Stabby Hour...

Hey hey people!! Have you been itchin' for an update?!

I've been itching too... But for a different reason!! Ahhh!!!!

If you're not on our Facebook, you may not know this... but... We started injections over the weekend!!! EEEEEEK!!! Wanna hear all about it?? If not (and you're one of those needle-phobes... *cough* Kristy *cough*) you can go ahead and skip this post. You probably don't want to hear about it all!

Sunday was the big day. I was nervous and scared and nervous... and scared! Danny had hockey and although there is a bit of a time window for the injections, it wasn't enough for it to NOT be messed up by his game. This is when it's handy to know people who can do shots! Insert my sister-in-law! Danielle said she'd do it, and we made the plan to do it at my mom's house.

Danny left for his game and I started gathering everything I could POSSIBLY need. The box of Lupron. The big box the lupron and supplies came in. The extra supply bag. The welcome bag which included a DVD (even though Danielle knows how to give the shots). My calendar, so I could double check the dosage. The sharps container.
I packed it all up and headed to my parents' house, WAY WAY early. That's me. Early. All the time. I walked in with all my stuff.
"Hey babe!"
"Hey Dad!"
"Are you by yourself?"
"Yep. Came over for shots. Shots ALL around!! No? Just me??"
"Just you baby girl... Is Danielle coming over to do it?" Of course! She rocks!
"Yep."
Cue crazy nervous stomach....

I sat around, watching some not-so-interesting Lifetime movie my mom was watching. I put the DVD in her laptop and watched it again, again learning nothing new. I looked over all the supplies. I double checked the dosage on the calendar. I watched the DVD again.
My brother, Danielle, and my little niece walked in the door just as I was about to lose my mind.
"Presley! Hi baby!!"
"NeeNee!!"
I relaxed for a while, talking to the little munchkin. She has that way about her, instantly helping  your mood. I love her!
Finally, it was 6:00. Stabby hour. Like Happy Hour, but with fertility drugs instead of alcohol... And needles instead of shot glasses.... And there's not much happy about it. Shots. Eww.
Danielle got everything ready. I told her to do it on the right side of my stomach. She swabbed with the alcohol pad. Swabbed the vial of Lupron (with a different pad!). Put in 10 units... and...
"Are you ready?" Ahhhh NO NO NO NO NO I AM NOT READY!!
"Yep, I'm ready."
Danielle pinched my stomach fat and I felt every ab muscle I have twinge.
Even my body is protesting this!!
"Whoa..."
"Are you okay?" NO!
"Yeah, do it."
"You don't want to look?" NO NO NO
"No! Can't!"
"I'm done." WHAT?!
"Oh, wow. That was fast."
I looked down, expecting... something! I didn't see anything. A tiny red dot where she stabbed. That was it.
"Thank you, so much!!"
I spent some more time with the family, and then rushed home to get the Lupron in the fridge and head to Danny's game.
And during all that? I started to feel a bit itchy. Right where I had my shot. I looked at the spot, again seeing nothing.
The rink where Danny plays hockey was hot. I was still itchy. I held one of the most adorable little babies in the whole world for as long as I could, and when the game was over I handed him back. And looked at my stomach. And no longer saw "nothing." I saw something. Red, blotchy, itchy skin. Not just a tiny spot either. A pretty big area! I promised myself I wouldn't google it...

But I did google it. I didn't really find much. I sent texts to all my friends that I could think of that would know if the reaction was bad. I decided to email Connie the next morning...

I did. And her response wasn't what I expected...

"That's definitely not common." WHAT?! Of COURSE. Of friggin' COURSE. My body hates everything, why wouldn't it hate this medicine?! Ugh!!
She told me to keep taking it and let her know if it gets any worse. I got another email a few minutes later telling me that if it causes shortness of breath to stop taking it immediately and call the on-call doc. She said she didn't think it would happen, but it's better to be cautious.
So. Comforting.

I posted on one of the forums I frequent, asking if anyone else had this reaction. Some girls did! They said they had the reaction on one side rather than the other. One girl said she only got the reaction sometimes. I decided maybe it wouldn't happen again. And I was feeling okay about it...


Yesterday after work I was nervous all over again. It was almost Stabby Hour. We had Faith, and when she heard us talking about the shots she wanted to be all up in that action.
"You're not taking her blood are you Daddy?"
"No, I'm giving her a shot, that's different."
"Okay, then I want to watch." YOU WHAT?! Don't I get a say in this?!
I figured by the time came around for the shot she'd be off in her room and we could sneak it in without her paying attention or noticing.
Nope.
We were watching Cupcake Wars in the living room together when Stabby Hour rolled around. I got all the "goods" out of my box and headed to the kitchen.
Deep breaths. In and out. It's gonna be fine. Danny is confident in this. He's got this. I HATE THIS SO MUCH. I HATE THIS.
Danny got everything ready, I stayed looking away. I made the mistake to glance over when Danielle was getting everything ready and noticed that the needle was bigger than I had thought. I didn't want to see it again.
Alcohol wipe on the tummy, the left side this time.
Faith stepped closer.
I stepped away.
Faith stepped closer again.
"Faith, don't get too close okay?"
"I want to see. Eww. Ewwww." SHE is standing here shivering and freaking out and I am the one about to get stabbed. Ahhhh.
"Ready?" Oh no no no no no. No I am not. I'm not ready!
"Yeah."
Done.
It really is that fast!
"Whoa. Thanks love! I hardly felt a thing! Thank you so much!"
"I told you it would be easy." Yeah yeah yeah...
I looked at Faith who no longer looked freaked out.
"Okay, you're fine. Now start cooking dinner!" Uhhh WHAT?! Seriously?
"Umm, no? I will start cooking when I want to start cooking! First I'm going to finish watching our show!"

My left side had the same reaction to the medication as the right side had. But it didn't last as long (30 minutes versus 3 hours). It's a manageable reaction, so I decided not to worry about it. I also felt a sense of relief. Danny is confident with the shots. He's fast and knows what he's doing. For the first time I really felt like I can do this. I REALLY REALLY CAN do this. We can do this. Together. And when Danny isn't available, Danielle has said she can fill in on Stabby Hour duty. We've got this!!!

It's taken me so long to type this post up that now Stabby Hour for today has come and gone. We moved back to the right side of my belly today. Start to finish it took us about two minutes. From getting everything prepped and ready to Danny standing back up saying I can open my eyes, it's over. It's just that easy.


We are DOING THIS you guys! Really seriously!!! We are!! And you know what my favorite part is? Crossing off the days on the calendar!! I'm counting down the days!!!



Quick update on how I'm feeling:
The hormonal headaches are gone. I'm not sure if my body finally got used to the birth control pills (of course it would be my LAST week on them) or if the Lupron helps that along or what. But I am one THANKFUL gal!! I've read that Lupron can make some people pretty grumpy and some of the side effects don't sound fun, but so far so good! Hopefully I just skip right over all of that stuff!!!

Quick update on my reaction to the shot I just got 25 minutes ago... Yeah... Dark red and blotchy already. Hmm.. I guess the right side IS worse than the left. Dang.