Journey to Becoming a Mother

On this Mother’s day I want to update everyone on my journey to becoming a mother.

I am very thankful for my mother during this whole time (and all the times). She has been there for me a lot lately. She has been coming over once a week or so since Gadget passed since I've been in a major funk. She has been there for me through phone calls and emotional support. She has been amazing. If all of this IVF stuff works out I know that my future child will have a wonderful grandmother waiting for him/her. I cannot express the amount of gratitude and love that I have for her. Happy Mother's Day.

This week I started doing injections on my journey to become a mother. 

Monday, Shots Day 1: 225 ui of Gonal F: 

This was the first shot! All shots, up until the trigger shot (which helps induce ovulation before retrieval), are given through subcutaneous injection in the stomach around the belly button. This means it is a shot given into the fat layer between the skin and muscle. Gonal F comes in a pre-filled pen where you dial the amount you need, insert the needle, and press. This one was pretty easy, however, I accidentally had to poke myself twice since I withdrew the needle thinking I got everything out, when I hadn’t. So other than having to give myself the shot ‘twice’, it went off without a hitch.  

 Tuesday, Shots Day 2: 225 ui of Gonal F: 

Today was my last acupuncture appointment before retrieval. We finally got all my levels down to normal so I won’t have to go in again until after retrieval when we work on thickening the uterus lining. 

 The shot this afternoon was the same as Monday. I started to feel a little bloated today. Hopefully this means there are lots of eggs being produced and growing!

This afternoon our AC went out- not sure if medication caused hot flashes or if it was just hot as hell in our house, but I'm thinking it was just hot!

Wednesday, Shots Day 3: 225 ui of Gonal F:

Today I was definitely feeling a little more bloated. I also have a ‘full’ feeling in my stomach.

The AC was fixed today- however I almost murdered Steven at the same time. This is its own story, but he accidentally had the AC guy fix a piece that my dad could have fixed for $30 and instead he had the AC guy fix it for $400!!! Again, maybe the medication is making my hormonal, but Steven almost died tonight. He's lucky I need his swimmers to do IVF lol!

Thursday, Shots Day 4: 150 ui of Gonal F:

Very bloated today and I fell super ‘full’. Like after you eat thanksgiving dinner and you are full up to your throat. 

Friday, Shots Day 5: 150 ui of Gonal F:

I had an appointment at the fertility clinic today to check my blood levels to see how we need to adjust my medication. Results came back shortly that afternoon and things seems to be on track. We adjusted and added some medication to start the next day. 

Saturday, Shots Day 6: Morning, ½ dose Cetrotide; Evening, 75 ui Gonal F, full dose Menopur:

Cetrotide is used to prevent premature ovulation. With all of the other medication your body is being stimulated to grow eggs and preparing to ovulate, but we do not want to ovulate before the eggs are ready to be retrieved or else they are gone and cannot be used during IVF. Menopur helps with the growth and quality of the eggs. We want to make sure that we have the eggs grow to maturity before retrieval. 

Cetrotide is the worst so far! I injected it and right away it started to itch like a horrible mosquito bit. It started getting red and swollen. The redness and swollenness when down in an hour or so, but the itchiness continued for a few hours and then final went away. 

Menopur can be bad as well, but luckily I had learned from others that it is best to inject this one slowly. Very slowly. If you go too fast this one can burn very badly. Even injecting it slowly made it burn a little, but it went away pretty quickly.

Sunday, Shots Day 7: Morning, ½ dose Cetrotide; Evening, 75 ui Gonal F, full dose Menopur:

Today I have been very tired. I had the same reaction with the Cetrotide as I did yesterday with the swelling, redness, and itchiness. 

Tomorrow I go back to the infertility clinic to do an ultrasound and more blood work to see how the eggs are growing.

*This week started off with getting the phone call that Gadget’s ashes were ready to be picked up. We had requested him to be cremated on his own so we could get his ashes back. We also requested a clay foot print be made. So Monday afternoon Steven picked up Steven’s ashes while I got a wooden box ready for his ashes. I lined the box with one of his favorite fleece blankets, one of his favorite toys, and a few other items. When Steven brought him home we placed his bag of ashes in the box and had a good long cry. While I know the sadness isn’t going to go away anytime soon, I felt some comfort having what we can of him home with us.  I believe that he knew how much I wanted him to be with me for all of the injections so fate worked out so he would be home by then.