The winter's tuning up...

This morning we had our follow-up appointment at the clinic with Dr C. She was very considerate and sympathetic and spent a lot of time with us discussing our questions about the future. Our first question was whether the reason we hadn't had a successful outcome was because of a problem or simply because of seemingly random factors outside anyone's control.

Gutted

Having exhausted my patience, I rang the clinic back a few minutes ago to chase up the blood test result. Unfortunately it was negative. I am gutted. My hopes were so high. We have a follow-up appointment later this month at which we will discuss whether we try again. Of course I want to try again - but it is beginning to seem very pointless.

Being patient

First thing this morning I went to my local medical centre for a blood test to see whether I am pregnant. The test form was marked "urgent" and the result was supposed to be available this afternoon.

Letter

Dear A and D

We are writing to provide you with a summary of your last treatment cycle.

Transfer

I have just arrived home from the clinic after having our first (and hopefully only) transfer for this IVF cycle. It all went very smoothly and was far less complicated than the pick-up. First I had to undress from the waist down and put on a green gown, just like the one I wore last week, and then we went into a small room with a monitor high on the wall and a large chair with stirrups. D was able to sit next to me and hold my hand throughout. First we were brought up to date with our embryos. Five had been successfully fertilised last week but unfortunately two of them had since stopped growing. Of the remaining three, two were growing well but one looked better, so that was chosen for today's transfer. The rest will be frozen in case we need them.

Almost half a cricket team!

This morning a technician from the clinic rang me to let me know how things had gone in the laboratory overnight. She said that of the nine eggs that had been picked up, six were mature and five of those had been fertilised with D's sperm. That's a good number - certainly better than the two we had last time!

Egg pick-up day

This morning we were up bright and early to get to the clinic by 9.15am for our pick-up appointment. I wasn't allowed anything to eat, but I did sneak in a mug of chamomile tea at 6.00am - the closest I could get to coffee! I was feeling very hormonal and grouchy and my breasts were especially sore. I chose a comfortable bra!

Trigger

This morning I went to the medical centre for a blood test, just to confirm where my hormones were at. In the afternoon Nurse K rang me from the clinic to run through what happens over the next couple of days. Tonight at exactly 10pm I will have an injection of Ovidrel, the "trigger", which will prompt the follicles to begin releasing the eggs. Our pickup appointment is scheduled for 10am on Wednesday, exactly 36 hours later. D and I will need to take the whole day off work. I won't be allowed to drive and D will need to keep an eye on me while I recuperate during the afternoon. It's a bit tough on the body, but at least there are lots of healthy-looking follicles, so hopefully we should get plenty of eggs and I won't need to go through this again. Still feeling positive!

Saturday scan

This morning we were up bright and early to go into town for another ultrasound scan. It showed that the three follicles on the right side and seven on the left had all grown larger, though not quite large enough, so we have scheduled the egg pick-up for Wednesday rather than Monday. We were also given another preloaded needle of Gonal F to last us until Sunday night.

How many?

Today we went into the clinic to see Dr C for our first ultrasound scan for this cycle. I have been having the Gonal F injections for five days now and the blood test I had yesterday showed that my estrogen levels were "nice and high", so it was time to see what my ovaries have been up to.