First of all, the progesterone shots into my butt hurt. A lot. Let's not sugar coat this. Not only is the needle about 2 inches long and pretty girthy, but the progesterone is in oil, which means that it takes about 15 seconds for all of it to get out of the syringe. Fifteen seconds may not sound like a long time, but if you count it out with a needle inside you, you'd be surprised. With the awkward positioning of the needle and having to force it for that long, I really can't give them to myself. I tried, but it didn't go well. So I usually get up when Shamus is about ready to leave, prepare the syringe, stick it in (because he refuses to do so), and then he pushes the meds into me. Then I use the antibacterial wipe to stop the bleeding and then he puts a band-aid on me. It's not so much that they hurt at the time (although sometimes they do), but the injection site itches really bad later. Also, there are huge knots in the muscle and it feels really really sore. My upper butt is bruised and ugly right now. Some days it's fine, and some days it hurts and itches incredibly bad.
The patches are a real joy as well. I learned that a 0.1 mg patch of estrogen is equivalent to a 2 mg pill. Effectively I'm on 8 mg/day of estrogen right now between the pills and patches. I have sticky residue on my belly from the patches because it's hard to get it off. Ah well. That one isn't too bad. No bikinis for me this summer though (not that I'd be sunbathing anytime soon anyway).
All three of my meds cause breast tenderness, and that is pretty severe. It's also a sign of pregnancy, but I'm trying not to read too much into that.
On Monday morning, I woke up and had a little bit of spotting. My heart sank. I've been through this and I know where it leads...right to my period. I emailed my nurse, and she said it was ok, to take it easy, and drink lots of fluids. I definitely did that on Monday. She said I'm on so many hormones right now that my body has no idea when the period should happen. We are hoping that it is bleeding from the embryo implanting.
Since Monday, I've had periodic exhaustion, nausea, and bad heartburn. While I would love to read into these symptoms that I'm obviously pregnant, I'm trying to not do that. I think it's too early to feel any pregnancy symptoms if I am pregnant. I'm trying not to overanalyze how I'm feeling, but as we get closer to the day we find out, my brain is in overdrive. There's really no way to tell until my blood test.
So prayers for peace, relief, and a baby would be much appreciated. :)