IVF: AN UPDATE

Yesterday I had my first ultrasound and blood test to see how the medications are going at stimulating my ovaries to produce eggs.  I’m still battling with the sinus infection so having to be at the Clinic by 7:30am was not fun.  The whole time I was in there I was trying hard not to breathe, sneeze or cough on any one in case I spread the snotty love.

For the first time since I started having to have tests HUBBY came in with me while they performed the internal ultrasound.  I tried to prepare him as best as possible for what the test would involve, but I don’t think there’s any amount of words that can prepare a husband for seeing his wife impaled on a ultrasound wand.

The nurse performing the test was great.  She gave HUBBY the job of writing down the results so it helped him not focus on how those results were being collated.

Image source: Getty Images

I hadn’t realised just how focused I was on this round of testing.  I feel like there’s a thousand things that can go wrong before we even get to the point where we’re hoping to be pregnant, so this test was like the first hurdle in that race.

I have been reading and participating in a pregnancy forum and I had read about women who’d gone in for the scan and been told that their lining wasn’t at the thickness it needed to be.  Or they weren’t producing follicles.  I was worried that I hadn’t been responding to the drugs; especially given my haphazard approach to taking them on time and my current bout of illness.

But as usual I was worried over nothing.  I ended up getting some good news from the nurse.

My lining is at 10mm.  (Which is a nice thickness apparently?)  The nurse also identified 3 follicles that were 15mm in diameter and 11 follicles that were in range for maturity by egg retrieval day.

This is great news as I was concerned I wouldn’t be responding at all to the drugs.

At this stage I’m tentatively booked in for the egg retrieval on Thursday 26 August.  I have another ultrasound and blood test on Monday (23/8) to see how things are developing.  They changed me over from a nasal spray to another set of injections because of my sinus infection. (There was concern the drugs wouldn’t be working because of the blockage in my sinus.)

All in all it was a great result and I’m relieved that things seem to be moving in the right direction.  It’s given me hope that the rest of the process will run smoothly and we’ll have a positive outcome.  *fingers crossed*