5dp2dt

Hello Everyone!

 

The blog title is a bit strange right?

 

It means  that i am currently 5 days past a 2 day transfer, for a 'normal' pregnancy this would put me at 7 days past ovulation, half way through the 2 week wait (2ww). For me though that is not the case as with our clinic we have to wait to test until we are 16dp2dt... so as you can see i have a little while to go yet!

 

I have had a fair few 2ww's in the past (36 to be exact!). Some of them quickly passing and some of them taking absolute ages! This 2ww though will be the hardest of all, and i know this because it has only been 5 days since we had our perfect little embryo put back in and already im thinking hurry up 2ww!!!

 

I hate wishing my life away, i think i mentioned this last year, one of the things that annoyed me the most about our time spent trying to conceive naturally was that i had wasted the best part of 2 years living my life in 2 week increments. We were either waiting for ovulation or in the 2ww, and it sucked! Imagine the things i could have achieved in that 2 year period, i could of studied something, changed my life somehow, but no, i just spent the whole time waiting for those 2 little lines to show on a test, and they never came...

 

It is so hard not to think about the embryo all the time, especially now as for the next couple of days it should (hopefully) be implanting into my womb lining. I do have a few 'symptoms' but they could just be symptoms of the Crinone Gel (which by the way is disgusting). At the moment i am very bloated, i feel sick, i have massive painful boobs, i have had a few episodes of bleeding gums (this is think could be due to a hormone being released to help the embryo implant) which is something i never have and i am having a few little cramps.

 

I also keep thinking that im about to come on my period (the following might be a bit too much information) as i am feeling very 'wet' down there. I think it is just clear cervical mucus, which is normal, but i wish it would stop worrying me!

 

There is nothing to do now except hope that this 2ww goes nice and quickly and that our little embryo grows into our little baby(s)!

 

Take Care All x

Egg Transfer

Hello Everyone!

Today Phil and i made our way to Bourn Hall for our egg transfer at 10am. Typically it was snowing when we left our house at 8am and all the way to the clinic but we got there safe still, and early!

After a short wait we went into a little room to go through various things. These included questions about how i was feeling after the egg collection on Thursday, how the egg transfer was going to be done and what the process was for the weeks ahead. After that we went into a waiting area, which was really lovely. I had to have a full bladder for the procedure so kept drinking lots of water. Towards the end i was absolutely bursting!

A nurse came to collect us both and take us into the theatre where we were greeted by the embryologist. Phil and i were both nervous about our 3 little embryo's and whether they were of good quality, or even if we still had them! The embryologist just jumped straight into it and told us that they had already frozen 2 of the embryo's (this was such a shock as they only freeze good embryo's at minimum!) and that we had 1 top quality embryo to use today.

To say we were pleased is a severe understatement! All of our 3 embryo's survived and made it to this point and the 1 we were using was a top quality one... wow... my lucky pants have done it again!

Then i was asked to strip from the waist down and put on a hospital gown, hop on the bed, put my legs in the stirrups and relax... i was so worried that i was going to wee on the doctor at this point! Ha ha. With Phil sitting to one side of me and the ultrasound machine on the other side the doctor eased the speculum into my lady bits, which was not too bad. Then the embryologist brought our wonderful embryo into the room in a long syringe/tube thing and the doctor fed the tube (which is similar to a catheter) into my womb. It was magical as we could see it weaving into my womb on the ultrasound machine.

Then the doctor released the embryo (which we again saw, although it was very small) and removed the tube so that the embryologist could check that the embryo was not in it still. Then the speculum was removed and i was told to just relax for a few minutes before getting up and getting dressed. Then we left the clinic (not before having a wee of course!).

On the drive home we stopped at a 'Welcome Break' services to have something for lunch, and then as we were leaving Phil treated me to a Krispy Kreme donut and a Starbucks Frappuccino, he said that he didn't want anything but as we were waiting for my order there was a lady who's latte was made wrong so it was offered out. Talk about being in the right place at the right time! Phil had himself a fratte (a free-latte)!

