IVF Diary Vol III: 03 – 06 Apr 16

April 6, 2016April 6, 201611 Comments

Medication(s) administered and dosage(s). Stimming phase: day 6. PM: Gonal-F 375 iu & Menopur 75 iu injections. AM Lupron 0.5mg (5 units) injection

Medical procedures undertaken. Monitoring vaginal ultrasound and Estradiol blood tests check 2! I had a good number of follicles on Day 4 of Stimming…better than my previous 2 rounds, I had 6-7 in each ovary which was better than the 4-5 from the previous rounds. So that’s good!

What are my symptoms? The headaches have started 😦 I’m trying to stay hydrated, but I’m not able to shake them. Also, when I thought I was suffering from a cold – turns out I was suffering from allergies to pollen – potentially the pine pollen. For those of you unfamiliar with pine pollen, it is luminous yellow and coats everything in the neighbourhood in a fine layer of yellow dust. Then when it rains it turns the puddles toxic yellow!!!

Ughhh the pine pollen gets everywhere!!!

today is the first day I’ve been feeling my ovaries – Oh hello ovaries, it’s about time you woke up and reminded me how many follicles we are growing inside of you!!!

How do I feel today? I am feeling much better than my previous post. I have been off work today. I’ve caught up on some lovely blogs, I’ve chilled out with a friend and her kids (we also played with St Bernard mountain puppy in a pet shop) and I’ve put together some gratitude boxes for the upcoming yard sale to raise cash for our local infertility support group! These boxes have some sweet treats and a positive happy quote written inside them. They are a way to say thank you to those who donated to our group’s cause! So I’m feeling inspired and positive today 🙂

Any results? Estradiol level after 3 days of stimming 380 pg/ml – this is a lot higher than my previous cycles – and correlates with my increase in follicle numbers too (cycle 1 – 173, cycle 2 – 194). Uterine lining is looking food. Ovaries are stuffed with some nice looking follicles. So all looking good 🙂

What’s next? Tomorrow morning is monitoring appointment check 3!

Weight. I have put on 5lbs since IVF 2. NOT AMUSED.

Waist. AGHHHHHHHH MY TUMMY IS SOOOOOOO BLOATED!!!!!

Boobs. NSTR.

The Final Countdown!!! Over half way there!!!!

*Notes. I take First Response Reproductive Health multi vitamin gummies (pre-natal), 5mg Melatonin at bed time and CoQ10 200mg gummies daily. NSTR = Nothing Significant To Report.

IVF Diary Vol III: 10-15 Mar 16

March 15, 20164 Comments

Medication(s) administered and dosage(s). Ovulation Control Pill (OCP) Reclipsen 0.15MG-30MCG x 1 per day

Medical procedures undertaken. Nil

What are my symptoms? I have had a really bad upset tummy since the weekend. I have no clue what is causing it…it could just be a really bad case of Irritable Bowel Syndrome. Usually stress makes my tummy worse, but actually, I have just stopped being stressed! So maybe my body is coming down from stress and is having a big WAH at me. Or I got the bug that everyone else seems to be coming down with. Or. it is the melatonin…because there is definitely a correlation with tummy upset and starting the melatonin. A quick search indicates that melatonin could actually be a treatment for IBS! But mostly for those who suffer with IBS-C (Constipation) not IBS-D (Me – Diarrhea) . I will have to do a bit more digging and see how it goes over the next few days.

How do I feel today? Work stress is mostly over! I have a lot of travelling to be doing, but it’s not stressful travel! I have cancelled a work trip to Germnay in anticipation that I will be having my egg retrieval surgery that week! And now I can schedule in some of that leave I am owed from the leave I cancelled from cycle 2! Woohooo! This is good news.

