I'm moving...

I've decided to move over to wordpress...therefore my new blog address is http://infertilityandme.wordpress.com/.

I will no longer be updating this blog, please visit my new site.

Thanks
Cxx

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IVF success story

A relative of my Mum's work colleague found out yesterday that she is pregnant after one round of IVF!

Needless to say she is very happy, as is my Mum's work colleague...it's so good to hear positive results. (It can and does happen and it might even happen to me).

The thing I thought was awful is she had to wait 17 days after ET to do a pregnancy test! Yes that is 17 DAYS!! Apparently the clinic gave her a test kit to do at home, she wasn't to use a normal home test? Those 17 days I can only imagine were torture. Especially since in America you can get a beta test done 5 days after ET and it can tell you if you are pregnant... why make couples wait such a long time!!!

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Back on the "Pill" :o)

Well yesterday was the start of my IVF treatment. My sister came with me as DH couldn't get time off work. She is also my backup plan incase neither me nor DH can do the injections!!

From the start...I was taken in to an examination room where I was given a Trans Vaginal Ultra Sound (TVUS). Not the most pleasant with AF still hanging around! Anyhow, the doc showed me my uterus and my cervix then when on to count the follicles which she read out to the nurse and she wrote them down. The doc was saying to me, there's 1, 2, 3, 4...I honestly only saw dark shapes and had no idea...luckily it's not really up to me to work these things out!! But she seemed to know what she was doing :o) Sounded like there are 4 either side...don't know if this is average, a good thing or a bad thing or what!!!

She also noticed that I had "congestion" and asked if I had painful periods. This past weekend has been thee worst period pains I've ever experienced. Was saying to DH that if this works out I think it'll need an epidural as soon as I go in to labour as it doesn't appear I've got a strong pain threshold...oh no!!

Anyway, doc didn't say whether this congestion was a good or a bad thinh? She also said my cervix was open which didn't sound too good to me because it surely shouldn't be open at this time of the month? Again, don't know if this is a good or a bad thing...think I really need to start asking more questions!

Then it was on to the mock transfer, boy did this hurt!! It felt very similar to the HSG and I was trying the whole time to relax but my body seemed to involuntarily spasm every time it hurt! However all went well. She showed me the catheter and told me come day of egg transfer my baby would be on the end of it (this really made me smile). She had no problem going through cervix which I was glad to hear because when I went for the HSG the doc doing that said she struggled a wee bit and I wondered if this was due to the laser treatment I'd received for abnormal cells.

So the doc and the nurse between them, one using the catheter and the other the ultrasound wand on my tummy showed me the catheter on the screen inside my uterus so got the green light and go ahead to start the IVF! :o)

After I got dressed I was showed in to another room with desk and chairs to wait on another nurse to explain everthing to me.

She was lovely, in fact they all are there (although the receptionist doesn't seem too keen on smiling). The nurse came in with a small bag and explained to me using a calendar what was going to happen, starting off with taking the contraceptive pill. It's Microgynon 30ED and I've to take one per day until Thursday 24 September 2009.

The next day, the 25th, I've to start with the injections! She showed me what to do and let me have a go. She took out a vial with the Buserelin in it, a syring and 2 needles (a big one and a smaller one). The big one just screws on to the syringe and this one is used to draw the liquid (I've to take 0.5mls). Once the liquid is inside the syringe I've to take off the larger needle and put the smaller one one, this is the one I'll inject myself with. She gave me a rubber pad thing and I stabbed the needle in and squeezed the plunger down. It didn't go down as fast as I thought and you do need to use some pressure.

After this she showed me a calendar (which was strange as it had the start of the week being a Thursday!) and from the calendar told me when everthing will be happening. It went something like this:

Contraceptive Pill:     04/09 – 24/09

Buserelin injections:  25/09 – 01/10

Scan to see if ovaries are quiet, if so, start on stimulating injections 01/10 (but I’ve also still to take the Buserelin which I thought sounded weird)

If everything goes to plan I should expect egg retrieval from the 08/10 onwards and embryo transfer soon after.

Pregnancy test last week in October.

