First IM Injection

I had my baseline appointment on 6.23.16. It was similar to the other monitoring appointments during Stims. First, I had my blood drawn and then I had an U/S--except the U/S was to check my uterine lining instead of my follicles. My uterine lining was at 3.4mm.

I had a nurse come to give me my first Del Estrogen injection so she could show my parents how to give an intramuscular (IM) shot (in my rear). I was incredibly nervous given the size of the needles and the location (going in a muscle), but when she looked at the needle gauge and sized me up, she thought because of my BMI, I would be better using a smaller gauge (and shorter!) needle. (Thank God!) I iced the area for approximately 5 minutes while she went over the protocol of drawing up the medication and then she showed my parents how and where to give the injection. The actual injection was pretty painless (I assume because of the icing). I am really glad we hired her to come show us. She was so nice and understanding, and it turns out that not only does she work at our clinic as well, but she had two IVF babies from them that are now 8 and 12 years old! She got pregnant on the first cycle with each of them. It felt good to finally meet someone who went through what I am going through and has two actual beautiful children to show for it. It was so encouraging.

Yesterday, the nurse called to discuss the FET with me. Due to my doctor's schedule, we will be doing the FET on Thursday, 6.14.16 (instead of 6.12.16). This means that I will have my next moderating appointment (to check uterine lining) on 7.9.16. They want to do three pregnancy tests on 7.26.16, 7.28.16, and 8.1.16. Then they want to do two ultrasounds on 8.8.16 and 8.21.16. It's so hard to think that far in advance, and if we will even get to that point. 

Right now I am stressing out about plane tickets to fly back home so I can actually spend some time at home this summer before flying back here to get ready for the FET...then I have to fly back after all the pregnancy tests and ultrasounds. This entire process will have taken the majority of the summer (~15 weeks/3 months)!

Baseline Appointment & Starting Stims

I finished my birth control pills yesterday, so today was my baseline appointment at the clinic. They drew my blood and then did a (vaginal) ultrasound (u/s) to check the follicles in my ovaries. The doctor said that my uterine lining is thin (as expected) and although it took them awhile to find my left ovary (which was hiding), all my follicles look evenly sized, which is good.

My nurse called this afternoon and said my bloodwork (bw) and u/s results look good, so I should begin my stimulation (stim) injections on Friday. I will start with 2 injections in the evening only (Gonal-f and Menopur) and then they will do more bw and another u/s on Monday, and then again on Wednesday. 

I am super nervous about giving myself the injections. My parents have offered to do them for me, and my mom also has a friend (former nurse) who has offered to help, but I feel like I need to suck it up and learn how to do it myself (at least the subcutaneous injections). Even though I'm only doing them once in the evening now, I may eventually need to do them twice a day, and it's likely I will have to give them to myself at some point. I've read that the Menopur stings, so I'm apprehensive about that. I had to give subcutaneous injections to my dog before, so hopefully I can learn to do it to myself too.

I asked the doctor and nurse if I can continue working out, and they both said that moderate exercise should be okay. Hopefully that will help keep me busy and my mind from worrying!