As our first – and only – round of IVF was thankfully on the NHS, so were our drugs. Upon leaving our injection training demonstration we were given a massive prescription to fill. Here’s a handy note for anyone embarking on this journey: take a copy of your prescription! You’d be surprised at the amount of people who’ve said that as soon as they opened their drugs boxes at home, they realised that their prescription was wrong! I got the prescription filled at the hospital pharmacy and raced home to inspect what the next few weeks of my life would look like. And it was something like this...
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| Our 'Baby in a Bag' shopping! |
As I was on the long protocol of IVF treatment, I had been taking the pill for about three weeks at this point and had to get ready for my Down Regulation drugs. From what I’ve read about, most people take a morning shot of Buserelin (my dose was 0.3ml). This can also be taken in the form of a nasal spray for some people. The sole purpose of the down regulation drugs is to shut down your reproductive system and suppress any eggs from starting to grow. In other words – you enter into a sort of early menopause! And believe me, if you thought your hormones were bad when you’re on your period... just wait! Menopause will be a whole other ball game – yikes!
My first injection was terrifying. They don’t bother me normally, but the reason behind taking them and the fact that I was giving them to myself made me really emotional that morning! I had scheduled to take them at 7:30am, as I knew that when it came to taking the evening shots in a few weeks that they had to be 12 hours apart. Well, that first needle didn’t pierce any skin until 7:50am!
I won’t go into great detail about how to take them, or tips and tricks to make it easier. This blog isn’t an IVF blog – it’s a blog about my life and experiences, after all! I was however, instructed to take them in my upper thigh. You see in the movies couples injecting themselves in their butt, or tummy, but I was told simply to do it in my leg because it hurts the least! Simple as. J alternates taking his insulin injection in his tummy or his leg just primarily because he takes four a day and it’s good not to keep going in the same place to reduce swelling, bruising etc. So, I knew it was perfectly safe!
After a few days of down-regging, I was getting into the swing of things and was perfectly fine administering the injections myself. But then came the side effects – temper tantrums (well that’s just my usual behaviour, but let’s blame it on the drugs for now!), night sweats, hot flushes, feeling weepy all the time – and all in the height of that massive heat wave of 2018! Just as fast as I would apply my makeup in the morning getting ready for work, it would just melt off again. Jesus, I was HOT.
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| Not a pretty photo - but these hot flushes were the side-effects of the DR drugs... in the middle of a bloody heatwave! |
After a fortnight of these drugs, I was sent for a baseline scan at the clinic. Ahh, I got to meet the elusive Wanda. Wanda, in case you’re new to this, is the affectionate name we IVF’ers call the probe that scans your uterus. It kinda looks like a wand, I guess. And she goes up your hoohoo. Yep, the scan is transvaginal – no tummy ultrasounds for us, yet! This scan is important, as it checks to make sure that your lining is nice and thin, ready to start the Stimulation drugs. It wasn’t as bad as I was expecting, and by now I was quite used to getting my southern area out for strangers! The nurse told me everything was looking good, and my lining was less than 1mm thin – yay! My body was doing something right! I was sent back to the waiting room whilst I waited for a consultant to call me, and after a few minutes I was taken into another room. “Congratulations, it’s time to start stimming!” she said.
KEB x
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