My butt hurts!! And this is why:
Oh, what a weekend. My intra-muscular butt shots started last weekend.
Last Saturday was supposed to be an important doctor's appointment. Not only was I scheduled to do my blood draw/ ultrasound, but my hubby was supposed to come and get trained how to do intra-muscular shots. They're more complicated than the sub-cutaneous ones. (It's a lot longer needle. It's an oil-based shot, so it's thicker and takes longer to inject. You have a very specific area it has to go into the butt. It's too thick to go into the thigh. Once you stick it in, you have to check to make sure you don't get blood in the needle.) Just a lot of new information.
Here's the training video if you're curious: http://www.freedommedteach.com/eng/videos.html?play=progesterone_in_oil
But then Saturday morning, hubby woke up sick. :( I called a really good friend, and luckily for me, she was willing to drop everything on her agenda to accompany me to the doctor.
Knowing myself, I needed another person there to take notes. Because when I start to get overwhelmed, I shut down. And somebody had to pay attention to this! We went over the drug schedule (which is complicated), and I have already messed up twice! (Taking the wrong medication at the wrong time! And forgotten to take a medication.) I was not meant to be a druggie. ;) It's too complicated.
But despite my mixed up drugs, it turned out to be okay. My uterine lining was still good, so we don't have to postpone the transfer.
We had a meeting with the IVF coordinator, and she drew circles on both of my hips/glutes to show hubby where to put the IM injection.
So that was Saturday.
That morning, I had read a really good quote on The Mormon Channel on Sunday morning. (speaking about Jesus Christ)
"His life was not free of conflict or pain, but it was free of fear and full of meaning."
- David E. Sorenson
That was what I wanted. It's the fear of the pain that gets me all worked up.
Sunday evening, hubby gave me a blessing around 9:30 pm, but then due to circumstances, he didn't end up trying to give me the shot until about an hour later after the blessing. (This was a new shot, so he was getting it ready and studying the instructions.)
By then too much time had passed, and my anxiety was really starting to build up. In addition to that, because he wasn't at the shot training meeting, he was trying to do it differently than I had learned how to do it. So I freaked out and we argued because I thought he was doing it wrong. (The IVF coordinator had said to pinch the skin when starting the injection, and the written instructions and training video that they told us to watch said to spread the skin out with your fingers.) He didn't know any other way to do it, because he was just following the video's instructions... but it was different than the verbal instructions I received. And I was worried about it hurting more this way. Anyway, I was just too freaked out to let him do it.
Long story short, I ran away. (Briefly) Fight or flight instincts kicked in. I just had to get away. So... at 10:30 pm I threw my clothes on and left. I told hubby I needed to go on a walk, and when I got back we could do the injection. (I was pretty worked up at the time.) And I just left.... without my phone, without the dogs.... no idea were I was going. Just walking as fast as I could away from the house outside in the dark, cold night.
Crying and praying, I asked Heavenly Father to help me get through this. Because I couldn't do it. (and I didn't want to do it!) It took me almost 40 minutes to decide to return to the house. Walking away from the house was a very brisk walk. Walking back towards the house was very slow... feeling like I was on some quest where I had to face my destiny. (even though I didn't want to.) I don't know why these are so hard for me. I thought of all the other people I knew who had done IVF and had to get the same shots. It's just something you have to get through... a means to an end. Part of what overwhelms me is knowing that I have to potentially do these shots for 3 months. (assuming I get pregnant.) (If I don't get pregnant, they will stop.) So I had to remind myself to just take it one day at a time. It's not 12 weeks of shots. It's one day. I only have to endure one day. And it will probably only hurt for 10-15 seconds. 10 seconds out of 24 hours. That's all I have to get through.
So I went back into the house, hugged my husband, and said we could try again. The 40 minute walk/ prayer had helped. So I iced the area again, turned on a pretty, soft song on my iPod, and hubby gave me the first of many future IM shots.
FYI.. for anyone reading this who has to get an IM injection. Here's some tips: Ice the area really well (a long time) right before the shot to numb the skin. I tell my hubby to count to 3 before giving the shot, and I make sure I'm exhaling a long breath when he's administering it. (That helps me not tense up so much.) Then afterwards, massage the area for at least 10-15 minutes!! I recommend buying one of those little massage tools to spare hubby's hands. Because you're going to need it.
