IVF Blogger

BFN

2010-04-02T03:25:00.000-07:00

Well, as expected it was a BFN.

I tested at home this morning, so we already knew (well, we knew anyway), and the hospital confirmed it.

We now need to wait for a follow up appointment to discuss.....
the nurse couldn't make us one today bc the appointment clerks are on holiday as it's Good Friday, so they will post us one.

We can try again after 3 periods (my upcoming period counts as number 1)

Think it's over........

2010-03-30T03:41:00.000-07:00

Well yesterday was 10 days post transfer (12 dpo) and I started spotting last night.

I think it's over.

3 Days Post Transfer (5 days post collection)

2010-03-23T02:28:00.000-07:00

Well, yesterday, assuming that our embryos are still developing, they became blastocysts.

So they could be implanting as I type.

I had some cramping yesterday, mainly in the late evening, which the sensible part of me says could well be bc the Dr inserted a tube into my uterus and my uterus didn't like it :-)
Or, it could be implantation, or it could be pre-period rumblings.

I also felt a little nauseous late at night, but I had eatten McDonalds and a chocolate muffin...

Only time will tell.....

Embryo Transfer

2010-03-19T12:35:00.000-07:00

Why is it that the only time we've seen male medical staff members it's been at the 'business end' :-)

Seriously the Spannish (?) Dr today was lovely.

The Embryo Transfer went well.

We transfered one 3 cell embryo and one 4 cell embryo.

The 3rd didn't make it, but that's fine, better to happen before transfer.

Now I am lying in bed taking it easy.

3 is the Magic Number (I hope)

2010-03-18T12:04:00.000-07:00

We have got 3 Embryos.

Embryo Transfer is at 1.45pm tomorrow.

Potatoes

2010-03-18T00:14:00.000-07:00

Last night I dreamt about Potatoes....

Potatoes growing little shoots with little potatoes on the shoots....

We have 5 Eggs.

2010-03-17T11:29:00.000-07:00

Just a quick update.

We got 5 eggs out of the 8 big follicles.

They will ring me tomorrow morning and let me know how many eggs fertilised (Gosh, I hope we get some).

Then if I have it right, if we just had 1 or 2, then they will do the Embryo Transfer on Friday. If we have more, then they'll watch them on Friday and decide which are the better embryos and transfer them on Saturday (I think).

I don't feel too bad, I have a fuzzy head, but I have slept this afternoon. And I have period type pains and a bit of spotting.

Yay - Follies....

2010-03-15T10:27:00.000-07:00

I had my scan this morning....

The Clinic has just finished some renovations and we had to access it through the main hospital entrance rather than the entrance we were used to.....ended up on the wrong floor when we got out of the lift :-)

It looks nice and smart, looks 'private' (well it is private and NHS, but I'm sure you know what I mean)....but it was also slightly chaotic.....

We had to wait about 30 mins to be seen. Then the nurse came to get us and it was like a maze of door and corridors....

Anywho....

My womb lining measures 8.4mm.

I have 8 decent sized follies on my left ovary. One measures 22mm, and the other 7 are around 17mm.
I also have 3 or 4 smaller follies, which may grow. I have one small follie on my right ovary (I suspect I have too much scarring around that ovary for it to produce any more).

Egg Collection is Wednesday at 8.30am.

So, I could have 12 good sized follies by then.....

Had to have my Menopur injection at 12.30pm on the way back to work, and had to leave early to have my buserelin injection, which I had at 4.55pm.

My HCG injection is at 8.30pm tonight.....

Count Down to Counting Follicles

2010-03-15T02:07:00.000-07:00

I woke up on Saturday feeling like I had a hangover, only without the fun night out :-(

Sunday, I was just tired. But started to feel a bit sick on Sunday evening....maybe it was the Pizza, maybe it's nerves....

This morning (Monday) I have my scan to check my follicles.....I didn't sleep very well last night.....kept waking up. I wasn't thinking of anything, just kept waking up.

Didn't feel like breakfast, still feeling sick......defo nerves this morning....what if I have hardly any follicles, what if my womb lining is too thin.....