All in all today has been fantastic, much better than expected. I was so worried about having a 2 day transfer, about the egg quality not being great and about the 3 embryo's not surviving but nothing bad happened... everything went so well!

I can finally say we are PUPO!

So now it is just a case of keeping this little one safe and hoping it implants well and grows into our first little baby.

The 2 week wait is upon us, fingers crossed for a positive result!

Take Care All x

Feeling Strange...

Hello Everyone!

At 2:10pm today i called the clinic for the update on our 7 little eggs and right now i think Phil and i are in a state of shock...

Out of the 7 collected 6 eggs were suitable for ICSI (a process of injecting the sperm directly into the egg) and out of those 6 only 3 have fertilised.

We are booked in for our egg transfer tomorrow morning at 10pm (although i expect there will be a bit of a wait before the embryo is put back) and we are both a little bit... meh?

I think it is because it is happening so soon! This last week has gone so mad we haven't really had time to think. There has been appointment after appointment, the egg collection was only yesterday and to have the transfer tomorrow? I just haven't had time to think about it.

I think we are a little bit sad that only 3 of our eggs have made it to embryo's, but at the same time we are really happy that we have the 3. It is a strange feeling and situation to be in.

Right now i think we just need to relax and keep our minds positive... easier said than done...

Fingers crossed everyone!

Take Care All x

Egg Collection

Hello Everyone!

Today we had our egg collection (EC) at Bourn Hall in Cambridge. We had to arrive at the clinic at 8:15 and because of where Phil and i live we had to get up for 5:30am! It wasn't that hard really, what was hard was that Phil could have a cup of coffee and i could not... bad times.

So we got to the clinic in good time, the number of cars on the road that early in the morning is ridiculous! After signing in at reception we walked round to the Nurse's Station where we were taken to a ward and i was put in bed number 2. There was a couple already in bed number 1 and after about 15 minutes of us being there the couple for number 3 arrived.

After a short while a nurse came in to go through some paperwork and Phil was given his 'special cup', i was given a delightful pessary to put in my bottom to help with pain relief and i was asked to change into a hospital gown. Then our doctor came in to introduce himself and ask if we had any questions etc.

Phil was then taken to a side room to do his bit, he tells me it was quite nice in the room with an unexpected array of dvd's and magazines. What a lucky boy!

Meanwhile i was walked down to theatre and as soon as i got on the bed i was surrounded by about 5 smiling female faces. It was quite surreal really! The anaesthetist put a cannula in and then set about putting me to sleep, which did not take long at all!

The procedure involves the doctor inserting a needle though my vaginal wall and into each ovary, the follicles are then drained into the needle and the liquid is then checked for an egg. Not all the follicles will contain eggs and very rarely a follicle could contain 2 eggs.

Fast forward 30-40 minutes and i wake up, have a little cry (hormones... urgh) and promptly ask the nurse standing over me for a cuddle! Ha ha, luckily Phil was on hand for that! Then i had a sandwich (cheese and pickle to be precise, and it was lovely!) a cup of coffee and just relaxed for an hour or so.

After a while a nurse came in to sign us out. Amongst other things she told us that the doctor had collected 7 eggs, which is a good number. You need to get a good balance, too many and the quality of the eggs can be diminished. We are really pleased with 7, plus it is a lucky number!

She said that i was to call tomorrow at 2:10pm to see how well the eggs have fertilised with Phil's sample and to see if we are in a position to book the Egg Transfer. It is unlikely that all of the eggs will fertilise, they hope for at least 70% so i would hope that we get 4 or 5 embryo's. Fingers crossed!

Then she said that tonight i am to start using the Crinone Gel which is a progesterone gel to support my womb lining. I will be using it every night, at 6:30pm and she said once it is applied it is a good idea to walk around for about 20 minutes to warm it up and help it activate. Then Phil and i left and when we got home i had a good few hours sleep.

