First Appointment.

Well I am glad to say that is my first appointment over with! It was an extremely long journey yesterday. We set off at 11.20am and we found it fairly easy to get on the M1. We were on the M1 for about an hour and it was a smooth drive without any problems but then when we got off at the junction things became more complicated. We got lost on the first roundabout after coming off the M1 and ended up taking a massive detour! Finally after navigating 3 complex roundabouts we arrived at CARE Fertility in Nottingham about 3 minutes late.   

At this point I was feeling extremely nervous, hot, flustered and shaky. As we took a seat in a very busy waiting room I tried my hardest to calm my mind. Despite the fact that we were late they seemed to be running late in there too. We had to fill in some consent forms while we were waiting and then finally after what felt like an age I was called through for my transvaginal scan. They left me in a small room to get changed and as I sat on the bed, I took deep breaths to try and calm myself down. Two nurses entered the room, one for recording the results of the scan and the other to perform the scan. After an uncomfortable start, the scan went very well and I wouldn't be afraid to have another one now. Happily I was told that everything looked very normal. 

I went back to the waiting room and relief washed over me. For me the hardest part was done. My husband had gone off for his semen sample! He had the easy part! 

No sooner had we settled down in the waiting room again we were called for our first appointment with the geneticist. She went through a lot of stuff that we already knew but it's all part of procedure. She did tell us that if we are happy to proceed with everything that they then have to build up a genetic test for us which might take up to 4 months. It all depends how quickly things move along but we are just going with the flow anyway!

After an hour long appointment with the geneticist we then went off for a bite to eat in the car as we were both starving!! At this point it was about 3.00pm and we were both beginning to feel very tired but we only had one appointment to go!

So we went back to the waiting room and was called by a nurse to have our height, weight, blood pressure and CO2 levels tested. The nurse calculated our BMI which was both normal, blood pressure was fine and CO2 levels were took to check that we are both non-smokers which we are. 

Then there was a very long wait for the next appointment with the IVF doctor. Annoyingly there was a TV programme on about food in the waiting room and it was making both me and my husband even hungrier than we already were!! Our appointment was for 4.00pm but we didn't get in there till about 4.15pm. 

The doctor was very nice and she explained everything clearly about the IVF procedure. She told us that my scan shown that I was healthy and had a very high chance of achieving a successful pregnancy as I have 28 egg follicles out of a possible 30. My husband Jason was then told that his sperm sample was also healthy and very good.

So overall our chances of conceiving are high, it's just pot luck how many embryos are affected with the Huntington's disease. We were told that we would have to make a decision about whether we wanted to proceed and let them know. 

After a very long day we finally went home and had  some well deserved chips! 

We have decided to proceed with the IVF/PGD and have told them at CARE fertility, now we just have to wait for the next stage but we both feel very lucky to be having this opportunity!