Interesting tid bit I didn't know prior to IVF: when undergoing IVF treatment prior to starting your injections you're put on birth control. This is so that the RE is able to control your cycle while undergoing treatment. Why would they want to do this you ask? Well at my clinic for instance they only do IVF tx cyles with women 4x's a year the first round starting in January so they need all of the women going through treatment to be on the same cycle! Interestingly enough there are 60 other couples at my clinic going through IVF this month!!! Who knew IVF was so prevalent?
So back to the med's, they have me continue on the BCP's until the 14th of this month. Also I continue with my morning injections of Lupron until retrieval occurs. Scientific factoid: Lupron is used during IVF treatment to suppress the pituitary gland (which is normally responsible for triggering ovulation). They essentially shut down the reproductive system so that they can then begin administering injectable med #2 (Gonal-F) to cause the development of follicles. More on that insanely expensive medication later! I will be starting that medication on January 18th & decreasing the dosage of my Lupron injection.
Sleep is something that I love & am currently missing dearly...it seems that a side effect of Lupron is insomnia which I have been experiencing recently. I am not one of those annoyingly productive people who only need a few hours of sleep a night to function, no I am one of those people who have always loved sleep & like to get around 8hrs a night. Now don't get me wrong I am fully aware that my pleasurable relationship with sleep will be swiftly & promptly ended upon having a child, but I am irritated to be dealing with this now. On the plus side even lacking sleep I'm not experiencing moodiness or major irritability, other side effects that have been reported with Lupron. Thankfully I've heard from a friend on babycenter.com that her insomnia subsided after a few days on the medication, so here's hoping the same proves to be the case for me!
Lastly, you all know how much I love to read. I definitely am one that subscribes to the belief that knowledge is power & when dealing with challenges in life one of my coping mechanisms is to read. Along with that humor is definitely necessary in coping with infertility. Thus I thoroughly enjoyed Carrie Friedmans's book Pregnant Pause, she is an exceptionally witty writer & I could relate to so much of what she said. The book isn't about infertility per say, it's more about her fear of taking the leap into parenthood. The book came about in response to an article that she wrote in Newsweek on the subject, she got such a surprising amount of positive feedback after writing the article hence her decision to write this book. If you want to check out her Newsweek article...
And you know me I love to push books that I enjoy so if you want more info on this book or the writer herself...
Well I think that sums it up for now, sorry for such a long post!
2 comments:
wow, i didn't know all that was involved in IVF. thank you for allowing me to be part of your journey.
on a side note, you are such a great writer and so witty! i def think you should have started a blog (in general) long ago. :)
Ah, thanks Tiffany...thank you for being a support & part of my journey! You're a pretty great blogger yourself:)
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