Stim shots and such

The big box containing $4,000 worth of medication arrived late last week. I started twice a day shots of Lupron on Sunday along with a five day prescription of Letrozole, which I had with each of my five IUIs. I'm also on Dexamethasone every day until retrieval. Then Tuesday I added a shot of 375 units of Follistim, administered with a pen that you dial to get the correct dosage and a shot of one vial of Menopur, which you have to reconstitute before it's ready to inject. Thank goodness for the educational CD that shows you exactly what to do. I'd be lost without it. So that's four shots and two pills a day right now.

So far, no real reactions to the meds, which is good. I'm trying to sleep 7.5 to 8 hours a night, which is wonderful. That doesn't happen that often for me.

I'm excited about the next few weeks, to see what we'll learn. And the possibility seems so real, I can't help but be excited about it. I'm trying to temper those feelings with occasional reality checks... IVF isn't a success on the first try for many people. I've looked at the calendar to speculate when the retrieval and transfer might be and then I've looked ahead 2 weeks. Seems like I'll know if it worked in early May.

I actually asked two of my best friends with small children if either one of them had any baby clothes. It was kind of surreal because that was a first. I've been waiting off and on for like 12 years to get a positive pregnancy test, but I've never seriously thought about hand-me-down clothes from my friends' kids. (I wasn't trying to conceive for 12 years. Not at all. It was off and on -- mostly off -- during my first marriage and then for the past two years.)

It is nice to feel hopeful.