You are currently browsing the monthly archive for September, 2008.
Before I even woke up this morning, I knew I wasn’t pregnant. I fell asleep on the lounge last night and went to bed at 1.00am. Before I went to bed, I went to the toilet, and had the thought that I should do the test… as I had been asleep for a few hours and my bladder was full. But I decided to go ahead with my plan to test in the morning.
I woke quite a few times during the night, and also had dreams, so I had a very restless sleep, and when I woke this morning at 6.30am, I didn’t even need to pee! Well, that was just another sign as far I was concerned. I lay in bed and read my book for a while, and then got up to “pee on the stick”.
And just as I predicted…. Negative! Oh well… I’ll still go ahead with my blood test of Friday, and when the Clinic calls me with the news, I’ll just ask them when I can start again.
At 10.30pm, I had to give myself my final Pregnyl injection. I tossed the idea around of saving myself the uncomfortable process of giving myself a needle, but thought that I should follow through with the process until the very end, as I wasn’t supposed to have given myself the home pregnancy tests, and therefore, should just keep going. So, my final injection was pretty smooth, I’ll go through the next few days of hard, swollen ovaries, and then hopefully, have a month of getting my body feeling normal again before the whole process starts again (yippppeeeee, I still can’t wait to start again!).
Well…. I caved! I promised myself I wouldn’t do a home pregnancy test, but this morning I broke out the urine test that the clinic gave me.
Last night I was online reading the forums of other mums IVF experiences (again), and found a thread that appeared to have a lot of success stories for those undergoing their first cycle of IVF. Of course, it fed my need to improve my theoretical chances of being pregnant and one woman’s story in particular, had me enthralled. As I read on, I noted that she had done a home pregnancy test on the weekend before she was due to have her blood test… and received a BFP (as they say in the lingo, which means a big fat positive!). I kept reading her story (from Feb 2006, so there was an outcome) and she was definitely pregnant, and later found out… with twins! Now the thought of twins terrifies me, but the thought of NO baby terrifies me more.
So… this morning when I woke up, I didn’t really think too much about it, went to the cupboard and got the test, unwrapped it, and of course, it doesn’t come with instructions, so I filled a small container mid-stream, and held the end in for a few seconds. I saw a definite blue line appear, and another, very, very, very faint, blue line.
Then I decided to google what the results mean (haha nothing like doing things out of order, I still don’t know if I held the stick in the urine for long enough or anything).
My google search tells me:
POSITIVE Result for Pregnancy: Distinct color bands appear on the control and test regions. Presence of both test line and control line indicate that you are pregnant. The color intensity of the test bands may vary since different stages of pregnancy have different concentrations of hCG hormone.
NEGATIVE Result for Pregnancy: Only one color band appears on the control region. No apparent band on the test region. This indicates that no pregnancy has been detected. does not contain a detectable level of hCG and should be interpreted as a negative result.
So, I guess this tells me that I have a 50/50 chance of being pregnant as the test line is very, very, very, very, faint and could go either way.
Which leaves me in the exact same condition that I was in this morning before I took the test… I’m either pregnant… or I’m not.
(But I bet I buy another test when I’m out tomorrow and test again on Tuesday morning to see if that line has gotten any darker!)
Third (and second last) Pregnly injection tonight, and it only hurt a little bit (yup, just after yesterday’s post… but still didn’t bring any tears or anything). Not going in, I’m getting used to that, but this one ached a little in the injection region when I stood up to throw the rubbish from the needles in the bin. Nothing to worry about though, my eyes are still on the bigger prize.
It’s my second Pregnyl injection tonight (well, third if you count the booster shot I needed to have to help the Ovidrel do it’s stuff before my egg retrieval procedure.
Seriously, these injections haven’t really hurt at all – and I have a low pain threshold, and I don’t like needles. I read a lot (and I mean A LOT) of blogs and forum posts and most women talk extensively about how uncomfortable everything is, and how much the injections hurt, and how much the syneral spray gives them headaches, and so on and so on…. and I’ve really not been put out at all.
Gee, I hope this is a sign that I will have a trouble free pregnancy (can’t really hope for a trouble free baby, or a trouble free toddler, or a trouble free teen, so I will stick with hoping for a trouble free pregnancy).
Well, that was quite a simple procedure really, considering it’s importance.
