IVF - Appointment No 1

Hubby left for away jobs in the East Cost at 6am. I went back to sleep after saying good bye. So sad for both of us...

My MIL and my mom accompanied me to my first IVF appointment. I was nervous, yet excited too. The clinic was pretty empty when we got there. It was a relief :)

We went in to see Dr Prashant at 12 noon. He straight away started scanning my uterus and we saw 8 eggs in my right ovary and 5 in my left. Pretty normal I guess.

But Dr P couldn't start my IVF. I was quite frustrated as I was very excited about starting my IVF. However, I understand Dr P's concern. He will be away from the 17th-18th of Oct. Therefore, we have to postpone the IVF until he comes back.

He gave me the OCP to be taken every night starting from today until Saturday of which I need to come for a blood test. The plan is then to start the IVF on the 20th. Reason being as below:

Birth control pills or, more correctly, oral contraceptive pills (OCPs) can be used as a part of the IVF stimulation protocol in several different settings. First, in patients who are known or suspected to be high responders, OCPs may help mitigate the risk of ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome.

Second, which is in my case, in patients without predictable regular menstrual cycles, OCPs can be used in combination with Lupron to initiate an IVF cycle. They uusually start OCPs in such cases after confirming with a blood test that the woman has not recently ovulated. Then, after 1 week, they add Lupron. After 1 more week, they stop the Lupron and wait for withdrawal bleeding. Once a patient has bled, they begin the gonadotropin stimulation.

We are hoping that IVF is still happening this month as I need to go back to work soon. On the bright side, hubby will be with me throughout the process as no more outstation until next month. Yeeeeeeeeeeehaaaaaa!

Btw, I started to realise that I have readers from all over the world. While this may seem like child’s play to some of you, it’s a really big deal to me.  Since I started, my average readers are only from Malaysia. Now I have readers from the States, Asia Pacific, Australia etc. So drop me a line.  Let me know you were here.  Tell me about yourself and your journey.  Kinda like a blind date…but not as cheesy.  I’d love to hear from you.  And maybe I can stop by your place too.  Have your people call my people :)

Ps: Today's visit is free of charge, superb! :)

Our IVF journey begins

At 532pm yesterday, I was in a state of shock when my period came early. 28 days! Wow! And no period pain, no pimples and the AF arrived. I guess this is one of the benefit of doing hysteroscopy. I am now on a normal cycle again. Great!

I straight away called the clinic and scheduled an appointment with Dr Prashant on Monday. This means, my first IVF injection will be on Monday. I am super duper nervous. Mainly because hubby will be away on Monday and Tuesday. So I will be alone for my first appointment. I hope it goes out alright. After all, we plan to get the nurse to do the injection every day since my house is only 5 minutes away. I am so scared of needles. Really!

I am so excited to start my IVF. I have been telling myself these past few months that if our angel is through IVF, I am willing to go through anything for her/him. But if it fails, we will start looking into adoption. I am sure, somewhere out there, God has chosen an angel to be raised by my husband and I. So I am pretty excited :) whatever the result will be, I hope we will be ok. InsyaAllah.

If you are reading this and thinking about doing an IVF, I would say give it a go.

I will write more after Monday. Have a good weekend!! :)

Blog of the Week

I came across the blog below and finds it inspirational, have a read :)

http://latebloomer13.wordpress.com/2009/11/12/and-so-it-begins/

Hysteroscopy

So my polyp was still there. We went to see Dr Prashant at 1115am and by 12 noon, we headed straight to Pantai, after informing our families. No charge for the scan but the procedure at Pantai costs us RM3,200.00. Yep, it is expensive. I was feeling ok to do the procedure even though i was quite positive the night before that the polyp is gone. Hubby on the other hand was nervous. The poor guy seemed so scared...

After we have settled down at the Daycare Centre, one of the Nurse took my blood pressure, did some history check on my health and measured my weight. At 3pm, another Nurse came in and told us that it was time for the procedure. At this point in time, i was a bit nervous. Not of the procedure but of the needle. Boy i hate needles :( I could still remember the looked on hubby's face as they pushed me towards the OT. He looked scared. Me on the other hand, the journey towards the OT felt like forever. The feeling was exactly like in the movies where the patient lie still on the bed, staring at the ceiling and the white hospital lights. Just before i entered the OT room, the Anaestatist came to see me, had a small talk....overall, she seemed nice. The Nurse assured me that she was one of the best they have in the hospital. Well, good to know! The Anaes then prepared the drip/plastic thgy on my left hand for the GA drip. Frankly speaking, this was the most painful part of the procedure to me. Once done, it was still painful. I was in pain for about 15 minutes and in my heart, i was screaming, 'Where is Dr Prashant? i want to get this done Now'! Yes, i was such a drama queen. But it was painful!

