IVF diary - Day two

I was dreading doing the injections today since yesterday hadn't gone so well. This time I put two tablespoons in the freezer a few minutes beforehand and then used them to numb the area on my stomach a little before injecting. I also tried to jab the needle into my skin faster this time and the needle didn't hurt at all although the pergoveris mixture still burned the whole time going in. 

I've been feeling quite tired and run down lately, but that's the only symptom so far. I would love to know what's going on in there but I have to wait another week for my first ultrasound to find out how I'm responding to the hormones and many follicles are growing.

Emotionally I'm finding it a little hard, trying to go about my daily life acting normal when I've got this huge thing going on, but I'm managing. I don't have anything on during the week which is great as it's so nice to come home from work and then get cosy on the couch and either catch up with my favourite tv series or get lost in a good novel. Before starting this treatment I ordered several books so I had something to help me get through the process. I had also read that it's a good idea to clear your calendar before going through ivf and just see how you feel day to day so that's also what I'm doing.

IVF diary - Day one

Today was the first day of the ivf process and, to be honest, the injections were more difficult than I was expecting!

The whole thing took about twenty minutes - getting all the stuff ready, reading over my notes again, preparing the meds, psyching myself up and then injecting.

I was really nervous and when I tried to inject myself I did it too slowly and instead of breaking the skin it just hurt and bled, and I did that a few times before the injection went in, which is not the way to do it obviously. Also when I pushed the injection mixture down it really burned going in and was very unpleasant!  Maybe I'll try icing the area first tomorrow.

I hated the whole thing and was glad once it was done. How am I going to get through another week or so of this? I guess I'm just going to have to try to take it one day at a time and hopefully it will get easier. 

IVF diary - As ready as I'll ever be

Yesterday I went to the doctor, he gave me an ultrasound to check everything looked ok, then told me to start with the injections tomorrow morning. They should be done at the same time each day.

The plan is that after a week I'll go back for another ultrasound and then he'll be able to tell me when the egg retrial procedure will be. I really just want to know already. Some friends were texting me about meeting up next week but I don't know yet if that will be a good time or not. I imagine that the evening before the egg retrieval process I won't be up for meeting anyone and for a few days afterwards I'll be recovering.

After seeing the doctor I then was given a tutorial by the doctor's assistant on how to prepare and administer the injections. It's quite tricky! I'll have to give myself two injections, on alternative sides of my stomach and switch sides each day. One is called Decapeptyl and that is to prevent me from ovulating, and the other is called Pergoveris and is to make my ovaries produce loads of eggs. 

The Decapeptyl is quite simple, it comes already made and you just have to inject it, but the pergoveris is trickier. It comes with two vials of liquid and two vials of powder. You get the large syringe and suck up the liquid then push it down into the powder then do the same for the other vials and then suck all the mixture up into the one syringe. And once that's done you change to a smaller needle.

The medicine has to all be kept cool so the pharmacy gave me a cool bag to bring the medicine home and now I have to keep it all in the fridge. Tomorrow is day one!

A tea for everything #MicroblogMonday

*cough* *sniffle* *cough* I'm feeling rather the worse for wear at the moment. One by one I noticed more and more colleagues and friends come down with something or other and it finally got me too. I've a head cold and sore throat. 

 At least Germans have a tea for every possible ailment. I couldn't choose between "cough and bronchial" or "throat and neck", so I bought both. As a child our family cure for sore throats was always 'hot honey and orange' which consisted of boiled water, orange juice and naturally lots of honey! I've been drinking a mixtures of those and just trying to get plenty of rest. Hopefully in a few days it'll be gone. The worst is coughing at night and then not being able to sleep.

Unfortunately I also gave my cold to the GerMann so now we're both coughing and sniffing. We didn't have any big plans last weekend though so we were able to take it easy.

What's your go-to cold curing remedy?