I had my last scan today to see how all my little..or should I say BIG follies are coming along.
They are all still growing like mad, the biggest is now 19mm! And this is awesome news because it means that they will be retrieving the eggs on Monday morning YAY!
I do one more lot of gonal f and orgalutran injections tomorrow morning and then at 8pm I do another needle that is referred to as a trigger shot and is called ovidrel. This prepares the ovaries to release the follicles 36 hours after it is taken and therefore ready the eggs to be retrieved on Monday :-)
I have to be in at the clinic at 6.30am (ugh!) and they will prepare me to be taken to St Andrews hospital at 7.30am. Once I'm there it's not long till I'll be out cold and everything will be underway :-) Andrew has to provide his sperm at 9.30am and then I should be awake and back at the clinic by 10am. Of course things don't always go exactly according to schedule but we will see how it all pans out on Monday.
My doctor said she thinks she is going to be able to retrieve at least 8 of the 12 follicles that will have mature enough eggs in them. The rest of them may still be a little too small but we just gotta wait and see. 8 is still an awesome number though, gives them plenty to work with so I'm happy with that!
I have begun acupuncture again as well, I had a session yesterday to help my body prepare for egg pick up but the most important sessions I have will be 24hours before transfer and straight after transfer. It has been proven to help with implantation and successful pregnancy so I'm definitely giving it a go. If nothing else it helps to relax me a lot which is also very important :-)
So if everything goes perfectly then next Saturday they will transfer one embryo back into me. However, it all depends on how the embryos are developing, if they look as though they might not last outside of me until 5 days after egg pick up then they will do a 3 day transfer, so they could be in a bit earlier we just have to wait and see :-) Either way it doesn't really matter! There is a whole heap of scientific stuff involved with that which is really hard to understand and for me to explain so I won't go there lol
One of the things I am really excited about is that on the day of the transfer they will take a photo for me to keep, of the embryo they are inserting back into me, which I think is so cool, it's like a super super early ultrasound :-)
Well, that's pretty much it, things are about to get super super exciting and full on within the next week so stay tuned!
xoxox
P.s still growing into a giant whale atm lol
Thursday, September 29, 2011
Sunday, September 25, 2011
Feeling like a whale - scan number 3!
Hello lovelies.
I had my third scan this morning to see how my little follies are coming along (oh, by the way I made a mistake in my last post, it is not EGGS they see on the scan but the follicles which contain the eggs, they won't know how many eggs there are until they retrieve them by draining the follicles of fluid...so...I have 2 ovaries, that now contain 5 FOLLICLES on one side and 7 on the other...usually would only contain 1 one side! And each follicle can contain up to 1-2 eggs but sometimes they not have any).
My follicles are coming along beautiful according to my specialist :-) They have more than doubled in size since last Wednesday (which explains why I feel like a whale) the largest measuring 16mm and the rest between 10-15mm!The lining on my womb is also coming along perfectly as well. Couldn't be happier!
My FS wants to give some of the smaller follies a little longer to grow (not sure how much bigger my poor tummy can handle lol) so I will be continuing the gonal F injections until Friday when I go in for another scan. I also started the orgalutran injection today to make sure I don't ovulate. That needle is HORRENDOUS! It is a lot thicker than the gonal f needle and leaves a big welt for a few hours afterwards, I nearly cried when the nurse gave it to me lol And I have to do that each morning at the same time until Friday along with the orgalutran. I am going to be one sore girl!!
After Friday the FS said she is 90% sure I will do the ovidrel trigger shot on Saturday to prepare me for egg collection next Monday. So not as soon as I thought it would be but still just around the corner!! Hopefully this week goes quickly, I can't wait to get all these injections over and done with. The side effects seem to be growing each day, I had none at first but these last few days I have been feeling soooo tired, and can go from happy to sad in a matter of minutes...I cried watching Junior Masterchef last night LOL
Not to mention I feel like I could explode, I guess thats to be expected when my ovaries have turned huge and I'm retaining water like crazy!!
Anyway, short term pain for long term gain, just have to keep reminding myself of that :-)
Shall be back in a few days hopefully with news that all these little fellas will be OUT of me by Monday and my tummy feeling better!!
