FET#1 Update – Trigger Shot, Crinone and Hormonal Freakout

I have been incredibly fortunate to be able to work from home during each cycle   The hormones really, really take a toll on my emotions. For someone who has been dealing with severe anxiety for years, these added hormones can have a debilitating effect on me.

Friday was trigger shot day and I had to wait until 7PM to administer it. I spent all day worrying about it because of the needle phobe that I am. It ended up going very well. I used lidocaine and ice and hardly felt it except for a by while he was injecting the meds. We triggered with 10,000 units of Novarel this time. After about an hour I was sick to my stomach and tired so I went ahead and went to bed. I tossed and turned for the next two nights and spent the weekend feeling flu-ish. Just tired, lethargic, hurt to move. I remember feeling poorly the last time I had the full dose of HCG. I guess that is just how I respond. 

  
One thing I was worried about is how I would feel when I ovulated. I have not ovulated on my own during a medicated cycle. Both times resulted in egg retrievals. I don’t feel myself ovulate normally (if I do) so I didn’t know what to expect with 4 follicles growing and ready to pop. Well, I found out about 1AM Sunday morning when I woke up with sharp pains in my ovaries. Rarely does anything wake me from a deep slumber, but this did. Luckily it only lasted for a minute or so. Then took another hour to get back to sleep. 

I felt a little stronger yesterday and ran some errands and did some chores. Last night was the first night of Crinone (progesterone gel vaginal suppository). I was told to take it at bedtime so I would be laying down for an extended period of time and it would absorb better. It wasn’t much different from Monistat vaginal suppositories, with the applicator and the gel. It did feel a little strange and as I was laying there afterwards I did feel an increase in cramps (I have been cramping a bit on and off for days). Since I hadn’t gotten much sleep the past few nights, I took two benedryl to help me sleep. I know progesterone can help sleep too so I am not sure which it was, but I sleep like a baby last night! I physically feel better today than I have in about a week. 

  
I received a call from the doctor’s office today and it was one of Dr. Bohler’s fellows. We normally work with Dr. Gentry, but have seen Dr. Dondrik the past few scans. Both are very nice and approachable. She was calling to confirm our transfer for Friday and to ask how many embryos we wanted thawed. I told her we would like to transfer both. She said she would let Dr. Christensen (the embryologist) know. She also mentioned what we all already know…that there is a chance the snowbabies won’t survive the thaw or they won’t survive the thaw well.

This is something I am aware of, but as we approach transfer day, the worries that I placed in the little box in the back of my mind have come out to play. What if our snowbabies don’t survive the thaw? The embryologist said 80% survive. But that means 1 in 5 do not. What if we spent the last six months preparing and waiting to be reunited only to find out hours before the transfer that they didn’t make it? I am trying to push these fears away and focus on the positive. I really do feel like this is our time. However, it is hard to keep the crazy and the anxiety at bay when I have so many hormones coursing through my veins. I had a small panic attack while Chris was on his way home from work and I was able to calm myself with some deep breathing techniques. 
The next few days are going to be hard. Waiting to be reunited with our snowbabies and making sure they survive the big freeze. I will just take it minute by minute and focus on the positive. It feels even more real now we have confirmed we want to thaw both. That also means we will have none left if this cycle doesn’t work. But that’s not going to happen because this is OUR time. Please keep the prayers and positive vibes being sent our way!!

  

FET#1 Update – CD11 and Tomorrow’s Appointment

It is amazing how quickly and slowly time goes at the same time when you are cycling. I feel like we have been waiting for tomorrow (CD12) for forever…well we kind of have! But at the same time it’s crazy to me that we are already almost halfway through our FET cycle! 

