Thursday 8 October 2009

One down, seventeen or so to go

Last night I introduced my virgin stomach to Mr. Needle. I decided early that I was going to make the introductions at 21.30 and all day was a count down even though I tried hard not to think about it. I did a bunch of things to distract myself and to try to make time go a little faster. I cleaned out my closet. Replaced cute summer skirts and cotton flowery tops with wooly sweaters and more fleece pants. I started a magazine project that isn't due in another few weeks. Walked the Dogster twice as far as I normally would. Made an elaborate dinner for D. Did research on images and ideas for the childrens book I'm working on. And I watched too much TV. In spite of all this when evening finally rolled around I had just finished reading the how-to-shoot-yourself-with-Gonal-F instructions for the eleventh time. I opened the fridge at exactly 20.30 to take out the meds and bring them to room temperature (thanks for that advise dear internet peeps). Then I watched Project Runway for half an hour and when that was over we started watching House. At 21.25 we paused dr. House mid sentence spewing rudeness and went to prep the injection pen. 

INSTRUCTIONS (now known by heart from excessive reading)
• Remove cover and place a new needle on pen - clicking sound ensures it's in place
• Set the dose dial at the 37.5 IE mark. Pull out the injection button - you will hear a click
• Remove outer and inner needle cover and point pen up in the air
• Press injection button all the way in and make sure a drop of fluid exits the needle point
• Exchange nervous glance with Hubster
• Set the dose dial at the 225 IE mark. Double check. Triple Check
• Pull out injection button to load the pen and check again that you have the correct dose set
• Go sit down in comfy chair
• Select previously circled right area of stomach (right seemed easier to start with than left...)
• Have Hubster count to three
• Introduce Mr. Needle (ie. stab yourself) and press down the injection button all the way to experience weird tingling sensation when meds enter your body
• Count to ten before removing needle from stomach and then safely dispose of needle
• Exhale and give Hubster high-five

All in all the whole ordeal took less than 2 minutes and was virtually painless. The rest of the night I kept trying to feel if anything was different, if there were any side effects. Did I have some tingling in the right side of my body? Did I suddenly have some more cramps? Nah, nothing really. Was that the beginning of a headache? No, just needed to let hair down from ponytail. Cotton mouth? Went away when I had a drink of water. Dizziness? I'm sure it had nothing to do with nerves or anticipation.
So yeah, taking that first shot was a piece of cake and I can easily do that for another ten days or so. Bring it on!

I guess this also qualifies as todays "show & tell" so check out what others are showing here.

23 comments:

  1. Congratulations and well done on the first injection - it's always the hardest one, I think!! Gosh, I had a look at the pic of your tummy on the previous post and was very envious of your lovely virgin tummy - after 2 laparoscopies and one lap band surgery, my stomach (though smaller than it was) is scarred all to hell, guess the bikinis won't be coming out in Thailand!

    Oh, I am SO excited to read about your cycle - I have everything crossed for you CP!! Good jabbing!

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  2. Yippe!!!!! I'm so excited for you!! You made it sound so easy! I'm not as nervous about having to use the blasted thing after all!! Thanks for the injection class! And Good Luck!!

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  3. Glad it went so well. I hope that you continue to have no side effects ;)

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  4. Congrats! That first shot is definitely the hardest -- though I knew it wouldn't hurt, I sat there for 10 minutes the first time trying to psych myself into taking the plunge, so to speak. Every time my hand started darting toward my stomach, my brain would stop it. Finally, I just took a deep breath and made myself do it and of course, it was painless. Now that I probably have over 50 days of shots under my belt, I can whip it out in a public bathroom stall and do it while my girlfriends are on the other side of the door, oblivious!

    Best of luck with your stimming -- you immediate analysis made me laugh! You'll probably start feeling things no earlier than day 3 or 4...

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  5. LOL about waiting for side effects right after injecting. I did the same thing yesterday morning and I only took lupron! LOL!

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  6. Congrats!! Good luck!! Fingers and toes crossed for you as well!! Once you survive the first shot the rest are just cake. :)

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  7. Congrats on making that first step. I think the anticipation/fear before the first shot was worse than the shot for me.

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  8. Wow! Good going! I am proud of you!

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  9. Woo!!

    When you take it out of the fridge to warm it up, pop it in your bra!
    Your body temp will make it nice and warm!!

    I'm so excited for you!!

    xx

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  10. I think I stopped breathing while I read this post. The first one is the hardest, its all downhill from here.

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  11. Congratulations on your first successful needle stick!! I am glad it wasn't too bad. I liked all your hubster instructions. =)

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  12. Glad that first dose worked out well! Hopefully the others will be as easy and painless, but come with less nervousness.

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  13. Hey SITSa.

    Good luck! I am pulling for you! I will add you to my blogroll so I can follow your pregnancy (notice how I am so positive!).

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  14. Well done! I agree that the first one is the hardest - after that, the initial dread is gone. Not that they're exactly fun, but I found the whole injections piece to be way, way less scary than I imagined. Sending good thoughts your way for this cycle!

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  15. Woohoo! Congrats on your first stim injection! I don't remember feeling anything right off the bat, but trust me. You'll start feeling things around the 7th or 8th day.

    I swear for me the worst part of the shots was letting H give them to me. I would so much rather do it myself, but I really wanted to keep him up with that part of the process so he would feel like he was doing something towards helping me get pregnant, besides just wanking in a cup, you know?

    Of course, I'm really starting to freak about the PIO shots coming up soon. Those will be SUPER fun, I'm sure...

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  16. Well done. The first one is always the worst. You'll be a pro at it in no time.

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  17. Woo hoo! First injection down! Your description of the steps was great!

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  18. Congratulations! You made it sound so easy, which is very encouraging :-)

    Also - I nominated you for an award on my blog.

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  19. I don't care how easy it is, I still couldn't bring myself to stab my own belly! Hubby did them all. Congratulations on being so brave!!

    PS... stop by my blog when you can cuz I have a little something for you!

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  20. I am truly impressed. I never did get the gumption to give the shots to myself.

    Good luck with the rest of the cycle!

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  21. WOOHOOO!!! you are one your way! so very excited for you!

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  22. good job getting through the first one! I loved the humor in your directions, especially the one about exchanging nervous glances with the hubster.

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