I am very close with my mom and sister. We're the Three Musketeers and have been together for a very long time. They have built my foundation and hold me up, with Dave as the reinforcement and protection. Without them I don't know who or where I would be, and I am reminded each day just how damn lucky I am to have them all in my life.
The three of us have a long-standing date each week for Champagne Tuesday. We get together after work, have dinner (home cooked meals by Momma cannot be beat), we watch our favorite show, we have champagne (of course!), and we have a lot of laughs. I love our dates! And just because the trigger shot day falls on Tuesday will not get in the way of our tradition ☺ Have shot, will travel!
The trigger shot is 10,000 units of HCG (human chorionic gonadotropin) and will tell my follicle(s) to release the egg(s) they have been cultivating for the past week and a half. This medication comes in brand name (Novarel) or generic (Pregnyl). The brand name was very low on stock last time we did this, so they've been stocking the generic instead. Makes no difference whatsoever, and still costs $111. You read that right - $111 for one shot, for one month. You can bet I handled it with great care; whoever thought to pack it in glass vials has a sick sense of humor.
The $111 gets you the one vial of HCG and one vial of a sterilized solution to reconstitute it; the HCG comes as a dehydrated white powder that dissolves and mixes with the sterile solution into a clear liquid for intramuscular injection.
The trigger comes with very specific instructions from the doctor's office: must be administered between 6-8pm. I left work about a quarter after 5 o'clock yesterday and rushed home to shower and change, getting to my mom's right around 6:30. I realized once I got there that I wasn't entirely confident in how much of the sterile solution to mix with the HCG - yes we've done this before, but that momentary panic of doubt hit me. I can't mess this up, we have one chance to get this part of the process correct. Thankfully there is always a doctor on-call from our clinic, so a quick phone call to the 24 hour answering service and I had a call back in less than 5 minutes. Even though it comes with 10ml of soluction, 1ml is all I need. OK, perfect. I can do this.
Since it was Champagne Tuesday, hubby got off the hook from administering this shot. Made him nervous and sweaty just thinking about it last time we did this, so I think we were both relieved. LOL My mom stepped up to the plate, and my sister came along to document. Time to prep.
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| The Pregnyl HCG, alcohol prep pads, needles, and a sharps container for disposal |
Preparing the shot takes about 10 minutes, and yes I was shaking. But it's ready, so I need to be ready.
I had my nurse on Monday circle the proper location for the injection site, and she happily obliged (even giving me two options - one on each side). They thankfully use permanent marker, so it doesn't wash off easily and stayed through showering. Hence the bulls-eye on my butt!
This shot is painful for me. Not so much the needle, it's the HCG itself. It burns. And it leaves a sore spot that is tender for a day or two. I'm sure some women don't bat an eye, but for me it lingers. However, in no time at all it's done and in -- hooray! (And thank you again to both my girls for helping; it really does take a village!)
Since this starts ovulation, it's very important to have some sperm there to meet up with the egg when it's released. So, as you could guess, we needed to make whoopee last night. These are also very specific directions from the doctor's office on what dates and times to "get busy". We have to do it after the trigger shot and then again Thursday morning (in lieu of insemination this time around we're trying it the old fashioned way for a cycle). Thursday is going to be a very early morning.
This is when sex can feel like a job, versus the loving experience between husband and wife it should be. When it gets to be scheduled and regimented it can take the personal connection out of it - so for us it's important to make that much more of an effort and to still enjoy the experience. I've heard this from so many couples trying to conceive, but especially those going through ART too. There are deadlines, due dates, and schedules to work with and it can take the fun out of it. If you're going through this know you aren't alone - and try to find ways to bring it back to just you two. You can put a lot of pressure on yourself when you think too much, so try to slow down and make the most out of it.
At any rate, we checked off our list of To Dos last night; gold stars for us.
Badaboom.
xoxo
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