I feel like there is so much pressure surrounding tomorrow’s appointment. The appointment on CD12 of a letrozole prep FET cycle is blood work and ultrasound. This appointment is going to tell us several things: 

• It will show how my body is absorbing the estrogen. I have been on 2mg Estrace for 4 days.
• It will show if my body responded to the letrozole. 
• It will show how many follicles are growing and what their sizes are. 
• Most importantly, it will show if my lining is above the 7mm threshold and is trilaminar (meaning three strips)

Based on the labs and ultrasound results we will find out….

• When we administer the HCG trigger shot to induce ovulation. We know it will be in the morning we just don’t know what day.
• When we start Crinone (progesterone suppositories). This will be the day after the trigger shot and I will be on 1 suppository 1x daily before bed. (Side note: SO excited no PIO shots!!!)
• Most importantly, when our transfer will be!! This will be on the 6th day of taking Crinone. 

So as you can see, tomorrow’s appointment is kind of a big one where we will get a lot of information and find out next steps. To me though, I feel like it’s an even bigger deal. Since we started this journey nine months ago, I have been focusing on milestones. The little accomplishments and steps in our journey that have moved us one step closer to our babies. For our first IVF these were our milestones:

• Clearing all the blood tests, SIS and HSG and get the all clear for IVF. 
• Banking and freezing Chris’s sperm in case for some reason he stopped producing again. 
• Starting injections and obtaining eggs at our retrieval (2 eggs retrieved)
• Using Chris’s sperm to successfully fertilize my eggs
• Transferring our embryos back, even though they were only Day 2 embies. 

When our first IVF cycle failed, we moved on to more milestones:

• Obtaining more eggs than IVF#1 – the doctors and nurses cheered when they got the 3rd egg. I ended up with 14!
• Getting our embryos to make it to blastocysts and be of a good enough grade to freeze (2 snowbabies in the freezer, one 3BB and one 3BB-)

Then it came time for our first FET and our next milestone:

• Grow a thick enough lining (7mm) and a nice trilaminar home for our snowbabies to proceed to transfer.

Well, that is the milestone that we haven’t been able to cross yet. This is our roadblock and what is holding us back from being reunited with our snowbabies. This is the milestone that we have been waiting months to pass. Tomorrow’s appointment will hopefully remove this road block and we can be on to our next milestone: Snowbabies surviving the thaw. This time tomorrow…actually, this time in a little over 12 hours, we will know if my lining has become a nice home for our babies. 

I am excited, but I am also reserved. I haven’t been as excited during this cycle as I thought I would be because in the back of my mind I am so concerned about this appointment and passing this milestone. I don’t even know where we go from here if my lining is still thin. I don’t want to think about it. Right now I am in a “failure is not an option” mode. And I am positive and hopeful for good results tomorrow, but I will definitely breathe a little easier after the appointment knowing that we are set to transfer next week. 

Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers. Every step of this journey is wonderful but it does take an emotional toll. I pray I will have good news for everyone tomorrow!! 

A brief note on side effects: I have definitely been more tired and dizzy. Every time I close my eyes the world spins. I have also been having cramps and twinges/pain in my ovaries. Sometimes very sharp pains. I feel bloated and my lower abdomen feels very “full”. I have had some mood swings but not nearly as bad as previously. I have been sleeping like a rock. 

  

FET#1 Update – CD3 Baseline

It has been 121 days since we started this transfer cycle. That is crazy! Well hopefully we won’t have to wait too much longer. I took my NuvaRing out on the 22nd and Aunt Flo arrived on the 27th. I emailed my nurse on the 28th to book my CD3 baseline ultrasound, only to find out my nurse has left the practice! Cue tears! She was my rock! She knew me and my case so well and was so caring and kind. I was quite upset when I found out she left but the new nurse seems to be very nice and is genuinely caring. Luckily my old nurse briefed my new nurse specifically on my case since it is a bit strange. I really appreciated that!

