Daily Monitoring

After you start your injections the doctors monitor you very closely so they can ensure you are on the correct dosage.  Bloodwork and an ultrasound.  You come in every other day or more depending on how you respond.




3-24-11 Waiting for bloodwork.

There are so many people in the clinic today I am sitting on the
floor. This is so crazy.

I am also shocked at how many husbands are here. Maybe it's 
because I have a kid at home to find a sitter for, but I wouldn't ask 
Mick to come for a 10 minute blood test. Hmmm. maybe I am just 
more independent in this.

  

This is the lovely "internal ultrasound" machine.  I took this picture to text to mick telling him what he was missing out on.  So gross, TMI I know.

Becoming a needle junkie

Starting on March 7th I began a medication called puregon, which basically stops your brain from controlling your hormones and shuts down your system so that the doctors can override it.  Its a nasal spray that you do 5 times a day.  Thinking nasal spray, I was excited because its not a needle!  But the 5 times a day gets a little brutal and its very time sensitive, so I would run out of meetings or mid meal with my mother, run to use my "sniffer".  After that begins to do its business, the injections begin.






March 22 2011 injections

Starting injections

When I first thought of injections my mind tends to distance itself
and not really think about it.  I figured it isn't that big a deal.  When
The pharmacist began explaining it to me I began to gag and freak
out.  I was not calm.


I decided to freak out instead about the things I can control. Aeroplan
Points.  There is a pharmacy inside the RFP clinic but you also have
the option to send it wherever you would like.  I chose to send it to my
local pharmacy where I get lots of airmiles and figured the positive 
outcome from this whole thing would be enough points to fly somewhere
cool!  However, the RFP clinic has all of the drugs in stock.  You have 
to order them 24 hours in advance at my pharmacy.  NO big deal right?  
Well I showed up at my first "base ultrasound" appointment today and
they managed to prescribe me the ONE brand that isn't covered by my 
insurance.  We are talking thousands of dollars here, so I asked if they 
would mind switching.  They didn't mind but I needed to start THAT DAY.
So I ended up picking up the smallest dose from the RFP pharm and ordering
the rest from the local pharm.  


I run down to the rfp pharmacy to get a gonal f pen. When I get the
instructions I feel squeamish about the needle. It has to be injected
at a 90 degree angle and the entire needle must be inserted. Nasty.

After I inject the first day it's not such a big deal.


Brooke

IVF Information Session - The Beginning of the Journey

At the Regional Fertility Program (RFP) in Calgary, all patients are required to attend an IVF information session prior to beginning their treatment.  I find that for women who are actually the people GOING THROUGH the whole procedure, we are fairly well researched.  For the men, however, I found they appreciated the knowledge and coming from a doctor telling you she will be bloated and moody, its definatley more reliable.  


We made the decision to do IVF and paid our $200 to be on the waiting list the week of Christmas.  Funny enough, the wait for the info session took the longest.  The ended up offering me treatment and then squeezing me into an earlier (full) session.

* Warning, these are my journal entries from the actual day they happened, and so emotional outbursts must be taken with a grain of salt*

Ivf info session -feb 24th 2011

I just waited 3 months to get in to a mandatory information session to
proceed with my in vitro process. I walked into the cramped university
auditorium and was shocked at just how many people were facing similar
fates to ours.

As I walked out the door I thought "I am just about to make the biggest
purchase of my entire life besides a house or car and its on something
everyone else gets for free, usually on accident, and doesn't always
want"

Aren't I lucky?

Do you want to know?

So I have my little journal entries on my phone I typed up in all of my crazy doctors appointments and all my venting in the process of getting to where I am today.  I want to put it on here so when I print my blog I have it, question is.  Do you want to read it?  I am over the personal feelings of shyness so I don't care either way.  What do you think?  TMI or interesting?  To publish or not?

Bad Dreams

Whenever I have a restless night of sleep I always dream about school. It usually involves me showing up to school on the day of finals, realizing that I haven't been to class all semester long!  I am going to fail my test.

I also have dreams that I can't figure out what class I have next in my schedule.

Does this mean I am crazy?  Anyone else have reoccurring dreams?

Mystery?

Clue #1

Clue #2

Surprise!!!!

Jett is going to be a big brother x2 starting around Christmas time this year!

I love that when Jett want me to do something he starts by calling me "mommy" which is quickly followed by "Brooke"!!!!

Silly boy.