Blob-blog

We officially have blobs! Credit to my sister for naming this the Blob-Blog!

Well, what a busy few days!

When last we spoke, I asked for pom-poms and well wishes for the eggs. It seems that it worked – thanks guys!

Had another scan on Friday, where the nurse could see 5 good sized follicles and 2 that were just below the right size, which she expected would make it to the right size over the weekend. I had to take my last lot of medication on the Saturday morning and then the ‘trigger shot’ of HCG at 8:30 on Saturday evening.

As part of a natural cycle, a woman’s body releases HCG to tell the ovaries to release the egg, which it does about 38-42 hours later. In IVF, the shot of HCG is taken 36 hours before the egg collection, because it means the follicles are ready to release the eggs but haven’t yet done so (or they would have disappeared into the depths of the fallopian tubes and become lost forever – SO DRAMATIC!).

Saturday was interesting, really. So far for IVF, I’ve been taking the medication in the evening, so that any side effects would happen overnight rather than potentially ruining my day. I’ve been feeling generally a lot more tired on the medication anyway, so I was completely unprepared for how sudden and intense the tiredness would be when I had to take the medication in the morning on Saturday!

Within about 15 minutes, I’d gone from wide awake and enthusiastic about my day of housework (I know, weird, don’t judge me) to being unable to do anything except sleep on the sofa for 2 hours. Obviously, I really hope that this cycle of IVF is successful but if it isn’t and we need another, I’ll definitely be doing the injections in the evening again. Certainly wouldn’t be able to function at work, if they were done in the morning.

I then had a totally medication free day! Yay for Sunday! No more pincushions for legs! Also meant I got to enjoy this bad boy:

Cherry-scented bath bomb, a pressie from my husband's lovely parents.

After egg collection, they like you not to have baths due to the risk of infection if you’re submerged in water. After embryo transfer, it’s DEFINITELY not advised, because embryos are unable to regulate their temperature and it could result in the pregnancy not taking. So I was determined to enjoy what could be my last hot bath for months!

It. Was. Glorious.

On Monday morning, we arrived at the clinic at 7:30 and sat outside until it opened, because we’d sliiiightly overestimated the amount of time it would take us to park. To be fair, anyone who has ever had to park at the hospital where our clinic is based would totally understand why we left early. Of course, being that Monday was a Bank Holiday, there wasn’t as much going on at the hospital as there normally is!

It seems like a lifetime ago that we had our bad experience at the hospital, when we found out about my blocked fallopian tubes, but this was definitely in the back of my mind as I was taken through to the ward/recovery area of the clinic.

I am happy to report, however, that the experience couldn’t have been more different! I don’t know if this is because I was actually in the clinic this time, rather than having surgery in the main hospital, but it was a really supportive few hours this time.

I filled in some forms, signed another consent form, spoke about my allergy to Penicillin, changed into my butt-gown (thanks again for the name, sister. Are you sure you’re an adult?) and took some antibiotics. The man who would be performing the egg collection came to speak to me and was really reassuring. Turns out we actually got the consultant who is in charge of the whole clinic and is at the cutting edge of the current IVF research, so we couldn’t have asked for better!

While I was waiting to go to theatre, my husband went to give his sample and was back before I went in. Selfish of me but I’m glad he was back by the time I went to theatre.

I was taken to theatre around 8:45, and within 5 minutes was having the sedation administered. When I had the general anaesthetic for my surgery in May, apparently I fought the sleepiness, but this time with the sedation, I tried to just let it happen and actually, as someone who has felt so tired recently, it was quite comfortable drifting off to sleep!

I woke up in the recovery ward at 9:15, was given biscuits and many cups of water, then the nurse popped her head in to tell me that they’d collected 5 eggs. I know that isn’t a huge number, but I had been expecting the worst, for them to have got none, so it was a huge relief!

It took me a bit of time to get my sea-legs back after the sedation, and I had to eat and go to the toilet before they’d let me home, but we were on the way home by 10:30, with instructions to wait for a phone call on Tuesday morning, when we would be told how many eggs had fertilised overnight and would arrange for me to come in for the embryo transfer.

