Here we go.

This morning, for the 3rd time we made the trek up to Bellinham to see everyone in the Bellingham IFV office at 8 o'clock in the morning. It has been 15 days since the start of my cycle and 5 days since the end of my chlomid. We needed to see what was going on in there.

Our fingers were crossed! Well, it turns out that everything looks GREAT! An egg had matured on time, a follicle was where it needed to be, and the lining was at a stage 9 on a scale of 1 to 10. Unfortunately we didn't get to see the ultrasound machine screen this time so I didn't get to see everything like I had hoped but it is good news and that's all that counts.

As the ultrasound tech (who is from Spokane actually) is putting things away she says that "the nurse will be right in to give you a shot and show you what to do for the others." I'm thinking, "What? What are you talking about?" I remember Dr. Branigan talking about giving me a hormone to make sure I ovulate and what not but I don't remember him telling me it was going to be in shot form. After all, chlomid is a hormone and its in a pill form.

So Nurse Jenny walks in with her supplies and starts telling us about everything. How to mix it. What needle to use to mix, which is the extremely large one. How to fill the needle. Switching from the big one to the much much much smaller one. How to find the injection site and to make sure no major blood supply lines are hit. How to hold the skin and how to insert the needle. Jenny went on for a long time. And this whole time she is talking and looking at me. Now, mind you, Jake is sitting in a chair next to the table I'm sitting on. I keep wondering if Jake is paying close attention because there is NO WAY on God's blue earth I am going to be able to do the stabbing of the needle myself. One of the things that really sticks out in my mind is what she said about putting the needle in and how far to go. I guess if you put the tip of the needle up against the skin and slowly push it in that will cause tearing of the skin. Tearing!?!? Really? Did she have to say that?

After all that, I got my first shot of Human Chorionic Gonadotropin. Better known as hCG or the 'pregnancy hormone'. This is going to make sure my mature egg is released and that my lining stays around longer then it would naturally. Thus giving the egg a better chance of implanting when fertilized.

There will be 3 more shots of the hCG to follow over the next 9 days. The only problem... ... ..Jake has to give them to me! I know it will be fine and that Jake will be very gentle (even without tearing my skin I hope) and I will survive. But it just seems weird that my husband, not a trained medical person, is going to stick a needle in me. We shall see how things go. Wish me luck :O)

One of the side effects of this hormone, on top of the hot flashes from the chlomid, is tiredness. That I for sure have already. So on that note I'm going to end. Fingers crossed that our next visit to the doctor is more then 15 days (or maybe 10 days, I can't remember now) after the last shot for a pregnancy test.

I hope. I hope. I hope.