day 1 of lupron

earlier in the week i received the calendars from the fertility doctor, so the process is finally beginning.

they told me to continue taking the birth control pills until i got to a certain day, and then i had to start a new pack (even though i wasn't finished with the old one) to manipulate my menstrual cycle. so i've been on that new pack for like 5 days. i will be taking those pills for another 4 days.

today is the first lupron shot. i will be taking lupron for a total of 17 days for this cycle. the lupron medication is a synthetic version of a chemical already in our bodies that prevents estrogen from being created or released. it pretty much keeps my hormones in check, prepping my body to do everything in time just right for the mass ovulation at the egg retrieval surgery.
so the first 11 days i will be shooting 15iu of lupron. then the dose goes down to 10iu once i begin the follicle stimulating hormones. 15 iu of liquid is about the volume of the size of a pencil eraser. i just shot it into my thigh:

quick lupron subcutaneous injection instructions: wipe the skin and the medication bottle with alcohol. let dry (or else it will sting). wash and sanitize hands with alcohol. take syringe from package and pull the plunger to 15iu. turn lupron bottle upside down and poke needle into bottle. push 15iu of air into bottle, pull 15iu of medication into syringe. turn bottle upright (syringe upside down) and pull out needle. flick out any bubbles, press plunger until any bubbles leave and theres a bead of medication at the tip of the needle. with one hand, pinch the fat and aim the needle at the middle of the pinched fat. hold the syringe like a dart and at a 90 degree angle to the skin just stab really quick dont stop until the needle ends. pretty much jab it in without any hesitation and it will stop on its own without any pressure. thats the best, most painless way to do it.

that didn't hurt. but i didn't keep the syringe very still while the needle was in my skin as i readjusted my hand and fingers up to the plunger to press the medication into my fatty fat fat... so that might cause a bruise later from the needle wiggling around in circles under the skin... it felt funny pushing the meds into the fat. not painful, but funny. then i waited 5 seconds and pulled out the needle really quickly. a tiny dot of blood, smaller than a neighboring freckle, came out after a few seconds but didn't grow or anything. it felt a little bit stingy or itchy after that and then a minute or so later that went away.

there will be no more alcohol or sex for me. not until the egg retrieval (which, according to the calendar, will be in about 3 weeks)