My September drug regimen began with two very large injections every night. One of them being a low dose of the pregnancy hormone hCG and the other being Follistim. The Follistim is nothing new for me, as I took it with each of my previous IUI procedures. However, this time I was taking a massive dose of it. The idea here is to pump up the follicles on my ovaries and get them to produce as many eggs as possible during this one cycle. Typically, a woman releases one egg per cycle. We were trying to get my body to release somewhere between 10-15 eggs at once. Pumping my ovaries up in this way comes with its fair share of risks which is why I was in the fertility doctor's office every three days for an ultrasound to make sure everything was progressing as it should.
The complication that I was most worried about was over-stimulation. This is when your ovaries become far too over stimulated due to the medication and your belly fills with fluid. If this happens, your belly grows to be about as big as someone who is full-term in pregnancy and you have to have a giant needle drain the fluid from your belly multiple times before it will go away. If this happens, you have to cancel the entire IVF cycle and it can be life-threatening to the woman. I was absolutely terrified that this was going to happen to me. Thankfully, I avoided this complication and everything went smoothly.
As the follicles on my ovaries multiplied and grew, the doctor continued to monitor me even more closely. We have to wait until the follicles get to be a certain size before they can go in and retrieve the eggs. The problem here is that once the follicles become a certain size, my body will try to release the eggs naturally. That would be bad. It would ruin our whole process and we would have to start over next month. So the key here is beating my body to the punch. Waiting long enough for them to be ready, but then getting the eggs out before my body tries to release them on its own.
As we inched closer and closer to retrieval time, I had to add another injection to my nightly shot regimen. The purpose of this medication was to prevent my body from trying to release the eggs too early. We were seriously messing with my body here...forcing it to get all these extra eggs ready and then making it hold on to them and not release them even though they are ready to ovulate. My poor body was probably like, WTF? Now, on to the Ganirelix. Thankfully, I only had to take this injection 4 times because it was horrible. The nurse warned me ahead of time that this particular shot would feel like a bee sting when I injected it. This, of course, meant nothing to me because I've never been stung by a bee so I have no idea what that feels like. Being someone who already is uneasy about shots, I should have known that this was a recipe for disaster. The first night I had to do this shot, I decided to give it to myself. I had been giving myself all of my other shots for months now, so I didn't think it was a big deal. Bad idea. I stuck the needle into my stomach, pressed the medication in and all of a sudden felt the shot singe throughout my entire body. I barely got the needle out of my stomach and onto the counter before I could no longer see what was going on. Luckily, Jared was standing right there and caught me. My stomach was burning. I don't know what a bee sting feels like, but if it feels like someone lit a match and then pressed it directly onto your skin, then yes that is what this felt like. I was putting so much pressure on the injection site, but it continued to burn. I felt extremely nauseous and light headed. I couldn't tell if I was going to throw up or pass out or both. I literally laid on the couch holding holding my stomach for the next half hour feeling like death. Luckily, I had already given myself the other two shots first because I could not have possibly tolerated any more needles for the night after that.
When it was time for my Ganirelix shot the next night, I was dreading it. I was so terrified that I was going to have the same reaction again, but it wasn't as bad that time now that I knew what to expect. The injection site stung for about 10 minutes but then it went away. I didn't feel nauseous or faint which was a definite improvement from the night before. Thankfully, I only had to do 4 of those dreaded injections, but nonetheless I survived proving once again that this infertility crap continues to make me stronger whether I like it or not.
That first weekend in September was also my last weekend of food, alcohol and caffeine freedom. I am so happy that all the breweries decided to bring out their fall beers early enough so that my last beers could be pumpkin flavored ones. I was told by my doctor that from that point on, I was on the pregnancy diet and I had to act like a pregnant woman. Let me tell you, the idea of giving up alcohol, caffeine, certain foods and exercise on nothing more concrete than the hunch that I may or may not possibly get pregnant in the next few weeks was a little daunting. At least when you know you are actually pregnant, you have some concrete motivation. I had already done the pregnancy diet four times this year (with each of my IUIs) for what turned out to be absolutely nothing. However, I had come this far and I was about to put myself through a whole heck of a lot, so I was going all in. After that doctor's appointment, I went home, drank a Diet Coke and a pumpkin beer and then never looked back. For the rest of the month of September, I never once thought about or even wanted caffeine or alcohol. I was determined and committed to doing everything in my power to make this work.
By the second week in September, the eggs were all ready to go and it appeared as though there were going to be a lot of them. I was like the Easter bunny with a basket full of eggs in my belly. At this point in the process, my ovaries were so full of medication and eggs that I felt like I was going to pop. I was super bloated and my stomach just felt full all the time. I constantly could feel my ovaries cramping up and moving around in there and I was ready for these eggs to be out. The nurse informed me that, in fact, it only gets worse once the eggs are out. Great, something to look forward to. Either way, I was ready to get this show on the road and put my eggs in the hands of the embryologist so that he could work his magic. Three very large injections stood between me and egg retrieval. Two doses of Lupron (the dosage is so large that you have to use two different syringes to get it all in) and one dose of Ovidrel was the ticket to getting my body ready to ovulate. Once I took these injections (the doctor informed me that I had to take them at the exact specified time I was assigned), I would be in the operating room exactly 35 hours later for retrieval. This game is all a matter of precise timing and if we missed our allotted retrieval window, we would have to start all over again some other time. That's not nerve-wracking or anything.
Coming up next post...the egg retrieval procedure. Do you think it's a bad omen to have surgery scheduled on a holiday that memorializes the tragic day our nation was attacked by terrorists? Let's just say, I was anything by thrilled about this unfortunate timing coincidence.
What doctor do you go to Jacki? I hope everything works out for you and in a few years you will understand why you had to face these difficulties and the timing is perfect!
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