A pain in the...

One of the loveliest parts of IVF and possibly the most notorious are the "butt shots." Also known as intramuscular shots or IMs to infertiles, they are horrendous.  The needles are at a minimum 1.5 inches long and you have to plunge them deep into your tissue.  No amount of icing or Orajel (I have personlly never tried Orajel) is going to take away the sensation of that sharp object being jammed in a "dart-like motion" into your bum.  Tonight Mr. K gave me my fourth butt shot of PIO (progesterone in oil) and it sucked as much as the first one. I literally dread it all day long.  If the effects were short-lasting, that would be okay, but the injection site stays really sore, like a new bruise for many days. 

I already begged Dr. Dreamy to let me use the suppositories instead but he gave me a twinkly blue-eyed smile and said "make it to your beta and then we'll see how things are going." That is ELEVEN DAYS AWAY.  Sigh.

By the way, it should not go unnoticed that I just typed the words "let me" and "suppositories" in one sentence.  IVF makes even the oddest things seem commonplace.  

Other than the shots, I am doing fine.  Lots of twinges and cramps, but they could very well be left over from my egg retrieval or a side effect of the PIO shots.  I'm already jonesing to take an HPT even though I know it is completely ludicrous.  I won't do it yet, but will certainly take one before my beta test.  I like to be prepared, no matter what the news!  

Tomorrow or the next day I should hear how my remaining two embryos are doing or if they arrested. If one or both survived, there's a chance one of the embryos we transferred is doing equally well.  Fingers crossed.  

For my nerdy friends and readers, here is a day-by-day account of what happens to a day three embryo after transfer. "Dpt" means days post transfer.  Today I am two days post transfer.  :)  

1dpt ..embryo is growing and developing
2dpt... Embryo is now a blastocyst
3dpt....Blastocyst hatches out of shell on this day
4dpt.. Blastocyst attaches to a site on the uterine lining
5dpt.. Implantation begins,as the blastocyst begins to bury in the lining
6dpt.. Implantation process continues and morula buries deeper in the lining
7dpt.. Morula is completely inmplanted in the lining and has placenta cells & fetal cells
8dpt...Placenta cells begin to secret HCG in the blood
9dpt...More HCG is produced as fetus develops
10dpt...More HCG is produced as fetus develops
11dpt...HCG levels are now high enough to be immediately detected on HPT

Of course I have the urge to add little boxes next to each of these milestones and tick them off with each passing day.  Just because I am on bedrest does not mean I am less OCD!