I arrived at the Clinic at 12 noon after drinking a litre of water around 11am and then hold it in my bladder… and I was uncomfortable! I got to the Lab around 12.15pm and then had to wait in the waiting room until about 12.35pm. Then my Doctor called me in, where I saw the Embryologist hovering over what appeared to be a humidi-crib. I asked her how my embryo’s were, and if they had behaved themselves over the weekend. She said they had been great, as I got up on the chair. Above me was a TV screen with fish on it, obviously meant to relax me. Then the Embryologist put the 2 embryos up on the screen, and showed me what they looked like.
She told me that they were clustered and she couldn’t make out how many cells they had, but there were at least 6 to 8, which was perfect.
This procedure itself is straightforward, and only slightly uncomfortable. The embryos are placed in a small amount of fluid inside a catheter, which the Emb handed over to the Doctor once she had opened up my cervix. She then inserted the catheter directly into my cervix, and we waited a moment while the Emby checked the catheter under a microscope to ensure that they were placed. And that was it! Stand up, get dressed, and finally, I get to pee!
I went next door and got myself a urine pregnancy test, along with a pathology blood test form… they gave me two… one to get a blood test on Friday 3 September 2008, which is early… and may not show anything, and one for Tuesday 7 September 2008, which is the day after the public holiday. The Clinic will call me on Friday afternoon to let me know if I need to go back for the second test on the Tuesday.
My period is due on Saturday 4 October 2008, so they say I should test on the Monday 6 October if I don’t get my period. Because that day is a public holiday… I have the good old-fashioned urine test to try at home, but I’ve been pre-warned by the Doctor to not get discouraged if it’s a negative… because the only true test is the blood test.
Tonight I started taking the prescribed Pregnyl injections – I have 4 injections to take over the next 9 days (that I know of). Out come the glass vials again…
Great news! The Lab called me to tell me that my 2 wonderful eggs had fertilised overnight and were going well. What a relief! I didn’t realise how worried I was until the call came in. I thought that I had wasted all that money, time and effort to not even get an egg from this cycle.
The Lab told me that I needed to come in at midday to the see my Doctor to get them implanted. She told me to drink plenty of water about 11am and to keep my bladder full which gives the Doctor a straight line to my cervix to implant. I have to start taking Cartia today (until further notice), which is a low dose aspirin and will help reduce the chances of miscarriage.
I drove myself to the Surgery this morning… arriving at 9.30am for my 10.00am appointment – who do you think was nervous and apprehensive?
This surgery was very different to my endometriosis surgery… today, I sat in the waiting room until 20 mins before my operation. I was taken into a small room with a comfortable armchair, asked to undress and put on a theatre gown and a dressing gown over the top (and keep my undies in my pocket!). Everything else got locked in a locker, and I sat for a while until my Anaesthetist came in to go through my pre-operative questions. After another 10 mins, I was walked into the theatre, where I saw my Doctor, Anaesthetist, a nurse and also a lady who introduced herself from the Laboratory who told me that she would call me this afternoon about my eggs.
My Doctor asked me if I’ve given any thoughts to the number of embryos I wanted implanted, and I asked her opinion. She basically said it was my choice, so I told her that I couldn’t handle the result of 3 babies, but I was prepared to take the chance of 2, to increase my chances of a viable pregnancy. She smiled, touched my arm and told me that she agreed and that she had already written a preliminary “2” on my documentation.
After that, it was lights out and off to sleep I was.
I woke up in the recovery room – which was basically an area for 2 beds at one end and another on the side at the other end, and a row of comfy chairs down the left side. I was told that they had collected 4 eggs – and also had the number 4 in a circle written on my right hand. I asked the nurse about the 5th follicle and was told that sometimes follicles are filled with liquid and may not be an egg at all.
On the way home, I called the lab for any results on my eggs but they didn’t have any news for me yet and told me that they would call me later.
Later in the afternoon, I received a call from the Lab who told me that they took 5 eggs from me (different information, but she could have been counting the one that was basically liquid) and that 3 were not mature enough to be fertilised. She said that she had waited so long to contact me because she had given them an extra hour and a half after injection, but they hadn’t improved at all. She said the other 2 eggs looked good, and that they would call me tomorrow with an update on them.
Fingers crossed!
Another day, another blood test! This one was local at least and is to check that the trigger dose was enough.
Got a call from the Doctor’s office this afternoon and you guessed it… I need another injection! I’m to inject as soon as I get off the phone.
