And so it begins...

We had our baseline appointment today; the only directions were to arrive with all of our meds and a full bladder.  They started by drawing blood to send to the lab, then put us at a table in the coordinator’s office to wait for everything to be ready, because apparently we were early.  We got moved to an exam room where I was told to undress from the waist down and sit in the exam chair under the orange blanket.  I had to pee so bad this whole time, which I was hoping would be the worst part of the whole process.  The nurse checked my bladder to ensure it was full enough.  Then the doctor finally came in to do a mock transfer.  He put a speculum in to open me up (it was really cold); the nurse used the ultrasound equipment to show the doctor what he was doing as he inserted a few more tools.  After “tickling” the top of my uterus, which felt more like cramping than tickling, we were done.  It was uncomfortable for sure, especially with the cold speculum and the nurse pushing on my full bladder; but it wasn’t unbearable.  The doctor said when we do the real transfer I’ll have some valium so I won’t be as nervous.  Haha, can’t wait! After that, I cleaned up, got dressed, and finally got to pee! 

Then we met with the IVF nurse to go over medications.  She double-checked to make sure we ordered everything we needed.  Then she showed us how to do the injections.  The Gonal-F seems rather easy; I just dial the pen to the dosage required and then poke it into my belly, an inch away from my belly button.  Hold the button for 3 seconds and pull it out.  Recap it and put back in the fridge for the next day.  The menopur seems a little more complicated.  I use one vial of liquid and two vials of powder and have to mix it each night.  I take 1 cc of liquid out of the vial and throw that out.  Then inject the liquid into the first vial of powder, swirl it around until the powder is all dissolved. Then I pull the liquid out of that vial and inject into the next vial. Repeat process and then draw it back into the syringe. I change out the needle and inject this into the same spot as the Gonal-F.  I am supposed to alternate sides each night to keep the bruising and discomfort to a minimum. I’m also supposed to take the meds at the same time every night after 6pm. I think we decided to do 8pm so I will probably be at home each time and so I can have ice cream afterwards. Ice cream is going to by my treat after each poke in this whole process. These are the only meds I’m using for the first few days. I go in on Saturday for more blood work and then they will tell me what to take.  This whole process is planned out tentatively up to the trigger day, but could change as we move along and blood work and scans come back.  Everything is spelled out in detail and the nurse is only a phone call away.  Hard to believe that the time has finally come! I probably won’t write again until the adventure of Saturday and my first injections. 

Here is a shot of my meds from when I unpacked them: