72 hours

I do look forward to the time post transfer.  With IVF cycles, my body goes through a lot.  My ovaries get full to the point where I can feel them when I walk in heels, it's WAY more appointments so more driving, more days late for work, all those freaking needles between 3 injectable medications and blood drawn at each monitoring appointment.  Extraction itself hurts and the drugs leave me with a swiss cheese memory, but it still know it sucks.  The three days of rest are just good for me at that point.  FET, it is a bit of a mental roller coaster but not as overwhelming.  The 72 hours is kind of boring.

I planned ahead.  I had multiple books to read (finally finished 11/22/63 by Stephen King, good drama not scary), being away for the weekend there were lots of blogs to catch up on, Mr. Lina put a few games on the PlayBook so I could switch depending on my level of concentration.  I did nap a lot, yesterday I napped twice (work is going to suck tomorrow).  Still, I spend a lot of time alone on the couch.  Mr. Lina is around, but he is working from home so he pops up between meetings to fetch me drinks, lunch, whatever else I need.  I don't think it needs to be quite this restrictive, I mean the clinic lets you walk up two flights of stairs for blood work then around the building to the parking lot, but whatever puts his mind at ease works for me.  Once I got a drink for myself and a piece of fruit while I was up to pee and got the stink eye about walking.  So I sit.

But my 72 hours are ending as I type.  Technically, I can go back to work, I can take a bath or go swimming.  I still cannot:

• lift heavy things
• no sex for a week (pout, sad how often sex is not allowed when the whole point is having a baby)
• no "jogging, aerobics, tennis, skiing, mountain climbing or any new physical activity" (you know mountain climbing has to be on the list because someone asked, I think it would be covered by no jogging myself)
• "anything that you will find blame in" which is why I will continue to be careful and respect any limitations that Mr. Lina suggests
• "anything that you will find blame in" for my mental well being is more about food than activity, no fake sugars, no sushi, limit caffeine, good fruits and vegetables, that kind of thing

I did get two hives yesterday.  This is good and bad.  I do not believe they were food related, I did not eat anything new or questionable, environmental allergies don't give me hives and outside of the hives, I feel fine.  No sinus issues, wheezing/asthma (always happens with my food allergies) or itchy ears/lips which often come with reactions to celery and carrots.  This single hive issue has happened with one past cycle.  Potentially good news that things are going on in my uterus, not so good that my immune system is doing weird things.  Last time this happened the clinic switched the form of progesterone I was taking (vaginal cream, let's say ick together), I don't think prometrium is the problem.  I see why they think it is most likely, it is a peanut oil based product and peanuts are a common allergy, but I'm not allergic to nuts or legumes.  I also feel it would be more than one or two hives that go away because I am continuing to ingest it.  When I first reacted to carrots, I unknowingly ate them every day as a healthy snack and had 3-5 hives every day, not enough to cause a panic but pretty annoying and I suspect if it was the prometrium, my body would behave like that. I am trying to see the positive that maybe one or two embryos are finding a home, Mr. Lina, well, he's worried.  I suspect I will not hear back from the clinic until later today, the nurses will likely want to run it by my doctor prior to calling me back.  There really isn't anything they can do at this point to change the outcome.  In my mind, the phone call is more of an "FYI this happened" than a "fix this now" because I know they can't.  I'll update when I hear from them.
Update: It is as expected, nothing else they can do but it has been added to my file.

I used a little time this morning to try crochet again.  A few years ago I bought The Happy Hooker.  Honestly, mostly because the title amused me, secondary because I have always figured I'd get the itch for knitting/crochet at some point and the projects looked cute.  I think because past attempts have not been because of a real itch to do it, I give it up when I got stuck at the second row.  Well today I found a video on youtube and made it to row three and it made sense.  I could see the stitches I was suppose to pick up which was generally my problem in the past.  Maybe something is clicking.

So what to do with my new found freedom this afternoon?  I think I will venture to my sewing room.  On Tuesday, I wore my pj bottoms with a tshirt all day.  I intended on changing to real clothing but that would involve going back upstairs and I was comfortable and not expecting company.  But I really should make the matching Sorbetto.  I'll need Mr. Lina to move a few things out of the way, I'm pretty sure there is a box of fabric out on my cutting table.  The sleepy pills will probably limit what I accomplish, but it's good to see something other than the couch.