Trigger Time!

Today's u/s and b/w revealed that I'm finally done cooking. We were given a window of time tonight to do the shot, and then the IUI is Thursday.

Here's the directions: http://www.fertilitylifelines.com/resources/ovidrelpre-filledsyringe.jsp (Click on instructions for use tab in the middle.)

Thoughts that went through my head: "Seriously? You're going to let me stick a needle in my body with just that as guidance? My body isn't as flat as hers and my nails aren't manicured. What if I fail?"

Thoughts that SHOULD have been going through my head: The needle isn't that big. It is very sharp and very skinny.

Reality: I sat down at the table. I used an alcohol swab to wipe off the stomach flub area where it was going. I took the (seriously, small) syringe out of its packet. I breathed deep. Mike laughed at me. (He isn't a needle phobe.) I took the cap off the needle -

AND I LOST MY NERVE.

Once that (seriously people, tiniest needle ever) had the cap off, I couldn't do it. I could not willingly jab the metal into my stomach.

So I squeezed the flub, looked away, squeezed my eyes shut, and let Mike do the shot.

It did not hurt. At all. I'm a wimp. But I'm not of the needle-in-my-flub variety, so I decided to stay that way. With any luck it will never be an issue again. :)

More monitoring

This everyday thing is exhausting (and rather expensive, because we do have a copay every time I go) and I'm still not ready. My arm veins are exhausted from every day bloodwork. Hopefully tomorrow's the magic day.

Day 12 Monitoring and Time Change

I was really smart last night and "sprung ahead" with my clocks.

Want to know what I did NOT do?

TURN ON MY BLEEPING ALARM.

I woke up shortly before I needed to be 45 minutes away. Luckily I got there JUST before they closed for the morning, so I could be seen. 

I feel like an idiot.

Monitoring on Day 11

Today was my first monitoring appointment. Here's the basic gist. The Clomid I took earlier in the week for 5 days had the job of making multiple follicles. Usually in a month, one of your ovaries makes one follicle. A follicle grows like a bubble and a microscopic egg floats around inside. Then when you ovulate, the bubble pops and the egg starts on its journey. The job of Clomid is to make multiple bubbles so that your chances increase. Of course that also increases your chances for multiples, since you have more than one egg floating around in there. That's why I have to have ultrasounds and bloodwork every day now. They will make sure that an appropriate amount of eggs are maturing (so I don't wind up as Oct-Mom) and the bloodwork gets ready to tell them when I'm going to ovulate and release the eggs. Then I will take a shot (they tell me it's small and easy, but I'm nervous about the fact that my training to do so amounts to a YouTube video) to finish the egg maturation and click the ovulation into high gear. A day or two later they'll do the insemination and hopefully the train that leaves station A runs into the train leaving station B at the appropriate time.

Clomid

Just took my first pill. Hopefully it all goes ok, I'm not a super bitch all week, and it works.

The IUI Begins

Today was my baseline ultrasound and bloodwork. I have no cysts and my b/w was ok, so I'm cleared to begin. I start my Clomid this weekend and then I have to go for LOTS of monitoring appointments. I'm nervous. I'm nervous about how the whole process will go, and how the success rate is still miserably low (only 10%) even with the meds and monitoring. But I'm usually in the minority with medical odds, so maybe this is my game!

Back to 0

My HCG is now back to 0. My body will supposedly revert back to "normal" quickly this time, since the pregnancy was so short. The next time a cycle starts, we're going to try the IUI that we previously planned.