Intralipid Adventures

30 April 2011

One week ago I got my first beta results back, wow what a week it has been. I am now 5 weeks pregnant. Wowsers.

Yesterday I took another trip down to the clinic in Victoria. This was for a second IV intralipid treatment. This is something my clinic uses with people who have had implantation failures, early miscarriages, or otherwise unexplained infertility issues that may be caused by a subtle autoimmune issue. In my case they just figured, what the hay, it couldn't hurt. They gave me the first infusion on the day of the retrieval, and then this one is a follow up to keep any immune cells that might be prowling around ready to attack the implanting embryo and developing placenta at bay.

It was really nice change to go to the clinic for happy reasons. It felt great to hand over my giant sharps container filled to the brim, and some extra syringes and other paraphernalia that I don't need to hang onto.

The nurse that has been present most often for my appointments was on shift after being off for several days. She told me when she arrived at work she thought it was strange that my file was sitting on her desk. The other nurses were all standing around smiling as she opened it. When she looked at my two beta results and said "OMG SilverD is pregnant?! Why didn't someone email or text me?" LOL!

On the subject of my beta results, given that they are quite high, and rapidly doubling she and the other nurses are hedging bets about whether I have one or two beans in there. She's putting money on twins. She said it's going to kill her to have to wait another 2 weeks for the u/s to find out. LOL. The booking clerk joked with me that she might have to phone with a sudden "scheduling change" with an earlier u/s date just to appease the nurses curiosity. Hello people what about me and my DH? She said they can ultrasound people earlier than 7 weeks, but some embryos don't have a detectable heartbeat yet and that freaks people out, so they wait.

My RE spoke to me briefly and asked me to add another 2 mg of folic acid to my vitamin regime and to stay on the extra iron and vitamin D. He was very pleased to hear that I had been having PG symptoms for a couple of weeks already. My primary symptom is fatigue. I can't get over how sleepy I've been. He asked me if I's been watching the Canucks or the Royal Wedding on TV, and I replied "No, to be honest I have been coming home from work and crashing on the couch, then having dinner and pretty much going back to bed for the night". My boobs are quite tender and feel like they are bursting out of my bra. I've had a few periods of mild nausea (more like a grumble in my tummy) that comes and goes, but is better if I have some food in my stomach. Oh, and I've had an increased appetite.

As I laid there hooked up to the IV, I dozed in and out and the nurse would periodically come in to check on me. At 2:00 the alarm on my watch went of reminding me that it was time to take my Estrace and Prometrium. I had an IV in one elbow, and a blood pressure cuff around the other, this was going to be interesting. The right arm with the IV was only good for reaching my pill container. The left arm, although restricted, had some flexibility. The Estrace is taken orally, so that wasn't too bad, but the prometrium, well it goes down there. So, I lifted my hips, undid my pants, and twisted my body into some interesting contortions until I finally managed to be in a position where I could insert... but just at that moment the automatic blood pressure cuff started to inflate and I was stuck frozen in position until it finished taking the reading. I thought about the nurse, or worse yet my RE peaking in on me at that exact moment. Luckily nobody did, but no long after my gymnastic maneuver, the nurse did poke her nose in and said "just making sure you are not getting into trouble in here". Who me? "No, just dozing".

Now, there is another 2ww until the May 16th ultrasound. Fingers crossed things continue to move in a positive direction and we'll see a healthy bean or two in there. I wonder which nurse will win the bet?