Will update this evening.....

Ovaries - Working Their Little Socks Off

2010-03-12T14:55:00.000-08:00

My Ovaries are Working Their Little Socks Off...........or at least I hope/think they are.

I can feel my ovaries, my belly feels heavy in that area.

I also have back ache and I'm bloated.

So I think it all points to follicles and eggs being grown.

I can feel my ovaries.

2010-03-10T14:18:00.000-08:00

Something is working, as I can feel my ovaries :-)

Been to a support group meeting tonight, which was good. Met a lovely couple and a husband who's wife was at work. Got some good advice from all 3 of them.

Had to 'shoot up' in the car before the meeting :-)

I'm getting better at not getting as much air in the menopur.....

Cervical Strangeness

2010-03-09T13:56:00.000-08:00

It's now day 4 of stimulating.

I noticed this afternoon that my cervix felt odd.

It's really really low, but feels plump / swollen. Now that must be the Menopur :-)

I'm still crap at mixing the Menopur, however, I have come to the conclusion that I am obviously going to get air in the syringe every single time, and while drawing off from each of the 4 vials, and that I will just have to 'tap it out' multiple times.

Went to the beauty salon this evening on the way home from work, got my eyelashes and eyebrows dyed and eyebrows waxed. And got my beard electrolosysted :-)

Had McDonalds for tea as I was feeling V hungry and V lazy.

I wonder when / if i'll start to feel my ovaries? I'd like to feel them doing something.

Stimulating

2010-03-07T02:57:00.000-08:00

I'm not very good at this blogging thing.........but info is better late than never......

My Down Regulation Scan on Thursday went well. My womb lining is thin and my ovaries are quiet so on Saturday I started Stimulation injections.

So now as well as the Buserlin, I'm also injecting Menopur.

Hopefully tonight I will not get quite so much air in the syringe from mixing the Menopur......must be more patient :-)

Looking forward to loosing the side effects from the down regulation.....I used to have clear skin, clean hair and lovey long nails and didn't have a beard :-) I'm thinking of borrowing DH's I-Trim......

Day 16 - Ouch

2010-02-28T11:26:00.000-08:00

The injections are hurting now.

My stomach is quie brusied, and bc of my scar there's an area where i can't inject, so I'm pretty much injecting to the left and right of my scar at alternate sides in an area of about 2" in diameter at each side.

The nurse had warned me that I may get some fluid leaking from the injection sites and not to worry bc it's not the medication, it's fluid from within the skin. Well, that started today.

A week of Down Regulating

2010-02-21T12:30:00.000-08:00

Well, it's been a week of Down Regulating now.

AF started yesterday, hopefully no follies doing anything.

And I have spots :-( A couple of not so bad ones on my face, but my back. Yuk.

Day 3

2010-02-15T10:45:00.001-08:00

Dry eyes.......

And my injection stung tonight :-(

Second Buserelin Injection

2010-02-14T13:29:00.003-08:00

Yay, managed not to stab my finger this time......but I do now have sore boobs :(

First Buserelin Injection

2010-02-14T13:28:00.001-08:00

Well, apart from managing to stab my finger with the needle, the injection itslef was fine.

Needles, Drugs and a Sharps Bin :-)

2010-02-12T14:24:00.000-08:00

I picked up the drugs from the hospital pharmacy and then we had injection training.

I had decided before hand that although I was a bit nervous about injecting myself, that I'd just 'go for it' and not mess about.

It wasn't too bad. It was an odd sensation pushing the needle into my tummy. A bit like pushing a skewer into partly cooked fatty meat :-)

As well as the actual injection, the nurse made sure that we knew how to draw up the meds into the syringe.

Then I had the catheter test, which was a mock Embryo Transfer. My womb has a kink in it and at first the nurse felt some resistance but the catheter then went in easily. She asked me to try and remember how full my bladder felt, bc it was just right. If I drank less the kink would be worse and if I drank more it may kink the other way.

