So let’s talk symptoms. Someone on a forum asked the pregnant ladies/new moms when they started feeling pregnancy symptoms. My answer – though very not applicable to anyone else there – would be around the time of transfer. And obviously, I am not so much feeling the effects of the little microscopic embryos, but rather feeling the effects of the very large progesterone pills I am shoving up my hoo-ha three times a day.

The boobs hurt. Every morning when I sit up in bed I give a wince as, once again, I remember that my boobs are a lot more sensitive than they used to be. I usually get tender boobs before AF comes, but this is… well, worse. I wouldn’t say horrifically worse, but they feel inflated and tender. I can imagine they’ll only get worse.

This morning I had a lovely and sudden bout of “Hmmm, my tummy doesn’t feel so good,” followed quickly by dry heaving over the toilet. I’m sure I would have thrown up, had I eaten something this morning prior. However this particular symptom I’m blaming more on the massive amount of food I ate yesterday at a BBQ. That was such a bad idea. (And yet, I’d do it again. It was friggin GOOD food!!)

The bloating has gone down significantly. This is a good part of the reason for the massive overeating yesterday – it was the first day in a while that I’d felt able to eat more than a few bites of anything. It is really nice to feel more “normal”, and I’m just very glad it’s going away already.

Oh, and does anyone have any tips for those estrogen patches? I decided to put them on my upper behind, since it said below the waist, and if I put it on my front I’d have to either stick them on my lap scars, my bruise(s), or risk getting them stuck to my pubic hair (OUCH!), and my thighs are fuzzy so that’s a no-go. My butt seems pretty safe. They stick really well. And that’s the problem… they stick really well. I think I pulled off a layer of skin with them this morning. I was hopping around doing the “Owowowow!” dance, that’s for sure. So am I doing something wrong? Is that just what you have to live with? Not looking forward to weeks of this. Oh no.

The progesterone suppositories is making me frustrated, too, but for a different reason. Since I started charting 18 months ago I stopped really doing it formally, but I guess I just got used to checking my CM randomly every few days. It became just a natural thing to do to judge my cycles. And it was interesting to see how things changed when I was on injections (lots and lots of CM!). But the suppository interferes with all of that. It’s all gooey and gross and forget checking CM. Plus I’m stuck wearing a pad 24/7!

Now yes, this is a small thing to exchange for getting pregnant. Trust me, I fully believe that. However there’s definitely a part of me that’s sad at yet another reminder of “not normal”. I mean, I’ll got through whatever I have to to get pregnant, but I wasn’t really considering having to continue on these things through my first trimester. I guess I never really thought about it. And now I’m feeling like it’s another little piece of “normal” that I’m losing. Every step further we’ve taken into fertility treatments I’ve had to get used to losing that normalcy. And it still makes me sad.

On a happier note, Den frequently kisses my stomach now – twice, one for each embryo. He’s been worrying about me, encouraging me to take naps and rest. He’s really quite adorable. :)