Woohoo! I did it.

Ok, anxiety over nothing this time.  I was a little anxious last night and this morning getting everything ready, but I did it!!  My first PIO since my last pregnancy is done.  I knew I could do it, because I've given myself well over 100 of these things over the last couple of years, but none the less, the first one is always the hardest.  That needle is intimidating!



The needle on the right is the draw needle, the one on the left is the one to inject with.

I got everything laid out and ready.  I printed my cross, so that I would remember where I'm supposed to inject.  So many people think it's so far back, but it's really closer to the side.  It is the upper, outer quadrant of the hip.  The cross works perfect.  I did this the first couple of times my last journey too until I got accustomed to the spot without it.  I just inserted a shape into a word document, printed it and cut it out.  See, #1 below for the final result.  Then I drew a line with a pen along the edges (doesn't have to be perfect), but I then have a better idea and I can do the same on the other side next time.

Oldest DS was nice enough to take all the pictures for me (except for the cross, that was DH).  He always does such a great job and I'm so blessed they are so supportive. 
 


               

Lay out all the materials                                                 #1 - Place cross.  Line up the horizontal

                                                                                          line with crack.(sorry, no better way to

                                                                                          describe it) Then just put the vertical

                                                                                          line in the middle.



        

#2 - Clean the top of the bottle.                             #3 - Clean the area you will inject. 

                                                                                Go in a circle, starting in the middle and go out.



     

#4 - Draw meds, then switch out the needles.    #5 - Inject needle - Make sure to relax

                                                                            the leg on the side you are injecting into.

                                                                            This will help keep the muscle relaxed.



    

#6 - Aspirate                                                     #7 - Inject meds.  I inject them very slowly.

                                                                          This helps with lumps.  For .5 mL, I usually

                                                                          count to 10-15 and for 1 mL, to 20-30.

I tried not to let myself think about it too much, because I knew then I would have a harder time doing it.  I did forget to have the heating pad ready to heat up the meds and then apply for a short time afterward, so had to re-clean everything before actually doing the injection.  I always heat up the meds before drawing it up because PIO is very thick and heating it makes it inject a little more smoothly.
 

Also, after I finish the injection, I massage the area and then put the heating pad on the spot for about 10 minutes or so.  Don't let it sit too long, because you don't want to warm your body up too much. 

 

 

Everything went great and I only hope the others are the same.  ; )  One down, 90 or so more to go.  hehe

 

 

I also start my other meds today.  I will be adding Medrol, Azithromycin and Prometrium in addition to my existing Aspirin, Estrace and prenatal vitamins.  I will stop Lupron today as well.  Thank goodness for pill boxes, so I can keep it all straight.  5 more sleeps 'til transfer.





Getting Anxious

Tomorrow morning is the big day. Well, not THE big day, but the BIG day. LOL!  The day I start PIO. The big 1.5 in needle,  IM (intramuscular) injections.  I did them for 12 weeks when I was pregnant with baby "E", but that was well over a year ago at this point that I had to do one, so it's always a little bit intimidating starting back up.  I always did them at night before, but the calendar says to do them in the AM, which is fine.  Some people say it's actually a little better since it may let the meds distribute a bit more due to getting up and around.  Eeeeeek!!!

Kid's say the funniest things.

I picked up DD today from school and she asked me, "Are you babysitting?"  I asked her, "What?" (thinking that maybe DH had invited some of their friends over)  "You were gone, and (oldest DS) told me you were babysitting (and pointed to my belly)."  I told her not yet, but I would be soon.  She is so sweet and I'm so blessed and thankful that all my kids "get it".  I'm so glad that I've always used the term "babysitting" because everyone understands what that means and it truly is what I'm doing.....just in utero.  ; )  Getting so close and I'm so excited!

Great appointment and visit!!

Got to the hotel in Houston a little after 10pm last night.  Definitely a bit exhausting to make that drive after working all day, but I think it beat getting up at 3am to make the same drive.  My appointment was at 8am and C and I had discussed just meeting at the clinic at 7:45am.  C & W were both going to come, along with C's mom M.  C's Mom has been staying with her to help her recover from her surgery.  It's funny how things work out sometimes, as I parked and started to head in, I had already gotten on the elevator and realized I had forgotten my phone, so went back up one floor to go back to the car to get it.  As I was almost to the car, I saw a vehicle pull in that looked like W's and sure enough, it was them.  Timing couldn't have been better.  I was introduced to her Mom and we all walked in together.  C looked great and I couldn't believe that she had just had major surgery just a week and a half before.  She had a follow up appointment yesterday and they removed one of her drain tubes (on the right side), which is great and means that the healing is going well. 

