Back on birth control.

As of today, I am back on the pill, and starting my first IVF cycle, using the standard long suppression protocol. However, my clinic is closed over the summer, so I don’t start Menopur injections until Thursday August 19, which is another seven weeks away.

I am so excited that the time has finally arrived for us to start this cycle. After two clomid IUIs and two injectable IUIs, I am hoping that the process will be familiar, though hopefully with a different outcome.

With my IUIs, I always spontaneously ovulated before my lining had time to thicken. Hopefully the supression from Suprefact will hold everything back a bit so my endometrium has time to mature, if not with a fresh cycle, then maybe a frozen cycle.

I am hoping that work is not too busy around that time, that I don’t have too many early morning meetings, and that there isn’t anything critical when I suddenly have to take a few days off. Once again, I will begin the familiar pattern of trips to the clinic in the morning, anxious afternoons waiting by the phone, and then injections in the evening.

I am still a bit nervous about the retrieval. The nurse assured me that they administer plenty of pain relief during the procedure, and even put a special note in my file that I can have a Xanax before the procedure. I took something like that before my laparoscopy, and it made the world of difference. Funnily enough, knowing that I won’t be feeling anxious before the procedure is enough in itself to substantially decrease my worries.

So it is time for me to make my way twice around the circle of birth control pills, and then the real adventure will start to begin.