Letter from the lab

Dear A and D

Thank you for having IVF treatment at [clinic]. I'm writing on behalf of the laboratory team with a brief summary of the embryology from this cycle.

We've got a frostie!

We just had a call from C at the clinic's lab. She told us that of our remaining embryos, one had developed into a blastocyst and has been frozen. This is great news. It gives us some backup in case yesterday's transfer isn't successful. Of the others, one had developed into a blast but its outer walls didn't look too good and the rest had not progressed well. We are happy with this news!

Transfer complete

This morning we went to the clinic for the embryo transfer. I had to drink a lot of water beforehand so that my bladder was full for the procedure and I was absolutely busting by the time we'd finished!

Day three numbers

This morning S from the clinic's lab gave me a call. We have four eight-cell embryos and one four-cell embryo. I'm happy with that.

More numbers

I have just had a call from A at the clinic's lab. She told me that of the six fertilised eggs, two have grown to four-cell embryos, two have grown to two-cell and one has grown to three-cell. The sixth more immature one isn't doing as well and should probably be discounted. One of the two-cell embryos has multinucleation (one of the cells has two nuclei), but this almost always resolves itself.

Numbers

This morning I woke up feeling exhausted. I hadn't slept very well, and then my gut decided to play up. I've had this happen before, perhaps half a dozen times over the years. I'll go to the loo early in the morning, then over the following few minutes a small twinge will turn into a fiery cramp and I'll start to sweat buckets. It's awful. All that can be done is to take off all my clothes, clutch a hot wheat bag to my tummy and wait it out. After 20 minutes or so, the pain starts to come and go. Each time it eases off I get a huge feeling of relief and eventually it stops completely, leaving me drained. It happens in exactly the same pattern each time, but because it happens so rarely, I've been unable to pin it down to anything. I should probably get it looked into! However, I went back to sleep for a few hours and now I feel much better.

Egg collection

This morning bright and early we showed up at the clinic for egg collection. We were met by Nurse L who took my vital signs and started to go through some details with us. Then she left the room and a few minutes later Nurse K came in and started to go through the same things! Then we talked to A, the laboratory technician, and we discussed what was going to happen with the eggs. We decided to do transfer two embryos and to try for a transfer on day five, assuming all goes well. A will call me in the morning to let me know.

Instructions and a final jab

Yesterday morning I went to the lab to have a blood test. Of course, it wasn't quite that simple. The lab did not have the form required, so I had to call the clinic and ask about it. They said they would send it through electronically right away, so I went and ran some errands for 20 minutes or so and then went back.

Five-a-side

Bright and early this morning we went to the clinic for my first scan. We saw a different doctor this time, Dr M. There was no mucking around! We were ushered into a room and I undressed in an alcove and then the doctor performed the scan. Dr M was on his own with no nurse, so D had to write down the measurements

How hard does it have to be?

Yesterday I left a message on the clinic's answerphone to say that we didn't have enough Gonal F to last us until my first scan on Thursday. Nurse D rang back and agreed that we didn't have enough. D went to the clinic this morning to pick up some more, as well as some alcohol wipes. This is the third time we have had to visit the clinic to pick up medication. It would have been much more convenient if they'd made sure we had everything we needed the first time!

Oops

This morning we did a bit of maths and realised that we don't have enough Gonal F to last us until my scan on Thursday morning. We have a 900mg pen and a 450mg pen and we need six doses of 250mg. I rang the clinic this morning to explain the situation and hopefully they'll call back and we can go and pick up some more.

Catching up

Oops - I haven't been very good at updating lately. Last Tuesday we went to the clinic for our drug education. There was nothing new, but it was good to have the reminder. We left clutching our green cooler bag full of interesting stuff and then I went to the pharmacy with a prescription for even more medication.

Letter from the lab

Dear D

This letter is a record of your long term storage semen freezing procedure performed at our clinic.

Procedures for everyone

This morning I drove into the city and picked D up from work to get to the clinic by 10.30am. D had taken his painkillers and had had nothing to eat all morning. Before our procedures, we met with one of the finance administrators at the clinic to talk about a funding scheme that would give us $1,000 off the cost of our IVF cycle. We're eligible because we've already done two privately funded cycles and I fit the age criteria. If we're accepted, it will make things a lot easier!

Itchy and scratchy

Nurse L called me this morning to talk about D's appointment tomorrow for his sperm biopsy. He is going to be in meetings all day today, so she gave me the information to pass on to him. Apparently he needs to shave - and I don't mean his beard - which he hasn't done before, so there might be an interesting spectacle in the bathroom tonight!

After meeting Dr Mc

Dear A and D

It was a pleasure to see you both today. You have had a lot of treatment previously and had at least five good quality embryos replaced. You achieved a biochemical pregnancy once but unfortunately have not had success otherwise.