BCPs and Celebrity Status Again

Before my first IVF cycle, I took Ortho Cyclen for about 5 weeks (Maybe longer? I'd have to go back and look at my calendar, but whatever, it was a while). My last two weeks on the pill I cried every day. Multiple times a day. I thought that pretty much sucked and I didn't love it. But you know? I could live with that, especially since I'm only slated to take BCPs for 3 weeks this time. I mean, really, the crying didn't start until week 4 last time, so maybe I'd miss out on side effects all together this time, right??

Think again, Oh Perky One.

Last time the BCP was prescribed by The Hatchery before I knew I'd be switching to Ye Olde Fertility Clinic. But then I switched clinics while I was already on the BCP. No matter, I just stayed on the BCP while we got all my ducks in a row. No proplem, I had plenty since The Hatchery had planned on me being on the pill for at least 5 weeks anyway.

This time SuperDoc prescribed the BCPs. And he ordered Nortrel. No problem. I mean, seriously, what could possibly be the difference, right? Of course right.

Think again, Oh Perky One.

Since starting to take it my migraines have been out of control. Did I mention that birth control pills are actually contraindicated for hemiplegic migraines? And that I'm actually not supposed to be on BCPs at all? And here's another lovely side effect for you: I wake up every single morning completly sick to my stomach. I picked up one of my monsters yesterday and almost dropped her because I thought I was going to throw up, it was that bad.

So... what to do? Just switch pills since I happen to have an extra pack of the Ortho Cyclen laying around? Or ask permission first? SuperDoc is out of town right now, but of course my nurse is around and could talk to a different doctor if need be. What to do, what to do...

In other news, my celebrity status has been revived!

J, Marketing Supervisor Extraordinaire, called me yesterday and asked if I would mind being interviewed by a newspaper for a story on eSET. No problem, I said. Anything I can do to help. (But I swear, next time I'm holding out for free cryopreservation for all the good press I've been giving them!).

Er, not that I had anything to freeze last time, so not that I can count on anything to freeze next time...

ANYwhozit. The point, as if I ever had one, is that I got interviewed by a reporter yesterday. She wasn't the crispest cracker in the box, if you catch my drift, and she spent far more time focused on the HOM factor instead of the eSET factor for my tastes, but I think I did a great job bringing her back en pointe, if I do say so myself. She did ask the ever-present question on every reporter's mind: "So after this one, will you be done??"

You know what? I don't know. And I don't have to know that yet. It's a decision that my husband and I will make when we get there, but right now we know that our family isn't complete yet.

And she chose that context to bring up the Octo-mom. In any other context, I'd have understood it. But you know? It felt a bit like an unfair and accusatory comparison. I don't have six kids already. I am not transferring six embryos (au contraire! her story is on eSET! hello?!). My husband and I both have full time jobs. My clinic, the reporter has already acknowledged, has some of the best eSET success rates in the country. How can she possibly compare my choices to those of Ms. Suleman's?

Argh. I cannot begin to understand Ms. Suleman's choices. I am not even trying to judge them except inasmuch as they are reflecting so poorly on the choices of every woman who seeks fertility treatment and every mother of higher order multiples out there. But it is so unfair to compare ME to HER.

Anyway, hopefully the story will turn out to be a very balanced and reasonable story on the value and benefits of eSET. I hope that it will. And when it is published, I'll be sure to let you all know about it, because I'm sure it's bound to be entertaining at the very least. And the best news is - it was a print interview, not a film interview - so no cheesy shots of me walking down a long halway just for the sake of me walking down a long hallway. :)