I don't have time to write much because I'm busy getting everything at work set so that I can be out for my EGG RETRIEVAL TOMORROW but I just wanted to share this incredibly gross photo of what my stomach looks like after ten days of stims.
Don't worry, it's Instagrammed in black and white so technically that makes it art.
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| Don't do (fertility) drugs, kids |
Thoughts on this photo....
- No, those dots aren't all needle marks. I'm just freckly.
- And no, that's not an especially dark bruise in the middle, my belly button is a just a black hole.
- If you found this blog because you're about to start IVF and now you're terrified, don't worry - none of these shots hurt when I got them, and none of the bruises hurt now.
- For some reason I was much brusier this time than last time. Maybe because of the increased doses?
- Henry is better at doing shots than me - I had to give myself three of the shots and I think I left two bruises.
- There are a few bruises from early in the process that have faded, so this isn't even all of them. And some of these aren't as dark as they were a few days ago.
- But on the bright side, my arms did so much better this time. The nurses hit my vein on the first try every time, and I could even wear short sleeves around someone unobservant.
Cross your fingers for my retrieval tomorrow! This morning there were 9 follicles in the right size range, but my estrogen is still holding steady in the 1300s, which indicates 6-7-ish eggs. So I'm curious to see how things go. Either way, everything is getting ICSIed (despite what our insurance thinks is necessary, so bye bye, $500), so hopefully we'll get better fertilization and by this time Wednesday I'll have lots of maybe babies snug in their petri cribs!
Good luck! It seems like this cycle came fast! I had my hydro rechecked with another HSG test and boom, tubes are clear. Hopefully yours are too!
ReplyDeleteI know, it really did! I love how quickly everything is moving this time. Hopefully the two week wait will go fast, too.
DeleteThat's great about your hydro going away! The more I read, the more I wonder if that happens more often than we think. I heard this great radio segment about a book on medicine a while ago (unfortunately I can't remember what it was called), and the author was saying that while doctors have gotten really good at knowing when to operate, they're still not very good at knowing when NOT to operate. That idea has stuck with me as I've gone through this. I'm not saying that the surgery isn't great for people who need it, but maybe not every hydro automatically needs to be removed.