Then, the big night came. We had to inject a huge needle into my bum at a rather exact moment at midnight on a Wednesday (this is the “Ovulation Trigger” shot to time when my eggs / follicles burst out of my ovary for the good doctor to retrieve = hugely important!) I went out and had dinner with a new friend to distract myself. My friend knew and understood why I was drinking water all night (instead of wine, but wow, I really wanted a glass of wine to calm my nerves). I had considerably cut down on how much I was drinking during this “trying to conceive” (TTC) phase of our lives. I tried not to have more than one glass here and there. Many of my friends told me not to worry about it, and that it didn’t affect my fertility. But again, if I was going to give this treatment and my potential unborn child a fighting chance, well then I had to do everything in my power – and cutting back on vino was certainly in my power.
I came home that evening, with Eric in our little living room having this look of utter sadness and disgust on his face. He was terrified of putting that big needle in my bum. We talked for a few minutes. I reminded him that we HAD to do this, that I was a big girl, and I could handle it. And that he was brave and he could do it. He still looked scared. I tried to be super brave for him, so that he would have the courage to do it. I said something like “I am totally ready for this! Let’s do this!” We looked into each other’s eyes, took a deep breath. And I dropped my drawers and faced the wall. My bum had a big “X” on it where the nurse had drawn to show Eric exactly where to put the needle. He stared at it. Looked up at me, and I nodded a “go for it” nod. And faced the wall again. I heard him take a deep breath, and he plunged the needle in! Frankly, it didn’t hurt nearly as much as I thought it would. And then it was done. He asked if it hurt, and I told him no, not really. He was almost in tears. We hugged and took a big breath. And eventually tried to get to sleep. But how do you sleep when the next morning, they are retrieving a bunch of timed eggs from your body? I thought to myself, “Seriously, this is so weird. Wow.”
Please join me next week to hear more about my personal journey down the infertility path. I look forward to speaking with you. And I wish you the best on your journey.
Warm regards,
Cathy