Shell's TTC Diary - *IVF/ICSI* - BFP!!!!

[chellieboo]

Woohoo Shell, thats great! Hope the scan goes OK and you;re all set to start stimulating.

We are seeing our consultant on 14th Nov (spooky - same day as your planned egg collection!) to discuss the surgery etc so I should have some idea of whats gonna happen and timescales etc after then.

xxxx

 

[Kittykins]

good luck to both of you for the 14th! Not long to go...

 

[chellieboo]

Just wanted to wish you luck for your scan today honey. Hope its all systems go xxxx

 

[shellbham]

Thank you so much for remembering chelliboo!

Everything went well, i'm just about to update my diary.

Hope you are ok.

Michelle x

 

[shellbham]

Baseline Scan

This was the scan to check that all the old lining had gone after AF and to be sure that everything was switched off. Had my scan at 9.30 this morning and i'm pleased to report that everything was fine. There is no lining and everything is quiet. So.......tomorrow we start the stimulating phase, which will be refered to as stimming or stims for the rest of my diary. We still have to carry on with the Buserelin so i will have 2 injections each night now.

The Menopur injections seem very complicated. With these ones we have to mix the drugs ourselves. We have vials of powders and solutions and we have to mix 2 of the powders with 1 solution and draw them up into the syringe in a particular way. I'll probably have forgotton what to do by tomorrow!

My next scan is the 8th November, and that will be to check how many follicles are developing (hopefully lots!) so they can decide whether i need to increase my doses etc. This should also give an idea of how many eggs they may be able to collect.

I want to buy some jogging bottoms this week as i've heard that you can get very bloated during this stage. I think its something to do with the amount of eggs you're producing. I dont want to have to wear pyjamas to the hospital!

I'm so excited, it seems like something is actually going to be happening now. And i cant wait for my next scan....i never thought i would be saying that!

Michelle x

 

[chellieboo]

Woohoo...greats news shell. Hope the new injections aren't too bad...not long now and you'll have your little enbryos!!!!!

 

[shellbham]

1st Stimming Injection - 1/11/07!

Ooops........I forgot to update!!! So this is backdated to the 1st November! 1st injection went sort of well, better than i thought it would be. We have to use a different kind of needle which doesn't look too bad but when you put it next to the buserelin needle you can see that it is actually thicker. It hurts more as its going in but then i cant feel anything, but it leaves a big red dot on my tummy where its punctured! Its like a dot to dot picture!!

x

 

[shellbham]

2/11/07

Dh has finally told his mom and dad that we are having fertility treatment! He didn't really say much about it though so i dont really know what their reaction was. From what he has told me, i think he has made it sound a bit more light hearted than it really is, as if we've decided to have IVF as it will be quicker rather than because we've no other choice!! But at least he's done it. He had to really as he wants to either ask his mom to do my injection on the night he's not going to be here or ask them to drive me to the clinic so one of the nurses can do it.

I'm just glad its out in the open now. My mom has known about it for a while and she will be relieved that they know now as well, she felt a bit uncomfortable keeping it from them.

x

 

[shellbham]

5/11/07

I'm a bit worried that there's not much going on inside me. I was expecting to feel something by now, i'm not sure what, maybe some tightness or bloating Oh well, not long now and i'll know if the drugs are working. I wish Thursday would get here a bit quicker!

Dh messed up mixing the injection last night and squirted it on his leg. We had to start again with new powders and solution. This means we haven't got enough now.......i've just looked up the price on the boots website to give me an idea of the cost and they only sell it in a pack of 10......£163. I'm hoping that the clinic sell them individually as we only need 2. Its going to be a very expensive mistake otherwise!

xxx

 

[shellbham]

7/11/07 - 1st Follicle Scan Tomorrow!!

Finally it nearly here! I'm desperate to know how many are growing. There is a tight feeling around my tummy and I'm definately getting a lot of twinging and pulling in my right side so i'm hoping this is a good sign. I always seem to get a similar feeling around ovulation and for a few days after, so i'm assuming that the feeling i'm getting now is my ovary/ovaries. This is a lot stronger than normal which i guess would be right as there is hopefully going to be a lot more than 1 egg!

I've been trying to keep my tummy warm and drinking a pint of milk every day so I will be disappointed if there are only a few. I've started taking Q10 from today as well as i've read that it can help with egg quality. There are so many different things suggested that are meant to help its hard to remember everything. I'm still taking my aspirin and trying to drink as much water as i can. Thats the difficult part for me as i really dont like water. I've read you should have 2-3 litres a day, i'm probably managing 1 at the most! I'm going to end up with horrible hard eggs!!