15 minutes later, Dr Prashant came. Boy was i glad to see his face. He told me not to worry. We went into the OT room. There were 6 people around me. I was given an Oxygen through the mouth, they started putting wires on my chest, shoulders, back while at the same time, the Anaes started giving me my GA. I fell asleep probably around 330pm.

The scarriest part was when i woke up, hearing someone calling my name. At this stage, i could not open my eyes, i could not move and i could feel pain near my uterus. My mouth and throat hurt as well because of the oxygen pipe. I felt like choking. That lasted another 15 minutes. I was so scared. I thought i was paralysed. Then an angle came to my rescue and took out the pipe from my mouth. I started to recover slowly. I managed to open my eyes and moved my hands slowly. I felt really weak. They then pushed me to the Daycare where i saw my Hubby and families waiting for me. I started to feel calm again...

I recovered slowly. An hour later, had a bit of a drink and a cup of milo. Suddenly i felt really wet down there. Blood started flowing. According to the Nurse, it is normal as it is from the scaring of the procedure. Ouch. By 630pm, we headed home and i went to bed and woke up at 2pm the next day.

So that was my experience. It was not too bad but the recovery part is the worst. I am now homebound for 2 weeks according to my mom even though my Doc says 3 days is enough. I decided to play it safe and follow mom's advice. Especially since i wanted to start our IVF in 2 weeks time. So here i am, blogging from my bedroom. I have some friends visiting me soon, so I am excited. I am grateful for having wonderful friends and families. InsyaAllah, we will get through IVF alright.

Hysteroscopy is safe. Dr Prashant sent my polyp for biopsy, just to be on the safe side. If you are having second thought whether to do the procedure or not, my advice, do it.

A 'date' with Dr Prashant

'I couldn't see the growth. You uterus is not ready'

So we went home at no charge :) I am on day 11 of my 36 days cycle. So I have to come back on Wed morning for another scan and if Dr Prashant can see the polyps then, my surgery will be at 230pm on the same day! Bummer!

I can't wait to start my next cycle ie when I can start my IVF!!! :)

Back to reality

My dear readers,

Hope everyone is doing well. I just got back from my 5 weeks holiday. It was perfect! Other than the jet lag, I am feeling great and fat! So the plan is to go on a diet now...or maybe after the jet lag is over. Sounds like a good plan to me ;)

I am in day 9 of my cycle. The plan is to remove my polyps on day 13 ie next Wed. So on the 19th, I will be meeting Dr Prashant for a quick check up. Hopefully all go well and we can start our IVF in the next cycle, insyaAllah. At this stage, I am very excited to start IVF as I am feeling fresh and healthy. I know there is a higher chance that the IVF might fail but I need to try, at least once before we adopt a child.

Btw, I visited an old friend today who just gave birth to a beautiful baby boy. Can I have one please? :)

Take care, till next week :)

Long awaited break

Hello hello :)

Almost a month since my last update. Almost forgot that I have polyps and trying to conceive. I am trying to overcome this awful feeling of being infertile.

I have been doing a lot of baby clothes shopping. I couldn't resist it, baby clothes are just too cheap here. Rm6 for osh kosh clothes and rm20 for polo ralph lauren? Too cheap! If I couldn't have my own child, I can always give them to my sister in law or my sisters :) plus, a friend of mine just gave birth to a beautiful baby boy. So I did some shopping for the baby too! To be honest, I felt happy buying the clothes even though I know they are not for my own child....weird eh? ;)

Oh, I am away on holiday now. Far far away from home :) I am not looking forward to my polyps removal procedure which is scheduled on 21092011 but I will make sure I am ready when the time comes.

Anyway, next week is already hari raya. I would like to take this opportunity to wish my blogreaders Salam Aidilfitri and MaafZahir batin. I hope everyone is safe and happy...if you are trying to conceive like me, stay strong and keep on trying :)

Assalamualaikum and till next time :)