At 6:30pm i applied the first gel, this is what it looks like fresh out of the box:

First you need to shake the pipette up and then twist of the end:

Then whilst sitting or lying down you insert the pipette into your vagina and firmly squeeze the end so that all of the gel is deposited inside.

It was a relatively simple process and then Phil and i went for a 20 minute walk, which was nice.

Now almost 12 hours since the egg collection i am feeling good, my throat is a little sore, i have a bit of pain in my stomach, just like a mild period cramp and also have a little bit of blood but it is nothing to worry about.

Plus my lovely friends Robyn and Loz just popped in and they have bought me a Pandora bead that is orange (the colour of fertility) with little spots on it which Robyn said represents little eggs. What a lovely gift!

I am happy about the 7 little eggs that we have and hope that they are doing well and that the phone call tomorrow will bring good news.

Here's to the next few days,

Take Care All x

Scan 3 and Trigger Shot!

Hello Everyone!

What a busy few day's it has been!

We had our 3rd and final scan on Monday to once again check how my follicles were growing. This time my mother-in-law Christine came with me and it was a really nice day for us. One thing which was a shock was how busy the clinic was, Christine and i had to stand for a while before we got at seat! We didn't mind though, after all it does take an hour and a half to get to the clinic so it was nice to stretch our legs!

The scan (done by a different nurse this time) went really well again, my womb lining was 12mm (an increase of 1.5mm in 2 days) and the nurse measured 13 decent sized follicles. After the scan she said that it is likely that we will have our trigger shot on Tuesday with egg collection to be done on Thursday, this is because whilst there are 3 follicles that are at the right size for egg collection there is a cluster of 6-7 follicles that are just below the size needed . She said that 1 more extra day of stimulation should make those grow well enough for egg collection but they would confirm the date of collection later on by phone.

I had another blood test that was not as bad as the one before and then Christine and i left. Before we drove home though we did enjoy a lovely car picnic of hot cross buns, crisps and orange juice! It was really lovely!

Later than afternoon i received a phone call from the clinic to confirm that the egg collection would be going ahead on Thursday the 21st so i was to take my 150iu Gonal-F and 0.2ml of Buserelin as usual and someone from the clinic would call me tomorrow with the instructions for taking the trigger shot (Ovitrelle).

Fast forward to today and the clinic's phone call.

The nurse said to me that she wanted me to take the Buserelin 0.2ml as usual at my regular time of 6:30pm, not the Gonal-F. Then at 9:30pm i was to inject the Ovitrelle 250iu, this is the trigger shot. What the Ovitrelle does is mature the eggs in the follicles ready for the clinic to collect them 36 hours later. The trigger shot needs to be done at the exact time that the nurse tells you to do it and we were quite lucky really because she did say that they can ask for you to do it as late as 1am!

Then she said that Phil and i are to arrive at the clinic at 8:15am on Thursday( this means that we will have to wake up at 5:30! Yawn...) for my collection time of 9am. I am not allowed to have had a drink or eaten anything since midnight the night before, i am to wear no makeup/ perfume/ nail varnish etc and need to bring a dressing gown/ slippers/ socks and a panty liner with me, plus it might be an idea to bring a small hand towel with me too.

Whilst i am having my collection Phil will need to do his 'business' for them. I am sure that will be fun! Ha ha. Then after 2-3 hours i will be allowed home and will need to rest for the next day at least.

Just so you all can see what the Ovitrelle looks like i thought i would add a few pictures, you take the Ovitrelle in the same way as Gonal-F.

Again i like to lay everything out in front of me:

Set up the pen up like you would the Gonal-F pen and turn the dose up to 250iu:

Then inject the liquid as normal, making sure the oval window shows 0 before taking out the needle (after you have counted to 10) and releasing your finger.

So now we have about 35 hours to go until the egg collection and i don't think it has sunk in yet. I have done my last injection for this cycle now as tomorrow i won't have to inject anything, which is nice! I am not really nervous about it all, i don't really know what i feel?

I can only hope that we get a lovely batch of high quality eggs and that Phil's sample is good enough for them to inseminate well.

