Yes Robber Microgynon is the pits - when the nurse said I was to go on the pill I immediately asked which one and when she told me I said something like 'OMG it'll turn me mental!' and she said it's only a month, which is a fair point. Annoyingly I realised yesterday that I probably have some in date Yasmin left in stock, but it's too late now. Duh!
The process with ovulation induction using injectables is they scan me to look at my lining and if it's thin (it always is due to the HA) they start me straight away (usually you would start injecting on day two of the painters, but I don't really get them - it took 381 days after stopping Yasmin for them to turn up!). I then stab on my own for about seven days and after that, they get me in every three days (usually Mon, Wed and Fri) to scan and take blood. They are VERY cautious as the risk of multiples is high (something like 35%) and therefore they don't want to see more than two or three decent follies. I think normally women stab for about 12-14 days, but I am a slow responder so did 19 the first time and 18 the second I think. They talked me through the needles and mixing the solution, but they leave you to do the injections yourself. The needle is very fine so I barely feel it going in (I don't bother with ice cubes like lots of people do), but it does burn when you start pushing the needle, but it really isn't anything to be bothered about. It's sore for a couple of minutes afterwards, but I don't seem to get much bruising like others -if you're careful and take your time them it's fine. They advised us to DTD every three days, but you never know whether you actually ovulated. Taking the trigger shot and then DTD that night was an anxious time as I was worried about not administering it properly (you don't have a spare in the fridge) and felt bad about the pressure this put on poor DH.
I don't remember feeling too bad the first round, although the further into the cycle you get, the 'fuller' you feel and the more uncomfortable the scans (dildo cam) get, but again it's hardly the end of the world. When I started upping the dose I got a bit of a bad stomach - I will start on a higher dose straight away this time, so I'm not looking forward to that :( I think with the first round I was just relieved to get things under way and that I could handle the injections and wasn't getting awful side-effects (like the crazy Microgynon mood swings etc.), so it didn't have too much of an impact on my life (it was surreal leaving the office for the scans/bloods and then re-appearing and thinking 'no-one has a clue where I've been and what I'm going through'). However, I must admit the second round took it's toll as I felt much worse - very tired and 'yucky' plus miserable. I was so happy to compete the injections and take the trigger, but this was short lived as they then realised I should be taking progesterone pessaries (Cyclogest) and I have to say these bad boys are evil - not so much the shoving it in and dealing with the wax pouring (slight exaggeration) out, but they made me feel so down and hopeless, and exhausted. Oh and I was ravenous, but obviously with HA, I'm good at being very harsh on myself, so managed to avoid pigging out all the time which is all I wanted to do. Despite feeling rubbish, which sucks when you have a senior position in a large organisation with lots of pressure/expectations on you (I manage a large team, so have to be leading by example etc.), I tried to keep it all in perspective e.g. no pain, no gain, if you think this is bad, trying being pregnant or child birth etc.
I took the BFN very badly this time - not helped by other rubbish family stuff taking place at the same time. My DH is holding on to the fact that at the first appointment they said it usually works third time, but I don't feel positive about any of it any more. Also, like many barrens I had got caught up in focusing on overcoming the infertility, rather than the wanting a baby, but I'm now very much swinging back the other way and really struggling to accept that I may never have a little person who calls me mum and gives me hugs etc. As a result, I'm feeling more bitter and struggling when I see pregnant women (especially colleagues) etc. which I feel bad about as they too may have struggled like I am. I'll stop there as I'm rambling on and making myself feel so sad.