My meds arrived today. Goodness it’s a large box. Kind of scary, actually. In addition to all of the medications, there are a total of 99 needles — ouch. I think about 20 of those are just for drawing up meds into the syringe, but still — 79 needles isn’t my idea of a good time.
Speaking of needles, we’ve also started acupuncture. So many people who have done IVF talk about the benefits of acupuncture, but I was reluctant to give in. First, it’s just MORE money in what is already a very expensive process. Second, I tried acupuncture a few years back — when I was pregnant with Calista — and I did NOT like it. It wasn’t the needles, it was the weird practitioner who was always hugging me. That, and it didn’t do anything for my morning sickness.
Anyhow, there are even IVF clinics who have acupuncturists on staff, so there’s got to be something to it, right? After thinking about how long we’ve been trying to have a child and how much money we are spending for a 64% chance (my clinic’s current success rate) at getting pregnant, I figured I’d really hate myself if we didn’t do the acupunture and the IVF failed.
I called our clinic and asked about their thoughts on acupuncture, and they said they highly recommend it (which irked me, since at no time had they recommended it all to us!). They gave me the name of a practitioner that they use. They said that it has been shown to help increase the chance of success, and it increases blood flow to the uterus in order to help the implantation process.
I set up some appointments for myself, including the ever important session right before the embryo transfer. Skip is also going, and he started this week. He said it was really relaxing and he enjoyed it. Thankfully, it is covered by insurance, so my initial resistance based on cost was unneccessary.
That’s it for now. Next week, it all begins…