My medications have yet to arrive, there was a slight mix up with the nurse ordering the wrong drugs. So they are supposed to be arriving tomorrow by FedEx….the only problem is I am currently in DC and am driving the 4 hours back first thing, so I hope the meds dont arrive in the morning because I won’t be there to sign for them! That wouldn’t be a problem if I didn’t need my Lupron on Thursday morning!! And the pharmacy called this afternoon (when my order is supposed to be on the way!) to tell me my co-pay was high. Well DUH…no higher than usual. Fortunately I caught the phone before I headed into work without my phone for the day, I may never have spoken to them until it was too late!!!! They have never checked with me before, but I think it hit the over $500 mark this time because I am getting more of the expensive gonal-f 😦 The old newbie infertile me would be stressed about it. But I am not, I am a seasoned veteran about these things now, so I am pretty chilled out about it. I can’t control it, so what ever happens, happens. (Please Please Please FedEx arrive in the afternoon!!!)

Any results? Not yet….my follow up appointment from my hysteroscopy surgery is on Thursday afternoon. But I am anticipating the all clear.

What’s next? Lupron injections start Thursday morning.

Weight. I am terrified to get on the scales:-(

Waist. Shrinking a bit after all the diarrhea 😦

Boobs. NSTR.

The Final Countdown!!! I decided to add in a calendar countdown so if people read just one entry they know what stage I am at in the whole cycle! Plus I love crossing things off.

*Notes. I take First Response Reproductive Health multi vitamin gummies (pre-natal), 5mg Melatonin at bed time and CoQ10 200mg gummies daily. NSTR = Nothing Significant To Report.

IVF Diary Vol II:21-22 Jan 16

January 23, 2016January 23, 201612 Comments

Medication(s) administered and dosage(s). Stimming phase: days 7 & 8. PM: Gonal-F 300 iu & Menopur 150 iu. AM: cetrotide.

Medical procedures undertaken. Monitoring appointment – ultrasound and blood test.

What are my symptoms? Tiredness – I had to have a 1.5hr snooze in the afternoon because I just couldn’t keep my eyes open! The headache was just awful yesterday, it was persistent, however, today it has not been so bad. My tummy generally hurts when I bend over.

How do I feel today? Awesome because I gave myself the menopur injection. MY FIRST SELF INJECTION!!! That’s right, I have managed to get this far without doing one single injection myself because I have been terrified to do it. Today I overcame my fear. Chris got excited because he thought this meant he was getting out of injection duty. Oh no dear hubby we will go 50-50 from now on with this job! I like that he is a part of this. I treated myself with some ice cream as a reward :-p

I played dodgeball last night, I’m not sure how I managed it…I really got into the game, played through any paing and kind of regretted it afterwards, my body is a bit sore today! But I very much enjoyed it, it’s a social league so it’s not overly competitive and we have a good laugh. I have no one to blame but myself for my non-stimming related aches and pains.

Any results? I am excited because my estradiol results are much higher than last time (but not too high!) this has to be a good thing for more mature eggies!!!! My follicles are also growing evenly i.e. they are all around the same size, which is a bit better than last time too.

What’s next? Tonight is hopefully my night of stims (mostly because I only have one vial of menopur left!), hopefully the final monitoring appt Saturday morning, trigger Saturday eve, then Egg retrieval Monday morning.

Weight. NSTR

Waist. BLOATED

Boobs. Bigger and squishier.

Hours of Sunshine 🙂 None. We are in the midst of a snow storm!

Fun Activity to keep Dani from going insane. I went to Michaels and stocked up on wool for two new knitting projects! A kid’s cat scarf, and a cable knit scarf. I have been practicing cable knit and it’s actually not too difficult. I probably won’t finish them this weekend, but I will make a good start at them.

Cat scarf knitting project

Cable Knit Scarf Project

*Notes. I take First Response Reproductive Health multi vitamin gummies (pre-natal) and CoQ10 200mg gummies daily. NSTR = Nothing Significant To Report.

IVF Diary Vol II: 19-20 Jan 16

January 20, 2016January 20, 20169 Comments

Medication(s) administered and dosage(s). Stimming phase: days 5 & 6. Gonal-F 300 iu & Menopur 150 iu. I started cetrotide this morning, day 6 (20 Jan) – this is the drug that stops me from ovulating prematurely and losing all those eggs!

