In vitro fertilisation Archives

Having a Break From IVF

February 10, 2011 By Carol Leave a Comment

Its been a while since I wrote in my blog. Since that time a few other long term infertility sufferers have gotten pregnant and I am still infertile. Its funny that no matter how strong you think you are going there are always those moments when you talk about your experiences and get upset. After a couple of months break from IVF, albeit with the constant reminder of my failure to get pregnant (my ankles and fingers are still swollen from steroid withdrawals) I thought I was doing fine. I was also contemplating life without a child and wondering what that could mean.

However on Monday evening I went out to dinner with my biological mother (I am adopted) and found myself crying about it all. As if that wasn’t embarrassing enough. Today (Thursday), we visited a friend who had baby number 2 and I found myself getting clucky and playing with the baby. I marveled at this newborns beautiful soft skin and tiny long and slender fingers. Then I started crying – perhaps it was the realization that I might never have a baby. I don’t know. All I know is that grief can come along at any moment and strike you when you least expect it. I had to fake it and go to toilet so that no-one could see me cry. Its not good when you want a baby. I know I should be happy for the people who have a child (and I am) except that it reminds me that I can’t have a child and don’t have one.

In any case I have resolved to have a break from IVF and let my body recover. I have rashes all over my body as well as the swollen ankles and this is all related to my reaction to going off steroid treatment for my natural killer cells. I am sick of my body reacting the way it does and want to give it time to recover. Previously I was rushing against my body clock but now I have a different attitude and just want my body to be ok and I want the horrible symptoms I have left over from IVF to go away. I have also put on weight and I know this isn’t going to help me get pregnant either. So it is rest time for me for a little while at least. I am going to have a post a picture of the rashes on my legs that started to appear right before Christmas. I also need to write about another incident that occurred before I left my job. It literally shocked me that someone could be so thoughtless.

Antagonist IVF Cycle and Acupuncture

November 12, 2009 By Carol 3 Comments

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.

IVF Antagonist Cycle #9

November 7, 2009 By Carol Leave a Comment

Yesterday was first day of cycle number 9. Due to the forthcoming Christmas period, I will be doing another antagonist IVF Treatment cycle – the second antagonist cycle in my total treatment. The benefit of doing this is that my cycle will last 28 days instead of the usual 2 months and won’t cut into the Christmas / New Year period when the clinic is closed for egg collection and embryo transfers.

At least I won’t be inconveniencing the doctors and staff who take annual leave. Ironically, it will probably be the best time for me to conceive given I also take holidays over this period so will therefore be in a relaxed and less stressed state.

Forgive me for wanting to have the best possible IVF outcome. I am sure I have become a money tree for my doctor and the staff. To add insult to the wound, is that my doctors comment was that I had a better result on my normal cycle but thought I should go on the antagonist cycle due to the fact that the clinic would be closed over Christmas.

In normal circumstances, I would have been annoyed by this, but the fact remains that financially we are better taking a chance on becoming pregnant now rather than next year. Why you ask? Because the amount I get reimbursed from the Government for the IVF treatment will be higher this year rather than next year when IVF limits become capped. So despite the potential lower odds of conception, it actually makes sense from a financial perspective to give it another go. Ironically, the governments policy to cap IVF has backfired on them – at least in the short term.

Cost of IVF Increases by 15%

November 4, 2009 By Carol Leave a Comment

The cost of IVF has increased by over 15% since July. This increase marks the second price increase in less than 12 months putting further pressure on would be families.

At a leading Melbourne Clinic, a typical IVF cycle in July cost $4,666 in up front fees. As of November, the cost increased to $5,387.25 – a massive difference of $721.

The clinic does not charge patients all costs up front so with the additional costs considered, the total cost for IVF in July was $6,900 and $8,800 when hospital costs were also included. At the time of publishing, only the up front costs were available. The total cost of IVF is yet to be uncovered but if the 15% increase is applied to the total cost, it may well be that the total cost may push up over AUD$10,000.

IVF and Multiple Births

October 21, 2009 By Carol Leave a Comment

Recent news coverage has focused on high rates of multiple births in IVF. More attention than usual has dominated the news due to Nadya Suleman, otherwise known as Octomum, who gave birth to eight babies at the same time after having had IVF treatment. A Queensland couple have also sparked the debate with women giving birth to a set of twins after already having had 2 sets of quadruplets.

The impact of the news coverage has been to condemn IVF clinics and specialists. In truth, the majority of clinics only recommend implanting a single embryo. This is because multiple births can be more risky for both the mother and the infants than a single birth. For example, the risk of cerebral palsy is six times higher for twins, and twenty times higher for triplets. Infant mortality rates are also higher. Multiple births can also be a risk to the mother. Apart from the risk of high blood pressure, there is an increased risk of miscarriage and premature birth. If an infant is born too prematurely, breathing and feeding complications may arise.

Changing the Medicare rebate in Australia has now sparked concerns that there will be a two for the price on one mentality with more women rushing to have more embryos implanted so as to increase their chances of success. Whilst it is easy to look at these statistics, a greater issue may be the fact that increasingly women are delaying motherhood until well into their thirties where the chance of conception is lower. A women’s biological clock may just give greater clues to an apparent rush on transferring more than one embryo.