Boy, my butt hurts.

Progesterone in oil shots are the.worst.  I feel like someone sucker punched me in the butt!

It's not the actual shot that hurts so badly. It's the way my muscles progressively ball up in agony when it's over.

John gave me my first injection (in the "upper outer quadrant of the buttock") on Sunday morning. At first I was surprised by how much it didn't hurt. Sharp pinch and then pressure; nothing I can't handle! However my relief came to soon. As the day progressed the pain got worse and worse until I was lying in bed crying, wondering how I was going to continue these shots for the weeks to come.

Thankfully this morning after my second shot (opposite butt cheek) I spent a long time applying heat and rubbing the oil into the muscle. It seems to have helped. I'm still sore, but the pain is no where near what I'm experiencing at my first injection site. I'm also far less dizzy and nauseated than I was yesterday which is probably both my body adjusting to the meds and the result of many praying women who have so generously kept me before the throne.

(If you are approaching your first experience with progesterone in oil my advice to you is to take those nurses very seriously when they tell you to massage and apply heat. When you think you've massaged and warmed the site enough, give it five more minutes.)

So, I'm hobbling around today like an old lady, praying for strength to get through this and keeping my eyes fixed on Jesus who has brought us this far. I know he walks beside me… even as I creep along with much wincing.

Mostly because I didn't know how awful this would feel, I am thankful beyond description that my last pain free day was glorious: John, Arie, and I, along with John's mom, had a beautiful day trick-or-treating at our downtown shops and then visiting a local fall festival farm for play, pumpkins, and most scrumptious donuts!

My little lion was tickled with the trick or treating. He kept gasping and pointing to other kids, "Mom! Look! There's an Elmo! A tiger! A fire guy!"

The weather was beautiful which I'm sure contributed to the heavy crowds downtown. All you need for chaos to reign is to throw a couple hundred oblivious kids into a crowd! The parents spent most of their time apologizing for having to push past one another and catch up with a  little one. "I'm sorry! Oh pardon me, so sorry! I'm following that scarecrow over there…" Thankfully everyone seemed to remember their patient pants and the crowds didn't take away from the fun.

After trick or treating it was pumpkin time! We went to the same farm as last year: a place with lots of fun things for kids, a hayride to a pumpkin patch, and the best pumpkin donuts West Michigan has to offer! Seriously we stood in line for 20 minutes- with a four-year-old- to get our donuts and they were worth every second.

I definitely could not have enjoyed all the walking, wagon riding, and donut line standing with my sore butt. Super thankful.

My transfer is scheduled for 10:30am on Wednesday morning. Two embryos will be thawed tomorrow. I am deeply grateful for all those who are praying for us. Please pray for the survival of those embryos tomorrow and a successful transfer on Wednesday. Also… I'm not above asking for prayers for my butt… it really hurts you guys! At least prayers that I will have a good attitude despite the pain and keep my spirits up. :-)

I'm incredibly excited! Two more days!

xo