Medical procedures undertaken. Monitoring appointment – ultrasound and blood test. So for my last appointment there were loads of people in the waiting room – it was like chaos. This morning, there was no one except little old me. It made me nervous! I don’t know why, but it just did – I wondered if I was an odd ball with my cycle.

What are my symptoms? Tiredness – I am struggling to keep my eyes open today. I went into work after my appointment and this afternoon I taught a 2 hour lesson as part of our staff development training. I give a highly interactive class with practical tasks, so it is incredibly draining on the brain as the ‘students’ always have lots of challenging questions for me!!! I am amazed I survived. At the end, one of the organisers asked me if I was OK, was I tired? Clearly I looked pretty rough!

I also have a headache. It is not dehydration because I have hydrated constantly all day, carrying around my water bottle with me.

The bloat…the bloat….the bloat is on fire! Aghhh! How many days do I still have left? I’m just over halfway hopefully! I am currently sat in my fluffy fleecy pyjama bottoms. They feel sooooooo good!

How do I feel today? Apart from the tiredness thing, I’m feeling not too bad. I am excited to be on this IVF journey still and haven’t given up hope just yet 🙂

Any results? I have 6 follicles in the right ovary and 7 in the left, with a few smaller ones hoping to catch up!!! Last time around my right ovary was the dominant one, this time it is the left. It looks like I am responding well in terms of follicle numbers similar to last time. Which is good because they collected 9 last time (6 were mature, 4 fertilised) so I am hoping for some more mature eggies this time around!

What’s next? The same injections then monitoring appt on Friday morning. The Doctor says I am currently looking good for an Egg Retrieval on Monday!

Weight. NSTR

Waist. slowly growing 😦

Boobs. Slightly bigger.

Hours of Sunshine 🙂 None. Snow expected soon!

Fun Activity to keep Dani from going insane. Dodgeball season starts tomorrow evening, I am not sure if I will play yet! I am doubtful. But I will go along anyway to support the team even if I don’t play.

Rahhhhh – Dodgeball is a great place to let off some steam – But not when you are in the middle of an IVF cycle!!!! :_-(

13 follicles – with a few at 3-4mm left to catch up

*Notes. I take First Response Reproductive Health multi vitamin gummies (pre-natal) and CoQ10 200mg gummies daily. NSTR = Nothing Significant To Report.

IVF Diary Vol II: 17-18 Jan 16

January 19, 20163 Comments

Medication(s) administered and dosage(s). Gonal-F 300 iu & Menopur 150 iu. We tried the injections with me sitting down, Chris preferred giving them to me this way. It doesn’t make a difference to me either way, they still suck.

Medical procedures undertaken. Monitoring appointment – ultrasound and blood test. My appointment was at 0830 – I left at around 1000. There were waaaay too many people in the clinic today for my liking. Chris came with me because it was a holiday here – Martin Luther King Day, so we were both off work. That was really nice, especially as we waited for quite some time.

What are my symptoms? Little to report except for starting to feel a little tummy bloat, and a thumping headache. I bought a new water bottle last week so that I can take water with me everywhere. I ummed and ahhed between two and decided to buy the bottle that was $5 cheaper. Got it home and realised it was a piece of crap, can’t put it in the dishwasher and wasn’t BPA free. Bah that’s what I get for being a cheap skate! Anyway, I’m hoping my headaches are from lack of water (something I can control opposed to if it was being caused by the meds)

How do I feel today? Feeling pretty good! I had a lovely weekend not making any decisions. Chris took me on a surprise date – we went to Dave and Buster’s – a kind of modern day arcade thing with lots of games. We released our inner kid. Then afterwards we stopped at Ruby Tuesdays to have a virgin cocktail and share a sundae ice cream. It was great fun to do something random and just be silly.