Bye for now :-) xxxx
P.s At the moment I closely resemble this cat lol
I had my third scan this morning to see how my little follies are coming along (oh, by the way I made a mistake in my last post, it is not EGGS they see on the scan but the follicles which contain the eggs, they won't know how many eggs there are until they retrieve them by draining the follicles of fluid...so...I have 2 ovaries, that now contain 5 FOLLICLES on one side and 7 on the other...usually would only contain 1 one side! And each follicle can contain up to 1-2 eggs but sometimes they not have any).
My follicles are coming along beautiful according to my specialist :-) They have more than doubled in size since last Wednesday (which explains why I feel like a whale) the largest measuring 16mm and the rest between 10-15mm!The lining on my womb is also coming along perfectly as well. Couldn't be happier!
My FS wants to give some of the smaller follies a little longer to grow (not sure how much bigger my poor tummy can handle lol) so I will be continuing the gonal F injections until Friday when I go in for another scan. I also started the orgalutran injection today to make sure I don't ovulate. That needle is HORRENDOUS! It is a lot thicker than the gonal f needle and leaves a big welt for a few hours afterwards, I nearly cried when the nurse gave it to me lol And I have to do that each morning at the same time until Friday along with the orgalutran. I am going to be one sore girl!!
After Friday the FS said she is 90% sure I will do the ovidrel trigger shot on Saturday to prepare me for egg collection next Monday. So not as soon as I thought it would be but still just around the corner!! Hopefully this week goes quickly, I can't wait to get all these injections over and done with. The side effects seem to be growing each day, I had none at first but these last few days I have been feeling soooo tired, and can go from happy to sad in a matter of minutes...I cried watching Junior Masterchef last night LOL
Not to mention I feel like I could explode, I guess thats to be expected when my ovaries have turned huge and I'm retaining water like crazy!!
Anyway, short term pain for long term gain, just have to keep reminding myself of that :-)
Shall be back in a few days hopefully with news that all these little fellas will be OUT of me by Monday and my tummy feeling better!!
Bye for now :-) xxxx
P.s At the moment I closely resemble this cat lol
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
Week Three - Scan
Good morning everybody :-)
I had my first scan today since starting the injections to see how my eggs are coming along.
My usual doctor was away sick so I had a different one today, who was a male, must say it made me quite nervous beforehand as I am used to a female doing the scan, but he was actually really good, didn't make me feel uncomfortable or anything :-) For those of you who don't know, the scan is done by a probe thing being inserted into my lady areas lol so not the most pleasant experience but I am more than used to it by now!
I have 7 eggs on the right side measuing .7mm and 5 eggs on the left side measuring .8mm. They may have been for a few more give or take but it was hard to tell as they are still rather small and apparently my bladder was full, even though I had only pee'd like half an hour beforehand lol
So I am told this is a good amount of eggs and they are the right size for where I am at with the injections. They are going to grow about 2mm a day and I will go back for a scan another on Monday, when I will most likely be starting the orgalutran if the eggs are big enough. I only need to take that for a couple of days to prevent ovulation until I do a 'trigger' shot which will prepare the eggs for retrieval on either Wednesday at the earliest next week or Friday next week at the latest!! Which is not long to wait at all! Needless to say I am very excited, this seems to be happening quicker than what I thought it would :-) I am nervous about going under the anesthetic but I have done that before when I had my tonsils out at the start of this year so hopefully I will be a bit braver this time lol
Basically now all I have to do is keep injecting the gonal F (same dosage) until Monday. I am pretty much a pro at it now lol takes me about 2 minutes in total to get it over and done with and I am managing to do it with minimal bruising!
Surprisingly I haven't had hardly any side effects from it, well not as many nor as bad as I suspected I would have. I get tired pretty easily so I am trying not over exert myself with too much exercise or anything, there is a bit of bloating (to be expected when there are 12 eggs growing bigger each day), and I can get a little irritable and flat at times but seriously nothing major. In all honestly I feel pretty good! The nurse was actually surprised at how well I was feeling today when she spoke to me. I guess everyone reacts to the drug differently.
Well, unless anything exciting happens I will report back on Monday after my scan! Wish me luck that everything keeps running as smoothly as it had been. I have a pretty good feeling about all this ;-)
Take care everyone xxx
I had my first scan today since starting the injections to see how my eggs are coming along.
My usual doctor was away sick so I had a different one today, who was a male, must say it made me quite nervous beforehand as I am used to a female doing the scan, but he was actually really good, didn't make me feel uncomfortable or anything :-) For those of you who don't know, the scan is done by a probe thing being inserted into my lady areas lol so not the most pleasant experience but I am more than used to it by now!
