Wednesday, November 16, 2016

5 weeks Pregnant: No More Injections!

Tomorrow I will officially be 5 weeks pregnant and I feel great! I haven't had any nausea or bloating whatsoever. I am continuing to be extremely tired in the evenings though and I'm usually in bed by 8PM. My eyes also seem to be feeling really dry. I haven't been able to wear my contacts much at all and have switched to wearing my glasses a lot more. If I didn't already know I was pregnant, I probably would have no clue that I was pregnant!

I went in for another blood test last Friday to check how my Hcg was increasing. It had risen 136% from 174mlU/ml all the way up to 411mlu/ml. They look for it to increase by at lease 80% if not double, so this is great news! I have my first OB appointment at the fertility center on the 28th and I think we will get to hear our baby's heartbeat!

When I say I am done with injections, that does not mean I am done with the medications. I have to continue taking Progesterone until I am 11 weeks pregnant and Estrogen till I am 10 weeks pregnant. These help support the baby until the placenta is fully formed and I am through the first trimester. I really haven't had that much trouble with the progesterone injections, that is until earlier this week when my backside began to resemble something akin to an ugly pumpkin!

Yes...like that, but not orange!

I broke out in giant, red, itchy hives around each injection site. I called The Fertility Center that day and they said I had probably developed a sensitivity to the sesame oil that they put the progesterone in. Apparently this is not too uncommon. They said my next option was to try a progesterone injection with a different type of oil. They sent in the prescription for Progesterone in Ethyl Oleate hoping that a synthetic oil would help stop the hives. Only problem is my insurance will not cover anything other than sesame oil and the out of pocket cost would be around $150 for just 3 vials. I only paid $4 per vial for the Progesterone in sesame oil.

In an effort to save some money, my doctor has switched me to a vaginal capsule 3 times a day which are only $8 for 90 pills. The capsules seems like they will be annoying, but it will definitely be worth the savings. The hives seem like just a localized reaction, but they did tell me I will need to be extra careful the next time I eat anything with sesame in it. While they hope it will not be an issue, I may have developed an actual allergy to sesame. I'll just need to be careful and be aware that I may have a reaction in the future.

Switching to the capsules means I am 100% done with all of the injections!!! We started this journey back in September and My final poke count is exactly 100!! I had to have 2 pokes one day this week because I ran out of the medication before the next vial was delivered. We had to do one injection in the morning with about 1/3 of my dosage and another injection at night with the remainder.

On another note, it seems as though Renly, our dog, knows something is going on. He has been glued to my side for the past week or so and has just been super clingy. The other night he seemed like he had to go to the bathroom, so Brian got up to let him out. He ran over to my side of the bed and wouldn't budge even when Brian tried to coax him with food. Finally I got up with him and had no problem getting him to go out.

I have heard of animals acting differently when someone is pregnant, but I wouldn't think that it would happen so early. I looked up some info online and a few different articles suggest that the hormone changes cause your scent to change. Humans cant tell, but animals can sense a change and they innately become more protective of you. I like to think he is just as excited as we are and wants to protect the baby. ;)

-Emily

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