Anyways, we went in yesterday, CD3, for our baseline ultrasound. There were no cysts (thank God!) and everything looked great! I got a call from my doctor on my way home saying everything was great and we were all set to move forward with the letrozole. She wanted to confirm that since we didn’t do a trial of this protocol, that if everything looked good we could go ahead and transfer. Heck yes! Let’s get those snow babies back where they belong! So I started the letrozole last night. Here is the plan:

• I am to take two 2.5mg pills a day for 5 days which will put us at CD7.
• On CD8 I am to start 2mg Estrace (orally) until transfer.
• We go back on the 7th (CD12) to check my lining and we PRAY that it is above 8mm and is trilaminar.
• If everything looks good on CD12 they will instruct me when to take my HCG shot and they said it will be in the morning this time
• After the HCG shot, I will start Crinone 1x day until 10 weeks gestation
• Transfer should be on the 13th!

That’s all for now folks! I am just kind of laying low after the holidays, trying to get the house back in order and get back into the routine of things. I will post about any side effects from the letrozole. Especially since this is an unusual protocol for an FET!

 

 

 

 

FET#1 Second Time’s the Charm? E2 and Ultrasound Results

Expect the Unexpected. This has to become my mantra. I have to learn to let things unfold as God intended them to. I need to become okay with not being able to be in control or plan for things. Shit happens…

For the past two weeks, I have been diligently putting five estrogen pills up my hooha twice a day in hopes of thickening my lining enough for transfer. I have endured horrendously swollen feet, serious mood swings and nausea that hasn’t let me eat for days. All waiting for this appointment when I could find out what date we will be reunited with our snowbabies. After 5 weeks on estrogen and a blood estrogen (E2) level of 2840(!!), I just got the call…we are scratching this cycle.

This morning’s ultrasound kind of prepared us for this. My lining had improved. It went from 3.34mm two weeks ago to an average of 6.14mm (thickest at 7.42mm). Ideally my lining needs to be between 8mm-12mm for optimum implantation. I was hoping they would call and say that I just needed one more week on the estrogen…alas that did not happen.

One of Dr. Bohler’s new fellows who scanned me this morning called to break the news. I think the nurse is tired of giving me bad news so she is now pawning that duty off on to other staff members. Dr. G said that Dr. B is not happy with the way my lining looks and that our best bet is to scratch this cycle and start over. Instead of doing the exact same thing, we are taking a new approach. Actually, this approach is so new to the clinic that they have only done it on one other lady before me and that was as a trial because she would be out of town on the day of transfer. In her case, the protocol worked beautifully. So…what are we going to do? It is actually a more natural cycle which is nice. Here is the breakdown:

• Today: Stop taking Estrogen and begin Provera to bring on Aunt Flo
• Take Provera for 10 days (or until AF is strong)
• CD3 come into clinic for baseline blood work and ultrasound. At this appointment they will give me the prescription for Letrozole.
• CD3- CD7 take Letrozole to produce a follicle. This medication is an oral pill similar to Clomid that is used to induce ovulation for IUIs.
• CD8 begin taking one estrogen pill by mouth a day
• CD12 come into clinic for blood work and ultrasound to make sure I have a follicle growing
• CD12 if everything looks good I will be given an HCG shot to induce ovulation
• After ovulation, will use 1 Crinone applicator a day for progesterone support
• 5 – 6 days after ovulation we will go in for transfer

Okay, so I know its a bit confusing. It is an IUI/FET hybrid, however there are some major pros to this protocol

1. My lining reacted VERY well to the Gonal F during the fresh cycles so my likelihood of it reacting well to Letrozole is very high
2. It is a more natural cycle using more of my body’s naturally produced hormones rather than pumping it full of synthetic hormones
3. I won’t have to do PIO shots!!!!

Am I sad that our transfer will be postponed? Of course I am. I want to be reunited with our snowbabies as soon as possible. But I don’t want to put them into an environment where they don’t have a good chance of sticking and becoming our children. I will wait just a little longer if it means that improves our chances of getting to meet them and see their little faces one day. I am glad that the estrogen is over with and I can get back to somewhat of a semblance of normal life. I also believe that using my natural hormones will help. So the call to cancel this cycle was bittersweet, but I believe it is for the best. I am more positive about this new protocol. If you have had any experience with this type of protocol, whether IUI or FET, please let me know!