Fast-forward a relaxing rest of Monday, to Tuesday morning. Glued to my phone, jumping every time it made a sound. I really needed to get on with some work but I wasn’t in the right frame of mind at all!

Eventually, the nurse rang us and explained that we have 3 embryos that ‘fertilised well’ and seemed strong. They want me to go for the 5-day transfer, which means Saturday, so they must have some confidence that these embryos will make it to 5 days!

So there you have it, 3 little blobs made of me and my husband, just happily sitting in the incubator, doing their cell division. Waiting for Saturday morning, when one will be transferred back to me.

I know that I need to stay both positive and realistic, so am not getting my hopes too far up, but right now I don’t feel nervous anymore – I’m just excited.

The big hurdle with my fertility is that blocked tubes mean the sperm and egg would never meet. Now, they have done. We have 3 embryos to prove it. We’ve actually overcome the biggest of our problems conceiving so it’s up to nature to take care of the rest once the embryo is transferred. 

Go, eggies, go, go!

Go, eggies, go go go!

I’ve now been on the stimulation medication for 10 days and have a scan in the morning to see how my ovaries/follicles/eggs are progressing. If all is looking good, then I’ll be booked in for my egg collection early next week… Eeeep, that’s soon!

Currently waving tiny, imaginary pom-poms at my womb.

It could help!

They scanned me on day 8 of stims and in all honesty, I don’t really know how it went! Sounds odd, doesn’t it? We were seen by a nurse that we’d not met before and let me tell you, she wasn’t one for the small talk. Or any sized talk, really!

She did the scan (rather more forcefully and painfully than any of the other nurses have so far) and said “Your ovaries are working. We’ll see you on Friday. You can go.”

That’s it?

I’ve tried not to obsessively read the internet during this process (hey, I said ‘tried’) but I definitely remember people discussing how many follicles could be seen on their scans, so wasn’t that something I should know? Honestly, I don’t know if its standard procedure to tell people numbers or just to say “yes it’s working” or “no it isn’t”, but as the anxiety-ridden mess that I am, I needed specifics.

I asked her how many follicles could be seen and she seemed genuinely surprised that I was asking, so she counted from the printed picture. Apparently I have 6 or 7 that she can see, and some smaller ones that ‘might’ respond as I continue stimulation until the next scan.

Still no indication whether this was a normal amount, but as far as I’m concerned it’s the quality of egg that matters, not the quantity, so my pom-pom waving at the moment is to encourage these eggs to be the healthiest, happiest little eggies that they can.

In all seriousness, having follicles grown to the correct size doesn’t necessarily mean that they contain an egg, so I could end up with 7 decent follicles and 7 eggs, or I could end up with 10 decent follicles and no eggs at all! There really is no way to tell at this point, so it’s just fingers crossed.

So to round off today’s post, I ask for your pom-pom waving and encouragement! Go eggies, go go go!

Eggies B. Goode

Money and Meds

Previously, on Operation Parent...

A bag of sharps and a bright yellow bin; instructions for how to inject; a prescription as long as your arm; and a wait – a wait for a period.

And now… the conclusion!

A new cycle began, I called the clinic and they gave me the go ahead to begin taking my first lot of medication on 31st July. This was it - it was actually starting!

But first - money.

Money

Being self-funded for this cycle, we’ve been eager to not have to spend out more money than is necessary, so knew that it was important to shop around for the medication. Now I know that everyone’s prescription will be slightly different, depending on which medications each clinic chooses to give, but I wanted to share what we found.

From research that I’d done online before choosing whether or not to self-fund, we were expecting the medication to cost us around £1500, so this is what we budgeted. We also had read (in a number of places) that going to Asda was the cheapest option, because they don’t charge VAT.

After taking the prescription to the pharmacy at the hospital where the clinic is based, Boots, Superdrug and Asda, this is the comparison list that we were left with:

• Hospital Pharmacy – £502.77
• Boots – £934.25
• Asda – £787.13
• Superdrug – £1,180.71

No competition, really!