Any results? My uterine lining is looking great. I have a few follicles, the Dr didn’t count them all, but I’m on track. I called in for my instructions, and the nurse told me start my cetrotide on Wednesday morning. This means that I am starting the cetrotide a day later than last time around. I’m hoping that is a good thing 🙂

What’s next? The same injections on Tuesday, adding the cetrotide injection on Weds morning, then monitoring appointment following that.

Weight. NSTR

Waist. slowly growing 😦

Boobs. NSTR

Hours of Sunshine 🙂 It snowed yesterday unexpectedly. It was very random considering the day before had been warm and glorious. Weather here in Virginia is CRAZY. They are also talking about 10 -20 inches of snow on the East coast maybe as far down as here on the border of North Carolina, this weekend. So long story short. I think it is going to be hard for me to get much sunshine this IVF cycle.

Fun Activity to keep Dani from going insane. We discovered that Tuesdays at our local cinema is half price entry and half price food so we will be going to the movies! I want to see the new Quentin Tarantino film The hateful eight or The Revenant.

*Notes. I take First Response Reproductive Health multi vitamin gummies (pre-natal) and CoQ10 200mg gummies daily. NSTR = Nothing Significant To Report.

IVF Diary Vol II: 16 Jan 16

January 17, 20166 Comments

Medication(s) administered and dosage(s). Gonal-F 300 iu & Menopur 150 iu. We started with the Gonal-F needle – this one needs a bit more force to pierce the skin. Chris didn’t do it hard enough and the needle bounced off my skin!! I like to think it’s just my strong abdominal muscles rejecting the needle – haha!! As if!!! Anyway, after that little episode Chris tried again, this time he went a little too hard and it hurt! The camera captured the moment well. It’s OK to laugh at me, I know it is quite a funny picture ;-p

Chris was oblivious to the ridiculous face I was pulling! The camera captured the moment well. Fortunately he was concentrating hard on the task at hand.

Medical procedures undertaken. Nil.

What are my symptoms? No hot flashes…nothing to report. I am thankful!

How do I feel today? Feeling good! Chris and I had a nice day together, we went to our local organic eatery and sat in the heated sun porch for lunch. It was a sunny glorious day so it was very relaxing. We played a game of cribbage, I have 5 games to win in the next 1.5 months to beat Chris for the whole year (ever since we got married we keep track of the number of games won in a year). Chris has taken the ‘surprise date’ idea and decided to extend it to the whole weekend – I am not to make any decisions, it will be a surprise and there will be fun!!! Which sounds weird, but so far it has been nice to just follow his lead.

Any results? After worrying about the LH and FSH results yesterday, I forgot that these tests were taken one day earlier than last time. The Birth Control Pill effectively switches off the LH so my body obviously hadn’t started to produce it again but I am sure it would have been higher a day later. Worry ye not.

What’s next? The same injections Sun, then monitoring appointment on Monday morning.

Weight. NSTR

Waist. NSTR

Boobs. NSTR

Hours of Sunshine 🙂 It was a beautifully sunny day and so caught a few rays whist we were out for lunch.

Fun Activity to keep Dani from going insane. I am going to finish this page of colouring in! This was a colouring book I was given as a Birthday pressie from my parents.

Fun activity for next 24 hours…colouring in!

*Notes. I take First Response Reproductive Health multi vitamin gummies (pre-natal) and CoQ10 200mg gummies daily. NSTR = Nothing Significant To Report.

IVF Diary Vol II: 15th Jan 16

January 16, 2016January 16, 20167 Comments

Medication(s) administered and dosage(s). Gonal-F 300 iu & Menopur 150 iu. Chris really is great at this injection thing. I prepared the Gonal-F whilst Chris prepared the menopur. We both read the instructions to remind us how to mix everything up, but like riding a bike, it was easy this time around. Chris was a little bit nervous, but he needn’t have been, he did a great job. I even looked down at the needle as he was injecting it – I am still not good at watching the needle break the skin though :-s. The menopur did burn a bit as it went in, but it wasn’t quite as bad as I remember it to be.

