and it begins

that, friends, is the stockpile of prescription drugs that is now in my house. i started a cycle of IUI with ovulation induction today, and boy, are there a lot of meds involved.

i started spotting tuesday night, and sure enough by yesterday at noon my period had started. i called the fertility institute and they told me to come in this morning. meanwhile, my meds were being delivered to school in their HUGE boxes. i was a bit taken aback by exactly how much there was. i think the security guys at school are pretty curious about what on earth i had delivered in three fairly large boxes. i brought some of it home yesterday and the rest today, since i couldn't carry it all on the train at once.

last night i was pretty freaked out. just seeing four out of the five drugs that i was getting and knowing that three of them are injections, and seeing the sheer number of needles in my possession was overwhelming to say the least. the hubby and i went out to dinner and shared quite a bit of wine to ease my nerves... one of the only benefits of getting my period!

but this morning i went to the doctor bright and early and got the lowdown from one of the lovely nurses, and i am feeling a lot more calm about the whole thing. they did an ultrasound to make sure my uterus and ovaries and everything were still looking normal (they were) and took some blood to check my initial hormone levels and make sure all was well there. (it mostly was. more about this in a bit.) next the nurse pulled out my huge file labeled with my last name and "IUI CYCLE 1." she gave me an inventory sheet that i had to bring home and fill out with the exact numbers of all the drugs i have. she told me that the reason i have such an ungodly amount is because they sort of play a game with the insurance. she said they up the prescriptions to their max so that patients can actually get more than they need for each cycle, meaning that they actually have the drugs for more cycles. so my worries about only being able to afford 1.75 IUI cycles may be put to rest.

so for right now, i only need to give myself one injection a day of the follicle stimulating hormone that will help my ovaries get more than just one egg ready to possibly be fertilized this cycle. that drug is called gonal. i also have another one (also an injection) called ganirelix, which prevents premature hormone surges that could mess up my cycle, and another one (also an injection) called enoxaparin (brand name lovenox) that helps make sure early pregnancies aren't miscarried. i don't have to deal with either of them for now. i also have a progesterone vaginal suppository (not sure when i start using that) and i will be getting the ovulation trigger shot (HcG) soon. those are the ones that had already been ordered. today the nurse prescribed me two more... you know, because i didn't have enough as it was.
the first new one is metanx, which is a super duper folic acid and b-vitamin supplement. apparently the regular folic acid i've been taking doesn't cut it. and then she also prescribed me metformin, which is a drug for the control of hypoglycemia. she said that the bloodwork they ran this morning showed one of my levels slightly elevated, and it was completely a precaution but just in case i have to take this additional drug. sigh.

then she told me she'd help me administer my first injection. mind you, i haven't been too nervous about that. i'm not squeamish. she showed me how to get the solution ready, which is kind of like a chemistry experiment. there's a vial of powder and a special needle and a syringe filled with water. first you inject the water into the powder and mix it around. then you take that big needle off and put on a different one. she gave me some to use instead of the ones that came with the meds because they're safer to use (they have a safety cap). you put that needle on, make sure there are no air bubbles, and then inject it into your thigh, right in the middle on the top of your leg. easy enough, right?

it was so much harder than i imagined. as my friend said, it's kind of unnatural. we spend a lot of our lives trying to avoid getting stabbed by things. doing it intentionally feels... well, wrong. i actually tried three or four times and just couldn't do it. then, finally, i made myself think and chant in my head, "baby, baby, baby..." and bam -- i did it. and it was like nothing at all, the stab itself, anyway. the injection of the medicine was a little more uncomfortable. it made my muscle sore and achy immediately. that lasted for a couple of hours. but then it was over. and i don't have to do it again until tomorrow morning.

i felt a bit light-headed and a little nauseous for much of the day, but i'm feeling mostly normal now. and i have no clue if the meds are to blame for that. could also be nerves or my period or the that i had coffee this morning (the other good part of getting my period!) who-knows-what else. i go back to the doctor on monday, when the presumably will fill me in on the next steps of this process. that will be day 5 of my cycle. my friend who's gone through this process a bunch of times said they will probably do another ultrasound to see how my follicle are developing and maybe alter my doses of the injections based on that (another reason i have so many extras). i won't be thrilled if i have to start giving myself more than one a day, but i am prepared to do whatever at this point. more to come!