In December while Mr. P and I were working with our mediator on the open donation agreement, it was time for me to prepare my body for embryo transfer.

At the consultation appointment the IVF nurse let me know that I needed to go on birth control by the first week of December. The purpose of the birth control is to quiet the ovaries. They aren’t needed during an FET. Of course December rolled around and I was on cycle day 45, not the cycle day 2 needed to start birth control. I had no clue when or if my period was going to show, so I tried to contact the nurse. This is when I ran into a problem with my clinic and is my only complaint about the entire experience. My IVF nurse was extremely difficult to reach. I had to call and email several times in order to get a response. Fertility treatments are time sensitive, and starting medications on the right day is crucial. It was so frustrating waiting days for her to respond. I think the lack of communication was a combination of the clinic being short staffed and her being new to the world of infertility treatments.

Finally I heard from her. She told me not to worry about what cycle day I was on and to go ahead and start the birth control. This was new to me. I definitely worried that my body wouldn’t respond properly and that my transfer cycle would be cancelled. She also sent me my protocol, the list of mediactions I would need and the dates to start them, along with the dates of monitoring ultrasounds. Here are the medications I was on:

  • Lupron – to suppress my body’s hormones, injected subcutaneously
  • Estrace – estrogen to grow the uterine lining, taken orally
  • Progesterone in Oil – the hormone that sustains pregnancy, injected intramuscularly

I was on the birth control for about two weeks before adding in daily Lupron injections. A few days later I stopped birth control and had my monitoring appointment. At the appointment I had my blood drawn to check my hormone levels and an ultrasound. The purpose of the ultrasound was to make sure the birth control had done its job and that everything looked quiet. Since this was not my first time I knew what to look for during the scan and was pretty discouraged to see a follicle in my right ovary. That had never happened before, and I knew it could potentially mean a canceled cycle depending on the blood work results. I was nervous all day waiting to hear from the nurse. Luckily the follicle wasn’t a problem and I was given the go ahead to start the Estrace.

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I started taking 1/2 pill of the Estrace twice a day, then moved up to 1 pill twice a day, and finally 1 pill three times a day. Once I started taking the pill three times a day I stopped the Lupron injections. It was now the second week of January and time for my second and last monitoring appointment. I went back to my local RE’s office where they drew my blood and did another ultrasound. This time the ultrasound was to measure my uterine lining. It needed to be a certain thickness in order for me to be cleared for transfer, and it was!

My transfer was scheduled for six days later, January 18th. That evening when I talked to the nurse she told me I would be starting the progesterone injections the next day. I had really been dreading the progesterone injections. Despite having gone through three embryo transfers in the past, I had never taken progeterone in that form. I had to do the shots twice a day, about twelve hours apart. Because of Mr. P’s work schedule and his general uneasiness with needles, I knew I would have to inject myself. I don’t mind needles, but looking at the 1.5″ needle the first time was a little intimidating. I was mostly concerned with how I would reach behind me to inject myself in the lower back.

The night before my first injection, Mr. P drew circles in permanent marker on my left and right sides. Those marks very helpful and I left them there for the first couple weeks of injections. The morning of my first injection I gave myself a little pep talk before drawing up the medication. I twisted around and found my target. Surprisingly the injection was pretty painless! After that I was no longer nervous about  the progesterone. It wasn’t my favorite task each day, but I got through them with no problems.

The only thing left to do was to pack. A couple of days later Mr. P and I hit the road. It was almost transfer day!