The new needle made me bleed last night! They are evil! Every night we still go through the same routine of me getting worked up and crying, so i'm not sure about letting someone else do the injection. I dont mind making a fool of myself in front of DH but not in front of one of the nurses or his mom. I might have to go to London with him next monday so that he can do it for me and then travel back on the train the next day. I know i'm being stupid but i cant reason with myself at the moment, I just seem to worry about trivial things!

No side effects to report, just seem to be more tired than usual. Even if i haven't done anything. Its good because i usually have problems getting to sleep at night! I seem to have got off very lightly with side effects, i was expecting to feel awful.

Everyone keep their fingers crossed for lots of big follicles on my scan tomorrow!!

xxx

 

[Misslarue]

Good luck tomorrow hun
Heres to 'lots of big follicles'

 

[chellieboo]

hey honey, glad to hear all is going well so far and that side effects are minimal.

It might be best to go with your DH as the more relaxed you are about the jab the less painful it'll be, even if it does mean pointless travelling.

look forward to hearing the news tomorrow of how many follicles you've got

xxxx

 

[Kittykins]

well???? How'd it go? or am I too early?

all's well and that you got lots of soft-boiled eggs!

 

[shellbham]

1st Follicle Scan

Well......its not good news!

I have 50+ follicles. Ideally you shoild have between 10-20. They are smaller than they should be at this stage also, with the biggest of them still being under 10mm. I'm not sure how big they should be, in the shock i forgot to ask.

My next scan was meant to be on Monday but because of the huge amount i have growing they now need to see me sooner. So my next scan is Saturday. They may need to increase my dose of Menopur to try to get them growing but this is risky as they dont want all 50 to grow as this would be dangerous and i would have a massive risk of developing OHSS! The nurse said hopefully by saturday just a few of them will have grown bigger, if not then she will ask my consultant if he will agree for my dosage to be upped. Either way i now have to be monitored closely. There is also a chance that the cycle will have to be cancelled and they will start me on the higher dosage instead.

DH is working away next week as well so i will have to get a taxi to the clinic, at at least £30 a time its going to be an expensive week!!

I'm so fed up. Its just so unfair, isn't it enough that we have to have IVF in the 1st place.

Sorry for the miserable post. Hopefully i will be a lot happier after saturdays scan.

X

 

[Kittykins]

oh no

Did a quick check for you - looks like most IVF specialists are looking for follicles around 17-20mm.

Is there anyone who can give you a lift? No public transport options?

it works out.

 

[shellbham]

Thank you.

They like them to be around 18mm by the day 12 scan, i'm not sure how big they should be by day 8. I'm going to see if my FIL can take me on any of the days.....i dont really want to be wasing money on taxi fares.

Keep everything crossed for me for Saturday!

x

 

[chellieboo]

Aw honey so sorry to hear that. hopefully some of the follicles will disappear and you'll get a good number that progress on. Do you have PCOS as 50 follicles seems a awful lot.

Will be keeping my fingers crossed for you on saturday.

 

[shellbham]

From blood tests in the past they thought i had PCOS but couldn't see anything on an ultrasound scan. The last appointment with the nhs consultant....they decided that although they hadn't seen anything on the scan, the only explanation was pcos and because i keep my weight under control that is controlling the cysts.

At my 1st scan at the priory, i asked the nurse if she thought i had it and she said my ovaries looked normal. The same nurse has said today that it looks like i do have pcos from the way i've responded!!

Sorry that was a bit long winded!!

I guess at least i sort of have an answer to why my periods are so irregular now, instead of being in limbo!

xxx

 

[babydust]

I just wanted to say good luck for saturday

 

[shellbham]

9/11/07

Been feeling more uncomfortable today. And my tummy is definately sticking out more. I really hope this means that some of them are growing.

I found some really positive info on the internet yesterday. It seems that this is a common response if you have pcos and a lot of the time the smaller ones tend to disappear. Also it can take a bit longer for them to grow so you have to stim for longer. It took one lady 20 days until the follicles got to the right size, normally its only 12 days. This has made me feel a lot better but i wont be happy until they tell me its looking good at the scan.

I cant wait for tomorrows scan but i'm also dreading it too. Please please dont let it be cancelled. Its taken so long to get here, I dont think i can cope with another set back.

Its another morning scan, at 9.45. So i will be back to update after that.


Michelle x