Fingers crossed for Thursday!

Take Care All x

Scan 2

Hello Everyone!

This will probably turn out being the shortest update so far!

Today we had our 2nd scan to check on how my follicles were developing and again it went really well. My womb lining has grown to 10.5mm (an increase of 1.2mm in 2 days) and she measured 14 follicles, some of the follicles are doing so well, i expect that we will have a good number of eggs when it comes to the collection date. She also said that we can stay at the same dose of 150iu of Gonal-F and 0.2ml of Buserelin as they are working so well.

Our nurse then said that we will have another scan on Monday the 18th to check things and the way it is all going i will probably be taking the trigger shot (Ovitrelle) that evening. Ovitrelle will mature the eggs in time for the collection approximately 36 hours after the injection.

So that means that the egg collection date is most likely to be Wednesday the 20th!

After the scan i had to have a blood test, which was awful! Considering that i have been injecting myself for over a month now you would think i would be used to it by now, but nope! It really hurt me! In relation to that the nurse said that she thinks it is best if they were to do my egg collection under General Anaesthetic. I was upset by this but understand where she was coming from because during egg collection you have to be really still, and i just don't think i could be.

Phil won't be coming with me to the scan on Monday so his lovely Mum has said she will come with me which will be nice.

After the appointment Phil and i went to Lakeside shopping centre and went to Pandora where he bought me a lovely bracelet and 2 charms for it. One is red and has hearts on it and the other is green with 4 leaf clovers on it. Let's hope it increases our luck!

Take Care All! xxx

Scan 1

Hello Everyone!

So we have had out 1st scan to see how the Gonal-F and stimulation of my ovaries is going and i am pleased to say that it went fantastically!

Phil and i got to the clinic at 11am and after a short wait in the waiting room we were called into the scanning room. Then i had to strip below the waist (much to Phil's bemusement at the carefree way i just pulled my jeans and 'orange' knickers down!) and practically climb up on to the seat/stirrup thing. Then the lovely nurse 'popped' the camera into my lady bits and we were away!

She said that we shouldn't be too disappointment with the results so far as it is unlikely to be that great at this early stage. She showed us where my womb was, and said that my lining was brilliant, they hope for a measurement of at least 8mm at the time of egg transfer and mine was 9.3mm already!

Then she moved on to look at my ovaries. On one side she said there were 9 follicles that were of a good size, with 5 of them worth measuring and on the other side there were 7 follicles with 2 of them worth measuring. Phil and i couldn't understand how she could tell one follicle from the other but i guess she knows what she is doing!?

So all in all a great result, she seemed to be quite shocked at how well it has gone and said that i am to continue with the Gonal-F at 150iu (which shows me that my result is really good as a lot of people have a much higher dose than me) and the Buserelin at 0.2ml. She also booked us in for our second scan which is on Saturday the 16th! In 2 day's time! We couldn't believe it! She said that she estimates that we will have our collection on Tuesday/Wednesday next week! Blimey... that's a lot of exclamation marks.

It is happening so quickly, i think she could tell that we didn't expect that at all. I was thinking we might get to have another scan next week and maybe have egg collection the week after but by the end of next week we could be in PUPO...

Phew... i need to sit down! Ha ha.

Next step, our 2nd scan!

Take Care All xxx

Gonal-F

Hello everyone!

As planned i received my phone call on the Monday, typically the clinic rang the minute i was away from my phone, but i left a voicemail and they called back quite quickly, they are good like that. The nurse said that i was to start taking 150iu of Gonal-F alongside the reduced injection of Buserelin. They also booked me in for my 1st scan on the 14th March to check how i am responding to the stimulation, i am really looking forward to that day!

It has now been a few days since i started injecting Gonal-F to stimulate my ovaries into producing more follicles, which will hopefully contain lots of eggs. It is going quite well although i do have some lovely bruises to show for my efforts!

The needle's that i attach to the injection pen seem to scratch a bit more but are easier to get in my belly! Much easier than the troublesome Buserelin syringe, which is just not playing fair! Still at least i only have to inject 0.2ml of that now!