FET#1 E2 and Ultrasound

Wednesday the 23rd we had our appointment to check my blood levels and my uterine lining in the hopes of starting progesterone (PIO and Crinone) in the next few days for a transfer the week of October 5th. Well…just like everything else in this entire process, nothing goes according to plan. Expect the Unexpected.

I have never had an issue with my uterine lining. At all my baselines my lining was at least 5mm and over the course of the monitoring appointments during the fresh IVFs it became tri-laminar and around 12mm. We had no reason to doubt that this appointment would be anything but positive. And man, oh, man was I anticipating this appointment because it meant we could move on to the next step and get our snowbabies back where they belong. I barely slept the night before because I was so excited to learn when the next steps would happen and get a date for transfer. The past three weeks have felt so long and I have been having nothing but side effects from this estrogen. From everything I read, some of the estrogen side effects will subside once progesterone is started so I was actually getting excited to start PIO injections…something I never thought I would feel and also I am sure I will regret saying once we start them.

Anyways, we arrived at the doctor’s office bright and early as always and there was only one other person in the waiting room. I could tell she was excited and she started talking to us and asked how long we had been coming to the office. We told her we had been there since April and had gone through two IVF and this was our first FET. She said she had been coming since August and that she got a positive beta on her first IUI and was so excited. She went on and on about how she was called with the positive test and what the nurse said and yada yada. Me being emotionally unstable on all this estrogen, simply just looked at her and smiled. I didn’t trust anything that was going to come out of my mouth. I felt cynical. If you all don’t remember my current feelings about pregnant people see here. Luckily, the lab tech called us back for blood work right then. I am getting better at the blood work. I didn’t feel like I was going to pass out this time and it wasn’t too bad. Maybe IVF will really break me of my fear of needles. One can only hope.

After bloodwork we went back to the waiting room and Excited Newly Pregnant Lady was still there. She seem to now be engaged in doing something on her phone and didn’t want to rub her glee in anymore. Within a few minutes the ultrasound tech came to get us. It wasn’t the one that we liked and we don’t necessarily have a lot of confidence in her. We got to her ultrasound room and I assumed the position. I told her that from everything I know that my lining should be at least 8mm and that we shouldn’t have any problems since my lining is always nice and thick. She started the scan and of course my uterus didn’t want to play nice. It was being difficult to scan so she went to scan my ovaries first. The bruises on my left ovary were completely gone (yay) and everything looked good. My right ovary was nestled next to my uterus as usual and that one look good too. I think she counted 22 follicles on my left and 25 follicles on my right. Then she went to scan my lining. She took several measurements of my lining ranging from 2.5mm to 3.75mm. Cue disappointment. I said “Are you sure? Because my lining has always been at least 5mm” and she decided that since my uterus was difficult to scan that she would try and find a physician to come and look. When they were all busy she went to look for another ultrasound tech. Of course no one was available but she did track down a doctor who told her to take additional images on several different settings. She came back and did as she was instructed but she didn’t measure the lining again. By this time I was in tears thinking that there was something wrong with me and that our FET would be cancelled. Luckily I work at home on Wednesdays so I was able to come home and work and not have to worry about hiding my tears.

