Putting My Chalkboard into Use At Last!

29.10.14
I decided that I was going to use my chalkboard today. 
It was a case of do I a week 3 shot just incase the ivf has worked? or do I not do it because if I was to do one and the ivf didn't work it would be a bit of a sore reminder?
In the end I went with taking the picture because if I didn't and I was pregnant I would regret not having a picture of the first week.
So here it is ..... 3 weeks in, 2 days after transfer.

The 2 Week Wait Begins!

28.10.14

We are Officially PREGNANT UNTIL PROVEN OTHERWISE! (pupo)

The embryo is currently tucked away inside of me hopefully baking away and becoming a baby.

It's kind of scary because although I know that I am currently technically pregnant, I'm under no illusion that it could all be over as quick as it started.

The next few weeks (10 to be precise) are going to be the slowest, craziest, hardest days ever.

All I can do now is hope for the best.

Transfer Day

27.10.14

So the last few days of waiting for the results of fertilization were tense to say the least.
The thing is you could have lots of eggs that initially fertilize but when it comes to going through the Blastocyst stage it could all change and you could be left with none.
Luckily for us they rang and booked us in for a transfer for today at 2.15pm.
We had 8 fertilize and they all made it to the embryo stage only 1 was slightly behind in development and they had picked 1 of superior quality to put back inside me.

The embryo goes through stages of development and divides into cells, my embryo was put back in on day 5.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1h611sNji8

We arrived swiftly at around 2pm and was taken to a waiting room....yet again I was terrified about what was going to happen but I knew that Kenny was going to be with me this time so I wouldn't be in there alone.

At around 2.30pm we were taken down to the room where the transfer would take place. It was very much like the theatre that I had been in for the retrieval just smaller.

I got into a gown again and then got up onto the bed.
There were only two nurses in the room this time, one was the nurse who would be doing the transfer and the other was doing the ultrasound part.

This process involves inserting a catheter into the cervix until it reaches the womb and then they push the embryo through with saline.
I was dreading it and really thought that it was going to hurt but it didn't, to be honest I didn't even feel it. The main pressure was from the ultrasound woman pushing down on my stomach and making me want to wet myself (yes you have to have drank a litre of water before going in).

Kenny and me watched on the screen as they put the embryo (our baby) inside my womb and then they showed us again on the screen slowly and explained what had happened. 

The embryo is so tiny when put back in that you would only be able to see it under a microscope.

We then were told to go back to the waiting room, where I could finally go to the toilet to get rid of all the water that was in my bladder. 
You kind of don't want to go to the toilet at that point in case your embryo falls out - it's not possible though so it's okay! ha ha

Lucky Number 8

24.10.14

Waiting for the results of how many of the 13 eggs fertilized is nerve wrecking.
It felt like forever until that phonecall came today but the good news arrived shortly after lunchtime that 8 YES 8 fertilised. Very good news and ironic that it's a number that always seems to come up in my life in one way or another. Now we just have to wait for a few more days to see how many develop further and hope that there is one that can be transfered. Fingers Crossed.

Egg Retrieval Time.

23.12.14

8am - up we get and off to Cambridge we go.

I am such a wuss, I openly admit it....I pretty much had to stop myself from crying the whole of that journey.

I was apprehensive, scared, frightened and just wanted it to be over with.

Upon arrival we went straight to the ward and was greeted by the wonderful nurses, one thing I can say about Bourn is that everyone is so amazing, so friendly and never treats you any differently just because you are an NHS funded patient.

A nurse took us into one of the rooms and showed me to my bed, it's hard to explain what it's like because it's nothing like an NHS hospital where it's noisy, clinical and rushed.

The room was like someone's living room, carpeted, inviting, beds in each corner and then the standard hospital curtains that pulled around for your privacy.

We had a form to fill out and then I got changed into the gown ready for surgery.

As soon as the nurse came back and mentioned to me about being under local anesthetic I started hyperventilating. One thing I said from the beginning is that I did NOT want to be awake for this procedure. I knew what was going to happen and I really really just wanted to be knocked out for it.

Here's a run down of how egg collection works:

They insert a ultrasound wand that has a needle on the end through the wall of the cervix and out the other side to collect the eggs from the ovaries. The needle is pushed into each follicle and then the eggs (if there are any in there) are sucked up and go through the tube.

They say that under local anesthetic you will not feel much of this process but I just could not go ahead knowing that there was a chance that I might feel it.

I'm pretty sure that there are others out there who feel the same, it's not a nice procedure.

So anyway after doing my blood pressure and seeing that it was sky high, the nurse decided that thankfully it would be best to let me be under general anesthetic.

There were other's going in and out having their egg collections too so I had to wait for about an hour or so before it was my turn. 

During this time, poor Kenny had to go off and do his part of the bargain.....well we don't need to go into details about that do we but put it this way it lightened the mood a bit every time one of the men in the room had to be taken away. ha ha

At around 11.15ish I was taken to theatre by the anesthetist. 

