Stimulating Shots: Day 1

Stimulating shots start today. I find that doing these is a lot like a cooking segment on one of those awful morning shows. You need to get all of your equipment and ingredients together first.

I'm not sure if all clinics use the same procedure. My shot includes lupron and sterile water mixed with three vials of powdered drugs. That's a total of 5 vials plus 2 needles (a long one for mixing and a short one for injecting).

So here's my process. Get all 5 vials, remove the caps. Open the syringe (which comes with the short needle) and the long needle. Get two alcohol wipes and open one. Remove the small needle from the syringe and put it somewhere that it won't roll away. Put the long needle on the syringe. Wipe the lupron and the water vials with the alcohol. Draw up the lupron you need, and then the rest of the water (I do .05cc and .45cc respectively). With the three vials of powder, wipe the top and inject the liquid gently to prevent bubbles. Swish it just a little bit and then draw every tiny drop back up. The needles are cut at an angle, so if you spin the needle you can find the opening. I find it's easiest to put the needle all the way into the bottom, press this opening along the side, and tilt the vial so you can get all of the contents that way. Once you've got everything, set this vial aside and move to the next one.

After you've done all three vials, tap the syringe to get all the air up to the top, and push it out. There's no need to tap the air out in between vials because you're just going to inject it into the next vial, not into yourself. The amount of liquid in the syringe should exactly match how much you started with (.5cc in my case). If it's too low, that means you probably have a tiny bit left in one of the vials that started with powder. Go back and make sure you have it all. Once you're done, put on the short needle.

Use the second wipe to clean a spot to inject and inject it. I find that these shots are less comfortable than the lupron there's more there and the liquid itself burns a tiny bit for me. I find that for about 10 minutes after injecting the area around it itches and is a bit red, but that goes away quickly (unlike the final shot - more on that next week when I take it).

Now, you can clean up. Throw away all your vials, wipes, and sharps. I tend to just put everything in my sharps container because I don't like to leave it in the trash.

This is where your ovaries will start getting bigger. These drugs stimulate follicle production. After a few days, you'll start feeling them. It's not really uncomfortable, just like you know they're there.