So i now have Buserelin to down regulate, then Menopur to stimulate (along with the Buserelin), a HCG drug which i will need to inject 36 hours before egg collection, progesterone pesseries, needles, plungers, wipes and a sharps box :-)

I will have a trans vaginal scan on 4th March to check if I have down regulated and Egg Collection could be around the 15th March, with Embryo Transfer possibly 2, 3 or 5 days afterwards.

19 Days Until I start Down Regulation

2010-01-25T13:16:00.000-08:00

Well, AF arrived yesterday, which means that it's now 19 days until I start Down Regulation.

I'll be shooting up starting Valentines weekend :-)

Injection training and drug pick up is 12th Feb, and they are squeezing me in for the catheter test (mock EC) on the same day, I just need to confirm the time 2 days before.

Yay. This is all suddenly very real.

I need a Mock EmbryoTransfer.

2010-01-19T11:39:00.000-08:00

The Sister at the IVF clinic rang me today. She has spoken to the clinical director, who is also an OBGYN (can't spell this the English way :-) ).

He is not concerned about my past bowel operations and position of my womb causing me any additional problems if I was to become pg with twins, so we should be OK for 2 embryos to be transferred. Yay!

He does want to do a catheter test / mock embryo transfer though, just to make sure everything runs smoothly on the day.

So I need to ring when my period starts.

Julie

IVF Consultation.......

2010-01-14T12:51:00.000-08:00

Well, today was our first consulation appointment at the Hewitt Centre at Liverpool Womens Hospital.

We weren't sure what the appointment was going to be like, or even who it was with, as the letter didn't give a consultants name.

As it was, our appointment was with the nursing Sister. (Hewitt Centre is very much a nursing led unit).

She did weigh us both, but it wasn't so important for DH bc the husband/partner's BMI only matters if you are under a Welsh PCT.
For us girls that are not under a Welsh PCT we have to have a BMI of between 18% and 29% to get NHS funding. NOT under 30% as I was told at Preston hospital, so thank goodness I'd lost enough weight. I got weighed fully clothed in my jeans, boots and a thick heavy cardigan and was still 28% BMI.
For Welsh rules both people need to be under 30% BMI, so the woman can be slightly heavier.
This is the only time they will weigh me (us). But if it doesn't work with fresh embryo's they do weigh you again for a frozen embryo transfer.
They didn't measure our height.

She checked the mountains of paperwork that we'd filled in for the HFEA, and checked our photo's against our passport photos.

Sister then went through our test results. My CD2 blood test results are all fine, DH's SA is all fine, the HIV and Hep blood tests (which the HFEA insists that couples have in order to be able to freeze embryos) came back negative (which we knew they would).

So pretty much the only issue is the adhesions at the end of my tubes.

No one seems bothered too much about the spotting that i have in my LP, so maybe i shouldn't be either :-)

We discussed medical histories, mainly mine, bc Steven hasn't got any health issues and never has had.

We discussed number of embryo's. HFEA guideslines for women under 37 are 1 embryo. But, this is not 'law' you can have 2, i think they just try and persuade you to stick with 1.

In my case, bc of my bowel surgeries, my j-pouch, internal scarring and the position of my womb (pushed over to one side), the Sister is going to speak to the clinical director, who has vast experience in gynea and obsetrics and ask his opinion on whether a possible twin pregnancy would cause a risk to my health. So for now, we have said 2, to be discussed....If it's unsafe for me to risk carrying twins, then we will go with 1 embryo.

In the event of them not being able to access my right ovary (which is behind my womb), it is possible to do Egg Collection via Laperoscopy under a general anasthetic if necessary. And if for any reason there's a problem such as OHSS or not a thick enough womb lining, they usually do the EC, freeze the embryo's and then do a frozen embryo transfer on another occasion.

So, we will board this rollercoaster next cycle, we'd better secure all loose objects and keep our arms in the carriage :-)

It's condoms from CD1 of next cycle, and we have an appointment on 12th Feb to collect my drugs, and have injection training, and then I begin Down Regulation injections on CD 21, which should be 2 or 3 days later.