I waited all day for the nurse to call. I looked on Dr. Google (bad idea) to see what it means to take this much estrogen and have such a thin lining. I tried to find other that had had this situation and had success. I didn’t find anything. I drove myself crazy for hours. Normally the nurse calls around 1 or 2. Well, 3 o’clock came and I hadn’t heard a peep. I decided to call the nurse. I left her a voicemail and lied saying I was going into a meeting at 3:30 and was hoping to speak with her before then. I guess she was sitting by her phone and screening her calls because she called me back 2 minutes later. She said she was waiting to talk to Dr. Bohler but she knew what he was going to say. She said my blood estrogen level was good at 1004 which means my body is absorbing the estrogen it just isn’t getting to my uterus where it needs to be. She told me to add 2 estrogen pills in the morning and 2 at night. Meaning that my dose increased from 6mg of estrogen daily to 10mg…bring on the crazy! She booked me in for an appointment on October 6th to recheck everything and talked to Dr. Christensen, the embryologist, to see if it was okay to transfer the week after since they normally transfer the first full week of the month. Everything was okayed to move our transfer date back a week. I made sure to ask if there was anything medically wrong with me that might make my lining not responsive to the estrogen. She assured me that I am not alone and there are many women that this happens to and I just need a little bit more time. Sigh. The nurse then called back about an hour later and said she spoke with Dr. Bohler and I was to take all 5 pills twice a day…vaginally. Her exact words were to “cram them in there”…no joke…

Needless to say, the appointment did not go as planned. Yet another curveball thrown into our path. I have said it before and I will say it again: I need to learn that this is the way this world is. I cannot plan for things because everything changes on a dime. I need to learn to roll with the punches. And while I am getting better at relinquishing control and just letting things happen as they will, I am not fully there yet and may never be. I am trying to let go and let God. I trust in Him and His plan for us and our family. I remind myself of the Serenity prayer which I have tattooed on my wrists to remind me everyday to trust in Him.

FET#1 Days 9 – 14 – More Meds

So it has been about a week since I last posted. Honestly there hasn’t really been that much to tell, except my ranting and ravings as a lunatic on estrogen. I started taking the estrogen vaginally instead of orally and am happy to report that I no longer have nausea and can eat regular meals without them coming back up! I also am not as crazy as I was the first week. Still crazy…just not as crazy. Example: Last Thursday I was sitting at my desk at work and for whatever reason, I thought of the Sarah McLachlan ASPCA commercials with the sad kittens and puppies and I started crying. My boss looked at me, like what happened? And I had to explain that nothing happened, that commercial just popped into my head and made me cry.

  
I called the fertility pharmacy to order the Progesterone in Oil and Crinone. I had been putting it off because I know the cost was going to ruin my mood…you ladies know what I am talking about. For those that haven’t had to be on Crinone, it is expensive…and I will be on it twice a day until the 11th week of pregnancy which should be around Christmas. Each dose is around $20 so do the math on that and it’s $3,600. Ouch! That is how much ALL the meds for the stimming cycle cost! Well, it was a long shot but I talked to my insurance company to see if they would cover it since technically it’s not a fertility medication, it is a hormonal supplement. Well, they said it would require a prior authorization and we went through that process. I wasn’t expecting them to cover much if anything. The pharmacy called me the next morning and said that my insurance is covering 4 boxes of 15 applicators for 30 days! That is $1,200 worth of medication at zero cost to us! Cue happy dance! Also, my doctor ordered me Progesterone in Cottonseed Oil this time around because I had a bit of a reaction to the sesame seed oil last time. This is also supposed to be thinner so maybe, just maybe it won’t hurt as bad! I am not looking forward to the PIO shots again. I was thinking back to how miserable and sore my booty was after just 14 days of them last time and this time around I get the pleasure of having them for 90 days. I will get through it, just like I have gotten through everything else. I am just not all excited about that part.

  
In other news, we had a lazy Saturday and it was amazing. It seemed that we both rotated off taking naps because we were so tired. It was nice to have a peaceful and quiet house while Chris was sleeping. I got some painting done and was able to decompress a little and relax. Then on Sunday it was so beautiful outside that we did a lot of landscaping work. Chris handled the yard and I got to play with our new toy – a hedge trimmer! Those things are amazing (I never thought I would say that about a landscaping tool). I am very OCD and like things very, very even and just right and this tool helped me do it perfectly and quickly! Now the front of our house looks nice and pretty! We also cut back all the dying rose bushes on the side of our house and weeded the area. We have definitely been feeling sore from all the work we did but it looks great! Now…the inside of the house, not so much. We have to get that in order before transfer or I will drive myself crazy looking at it and not being able to clean it.