Pregnyl is used to ripen an egg in the ovaries, as well as to release the egg, causing ovulation and they gave me enough doses to take one if I needed it today, as well as the extra 4 doses before and after implantation.
It comes in 2 glass vials – one powder, and one liquid, and I have to snap off the top of the glass vial… I’m scared I’m going to shatter the glass and inject myself with the shards. Oh well, the things we do.
Today started early again, with another trek down to the Doctor’s office. More blood tests, and another internal exam. This time, my Doctor was there and she told me that Friday is definitely the day!
I got a call from the Doctors office in the afternoon telling me that I had to give myself a trigger injection tonight at 10.30pm. I prepared the injection of Ovidrel and injected myself at precisely 10.30pm… which means its just 36 hours to go until my eggs are collected!
Ovidrel is a drug that is used to “trigger” ovulation – it helps the follicles mature and then triggers the release of the mature eggs from the ovaries.
How exciting! Today is the day I get news of when my eggs will be collected. My Doctor wasn’t working today, but I met with another Doctor who did my internal scan. She told me that I have 3 follicles in my right ovary and another 2 in my left ovary. She also said that one was nearly ready to come out now, so I need a further scan on Wednesday morning to see if my egg collection day will be Friday of this week…. or next Monday, as has always been planned.
I had a blood test locally this morning and the Doctor called me this afternoon at 4.00pm to give me the bad news! I needed to take Luveris (yes, another daily injection) and this one costs $160 per day! It comes in 2 vials – one powder and one water solvent, and I have to mix them up before injecting them.
Luveris is another FSH and the downside is that it increases the chances for multiple births. Now twins might sound nice – get the family over and done with, don’t have to go back for a second try etc., but multiple births bring risks… to bubs and me. Now things are getting scary.
So, this involved driving over an hour in peak hour traffic to pick up the drugs to get me through until Monday when I was back at the Doctors again anyway.
I have to start injecting myself tonight with 450 units of Gonal-F, which is kind of like a pen that has 2 preloaded doses in it and is used to help the ovaries make more eggs. It is administered as a subcutaneous (just under the skin) injection. I have to put it in my abdomen every night at the same time until further notice, but at least I can swap sides each day.
Gonal-F is a synthetic follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) and is used to grow ovarian follicles, which contain cells (ova or oocytes). This occurs at the beginning of my menstrual cycle.
I also have to reduce my intake of Synarel from today, moving to only one nostril each morning and evening, effectively halving my dosage.
Another blood test, another internal ultrasound, but I’m getting used to it now haha. This one was to see how the Synarel has been working, and to ensure that I am “down regulated”. I think this process basically takes my body back to scratch and allows the fertility drugs to do their work.
I also got given my first lot of injections, including a nice little video showing me how to do it….
Well here I am into my second week of my holiday and I’m starting my first lot of medication. Synarel is a nasal spray that must be taken in each nostril morning and night until further notice. It’s not so bad… better than the injection that they offered me J
Synarel assists in decreasing the amount of oestrogen produced by my ovaries. This will give a more controlled situation for subsequent stimulation of the ovaries to produce eggs. It basically means that the medication will now take over my cycle and my Doctor will be in control.
My Doctor knows that I’m off overseas on the 17 August for a holiday, so we scheduled this appointment just before I leave to get my first dose of drugs. I have to start a nasal spray on the second week of my holidays, and I also have to pay the first instalment of the IVF treatment. I have also been told that I might be up for a few additional costs for medication if regular blood tests prove that I need extra help along the way, but that I should expect to be paying around $4,500 per cycle, plus a whole lot of other extras (hospital & anaesthetist costs, freezing embryo’s, and of course, the donor sperm.
More mixed news at my post-op appointment. My Doctor told me that I didn’t have endometriosis, but they did discover that I had blocked fallopian tubes. This was “sold” this to me with the mixed blessing that although I could never have children naturally, and can no longer have donor insemination, I would now go through the process of IVF, which has a higher success rate, and because I now have a medical condition, will get more money back from Medicare!
So… we went through the details of my “cycle” and determined what the process would be from here, which basically involves a lot of appointments, blood tests, drugs and other procedures. What happens from here is that the drugs will take over the process of ovulation in my body and my eggs will be collected and fertilised in vitro (in glass) in a laboratory and then placed back in my uterus a few days later, which saves the embryo having to fertilise in my fallopian tubes. It’s all very medical isn’t it?