Medical procedures undertaken. Nil.

What are my symptoms? Period started right on cue yesterday morning! Hot flashes and a bit of dizziness a couple of hours after my 2 first injections of this cycle.

How do I feel today? A little bit annoyed that my plans to have a more relaxing stim period and 2WW are falling to pieces. Some short turn around-high impact work may fall on my plate next week. I would have to forgo some of my steadfast principles for quality work and accept that in this case a 40% solution can only be delivered in the time lines given. I have stuck to my guns though to some extent – where I was going to be taking the whole week off work, I am now only taking Monday and Friday off. Tuesday and Thursday I will be working from home, Wednesday I’ll be in the office. As we talked about this potential work, I started to feel sick to my stomach. I started thinking back to last time around when I was trying to get my project finished and how stressed I was feeling about balancing the IVF process and work. I let down my quality levels then – no one noticed (of course I noticed), in fact I got lots of praise for that piece of work. Last week when a senior boss praised this work in front of the whole division I sat there quietly proud, but felt a bit sad that I had accomplished that with little help during a shitty time of IVF, followed by the whole ectopic pregnancy thing and ultimately miscarriage. My boss has been great by not dumping everything on me right now, he quite easily could have done, but he didn’t so I appreciate that, but I can’t quite help thinking about how IVF is holding me back from doing my absolute best. I don’t think my colleagues around me think like that (fortunately they are all smart, intelligent people who know me), it is just myself I am fighting with these thoughts.

All that being said, I’ll talk about something positive. We decided to go out for dinner at our local restaurant to celebrate surviving and nailing those first two injections. Chris deserved his beer! As we were finishing our meal the power went out in some of the building. There was a storm that evening so it must have knocked the power out. I said don’t worry, we are on a different power grid to our neighbours over the road (the block our restaurant was on) and last time their power went out, ours stayed on. As we walked back, we realised that our grid was out and our neighbours’ over the road was on! Typical. Fortunately we are well prepared for such events (for hurricanes and other storms etc), and carried on with the power of candles 🙂 It was a little bit romantic…I snuggled up in bed preparing for the power to be out all night and the temperature to dip.

Power outage = Candle lit bedroom!! Fortunately we have quite a few candelabras left over from our wedding table decorations still 😉

But then came the hot flashes! I needn’t have worried about keeping warm, it seemed the drugs were doing a great job of that for me!!

Any results? Estradiol <20 (as it should be, the same as IVF 1). Progesterone <.2 (as it should be, the same as IVF 1). FSH 3.21 miU/ml (IVF 1 was 9.29, in 2014 it was 6.8) LH 0.771 miU/ml (IVF 1 was 3.48, in 2014 it was 4.9). My LH level came up as red in my results…this means it was out of the ‘normal’ range, it is very low. But not by much. So I looked into it. Although lower FSH is good, low LH is not good…apparently calculating the FSH-LH ratio and knowing the LH levels are good predictors of IVF outcome. Let’s just say that I read several scientific reports, plugged in my numbers and the stats aren’t good. But, the good news is that I don’t care! Why? Because women with this kind of level and ratio still got pregnant. And I am going to be one of those women in 4 weeks time 🙂 In your face science!!! **

What’s next? The same injections Sat, Sun, then monitoring appointment on Monday morning.

Weight. Work stress = nom nom nom bads. But I did do the mixed martial arts P90x3 routine and pushed myself hard, so I don’t feel so bad.

Waist. NSTR

Boobs. NSTR

Hours of Sunshine 🙂 Still NONE. Let’s see if the sun comes out this weekend!

Fun Activity to keep Dani from going insane. IT’S FRIIIIIIIIDAYYYYYYY!! I need say no more. Surprise date night.

*Notes. I take First Response Reproductive Health multi vitamin gummies (pre-natal) and CoQ10 200mg gummies daily. NSTR = Nothing Significant To Report.

