Shots! Shots! Shots! Shots! Shots!........

Cloudy, foggy, fatigued, absolutely exhausted. Just a few words that come to mind when I think about how I have felt since my last post. Lupron has really done a number on me. Thankfully, tomorrow I get to cut the dose in half (can I get a whoop, whoop!!)... and begin 3 different medications, along with my half dosed Lupron

Today, I went to the doctor for a baseline ultrasound and blood work. When asked how I felt, I said "exxxhaussssted." Dr J told me that I now know how the menopausal woman feels and have so much to look forward to in the future! With the Lupron, I have basically zero estrogen in my body which explains why I can't hardly pull myself out of bed in the mornings. I'm not kidding. Today, I set my alarm for 6:15, I FORCED myself out of bed at 7:50. I took an hour and a half nap on the sofa yesterday. I literally don't recognize myself. I wasn't even this tired with my past pregnancies! Focus girl, focus. The ultrasound was to check and see how many follicles we are going to be working with. The right ovary has 6-7 and the left has 6. Solid numbers I'm told. The blood work was to get a baseline estradiol (estrogen) level. This aids Dr J in knowing when we are getting closer to "maturation" of the follicles. I will continue to have ultrasounds and blood work done every other day to keep a close watch on the follicles so we know the perfect time that they are ready to be retrieved
**follicle: a fluid filled sac which the egg grows inside of

Starting tomorrow, I will inject myself with 3 shots. Yep! You read that correctly people. 3. Shots. Kip and I both will have to take doxycycline BID x 10 (that's medical language for twice daily, for 10 days) I thought the wrong medication had been put into my bag at the pharmacy when I saw that. Let me explain... I have to take it as a prophylactic medication prior to my procedure (aka egg retrieval) and Kip has to take it prophylactically since he will be so kindly offering up a "sample" on the egg retrieval day. We don't need any potential infections harming those little soon to be embryos!

The other 2 new medications I am starting are called Gonal-F and Menopur. The quick and dirty on the purpose of these medications are that they stimulate the ovaries to develop multiple eggs. Gonal-F contains the hormone "FSH" (follicle stimulating hormone) and Menopur contains both "FSH" and "LH" (luteinizing hormone.) I hate to overload on too much "medical" and so if you would like me to explain about these hormones more, just email me or leave a comment and I will get back to you

So far, I think I have handled the medications pretty well. The birth control made me feel sick on my stomach for the first week and the Lupron has made me a slug. Real quick, funny story about the birth control. I took it at night and after the first pill, I woke up sometime in the 2am hour and felt really queasy. I spent the rest of the night back and forth from the bed to the bathroom. Sometime around 5am I felt like I might pass out. So there I lay, on the cold tile floor, sweating, in the fetal position and yelling for Kip. He zombie walks in and I asked him to please get me a cold, wet washcloth [btw, we just moved into a new house and I have done most of the unpacking so I had to tell him where the linen closet is located] he finally comes back and lays the "washcloth" on my neck. I could tell by the weight, this was no washcloth; I figured he had instead gotten a hand towel, but whatever, it was doing it's job. I later realized, he had placed a cold, wet bath mat on my neck ;) These next few weeks will be interesting ones. These new medications are the ones that I have heard horror stories about. The hormones can cause some major mood roller coasters. Kip is a huge fan of roller coasters, but probably not this kind that we could be facing!