Fertility Part 18

This is the last post before our beta hCG test (quantitative). Whatever happens, we will know that we gave it a good effort. We did the 2-week cleanse from the IVF diet 6 times (for 12 weeks). Since the frozen embryo transfer (FET) I have been wearing warm fuzzy socks to keep my feet warm. I have been taking it easy and staying out of the heat. I have taken sub-2 minute showers. I have relaxed as much as possible, under the circumstances.

I am feeling nervous, but for all the above reasons, I know that there is nothing left to do but get an answer. If our blood is drawn at 7am, we should have the result in two hours from that time. For the past two days, I have had an extreme aversion to smells (bad ones). I have had a bit of nausea in the morning and evening. I looked at my breasts yesterday in the mirror and they are the biggest ever (and sore) and my nipples have turned an interesting shade of purple. Kind of like red with blue polka dots. Usually they are a creamy-pale pink.



I hope these are signs that the embryo is implanted and growing stronger. I have resisted the urge to document every symptom with a new blog post, partly because I did not want to seem like a crazy person in case today's test results are negative. I have also (miraculously) resisted the urge to take home-pregnancy tests every day. It is an exercise in delayed gratification.

One bit of advice I could offer about PIO shots... prior to my embryo transfer I was doing lots of walking. My good old fitbit helped me track 10,000 steps per day. After embryo transfer, I got 2,000 or less because dear husband was watching me like a hawk to make sure I rested. But my injection sites started building up bruising and the shots were getting more and more painful, as I alluded to in a previous post.

On Monday, I went for a long walk and then Tuesday morning dear husband noticed that my bruising was much less and I noticed the injections hurt less. No tears, less pain. So yesterday I made sure to get my 10,000 steps. I tried Kundalini Yoga but I am not sure that was the best. It was not very relaxing and the breath of fire was something I could not (would not) do.

I have found the meditations on the FertiCalm app really helpful. When the injections were getting more painful, I would do a mini meditation before going downstairs to get all the syringes ready. And now dear husband is awake and we are going to jump in the shower (for 2 minutes) and then head out to the doctor's office.