I have 7 eggs on the right side measuing .7mm and 5 eggs on the left side measuring .8mm. They may have been for a few more give or take but it was hard to tell as they are still rather small and apparently my bladder was full, even though I had only pee'd like half an hour beforehand lol
So I am told this is a good amount of eggs and they are the right size for where I am at with the injections. They are going to grow about 2mm a day and I will go back for a scan another on Monday, when I will most likely be starting the orgalutran if the eggs are big enough. I only need to take that for a couple of days to prevent ovulation until I do a 'trigger' shot which will prepare the eggs for retrieval on either Wednesday at the earliest next week or Friday next week at the latest!! Which is not long to wait at all! Needless to say I am very excited, this seems to be happening quicker than what I thought it would :-) I am nervous about going under the anesthetic but I have done that before when I had my tonsils out at the start of this year so hopefully I will be a bit braver this time lol
Basically now all I have to do is keep injecting the gonal F (same dosage) until Monday. I am pretty much a pro at it now lol takes me about 2 minutes in total to get it over and done with and I am managing to do it with minimal bruising!
Surprisingly I haven't had hardly any side effects from it, well not as many nor as bad as I suspected I would have. I get tired pretty easily so I am trying not over exert myself with too much exercise or anything, there is a bit of bloating (to be expected when there are 12 eggs growing bigger each day), and I can get a little irritable and flat at times but seriously nothing major. In all honestly I feel pretty good! The nurse was actually surprised at how well I was feeling today when she spoke to me. I guess everyone reacts to the drug differently.
Well, unless anything exciting happens I will report back on Monday after my scan! Wish me luck that everything keeps running as smoothly as it had been. I have a pretty good feeling about all this ;-)
Take care everyone xxx
Friday, September 16, 2011
First Day of Injections!
Hello darlings :-)
At 8am this morning I did my very first injection ALL by myself!! When I was going through IUI I got my mum who is a nurse, to do the injections for me, so it wasn't too bad. However she isn't able to do them this time (which I only found out yesterday), so I'm on my own!!!
I had a bit of a panic attack last night, freaking out about it all. I hate needles, they make me squeemish and even when I go to get blood tests I have to face the other way. So there I was thinking how the HELL am I going to do this!! There is no way I was going to let Andrew do it, I trust him with my life but I don't know, it's different when a needle is going into you lol I would never have even let my mother do it if she weren't a qualified nurse. A lot of negative thoughts were going through my mind like why the hell do I have to be giving myself needles, shouldn't it be Andrew who has to do it?!?! I know I shouldn't think like that but at stressful times it is hard to keep positive. But I realised today that I may be the one having to inject myself and go through a heap of side effects but he is the one who is going to have deal with me being a moody bitch if the injections incline me to be that way hahah so it kinda evens out ;-)
Anyways, after having a bit of a cry I went to bed all nervous but thankfully had a pretty good sleep. I woke up more refreshed and optimistic. Got out the needle kit and just went through the steps one by one until it came time to do the jab and I just said to myself 'Ok, whatever doesn't kill me is only going to make me stronger, and this needle isn't going to kill me' lol. So I took a deep breath and in it went, just above my hip and after holding it in there for 20 seconds so all the medicine was out, it was over!
It was no where near as bad as I thought it was going to be. It didn't hurt a bit but I knew it wouldn't, it was just the fear of putting a needle into myself.
So now I know what I'm doing and that it isn't REALLY that bad, the next 6 days should be fine :-)
I haven't really had any side effects yet, although I don't have much of an appetite (that could be more to do with how hot it is today though!) and I feel pretty blah. Not sad or angry but not happy or excited either.
Anyhow, other than that there isn't much to report on. Oh, my appointment for my scan has been changed to Thursday now instead of Friday but hopefully that shouldnt make any difference, just my FS was going to be doing an egg retrieval on someone else that day.
Well lovelies, I hope you are all doing well and those people that live in Brisbane I hope you are enjoying this AWESOME weather!!! Yay, I'm so happy that hideous winter is over, bring on the beaches!!!
Take care everyone xxx
At 8am this morning I did my very first injection ALL by myself!! When I was going through IUI I got my mum who is a nurse, to do the injections for me, so it wasn't too bad. However she isn't able to do them this time (which I only found out yesterday), so I'm on my own!!!
