This is an anonymous post series following one of our blogger’s ivf journey in real time. You can read parts 1 and 2 here.
We have officially started our first IVF cycle! Last Tuesday (March 22nd), we left the house at 5:30am for the 2 hour drive to our clinic for our consent appointment with the doctor and IVF class with the nurse. During the consent appointment we talked with the reproductive endocrinologist about the risks of various aspects of the procedures, their methodology of choosing 1 or 2 embryos to transfer, and lots of other details of the process. We also had to sign forms deciding what will happen to any unused embryos in the case either of us dies, or if we get divorced, etc. It’s something we hadn’t thought about before!
Then we met with the nurse to go over all the injections and medications I would be taking, how to mix them, what time to take them, why I’m taking them and a calendar with all the medications and dosages on them. I’m so grateful we had this class because I definitely wanted to be sure I do it all right! I didn’t know ahead of time that I would need to mix some medications myself, and I’m glad I knew the specifics ahead of time. She even had sample bottles and syringes for us to practice on, which was helpful.
The following day my medications arrived in the mail! Most of the fertility drugs that are used for IVF can only be ordered from specialty pharmacies, and our insurance only covers medication from one specific pharmacy, so the medications had to be ordered through them and shipped to our house. A couple of the drugs also have to be stored in the refrigerator, so they came in a cooler bag. This stash of medication is just for the first part of the IVF cycle! It’s a little daunting, but thankfully I had seen others’ pictures similar to this before so I knew what to expect.
On the same day that the medications arrived my period started! This was the official beginning to our cycle. I took birth control pills for 6 days to keep my ovaries suppressed so they didn’t start maturing follicles and eggs prematurely. Then last Thursday I went back for a baseline ultrasound to be sure that my follicles were nice and calm, and also got an endometrial scratch done, which has shown to improve IVF success rates by 10%. All looked good!
Friday night was my first day of injections. The injections that I’m taking are Gonal-F and Menopur, along with one Letrozole each night. All of these are drugs that provide my body with mega doses of FSH (follicle stimulating hormone) that will hopefully stimulate multiple follicles to produce mature eggs over the course of 8-14 days or so.
The first 2 nights of injections were a little stressful since I ended up not being able to do the injections until after the recommended time frame, due to unexpected events that went longer than anticipated. The first night I was especially nervous since it was my first time to actually mix and administer the medication! Thankfully, my husband was able to give me the injections because I currently have a bit of a mental block with stabbing myself with a needle. Over the course of our infertility journey I am way less squeamish about needles than I used to be, but I am still not excited about poking myself. DH won’t be home every evening this week, so I need to get some courage in the next few days!
Emotionally I’m officially feeling anxious now. I’ve been trying to take everything one day at a time and not to think too far into the future with everything, but now that the time has arrived, I’m feeling the pressure. I’m nervous about things that could go wrong (like OHSS or poor quality eggs, etc.), but I’m trying very hard to not think ahead to that and just think about the next steps. My next appointment is Wednesday, and at that visit they will check my hormone levels and will do an ultrasound to see how many follicles I have growing and how big they are. At this appointment they will determine if I’m right on track or if I need to increase or decrease any medication dosage.
Physically I’m really starting to feel bloated. My pants are feeling uncomftable for sure and I’ve only done the injections for two nights! This fuels my anxiety about OHSS. I also feel cranky and tired and extra bloated in my belly after doing my injections in the evenings, but so far it’s not so bad. I’m excited to see what is growing at my appointment on Wednesday, but also really trying to just focus on one day at a time to help avoid feeling anxious (a common struggle of mine).
If you have done IVF how did you feel during the injections process? How did you manage your anxiety?
pear / 1881 posts
Good luck, you can do this!! I actually felt pretty good. These are things that I did to help and had more success in the latest round. Drank red raspberry leaf tea (supposed to help uterine lining), POM juice, ate at least 1/2 avocado a day and lots of nuts. Also, be sure to drink lots of water!
To help manage the anxiety, I did the Circle in Bloom meditations, which were SO relaxing. I also did acupunture at least weekly, if not twice per week.
How was the endometrial scratch? Was it painful and did you take anything prior to help with pain? My last two fresh transfers were unsuccessful; however, we have our frozen transfer end of May. In preparation for that, we are doing a scratch next week. I’m a bit nervous.
One other thing – be sure to eat lots of fiber or start taking Colace soon! It’s so TMI, but the drugs can really bind you up and that was the worst part after retrieval – not being able to have a BM. Lots of water and the fiber will help you feel SO much better.
guest
Part of me was actually excited to start injections because it meant I was doing something and closer to the goal! Also, I used to HATE needles and IVF made them way less scary! I actually iced my stomach for just a few seconds before the cetrotide/menopur shots because they would sting but the gonal f/follistim shots were nothing!
apricot / 344 posts
What an exciting time in your life! We just did IVF in January and are now 3 months along expecting our first. While its crazy stressful and your patience will be tested in EVERY way possible, try to remember the goal and the reward! My best advice for the shots…Ice! Numb up the area for a minute or two with an ice cube right on the skin before you do it. You won’t even know the needle is going thru your skin. As for bloating, while I didn’t feel that bloated necessarily, I did gain about 5-8 lbs during the course of 2 IUI and 2 IVF cycles.
Also, since you mentioned OHSS… I ended up with a severe case of it after my second round. However, this was also due to the rising HCG levels in my blood (which exacerbates the OHSS) and the fact that I was pregnant with triplets. While a normal estrogen level would be around 50, mine was at 500. progesterone was thru the roof too. It was FAR from pleasant, but we got thru it and again kept our eye on the goal.
Wishing you the best as you start this journey!! Definitely suggest joining the IVF #3 board on HelloBee. Couldn’t have gotten thru it all without the support of those ladies!