before the 'egg retrieval'. You go in the next morning for the 'egg retrieval' and are put under. Coming out of the procedure just in time to take more medicine and then start Progesterone shots (that you continue until a pregnancy test. If pregnant, keep doing for 6 MORE weeks... Again, Gulp!) These are the same size needle as the GINORMOUS HCG shot, so I'm a little nervous about these...
- 5 days later you then go into the dr's office and FINALLY have the 2 best embryos transferred. Yeah!!!!
- About 12 days after the embryo transfer, you find out if there will be a 'little one' on the way in 9 months :)
Whew! Quite a few steps, right? I appreciated that they gave all those steps only one at a time, so you didn't get confused and mix anything up. This whole experience has been super educational with a steep learning curve. SO worth it though if the percentages work in our favor and we get to finally start our family.
12 comments:
That sounds like a super intense process! I'm glad that you guys are able to do this and I hope it all goes well for you. You guys are in my prayers. I miss ya!
I'm sooooo sorry you have to continue with shots!!!! SOOOOO sorry! Don't hate me, but I don't. I get a progesterone cream. Apparenlty it's really expensive but they give it to you unless you request otherwise. sooo sorry! But still sending good warm helpful? good karma wishes your way!
Yeah, It is a little crazy. At first I was VERY afraid of needles, the whole shots and blood work thing had me really nervous. Now I don't even blink! You will get use to it. We did a frozen cycle and so I had to do Progesterone shots for a few weeks! My bum was SO bruised!! It is so worth it, nothing to be afraid of!
Ugh... Line upon line with the steps of the procedures! I am keeping everything crossed and hoping that it works! Love you!
I am on your team, rooting for you. And I know you can do it. After being with Kristi for a week or so, and all she has gone through to get little Whitlee here, I see that we wll go through great lengths to get these precious souls here, don't we.
Yuck! Not a fan of shots, myself, but I'm so grateful for the potential outcomes they bring! Good luck!
The shots were HUGE!!!! But I am so glad that I did get to suck it up and give you one myself. Without Summer even there to supervise! So proud of you, Adam (and myself for giving you the shot! You will be awesome parents of a set of twins or triplets! One more week!!!!! YEAH!
Shari, you are amazing! I cannot believe what you and Lora have gone through:)You are in my prayers and I hope and pray all of this craziness and un-fun-ness gets you a CUTE lil babe :)love ya
The thought of having twins is kind of scary because they are soooo much work in the first year. But going through all of that would make me very grateful for 2 little people. Also when they get past a year they will have so much fun playing with each other, it will make things easier. Good luck Shari!!!
I love you! I'm so impressed you've been injecting yourself for months. wow.
I love you! I'm so impressed you've been injecting yourself for months. wow.
Oh sweet Shari! You will be in my prayers!! I never knew that process was so involved. You are a trooper! :)
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