now... after all the excitement, isn't there always a little downside? of course, it's us. there's always a downside it seems.
for this pregnancy, dr. o'brien wanted to take a different approach. instead of injectable hormones this time, she decided to put me on vaginal inserts. the last 2 pregnancies, i had kept getting an allergic reaction to the delestrogen shots. hives everywhere! it was horrible. so this time i took estrogen and progesterone vaginally with no allergic reactions.
i was ecstatic about not having to do shots anymore.... or so i thought. this time around, dr. o also wanted to use lovenox injections and an oral steroid to support the pregnancy. she said the lovenox shot would be subcutaneous (in the belly) and not intramuscular (in the butt). at the time before we started the hormones and the new FET cycle, i thought, "oh, okay. not so bad." i only thought this because the subcutaneous shots i took during IUI weren't bad at all compared to the intramuscular shots; no bruising, hardly any bleeding at all and no pain. this is not the case with the lovenox at all. NOT.AT.ALL.
husband and i were so excited about trying again and trying something new that would help our family grow, we neglected to do the research we usually did when dr. o told us about a new drug or method we were going to try. after we got a positive blood test on monday, we were to start the lovenox treatments the following morning - one shot every morning until directed.
the first shot, yesterday morning, hurt a bit - kind of like a small bruise. but, it didn't look anything like one, no bluish or blackish spot. by mid-afternoon, the pain subsided and i saw hardly anything but a little red spot at the injection site. so, the rest of the day, i didn't think much of it. but when i went to take a shower before bed later that night, i noticed some mild bruising, but no pain. i became a little concerned seeing as i had never bruised from a subcutaneous shot before. we were scheduled to take my second blood pregnancy test the following morning (this morning) so i figured i would just wait to talk to the nurse when we went in.
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| how do you like my snowman jammies? |
so this morning, husband and i got up to take my second shot and the bruise had gotten darker and bigger! i panicked to say the very least. and to top it off, the second shot hurt way more than the first one! i was glad and super anxious to get to the clinic to talk to the nurse. they drew my blood for the pregnancy test and i showed the nurse the bruise. she made a sort of sad face and sighed pretty huge and said, "yeah, it's normal." okay nurse lady, NOT the answer i was hoping for.
but she of course was right. when we got home, i googled "lovenox bruising" and oh the horror! not only is the bruising normal, it could only get worse! with further research, some women had to even endure the shots and pain and bruising all the way till they delivered. while i wasn't at all happy about my findings, i knew it's what i had to do to get what i wanted so bad... a beautiful baby of our own.
as i'm sitting here right now with an ice pack on my stomach to soothe the bruising, i've noticed that though the second injection site hurts like hell, it's hardly bruised at all!
let's hope the rest of the time husband and i get the hang of not bruising me up with these shots!
yay! we're pregnant!
