The IVF Process = Intense! [10]

The first week of September, I had an appointment to go over paperwork and tour the IVF lab.  This was the same location that did all the collections for the IUI’s so I was familiar with the location.  But I hadn’t ventured past the second waiting room.  I ended up arriving early for the appointment because I was confused about the time.  A nice woman took me back into a conference room and had me sit down.  Then she asked me if my partner would be joining me or if I was to have a donor.  Turns out, James was suppose to come to the appointment too but no one ever mentioned that and I never thought of it. There was a big stack of release forms we both had to sign before we could proceed.  Thankfully, they let me take them home to go over with James. 

That paperwork was so overwhelming.  Like, whoa.  We had to make decisions on what would happen to our embryos should we divorce, if one of us should pass away, or if one of us should be in a vegetable state.  Huge, life decisions!  We hope and pray that those papers never have to be referred back to.  Ever. 

We signed and initialed everything and breathed a huge sigh of relief when we were finished.  Then at my next appointment with my doctor, the nurse asked me if I had the release forms.  I told her that I had turned them into the IVF lab but she explained that they had their own release forms.  UGH.  MORE CRAZY PAPERWORK. We managed to get through it just fine and breathed another sigh of relief.

I finished taking the birth control the second week of September. I went back up to Richmond for the saline trial run and to collect my medicine. It was a lot of medicine. You know those big brown sacks you get at the grocery store? You know the ones we used to cover schoolbooks? My meds came in a bag like that. There were 2 different kinds of injections, 2 different kinds of oral meds (antibiotic and steroid), a ginormous box of yucky suppositories, and alcohol wipes. 

The nurse went over all the medications with me and she had even made a chart of when to take them-- so super helpful! And she taught me how to give myself an injection. She had this little thing that was suppose to act as belly fat. She told me that I should "pinch an inch" and inject the medicine in the inch. I was super nervous to try it.

That same day I traveled out of town with my BFF, Mary, for a wedding we were shooting in NOVA. I hadn't told her any of this stuff and it was super hard to not tell her. It was hard not to tell any of my closest friends (and family too!).  At that point, I hadn't told my mama and I refused to tell anyone before I had told her.  Like I already said, I wanted the big announcement. Another reason is I didn't want the pressure. For the few people (coworkers) that have known, it was brutal telling them that procedures weren't successful. So for my own self preservation, the fewer the better.

Ok, back to my trip up to NOVA. Mary & I traveled up and had a great time. We adored the bride and groom and their friends. We celebrated with them Friday evening and then got hard to work on Saturday for the wedding. The wedding venue was a gorgeous farm with hills and old buildings. The reception was in an old barn with no bathroom facilities. A high class portapotty had been brought in to fill that need. That night was the first night I had to start the injections. I needed to give it to myself at the same time each night-- 9 pm. The wedding reception wasn't scheduled to be over until after 10 so at 8:55, I made my way to the deluxe portapotty and gave myself a shot. And it wasn't as bad as I had anticipated.

I continued to give myself a shot each night for the next couple of weeks. Towards the end of the two weeks, I had to give myself multiple injections to use up the last of what was in each of the syringes.  I traveled to Richmond every other day for blood work to check my estrogen level and for ultrasounds to check out my ovaries. While I waited to be seen, I edited wedding pictures or input numbers into spreadsheets.  Every moment counted or I was going to break.  

I started developing follicles-- a lot of follicles. They were counted and measured. Then I got a call each evening after a trip to Richmond to let me know the dosage for the injection for the next 2 nights.

The follicles. I was quite surprised at those little things. There were a bunch to start with but they multiplied for each of the following appointments. I was amazed. I ended up with 27 follicles measuring between 16-18 mm when the doctor scheduled my retrieval date.