As each day passes Phil and i are getting more and more involved and excited by the whole process. We know too well that things don't always go to plan and are really trying to keep our excitement in check, but it is just so hard! We are just so hopeful that things continue to go really well and that we are blessed with a miracle.

Have your fingers crossed everyone!

For now though i thought i would show you how to use the Gonal-F pen...

Firstly lay everything out in front of you:

Then attach the needle to the end by pushing it and then screwing it on, then remove the outer cover of the needle exposing the smaller green cover:

Then turn the dial until your required dose shows in the black oval window, mine is currently 150iu:

Insert the needle slowly, it is a good idea to make sure you can see the oval window and that your finger can reach the top of the pen:

Then slowly but firmly push down on the end of the pen to inject the liquid, whilst keeping your finger on the end count to 10 before pulling out the needle (make sure you do not release your finger until the needle is fully removed):

Check that the oval window shows 0, this will show that you injected the full amount:

Then finally replace the outer plastic cover onto the needle, unscrew the needle off the pen and discard it in your sharps box:

So, there you go! Simple as peas! Ha ha!

I am not sure how long we will have to continue with these injections, today is day 26! It really is going so fast. I hope that the scan will show a good result and that we will only have to have 1, or maybe 2 more scans before we get to have our egg collection.

These next few weeks will certainly be interesting...

Take Care All xxx

Injection Day 16

Hello everyone!

So we are over 2 weeks into our first IVF cycle and it is going by so fast! I thought i would be waiting for the days to go by, counting down the time to each injection and feeling as though i was getting nowhere. However it seems as though it is always 6:30pm, always time for injections.

I don't know if it is a good thing or not. Is it a good thing that life is going so quickly? Soon it will be embryo transfer day and we will be in PUPO (a wonderful term meaning: pregnant until proven otherwise)! I also see the positive side of it going so quickly though, i haven't really had a chance to think about things. I am just getting it done!

Having said that injecting is becoming more difficult. The first couple of times were relatively easy really, just straight in and i was done. Now though, maybe 8 times out of 10 i have a bit of trouble getting the needle in. My stomach is a mess of lumpy, bruised, red spotty marks... nice. I don't know what the problem is, maybe it is because of the bruises? Maybe it is something subconscious? Maybe it is my body trying to fight against me sticking a needle in it every day?

When a 'bad day' happens it really does bloody hurt. It is so frustrating trying to do something that you don't really want to do, but know that you have to do. Then when it isn't working it is such a difficult thing to get your head around. Today's injection was a bad day. I just couldn't get the needle in and in the end i just sat there crying my eyes out. It is so ridiculous, your head knows that you are being an idiot but the effect of the medication makes you silly and makes you think your only option is just to cry. I have found that by changing the needle on the syringe helps, the new needle usually goes straight in and all the worries disappear. Until the next day that is...

Other than the ridiculous crying symptom i have had very few symptoms over the last couple of weeks. The main symptom is tiredness. I have been absolutely shattered, sometimes going to bed early and sometimes i have even had an afternoon nap! Still, i expect being tired is all good practice for the future!

I have also had a few headaches, but nothing that would require any painkillers. I have had one episode of hot flushing and often feel really cold, which is very unlike me. I have also had a little bit of nausea and constipation, plus Phil tells me that 'apparently' i have had mood swings? That doesn't sound like me does it?! Ha ha.

In other news, since i have had my period as expected (thankfully Aunt Flo didn't mess me about) i spoke to a nurse at Bourn Hall and she said that someone will be contacting me on Monday about starting the Gonal-F injections.

If nothing changes from the original plan i will be reducing my Buserelin to 0.2ml per day and injecting the Gonal-F daily too. This will hopefully stimulate my ovaries to produce a lot more follicles than normal, which will mean that we should have lots of lovely egg's to inseminate later on in March.

We have done so well so far, i just hope our luck continues and that we are in PUPO soon...

Take Care All xxx