Self-injecting Novarel IM = easier than I expected!

I’d worked myself up a fair amount before the Novarel injection for some reason. Even after attending a gentle yoga class and indulging in a spa pedicure, I couldn’t quite focus on anything else. So imagine my surprise when I hardly felt a thing after the needle pierced my skin. Really, the toughest part of the Novarel was getting all of it to dissolve, it took a few minutes to finally become completely clear! It’s a lyophilized (freeze-dried) medication, so it took me a bit to realize why the RE told me to add 2 mL of diluent to it, then draw out only 1 mL. He still intended me to get the full 10,000 IU dose, the medication just draws up a lot of the water. Too bad progesterone in oil won’t be nearly this nice pain-wise 😛 I will cherish my first shot-free day in weeks tomorrow.

In my last post, I forgot to mention one symptom I’ve been having. Super heavy, sore boobs. Wow, and they’re really sensitive too, to where some of my bras are extremely uncomfortable, and even messing around was a little painful! More to look forward to in pregnancy, I suppose?

Day 12 of stims update – schedule is set!

I was waiting to post until I hopefully had my estradiol level back, but I’m sure the RE will respond to my neurotic email tonight, haha. I arrived at his office at 8am sharp, and of course the door was locked. 10 minutes later, the receptionist arrived to find myself and 3 others waiting. I was the first one called back, so he was in very quickly to do the ultrasound – I have a 12.9 mm lining, and 17 follicles pretty evenly split between sides! They ranged from 12mm to 25mm, with only 3 measuring less than 18mm. So he gave me the green light to inject with Novarel 10,000 IU at 7:30pm tonight, and thankfully I didn’t have to worry about buying another bottle of Menopur since I’m done with all stims at this point! We are set for egg retrieval at 6:45am Thursday, and he said it was OK for hubby to produce his sample at home since we live so close. I assume he’d prefer to do that, though at that hour, who knows… My nurse managed to cancel out all my patients for Thursday and next Tuesday, when I should have blastocyst transfer (fingers crossed). Hubby is good to work from home Thursday, and go in late on Tuesday. Here’s how the rest of the cycle is looking:

 As for how I’m feeling, I definitely feel very heavy and full in my lower belly – it makes bending over for long periods of time uncomfortable, so catching up on the mountain of laundry was a little tougher than I expected this past long weekend, but I made some good progress. I did set aside all my clothes that are too small now, in hopes of wearing again in the future, but my closet is more than half empty now. My appetite is decreased too, mainly because eating a lot at once makes me feel more uncomfortable in there. I’ve managed to go to a few yoga classes in the last few days, and felt pretty good other than some modifications when I felt too much pressure on my back or belly. As far as I can tell, I’m not any moodier than usual (I guess I should ask the hubby, HA!). Compared to Clomid, I feel better overall, even though my ovaries are definitely more enlarged. I am a little nervous about giving myself Novarel in the butt in a couple hours since the hubby won’t be home from work yet. But I just gotta suck it up and I’m sure it’ll be fine. Time to review tips from the Stirrup Queens! 🙂