I spoke to the school nurse today about injecting in the leg or the stomach. She said that the stomach is probably best because you don’t want to inject into muscle. I mean, I don’t have much muscle on my leg but there is definitely less muscle in my belly!
The angle she showed me was much closer to the skin that I was doing, the needle really has to take quite a diagonal into the skin. I thought it might be useful to show what I’m doing. I’m not saying I’m doing it perfectly or properly, I’m no medical expert, but here is how I’m doing it all.
Preparing the equipment. The mixing needle in my set is green. I probably shouldn’t call it a mixing needle as there isn’t actually any mixing. It is just longer and scarier looking to be able to get to the bottom of the bottle.
You take out a bit more than you need because you have to account for bubbles. You probably shouldn’t do it at an angle like this!
I then suck a bit of air in as it seems to get the bubbles moving better and it brings in the liquid from the mixing needle. Shake it about a bit to make all air go to the top of the needle. Now swap needles to the nicer, less scary, injecting needle (my yellow one).
Push the plunger (probably not the right name for it) so the air comes out. Check your levels (I’m on 0.5ml).
Now, the angle the nurse showed me was actually closer to the skin than this but I was trying to take a photo at the same time! Excuse the tea towel, I was wearing a dress and thought you wouldn’t want to see my knickers. What isn’t so clear on this pic is my skills of squeezing the skin together whilst holding the needle. Then I use the other hand to plunge. After plunging (great word) I wait 10 secs and pull out. I’m a big wimp so whip it out really quickly without looking!
Afterwards it goes a bit blotchy and itchy. I know I’ve done loads of injections before but these syringes are really long and thin and awkward so I felt a bit incompetent. I’m glad I spoke to the nurse for advice and I’m lucky to have access to experts.
If in doubt, ask an expert!
How I IVF'd 