Oh No! PIO

Welcome to the shit show, folks.

I have officially started the crazy week of medication as of Sunday.

This week I am on a total of FIVE different medications.

Since I am taking them all at the same time, I have no idea what is causing what side effect, but they include: needing to pee every 20 minutes, hot flushed cheeks, night sweats, night chills, crazy swinging emotions, and confusion.

Confusion meaning, I will walk into a room to do something and forget what I came in there.
On repeat for eternity.

Luckily, two of the medications will go away after my Friday transfer.
They are Medrol and a Z-pack.

I have to take a 5-Day Z-pack antibiotic prior to anyone shoving anything up my hoo-ha.
I did this with all three retrievals and am doing it for the transfer.
This eliminates any possible infections that could occur during transfer.

Medrol is a steroid. I think that is what is causing the hot flushes and constant peeing.
From what I have read, it helps tell my body not to reject the embryo.

I am also on 3x daily Endometrin. This is a vaginal suppository. It provides the hormone progesterone....right up where it needs to go. :)

I haven't bought pads since I was 14, but here I am....doing that exact thing.

Every two days I change out my estrogen patches called Minivelle.
I am applying them to my outer thigh is a small gathering.

They are making me cry uncontrollably at points like when I see puppies, and making me rage out when my husband does something insane like ask me to grab a magazine at the store that I was planning to go to anyways.

Fun.

And then....the dreaded PIO.
PIO stands for Progesterone in Oil.

This is an intra-muscular injection, to be administered in the upper-outer butt cheek.
(Think right up where your bikini line is).

I spent a literal hour trying to work up the courage to administer this fucking thing myself.

My stomach injection used a 1/2" very thin needle. Some hurt more than others, but the pain is temporary and I could easily reach and do them myself.

This fucking injection is with a 1.5" needle, and the needle is much thicker.

So I draw up the liquid with a needle that could easily be used as a horse tranquilizer.
The progesterone is in sesame oil so the consistency is a bit thicker than the other meds.
I switch out the needles to a slightly thinner gauge one, and prepare my ass with an alcohol swab.

Then I proceeded to pace around the house, trying to find a good position that "allows for me to relax my butt muscle."

Yea. Right. Because that is exactly how I felt. Relaxed.

After sweating bullets for an hour, I end up blubbering to Mark that he needed to do it for me.

I walked him through the procedure.
Told him NOT to hesitate, freak out, or go too quickly.
We did the countdown. 1..2..3..A quick pinch...and the needle is in.
He draws back a tad to check for blood.
No blood.
Then he proceeds to inject the medication.
It's a slower process, so all in all, I think it was about 3 minutes...maybe less.

I hop up and massage the area with a heating pad, while slowly walking on my treadmill, to help disperse the medication.

The oil, if it gets too cold, can lump up just under your skin, and that is no bueno.

So we got through day 1.

Unfortunately today, my butt muscle is incredibly sore.
No bruising, but the muscle below the fat is very painful to push on.

TTC sisters...please tell me this part gets better?
I went for a run this morning and I actually thought my ass muscle turned into a painful brick.
Sitting in the car on the way to work was a joy as well.

I have to alternate these injections daily through the first trimester of pregnancy, along with the suppositories and estrogen patches.

Anything to keep the baby growing though, right?
Phew....one day at a time.

Thanks for reading. XO