  
Last, but not least, we had a family trip to the doctor yesterday to get our flu shots. We were told by our IVF nurse to get them at least 2 weeks prior to transfer so it has enough time to build up protection in our systems. Normally I freak out at flu shots and refuse to look at the needle. This time I saw the needle and was like “What? That’s tiny!” and I hardly felt the shot at all. Maybe this whole IVF (specifically PIO) thing is curing me of my fear of needles! Or maybe at this point I am just too tired to care much anymore! Either way it is making doctor’s visits a little less stressful for me so I will take it.

  
As for how I am feeling? I am taking it day by day, hour by hour. The estrogen is really playing with my emotions and my ability to remain positive. I am excited about the transfer, but I don’t feel I am excited as I was last time. I attribute that to the hormones making me feel down and anxious. I am hoping as the date gets closer that I will become more excited. I just don’t really know what to say right now. I don’t want to sound like a downer because I am not. I am more just tired right now. Mentally. Physically. Emotionally. I feel like very little thing requires so much more effort and all I want to do is close my eyes and sleep until its time to transfer.

   
 

FET#1 The Plan

We finally received the paperwork in the mail that has a calendar of what medication to take and when. It is an extremely detailed piece of paper. Far more detailed than the paperwork for a fresh IVF cycle! I guess that’s because I took all the same meds at the same time every day. So here is the official plan:

• Current Medications: Prenatal Vitamins, Folic Acid 2mg, low dose Aspirin 81mg, NuvaRing (simply personal preference to OCPs)
• Monday August 31st – Baseline ultrasound and blood work to make sure my estrogen has returned to normal, that my ovaries are no longer the size of softballs and that I have no cysts. If any of those are present or abnormal we will have to wait another cycle. I am a bit apprehensive because I have been feeling some twinges that could indicate cysts, but I am choosing to be positive and believe they are nothing!
• September 2nd – start taking oral estrogen pills 3 times in the morning and 3 times at night every day.
• September 23rd – Monitoring ultrasound and blood work to check my estrogen level and thickness of my lining. Based on these results I will either be given a date to move onto taking progesterone or I will have to have my oral estrogen increased and possible add estrogen patches (anyone remember the craziness that I experienced on the estrogen patches?! My husband can never unsee the things I did).
• Date to be determined – when my estrogen level is where it is supposed to be and my lining is nice and thick and ready for our babies, then I will begin nightly Progesterone in Oil shots 1mg. In addition to the shots, I will also be on Crinone 8% vaginal gel suppositories twice a day. Once in the morning and once at night. I have to remain laying down for 1 hour after each dose. I think I would rather have more PIO shots then have to deal with this Crinone. However, ask me a few weeks after the PIO shots have begun, I may be changing my tune.
• Week of October 5th – this is our anticipated transfer. We are planning on transfering both embryos. We are literally putting all our our eggs in my basket…again. I have been prescribed 2 Valium. One to take 30 mins before leaving the house and the other to take when I get there. This is to help calm my uterus so it doesn’t contract. Uterine contractions during transfers are bad as the uterus can push the embryos out. So I will be nice and relaxed for our procedure.
• From there we will be given a day for our first beta!!
• If we get a positive beta, we will have to continue the 3 estrogen pills twice a day, Crinone twice a day and nightly PIO shots through the 11th week of pregnancy. This will fall the week before Christmas!! I would love a Christmas present of no more PIO shots!! Christmas is my favorite season (I used to put up the Christmas tree at Labor Day and have been told by coworkers that I am a real life Buddy the Elf). It would be serendipitous to be entering our second trimester the week of Christmas.

