Embryo Transfer Day

Well, it finally arrived - the day we find out how our embryos are doing and (hopefully) have them put back where they belong.  I was up very early again this morning, which was annoying as it meant a long wait until it was time to go to the hospital.  I eventually woke hubby up too, and before long it was time to head off for our appointment at 10.50am.

When we arrived there wasn't anyone around except another couple in the waiting room, but we only sat for five minutes before the nurse shouted us through to the recovery room to get ready for theatre.  I only had to do a partial strip today (bottoms, obviously) and because hubby was coming into theatre with me he had to gown up too - and I even managed to sneak a pictured of him!! lol  Then it was the short walk to the theatre, and I saw the same girl who was in for collection at the same time as me and we said hi.  I was pleased to see her as it meant things must have been good for her too.

Hubby all gowned up and ready to go!

Once we were in theatre hubby was shown where to sit at the top of the bed, and I had to confirm my name and date of birth for the doctor and the embryologist.  The doctor also asked how many embryos we wanted to have transferred, and I told her wanted to put two back.  The nurse then helped me onto the bed and told me to stay sitting just now (slightly more dignified!) and the doctor would come and speak to me about how things were looking with the embryos.  A couple of minutes later, after realising the nurse was born and brought up in the village where I live, the doctor came over (it was a different doctor to the one who did the collection) and told us that all 8 embryos had done well and were looking great.  We were having two top grade 8/8 embryos transferred today, and we had 4 top grade 8/8 and two 7/8 embryos to freeze.  I couldn't have been more over the moon when she said that as I'd been worried about getting any embryos at all and here we were with 8 almost perfect ones!!!

After I got positioned on the bed, the doctor started to get ready for the transfer by checking which size catheter she'd need to use before she got the embryos put in it.  Turned out the first one was fine and I even saw it on the ultrasound scan the nurse was doing on my tummy to enable to doctor to position them right.  She then went over to the hatch where the embryologist was and he passed our embryos to her in the catheter and she came back over to me.  They were really good at explaining things to us, and turned the screen so we could see everything that was happening as they were doing it.  She threaded the catheter into my uterus and showed us where she was aiming to get them (right at the top on the right side) and when it was in position she told us that we might see a flash as the embryos and the fluid they were in was put into my uterus, but that there isn't always one so not to worry if we didn't see it.

She then told us she was about to release them - and we saw the flash!!!!  One of the nurses in the room was really funny and shouted "woo hoo - I love it when we get fireworks!!"  at which point I burst into tears!!!  I'd been trying really hard to hold myself together during the whole procedure, and I think seeing what could turn into our baby(ies) being put back where they belong tipped me over the edge.  I managed to say thank you to the doctor and the embryologist before the nurse took me out to the toilet, but then I was gone again and was hanging onto hubby sobbing while the nurse told me I should be happy because I'd done so well.  I was so happy I couldn't believe it, that was why I was crying!!!

After I nipped to the ladies (what a relief after having to have a full bladder!!) I went in to get dressed and the nurse came in with another consent for us to sign (have no idea what it was for as I wasn't able to focus to read it!) and to give me the meds and instructions of what happens next.  I have progesterone pessaries to use twice a day until the official test date, then we go back to the hospital for a blood test to find out if I'm pregnant.

So that's it, I am now pregnant until proven otherwise and there isn't anything more we can do but hope those gorgeous little embryos hang on in there and become the baby(ies) we so desperately want.

S x

Phoning the Lab

I was awake at the crack of dawn this morning, partly because one of my dogs has an inability to sleep beyond 6am and partly because I knew I had to phone the lab today to find out if any of our eggs had fertilized.

It was a hell of a long wait until I could phone, and of course it dragged in, but finally it was time and I could phone.  I was shaking like a leaf and could barely dial the number, but I got through and the girl I spoke to put me on hold until she went to check what was happening.  Out of the 18 eggs we had collected, 12 were mature and were injected with hubby’s sperm yesterday – and today we have 8 embryos!!!!!  I was so relieved I could barely finish the phone call and the second I hung up I burst into tears! 

