Shots Shots Shots Shots Shots…

We left off with me being an impatient patient. Not getting anywhere with scheduling and trigger shots, we made an appointment to talk to our doctor about next steps. I knew ahead of time that the next step was either IUI or IVF. I also knew what I wanted.

Little Tip: This is your journey—you have every right to ask questions. You also have every right to move on to the next step. Use your voice.

We knew we wanted to move onto IVF, which not only is expensive, but also isn’t covered by TRICARE. However, IVF in Germany is cheaper than it is in the United States. For the first round of IVF, we spent about $6,000.

I’m always learning something throughout this process. And this time it was that there’s actually two forms of IVF. First there is IVF, where the sperm and egg get placed in a petri dish together. But there’s also ICSI, where the sperm actually gets inserted into the egg in the petri dish. Figuring we needed all the help we could get, we went with ICSI.

Oh, and we had to sign a contract.

Little Tip: Read the contract. Ask all the questions. Think about what happens to the embryos if one of you dies.

Remember how I don’t like needles? Well this process meant I had to give myself daily shots (yes, multiple shots) of hormones to stimulate follicle growth. I was prescribed Puregon (to stimulate my ovaries to produce multiple eggs) and progesterone. By the end of this process, I was a pro at these shots and not shy about it either. But in the beginning, I had to Google how to use the Puregon pen.

Little Tip: If you’re in a foreign country, but have access to a clinic that speaks your language, don’t be afraid to go to them with questions. I wanted to talk to someone about how to use the Puregon pen, and it really helped me. The nurse even gave me a Sharps container for the needles.

Unfortunately, I was not a pro at dealing with all the hormones (my mom now likes to remind me that I wasn’t so nice to her when she was dealing with postpartum hormones. Karma, is that you?). Being in Germany, things were generally closed by the time I had to take my shot. But with the time difference, it happened to be the perfect time to talk to my parents. My dad is a veterinarian, and he must have gotten so many questions from me: questions about bubbles, needles, and liquid coming back out of the injection site. While my mom, on the other hand, got all of what my husband would call the “crazy” calls.

Hormones are no joke. Chris was awesome during this—never knowing what “person” he was coming home to—would I be deliriously happy, crying for no good reason, angry at everything, or worst of all, a combination of all emotions. There is still a video on my phone of me bawling for no apparent reason.

While taking the shots, I started going into the doctor’s for them to monitor my cycle and to tell me when to take my trigger shot (the one that tells your ovaries to release the eggs). After the trigger shot, I went in for the egg retrieval process (which I hope I never have to go through again).

During the retrieval, I was given drugs so I didn’t feel anything. Even if I didn’t need a ride home, Chris still would have been right by my side. He got to experience me speaking Gerglish (combo of German and English) after the procedure. The retrieval success is different for every woman. I was lucky enough to have multiple embryos that were retrieved. I think I started out with 24, and of those 24, 19 were viable embryos. I cannot stress enough that this does not happen for everyone—I have known friends who have gone through this procedure and come out with no viable embryos. We were extremely lucky.

If you don’t know me, I’m pretty stubborn. Because of this stubbornness I chose to rely on self-diagnosis when I felt pain in the days following the egg retrieval, which I determined to be ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome. Everything hurt, it hurt to move, even to laugh. I ended up breaking down at work and crying because of the pain. Picture this proud woman trying to blink back tears and pretending that everything is fine. Meanwhile even walking was laborious. Thankfully, I worked at a place where they knew what I was going through and sent me home for the day.

Little Tip: It helped me to drink lots of fluids, eat protein, and especially to move. Moving was the hardest to do, but helped the most. But if you are in pain you should not hesitate to talk to your doctor.

That’s enough hormonal and painful talk for one post. We will leave the actual implantation for the next blog post…

For anyone not reading this series chronologically—spoiler alert: we were very lucky (see Was Ist Fertility), and I’m hoping our 6 month old will sleep through the night.