** Reserve right to have science egg in my face later

IVF Diary Vol II: 29 Dec 15 – 3 Jan 16

January 4, 20168 Comments

Medication(s) administered and dosage(s). Ovulation Control Pill (OCP) Reclipsen 0.15MG-30MCG x 1 per day

Medical procedures undertaken. Nil

What are my symptoms? As per last time I took the Birth Control Pills, my period lasted a few days longer and I am still spotting. It’s no biggy. Especially as I know now that this is exactly what happened last time. I also appreciate what some women go through who have more than 3 or 4 days of menstrual bleeding…I feel bad for you ladies! I consider myself lucky that I don’t bleed for 7 days normally. Today I had quite a heavy ‘spotting’ and had some sharp pains around my right ovary that I would ordinarily feel around ovulation time. But a hot water bottle fixed that pain and now all is back to normal.

How do I feel today? Chilled and relaxed. That could be something to do with the fact that I have been off work for over a week! With no travels this festive period, it had been true relaxation, probably more laziness more than anything. But it’s back to work tomorrow, and despite the unknowns about what the year ahead will look like for me, I feel a bit excited to be starting with a fresh mind, ready for the start of my stim injections 15th Jan! I am also really pleased I kept a diary from my first cycle….I can look back and read what happened so I have some kind of ‘objective’ truth to what happened. I think it’s useful because it removes some of my anxieties about what to expect next!

My medication arrived on time…I decided to see how high I could stack up the boxes for this photograph 😉 It looks like a terrifying amount of medication!

My meds for IVF cycle 2: Gonal-F, menopur, cetrotide, Ovidrel, progesterone in oil (generic), doxycycline

There are a couple more boxes extra compared to last time because they plan on upping the dosages a little. It was interesting to see the differences in prices in the medication. Not much, but some of them have gone up a few cents. And every penny counts. The lady at Freedom Fertility Pharmacy was very kind to ask if I needed to split my order or wait to the new year for my insurance in case it changed or I had reached my limit. Fortunately, my insurance limit is ‘lifetime’ rather than a fixed time like every calendar year so it makes things very simple. (I have also updated my ‘The $$ Lowdown’ page. – counting my blessings I have great insurance coverage for all of this)

Any results? NSTR*.

What’s next? Another week of Birth Control Pills, first baseline appointment is 14th Jan, so it’s all quiet until then.

Weight. I am 10lbs heavier than when I started my first IVF cycle. Most of that extra weight is from after my miscarriage and Christmas. I am going to be doing some more exercise, I am not getting too het up about it, I can still fit into my clothes, there are perhaps a few pairs of trousers I won’t be able to wear when it comes to the stimulation phase of IVF! I will start tracking my weight like last time, but I haven’t bothered with a baseline weight prior to birth control pill.

Waist. NSTR

Boobs. NSTR

Hours of Sunshine 🙂 For my first IVF cycle I recorded the amount of sunshine I soaked up. It was summer. This time, it is the deepest darkest time of winter, so getting sunshine is pretty difficult! Having said that, we did get out onto the water to see some humpback whales. The sunshine was glorious although the photo below you can’t quite tell how blue the sky was!

*Notes. I take First Response Reproductive Health multi vitamin gummies (pre-natal) and CoQ10 200mg gummies daily. NSTR = Nothing Significant To Report.

A humpback whale blowing – at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay

Preparations for IVF Round 2

December 23, 20157 Comments

This week My nurse ordered my medications in preparation for IVF round 2. Our doctor did tell us that she might up the stimulation drugs…but I didn’t know it might be DOUBLE 😦 Last cycle I took 300iu Gonal-F and 75iu Menopur. This cycle I will be starting off with 400iu Gonal-F and 150iu Menopur.

Menopur is the one that frigging burns too 😦 The nurse said to me “Don’t worry, it’s still one injection.” Well, I guess in that case I should count my blessings!