I had been speaking to my friend by e-mail all morning, but I couldn’t tell her the news until I woke hubby up to tell him (the stress seems to be making him sleep a lot so I’d let him sleep while I phoned)   As soon as I went up with his coffee, the first thing he said when he opened his eyes was “have you phoned?  Did it work?!?!”  and I was so happy to tell him we have 8 potential babies waiting on us in the lab.  Then I was able to text my friend and my mum and tell them too, and honest my friend was as excited as I was!! Lol

Now it’s just waiting and hoping they all keep going strong until we get back to them tomorrow and if we’re really lucky we might even get a few to freeze in case we need to try again.

S x

Egg Collection

I didn’t for a minute think I’d sleep last night, but I fell asleep at 8pm on the sofa!!!  Hubby woke me up and told me to go to bed, and I slept right through until it was time to get up this morning to go to the hospital!!  Probably a good thing anyway as I had to fast from midnight and not being able to have a drink of water is torture for me!

We had to be there at 8.30am, which is a bit of a nightmare as the hospital is just off the busiest motorway in Scotland and the traffic can be awful!!  Add into that hubby having to get his sample to the lab within an hour and you’ve got a recipe for a pretty stressful morning!!!  There is a room you can use at the hospital for hubby to do his thing, but like most men I’d imagine hubby was worried he wouldn’t be able to “perform” there so we decided it was better to do it at home and take it in with us.  That still put a lot of pressure on him though as he was very conscious of the time and us having to leave, but I’m delighted to say he managed it and with his sample lodged firmly in my cleavage (which the lab staff found really funny) we set off to the hospital.

Thankfully the traffic wasn’t bad and we made it into the admissions desk before 8.30am and were booked in.  Then we headed round to the ACS suite and sat in the waiting room until we were called up to hand in the sample.  After that it was back to the waiting room, then the anaesthetist called us into a room to have a chat about the sedation and to ask health questions.  That done, we then went into speak to the doctor who would be performing the retrieval, Dr Medina, and she went over what would happen and really put us both at ease.  Next, it was into see the nurse (it just happened to be my favourite nurse in theatre that day which I was delighted about!) and she went over things again and gave me two paracetamol to take.  There was another girl in font of me and she was already in theatre (we’d seen them in the waiting room) so she got me to change into a gown and just sit and read my kindle until they were ready for me. ( At this point hubby had to leave me, which I hated, as he wasn’t allowed to come into theatre with me.  He went and got a coffee and a paper and after calling his friend for a chat he just sat in the waiting room for around an hour until he was allowed through to see me in recovery)

I sat for about 10-15 minutes until the other girl was finished, then it was time for me to go to theatre.  I had to go to the loo en route (the recovery room is just across the corridor from the theatre and you just walk over) to make sure I had an empty bladder then it was into theatre and I had to confirm my name and date of birth with the anaesthetist and the embryologist.  The ACS lab is connected to the theatre by a hatch, so you could see into the lab and the people working there which is fab, although I was tempted to tell them to remember to look after my babies-to –be well once they got them!! Lol    I then had to lie up on the bed and the nurse in theatre put on all the monitoring equipment (blood pressure, pulse, oxygen sat, heart monitor) and the anaesthetist put the cannula in my hand.  Then they put an oxygen mask on me, and said she’d be starting the drugs and I’d start to feel lightheaded and after 10 minutes they’d start.  In actual fact      I remember feeling like I was drunk and talking to the nurse about tattoos(?) then I don’t remember a thing!!!  I don’t even remember putting my feet into the stirrups, anything of the procedure of moving over onto the trolley when they were finished, and the first thing I remember very vaguely was someone telling me how many eggs we had and then waking up in recovery.  I had to stay in recovery a while, and for the first half an hour I was asleep (and a fab sleep it was too) then I was talking to the nurse.  After another twenty minutes she gave me a glass of water and sent hubby in while she was away getting me a coffee and a biscuit.  Before she left I’d asked her if I heard right with the number of eggs we had, and she said I had, so I was so happy to be able to tell hubby that we had 18 eggs retrieved!!! 

