I have a cold.
I haven’t had a cold since probably January 2020. Back when I was an Instacart shopper and was sick all the time from touching all the germ-filled surfaces in a grocery store. (It’s really no wonder this pandemic happened, really, with all the gross out there.)
On Mother’s Day, my mom, sister and my niece Maddie came over to celebrate. It was such a nice day and so nice that since we’re all vaccinated (minus my niece, she’s only 10) we could just hang out like before times.
But because I have literally not been around many people for 13-plus months, and when I am I usually have 2 masks on, my immune system is not really used to any germs. And apparently my niece, the germ factory, had a little cold when she was here that my body glommed on to and was like “WE WILL INFECT YOUR WHOLE BODY!”
Which is all that to say I’ve spent the last week with a stupid head cold and because I’m trying to be pregnant here in a few weeks, I can’t take anything for it, so I’m just stuffy and tired.
I freaked out and went to take a Covid test too, because I was sure I was one of the few people who would get Covid after being vaccinated and then my transfer would be cancelled and I’d have to start all over again.
It was negative. It’s just a cold.
But in the meantime I had an appointment last week for an ultrasound and blood work. I forgot that they needed to update my labs, so they took like 17 vials of blood. The woman taking my blood wasn’t the most careful and every time she switched vials, she jostled the needle in my vein. It was an excruciating 10 minutes. I hope I never get her again when I have to go in to get blood work.
The ultrasound was to make sure my lining had shed from my period so that I could start the estrogen to then plump up my lining to get ready for implantation.
I’ve had this ultrasound tech before. She’s fine, but she’s also lazy. My left ovary is hard to find. It always is, and I always tell them this. But she doesn’t ever want to take the effort to try and find it. Then she gets mad and irritated when she has to find it. Like look lady, it’s LITERALLY YOUR JOB. And I can’t be the only person with ovaries that like to hide and tilted uteruses. Do your job, lady.
She finally went on my belly to use that ultrasound to find it, which seems like it makes it harder to see, but what do I know? She finally found it, after asking me if I had fibroids and cysts. Which no, I don’t. I literally just had an ultrasound and the nurse said my uterus was “pristine”. This just makes me miss my old clinic and the ultrasound techs who SAY NOTHING. LIKE YOU SHOULD.
Thankfully I got the call that evening that everything looked good and then I could move on to estrogen. I’m using estrogen patches that I change every other day, and then a daily estrogen pill that I have to insert vaginally. This is all old hat, since it’s the same protocol as the last time, but it’s crazy how much you forget about in a year.
On Thursday I go back for another ultrasound so see how my lining is thickening up. Thankfully, the one thing my body gets right in all of this is a thick lining. So I anticipate my lining looking good on Thursday and hopefully things moving a little quicker than originally anticipated. Last time my lining was thick, but not the 3-layered appearance so they increased my estrogen to get that trilaminar appearance. I assume the same thing will happen this time, anticipating going back early next week to double check that. And once we get there, then the lab goes to work, thawing the eggs and fertilizing them and we all pray we get some really good five-day embryos.
I can’t believe it’s almost here. I’ve been oddly calm about it. Probably because I have been through a transfer before and knowing what to expect, for a Type A Virgo like myself, puts me oddly at ease. Even my acupuncturist on Saturday was like “this is really exciting! It’s almost here!” And I had to kind of think “oh yeah, it is!” You wait so long and there has been so much with deciding on using donor eggs, pestering my HR department and finally getting insurance coverage, picking a donor, working two jobs to get the money for the donor eggs and then actually getting the whole thing started that it almost felt like it would never get to this point.
But we’re here and getting so close!
My period that started this whole cycle came on Mother’s Day. I am praying that this was my last period for at least nine months and that Mother’s Day 2022 will be my first.
Let’s Do This!