Today we went for our first scan since starting the Menopur. I was completely surprised by the results of the scan. I have been taking 150IU of Menopur and tonight is day 7. In the first cycle when I was on the lower dosages of Menopur the egg follicles were between 4mm- 5mm. This was what I expected to see today and was blown away when the nurse read out 6mm, 7mm, 9mm, 10.5mm! I had roughly 8 or 9 egg follicles of larger sizes and plenty of smaller ones that could be available too. I then had a blood test to check my hormone levels.
This afternoon I received a phone call from the nurse with the next step. My Menopur is now being increased to 225IU from tonight and my next scan is on Wednesday at 10.30am. So it looks like I'll be having my egg collection a lot sooner than I thought!
So far I have had 35 injections and one blood test! After tonight's injections that will be 37!
Monday 29 September 2014
Saturday 27 September 2014
A bit of a struggle...
Since starting the IVF I have sailed through the first 3 weeks without many problems as such. I am about half-way through the IVF now and in the past couple of days have hit a mid-cycle low. Since starting the Menopur on Tuesday I haven't felt that brilliant, my body has felt all over the place. I have felt quite tired and have had various other symptoms but I just carried on thinking perhaps I needed to give it a few days to settle.
However yesterday I come down feeling quite unwell. I had a temperature, chills, headache and generally feeling unwell. So I rang CARE Fertility last night and she said perhaps I need to have a rest this weekend, take paracetamol and drink plenty of water. So started taking paracetamol and took it easy a bit.
When I woke up today I did feel a bit better and the nurse rang to check up on me. She suggested perhaps I have caught a virus so I must continue taking paracetamol. Later on I came down feeling ill again and sneezed! So perhaps she is right! My scan is on Monday so they will check things out further then. In the meantime I am doing nothing!
However yesterday I come down feeling quite unwell. I had a temperature, chills, headache and generally feeling unwell. So I rang CARE Fertility last night and she said perhaps I need to have a rest this weekend, take paracetamol and drink plenty of water. So started taking paracetamol and took it easy a bit.
When I woke up today I did feel a bit better and the nurse rang to check up on me. She suggested perhaps I have caught a virus so I must continue taking paracetamol. Later on I came down feeling ill again and sneezed! So perhaps she is right! My scan is on Monday so they will check things out further then. In the meantime I am doing nothing!
Wednesday 24 September 2014
We're going on a baby hunt!
When I was a little girl one of my favourite books that I used to read to my brother was We're going on a bear hunt. Actually to this day it is still one of my favourite books! I loved following the journey of the brave family who ventured out on an adventure of catching a bear. Now for those of you who haven't read the book here's how it begins:
We're going on a bear hunt.
We're going to catch a big one.
What a beautiful day!
We're not scared.
As they set off on their bear hunt the family face different obstacles:
Uh oh! Grass! Long wavy grass!
We can't go over it.
We can't go under it.
Oh no! We've got to go through it!
At each and every obstacle the family faces they overcome it by going through it. Now despite the fact that the book ends with all the family quivering under the bed covers after an encounter with a bear the point I'm trying to make is that this children's story very much sums up many journeys we have to face in life.
We set out and it's a beautiful day and we think we're going to be successful in 'catching' whatever it is we are searching for but then somewhere along we start to hit obstacles and are suddenly faced with a decision. Do we courageously carry straight on through it or do we turn around and walk away? Obstacles can often leave us feeling disheartened and many a time we think that perhaps this journey wasn't for us! Perhaps when we boldly said 'We're not scared!' we were wrong! We are scared and we should just turn around...No! We should not turn around!
Perhaps the ending of this children's story should have been a different one. Maybe the family should have caught the bear instead of cowering in fear under the bed covers. Then the message we would be sending out to our children would be one of courage. Fear and doubt are not from God 'For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline'. Fear comes from the enemy Satan, he aims to paralyse and stop us from moving in our God-given destiny. If you notice just when something big is going to happen in your life Satan pops up just to try and plant those seeds of doubt to get you to turn around. I've spent a lot of this year overcoming fear and I am overcoming it because I have put all my trust in God for the tomorrows.
So as we step out today and are faced with obstacles let's remember God is with us! Let's keep moving with God on our journeys and not get paralysed by fear!
We're going on a baby hunt.
We're going to catch a big one (Not too big! )
What a beautiful day!
We're not scared.
We're going on a bear hunt.
We're going to catch a big one.
What a beautiful day!
We're not scared.
As they set off on their bear hunt the family face different obstacles:
Uh oh! Grass! Long wavy grass!
We can't go over it.
We can't go under it.
Oh no! We've got to go through it!
At each and every obstacle the family faces they overcome it by going through it. Now despite the fact that the book ends with all the family quivering under the bed covers after an encounter with a bear the point I'm trying to make is that this children's story very much sums up many journeys we have to face in life.
We set out and it's a beautiful day and we think we're going to be successful in 'catching' whatever it is we are searching for but then somewhere along we start to hit obstacles and are suddenly faced with a decision. Do we courageously carry straight on through it or do we turn around and walk away? Obstacles can often leave us feeling disheartened and many a time we think that perhaps this journey wasn't for us! Perhaps when we boldly said 'We're not scared!' we were wrong! We are scared and we should just turn around...No! We should not turn around!
Perhaps the ending of this children's story should have been a different one. Maybe the family should have caught the bear instead of cowering in fear under the bed covers. Then the message we would be sending out to our children would be one of courage. Fear and doubt are not from God 'For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline'. Fear comes from the enemy Satan, he aims to paralyse and stop us from moving in our God-given destiny. If you notice just when something big is going to happen in your life Satan pops up just to try and plant those seeds of doubt to get you to turn around. I've spent a lot of this year overcoming fear and I am overcoming it because I have put all my trust in God for the tomorrows.