After I’d had my coffee and biscuits (the make you eat something) I had to get up and go to the loo before I could get dressed.  Then we had to sit in the waiting room a while so they could make sure I was ok on my feet before the nurse came to take my cannula out and give me information on what happened next.  She explained that the eggs would be injected that afternoon, then I had to call the lab at 10.15am on Friday to find out how many had fertilised.  She said I could take paracetamol or co-codamol for the pain, although I didn’t think I’d need to because I felt ok (how wrong was I going to be proven) but she said to take them anyway as the next day is always more painful.

After that it was home time, and a very slow walk to the car!! Lol  I spent the rest of the day lying on the sofa or in bed, and by around 5pm I was in quite a bit of pain so took painkillers and had the hot water bottle on my tummy to try and ease it.  I tried a bath too, but to be honest it didn’t do too much to help the pain. 

Now it’s onto worrying about the next part – will any of the eggs fertilise?!?!!?!?  It feels like you just go from worrying about one thing to the next with this whole thing!!!

S x

Second Follicle Scan and THE phonecall!

So it was back to the hospital again today for yet another encounter with the dildo-cam – we really are becoming way too familiar with each other – and to check on how the follicles are doing.  The clinic was running really late this morning and we didn’t get taken until 40 minutes after our appointment time. When we went in it was straight to the scan room, and I was surprised to see Helen who did a talk at the fertility group was the nurse I had today as I haven’t had her before.   She had a look at my lining and took measurement from the follicles then turned the screen around to show us what she could see – the lining was nice and thick and there were around 26 follicles which were big enough to measure and a bunch of smaller ones!!!  She said they were growing well and a couple were already at 17mm which is where they want them to be for ICSI.  She said that I’d probably trigger either Monday or Tuesday night, but to make an appointment for Wednesday for another scan just in case I needed it and to make sure I took a trigger away with me for when I need it.

After that we sat back in the waiting room to wait on a nurse calling us in, and thankfully it wasn’t too much longer to wait before she did.  We went in and she took my bloods, then she gave me enough Gonal F to last until Wednesday and a trigger shot (Ovetrille) to take when I needed it.  She said they’d have a look at my bloods when they came back, and if I was to trigger they’d call me and if not to come for the scan on Wednesday.

So back to work I went and hubby went home to bed as he’d been night-shift last night.  I did sneakily check for my blood results, but they weren’t in so  I wasn’t sure if I’d get a call or not.  However, at around 3pm my phone rang and it was the nurse from the hospital to tell me the next step.  We’d been hoping that EC would be Friday as hubby was night shift Tuesday/Wednesday night, but she said my bloods indicated that they couldn’t leave me that long so EC was booked for Thursday morning.  I had to take my Gonal F and snuff as normal today and tomorrow, then at 8.15pm (exactly – they’re very clear it has to be exactly then) I had to inject my trigger and then not take any other drugs after that.  I had a drug free day on Wednesday, then into the hospital for 8.30am on Thursday for our collection.

It’s scary now that things seem to be happening really quickly, and EC is the bit I’m most worried about as I’m convinced that when they take the follicles out there won’t be any eggs in them(there’s nothing to indicate that should be the case, just me being my usual worry-wort self!)  However, there isn’t a hell of a lot I can do about it anyway and we’ll just have to see what Thursday brings.

S x

Follicle scan

Today was the day we found out how I was responding to the medication and the first chance to find out how the cycle will pan out.  Our appointment today was at 8.45am, but surprise surprise they were running late as usual!!!  I have to say though, the clinic was so busy it wasn't really a surprise they were running a bit late.

