Well tonight was my first stimulation injection. It's the same medicine I used for our last IUI, only a lot higher dose. This time, instead of giving the shot to myself, Matthew gave it to me.
Before he gave me the shot I made him practice. We had some medicine left over from the IUI in January. It's not good any longer, and it has to be thrown away, so I decided to let Matthew get used to the feel of the pen injector. I now have 3 different FOllistim pens. The original one was given to me for our first IUI, the 2nd came with a bunch of unused needles and things from our neighbor, and the 3rd came with the meds this time around. So since we have a few extras, I used one with the old medicine, and a spare needle, loaded everything up, dialed the right dosage and handed it to Matthew. He decided he wanted to stick something, not just squirt the medicine into the sink, so he got out a potato. I'm glad we practiced ahead of time, because the top of the pen twists back down. He was a little surprised by the feel of the twisting, so practicing was definitely a good thing!
After he practiced on the potato, I removed the needle, took the bad medicine back out and put it into my sharps container, and then prepped myself for the real shot. I attached the needle, swabbed my stomach with an alcohol wipe, dialed up the dosage and handed it over to Matthew. Just like our morning routine with the Lupron shots, I sat down, pinched, and he stuck. I couldn't feel a thing. He did great! He's definitely becoming more and more comforable with giving me the shots, which is great! I'm glad that he can be a part of everything in some way besides just jizzing in a cup. As hesitant as he was about giving me the shots, I think he's glad he's more than just a sperm donor too.
We're on the downhill slide now! Stims have begun, the finish line is in sight!
You're getting so close now!! Before you know it, you'll be at your ER!!
ReplyDeleteYay!!!!!
ReplyDeleteOn a side note, did your RE tell you to do the lupron and stims at different times of day?? I start shots soon and am kind of lost :)
Marianne, I take Lupron in the morning and the stims at night. I don't remember if they told me why to split it up or not, but when I did injectables with IUI, I took the stims at night as well.
ReplyDeleteYour RE's office should go over everything with you. When to take each medicine, and how to give yourself the injection. Don't be afraid to ask questions, especially if you're just about to give yourself an injection and suddenly don't know what to do. There should be an on-call nurse for you to talk to. Don't hesitate to call!
Yay! You really are getting so close. Before you know it the ER & ET will come and go. And then comes the really exciting part!
ReplyDeleteYay for the starting of stims! I start mine on Sunday. Your husband practicing on a potato reminds me of when I was trying to train my husband to give me a trigger shot during one of my IUIs. We were in a hotel room and the only thing handy was a throw pillow! ha!
ReplyDelete