When we got upstairs, we checked in and got to visit a bit before they called us back.  C came with me (for the fun part) and W and M waited in the lobby.  We went back for the ultrasound and "physical" first.  Dr. M actually did the ultrasound, so it was nice to see her and get to talk to her a little bit, as well as ask a couple of questions.  Everything was great!!  My lining was at an 8.6!!!  Yea!!!  I'm so glad that I asked them to start the vaginal Estrace early, so that we didn't have to push the transfer back.  I was so afraid we would have to cancel and move it to August since I can't take any time off before or after due to other colleagues being on vacation.  I asked Dr. M about my Estrogen level being so high after the first check and if it could cause any issues or be "too high".  She said that it can only be "too low" and that a high number doesn't really impact the cycle as much.  That was definitely good to hear. 

After we finished the exam, C and I headed over to get my blood drawn.  Such fun!  They took 9 vials all together.  8 the first time and 1 the second time.  Yes, I said 2nd time.  She had pulled vials for all of the FDA required labs, but forgot to pull one for my second E2 check.  Ugh!  Good thing I'm a pretty easy stick and I'm not afraid of needles.  She was really good too and didn't leave any bruising and was very apologetic that she had to do it again.  She kept saying, "I'm so sorry.  I always like to get them all at once."  It was quite funny though because they don't use traditional tape when your done.  They have some sticky bandage type material they wrap around.  This time it was bright, neon green.  I joked that I had on my Hulk bandages.  LOL!  As we were checking out, Barb came over to say that my E2 level was at 2815, which was fine.  Glad it hadn't shot up a ton since the first check on Monday.  She was so excited for us and I have to say that she does seem to be much more on top of things this time around.  We got all of the testing done early and I don't feel rushed, which is fantastic.  She said she would send me the updated calendar and that we were on for transfer July 5th.

C & I headed back to the lobby and we all headed to brunch.  It was still really early, a little before 9am, so I guess you could still call it breakfast.  C rode with me and I followed W and M.  We went to a place in City Centre called Flora & Muse (http://floraandmuse.com/index.asp), which was right by the hotel where I was staying.  We all ended up getting breakfast, since they didn't start serving lunch until 11:30am.  W is a lot like my DH in that I think he would've totally ordered lunch if they had been serving it.  C, her Mom and I all had the exact same thing.  We got to chat and had great conversation.  C's mom lives in the DFW area and coincidentally enough, not far from my work.  I think it will be nice having her close because if C & W aren't able to make an appointment, I figure her Mom could join me if she would like.  Her Mom is just as sweet as she is and has such a positive outlook too.  When we were done with breakfast, we had that hostess take a picture of the 4 of us and one of just the 3 of us as well.  We all headed back to the cars and I figured since I had a little bit of time before check out, that I would grab a short nap before making the drive back home. 

I got in a good 30 minute nap and then headed back home.  I was excited to see my DH and babies.  The drive wasn't too bad and I even made a little stop just South of Waxahachie.  I saw these Sunflower fields on my way down, but didn't really want to stop, but made a note on my phone where it was so I could stop on my way back.  They were amazing and SO big.  I've never really seen any up close before and when I looked even closer, the brown part is actually made up of a lot of tiny flowers (I think the seeds are in the middle of each one).  Beautiful!!  I had to take a few pictures and luckily, I know how to work the timer on my camera so you can see how really big they were. 

 

E2 Check - Results

Holy Estradiol Batman.  Our NC finally emailed me to let me know that she got my results from Monday.  Totally not her fault, as she has kept me in the loop that she was still trying to get them.  The results are 2277, which is really high.  Last time at this point, it was around 75 if I remember correctly.  It was odd because when she emailed me back, the first question was, "are you feeling ok?".  I told her aside from bloating, I really felt fine.  She reassured me that although it was high, it was nothing to worry about.

E2 (Estradiol/Estrogen) Check

Today was my first blood draw to check my E2, or Estradiol (Estrogen) level.  I'm able to get this done at the monitoring clinic here in FW thank goodness.  I can't imagine making a trip to Houston just to have my blood drawn. 

The weather was horrible and I definitely had a hectic morning, but it all worked out just fine.  Again, timing is everything (I'll get to that in a bit) because I ran into my surro-sister, Lisa, who was there for a lining check.  I've met her a few times and she is so sweet.  She is scheduled to transfer next week.  Definitely helped turn my day around a little.  I was running a little late to my appointment because of some car trouble.  Well, specifically, the motor on the back passenger window broke, so I couldn't roll the window up.  It was pouring down rain, so I had to stop at Home Depot and get some plastic and tape to make it to work in the rain.  Not fun!  You should've seen me.  I would've laughed....and I did.  Here I am in my dress and heels sprinting into Home Depot during a torrential down pour.  It was THAT bad.  Luckily I had my hoodie in the car, so that helped a little, but still.  You know there are no close parking spots at Home Depot.  It's just funny, that if I had been on time, we may have missed each other.  Hehe.  Now we just wait for the results.

Good news from the clinic

Excited that I got an email back from our NC that said I can do all of my monitoring here locally!!  Yea!  I'm so glad to hear that because I cannot take any time off from work between June 20th and transfer, because I have a colleague that will be out on sabbatical for those 3 weeks.  Definitely a relief for me.  Happy for some good news.  First ultrasound should be around the 17th.