And it begins.

First let me go over what a Down Regulation Protocol is.  Down Reg, or the long protocol, starts in the middle of one cycle and continues through the next.  You are generally started on a medication that will basically tell your pituitary gland to not produce the hormones that tell your follicles to release eggs.  It pretty much turns off your reproductive cycle so that the doctor has all the control with the stimulation medication that you start when the next cycle begins.

So here we are.  I have been so anxious to start the down reg IVF cycle that now that the time is finally here… I am (surprisingly) very relaxed about it.  I have been really working on trying to not be so stressed about this; I really feel that stress has such a huge impact on the body.  I started to get a tad stressed when all the meds for this cycle came a couple weeks ago.

Here they are – this is what $7,000 in Fertility Medication looks like.  Thank goodness for insurance or we would not be able to do this.

Doesn't look like much huh?  Here we have some antibiotics to start before and after the egg retrieval (I think), alcohol wipes, a lot of syringes with another bag full of different gauge needles, Lupron , Follistem (along with the Follistem pen to administer it), Menopur, HCG trigger shot and Progesterone in Oil (PIO).  Five different injections this cycle.  If that didn't cause a little stress then I clearly have been at this too long, lol.

I started the Lupron on Sunday night (please excuse the chipped bowl I use for my ice cube, lol).  Ice is the key folks.  Just hold it on the injection site for 25 seconds and I swear you don’t feel a thing.

This is the fourth cycle with injectable meds so I don’t have any jitters with giving myself injections anymore.  Kind of crazy that I’m used to jabbing myself in the stomach with a needle?  I’m not feeling any side effects but I currently have a cold so that could be masking it.  Some people say that they have major headaches and mood swings.  I've only given myself 2 injections so far and the only thing I have noticed is that I don’t have much tolerance for stupidity (haha) but I tend to be that way when not feeling well so like I said, it could be the cold.

In an attempt to try and relax and de-stress during the down reg I ordered a yoga dvd.  Sounds like it would be a simple task but- it was not.  There really are a lot of yoga dvd’s and I had a heck of a time choosing one.  I have taken a few yoga classes in the past but I still consider myself a beginner.  Then I started to think about how my ovaries are going to be ginormous and I needed to be careful about anything that would have me twisting too much… which had me start to think that I should look at prenatal yoga.  I had a really hard time doing that because I feel like it’s kind of “cart before the horse” and what if this doesn't work I am going to have this flippin dvd laying around…

I really hemmed and hawed over this for a few days.  I know that sounds a bit dramatic and over the top but I honestly was afraid to jinx myself.  There I said it.  Doesn't that sound silly?  Like a prenatal yoga dvd is going to change the cosmos and impact the results of the cycle- that all of the other things and the injections I am doing are going to be for nothing the second I click the “add to cart” button… I finally told myself to get over it and ordered the stupid thing.  Haha.  I mean, I want to have a relaxing yoga dvd and I want to be careful of my gigantic ovaries so it makes sense to get a prenatal dvd, right?  I seriously think I was making this harder than it needed to be.  (I tend to do that sometimes, if you haven't noticed - hey at least I'm honest with myself!) 

This is the one that I got – should be coming in the mail today.  Doesn't she look very relaxed?  Haha.  I’ll let you know how it is…

xo j.