Next step after that is a baseline trans vaginal scan, where they not only get a good look at my squished over lady parts, but they'll see if I'm down regged ok, if not, then they may add another 5 days or so of down reg before beginning stimulation injections.

Then it's another tv scan to check how my follicles are growing, how my womb lining is growing etc, and then they should have an idea of the date for EC. (Maybe another scan will be needed).

Then, they grow any fertilised eggs for 3 - 5 days and then its the transfer......job done.

I'll get progesterone pesseries for 2 weeks and then do a HPT.

So, we may be looking at a transfer date of around April Fools day :-)

We have a date for our first IVF consultation!!

2009-12-30T12:14:00.001-08:00

I got a letter today from Liverpool Womens Hospital with a date for our first IVF consultation.

14th January at 1.30pm.

Whoo Who.

Now I just need to get back on the treadmill and loose the Christmas pounds :-)

Mountains of Paperwork....

2009-11-29T13:40:00.000-08:00

The Patient Information Evening went well on Wednesday.

Loads of paperwork to fill in. Which we have done over the weekend.
We need passport sized photos to prove our identity throughout our treatment.

I need bloodtests on CD 2, 3 or 4 and DH needs bloodtests and SA.

Once results are back we should get an appointment with the consultant. Hopefully within 4 to 6 weeks.

Then (I think) we start treatment on my next period.....

We also need to decide how many embryos we have inplanted.
As I'm 35, we can have 1 or 2.

Friday 13th was a good day

2009-11-14T02:32:00.000-08:00

Friday the 13th was good for me.

Payday.

Told my boss about IVF and he's completely understanding about time off etc.

And found out we have an invite to a Patient Info evening at Liverpool Womens Hospital for 25th November at 5.30pm.

I beleive that they will go through the procedures and give us a pack to arrange blood tests.

Then once the blood tests are back we'll get an appointment with the consultant. Yay.

Got Referral :-)

2009-10-16T10:52:00.000-07:00

We are being referred to Liverpool Womens Hospital.
Wait time is upto 18 weeks, but most likely to be about 2 months.

My weight loss is good, the Dr and Nurse were impressed. My BMI had to be under 30% to be referred on the NHS, mine is now 28%. Yay.

11 days to go til referral.........

2009-10-04T04:22:00.000-07:00

Only 11 Days to go until my referral appointment.........

Think my weight is OK.

Just hope they don't postpone my appointment again.

2009-09-09T14:00:00.000-07:00

We went to a Patient information evening at 'CARE' Manchester, the IVF clinic that we hope to be refered to this evening.

It was only a presentation and a few questions, but the embryolist was such a lovely man, I would really trust him with our future children.

Now it's just a question of waiting until 15th October to see the NHS clinic and see if they will refer us to CARE.

They went through blood tests that they prefer you to have before referral (to save time). I know I've had all except I'm not sure about whether I've had prolactlin tested.

We will both need to have blood tests for Hep B and C and HIV and they also mentioned cylamidia, but I know I've been tested for that and also Rubella (which I had as a child).

Hopefully we can both get blood tests in October.

Referral Appointment put back a week :(

2009-09-08T12:48:00.000-07:00

My appointment at the Sub Fertility Clinic which was supposed to be on 8th October has now been moved to 15th October :(

Still, it's an extra week to loose a couple more pounds :)

Waiting for IVF Referral

2009-09-08T12:19:00.000-07:00

This is my first post to my 'Blog'....

Who'd've thought that I'd've had a blog, let alone an IVF blog?

OK, so, a bit of Background................

I'm 35 and hubby is 37 and it seems that due to scarring from abdominal surgery I am not getting pregnant.

My consultant recommended 4 cycles of Clomid just in case, before moving to IVF. That didn't work. However, I suspect he was giving me a few months to loose weight.....

In order to be referred on the NHS my BMI needs to be under 30%..........I have lost 23 pounds so far this year, but actually found out I was almost an inch shorter than I thought I was :(

Now I am hovering around the right BMI, I just need to loose 4 or 5 more pounds to be 'safe'
..