Hormones and needles and pills, oh my!

In vitro fertilization, IVF, is such an involved process it's hard to wrap my mind around each step. I have been getting shots of depot lupron from the doctor's office, but now we'll be doing the meds at home. Last Thursday we had an appointment to practice (we used saline in the needles). Mike did great! He didn't hesitate and he understood exactly how to mix the vials. My favorite part is the ease and humor he can bring to any situation. Here we are in a doctors office with me bent over a chair, bare ass in the air. Leave it to Mike to whisper something in my ear to make me smile as a needle pierces into my bum.

As of Monday, we have been doing it on our own and it's not as bad as I anticipated. I give myself a shot of lupron in the stomach and Mike gives me repronex by intermuscular injection in the behind. The lupron is to prevent premature release/ovulation of the eggs and the repronex to to develp/mature more than one egg from the ovaries.

I HATE needles. I can wax anything on my body and take the pain, but when it comes to needles I get claustrophobic and creeped out. Somehow this is different. It's very uncomfortable, but it's obvious that this is a small sacrifice for a baby. I am also taking estrace pills and the side effects are ok. I have intense hot flashes! I finally get what these are, my regrets to all the menopausal women out there...it is not fun! I have been very nauseous but I had the flu for three days so who knows what contributed to that. Our next office visit is on June 30 where we will have an ultrasound to see if all is going well. We anticipate the actual egg harvest and embryo transfer to happen early July. We are told it might not work the first time. I have mentally prepared myself for this but I'm so emotionally fragile I know it will be disappointing if it doesn't. On the plus side, we forked over so much money that we get to work with Dr. S. for two years!

(Ouch! Mike does a much better job than I do, my bum does not have bruises!)


We were camping this weekend and visited our family SanDee and Earl on the way home. As always, we left feeling loved and encouraged. SanDee and I were talking and she reminded me of scriptures in Jeremiah:

Jeremiah 1:5 “I knew you before I formed you in your mother’s womb. Before you were born I set you apart"

Jeremiah 29:11 "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."

I claim these scriptures and I pray them over me and my baby/babies. God has already chosen them and planned a purpose for them, a purpose for me. I feel vulnerable and broken, but I am reminded that I'm not alone.