                       

I was so shocked at the low price, that the lovely woman in the pharmacy at the hospital went through the prescription giving me the cost item by item, to put my mind at rest that the price was accurate!

Medication

Let’s talk about drugs!

Specifically, Buserelin, Menopur, Bemfola, Ovitrelle and Progesterone!

I don’t know what I was expecting, but for some reason I was surprised when the pharmacist handed me a big plastic bag full of medication. 5 different types of medication, each enough to last for weeks on end, and some with multiple parts that need to be mixed? Of course it was going to be a big bag!

With hindsight, not sure why I was surprised.

For those of you who don’t know, IVF is split into 3 main parts. The first is down-regulation, when the medication is used to suppress your natural cycle so that egg production and release can be controlled. The second is stimulation, when your body needs to prepare multiple eggs ready to be collected. The third is the transfer and (hopeful) implantation, when an embryo is placed into the womb and – fingers crossed – implants securely to begin growing as a baby.

• Buserelin is the medication that I’m using in the down-regulation phase.
• Menopur and Bemfola are the stimulation medications that I will be taking.
• Ovitrelle is also a stimulation medication but is only one dose and is used as a ‘trigger’ shot, to give the eggs that final push before they’re collected in the clinic.
• Progesterone is something that normally, women’s bodies produce naturally as part of the cycle, in preparation for possible pregnancy, but as the Buserelin has been suppressing that cycle, it’s necessary to take this during that implantation phase.

Hope I haven’t bored you all to tears with this! Here’s the fun bit – me actually taking the medication! Turns out, I am totally nutty.

“This is news?!” I hear you cry.

Thanks, guys. I appreciate that.

Anyway. A little piece of advice for anyone starting IVF – booking a camping holiday for the time that you will need to take your first shot of medication? Not the best idea.

On Monday 31^st July, in a tent on a hillside in the North of Wales, I had to do my first injection.

Honestly, it wasn’t actually that bad, but the emotional side was overwhelming. I had just taken the first real step in the IVF cycle, dealing with needles, sharps bins, and not spilling the medication all over the floor. In a tent. Not having my own home and a stable table definitely didn’t help the nerves.

Thinking back on it, it sounds silly, but at the time it felt like a massive deal that I wasn’t at home.

Then came the itching. Oh wow, the itching!

So far, every time I’ve done an injection, the area has become red, raised and itchy for about half an hour. I honestly don’t know if this is how all injections are or if it is a result of the Buserelin itself, but either way, it resulted in some pretty intense Googling on that first night in the tent to see if this is normal or if my husband needed to find an A&E for me!

Turns out, pretty common. So no worries!

For the first few days, I didn’t feel any real side effects but then came the emotions and weepiness.

A list of some of the things I have cried about so far during IVF:

• I forgot to bring the dog’s lead on a day out.
• I couldn’t get the air bubble to the top of the syringe.
• What if the IVF doesn’t work?
• What if the IVF does work?
• The fact that the IVF is making me weepy.
• The state of the world in general.
• The thought of separating two stuffed toys that always sit together in my husband’s car (he offered me one to go in my car).

This is by no means an exhaustive list! At times, I’ve found myself crying for no reason other than just needing to cry. Hormones are awesome.

Anyway, as of Monday 14^th August, I had been on the down-regulation medication for 2 weeks, and it was time for my baseline scan. This is when the nurse would check if the medication had sufficiently suppressed my cycle and whether I was ready or not to start taking the stimulation medication too.

Answer was YES!

Now it’s 3 injections per day (Buserelin, Bemfola and Menopur), and I have a selection of scans booked in for next week, to see how well my body is reacting. If my ovaries are producing eggs well enough, I could have my eggs collected, fertilised and an embryo transferred within the next 2 weeks.

2 weeks!

This is all seeming very real and very quick!

Will keep this blog updated with more regularity now that I’m back from holiday and in the swing of the cycle a little more.

Ciao for now.