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Welcome ssurra! Doing the stim meds is a whole new ball game! Are you going to be doing stims with an iui or ivf cycle? I tried clomid 7 times and stims with iui 4 times to no avail, but both dh and I have pretty severe infertility issues and we knew ivf was our best option but iui was covered by ins so why not try it? I am now on my 3rd ivf cycle...so 7th round of self injections! If you have any questions about them I have been there and probably injected that!

I don't have any horror stories unless you count it not working as a horror story? :-) Everything has gone pretty smooth with all my cycles, both iui and ivf, with great response to meds but nothing yet, with the exception of a very early miscarriage last round. I was only barely pregnant for 2 weeks and I knew my beta numbers weren't great so I was kind of prepared for it. I kind of feel like it was just a failed round rather than a pregnancy loss.

Lilangel - any more news about the foster/ adoption process? I never thought I would be at this for so long either but if I have persevered for this long I know I have the strength to keep going.

I finally got a call today from our ivf coordinator saying that I get to start lupron on Monday. Feels so great to feel like the ball is rolling again...phew what a relief! Stims will start on dec 7th, egg retrieval the week of dec 16th with a transfer hopefully late the week of the 16th or early the week of christmas which is exactely what I was hoping for. I have 2 weeks off this year for Christmas (yay for working in a school!) So that will give me plenty of time to stay low key and relaxed so those embies can really latch on!

Thanks Mnor -- I've done 4 rounds of clomid, 2 of femera and 3 IUIs total (one each with those meds, plus a natural cycle). I've not gotten pregnant yet at all.

The stims are for the IVF cycle, and I'll do my very first injections tonight.

I'm worried about weight gain and mood swings, though I'm hopeful that since we actually don't have any diagnosed fertility problems (Husband and I have passed every test with flying colors, we're perfectly healthy except for not getting pregnant in over a year a half), my meds shouldn't be super high and it won't be too terrible.

I keep telling myself that it's just 10 days (of stims).

I'm not sure over the holidays was the best time to do all this! Hard to be antisocial this time of the year.

Hey Everyone - I've been pretty MIA for a while, just needed a break from it all! mnor - so glad to hear you are getting everything started again, and with such a positive attitude! I have faith this WILL work for you. Hopefully 2014 will be a wonderful new chapter for ALL of us!

Welcome sussurra! The injections themselves really aren't so bad. I had three IUI's all with injectibles (plus two plain clomid rounds before that). I've never seen a positive pregnancy test either. We've been actively trying for over a year, but off birth control for 2+. We also don't have any outstanding fertility issues except for the fact my AMH level is super low (.05, which is that of a 42 year old... I'm 30). With IUI though and a solid 3-4 follicles each time, they didn't see that as an issue though. I'll start IVF in January now most likely... we both needed a break.

I did gain weight with the injections, but I think that was mainly due to the fact I was exercising a lot less. I gained maybe 4-5 lbs a cycle, but it was mostly water weight/bloat because I was able to get most of it off between each cycle. I didn't really have any other side effects with the exception of some tenderness at the injection site after 4 or so days of it (and the HCG shot is the worst for that, but still not bad). Oh, and if you were instructed to take DHEA I broke out pretty bad from that. It'll all be worth it though!! Good luck and keep us updated!!

Hello again waitinggame! Sometimes I have to force myself to not get on this site for a couple days and just not think about it! Very exciting that you are getting ready for ivf in january. I almost had to wait til january but I was pretty adamant that I didn't want to spend the holidays impatiently waiting. Once I saw that first bfp in almost 6 years right before the early miscarriage I was like I want to try again right now! I have to see that 2nd line again! I was sad over the loss but it made me more pumped than anything to try again.

Ssurra - I only have mood swings on the lupron. That makes me nutso! The stim meds were fine but I did gain 5-10 lbs each round. It does come right off because it's mostly bloat like waitinggame said, but hopefully you will just be able to keep gaining for 9 months! How you respond to meds is completely different for each person. I am a super responder because I have pcos and normally produce lots of small follicles I just have trouble making mature ones to ovulate. All it takes is a little gonal and all those little follicles grow like crazy! I just have to worry about being over stimulated :-( Hopefully you will respond well too! Good luck with your first injections!

Thank you everyone! First shots administered tonight. A little frustrating at first, but I'm sure it'll be old hat by the end of the weekend. I haven't been prescribed lupron, so maybe I'm safe! :)

Anyone else going through this right now?

Haha I remember my first injection! I was so scared and didn't know how much ummph to put behind the needle to get it in. I closed my eyes and jammed it in. I think I almost hit my spine lol. But then I was like oh I barely felt it go in, guess I don't need that much ummph. I remember taking like 15 minutes the first couple times too to figure out the dose and get the injection ready and now I could probably do it blindfolded in 10 seconds. It will get way easier!

Haha! I have given myself Ovidril shots in previous cycles, so the needle part wasn't the challenge, but figuring out that Menopur dose was at first (with my husband looking over my shoulder because he wanted to learn with me that first time).

But like you said, day 2 was way faster so I'm sure it'll continue that way for the foreseeable future. :)

My first iui cycle my dh asked to watch me do the gonal which is super easy compared to most injections but i turned right before injecting and he was gone...big old chicken. He got over it though once I started intramuscular injections which I couldn't do myself. Has your dh had to give you an intramuscular in the tush yet? They are fun! I don't normally look at him cuz it makes him nervous but one day i saw his shadow and he lined it up and did like 5 "practice swings" with the syringe before jamming it in! Any woman who can do the im injections themselves are like the female ttc equivalent of chuck norris! Last cycle I did estrogen every 3 days which wasn't so bad but this cycle I have to go back to the progesterone injections everyday in the tush. Not looking forward to having a sore tush 24/7 again :-( What we go through to have a baby!

Already feel like a pro at these injections. My estrogen was low at my checkup today, so my prescription was upped to 3 Menopur. I go back Wednesday.

As you get closer to ER you can guesstimate how many mature follicles you will have based on estradiol levels. Each mature follicle produces about 300 so just divide total estradiol by 300. Last ER I had an estradiol level of just over 3000 and they retrieved 13 eggs and of those 11 were mature. I have found it to be fairly accurate.