Stick it to me...

After our hiatus last month, the husband and I are moving on to the wonderful (we hope) world of injectables this cycle.

Yesterday was CD3 and I went to see Dr. M for my baseline ultrasound.  Many of us infertiles refer to it as the "dildo cam" because it is an internal ultrasound.  What can be worse than having the doctor do an internal ultrasound while your husband is sitting right next to you?  Having one done while you're still on your period. I guess I should be used to just throwing all modesty out the window at this point anyway, right?  Wrong.  Still embarrassing.

The baseline ultrasound is used to make sure that everything is in working order and that there aren't any cysts before starting a new medication.  This was the first one I have had done with Dr. M and it was much different from the appointments I used to have with the clinic on post.  For one thing, he actually had a screen near my head so that I could see what he was looking at.  To be honest, most of it just looked like shadows to me, but he tried to point out the uterus and the ovaries, and you can even see all of the potential follicles hanging around.  The only concerning part was when he pointed to a strip that he said looked like possible endometriosis...which I didn't understand because I just had a laparoscopy in September to rule out endo.  But the doctor didn't concentrate on that, so maybe I heard him wrong or he just wasn't that concerned.  He did point out that my lining looks great and showed "all the great places for a baby to grow."  He is so odd, but sometimes says the nicest or funniest things.

After the ultrasound, the nurse gave us (the husband) a lesson in giving me the shots.  Now, I thought that Menopur would be given subcutaneously (subQ), since that is what is on the box.  I had read the instructions and was all prepared to do a little subQ shot in my abdomen.  But no, the doctor actually wants us to do intramuscular (IM) shots.  So I had to lay back down on the table and get a practice shot in my bum.  Yup, in my bum.  Not fun, let me tell you.  That practice shot was just saline, and my bum hurt the rest of the evening.  And, it was given by a trained nurse.  So, how will it feel when it is full of hormones and is being given by a slightly-but-not-really trained husband?  Let's hope I am just being a wimp.  And that this same husband is not turned off by my bruised ass at the end of this.  After the appointment, we headed to Target to fill a prescription for the syringes and also picked up alcohol wipes, cotton balls, and bandaids.

Ah, the romance of TTC!

So the plan is that I do the injections once a day for 10 days starting CD5, which is tomorrow.  I go in on CD10 for an ultrasound again to make sure that the medicine is doin its thang and that my ovaries are not overstimulated, which is bad.  I also have to do another post-coital test this cycle to decide whether we need to do an IUI or if we can stick to timed intercourse.  The Menopur should make my CM "really flow" as the doctor put it, so hopefully that will solve one of the biggest problems we have and let us stick to timed intercourse.  Or, if there are a lot of follicles maturing, we may need to switch to an IVF cycle to avoid having too many eggs be fertilized.  I do not want to risk the danger of carrying multiples (we're talking like 5-6 babies here...I would be fine with twins and would even risk triplets if it came down to that.  But carrying more than that is just dangerous).

So that is the plan, and I will keep you updated as we go.