Our Medicine Is Here!

Here it is! I wonder if the UPS man had to make two trips. This seems a little excessive to me!

And this, my friends, is what $4,500 of medication looks like. Luckily, our insurance covers most of these medications. Our total copay was $327.86. Thank God for good insurance! 

Suppressing My Cycle

While I'm still taking birth control pills through January 8, the first medication I'll start is the Synarel nasal spray. Beginning January 3, I will spray this nasal spray into alternating nostrils twice a day and will continue it until the night of my Ovidrel trigger shot. Synarel suppresses ovulation. I start it while I'm still on birth control pills to ensure that when I stop the pills my body does not start selecting follicles for ovulation. That would prevent me from making lots of follicles and eggs for retrieval. 

Stimulation

I'll start stimulation on January 13 by taking daily injections of Bravelle and Menapur. Right now my protocol is for 3 vials of Bravelle and 1 of Menapur each evening, but that could change after my first ultrasound which is scheduled for January 17. Hopefully these drugs will make me produce lots and lots of eggs!

Ovulation, Egg Retrieval and Embryo Transfer

When my doctor determines that my follicles (with an egg in each one) are mature, I'll stop stimulation and take my Ovidrel shot to trigger ovulation. My egg retrieval will be scheduled for 36 hours after I take my  trigger shot. I'll start a Z-Pack of antibiotics the day after my Ovidrel shot to prevent infection from the egg retrieval. The day after my egg retrieval I'll start a medication called Medrol. It is a small dose steroid that prevents the body from rejecting the embryos that will hopefully be transfered 5 days after the retrieval. I'll also take a baby aspirin each day (not pictured).

Implantation Support

After the transfer I will take several medications to help support the implantation of our transfered embryos. I'll wear a Vivelle dot, which is an estrogen patch. I'll also take Prometrium and Crinone, which are progesterone supplements. 

Now that we've got the goods, we're just waiting for our orientation on January 10 and our ultrasound, mock transfer, and medication teaching class on January 11! It's finally starting to seem real. :)