I had a bit of a panic attack last night, freaking out about it all. I hate needles, they make me squeemish and even when I go to get blood tests I have to face the other way. So there I was thinking how the HELL am I going to do this!! There is no way I was going to let Andrew do it, I trust him with my life but I don't know, it's different when a needle is going into you lol I would never have even let my mother do it if she weren't a qualified nurse. A lot of negative thoughts were going through my mind like why the hell do I have to be giving myself needles, shouldn't it be Andrew who has to do it?!?! I know I shouldn't think like that but at stressful times it is hard to keep positive. But I realised today that I may be the one having to inject myself and go through a heap of side effects but he is the one who is going to have deal with me being a moody bitch if the injections incline me to be that way hahah so it kinda evens out ;-)
Anyways, after having a bit of a cry I went to bed all nervous but thankfully had a pretty good sleep. I woke up more refreshed and optimistic. Got out the needle kit and just went through the steps one by one until it came time to do the jab and I just said to myself 'Ok, whatever doesn't kill me is only going to make me stronger, and this needle isn't going to kill me' lol. So I took a deep breath and in it went, just above my hip and after holding it in there for 20 seconds so all the medicine was out, it was over!
It was no where near as bad as I thought it was going to be. It didn't hurt a bit but I knew it wouldn't, it was just the fear of putting a needle into myself.
So now I know what I'm doing and that it isn't REALLY that bad, the next 6 days should be fine :-)
I haven't really had any side effects yet, although I don't have much of an appetite (that could be more to do with how hot it is today though!) and I feel pretty blah. Not sad or angry but not happy or excited either.
Anyhow, other than that there isn't much to report on. Oh, my appointment for my scan has been changed to Thursday now instead of Friday but hopefully that shouldnt make any difference, just my FS was going to be doing an egg retrieval on someone else that day.
Well lovelies, I hope you are all doing well and those people that live in Brisbane I hope you are enjoying this AWESOME weather!!! Yay, I'm so happy that hideous winter is over, bring on the beaches!!!
Take care everyone xxx
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
The wait is over!!! (Well, the first wait...)
Ok before I begin, if you are squeemish or are one those people that don't like talking about bodily female functions then don't continue reading cause this blog will probably be TMI for you, otherwise don't say I didn't warn you lol and besides this blog IS about IVF and making babies so you can't really expect there not to be anything like that written lol
Sooo...finally got my period last night!!!! Possibly one of the only times in my life I have ever wanted it to arrive so badly!!! The reason being is it means I can start my Gonal F injections (87.5iu) on Saturday!! This lot of injections is for me to make (hopefully) make enough follicles/eggs to be retrieved and made into embryo's. My fertility specialist has put me on one of the lowest dosages of this. She said it is due to my age and size, and that if I were on a higher dosage it is very possible that I may get OHSS (ovarian hyper stimulation syndrome - happens when TOO many follicles are made causing me to get really sick and end up hospital to say the least...and also would mean that my the cycle would be cancelled!! :-( ) Being on a lower dosage means that I may produce fewer eggs than some women but my specialist said it is better to produce fewer because they will be of a lot better quality than if there were heaps. And, it's not worth the risk of getting OHSS!!! I would rather start on a lower dosage and up it later on if need be...a few extra days of injecting is better than having to restart a whole cylce...
Anyhow, I have to take this lot of injections for 7 days and then next Friday I go for a scan to see how many follicles/eggs there are and if the dosage needs to upped or whatever. If not, then I should be starting Orgalutran injections which will stop me from releasing the eggs.
I'm not nervous about the injections as I have done them in the past with IUI, but IVF medication is stronger and I am lot more nervous about the side effects they have!!! I just hope I don't turn into too much of bitch and that Andrew can handle me lol
I shall update on how the injections are going and the side effects etc. once I have begun.
Until then my lovelies, take care xoxox
Sooo...finally got my period last night!!!! Possibly one of the only times in my life I have ever wanted it to arrive so badly!!! The reason being is it means I can start my Gonal F injections (87.5iu) on Saturday!! This lot of injections is for me to make (hopefully) make enough follicles/eggs to be retrieved and made into embryo's. My fertility specialist has put me on one of the lowest dosages of this. She said it is due to my age and size, and that if I were on a higher dosage it is very possible that I may get OHSS (ovarian hyper stimulation syndrome - happens when TOO many follicles are made causing me to get really sick and end up hospital to say the least...and also would mean that my the cycle would be cancelled!! :-( ) Being on a lower dosage means that I may produce fewer eggs than some women but my specialist said it is better to produce fewer because they will be of a lot better quality than if there were heaps. And, it's not worth the risk of getting OHSS!!! I would rather start on a lower dosage and up it later on if need be...a few extra days of injecting is better than having to restart a whole cylce...