When I spoke to Freedom Fertility Pharmacy (my favourite people – not!) after telling them I am likely to be starting stims on 7th Jan, the lady on the phone said….”Great, should I schedule a delivery for your medication to arrive the 5th Jan?”. Ummmm no, that is way too close for my comfort, and after your previous perfomances, I just don’t trust you!! (OK, so I didn’t tell her it quite like that!!). I don’t need that stress again!

Now….just to wait for my period to start next week! Fingers crossed all goes to plan. But for now, this is me signing off the great pudding club hunt for a week of festivities.

Have a very merry and peaceful Christmas everybody!!! XXX

IVF DIARY VOL I: 05-06 Aug 2015

August 6, 2015August 6, 201522 Comments

Medication(s) administered and dosage(s). Progesterone 1ml, vivelle dot estrogen patches 0.1mg x2, colace x1

Medical procedures undertaken. We woke up nice and early for our 7AM appointment. As we parked up our doctor also parked up, so there was this awkward moment of where I was walking very slowly (still constipated and sore from the egg retrieval) and she clearly had somewhere to be! Of course Chris had lots of questions for her as he collared her on her way into work about me and my recovery. Anyway, so we were called upstairs to the IVF surgery room and I was ushered to the same cubicle I was in on Monday. The nurses immediately noticed I was waddling and I told them about my constipation and bloating. They were very sympathetic and gave me advice on taking extra colace, prunes, prune juice and apricots to get things moving. They did not want me straining myself to poo!!! One nurse said that she sees so many patients like me and doesn’t understand what causes it. The doctor said it was the progesterone, but I was constipated before I took the progesterone! After I got changed into my gown and deli hat, I walked back to my cubicle and our doctor was looking over our chart, she said we had 2 beautiful strong embryos, but 2 not so strong that needed to be left in culture for longer to see if they survive to blastocysts on Day 5 for cryopreservation. And then off she went….there was no discussion. So I guess we are doing our transfer today then. I turned to Chris and said is that OK?? And he shook his head in a manner that was like sure why not.

The nurse took my vitals and I started to sip my bottle of water; she warned me not to drink too much because I wouldn’t be able to pee until an hour after the transfer :-s I drank 3/4s of a bottle of water and that was plenty…in fact probably a little bit too much. Chris got changed into his ‘egg packing factory suit’ – he looked awesome! He was going to come into the surgical room with me! Brucie bonus! He was well trained by the nurse on when to take photos of the embryos and where he would sit for the procedure.

Twit-twoo!!!!

As we were waiting, I overheard the lady in the cubicle next to me begin to cry. She was going in for her egg retrieval and had just had her Intra-venous drip inserted. The nurse asked her what was making her sad (I like this nurse, she clearly has much experience with these kind of situations). The lady said she was afraid of going to sleep. As the nurse explained the process and how it was just like taking a strong sleeping pill, all I wanted to do was pull back the curtain and giver her the biggest hug ever and tell her it’s OK, it is no where near as bad as general anesthetic and you are going to be just fine – I know it’s scary but it’s going to be easy and won’t hurt. But of course this is a big no-no, talking to other patients.

After about 30 minutes of waiting I was taken into the surgery room on the trolley (very lazy!!!) and I scooted onto the table. I put my knees in stirrups this time and I was fully bare and exposed to the world. Unpleasant. Chris was sat behind me so he could hold my hand.

The surgery room

The doctor knocked on the embryology lab door to give the go-ahead to get the embryos prepared. We watched on a TV screen to check that the embryos had our name on the petri-dish and then we saw our two embryos for about 5 seconds!