So as we step out today and are faced with obstacles let's remember God is with us! Let's keep moving with God on our journeys and not get paralysed by fear!
We're going on a baby hunt.
We're going to catch a big one (Not too big! )
What a beautiful day!
We're not scared.
Monday 22 September 2014
Down-regulation scan...
Today was our down-regulation scan at Nottingham. So off we went early this morning and arrived on time at CARE Fertility. Within minutes I was taken down for my scan and was happily told that my follicles are nice and small and my lining 1.5mm so my body is all ready for the next stage!
So we then signed our consent forms and were told to begin 150IU of Menopur tomorrow evening along with the Buserelin. Our next scan is booked for Monday 29th September at 10.00am. Time to grow my egg follicles!!
So we then signed our consent forms and were told to begin 150IU of Menopur tomorrow evening along with the Buserelin. Our next scan is booked for Monday 29th September at 10.00am. Time to grow my egg follicles!!
Saturday 13 September 2014
Period and scan...
Today my period finally arrived! So far I have done 13 injections of Buserelin and tonight is my 14th. So I rang CARE Fertility to book my down-regulation scan which is Monday 22nd September at 10.00am. Another week of Buserelin before I find out whether everything has switched off in there and is all ready to start growing the egg follicles!
Thursday 4 September 2014
There is a purpose for my pain...
I am doing really well at the moment! Tonight will be my fifth injection and other than feeling extremely tired (I was falling asleep by 9pm last night!) I haven't had many side-effects. Praise the Lord!
The hardest thing actually isn't the drugs or the procedures, its your own feelings and thoughts that are more of a struggle. IVF turned out to be a lot more painful than I ever thought and the memories of the past two cycles come flooding back...God has healed so much of the pain in my heart but the memories remain and it can be hard sometimes to look past them.
I always used to feel so broken after each cycle but it put me in a place where I was so close to God and much of my growing would happen in these times of brokenness. There was times when I sobbed my heart out on the floor asking God 'Why? Why didn't it work? Why do I have to go through it again?' Particularly after my second cycle a huge part of me didn't want to go through it again. I was so caught up in the pain and I actually remember crying out to God 'My heart is hurting'. I had already been through pain before when I was diagnosed with Huntington's but this hurt more. It hurt more because I was doing the IVF for good, it would have good consequences for the future of our family. Really though I had become weary, pain after pain seemed to have come into my life and I was tired of it. Tired of tears, tired of my heart hurting and this baby holds so much hope for me...
Then I stopped looking at it like God hadn't provided what I wanted and I began to realise how selfishly I had been thinking. I had forgotten how much God has already provided for us and how much He has already done for us. I had forgotten to be thankful for what I already have. I began to relinquish the desire in my heart for a baby to God. God is good and He knows every desire in my heart. He knows the pain I have been through. This has been a journey and a process and He has been using it for my good. This process has been growing me and changing me into the person He wants me to be so that I can reach the life He wants me to have.
I know though that there is a purpose to this pain! As Rick Warren said: 'Our deepest life message often comes out of our deepest pain'... There is blessing in this pain!
The hardest thing actually isn't the drugs or the procedures, its your own feelings and thoughts that are more of a struggle. IVF turned out to be a lot more painful than I ever thought and the memories of the past two cycles come flooding back...God has healed so much of the pain in my heart but the memories remain and it can be hard sometimes to look past them.
I always used to feel so broken after each cycle but it put me in a place where I was so close to God and much of my growing would happen in these times of brokenness. There was times when I sobbed my heart out on the floor asking God 'Why? Why didn't it work? Why do I have to go through it again?' Particularly after my second cycle a huge part of me didn't want to go through it again. I was so caught up in the pain and I actually remember crying out to God 'My heart is hurting'. I had already been through pain before when I was diagnosed with Huntington's but this hurt more. It hurt more because I was doing the IVF for good, it would have good consequences for the future of our family. Really though I had become weary, pain after pain seemed to have come into my life and I was tired of it. Tired of tears, tired of my heart hurting and this baby holds so much hope for me...
Then I stopped looking at it like God hadn't provided what I wanted and I began to realise how selfishly I had been thinking. I had forgotten how much God has already provided for us and how much He has already done for us. I had forgotten to be thankful for what I already have. I began to relinquish the desire in my heart for a baby to God. God is good and He knows every desire in my heart. He knows the pain I have been through. This has been a journey and a process and He has been using it for my good. This process has been growing me and changing me into the person He wants me to be so that I can reach the life He wants me to have.
I know though that there is a purpose to this pain! As Rick Warren said: 'Our deepest life message often comes out of our deepest pain'... There is blessing in this pain!
Monday 1 September 2014
First injection!
Last night I had my first injection of Buserelin! All went well apart from a little reddening of the skin around the injection site which wore off about 15 minutes later. This particular injection is administered with an insulin needle which is SO MUCH smaller than all the other injections I have ever had! So it is a lot easier and I didn't feel a thing.
As to the side-effects I haven't had any manifest as such yet but I can feel it working! The only thing is that I am feeling a little tired (which is a common side-effect). So I'm just taking it easy a bit as my body adjusts to this new drug!
As to the side-effects I haven't had any manifest as such yet but I can feel it working! The only thing is that I am feeling a little tired (which is a common side-effect). So I'm just taking it easy a bit as my body adjusts to this new drug!
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