Miscommunication

This morning I went down to the local doctors surgery and had my second blood test taken, from the left arm this time! Soon after I arrived home I received a phone call from the clinic to let me know the results of yesterday's test. It seems that my hormone levels are increasing slightly, which is good. I need to keep having blood tests until the hormone surge that signals ovulation is detected. We assume that will be sometime this week.


And here's the surprise. Three days after that, i.e most likely on Friday, Saturday or Monday, we are going back to the clinic to have the frozen embryo implanted. How come I didn't realise that the implantation was happening this cycle? Everything we'd been told up to now led us to believe that the transfer would be happening in late January or February. I hadn't really thought about what these blood tests are for. I guess if I had, I would have realised that they're looking for ovulation and therefore the best time for implantation would be coming up soon. But I really wish that the next few steps in the process and their timeframes had been covered more clearly in one of the conversations I'd had with nurses recently. It seems like we are being relied upon to put two-and-two together a great deal of the time. When I tried to explain that I felt I'd been missing out on information, the nurse suggested that I watch an informational DVD or re-read the large booklet we'd been given. Indeed, the various procedures are explained very well in the booklet and on the clinic's website. However, I would like someone to explain what is happening in our case to us on a regular basis so that we know not only why certain things are being done now but also what we can expect to be happening in the next few days or weeks. I can't imagine my cardiologist and his team taking this sort of approach.

The good news is that we won't have to wait much longer before trying again. With any luck the two-week wait between the implantation and the pregnancy test will coincide with our summer camping holiday. The nurse I was speaking to today explained that the implantation will be quite a simple and quick process, much like before, and that a holiday sounds like the perfect way to spend the waiting time afterwards. I am very mindful that this embryo may not survive the thawing process and therefore there is a lower chance of this attempt being successful - but it would be very nice if we cleared this hurdle and we could get on with the happy task of planning for a baby.