Today I wrapped up things at work and brought a few things home to take next week off. I typically use 1-3 days of sick leave a year so this feels really strange. My work can bring some highly stressful moments and I want to give these embryos the best possible chance to stick and stay! In my work, I constantly deal with people and situations where it's not unusual for me to contact law enforcement a few times during the month. That's not the kind of adrenaline rush that I want these embryos to experience from the start! Instead I will be filling my time with positive thoughts, blogging, light spring cleaning, watching TLC (skipping A Baby Story for now) and basically doing whatever
I had an acupuncture appointment this afternoon. I told Dr. C. about the transfer tomorrow and he got to work doing his Eastern medicine thing. I told him to make me a good statistic with the correlation between acupuncture and pregnancy success rates! He said it has to do with an overall improved health state and balanced energy. Fine, improve and balance me! For anyone who's considering it, my experience is to lay facing up while he puts in 6-8 needles at various pressure points. He turns a heat lamp on and I lay there for awhile listening to the Chinese restaurant music. The needles do not hurt... maybe a teeny tiny sting here and there but (if so) that only lasts a second. After IVF, acupuncture really is a treat that involves needles! Anyway, I do this for about 20 minutes or so, then turn on my stomach and he does the same thing on my back and finishes with massage. I always leave feeling relaxed, which is a big accomplishment for me.
Tonight was PIO shot #3 and SIL turned the job over to PC. He did a great job, A++! He's so cute back there giving me the play by play "one fourth is in, now one half, now three fourths, almost done..." although I'm not going anywhere! The shot is not so much a problem as the soreness the next day. I have no idea how to make it better. I put ice on before, massage the area and put heat on it afterwards but the next day my hips hurt! Tomorrow morning I have instructions to insert a progesterone capsule vaginally and lay there for 20 minutes. Seriously?!? That should be interesting... I mean, does it really absorb or just hang out there for awhile? Thinking out loud here although anyone is welcome to educate me on the progesterone pill that goes MIA.
I've wondered a lot these past three days about what really goes on in the IVF lab with our egg+sperm. I don't know about you, but it was a weird feeling for us to think that we were busy making an embryo 79 miles away from home! So, I did a little Internet browsing and came across this IVF clinic's website. It has a really good video called 'virtual tour of our IVF lab' that answered a lot of my questions. It also has an image gallery of embryos that really was helpful for me to understand the grading system. This medical technology is just amazing. The embryologists have to be so careful... my worry wart self was thinking "oh please don't let them drop our petri!"
Now that I've rambled with these random thoughts, I am going to try and hold my eyes open long enough to read a few blogs and then get some sleep for the big day!
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i would totally skip the ice with the pio shot because it may be causing the oil to pool more in you--warm oil of course diffuses better than cold oil pooling in your hip. i always used emla numbing cream before (rx lidocaine cream that you leave on you for about 30 min covered with plastic wrap....i swear people do this, as i got the idea from the peds oncology clinice i worked at) and ran the syringe of poi under warm water for a bit (not the whole vial and not to make it hot, just about body temp) before injecting it. that combination of prep left me with no soreness or lumps even after doing it for 11 weeks every night. i'd also recommend wearing a liner with the fab progesterone vag crap. personally, i opted for pio twice a day just to skip that stuff. anyways, hang in there...hope your transfer goes awesome.
Wishing you lots of luck with the transfer. Ours in on Sunday, and I'm also pretty nervous.
We've been doing heating pad, PIO heating pad, but looking at EBC's comment, that is the second time I've heard the warming the shot a little beforehand helps. I asked the nurse about it, and she said she'd never heard of it, but I think I might try that tomorrow because my butt/hips are really starting to get sore, despite DH's mad skills and the 2 minutes of massaging afterward.
Best of luck tomorrow. I hope you get to look back and say "that was it!"
Oh yes- the sore ass is not my favorite part of IVF. I SWEAR by Trameen anti-inflammatory cream right after the massage part of the PIO. Just massage a tiny bit more of that on the area and it worked wonders. I was blown away by how much it helped, really.
As for the progesterone suppositories- they're lying if they say they "absorb" or disappear. Oh no, no no no. You'll see it slowly streaming out for the next several hours. The progesterone does it's job, but the actual pill definitely let's its presence be known. It's like a continuous white period. Ha, lovely! Get yourself some good liners...and settle in for (hopefully!!!) a long relationship with progesterone. Our doctor gave us the option of PIO or the suppositories. I switched to a less oily suppository that doesn't need to be refrigerated and went with that b/c my hubby isn't around every evening to give me the shot and I don't want to have to find someone or try to do it myself.
I'm so excited for tomorrow!!! Good good good luck!!!! I know those little ones are growing strong right now, just gettin' ready for their 9 month home. They can't wait either!
I'm so excited for you! I can't wait to hear how everything goes. PIO shots were the worst for me, there were a few times I couldn't walk without limping the next day, so sore! I never found anything that really helped except putting heat on the site for a little while.
good luck! i'll be thinking of you today and sending lots of fertile thoughts!
Good luck! Taking a week off from work sounds just perfect (as does that acupuncture session...a massage at the end? luck you!)
I love acupuncture, and I love when other people love acupuncture. :) It's great when Eastern and Western medicine can work together!
The progesterone supps are just going to be gooey. I don't care if you lay down for 5 minutes, 20 minutes, or an hour...it's going to be oozing out of you all day. Definitely invest in some good panty liners!
First of all, HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!
Glad to hear that you are getting along well with the PIO injections. My heating pad has become my favorite thing! I sit on it all evening after our PIO.
I also wanted to warn you about the suppositories, and second all the earlier comments. I learned the hard way and actually soaked thru my panties and pants leaving a big wet looking oily spot. beyond embarrassing. I will NOT be going without a panty liner again!
I am sitting here one day after transfer just a nervous wreck. But this post really helps me. I just feel so out of control but videos like what you have introduced gives me a little bit of more insight what is going on. Thank you?:)
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