Plan B Update 2

The shots have actually not been too bad - and I gave 2 to myself! Somehow, when S. does it, you can hardly tell, but when I did it, I made myself bleed. I think I was twisting it around too much or something. In addition, I've experienced very few side effects. I feel pretty nauseated for a couple of hours after the shot, but that's about it. I've had a few really strange dreams where I'm inconsolably emotional - angry, sad, depressed, worried - so maybe the emotional-ness is working itself out in my dreams.

After Monday's blood work came back, they had me continue the Follistim injections. On Thursday, I went back for the next egg/hormone check. We had hoped that we'd be able to do the insemination this weekend, but the eggs seem to not be "ripening" quite as fast as they did in the beginning (but thankfully they are still developing) so we are to continue the shots until Monday morning, when I go in for another check. I decided it was because S. wasn't giving me the shots that they slowed down, so I'm making him give me the shots again when he's around.

I was a little worried because we just had to pay our taxes and other bills, and the medications are SO expensive, I was hoping I'd be done with the injections by now. I'm taking 150 IU a day, and a 600 IU vial costs about $500 (about $120 a day). By my appointment on Thursday, I'd already gone through a 600 IU vial that I paid for and a 300 IU vial that they gave me free at the doctor's office (a "sampler" vial). When the doctor said I'd probably need to continue the shots, she said she'd check if there were more "samplers." She came back with a 600 IU vial! She said that sometimes when people don't need the vials they paid for, they donate them back to the fertility clinic. I thought that was such a nice thing! Someone else's generosity saved me $500.

So, now we continue with the shots and go back Monday morning for yet another check and hopefully this time we'll be able to move to the next step.

Tomorrow is our 12th anniversary. We've been trying for a baby for 9 years. Sometimes it's hard to believe that it's been such a long and difficult journey.