I’m just going along with the flow at this stage… there’s so much information being given to me that I hardly know what to do with it all.
As part of the process, I needed to have a laparoscopy, which would diagnose and treat the endometriosis, and also a hysteroscopy, which would pass some blue dye through my fallopian tubes to see if there were any blockages.
I was taken into a private room where I changed into my theatre gown and pretty much stayed in bed, reading, and watching TV for a few hours. They then came to get me and wheeled me down to theatre. I stayed in a small room just outside theatre, and the Anaesthetist came out and went through some pre-operative questions, and put the lines in my arm. The Surgeon then came out and asked a few questions about why my Doctor thought I had endometriosis.
He told me that I would wake up with 2 incisions in my naval and pelvis (if they found stage 4 endometriosis which would require further treatment) or 4 incisions adding one on either side of my waist line if they had completed the operation. When I awoke in post-op, the nurse informed me that I had 2 incisions, which upset me a little. My Doctor came out soon after and told me that they hadn’t found any endometriosis, but that she would talk further with me at our follow-up appointment.
I went back to my room for further recovery time, where I didn’t need anything more than a Panadol for some light pain relief and a bit of a snooze.
First up is to spend an hour or so with the counsellor. She is wonderful and kept me totally at ease. She basically ran through some family history, and got my thoughts on how I had arrived at this decision. We also talked about what I would tell “the baby” one day, what my friends and family think about my decision and how many children I want. And to top it off, we also discussed the potential for me to find my own partner one day and what that would mean.
The Counsellor also gave me a sample donor list and explained the whole process to me, including the legal side of things – most of which I already knew. I really liked her and she offered to be there for me throughout this process – something I might just take her up on.
I had a break of about an hour so I went back to the car to re-read all of my information before seeing the Doctor to get the results of my blood tests. Wow! So many things that they tested for… and the Doctor ran through the list with me and told me that I was in wonderful health and that all that was needed was a rubella boost which I should have ASAP.
I then had my first internal exam to see if my ovaries were all fit and healthy – which thankfully they were. I was so happy that I was nearly crying when she told me that they could help me and that we could start straight away.
The only bad news was that it is suspected that I have endometriosis – a condition that a lot of women have, but if not treated, can impede on the chances of becoming pregnant. She explained that this would delay things for about a month so that they could treat me, but that the rubella boos would delay things for that long anyway, and that overall, it’s not a major issue.
After my appointment, I went straight to my local medical centre to get my rubella boost – I had to head over to the chemist and had a nervous wait to see if they had any in stock, but they did and the doctor injected me straight away. He told me that I shouldn’t fall pregnant for 3 months following the boost as it could cause harm to the baby… so that upset me a little thinking it was going to delay a lot of things, but hey, at least we were still moving forward… right?
Oh, the waiting had finally paid off and my first appointment had arrived. Having made this appointment over a month ago, my time had been spent thinking about the possibilities… then forgetting about everything for a while, then as the time has drawn nearer… it’s the only thing on my mind.
The Clinic is located about an hours drive away from my home and my Doctor is a specialist in the field of fertility health care. She listened to my “story” of being a single woman who hasn’t found her soul mate yet, but can’t imagine going through my life without being a mum. She smiled through it all and assured me that barring any medical complications; of course they can help me! Donor insemination is pretty straightforward and there is no waiting period required.
A whole lot of blood was taken for a raft of tests, and I was told that I would have to see a counsellor before I could start the process, but all should be okay.
I felt immense relief… I was so scared that they wouldn’t help a single woman, and was partly kicking myself for not having made this appointment earlier, but I was finally on my way – with a lot of paperwork and information to read.
I’m single… and I’ve recently turned the big 4-OH!
Not that the number bothers me, nor even the state of singledom… but what does concern me is that I haven’t found my Mr Right-for-me yet, and subsequently, am childless.
I’ve recently stated IVF and have pretty much done nothing except research the internet for all sorts of information along the way… and what I’ve found is a lot of well established blogs using lots of acronyms that totally confuse me, or great blogs by couples who are going through their own IVF experiences.
While I’ve been very interested to read what’s going on, and get lots of information, I’m also keen to liaise with other singles who are going through this process by themselves.
I’ve also started keeping a diary of my experiences, so I thought I would combine them both with this online blog, and hope to touch base with lots of women who are in similar circumstances.
