Taking meds on time

I think this a good point in my blog to bring up the importance of the timing of medication.

Timing is Everything! 

The way I like to view it, is that the medicines are only working in your body for 24 hours. If you procrastinate on the timing, your body could go without the medicine it needs. As a Surrogate, this is one of our major responsibilities. Keeping the proper dosage of medicine flowing thru our body at a constant level, is what helps the little embryo (embie as I like to call it) attach to the Uterus lining and grow into a sweet baby.

 Its so important for you to take it around the same time every day, whether that's in the morning or at night. My doctor has given me a 4 hour window, although every doctor's advice is different. If you are taking IVF medications, you should definitely stick to what your doctor recommends.

Put it in your head that each injection, pill, or other form of daily medication is only active in your body for 24 hours; you will be more inclined to remember to take it. Picture this: You are late one day in taking your medicine and then later the transfer isnt successful. Think of how your going to feel. Guilt will start to move in over the sadness. You will remember that one time you were late and begin thinking its your fault, even if it wasnt. So prevention is better than cure. Take the timing of your medications seriously, not only for the sake of the parents and doctors who are investing time and money into your journey, but for the sake of you own personal emotional health. Taking care of yourself is a big part of growing a healthy baby.

I set 2 alarms on my phone. One around the exact time that I like to take it daily and then another one 20 minutes before my time frame closes. By the time the 2nd alarm goes off, I should already be finished with my injection, but in case I was busy, it reminds me that I still have time. I know at that point, I need to drop whatever it is that Im doing and go do my shot.

Also, when the alarm goes off, I dont not turn it off unless Im literally getting up and walking towards the fridge (I keep my meds on top of it ;-) ). Otherwise, I push snooze.

Lupron and Luncheon

I am so excited to say: I finally started my meds!!

The drs office sent a box of all my medications thru FedEx and I picked them up on Friday!

I came home and checked if everything was inside. There was a master checklist in the box, so that was easy. No problems.
Saturday morning I took my first Lupron shot in the stomach easy peasy. Its a very short and thin needle that just into basically your belly fat. For more injection instructions, feel free to refer back to my post on April 24, 2014: http://theirembiemynest.blogspot.com/2014/04/injections-hcg-and-lupron.html

Another instructional video: http://www.freedommedteach.com/eng/videos.html?play=leuprolide_acetate

I also started the Baby Aspirin. Im not going to lie, Im still feeling a bit nervous about taking that but I have also read about it helping prevent miscarriages. Science never fails to impress me! So, Im jumping on the band wagon and starting the Baby Aspirin regimen of 81mg a day. Now the hard part is making sure I wake up consistantly before 10am to take the Lupron and Aspirin. Im used to taking meds at night. But if thats what it takes, than so be it! Besides, sleeping in sucks.....said no one EVER!!! hahaha

I also had my first Surrogacy group therapy session today at my agency's office. We have these group sessions once a month and I love and truly appreciate them. Driving to Pasadena is simple on Saturday mornings, its the driving home part that sucks. A 40 minute drive there can easily turn into a 2 1/2 hour drive back (or even 3 hours if theres a bad accident). But these ladies always make it so worth it! They even turn it into a luncheon so we can stay and hang out and chitchat with each other afterwards, if we want.

My Personal Bedrest Regimen

Since theres nothing much going on this week, I decided to throw in an extra blog entry today. I thought I would talk a little today about my own personal bedrest routine.

Now most doctors will tell you to stay in bed the rest of the day, after the IVF procedure. Many say you can even return to work the following day, as long as you take it easy. Heres the thing. I personally cannot follow that guideline. The way I look at is this. So much money, time, and effort has gone into preparing for this IVF step. I need to do everything I possibly can to ensure that I tried as much as I could.

For example, if I were to go thru weeks of medications, including sticking myself with needles, along with going to all the doctor appointments and my IPs spent plenty of money for that transfer. Only to

have me go back to work after a day or two of rest. How am I going to feel, what am I going to think if the transfer doesnt result in a pregnancy? BUT if I stay resting for as long as I can (even if its only for 3 or 4 days after transfer) if the transfer doesnt stick, then I dont think I would be so hard on myself. Of course thats just me.

I completely understand that many surrogates are not able to just stay in bed for 2 weeks. I would never suggest you sacrifice caring for your own family members. However, I would highly suggest that its in your contract for someone to accompany you for the day of the transfer and 2 day after. Use this time away from work and the littles to 100% stay laying down in bed. Just rest and thing sticky thoughts.

Actually everytime any sort of worry or negative vibe comes my way, I try to focus on this:

A shriveled up balloon (the uterus), with peanut butter smeared all over the insides (the uterine lining), and then a small pea (the embryo). It helps when I have a visual ;-)


So IF you are able to stay in bed, try to do it for as long as you are capable of.

My personal regime is this: Day 1 is Transfer Day.
Shower right before the transfer time on Day 1. Day 1-3 complete bedrest, except to use the restroom.
Day 3-shower at night.
Day 4-7 bedrest, laying down but can use the bathroom and shower slowly and carefully, no sudden movements.
Day 8-10 (or until 2nd Beta bloodwork results)  Rest in bed, but can be propped up. Leaning back on the sofa with feet up is okay during the day.

Medication Calendar

Friday, I received my Medication Calendar from the Doctor's office. I was so excited when I received the email! Then the week went by like a rollercoaster, up, down, up.

The moment I seen that email in my Inbox, I became anxious to check when their projected transfer date would be. The plan is to have one of my sisters fly out here to be with me and help, since my husband doesnt have any days off from work right now. Even though I had just seen two of them a month ago, it feels like forever ago. Well when I opened the attachment and briefly looked over it, my heart sank. The anticipated date is towards the end of July. That just seems so far away, especially since my past journeys, I had only taken 2-3 weeks worth of medication. I had expected the date to have been the end of June.

Over the weekend, I took time to actually review the regimen and became a bit confused and concerned. For one, it says I am to start taking baby aspirin. Ive never taken that before and of course the first thing that comes to mind is to prevent a heart attack. I became worried that maybe they saw something in my bloodwork that caused them alarm. The second issue is that they would like me to take a hormone called Lupron for an extended time frame. Well to my recollection, I hadnt taken this type of medication regimen before.

Monday, I spoke with my agency coordinator and she suggested I email the nurses about my concerns and also mention past medications working perfectly for my body. And so I did. The nurse was nice and explained that the baby aspirin is given to all the patients of this physician. It is used as an anticoagulant and helps prevent miscarriages. I had never heard of this before, so of course I Googled
it and yeah, it seems like many doctors use this in aiding the IVF process. We also spoke about the extended Lupron schedule. She explained to me that this was simply the protocol that my doctor uses for most of his surrogates. And so it shall be.

I decided to go through alllll my emails and hunt down each of my medication schedules, which in the end proved to be such a hard task. It took quite a few hours, but in the end I finally found one where I was on an extended Lupron regimen. Its not exact but it is similar and it was one that resulted in a healthy baby (my 2nd surro).

So I am back to feeling optimistic; if it worked once before, itll work again. My husband reminds me that the doctors actually know what they are doing. I guess sometimes I forget that even though Ive done this a few times, the doctor has actually done this many, many times. And maybe, just maybe he actually knows a bit more about it than I do. [Insert face palm here].  I am also hopeful that my sister's request off from work will be approved, which is another difficult hurdle to overcome, since the transfer date is just an anticipated one.

I am to start Lupron injections June 16th and the nurse said they will mail the medications to me.