It begins...

My drugs were delivered on Wednesday and today I took my first tablet of Norethisterone which I will be on for the next 14 days until 8th May. So there won't be much more to update until I start the injections :) 

Treatment Plan...

Just had a letter this morning from Dr Maruthini with our treatment plan for the second cycle. It has been decided that I will still do the short protocol again which will last for about 4 weeks. In many ways it does have its advantages as I will  have less drugs to take and I am already completely familiar with all of the treatment as I have done it already. I will be started off with 225 IU as I have mentioned before that it seemed to be the best amount for me. 

So I will be starting the second cycle of treatment with my next period which should be at the beginning of May! Can't believe how fast it has come around again! 

Letter from Dr Maruthini about our review appointment...

I thought I would just post this as it explains it better about how review appointment went and what the next plans are! 

Review Appointment...

Today we went for our review appointment at Nottingham! It was so lovely to see Dr Maruthini and to have a good chat about everything. 

Dr Maruthini was very happy with how the first cycle of treatment went however it did take me quite a bit longer to stimulate than expected. So she has decided to change the plan for the 2nd cycle of treatment. During the first cycle of treatment I was on the Short Protocol which lasts for approximately 4 weeks. With the Short Protocol you only have the stimulation phase. However this time Dr Maruthini wants to try the Long Protocol which lasts approximately 6 weeks this has two stages the down-regulating stage and the stimulating stage. She hopes that in choosing this protocol I will produce more eggs, perhaps between 10-15, as I will be on the drugs longer. She has also said that she will be starting me off on 225IU of Menopur from the very beginning as that seemed to be the best amount for me. 

Dr Maruthini was very confident that this second cycle will work out better simply because they know my body better now and what works best for me. So we then discussed when we are looking at starting the second cycle and it appears that May will be month! They have to apply for funding for our cycle within the next few weeks and once that is done they are all ready to go for us!  

We are both very blessed to be on this journey and we thank God for all He has done for us! 

Renewing Rest...

I cannot believe that it is only a week away till we go back to Nottingham again for our review appointment! This time next week we will be meeting with Dr Maruthini to discuss everything that happened in our first cycle and then we will see what we are going to do in our second cycle.

During the past couple of weeks I have been gradually getting myself back to normal. I felt extremely tired and weary after we lost the embryo but since then  I have been taking extra care in looking after myself. Making sure that I am eating healthily, getting back to walking twice a day, getting enough sleep and building my strength back up. I am feeling a lot better already and have certainly needed this rest emotionally and physically...

I definitely did underestimate the impact that the IVF would have on our lives and it has opened my eyes up to how difficult it must be for women who desperately want children and can't or women that have lost their babies. Losing the embryo has been one of the hardest things I have ever had to go through even harder than testing positive for HD... 

God has got me through this time and now I am ready for round 2! I am looking forward to the appointment next week so that we can really get an idea when we are looking at starting the second cycle! 

Pregnancy Blood Test Results...

Today we had the pregnancy blood test results which confirmed Friday's test, it was negative. We already knew that it was negative for definate as over the weekend I have had a bleed. Therefore CARE Fertility have now allowed me to stop the pessaries. 

CARE Fertility have booked me a review appointment with Dr Maruthini on 18th March to go through everything that happened in the first cycle of treatment and draw up a plan for the second cycle. It's then up to Jay and I when we want to begin the second cycle. Its obviously really important for us to have a break emotionally as well as physically for me... So I guess we will start when we both feel ready to again <3 

Negative...

Sadly today as we woke up to do the pregnancy test it came back as a definite negative. We used the Clearblue digital test as well as an ordinary pregnancy test. It seems that between Friday and now something obviously went wrong with the embryo, the most likely cause is a chemical pregnancy. 

We rang up CARE Fertility and after speaking to the doctor he felt that it was necessary to have a pregnancy blood test just to be absolutely certain as I had had a positive. So I went to my doctors and have had a blood test however the results will not be given back today. If the results come back as negative (which they are likely too) we will stop all treatment and have a 2 month break before starting a second cycle of IVF treatment. 

Will update as soon as I get the blood test results...