A bunch of people have recently stumbled across this site when searching for information about whether home pregnancy tests (HPT) are accurate if you have done an IVF.
It's true that the so-called "trigger shot" in IVF is actually pregnancy hormone. So if you want to see two lines on a pregnancy test, go ahead and pee on a stick (POAS) the day after your trigger shot. That will be one dark test line.
I found that it took about nine days for the trigger shot to be completely gone from my system. (Your mileage may vary, however. Everyone is different.)
Here's how I figured that out:
- I bought something like 10 or 15 of the super cheap pregnancy tests from here.
- I took one every day starting from the day of or the day after the trigger shot.
- I watched the test line get lighter and lighter each day until it was completely gone. For me that was about nine days after the trigger shot (and about seven days after retrieval).
- Then I kept taking one test every day, hoping for the line's return.
This approach is not for everyone, but I prefer to have as much information as I can all the time.
Which brings me to my 2:30 pm impromptu doctor appointment the day before Thanksgiving. You see, switching from progesterone in sesame oil to progesterone in peanut oil did not alleviate my hives, which were now both on my butt and in between my fingers. So my clinic wanted to see me before the holiday weekend.
Aside from the hives, there really is no evidence at all that I am pregnant. I don't feel pregnant. I have no pregnancy symptoms except two lines on HPTs that I keep taking every few days to make sure this is not some dream that I'm having.
So when they led me into an empty exam room on Wednesday afternoon and left me there alone with the dildo cam, well, it was all I could do to control myself. You know, why not cut out the $500 middleman and just take a quick peek at what the tests keep insisting is a pregnancy. But, alas, my fear of getting caught with my hands between my legs on the exam table shamed me into behaving like a normal patient and leafing through People magazine instead.
There really weren't any good options for my hives. I could go to a dermatologist and get steroid cream, and it would probably be fine, but there is a slim slim chance those creams may cause cleft palates if used in the first trimester.
I could switch to vaginal suppositories for progesterone instead of shots, but my clinic prefers the shots. They have had better results from the shots. Because of that I also prefer the shots.
Or they could switch my prescription to progesterone in cotton oil, which they ultimately did. The doctor told me that if the ultrasound next week looks good they would be switching me to a new formulation anyway that is only injected once a week.
Which is good. I keep thinking about that weekly shot. Because the hives have not gotten any better. Indeed, they have spread to my calves and ankles. And occasionally I take a half dose of Benadryl to take the edge off the insanity of itching. I am very very thankful, in this holiday season, for Benadryl.
For a couple days I switched off between the peanut oil and sesame oil and the cotton oil again -- a Russian Roulette, if you will, of progesterone in oil shots. In the end, while the cotton oil seems to have spread the hives to cover more surface area of my body, the itching seems less intense. But I just have to last until Thursday with these shots.
An eventful week is ahead. Tomorrow is my last day at my current job, and honestly over the past few weeks as my colleagues have made plans for the future of the organization, I have felt like an outsider, which never feels great. So it will be nice to be done with this.
Thursday is the long awaited first ultrasound of this pregnancy. As I mentioned, I honestly don't feel pregnant, and although I am going through all the motions (eating good things, doing my shots, doing my vitamins, trying not to lift cases of stuff at Costco) I have to keep reminding myself that there is a REASON for this behavior.
If you ever find yourself at this early phase of pregnancy and wonder what is going on with the embryo at this early early point in its existence, check out this site, the Visible Embryo. Very interesting, with a scientific kind of feel, about what stage of development the embryo is in on any particular day.
And on Thursday, if everything looks fine with this one, I get to switch to the weekly shots and possible relief from the hives and the itching. Lots of good reasons to be hoping for a happy Thursday.