Life As I Know It...

As promised, here's the "more info" about our most current attempts at getting pregnant!

First, let me say that for those of you who have been through the full gamut of treatment, I realize that this isn't the "worst" that there is. For those of you who haven't, it's not fun, but when you really want a baby, it's not all that bad!

This is what my life looks like right now....

Okay, not my whole life, but at least a portion of it!!

In the morning, I do an injection in my stomach. I do this one myself because since it's in my belly, I can see to do it. It's not bad at all, although it is leaving bruises. This is a micro-dose injection of Lupron. (This is the same medication that I was given an injection of a year ago to induce a menopause-like state. However, in this much smaller dose it works differently.) The point of the Lupron is to keep me from ovulating on my own, which means they can "stimulate" for more days and allow more follicles to mature. Like I said, this shot is in my stomach and I use a very small needle. Actually I use this needle...

It's only about a 3/4 inch needle and it's similar to those used for insulin injections.

Then each night we do a second injection. I say "we" because I can't do this one by myself. It's given in my "hip" (which really means my butt!) It's a much larger needle and it hurts much worse!! As you can see from the first picture, I'm mixing 2 vials of dissolvent solution with 4 amps of medication. 4 amps of HMG is the most that they will give me for an IUI, so it's a pretty high dose. Oh and each of those tiny amps of medicine costs $30. Therefore, I'm injecting $120 worth of medicine each night!! This could continue for anywhere between 8 and 12 days! Yikes! (All of our Christmas money plus some is going to fund this attempt!)

The hope is that it will help to stimulate multiple follicles instead of just one or two. Like I said, Jacob does this shot for me each night. He's pretty good and most of the time it's not too bad. I'm sore in the injection spots the next day, but it's nothing major. And because we're currently out of practice on it, the last few days have been kind of tough! Here's the larger needle that we use for the night time shot.

It's a 1 & 1/2 inch needle. The lady at the pharmacy said "Are you sure this is right? Do you realize that this is a really BIG needle?" Yes I do, and thank you for pointing that out!! :)

So, that's it, that's life as we know it! I'll be going in every other day for blood work and an ultrasound to monitor how quickly I'm stimulating. When the follicles are ready, I'll be given a different shot to force my body to ovulate. Then we'll have an IUI. Please be praying that this goes according to God's plan!