Anyhow, I have to take this lot of injections for 7 days and then next Friday I go for a scan to see how many follicles/eggs there are and if the dosage needs to upped or whatever. If not, then I should be starting Orgalutran injections which will stop me from releasing the eggs.
I'm not nervous about the injections as I have done them in the past with IUI, but IVF medication is stronger and I am lot more nervous about the side effects they have!!! I just hope I don't turn into too much of bitch and that Andrew can handle me lol
I shall update on how the injections are going and the side effects etc. once I have begun.
Until then my lovelies, take care xoxox
Friday, September 9, 2011
It's a sign!!!
So today on my way home from collecting my race pack for the bridge to brisbane 10k race on Sunday, I randomly decided to stop in and have a look at one of the clothing stores. Right as I walked in, at the very front of the store, there was a little bubs outfit that said 'Big Man on Campass'. Now anyone who knows my partner Andrew knows his last name is Mann. But the funny thing is that his email address since high school contains that phrase 'bigmannoncampass'. Haha, so yeah I thought that was pretty cool!!! Anyway, sent Andrew a pic of the outfit just for a laugh and he got me to buy it hehe. I was like, but what if we have a little girl!!! And he reminded me that we may or may not this time but surely our second or third could be a boy ;-)
Now, maybe I am looking into things a little too much and getting ahead of myself but it's pretty random that something like that would appear at this stage in of our lives right?! I heard Oprah say once lol that God always talks to us in whispers, I think he may have been whispering a little hint with this today ;-) Well, I can only pray he was anyway!!
Here's a pic of the outfit anyways. Not the most attractive clothing or any colour I would ever choose but it was worth getting just for the saying, and when we DO have a little boy we can keep it for him and let him know the story behind it :-)
That is about all I have to update on ladies and gents!!! AF still has not arrived, so just sitting and waiting patiently. Patience is something I don't have very much of so this is going to be hard for me lol knowing my luck I won't get it for another week or longer grrr!!
Talk soon everyone, nighty night xoxo
Now, maybe I am looking into things a little too much and getting ahead of myself but it's pretty random that something like that would appear at this stage in of our lives right?! I heard Oprah say once lol that God always talks to us in whispers, I think he may have been whispering a little hint with this today ;-) Well, I can only pray he was anyway!!
Here's a pic of the outfit anyways. Not the most attractive clothing or any colour I would ever choose but it was worth getting just for the saying, and when we DO have a little boy we can keep it for him and let him know the story behind it :-)
That is about all I have to update on ladies and gents!!! AF still has not arrived, so just sitting and waiting patiently. Patience is something I don't have very much of so this is going to be hard for me lol knowing my luck I won't get it for another week or longer grrr!!
Talk soon everyone, nighty night xoxo
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
Week One
Yesterday (Monday 5th September) I had my first visit to Life Fertility Clinic in over 5 months. I was extremely nervous/excited, waiting in the reception room seemed to take FOREVER. Anyway, finally I saw my fertility specialist and explained to her that yep we are now ready to do IVF! I handed over the consent forms and we talked through everything. She did a scan and said I have a nice thick lining of the womb, one folicle on the left about 15mm, a few small ones on the other side. Apparently it looked like I just ovulated and should be getting a period within 1-3weeks (if I am not pregnant! Have to do a pregnancy test on day 3 of period just to make sure). After my appointment I got a call from Andrew saying our loan has been approved (VERY HAPPY AND SLIGHTLY IN SHOCK! For some reason I always had the small bit of doubt in the back of my mind that something may go wrong and it could get declined). So anyway, this means I was able to make our next appointment to meet with nurses and pick up medications and make initial payment ($6450!) on Tuesday. Had a very restless nights sleep due to pure joy and excitement, kept having pregnancy and baby related dreams and waking up all night lol
This morning we got some bad news. Andrew had a call from his boss and has been laid off from his current. It sucks, but on the bright side we got the loan approved JUST in the nick of time, so a little bit of luck on our side there I think. And he had a job interview with the city council yesterday which went well so I am not too worried about him finding more work. He joins the army at the end of this year anyway! Have to keep looking at the positives and not let any stress in at this time :-)
By 3pm and Andrew and I had been back to the clinic and I have collected my first lot of injections – Gonal F. I am on 87.5iu. Will start injections on day 4 of my period and have to inject for 7 days will then have a scan and start Orgalutran injections to stop ovulation. Must say, I am a bit concerned about all the side effects these drugs are going to have on me..weight gain/mood swings etc. I have read some horror stories online!
