Let's get this party started: IVF Cycle #1 is underway!

This post is long over due but a lot has happened since my last entry. First of all, I got my "box of meds" in the mail. Having had JRA my entire life, I am used to having tons of medications and am not easily overwhelmed with complicated medical regimes. However, this was a much larger box then I was expecting. It also contained a ton of 1 1/2 inch intramuscular needles. This caused me to panic, because under my protocol I only have one intramuscular injection. After a panicked 9.00 pm phone call on day 2 to the on-call fertility pharmacy nurse, we realized these needles were intended to be the syringes you used to mix the medicine, and you could just unscrew the needle cap. Crisis averted. 

Cycle Day 2: I was on birth control pills for two weeks. I had no side effects from these pills but it was a long two weeks anxiously awaiting the green light to proceed with the injections. I had my baseline ultrasound on cycle day 2 to determine my Antral Follicle count and make sure there were no cysts. I started my Gonal-F injection this night. It comes in a nice epi-pen style injection and I barely felt it.

Cycle Days 3-5: I dutifully completed my Menopur injection each morning around 6.30 and my Gonal-F injection, every night around 8.30. I felt ok throughout most of this week. I was definitely feeling tired, crampy and more bloated by day 5. However, I think I felt tired from waking up at 6 every day to do the injection. I went to acupuncture on day 5 and have my first follow-up ultrasound and blood work on Day 6.

The one thing I did that I felt was really helpful was to make a calender to keep track of all the medicines. There are a lot of medicines to keep track of and it helped the weeks go by quicker when I could cross off the days! I invoked Daeneyrs, the mother of dragons, from Game of Thrones as inspiration for my cycle. I felt like she was a strong inspiration!

Will update more!