…. and wait a week.

My last luteal hcg shot was today and my belly is glad to be at a distance from needles for a while. The hcg shots are giving me all the pregnancy symptoms (especially nausea and potty trips this time), which is just a cruel joke, but if it works, it will be amazing.
Now, I wait 8 days before I can even test… waiting… boo. It looks like I’m in good company as many of us are waiting right now.
You’re all in my thoughts, no matter for what it is you are waiting. Peace and comfort to you!

An IUI cycle with Injectables

One IUI cycle with letrozole and injectables looks like this:

Day 2: Transvaginal Ultrasound & blood tests
Day 3: Letrozole pills
Day 4: Letrozole pills
Day 5: Letrozole pills
Day 6: Letrozole pills
Day 7: Letrozole pills
menopur shot

Day 8: menopur shot

Day 9: menopur shot

Day 10: Transvaginal Ultrasound & blood test
hcg trigger shot

Day 11: IUI

Day 13: luteal hcg

Day 16: luteal hcg

Day 19: luteal hcg

Day 28: Home Pregnancy Test

First bruise – oops!

The luteal HCG shots were intimidating for me since I had never given a shot to anyone or anything before. After our training at the clinic, I felt that I would probably depend on my hubby since I stuck myself in the thumb almost immediately. Once the day for my first shot came, I decided that I needed to give myself a chance, because if we were ever to venture into IVF, I would need to have confidence in myself to do it.

First shot was just fine! No problem. No bruising. Easy peasy, yay!

Second shot, I did too fast, I think. It hurt and I ended up with a nice little bruise right where the band on all of my pants rests. I was constantly adjusting all day. 

Lesson learned! I’ll try it a bit slower and maybe a little bit further away from the previous injection sites. One more to go tomorrow morning and then progesterone checks and in a week and a half, HPT!

Luteal HCG

Anybody heard of it? I don’t see much information out there, so here is my experience so far. 

I am scheduled to have an HCG shot every three days after my IUI. I was nervous when I received the box of syringes and needles at my door, but it wasn’t all that bad. The stick was hardly a pinch and by recommendation from a you.tube video, I pushed the plunger slowly rather than forcing all the medication in quickly. I haven’t noticed any side effects from the HCG other than breaking out everywhere, but that was happening before the injection (maybe it’s from the letrozole I took on days 3-7?). 

The IUI nurse told me that the luteal HCG will encourage the corpus luteum to make all those things that support the “pregnancy” that will hopefully be happening very soon, including progesterone. They will then do bloodwork on the last day of HCG injections and three days after as well to check the progesterone level. With these injections, I am told not to take a home pregnancy test until 12 days after my last shot. Hoping for a quick trip to 20 days past IUI and a +HPT, please : )

Update: The luteal HCG gave me lots of pregnancy symptoms, of course (hot flashes, a little nausea, light-headed, super hungry, unusually tired, tender breasts/nipples, gas, mild constipation). I was worried I wouldn’t be able to wait to 17 dpiui, but my next cycle started exactly one week after my last HCG shot, no need to test (bbt fell from 98.2 to 97.3). My progesterone was quite high, so it did serve its purpose.