Side effects from hormones

So far I haven't had too many side effects, but I do want to keep track of them for any future possible IVFs or other fertility treatments.

BCP: I've had the worst s/e on bcp. I was on Apri for 21 days for IVF, and bled pretty much the entire time (not just break though, actual flow). My RE told me to double up for a couple days, but I still bled. I also had slight nausea in the morning and headaches. Overall Apri just made me feel crappy (moody and bitchy).

Lupron: I had headaches for a couple days while I was on 10 ius, since I reduced to 5 ius I haven't had any headaches. The most annoying s/e has been the hot flashes; now I know what it will be like to go through menopause. I've woken up a few times in the middle of the night dripping in sweat (pretty gross).

Stims (Follistim and Menopur): I've only been on stims for two days, so so far I've only had the sting of injections. Follistim stings a little at the injection site for a few minutes after injecting. Menopur stings while injecting because it's thicker, and needs to be injected slower.

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!

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.

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.