So first up this morning was more bloods being taken to check my hormone levels. (One of the perks of working in a hospital is that you can check the results as soon as they're done, so I was able to see that mine had gone from less than 70 on baseline scan day, to over 2500 today!!)  After that it was back out to the waiting room, then after a while we were called into the scan room.  One of the nurses was one we'd had before, and the first thing she did was comment on my hair (I've dyed it bright red just now)  She chatted away while she scanned and another nurse wrote down the measurements, then she turned the screen around to show us what was happening.  She showed me the lining of my uterus, which was measuring 8.7mm and she told me that was really good and by the time we got for egg collection it should have thickened up even more.  Next she showed me my right ovary and said there were roughly 11 follicles that were 10mm or more (they don't measure the smaller ones) and some smaller ones too.  I told her I was sure there was more happening in my left ovary than my right, and when she moved the scan to that one she said I was right and there were 12 follicles all around 12mm and a whole bunch of smaller ones too!!  They were very happy with that, and said it's good they're all around the same size as it means they'll mature at the same time, and they'd like me to keep stimming over the weekend and to go back on Monday for another scan.

After that we went back to the waiting room again, then we were called in to see a nurse in the treatment room to get more meds to tide us over until Monday when we go back.  She gave me another 450iu pen, which will keep me going until Monday morning and we'll know at that that scan if we're going for egg collection on Wednesday, or if they want me to go back the next day for another scan.

All in all things seem to be progressing right on course, and now I can move onto my next worry which is that when they retrieve the follicles that there won't be any eggs in them!!  I know that I'm being a bit irrational thinking that, as there hasn't been anything in any of my test results to indicate that it would be the case, but I think during this whole thing you just move from worrying about one thing to the next at each stage!!

S x

A new found respect for chickens!!

I’ve been stimming for 7 days today – and have discovered a new found respect for chickens as I feel so full.  My tummy has been getting more and more uncomfortable and bloated, and the only thing that seems to help is sitting with a hot water bottle on it all the time – which isn’t great when you’re already having hot flushes!!! Lol

I’m hanging onto the thought that it must be a good sign and hopefully means I’m growing plenty of follicles/eggs in there.  Keep having to go to the loo too, which I think is a combination of drinking so much water to try and fend of OHSS and everything in there being a bit squashed because of my ovaries.

Feels like Friday is taking an age to come around.  I’m torn between wanting everything to be ready on Friday and going for EC on Monday, or wanting things to need a few days extra as EC at the end of the week would be better as hubby wouldn’t be coming off a nightshift when he has to do his part.  Ideally, if EC was on Thursday and ET on Saturday we’d be sorted as he’s not working the night before either of those, but in all probability it’ll be either Monday or Wednesday which means he either has to try and get a swap (not likely) or take a night unpaid leave which we really can’t afford just now when we’re going on holiday next month!! 

I guess there’s nothing I can do though but just wait and see what happens on Friday and take it from there.

S x

Burselin

Today is the first day for taking Burselin – and I can’t say I like it so far!!!  My first sniff was at 7am, which unfortunately is just after I get on the train to work!!  I managed it ok though, and just told the girl we speak to on the train that it was for hay fever when she asked what it was.  I did my second one at 12pm, after which I’m not convinced I did the first one properly this morning as about 10 minutes after I did it I suddenly started to taste it at the back of my throat and it was disgusting!!!!!  Nothing would take the taste away, but eventually it went away on it’s own.  The same thing happened with my 6pm and 11pm ones, so I guess that’s a good way of knowing I did it properly anyway.

I’m not really expecting any side effects from it as it’s basically the same as the pro-stap injection, plus I’m taking stimming meds which tend to counteract any down regging side effects.  It’s hard work remembering to take it everywhere with you though as it has to be kept in the fridge – so that means remembering to put it in my bag before work, then putting it into the fridge in work, remembering to take it home with me, then remembering to put it back in the fridge in the house – and given how forgetful I am just now it’s a miracle I got through the first day without leaving it somewhere!!

S x

Ah dildo-cam, we meet again!!!

