Today is the second intramuscular shot of progesterone I’ve had to take in the buttocks and now it aches like someone kicked both sides of my butt. It especially hurts when I plop myself into the driver’s seat of my car. Must remember to ease into the chair instead.

Hubby has been very good about administering all of my shots throughout the in vitro fertilization process. (In the leg, the stomach, and in the butt.) If nothing else, this whole ordeal proves how much he loves me and shows what a selfless and caring husband he truly is. I couldn’t ask for a better partner in life.

Progesterone is known to cause constipation, so I’ve been diligently taking Citrucel twice a day, as per the doctor’s recommendation. Mmm… tastes like Tang. (A lot easier to take than that Colon Cleanse stuff.)

Tomorrow, I’ll make ozoni and fry up some mochi with kinako for my folks. We celebrated with Hubby’s family this morning with the traditional Japanese new year’s fare, but we’ll ring in 2008 a little belatedly with my family tomorrow since today’s festivities were focused on the Sugar Bowl. I wonder if Donki still has Hokkigai clams on sale for $12? Mom-in-law said the same clams were selling for $23 at Star Market. That’s PER CAN, folks!

Anyway, I hope everyone had a nice and safe new year — despite the UH Warriors’ painful loss to Georgia in the Sugar Bowl. (I’m still very proud of the team and what they accomplished this year. WAC Champions and a 12-0 season isn’t anything to scoff at.)

[tags]in vitro fertilization, IVF, frozen embryo transfer, FET, infertility, fertility, progesterone, estrogen, climara patches, hormones, conception, injections[/tags]

The new year began in a panic.

After the new year’s eve festivities were over, I glanced at my IVF calendar which indicates what medication I should be taking on any given day. That was when I realized that I had to start taking a new pill on January 1. A pill that I hadn’t yet picked up at the pharmacy. The medicine was called Medrol, a low-dose steroid which is supposed to suppress my auto-immune system so that it doesn’t interfere with the upcoming frozen embryo transfer on Friday. My heart stopped. Thoughts of the possibility of a botched transfer raced through my mind all because I didn’t fill my prescription early enough to take the Medrol on schedule.

My best bet, I thought, was Pearl City Long’s Drugs, since it was a 24-hour pharmacy. I checked the website and didn’t see holiday hours listed, so I called the store and got a recording. It said that the pharmacy was currently closed, but would re-open at 8:00 am the following day. I wasn’t sure if that recording was accurate, since it didn’t specify the date and I feared special holiday hours might differ.

Exhausted from the day’s activities, I fell into bed just before 10:30 pm and Hubby and I slept through the last minutes of 2007, but not before I lifted desperate prayers about the medication and finding a pharmacy that would be open on New Year’s Day — with that specific medication in stock.

This morning, I awakened early and made the phone call to Long’s Drugs. They were open — and they had the Medrol in stock. Hallelujah!

Sure, it’s a small thing in the scheme of things — but it was a HUGE deal to me. I have been so careful not to do anything within my power to detrimentally affect my frozen embryo transfer, and to jeopardize it all because of an oversight would have just killed me.

I’m taking comfort in the fact that God is cares about even the littlest of our concerns and hears our prayers. I know that He will be right there with me in the days ahead, too.

Countdown to the frozen embryo transfer: 3 days

[tags]in vitro fertilization, IVF, frozen embryo transfer, FET, infertility, fertility, progesterone, estrogen, climara patches, hormones, conception, Medrol, medication[/tags]