Today is Day 7 of my cycle and the 6th day of follicle stimulating injections. I had my first ultrasound and blood test for cycle 9 yesterday. Goodness my IVF cycle count is getting on the high side.

The ultrasound was interesting – they spotted 16 follicles in the right ovary and 14 in the left – the largest follicle was getting close to 16 but the rest were much smaller 11 and 12 and some still unmeasureable. Its really all meaningless at this point because the follicles have a lot of growing to do before egg collection.

As a consequence of one follicle being slightly larger, I had to take my first antagonist injection this morning to prevent ovulation.  I had wanted to do a photo blog of it this time but I got camera shy. I thought it might be a novel twist. Maybe another time. Although I am not sure I want to expose my belly that is starting to bloat and become bruised from the treatment to the world.  This injection is not too bad, relatively painless but it takes a bit more pressure to pierce this particular needle into my belly and the injected area tends to be quite itchy for an hour or so.  I’ve done my second injection for stimulating my follicles tonight and will be back to the clinic tomorrow for another ultrasound and blood test.

Once I have a date set for egg collection, I will be ringing my acupuncturist for some treatment before egg collection and plan to have some more treatment around embryo transfer time.  I didn’t do this treatment the last few cycles – mainly due to the fact that I developed an aversion to needles and that I had to drive for an hour in peak hour traffic just to get treatment.  I figured the stress of the journey worked against me.  However, acupuncture seriously is about the only other thing that has been documented in studies to assist in conception.  My new acupuncturist seems quite capable too and specialises in gynaecology of Chinese Traditional Medicine from Beijing University.

Antagonist IVF Cycle and Acupuncture is a post from: The IVF Club

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One major change from the treatment protocol I had last time is the fact that instead of injecting the antagonist in the evening an hour after the follicle stimulating hormone, I now need to inject the antagonist in the morning. I asked my new nurse why the treatment protocols had changed. She replied that an expert visited the clinic in April and advised that these cycles tended to have better success when the antagonist was given the next morning.

I was mildly annoyed as I had treatment in July and I had been told to inject in the evening. I asked my nurse about this. The reply, “it takes time to do a proper literature search so it was not adopted as a procedure until June or July this year.”  Of course,  indicated that my treatment was in July so why was I not told of this.  She suggested that maybe the treatment was adopted after I commenced.  Maybe! Maybe!  Wouldn’t you kind of think it might actually be a good thing to know – especially after spending countless dollars on the treatment and having what is starting to become countless failures.

Change in Antagonist IVF Treatment Procedure is a post from: The IVF Club

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Tonight heralds the night where I will inject the final needle that will trigger ovulation. I got the call from my nurse and was instructed to use Ovidrel at 9.30pm (EST) tonight. Of course, this means I will be checking in at “Hotel M” (my affectionate term for the world famous IVF clinic) at 10.30am Friday for my egg collection at 11am.

Hubby will also need to produce some sperm when we check in at the “Hotel.” It’s funny but I never really thought about how he produced his sample but I now have it on good advice that the cubicle where he is to “produce” is well equipped with visual stimuli including videos and magazines. I assume the content is soft porn. Who knows – it remains unspoken as I am sure my husband will not want to divulge this information.

In any case, after an intense couple of days of multiple needles, I find myself strangely looking forward to this last jab. On a personal note, I am feeling fine and not overly bloated which is good. I recall that our objective was to have less eggs of better quality (not 22 of poor quality like last time).

I find myself wondering how many eggs they will retrieve, will they fertilise and will they survive to a day 5 blastocyst. But most importantly I wonder if all these conditions are met – will the little embryo finally implant. This is place where IVF has failed in my last 6 attempts. At yes, time to keep playing the waiting game.

Triggering Ovulation is a post from: The IVF Club

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Today marks the third scan and blood test that I have had in less than a week. The good news is that my follicles are coming along nicely and there are now 10 reasonably large follicles (hopefully with some eggs inside of them).

It seems that at certain point, the ultrasound team don’t measure the small follicles – just the larger ones. What I’d like to know is what happened to the other 20 plus follicles that were detected only a few days earlier!! I suppose they are still there in hiding.

In any case, that question goes unanswered as I learn that I am scheduled for egg collection this Friday 31st July. This means taking the day off on sick leave and not working at my part-time job on Saturday.

It also means two more injections tonight and two more tomorrow night and then a final one on Wednesday night to trigger ovulation. All good fun. My aversion to needles is back with a vengence. The veins in my arms have gone into hiding. My stomach is looking pretty bruised from all the needles. I am starting to feel bloated and uncomfortable again from my swollen ovaries. My purse is $166 lighter after paying for two more antagonist injections. Is it worth it? Definately if we get a positive result and a healthy baby at the end of it all.

IVF Tests, Scans and Costs is a post from: The IVF Club

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