Leaving the clinic reality had finally started to set in, this is actually finally happening!!!So now we just play the waiting game! I have never wanted a period to come so badly before! Anyways, until AF comes there won't be too much to report on, so don't worry my blogs won't usually be this lengthy lol although it did keep entertained for awhile :-) I'm sure AF too isn't far away though, I have been quiet moody and bitchy the past few days, mostly taking it out on poor Andrew, so I'm guessing that's a big sign that it's around the corner lol Luckily my man can put up with my nonsense pretty well ;-) So, there you go. Maybe bit too much info for some of you but we have started our first ever IVF cycle ever and at the moment I am feeling pretty good about it and not too stressed, I am going to stay as positive as I can through out this whole thing, and I know we will get our BFP :-)
Will hear from me in a few weeks I guess! Nighty night xxx
P.s If anyone has any questions or doesn't understand some of the fertility terminology that I'm using feel free to ask in the comments section, I'm happy to explain :-)
By 3pm and Andrew and I had been back to the clinic and I have collected my first lot of injections – Gonal F. I am on 87.5iu. Will start injections on day 4 of my period and have to inject for 7 days will then have a scan and start Orgalutran injections to stop ovulation. Must say, I am a bit concerned about all the side effects these drugs are going to have on me..weight gain/mood swings etc. I have read some horror stories online!
Leaving the clinic reality had finally started to set in, this is actually finally happening!!!So now we just play the waiting game! I have never wanted a period to come so badly before! Anyways, until AF comes there won't be too much to report on, so don't worry my blogs won't usually be this lengthy lol although it did keep entertained for awhile :-) I'm sure AF too isn't far away though, I have been quiet moody and bitchy the past few days, mostly taking it out on poor Andrew, so I'm guessing that's a big sign that it's around the corner lol Luckily my man can put up with my nonsense pretty well ;-) So, there you go. Maybe bit too much info for some of you but we have started our first ever IVF cycle ever and at the moment I am feeling pretty good about it and not too stressed, I am going to stay as positive as I can through out this whole thing, and I know we will get our BFP :-)
Will hear from me in a few weeks I guess! Nighty night xxx
P.s If anyone has any questions or doesn't understand some of the fertility terminology that I'm using feel free to ask in the comments section, I'm happy to explain :-)
Our Journey Begins!
Hello to any lovely person that may be reading this!
So I have decided to create a blog about the IVF journey my partner Andrew and I have just begun to embark on. It is more for my own benefits than anyone else (a fantastic way to vent and get my thoughts out!) but I do know there are many gorgeous couples out there that are in or may be in the same boat as we are and may find this interesting or helpful :-) So if any of you happen to stumble upon here please feel free to comment!
Well, I suppose I should give a quick background run of mine and Andrew's circumstances, otherwise a lot of what I'm going to write about may not make much sense.
I am 21 and my fiance Andrew is 23. Yes we are young to be starting a family but circumstances in both our lives have matured us quickly and we know that it was what we want and are prepared to do anything to make it happen. We know in our hearts this is the right time. Ever since I was a little girl I have wanted to be a mum, I remember playing with dolls and day in and day out until I was about 12 years old, pretending they were my 'baby'. I also believe that both Andrew and I have been through a hell of a lot and it is going to make us wonderful parents.
