Full IVF cycle part 2

When starting IVF I thought it would be a simple case of complete step 1, step 2 and step 3 and ta da here are your embryos.

What I've learned is that like all of our bodies are different on the outside, they are also different on the inside. When it comes to faking your body into a hyper fertile state, there are so many variables and each fertility specialist has a different approach and drug regime to try and get you to reach an appropriate level of hyper fertility.

In addition to following the prescribed drug regime, there is a stack of monitoring. Monitoring involves blood tests and ultra sounds to ensure hormones are increasing appropriately and that the all important follicles are developing.

My daily injection is going fine, as it turns out I'm a professional. The monitoring is showing that each ovary is developing 5 or 6 follicles of about equal size. This is really good news. The follicles need to be developed to certain size for the eggs that come out of them to be mature. My doctor said that my body is doing exactly as it is supposed to do and wishes all his patients were as well behaved.

Some women have the case where early monitoring shows they don't have enough follicles, so their injection medication level is increased - however this can lead to follicles that develop late, and therefore are not mature by the time eggs are harvested.

I keep doing what I'm doing. I'm injecting at just after 7am and getting blood tests and scans as instructed. Finally my doctor tells me my follicles are all the right size and it time to do the 'trigger' shot.

The trigger shot is the hormone that tells your body OVULATE. Apparently after this shot it takes about 37 hours to ovulate. Therefore, about 36 hours after you do this final injection it is important that you are having the eggs harvested from the follicle.

The doctor tells me I'm booked for a 2pm egg pick up on Wednesday, this means that at 1am on Tuesday morning I need to wake up and give myself an injection. Clearly this timing thing is a little confusing. The doctor tells me, that is like Monday night you need set the alarm - it is really important that I get the timing right.

Given my policy on anything that will increase my chances of IVF success is on the to do list, I was awake at 12.45 am on Tuesday prepping the injection (that this time isn't in one of the easy to administer epipens). Once I administer the injection I'm straight back to sleep.

The next two days are great. No drugs at all. After 4+ weeks of nasal sprays and 2+ weeks of daily injections a two day drug break is a luxury. The break also means the business end of the IVF cycle is around the corner.

Injection perfection

On Thursday I visited the fertility specialist to get my first pregnyl injection. As I understand it this injection puts a little bit of HCG in my system, therefore preventing the premature breakdown of my uterus lining that I experienced last month. 

The doctor had me prepared with the prescription, so I had my drugs ready to go and knew what to bring with me. Instead of being worried about the impending injection, all I was thinking about was the holiday notice. I wondered if it would be fixed, or if I would be subjected to erroneous notice for the duration of my wait. 

Needless to say, I was smugly pleased to see the notice had been fixed in the week between my visits. So much so I snapped a record on my iPhone while the receptionist was out of the waiting room....

Having learned from my last visit, I skipped the pile of magazines. While I enjoyed what felt like a win on the revised holiday notice I didn't want to spend too much time looking at the baby notice board either. Instead I immersed myself in my day ahead, reviewing my diary and reading my emails.

My wait was much shorter and I felt great when the doctor called my name. 

So the purpose of the visit was not just to get my injection, but to learn how to do them to myself, so I could be self reliant for future injections. For this particular series I only needed the three injections, one on Thursday, then Sunday (today) and then the coming Wednesday. But as it turns out there was a lot more to it than just the injecting bit.

I needed to be shown the technique for breaking open the glass vials in which the two separate elements to the drug have been provided. My hands were shaking as I was trying to crack them open. Once cracked open, the doctor shows me how to put a syringe together and then draw the liquid out of the first vial. The doctor then squirts the liquid back in the vial and hands it back over to me to do the same. Drawing the fluid up is pretty easy. I then squirt the liquid into the other vial that contains a powder. The powder quickly dissolves and the doctor instructs me to give it a stir with the needle. I then have to draw up the combined liquid into the syringe. This is when it starts to get tricky. I have to be careful not to suck up too much air. Once it is all drawn up I have to hold the needle point up and flick the syringe to tap out any air bubbles. Its just like on tv - only I'm going to inject it in myself and I'm genuinely worried about air bubbles! The doctor tells me the amount of air left in the syringe won't hurt me. So, now I have to swap from the horse needle I've been using for all the drawing up etc to the finer injecting into myself needle. 

This is all pretty simple, but brings me closer to the sticking point, where I have to jab myself. The doctor tells me to pinch some of the F A T (yes he spelled it out) on my tummy and then I need to push the needle in half way. Away I go.... While I'm jabbing the doctor tells me this is the worst of the needles he teaches his patients, because it stings the most. Meanwhile I'm thinking - I'm brilliant at this, it doesn't hurt at all. The doctor gets me to push the needle in a bit further and then I have to slowly push in the syringe. It really isn't hurting. I'm really pleased about that. Once it is all squirted in I slowly pull out the needle. The doctor tells me I've done really well and starts to pack me my very own drug kit for home. Extra syringes, needles, a little plastic cap to help crack the viles open and my very own sharps disposal kit.

As he is packing it all up I check out his tie, this time it is storks delivering babies. This guy clearly likes the novelty tie. He is really warm and likable and the novelty tie really suits him.

My drug kit

Today I had to repeat the injection process at home. I laid everything out and was impressed at my drug kit. I did pretty well repeating the process, only making the one mistake, where I prematurely changed the needle, preventing me from being able to draw up the completed potion. I then had to lever open my sharps disposal container to retrieve the big needle to draw the combined potion up. I flick the syringe to knock out the air bubbles and swapped needles to the finer injecting one. I get ready for the injection - just like in the doctor's surgery, only I swap sides as the doctor had told me to try not to do them all in the one place. I pinch some F A T and got ready for the jab and it stings like a bastard!!!!!

Giving myself my second injection

I don't what I did differently at the doctor's office, but this needle is unpleasant. I persist and push the syringe down. When I draw out the needle I'm left with a little hole that bleeds a little bit. I check and yes I have definitely changed to the small needle. I've got no idea why but this time the injection giving was really unpleasant.

At least there is only one more to go.