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Scan Number 2 – #IVF Update

I’ve been taking the Merional since Sunday and today (Wednesday) I had my second scan to see how things were going along.

First the good news. The juicy follicle on the right that was around 10mm at Friday’s scan was around 16.5mm (needs to aim for 21mm) and one of the tiny ones on the right is up to 10mm. Lining was thickening up but I blanked on by how much.

Now the not so good news. No sign of any more. Nothing on the left. Had bloods taken again

(oops I guess I didn’t press down hard enough)

The nurse was honest in saying she didn’t know what the consultant’s advice would be because, although you only need one egg to make a baby, the more eggs the more chances. Plus there’s no guarantee that each follicle contains an egg.

They got back to me to say that the recommendation was to reduce the Busceralin from 0.5 to 0.2 – I guess to see if we can wake the ovaries up a bit or at least to see if that 10mm joins in a bit more positively. I’m already of the full whack of the Merional. Back for another scan Friday afternoon to review.

It’s odd because since around 11.30 Thursday I’ve been feeling quick stabby pains down where my ovaries are and have been feeling a bit sicky and that’s continued today. I was hoping that that meant good things were happening. It’s odd how you can be convinced your body is doing stuff it might not be. I almost had myself convinced I was pregnant last summer but that was a no too.

So it’s not completely a no

Yes I had a blub

Yes I’m likely to have more blubs

But I’m trying to stay positive and remind myself that…

Will review again on Friday. There’s still potential steps that can be taken so trying to take things just one day at a time.

Thanks for reading

Now off work for the rest of this week and next and am wearing my pineapple on my wrist.

Posted in Kirsty rambles on about life, the universe, tv, and everything!

Day 6 IVF Update

Jun 8

Posted by kirstyes

So I’m 6 days into my IVF journey already and here is what has been happening so far.

People of a nervous disposition may not want to read on as needles and … bloody periods … will be discussed.

As I said on my last post my period finally started on Sunday and boy did it make up for being late. I think it’s probably my first proper one since stopping the pill and I literally lost all of my blood Sunday and Monday morning. Was just glad Sunday wasn’t a work day as I felt like I spent most of it on the toilet!

Sunday night I did my first injection of Busceralin. This is a downregulating drug that is given in short protocol throughout at a standard dose to stop you ovulating. I decided to do this one in my thigh. Alternating left and right each night.

I was more scared about drawing up the correct dosage and did this by guidance over FaceTime with comments such as ‘how did you get an air bubble in it again!’ given as encouragement 😂😂.

The giving of the injection itself wasn’t too bad though and the fine needle slides in pretty smoothly but I found you had to use a fair bit of pressure to inject the solution.

Almost immediately I get a small injection site reaction that is around the size of a small sting that itches for around half an hour and then goes down. Sometimes I am left with a bit of a bruise. Sometimes not.

Tuesday night I added in Fostimon. This is a Follicle Stimulating Hormone that basically encourages your ovaries to grow follicles that hopefully will contain eggs. This drug comes in a power solution that you mix up with solvent and is actually quite fun to see dissolve. (Trying to keep focusing on the positives). This one I do in my stomach and I again alternate sides but match up with the side I am injecting my thigh so I don’t get confused. This one doesn’t seem to react however the second night I obviously caught something because I bled a tiny bit and bruised after. The following day I felt a little nauseous for most of the day but that could be due to a variety of other things.

Today I went for my Baseline scan (?if it is classed as an ultrasound) just to check everything is as it should be. As I’m not too many days away from my period we aren’t expecting the follicles to be too noticeable and want the lining of the womb to be thin (less than 5mm). Mine was 2mm and I had one leading – also referred to as juicy – Follicle on the right ovary (around 10mm) and another 3 tiny ones and 4 tiny ones on the left. I also had some bloods taken to check hormone levels.

So ok news so far. Not a super amount but not insubstantial either. I have another two doses of Fostimon tonight and tomorrow and then I switch to another similar drug called Merional. I currently have 7 days of this drug to take but depending on how the follicles develop I may need to take more or even less. I have another scan Wednesday morning to see how everything is progressing. We are hoping for growing follicles and a fatter womb lining. Thanks to my friend Jay for coming to my scan with me.

Also a huge thank you to Natasha for this lovely IVF care package from Apple and Pips which included the trying to conceive community symbol IVF pineapple necklace (which I will be wearing to my appointments) and the IVF milestone cards you can see used in my pictures.

I think in my next post I’m going to talk about the process of sperm donation as I received a comment on one of my posts that indicated that not everyone is aware of how this works – or indeed agrees with it.

Any questions do ask.

Thanks to everyone who has expressed their support and sent me messages of encouragement. Still got a journey ahead but so far it’s been ok.