So, that is all I have at the moment. I am waiting until mid-September to order the PIO and Crinone. The nurse said she had some samples to give me since those little guys are like $20 a dose! I don’t want to do the math on $20 a dose twice a day for 12 weeks…so please, bring on the samples!!

In the meantime we have been working on the house. We have the bathroom and bedroom redone. I will post pictures soon! We have been taking the time to catch up with friends and enjoy being “normal” for a little longer before the craziness starts back up. Luckily, an FET seems less stressful than a fresh cycle so I am looking forward to that!! We are so excited to start this next step!!

The Revenge of Aunt Flo, Super Glue and…Hives?!

So this week hasn’t been the best week. Monday morning was comical and I felt like I was part of the Three Stooges. Aunt Flo decided to be a trickster and went away Sunday night and showed no sign on Monday morning so I headed off to work without any “supplies”. Wrong…so, so wrong. Thirty minutes into the work day she came back with a vengeance and it was a good thing my jeans were dark. Speaking of jeans, after I dealt with the Aunt Flo disaster, I went back to my desk. As soon as I sat down, the little metal button snap just popped right off! The metal button could be snapped back on the metal peg on the jeans, but it just wouldn’t stay. Me being the genius that I am immediately decided the best fix for this situation would be super glue…can you see where this is going? My coworker just happened to have some and instead of going to mend my pants in the restroom I just decide to superglue the button back on right there at my desk. I held the button in place for a good ten seconds and then I buttoned my pants, sat down and got back to work. 

All is well in the world for the next 30 or so minutes until I had a weird feeling and went to go check on Aunt Flo. Guess what I discovered? You guessed right! I superglued myself INTO my pants. So now, it is before 9am on a Monday morning with a fierce, heavy, unexpected Aunt Flo and I now have no access to handle the situation because I am stuck in my pants…I made my way back to my desk and hung my head in shame. I looked at my boss and explained the situation in the most professional way possible. I was met with hysterical laughter, but also compassion. It’s not every day your boss willingly offers to cut you out of your pants. While I was grateful for the offer, I decided since I didn’t have another pair of pants on hand that it would be best to go home to rectify the situation. After that, the rest of the day was uneventful. 

 

Cuddling with Oliver after cutting myself out of my pants

 
As the days of the week have gone by I noticed that I have been more on edge and highly irritable. Many things that don’t usually bother me have sent me into fits of rage. I think it’s the birth control that I started on Sunday. Luckily Aunt Flo did finally decide to leave by Tuesday. But even acupuncture on Wednesday didn’t make me feel better. Last week I was so calm and serene when I left and this week I was still crabby and impatient. 

So that brings us to today. I woke up and my booty was very itchy on either side where I was getting the progesterone in oil shots. I looked in the mirror and noticed I had developed raised red welts and hives exactly where the shots had been given. They got worse through out the day and I had Chris take a closer look when he got home. It isn’t the easiest thing to try and inspect your muffin top in a vanity mirror. He confirmed the welts and hives and I decided to call the doctor. I had heard of women having allergic reactions to PIO because of the oil, but I figured if I was allergic I would have known by now right? Apparently not. The doctor said that delayed reaction isn’t all that uncommon and I was having an allergic reaction to the sesame seed oil. Reminder: I have not had a PIO shot in 11 days. So this is really strange to me, but I trust the doctor. He told me to take round the clock Benadryl (starting with 100mg…which is 4 pills…FOUR pills) and to call back if I have a fever or the rash feels warm because I might have an infection or cellulitis and need antibiotics. Moving forward for the next cycle we will either use progesterone suspended in a different oil (such as olive oil or cotton seed oil) or use Crinone. 

  
And the week is finally over!!! We are ending this week with a company wide 5K and a calm and relaxing weekend. Hopefully next week will be better!!