Instructions prior to egg retrieval

This morning I drove 3hrs to the Fertility Clinic...I was up at 4am to make my 9am appointment (it ended up taking a little longer to get there due to traffic). The fertility doctor did the ultrasound and said everything looked great and the retrieval would definitely be on Friday. After the ultrasound (and more blood work) the fertility nurse sat down with me and gave me more instructions.

My instructions for the next couple days:

**Today (Wednesday)

Lupron 5units (I injected this morning)

Follistim 400units (yeah, they upped it again) to be injected at 4:30pm

Menopur 75units to be injected at 4:30pm

Ovidrel 2 doses (yes, two shots) to be injected at 9:30pm (I'll try to tape this one, since this will be the only injections for this medication...this injection stimulates the eggs to be released)

Thursday:

NO SHOTS!! Yipee...

Start antibiotic (pill form)

get plenty of fluids

nothing to eat or drink after midnight!!!

Friday:

be at the clinic no later than 8am

retrieval will be at 8:30am

released at 9:30am

**I'll post later about the shots from today and how I am feeling!

Injections: day 18

Nothing new to report. Still feeling tired and crampy. I am making the 3 hr drive to the Fertility Clinic tomorrow morning...Yipee!!!

Injections today

Lupron 5units (am)

Follistim 300units (pm)

Menopur 75 units (pm)

injections: day 17

This morning I went to the clinic close to my house for a check up. I had my blood drawn first and then an ultrasound of my ovaries. The ultrasound tech was not very nice, she told me that my eggs were about a day behind and they would probably move the extraction date from Friday to Saturday. I told her that Saturday would be a problem for me since it is my son's 4th Birthday (and my friend's baby's 1st Birthday). She then told me that I didn't really have a say in the matter. Ugh!!! I hate rude people, she's not even a doctor! What the heck does she know, and for that matter, I'm not getting the extraction done here...I'm getting it done 3hrs from here!!!

Anyway, I left the clinic and when I got home I called the Fertility Clinic. The nurse there told me they would not be doing it on Saturday and that if my eggs were not ready on Friday, they would do it on Monday (so there, you rude ultrasound tech, I did get my way). Which if they did the removal on Monday I would have to continue the injections until Saturday night, instead of being done on Wednesday night. The nurse upped one of my medications (the Follistim) from 150 to 300 for tonight and tomorrow night. I'll be getting another shipment of meds on Tuesday (tomorrow). On Wednesday, I will make the 3hr trip south to the Fertility Clinic to get another Ultrasound by the Fertility Doctor (yahoo...no ultrasound tech!!!)

I'm feeling very weak today. I am very tired. I feel like I am 9mo pregnant, but without the belly; it's hard to sit, my insides feel like they're going to fall out, my lower back hurts, can't sleep, etc (I asked the Fertility Nurse and she said this was normal). I also caught my son's cold, so that doesn't help either. On the good side, I've yet to gain any weight...the normal weight gain is 5-10lbs, I'll be interesting to see what I weigh after the extraction on Friday (or Monday)

So...my shots for today

Lupron 5units (am)

Follistim 300units (pm)

Menopur 75units (pm)stim

Injections: day 15 & 16

Lupron 5units

Follistim 150 units

Menopur 75units

Saturday, Day 15

I'm very tired and sore, although I'm not sure if it's from the medications or from my kids :)

My stomach is very bloated and a little crampie. This morning while giving myself the Lupron shot, I hit a blood vein and gave myself another bruise :( Of course it also doesn't help I have a sunburn from going to the beach yesterday with my family.

Sunday, Day 16

Nothing much has changed...still bloated, tired and sore. The bruise from yesterday looks bad. I'll just have to keep rubbing it

Injections: day 14

So...I was able to get a video of myself tonight administering the Follistim and Menopur injections (I do inject myself, so if you are a little squirmish, don't watch)

Follistim Video

Menopur Video

I am starting to feel a bit more tired, and irritable. My dad noticed my irritability today, oops!

I can also feel my ovaries. It doesn't hurt, it's more like a cramp in my stomach (like the ones I use to get when I was in my first trimester with my kids and I'd move to fast).

Injections: day 13

OMG! It doesn't feel like I've been doing this for 2 weeks!

Yesterday's injections went great (day 13).

Lupron 5units

Follistim 150units

Menopur 75units

So, my husband and I decided to let our 4 yr old watch me administer the injections, last night. He'll be getting some immunization shots in a couple weeks and we thought it might make it a little easier for him if he saw Mommy do it. He did okay. He was very curious and asked me if it hurt. Of course, I told him "No, it didn't" I ended up having to inject the Follistim 2times, silly me forgot to wind the pen and so there was no medication to inject when I put the needle in...my husband was laughing at me :)

When I was done with the injections, my son and I had a little talk. I told him he would be getting a few shots of his own in a few weeks. He started crying, I was so sad. He asked me if it was going to hurt. I told him it would hurt him, and he cried a little more. I then told him that he had to get the shots and it was going to hurt, but it would make it so he wouldn't get sick. He smiled, stopped crying and said "Okay, Mommy".

So that being last night, today in the car on our way back home he told me "Mommy, I don't feel good" I asked him if his tummy hurt and he said "yes". Then he said the funniest thing ever "Mommy, take me to the doctor. I need a shot, so I don't get sick" Ah...so cute!!!

Injection: day 13 Getting Closer

I keep counting down the days to the Egg Retrieval day...1 week!!!

I'm super-excited. To think...in a matter of weeks my egg(s) will be used to help someone have a child(ren) that they otherwise could not have had! I can't wait!!!

I got an email from my agent today confirming my hotel room for the night before the procedure. The room looks really nice from the pictures. Now all I have to do is confirm the babysitter :)

Today, I also deposited the $750.00 (non-refundable fee for starting the injections)...I will get the remainder of the compensation money about 5 days after the retrieval.

In other news, the shots continue. Last night I injected 150 units of Follisitim and 75 units of Menopur (day 12). Still no pain or stinging, which is really good news. This morning I did the 5units of Lupron (day 13) and tonight will be the same as last night with another Follistim and Menopur shot. I'm going to try to tape the Follistim and Menopur shots tonight.