Bring on the stims!

I had my mock transfer yesterday, and I'm good to go to start stims on Monday. My RE commented on by beautiful uterus (but I'm sure he says this to all the ladies). I really wasn't paying too much attention because I had to pee sooo bad. I had to come with a full bladder for the u/s, and because I had been admonished in the past for not drinking enough water far enough in advance, this time I drank more than neccessary farther in advance. So, naturally, he made me sit in the waiting room for about 20 minutes with an already too full bladder. I made it through the mock transfer, but I swear he's lucky I didn't pee on the vag cam. He made a comment to my dh after the mock transfer (while I was in the bathroom, finally peeing) that I had a very long uterus. Dh asked if this was good or bad, and he said it didn't really mean anything, but he'd never seen one that long. So I guess my ute is a bit of a freak show...

We also got our protocol for the rest of the cycle, and it goes something like this:

2/28 - Last day at 10 units of Lupron
3/1 - 3/10 Start Stims (225 units of Follistim, 2 units of Menopur, 5 units of Lupron)
3/11 - Possible trigger (Ovidrel)
3/11 - 3/13 - Possible ER dates
3/14 - 3/17* - Possible ET dates
*I'm really hoping that a transfer date around St. Patty's Day will bring me the luck of the Irish.

So far I haven't had too many issues with Lupron. I've had headaches the last couple days, but nothing a couple of advil can't fix. I'd say the most annoying s/e is the hot flashes; I woke up the other night drenched in sweat - it was pretty gross. From what I'd heard, I thought Lupron would be a lot worse, so I guess I can't really complain. Next up.... stims!

Meds, vitamins, herbs, and supplements, oh my!

Finally got all of my meds for IVF #1. The huge bags of needles are a little overwhelming, to say the least. So far, I've only sampled the Lupron; I really can't imagine getting through all these meds...but, I'm trying to follow orders, and take it one day at a time.

Other vitamins and herbs dh and I are taking include; prenatal (me), multi vit. and min.(both), Fertil Male (dh), Fertility Blend (me), Calm herbs (me - recommended by my acupuncturist), and baby aspirin.

Some dietary supplements include Pom juice, Superfood (w/ wheatgrass), Wheatgrass frozen juice, and Raspberry Leaf tea. Let me know if here's anything I'm missing!

***Recipe alert*** Dh made a wheatgrass smoothie... and it wasn't horrible, it was actually pretty good. What he said he used:

                        1 cup of Odwalla Superfood
                        2 wheatgrass frozen cubes
                        1 banana
                        1 orange (pulp and all)
                        1/3 cup blueberries
                        1/3 cup Pom juice
                        1 cup ice

Blend until smooth. It made 2 large smooties. Enjoy!

1st Lupron Injection

Piece of cake! The stress of actually getinng my meds was much worse than the actual first injection. I had been waiting for the call from the company sending the meds and never got one. I finally got a call from my RE's office saying that the Rx company had been trying to get a hold of me for the last few day. I call BS; I checked my phone and had no recent calls of voicemails from them. Then when I finally spoke to the guy, he swore up and down he had been trying to get a hold of me and left voicemails... they must have just disappeared I guess... It all ended up working out, but my dh had to stay home from work because someone had to sign for the meds. I had to rush home from work to do my 1st injection. My nurse said it wouldn't matter that my 1st injection was in the afternoon, as long as the rest of the injections are between 6 and 9am. So, I rushed home, had my dh jab we with a needle, and rushed off so I could make my 4pm hair appointment. I must say, my dh seemed to enjoy jabbing me a bit too much. When I told him it scared me that he had a huge smile on his face while jabbing me, he responded that he had always wanted to be a doctor.

Feels good to be active again!

I was a highschool X-country runner, and have been active in 5Ks, 10Ks, and even a few half and full marathons, so to not run or work-out is pretty foreign to me. But over the holidays I got so busy, then I had my lap; I had pretty much stopped working-out all together. One of my New Years resolutions is to run at least twice a week. So far, so good - I even ran a 10K on Super Bowl Sunday. My plan was to run the 5K, but my girlfriend I ran it with reminded me that the 5K started an hour earlier (7:30 = too early!), and that just sounded painful. We didn't do too bad for not training, finishing together at right around 1 hour.

Race Photo With my girlfriend and friend from high school (I'm on the right).

I know I'm going to have to scale back my running during my upcoming IVF cycle, but for now it's helping to keep me sane. Running has always been a way for me to clear my head. Jesse Owens said it best, "I always loved running...it was something you could do by yourself, and under your own power. You could go in any direction, fast or slow as you wanted, fighting the wind if you felt like it, seeking out new sights just on the strength of your feet and the courage of your lungs." I guess it's one of my escapes. 

So, today I went for a run with dh, and now all the sudden he thinks he's my trainer. I must say he knows how to motivate me to get me off my ass... by promising to take me to lunch afterwards. During the run he kept pushing the pace, and told me if I beat him he'd let me pick where we eat. Then he really started pushing it at the end, needless to say I didn't beat him. My new name for him is Jillian.

Things are about to get interesting...

On Tuesday I have my injection training, and on Thursday I go in for my 1st Lupron injection for IVF #1. I'm so happy my RE's nurse is doing the 1st injection, and that dh will be at the injection training. I know in a pinch, I'd be able to give myself injections, but I'm going to do everything in my power to get out of it. My fear of needles goes back to high school when I went in to donate blood and the nurse couln't find a vein; I was turned into a human pin cushion. In the end she wasn't even able to get a pint of blood, and I was sent home with bruises lining both arms. In the past couple years I've had more b/w than in my previous 34 years, so now I'm not as big of a wuss as I was before (I'm even voluntarily going to acupuncture!). I still can't look at the needle going into my arm, which I can see as being problamatic if I were left to give myself a shot. Guess I'm going to have to suck it up, as I know dh will not be around for every injection.

Sono HSG

I went into my Sono HSG appt today expecting very little pain. Most people I had talked to said it wasn't anything compared to the HSG. So I thought, "piece of cake, my HSG wasn't bad at all." Surprisingly, I felt more pain, It didn't last long, so it was definitely bearable, but I wasn't expecting it. I'd heard from a couple people that there was some discomfort, but I had a couple minutes of pretty bad cramping when he injected the saline solution (and that was after taking 2 advil).

The good news is that my RE said that everything looked great - no Polyps or fibroids. Then after he did the u/s,  he said thought I would need less meds than originnaly planned - yay!!! Finally some good news! So, my meds are on order and I go in next week for my first Lupron injection!

Acupuncture dreams

I survived my first acupuncture appointment yesterday. It actually was much better than I expected, and I feel great today. I only had one little scare... After the needles were in and she turned on the meditation cd, I ended up falling asleep for a bit. I don't really remember the dream I was having but it had to do with cats trying to scratch me (weird, I know).  Well as a result of my dream, I lifted my hand up and slammed it down, nearly jabbing one of the needles in my wrist. A lot of times right when I fall asleep this happens; I either jump and wake myself up or jolt a body part which wakes me up. So lesson learned; I don't think I will be falling asleep with needles in my body again.