So today was finally the day of our baseline scan to check everything was as it should be and ready to start stimming.  I was a bit worried we’d be late as hubby was nightshift last night, but thankfully he made it home in time and even managed to get changed before we headed back to the hospital.  They weren’t even running too late, which is a novelty, and we were soon shouted through by the nurse.  We went to the scan rooms, and she left me to get ready and then go through to the room where there were two nurses and a Dr – just as well I have no qualms about getting my kit off then – and by the looks of it the Dr was just learning to do the scan as she couldn’t find one of my ovaries and the nurse got it straight away.  They checked both ovaries and the right had no follicles on it and the left had one small one which was fine, and the lining was nice and thin too.  The nurse was really good and turned the screen to us so she could point out exactly where the lining was and showed my the follicle on my ovary, which although I’ve had plenty of scans before was never really pointed out all the well to us. 

After that we went back to the waiting room, then we were called through by another nurse to the treatment room.  She checked everything was in order in my file, then explained which meds I’d have and when I’d be taking them.  She was really nice and took lots of time to go over everything, and although I’ve done all the injections and things before for IUI it was nice to have someone refresh it all for me.  She did my first injection which was 225iu of Gonal F, then explained that I’d have another to do tonight, two tomorrow then one a day after that.  I also have to start taking Bureslin from Tuesday to top up my downregging meds, as they only last for 4 weeks and they need you down regging longer than that to make sure you don’t ovulate on your own.  I now have a new drug kit which contains my Gonal F injectors (have the pens this time rather than syringes, which is great as no more mixing up your own meds just simply set the dose, put the needle on and you’re good to go) alcohol wipes, a sharps bin (or junkie bucket as I’d taken to calling it when I was doing my heparin injections after my op) and my Burselin (or snuff as they call it as you squirt it up your nose!!)  This is my drug regime from today up until Friday when I go back for my scan;

Thursday – 225ul Gonal F in the morning, 225ul Gonal F in the evening (12 hours apart)

Friday - 225ul Gonal F in the morning, 225ul Gonal F in the evening (12 hours apart)

Saturday – 225ul Gonal F in the morning

Sunday - 225ul Gonal F in the morning

Monday - 225ul Gonal F in the morning

Tuesday - 225ul Gonal F in the morning, 1 sniff of snuff (lol) at 7am, 12pm, 6pm and 11pm

Wednesday - 225ul Gonal F in the morning, 1 sniff of snuff (lol) at 7am, 12pm, 6pm and 11pm

Thursday - 225ul Gonal F in the morning, 1 sniff of snuff (lol) at 7am, 12pm, 6pm and 11pm

Friday - 225ul Gonal F in the morning, 1 sniff of snuff (lol) at 7am, 12pm, 6pm and 11pm

As you can see it’s quite detailed and as I have infertility brain just now there is no way on earth I’d remember what to take when.  There is a Gonal F app, which I’ve downloaded to my iPod, where you can put in all your drugs and appointments and it sends you reminders and so far it’s been great and I’ve not missed anything.  I’d highly recommend it to anyone who has fertility treatment as it’s one less thing to stress about.

So far not been too much of an effect from the Gonal F, but I can feel my ovaries kicking into life again and it’s not the most pleasant thing in the world but here’s hoping it’s all worthwhile!

S x

P-day plus 1 week

Well, it’s been over a week now since my pro-stap so thought I should update for those of you who are using this as a guide to what to expect (Carrie!!!lol)

The day after the injection I had the most horrendous hot flush!!!  I was at M&S for some shopping, and when I got back into the car I suddenly started sweating buckets!!  I ended up with sweat running down my face (nice, eh!!) and had to drive home minus my t-shirt and in bare feet to try and cool down before I passed out!!!  Thankfully it passed after a while, and a good half hour standing on the cold tiles in the kitchen!!! 

