Rules, rules and more rules

Made it through the first Progesterone shot!! But not without a few words exchanged between me and Brandon (or is it Brandon and me, or Brandon and I....my grammar skills must have been tied to my follicles...that were all removed yesterday). Since Brandon ended up not giving me the first round of shots, I asked him if he felt ready to do it. Of course he said yes without any hesitation and with the normal cockiness of any guy. I wasn't convinced and asked if he wanted to watch the instructional video at least once since it's been months since our IVF class. He seemed offended that I even mentioned it. Whatever...

So when it came time for the shot, I stood there and watched him do everything wrong...at least to me it was wrong. Apparently he didn't think that alcohol wipes were necessary and had no idea what the gauze was for. I had to walk out of the kitchen at the point. Again, he seemed annoyed and offended that I didn't trust his abilities. And again I say, whatever...

I tried my best not to correct his preparation steps....hey, I said "TRIED". When he was ready, I turned my head and prepared for the worst stabbing of my life. But I have to say, it wasn't too bad. I think he was afraid to jab too hard, and by going a little slower, it hurt a little more but it really wasn't that bad. Even though he pretty much said screw it to the sterile protocol, I have to give him props for his effort. Now ask me how I feel about it in a week or so....when we've run out of virgin skin/muscle to stick.

Another thing I did last night was go over all of the rules and instructions that I was handed today for the next 2 weeks. My goodness, there are a lot of things I have to remember. For example:

• Progesterone shots once a day until instructed otherwise.
• Take steroid medication once a day for 4 days.
• Take antibiotic 4 times a day for 4 days.
• No lifting over 10 pounds.
• No exercising....leisure walking only. (damn, guess that Tae Bo class is going to have to wait...yeah right)
• No driving for 24 hours after retrieval.
• No alcohol.
• Don't kill husband.
• No caffeine.
• No sex (or the big O) until a negative pregnancy test or after 1st ultrasound.
• Don't kill any innocent bystanders (or at least have a good alibi).
• Check voice mail on day 1 and day 2 and day 6 after retrieval.
• Don't freak out if voice mail isn't ready promptly at noon like they said.
• Come to transfer appointment with a full bladder.
• Bed rest on the day of transfer and the day after.
• Resort to hooking on the nearest corner because all this time off work has destroyed your income.
  

This list seems endless. And with all the hormones coursing through my veins (very Incredible Hulk like) and the stress of the process, I can barely remember how to spell my last name let alone remember all of the above.

I'm still anxiously waiting for my voice mail message this afternoon to find out if any of our little ones fertilized. I'll let you know how it turns out tonight.

More later...