We walked down the corridor to the theatre and I was greeted by a whole team of doctors, nurses, surgeons ...you name it. It was like a scene from Scrubs so strange.

 I got onto the bed with the bright surgical lights shining down on me and I could feel my body tensing and my heart banging.

They explained that they would insert the anesthetic into my hand and began trying to get me to relax.

The needle wouldn't go into my hand so they tried inside of my upper arm, still no good....by this point I was laying there trying to stop the sobs from erupting.

One of the anesthetists was holding my hand, he was an older gentle man...I'm sure he had an Australian accent but I remember him talking to me, asking me if I was going away this year, desperately trying to calm me.

In the end they had to then try the other hand and it finally went in, I remember saying to them can you just put me out now please, just knock me out. 

They gave me some drug and I finally started to feel woozy, they also gave me a mask with gas and air I assume and I remember laying there thinking in a minute this will all be over......and then that lovely warm feeling took over and I was OUT!!!

When I was coming around, they wheeled me back to the ward where Kenny was waiting for me. I think I was garbling some sort of rubbish about "it's not time to wake up yet, the alarm hasn't gone off".

Once I had come around a bit more and noticed Kenny sitting there holding my hand I just burst into tears....it was a mixture of feeling relieved that it was done and also the memory of that awful bit before hand of being put out. my hands and arm were sore.

The good news was that they managed to collect 13 eggs which were now going off to be fertilised. 

I didn't really feel any other pain at that point, I was just super thirsty.

After about half an hour I was sitting up and just wanted to go home...they made me drink tea and have some croissants first and then once they were satisfied that I was okay they let us leave.

Once home all I wanted to do was sleep.

The LAST Jab!

21.12.14

So here goes....Last Jab time!

Last night was my last injection for the treatment and I had to wait all day for the nurse's call for her to tell me what time to administer the drug.

In my case I had to do it at 11.30pm so that I was ready for the egg collection tomorrow at 9.30am.Eeeeeekkkkkkkk!!!

With Ovitrelle it's pretty much the same as doing Gonal F. The injection comes in the form of a pen, so all you have to do is attach the needle. The only difference between this and the Gonal F is that with this you don't have to set the dose, you just inject and take the full amount of liquid that's in the pen.
Ovitrelle's job is to mature the eggs before collection and then to trigger ovulation at a certain time (which is why you have to take it at a certain time of day/night depending on when you are going in for collection)

Doing this injection was a bitter sweet moment.
Yes I sure am glad to see the back of injections, my stomach is sore and wounded but on the other hand it was kind of sad in a way.
I've come so far from that first night of injections when I didn't think I could get through this. I did it though and now I was at that point of realising that this is it......I've got through the part that I didn't think I could do and I was faced with the prospect that this could all have potentially been for nothing, on the other hand this could now be the start of something I've been wanting for a very long time.

http://www.netdoctor.co.uk/pregnancy/medicines/ovitrelle.html

So Glad My Misfortune Made Someone Happy!

20.10.14
Another day, ANOTHER SCAN!
Today's scan was the final one all of my follicles were at good sizes (of course there's no guarantee that there are eggs in there though) and the nurse was quite happy for me to be booked in for the retrieval.

During the follicle scans the nurses look on each side of the ovaries for these small black circles, these are the follicles, they then measure them using he ultrasound machine. 
The follicles need to be around 16mm to be mature enough for them to want to do collection. Some women's follicles do not mature and they have to try upping the doseage of the medication or if that still dosen't work they just do the retrieval and hope that there are some eggs that they can use.

I was very lucky through this process, everything seems to have gone very smoothly and my body appears to have responded well.

The nurse also looked at my womb lining with 3d ultrasound to check that the lining was thick enough (which it was) and here is when she realised that my womb is nothing but ordinary.
I'm used to the doctors commenting on it now but normally the nurses cannot see the defect on the ultrasound machine.

Well this time she picked up on it straight away and was quite excited that she could get a very clear 3d shot of it.
She was very excited and said that she couldn't wait to show the other nurses the image, I guess I was happy for her...I suppose from a nurse's point of view it's not every day that you get to see a true Biconuate Uterus on ultrasound but you can't help but think "cheers, I am having IVF and not knowing if a baby will survive in that bodge up of a uterus and here you are getting clappy happy over it". 
(to the right is my scan picture)
The Y in the scan is my womb which is why they say it's a heart shape, a normal womb would be a pear shape or upside down triangle.

Someone Catch Me If I Fall

18.10.14

Today's follicle scan and blood test didn't quite go to plan.

To cut a long story short because of the amount of blood tests I've had recently they couldn't get the needle in my arm and then when they did it was so painful that I ended up fainting.

Yes I felt like such an idiot but the nurse reassured me that it happens a lot (she was probably just trying to make me feel better to be honest) and then they made me lie down on the ward and have a biscuit to get my sugar levels back up.

Once I finally felt okay again and they were happy I went back upstairs for the follicle scan which was all good and the nurse was happy with the progress.

I now have 12 to 13 follies ranging in size between 10mm and 18mm.