Week 2 of Medication

Last Week: Today was day 14 of meds and while things are still going smoothly, I am having some side effects from the Lupron. I'm having some pretty noticeable lower back pain that I believe is due to my suppressed estrogen levels. I remember after Gunner was born, I had similar back issues so I'm thinking its a hormonal thing. If it is, things should get better shortly as I decrease the lupron. I've also started getting the infamous "lupron headache" that so many women get. It's not horrible, but noticeable almost all day. 

I had two sessions of electro-acupuncture last week. It's quite weird! My acupuncturist puts four needles in the small of my back and two in each shin. She hooks corresponding wires to each needle and turns the electricity on, one pair at a time. She'll turn up the voltage until I tell her to stop. She leaves me alone for 15 minutes, checks to see if she can turn them up, then leaves me alone for another 15 minutes. The needles on my back aren't as "painful" as the one in my legs- but none of them are really painful. It probably would be if I had her crank it all the way up but we don't need to test that. :) 

I was trying to describe the sensation to Mark and the best I could come up with is someone taking the needle and wiggling it back and forth REALLY REALLY fast with the ocassional bug bite lol This is the type of acupuncture that I'll continue twice a week until the transfer. I still really enjoy the acupuncture and especially my acupuncturist. She's really awesome and helps me out with other aches and pains not related to the surrogacy. 

I stopped taking the antibiotic which I'm pretty happy about because the constipation was quite uncomfortable. 

I had my Estradiol blood test on Thursday to see if the Lupron is doing its job and suppressing my estrogen levels. I believe they are looking for levels to be under 70 and mine was 20.55 so it's definitely working! That means I got the "go-ahead" to start delestrogen and decrease my Lupron starting tomorrow. 

Next week: The only oral medication I'll be taking next week are the prenatal vitamins and baby aspirin. 

Buuuuuut I do get to start the Delestrogen injections, which use the big scary needles and are injected into my bum muscle! Eeek! I start those tomorrow evening and will continue every Monday and Friday until about 11 weeks of pregnancy. 

The Delestrogen (also known as Estradiol) will be drawn up with the pink, 18 gauge needle then I will switch it out for the smaller, blue, 25 gauge needle (thank god!) to do the injection. Monday's injection will be 0.10 ml and Friday's will be 0.20 ml. 

Here's a comparison of the three different needles with the Lupron needles on the right. Look how big the pink 18 gauge needle is! I'm sooo glad I don't have to use those to inject. 

I'm going to post a video of my first injection tomorrow night so be sure to check back! I'll be giving myself my first injection since I will have to do it myself at work on Friday so I want at least some practice. Ahh wish me luck! 

I'll continue my acupuncture this week and I'll continue my nightly Lupron injections but will jump from 10 units down to 5 units. 

I'm getting more and more excited about the transfer; it's only 3 weeks away! Time is flying by! I feel such a bond with M & S, I just hope this all works because I really don't want to let them down. Everything about them is wonderful and they truly deserve these babies!  

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Medication:

Days on Prenatal Vitamins: 59
Baby aspirin: 14

Lupron injections: 14

Active Birth Control Pills: 46 (finished 1/2)

Doxycycline: 20 (finished 1/7)

Procedures:

Acupuncture Sessions: 3
Vials of Blood Drawn: 13
Vaginal Exams: 2
SIS: 1
Mock Transfer: 1
Internal Ultrasound: 1

Weight:

Start of medication: 162.6

1st week of Meds: 163.4

2nd week of Meds: 159.2