And then there's the night we added shots

Today is 3dp5dt in the IVF World.  Known to non-IVF savvy folks as "3 days past 5 day transfer".  I have 5 more days until my pregnancy blood test.  The past few days have been good, but weird.  I think I understand now why this week can be tough - you sorta feel like you're in the Twilight Zone.  Like for the most part, you feel fine and normal, but you COULD be pregnant, but then life goes on as usual, but in a few short days you'll know whether to be ecstatic or devastated.  I wouldn't say this waiting is HARD so much as just weird.

But really, isn't all of IVF like the Twilight Zone?

So we've had a bit of good news and a couple bits of bad news.  Which do you want first?  OK, I'll pick for you - bad news:

• I have a cold
• We had to add progesterone injections

And the good news:

• I'm pretty sure I saw implantation spotting!

The cold:

Yesterday I was feeling a little dizzy and I had the faintest feeling in my sinuses/throat that I was coming down with something.  It wasn't significant, but I kept feeling like any minute I'd be sure I had a cold.  Well this morning I woke up and definitely have a cold.  But I think because of all the vitamins and supplements I'm on - my body is really holding it at bay.  It's like "cold lite".  Guessing it will dissipate quickly with all the rest I've been getting. 

"Newp, you're not getting through, cold!"

The implantation bleeding:
So I have to admit that I was a little excited when I woke up yesterday, went into the bathroom to pee and when I wiped I saw just a bit of light pink/light brown.  Since starting the Crinone over a week ago (actually since the last day of my period) I haven't seen even a tinge of any color when wiping.  So to suddenly see just the faintest bit of light pink/brown made me feel like it really could have been implantation bleeding.  I never saw it on my liner, but noticed it about 3 times when wiping yesterday (2dp5dt) morning-noon.  Then just a teensy bit this afternoon and evening (3dp5dt).  It's not so much spotting since I've been administering the Crinone twice a day.  (Sorry for the TMI but...) kinda more like little bits of the Crinone gel residue were tinted light brown - this residue tends to build up a bit and then come out in small bits/chunks.  So it can be hard to gauge when the bleeding might have happened but this is still within the appropriate time period!

I happened to email Dr. A about something else and mentioned that I saw this yesterday, and she told me two things.  1) yes, with the timing and description it definitely sounds like implantation bleeding 2) just to be sure it's not my lining starting to break down, she wanted me to pop in and check my progesterone levels, to make sure I'm absorbing enough from the Crinone.

This leads me to...

The shots:
So I ran over to Dr. A's office (I did not run - I'm still "taking it easy" so driving there was my first trip out of the house since my transfer on Monday).  They took a blood draw from me and I headed back home to sit on the couch.  I knew it wasn't great news when I got a call from Dr. A later that evening.  They only call when it's important...  She told me that there's nothing to worry about, but my progesterone level was lower that she wants it to be.  It was 3.8 ng/mL and she wanted it to be around 10 ng/mL.  Progesterone levels do fluctuate all day long so merely waiting 20 minutes could have given me a reading of 10 ng/mL.  Here's a graph which shows how levels fluctuate (for women on Crinone).   She also said it could be that my uterus is absorbing all of it and so it's not showing up in my blood, BUT it also could be that my body isn't absorbing it as well as she'd like,  so just to be 100% safe she wanted me to add the dreaded... (*dun dun dun*) progesterone-in-oil injections.

NO!  Anything but progesterone shots!!!

I think everyone knows someone who's done progesterone shots nightly for their entire first trimester.  They're administered in your butt muscle and apparently hurt like a MOFO (which of course stands for "man on fire outdoors".......... right?)  But even though they're so dreaded and painful it's so worth it in the end (it's ALL worth it in the end!)  So I was doing happy dances and obnoxious whooping and hollering when I learned that Dr. A would be putting me on the Crinone gel applicators instead of PIO shots.  Back in my face, huh?  Now I'm on both...  This road is never easy.

Progesterone is really important early in pregnancy.  It keeps the uterus from contracting and the lining from breaking down and essentially maintains the pregnancy until the 2nd trimester when the placenta takes over.  Women who get pregnant (the embryo implants) could lose the pregnancy if there is insufficient progesterone.  We don't want that.  We really don't want that!

So I'm glad we caught this early and I'm glad I have a hubby who is not squeamish.  I called him as soon as I knew so that he could get his head around More Shots before he just walked in the door and I showed him the 1.5" needle.

I learned a lot about PIO shots in the length of about 30 minutes searching online.  We are, of course, old pros at filling a syringe with medicine and switching needles, etc.  But I was most concerned about WHERE exactly that needle needed to go and how I could avoid (as much as possible) the painful next-day soreness which is the reason these shots are so dreaded.

Here are lots of videos for you.  This one was the most helpful for us but this one was also good to reference (at 0:24 and 1:00 for the butt diagrams).  This is the one Dr. A sent me.  All of these combined made us totally ready for the shot.  There are a few things to be aware of:

• the upper butt muscle is probably the least painful muscle to receive the shot since you don't use that muscle very much. The shot CAN go in your thigh, but it will hurt like an even bigger MOFO ("man on fire, etc...) since you use your thighs so much each day
• you must avoid your sciatic nerve which runs through your butt - if you hit it you can cause nerve damage, just stay in that upper-outer-quadrant and you'll be fine (my 2nd vid in the previous paragraph shows this best)
• ice the area for about 5 minutes before the shot and heat the area for about 20 minutes afterwards
• after giving the shot, try to massage the area to spread the medicine out as much as possible and if needed try a foam roller (or even a professional massage) to rub the soreness out as days go by

We survived the first one.  The shots in IVF are NEVER as bad in reality as they are in your head.  And of course, in a way I hope there are a lot more to come!

Yay! We survived!!

Now a quick recap on how I've been feeling each day after transfer:

1 Day Post Transfer:
Really felt no different than on transfer day.  I tried to move around a bit more than I did yesterday just to make sure my blood was circulating well.  And by move around I mean actually heating up my own food in the kitchen instead of having Hubby do it!  Watched a lot of TV, read a lot on my iPad and got a lot of hours of sleep.  I might have noticed a very faint soreness in my breasts in the evening.  Not when/if I pressed on them, but more like as I moved around.

2 Days Post Transfer:
In addition to the few wipes of (hopefully?) implantation bleeding I saw in the morning, I also felt just the SLIGHTEST bit nauseous.  Just in the morning and it went away after I ate something.  But now realizing that I have a cold I wonder if it isn't related...just a slightly messed up equilibrium.  No more breast soreness so perhaps that was nothing.

3 Days Post Transfer (today):
Again felt that ever so slight nausea this morning before eating.  But still attributing any dizziness/nausea/headache to my cold more than anything else.  Been feeling great overall - like just totally normal.  I noticed a teensy bit more spotting this afternoon and just before bed.  Less than yesterday (and yesterday was quite insignificant) but hopefully it IS significant!  I had a follow-up acupuncture appointment today and will have another one on Monday.  It's SO relaxing - I think I almost fall asleep in there!

Thanks for coming along with me on this crazy journey.  Please think happy thoughts for my bootie (and our little bun)!