This is if all things go to plan, the hard part is not knowing how my body will react to the drugs and if it’ll play ball and stick to this schedule (hope it does).

My parents, sister, brother-in-law and nephew will be away on holiday when the ER and ET is due to happen and my Mum did sound a bit disappointed but I'm glad she'll be here when I find out the results the last week in October....I'm going to make a calendar and count down the days!

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AF finally arrived...got my first appt!

Well the day I've been waiting for has finally arrived...AF came this morning on CD 29 and IVF can finally start! :o)

When I noticed she'd arrived I got a fright, I know that sounds strange and I even wondered myself why I felt scared!! But the scary feeling went away and now I have more of a nervous excited feeling in my tummy.

So I called the clinic and I've to go in on Monday morning for a scan (to check ovaries etc) and a mock transfer. Nurse said I'd be in for about 45 mins and I'd also get my drugs and schedule etc. I'm really looking forward to getting my schedule so I'll get an idea of what is going to happen and when!!

So I'm going to have a wee glass of wine tonight, now I know I'm not pregnant, and to celebrate the start of IVF!! :o)

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The bill is in!

I've received the bill for our self-funded IVF.

I've to pay £3,794 before my treatment starts...but it's still in the back of my mind that I might not need the treatment, I might be pregnant (there's always that hope in the 2WW) but I don't want to go ahead and pay all this money when I'll not get all of it back. I can remember reading something about cancelling treatment and you will only be reimbursed something like £1,700.

So I phoned the clinic and told them my dilema, the receptionist told me that I can pay the bill the day that I go in for my very first scan and mock transfer. That was a load off!!

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NHS Waiting List fiasco!

I received a letter from the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh (Little France) telling me that I will be put on the NHS IVF waiting list from 01 July 2010!

Wait that isn't the best bit..."the waiting time for NHS treatment is currently upwards of 3 years".

So by the time I'll get to the top of the list it'll be 2013 and by that time I'll be 38 years old but there's more..."In line with Scottish policy....does not fund treatment if the woman is aged 38 or over.."

So that's that! I will be on the waiting list only to get to the top and have them tell me that I'm too old, sorry about that!! Total bummer!!

However, we have this self -funded cycle coming up so hopefully we'll not need to go on the waiting list anyway.

Also, as Little France is an NHS clinic patients are only allowed 3 cycles of treatment. If you self fund any cycles, these self-funded cycles will be deducted from this 3. So because we have this cycle coming up, we are now only eligible to 2 more cycles on the NHS (but it looks like we'll never ever get IVF for free on the NHS).

I'm so glad that we are in a position where we can afford to pay for IVF, I can only imagine how distraught I'd have been if I'd received this letter and we had no way of funding IVF ourselves. Thanks Pop's x

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Natal Hypnotherapy

Thought I'd share this one with you.

I recently bought a hypnosis CD called "The IVF Companion". I've listened to it whilst not really listening if you know what I mean and it sounds like it is really going to help with the stress of IVF. I've always thought thinking too much about trying to get pregnant is a contributing factor in me not getting pregnant as there is nothing physically wrong with either of us.

There are 2 tracks, you've to listen to the first track before embryo transfer and then after ET you listen to the other track. The first track is to help deal with the scans, injections, doctors appointments etc and the second is to help you visualise your baby growing healthily and to also help you not get too obsessed with the whole IVF process.

I'd also bought one of their other CD's "Prepare to Conceive" but to be honest I didn't listen to it enough because I felt I needed to keep it a secret and was too embarassed to tell him about it (he doesn't "believe" in hypnotherapy, acupuncture (tried that too), homeopathy etc. So I've told my hubby about the IVF companion CD, he did laugh and say I was bonkers but now that he knows I can just say "don't disturb me I'm away to listen to my CD" :o) and I plan on listening to it every single day.

I've also been for one fertiliy based EFT session and felt it really did help reduce my stress levels and really helped stop those nagging thoughts and it also brought to the fore stuff that I didn't realise I was hung up on. It's well worth looking in to and I'll be going back for more sessions once I start IVF. I've also used EFT for weight loss, it does look strange but it is worth a try and doesn't cost anything...there are loads of videos on You Tube about it.

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