It has been many weeks of waiting around for
this October cycle. To recap, my husband and I are pursuing a frozen donor egg
cycle across country after three failed IVF cycles. We picked a donor and have
eight frozen donor eggs waiting for us in Texas. Unfortunately, with the
adventure of a clinic out of state comes the stress of waiting around and doing
absolutely nothing, tapping your foot anxiously while thinking about flights to
be booked, rental cars to be claimed and time that is needed to be off work. It
all came down to the start of my cycle.
I had spoken with a nurse from the clinic two
weeks ago about medications, and she told me to pick them up and then call with
the start of my cycle. After looking at them, I realized there was a big change
in what I usually have done for medications. I expected the estrogen pills and
patches, but the doctor had also ordered a steroid called Prednisone, and
Motrin for the day of the embryo transfer. Wait, I thought to myself, where
is my Valium? What am I supposed to take to make me loopy and relaxed when I
get knocked up? Why do they want me on Prednisone? And son of a bitch, is that
two milliliters of progesterone in oil? I've always just had to do one! I can't
inject two milliliters of progesterone in my butt!
Ah, do you need a reminder of what
progesterone in oil is? Never heard of it? It's exactly how it sounds. Oil,
with progesterone in it. Injected into my buttocks by my husband who thinks
it's OK to burp loudly at the dinner table. The muscle must be thoroughly
rubbed after it's injected, to spread out the oil into my muscle so it doesn't
cause painful lumps that pretty much make sitting impossible. It's done every
night for at least two and a half weeks, and if I am pregnant, it will continue
through the first trimester. I am making a life-changing journey across
multiple state lines to get an embryo transferred into me and all I can think
about is the double dose of oil that will be injected into me by a
needle-wielding boy.
I ended up emailing one of the nurses a
hopefully-not-very-snotty message asking why I'm on this, why I'm not on
that and, for the love of all things holy, why do I have to be on this
double-dose? Then I sent a text to my friend who went through an FET
(frozen embryo
transfer) and asked her why they would put me on these medications. Her
response?
"Well, Risa, the Prednisone can help
with implantation by helping your uterus accept the baby and not fight it off
as foreign. The Motrin is for cramping because they want you to be as relaxed
as possible to allow for implantation. And the extra progesterone is to give
you the best chance possible that your embryo will stick around. So for
Heaven's sake, stop being a whiny brat and questioning everything they do!"
(I may have exaggerated the last part).
So after being reassured, feeling bad and
then feeling worse when the nurse replied back and told me the same thing, I
meekly went to pick up my prescriptions. Luckily, I only paid a grand total of
$37.50 for everything. To put this in perspective, the medications for my last
fresh IVF cycle cost over $2,000.
That was on a Friday. I just knew my period
would come Monday, Tuesday at the latest, and maybe even early over the weekend
(squee!!) And then Monday passed. And Tuesday. By Wednesday, I was incessantly
going on bathroom breaks at work, and took a pregnancy test because that is
always what would bring on my period on in the past. That evening I got in a righteous
fight with Chris, hollering that knowing my luck, I would skip my period this
month, and we probably just won't ever have a baby because I won't ever
menstruate again. And then I had the urge to pee, and I went to the bathroom
and promptly started my period.
The next morning I called the clinic in Texas
only to be told that I had to have a baseline ultrasound and blood work first
and then results had to be reviewed with the doctor before any dates would be
decided. So I had to wait for orders to be sent to my local clinic, schedule an
ultrasound with them, rush off after a work meeting to my clinic, complete the
ultrasound, and wait for the results to get sent to the clinic in Texas.
I finally got a call at 4:00 from a nurse
telling me the results look good, and we can look at a transfer date of October
29th, and need to be in Texas by the 23rd. These dates
are entirely dependent on how I respond to the medications, if my uterine
lining is cooperating. I’ve never had problems in the past with this, but there
is always the potential. “But I have to book our flights, and how am I supposed
to know for sure right now?” I croaked to her. I wanted her to understand how
stressed out I was coordinating all this.
I went out on a limb, requested the days off
work, and called Chris to tell him the dates. He in turn booked the flight and
now we just pray everything works out and the dates don’t get pushed back. I
will start the estrogen pills and patches in a few days, we have consent forms
to sign and notarize, and the rest will fly by.
I can’t believe we're this
close.Labels: Doctor Appointment, donor egg, Marriage, mom.me