Shots, shots, shots, shots!

Only in the warped world of IVF is anyone super excited when it comes time to start shots.  And due to having a pretty full social calendar through the time, we will be mastering the art of shooting up in a restaurant and/or bar bathroom.  Classy, right?

I wrapped up my birth control pills mid last week.  Unfortunately, my progesterone increased those last couple days (maybe I was making some naturally along with the exogenous progesterone from the pills?  I don't understand how bodies work during birth control - especially just taking a partial month).  Or possibly, my magic pill stopped working completely.  Either way, I had a couple miserable nights in a row where I was up every couple hours replacing the ice packs in my little booties.  Those booties are rock star, I tell you.  I just wish the ice packs would stay cold for longer.  I may have to install a freezer in our bedroom for the next month.

On a side note, there just is not enough information on APD out there.  It has been noted that it can cause early miscarriage in extreme cases, but generally it was because the body was suppressing the progesterone needed to carry a child, simply because it couldn't handle it.  That doesn't appear to be the case for me, as my progesterone was ridiculously high during the Clomid IUI cycles.  It was at levels that would carry you very safely through first trimester and even through the second potentially.  So it doesn't appear that it is causing issues, but if this doesn't work again, I'll always wonder if the autoimmune response would be connected to the implantation failures.  Maybe it will be one of those things where they find out more in the next few years, and we try again at some point down the road.  Who knows?

Anyway, we're moving forward with our thoughts on this cycle.  In the last cycle, I started shots about a week earlier, while I was still on birth control.  Those were the suppression shots to quiet my body down before stimulation.  This time, since I seemed to be oversuppressed, the docs were relying on solely the birth control to do its job.  I went for my baseline ultrasound on Thursday, when they make sure the ovaries are nice and sleepy.  Everything looked great, so it looks like the birth control was up to the challenge. 

So I started the Lupron (in a microdose version this time) just yesterday.  Rather than full suppression, at this point it is there to make sure I don't ovulate early on my own.  This whole thing would go to shit if all those follicles go out floating around without a chance of retrieval.

We went to out to dinner and to see a musical at our local civic center last night, so I was either going to need to do my shot in the restaurant bathroom or the civic center bathroom depending on timing.  We pre-filled the syringe before going out, so I was holding my purse gingerly the whole time scared that I would accidentally press down on the syringe.  Turned out we were still at the restaurant when I needed to shoot it in, so I appropriated the handicap stall to the dismay of the homecoming girls going to the bathroom in a group.  It was a lovely time.

Tonight we are saying good-bye to a dear friend that is moving away, so I will again get to take my Lupron with me and shoot up between bites of boar pizza.  Then I'll start stimming tomorrow, which I'm very excited about!  First ultrasound/blood draw on Wednesday, and ideally we'll be retrieving mid next week.  Grow follicles, grow!