Last year, in December I went to see a fertiltiy specialist to find out why I hadn't had my period in over a year. They ran some tests and did some scans and all came back fine - was told I was borderline PCOS but it was not a problem, the specialist put it down to me having lost a lot of weight and had a very stressful lifestyle over the past few years. She put me on clomid to get my periods to start again. Anyhow, while we were there it was suggested to us that since we were wanting to start a family we should get Andrew's sperm tested while we were at it. And so we did, and received the most heartbreaking news. Andrew has a very low sperm count, poor motility and anti-bodies on his sperm. We were told it would be very difficult and highly unlikely to fall pregnant naturally. Of course this was heart-wreching. Luckily, we were presented with options. We attempted IUI but the sample Andrew provided that day was lower than the original test he had to begin with, the fertility specialist actually told us not waste the money as she didn't think it would work. We didn't listen and tried anyway, we were willing to attempt anything we could afford! Unfortunately it failed. We decided it was best not to attempt IUI again, going by the advice of the specialist there really wasn't much point. Our next option was IVF, however at that point in time (early Feb this year) we just could not afford it. 10 grand is a lot of money for two people in their early 20's to come up with!
Anyway, up until now we had been trying to fall pregnant naturally whilst trying to get the money together for IVF. We attended accupunture for a few months and Andrew has lost over 60kg's, stopped drinking alcohol and we are both healthier than we have ever been. (A lot of our improved health and knowledge of fertility boosting foods and foods to avoid plus many other helpful tips for a successful pregnancy are thanks to the help of Gabriela Rosa, and her web page Natural Fertility Breakthrough).
Well, here we are about 9 months down the track (a very trying and difficult 9 months but we are stronger than ever and ready to tackle anything!) and no luck with falling pregnant naturally, but finally some luck with Andrew's job. His company finally put him into a full time position on the 1st of September which meant we were able to apply for a loan to get the money YAY!
And so now here we are, ready to start this scary but exciting adventure! SO....I shall start a new post for Week One :-)
So I have decided to create a blog about the IVF journey my partner Andrew and I have just begun to embark on. It is more for my own benefits than anyone else (a fantastic way to vent and get my thoughts out!) but I do know there are many gorgeous couples out there that are in or may be in the same boat as we are and may find this interesting or helpful :-) So if any of you happen to stumble upon here please feel free to comment!
Well, I suppose I should give a quick background run of mine and Andrew's circumstances, otherwise a lot of what I'm going to write about may not make much sense.
I am 21 and my fiance Andrew is 23. Yes we are young to be starting a family but circumstances in both our lives have matured us quickly and we know that it was what we want and are prepared to do anything to make it happen. We know in our hearts this is the right time. Ever since I was a little girl I have wanted to be a mum, I remember playing with dolls and day in and day out until I was about 12 years old, pretending they were my 'baby'. I also believe that both Andrew and I have been through a hell of a lot and it is going to make us wonderful parents.
Last year, in December I went to see a fertiltiy specialist to find out why I hadn't had my period in over a year. They ran some tests and did some scans and all came back fine - was told I was borderline PCOS but it was not a problem, the specialist put it down to me having lost a lot of weight and had a very stressful lifestyle over the past few years. She put me on clomid to get my periods to start again. Anyhow, while we were there it was suggested to us that since we were wanting to start a family we should get Andrew's sperm tested while we were at it. And so we did, and received the most heartbreaking news. Andrew has a very low sperm count, poor motility and anti-bodies on his sperm. We were told it would be very difficult and highly unlikely to fall pregnant naturally. Of course this was heart-wreching. Luckily, we were presented with options. We attempted IUI but the sample Andrew provided that day was lower than the original test he had to begin with, the fertility specialist actually told us not waste the money as she didn't think it would work. We didn't listen and tried anyway, we were willing to attempt anything we could afford! Unfortunately it failed. We decided it was best not to attempt IUI again, going by the advice of the specialist there really wasn't much point. Our next option was IVF, however at that point in time (early Feb this year) we just could not afford it. 10 grand is a lot of money for two people in their early 20's to come up with!
Anyway, up until now we had been trying to fall pregnant naturally whilst trying to get the money together for IVF. We attended accupunture for a few months and Andrew has lost over 60kg's, stopped drinking alcohol and we are both healthier than we have ever been. (A lot of our improved health and knowledge of fertility boosting foods and foods to avoid plus many other helpful tips for a successful pregnancy are thanks to the help of Gabriela Rosa, and her web page Natural Fertility Breakthrough).
Well, here we are about 9 months down the track (a very trying and difficult 9 months but we are stronger than ever and ready to tackle anything!) and no luck with falling pregnant naturally, but finally some luck with Andrew's job. His company finally put him into a full time position on the 1st of September which meant we were able to apply for a loan to get the money YAY!
And so now here we are, ready to start this scary but exciting adventure! SO....I shall start a new post for Week One :-)
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