The instructions said to rub the area for 2 minutes. That didn't cut it. The next morning, I woke up and my hip was so sore and painful! It's odd because it's not the injection site that hurts, it's around the area surrounding it. So the next night, hubby massaged the area for about 10 minutes. And that next morning, that hip was much better. It was still sore. But not horribly painful sore. Just a little achy sore.
The one nice thing about the progesterone IM injections is that there is no residual burning or stinging from the medication when you get it. Once it's done, it's done. You just have to massage the area really well so that the next morning, you can walk normally. (My sister told me I was walking like a baby penguin after my first IM shot.) From then on, we've rubbed the medication in really well. So no more baby penguin walk. ;)
Sunday evening, hubby gave me a blessing around 9:30 pm, but then due to circumstances, he didn't end up trying to give me the shot until about an hour later after the blessing. (This was a new shot, so he was getting it ready and studying the instructions.)
By then too much time had passed, and my anxiety was really starting to build up. In addition to that, because he wasn't at the shot training meeting, he was trying to do it differently than I had learned how to do it. So I freaked out and we argued because I thought he was doing it wrong. (The IVF coordinator had said to pinch the skin when starting the injection, and the written instructions and training video that they told us to watch said to spread the skin out with your fingers.) He didn't know any other way to do it, because he was just following the video's instructions... but it was different than the verbal instructions I received. And I was worried about it hurting more this way. Anyway, I was just too freaked out to let him do it.
Long story short, I ran away. (Briefly) Fight or flight instincts kicked in. I just had to get away. So... at 10:30 pm I threw my clothes on and left. I told hubby I needed to go on a walk, and when I got back we could do the injection. (I was pretty worked up at the time.) And I just left.... without my phone, without the dogs.... no idea were I was going. Just walking as fast as I could away from the house outside in the dark, cold night.
Crying and praying, I asked Heavenly Father to help me get through this. Because I couldn't do it. (and I didn't want to do it!) It took me almost 40 minutes to decide to return to the house. Walking away from the house was a very brisk walk. Walking back towards the house was very slow... feeling like I was on some quest where I had to face my destiny. (even though I didn't want to.) I don't know why these are so hard for me. I thought of all the other people I knew who had done IVF and had to get the same shots. It's just something you have to get through... a means to an end. Part of what overwhelms me is knowing that I have to potentially do these shots for 3 months. (assuming I get pregnant.) (If I don't get pregnant, they will stop.) So I had to remind myself to just take it one day at a time. It's not 12 weeks of shots. It's one day. I only have to endure one day. And it will probably only hurt for 10-15 seconds. 10 seconds out of 24 hours. That's all I have to get through.
So I went back into the house, hugged my husband, and said we could try again. The 40 minute walk/ prayer had helped. So I iced the area again, turned on a pretty, soft song on my iPod, and hubby gave me the first of many future IM shots.
FYI.. for anyone reading this who has to get an IM injection. Here's some tips: Ice the area really well (a long time) right before the shot to numb the skin. I tell my hubby to count to 3 before giving the shot, and I make sure I'm exhaling a long breath when he's administering it. (That helps me not tense up so much.) Then afterwards, massage the area for at least 10-15 minutes!! I recommend buying one of those little massage tools to spare hubby's hands. Because you're going to need it.
The instructions said to rub the area for 2 minutes. That didn't cut it. The next morning, I woke up and my hip was so sore and painful! It's odd because it's not the injection site that hurts, it's around the area surrounding it. So the next night, hubby massaged the area for about 10 minutes. And that next morning, that hip was much better. It was still sore. But not horribly painful sore. Just a little achy sore.
The one nice thing about the progesterone IM injections is that there is no residual burning or stinging from the medication when you get it. Once it's done, it's done. You just have to massage the area really well so that the next morning, you can walk normally. (My sister told me I was walking like a baby penguin after my first IM shot.) From then on, we've rubbed the medication in really well. So no more baby penguin walk. ;)
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