Time for Lupron

I finished my round of birth control pills and now it's time for Lupron, Lupron Depot specifically.  Lupron Depot is basically a 1 month version all-in-one shot instead of daily shots.  Ryan and I once calculated how many shots we did in all our other rounds and the total came out to somewhere around 800.  Yes you read that right, 800!!!!  One would think that would make us pros.  And while we are definitely proficient at this, it certainly never gets any easier.  My anxiety is always sky high.  It takes a lot of faith in your partner, who is not a medical professional, to trust that they can administer the shot with the same skills as a professional.  And I have to say that Ryan hits the mark, pun intended, every time.  Most of the clinics have how to videos online, but he usually finds some good and helpful information on YouTube.  This is definitely one of those times where I am extremely grateful to have a partner that can handle this type of stuff.  Of all the 800+ shots I have received, he has administered every singe one of them so a huge amount of gratitude towards my guy!
Tips and tricks for surviving Lupron injections.

• Ice, ice baby!  Ice the injection spot for 5 minutes a head of time.  This is an intermuscular shot so that means the behind. 
• As soon as the injection is over, massage the injection spot and the area around it.
• Walk, do lunges, do squats, basically do anything to move your glutes and help ease the medicine into your system.  It will feel better in the long run.

The infamous Lupron Depot shot.  This is the shot that originally was going to cost $1,600, 

but luckily insurance did cover a portion of it and our out of pocket was $1,200.

Now we sit and wait for my period to start and then all the other medications will begin.

Thanks For Reading,

HEATHER

4 Years by the Numbers

Recently I read an article with a picture of a baby surrounded by the number of shots it took to bring her into this world.  To read the article click here  It got me thinking about how many shots I have taken and what we have gone through.  Here are our numbers:

0  BFPs

1  amazingly strong husband that has been my rock through all of this

1  amazingly cute puppy dog that cuddles every time I need it

2  fresh transfers

2  FETs

3  IUIs

4  years TTC

5  IVFs

6  BFN phone calls

8  fertility doctors that have performed at least one procedure on me

11  embryos created and lost

19  different medication I have ingested or injected along the way

208  number of days spent in tears (approx once a week since this started)

550  approx number of daily shots from first IUI to the last IVF

1460  days of infertility treatments

$$$  amount of money spent on treatment (too scary to actually write down and publish)