Since then the flushes have been fine, just the odd one here and there but nothing that I really notice too much.  I haven’t even been crabby either – which has come as a surprise to both me and hubby, although I think he’s very relieved!!   I don’t know if I’ve just been lucky, and maybe if I have another cycle I’ll be in for a shock and will have all the side effects, but I’m so relieved it’s been a bit easier than I was expecting it to be as there’s still a long way to go on this journey!!

I decided this week that hubby and I needed some time out from everything, so I managed to arrange for my cousin to come and stay at the house to look after the zoo and secretly booked a weekend away for us both.  I even managed to pack all our things without hubby realising – only for him to go into the boot of the car as we were leaving to go and see the suitcase!!!!  He never puts anything in the boot, always just throws it on the back seat, but that was my surprise rumbled!!! Lol  Anyway, we didn’t go far as I just booked somewhere that had a good deal as we didn’t have a lot of spare cash – so we actually stayed at the hotel where our gym is!!!  That might sound a bit mad to you, but the plan was to just chill out and do nothing, so really it didn’t matter where we went as we weren’t planning on sightseeing or anything. 

We had a lovely time just chilling out, and to my surprise AF showed up when she was expected, even although I’d been warned the pro-stap could make her late/heavier.  The only thing different was that I had really bad cramps, but my wonderful hubby went to the local supermarket and bought me a hot water bottle which helped no end!!!

Not long to go now until I go back for my baseline scan, fingers crossed everything is looking good and we can get gong on the next stage.

S x

Prostap - 21st July 2012

I was back at the hospital today for the first step of our first IVF cycle.  My appointment was at 9.20am, and hubby was a nightmare to get up and ready and I was starting to stress a bit that we’d be late!!!  We weren’t though, and even if we had been they were running late anyway (how do you manage to run late just after 9am?!?!?!)  I was eventually taken in about 20 minutes late, and to be honest I wasn’t as keen on the nurse I had this time.

She took me off to another room to do my height, weight and BMI which strangely hadn’t been done before for some reason, as it has a baring on the drugs you receive.  My BMI is way under the limit though (limit is 30 and mine is 23) so that wasn’t something I was worried about anyway.

After that we went back in to where hubby was, and she went through all our consents (again!)  When she got to the page where we’d had to confirm how many embryo’s we wanted put back, she asked why we’d put one and if it was because we definitely didn’t want twins.  I explained that the nurse who had done them with us initially had said she’d recommend one embryo for the first cycle, then if it didn’t work to do two after that, so we were guided by her and that’s why we’d put one and would change it later on if we wanted to.  She said that wasn’t the way she would have explained it to us, and in her opinion the purpose of the form was to say the maximum number of embryo’s we’d have put back at any time, not the number we wanted for our first cycle and she’d change it to two. 

I was a bit annoyed by this, as we were going on what the first nurse told us as we thought we were best being led by them as they know a hell of a lot more about it all than us.  As it stands we would have had one put back and the rest frozen if we had plenty of good quality, and two put back if we didn’t have any for freezing and had two good enough to put back.  The nurse said that in her opinion, not many people have embryo’s for freezing anyway (not what I thought, I’ve heard a lot of people having frosties!!) so it’s better to just go with two going back no matter what.  We agreed to change it to two on the form, but I think we’ll wait and see what happens and how many eggs/embryo’s we end up with then WE’LL make an informed choice without the nurses having input since they seem to differ so much.

Anyway, after that it was just down to the business of sticking the needle in!! lol  The nurse was quite glad when I told her I’d had plenty of injections because of the IUI and heparin after my surgery – wonder how many people they have the hate injections and either pass out or are sick!?!?!?!?  One thing that was different when she did the injection – and something I plan on asking about when I pick up my stimming meds – was that she put it in at a 45oC angle whereas when I was doing my IUI injections I was shown to put them in straight, like a dart.  I’ll clarify it at the next one as I don’t want to be doing them wrong!!  The injection itself was a big stingy, but other than that was totally fine and didn’t even bleed when she took the needle out.  She advised me of all the side effects you could have, which I knew from Dr Google anyway, and off we went home to wait and see what happened next.

S x