Our two little 8 cell embryos – AKA HuckleBERRY and HuckleBERINA (because they look like raspberries)

They did look pretty good! They looked nice in shape and symmetry, the doctor was very complimentary about them. Then two embryologists came into the surgery room, read my wrist band and asked me my name – this is performed by two people so absolutely no mistakes are ever made getting the wrong embryo in the wrong patient!!! The embryologists went away to prepare our embryos. After this moment, the doctor checked my abdomen, both physically and using an ultrasound (not a transvaginal ultrasound for a change woohoo!!!) except my bladder was full, I was constipated and still sore from the egg retrieval – I winced the whole way through. Everything seemed good and he inserted the speculum and washed out my uterus. The nurse came and told me that from what she could see on the screen, my ovaries were super enlarged still and I have a mild case Ovarian Hyper stimulation syndrome that will go away soon, I just need to keep up my fluid intake. Then the doctor knocked again on the embryo lab’s door. This time the embryologist came in with a soft flexible catheter with the two embryos ready and loaded to be inserted into my uterus. Using the ultrasound as a guide he inserted the catheter and we ‘watched’ the embryos be ‘puffed’ in by air into my uterus. I say ‘watched’…I could barely see the screen from the angle I was at. But I nodded my head not wanting to disappoint him that I missed it. Before the speculum was removed the catheter was given back to the embryologist just to check under a microscope that the embryos were not still in the catheter. A few moments later the speculum was removed which was a huge relief, it wasn’t painful, rather very uncomfortable I wanted to pee right there on the table. I was scooted back onto the trolley and wheeled back to my cubicle where we were told not to go anywhere for 1hr…not even the toilet!!! Eeeek!!

We read a bit and then played a game of crib whilst we waited. I won! If I hadn’t have won, I am not sure Chris would have survived the rest of the day. That made time fly by and then it was time to go!!! We were given a couple of souvenirs…the petri dish our embryos grew in and a little card with the results of our egg retrieval. Chris took the deli hat too – I think he likes it a bit too much.

Souvenirs!!! Petri dish our embryos grew in, report card and a deli hat. Stash!!!!

How do I feel today? I had a terrible night’s sleep dreaming that we would turn up to the clinic with just 1 weak embryo to transfer 😦 But now we have done the transfer I feel like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders. I feel like I can get on with life right now and enjoy this summer!

What are my symptoms? I woke up with similar pains from the egg retrieval, tender, hard bloated stomach (very hard) and constipated. I was waddling. When we got home I sent Chris out to get prune juice, prunes and apricots. The prune juice worked it’s wonders about an hour or so later. The nurse told me not to strain, so when it was time to go to the toilet I tried my hardest to just let it all come out, but seriously, once it did all come out, it was the BEST feeling. I am no longer waddling in pain and my stomach is not so hard anymore. So I think most of my problem with pain was constipation. I have Irritable Bowel Syndrome (Diarrhea variant) so I am currently sat here with a gurgling tummy, and I am soooo pleased I am back to normal! (Fingers crossed anyway!!)

How does Chris feel today? Feels good. He looks forward to this 2 week wait being over. (He is a man of many words :-))

Any results? Two 8 cell embryos transferred and safely inside me – huckleberry and huckleberina because they look like raspberries and Chris always talks about calling his son Huckleberry. So let’s just say this is a compromise!! 2 other embryos are growing in culture hopefully over the next couple of days, fingers crossed they survive and can be frozen. I’m Pregnant until proven otherwise.

What’s next? Enjoy the two week wait. My mum is visiting so she has been brilliant so far putting up with everything tht is going on, so I’m hoping to take some time off to enjoy some local sights and sounds. The pregnancy test will be the day my mum flies out in 13 days.

Weight. OK so I think I have actually lost weight, if you account for all the fluid I have taken on and my waist size. This isn’t surprising considering I have reduced my intake of food because it won’t physically go in!!

Waist. Still bloated, but hopefully it will improve tonight now I have relieved myself!!!

Boobs. Starting to feel tender from all the hormones!

Hours of Sunshine 🙂 Fat chance! It’s miserable out. Plus I’m on bed rest so I’m pleased about this fact!

*Notes. I take First Response Reproductive Health multi vitamin gummies (pre-natal) and CoQ10 200mg gummies daily. NSTR = Nothing Significant To Report.