so early this week i reluctantly stopped lov.enox...no longer being hemoconcentrated following my bout with OHSS/paracentesis/abdominal bloating from hell. even though the shot stings like crazy i quite was sad to give it up, because i got pg and stayed pg (so far) while taking it. so rather like a basketball player and his lucky underwear, i wanted to make it to 12 wks before deviating from my medication regimen in any way. alas, not to be. plus, i figured if i was homozygous for MTHFR (and being ashkenazi, it's a reasonable possibility) i would be treating that simultaneously. i've never been tested for clotting disorders, so it's possible. at my appt this week i asked the resident if i could stay on the lov.enox...she contacted the maternal-fetal specialist who essentially said no can do regarding the lov.enox, because if i do have a clotting disorder it won't cause problems until 20 wks or so, and since i'm no longer hemoconcentrated there's really no need to continue the shot. is that supposed to be comforting? i'm supposed to wait until 20 wks to see if a problem develops? Not Even Remotely Comforting.
even more reluctantly i stopped the PIO. a word about PIO. that shot SUUUUUUUCKS. it is thick, and deep IM, and currently my backside is covered in knots and bruises. i even ended up with sciatica down my left leg from multiple deep IM injections into the same area. so, it's not that i like the shot at all. it's that despite multiple assurances that 'the placenta takes over progesterone production at 6-8 wks' i know there are women for whom that is not the case. i also know that you can have a perfectly healthy fetus, but if you don't have adequate progesterone, you don't have a pregnancy, end of story. i also know, that fertility wise, i happen to fall into a rather small percentage of women who need IVF to get pregnant. further, i happened to fall into an even smaller percentage who get severe OHSS. so, at this particular junction i'm *not* interested in playing odds games. however, i can't write prescriptions for myself (yet) and so the best i could do was secure a pro.metrium script for the next several weeks...and i'm sure earn a few "crazy lady" doodles next to my name on my chart.
so my last PIO was thurs eve and i woke up yesterday (sat) with a small amt of pink spotting. i spotted all day. you can imagine the lovely state i was in. i think i put so much progesterone up my vag that i'm suprised it wasn't stuck shut. by yesterday eve my attempts at remaining calm had failed me and i paged the IVF dr on call (mind you i have been passed off to OB at this point, but at my appt last week i was really unimpressed with the level of knowledge they seemed to have regarding early pregnancy, complications etc.). thankfully they returned my call and i drove an hour to the clinic on sat night at 7pm for a thorough wanding.
science babe looked great. waving it's little arm and leg buds, bobbing it's ginormous, egg-like noggin. it's father has a ginormous head, the ramifications of which are just becoming clear to me now. hb 164. i'm sure the collective IVF team thinks i'm just a big pile of crazy at this point, between the begging for shots, wheedling for pro.metrium, saturday evening scans, etc. etc. etc. however, in my defense, spotting 3 days after discontinuing PIO will cause panic. it just will.
oh well. this gets better, right?
6 comments:
You know IFers are crazy. :) Bless your heart. I am glad all is well.
I don't think you're crazy at all. It always amazes me how much effort goes into an IVF conception and then it's all like 'you'll be fine without THIS or THAT, and you can see what happens without THIS as well, toodles! Have fun at your OB's'....
J
You are a saint for putting up with the docs you have. All the best the military can provide, right?
Ugh.
xoxoxox
my phone is disconnected - very liberating :)
Katie
Yes, it gets better, honest. It gets better the day you hold your miracle in your arms, and not a second sooner, I'm sorry to say. Then again, I had a treacherous, high risk, triplet pregnancy, so that might account for why I spent my entire pregnancy holding my breath wondering if I'd make it. But honestly... until I held those babies in my arms, I was never QUITE convinced that things were going quite as well as everyone kept telling me they were.
We're crazy IFers for a reason, Lea Bea... We've been driven to this place. Frankly, I think we deserve to be high maintenance. Your doctors know that.
P.S. I'm glad that everything looked find in the end.
Post a Comment