IVF Journey: Drugs day 15

This is my IVF diary. My husband and I have been trying to have a baby for three and a half years now, and have a diagnosis of 'unexplained infertility'. We have finally reached the top of the waiting list for IVF - a form of assisted conception. I'm blogging about what happens as it happens, as a kind of therapy for me and as an awareness raising exercise of what IVF is all about.

I had a hospital appointment at 8.30am this morning. The main thing that I went in for today was a scan to see how things were progressing.

Pictured is the scanning equipment. It is an internal scan that they do, and the rounded pointy thing is what they use to do that. The recipient of the scan strips below the waist, and the doctor sets up the rounded pointy thing by covering it with lube, putting a condom over it, then putting more lube on top. The rounded pointy thing is then inserted into the ladyparts.

The equipment somehow magically measures the womb lining, and mine was 3.6mm. This was good news as it seems they were looking for a thickness of below 4mm. Fake menopause achieved - tick!

The doctor also counted my follicles - the bits that my eggs can grow in. I have 12. She said that was good.

This means I can now move on to the next stage, which is excellent. At every stage there is always the possibility that I might not be responding to the treatment. The treatment could be delayed, or prolonged, or called off. So it is a relief to be proceeding as planned with no problems or barriers identified to my chances of success.

So the next stage involves hyperstimulating the ovaries. In doing this, over the next couple of weeks I will grow more eggs than usual (in my 12 follicles) and when they are all grown the doctors will harvest as many as possible.

So I have to hyperstimulate my ovaries by taking a further injection every morning - in addition to the one I am already doing. So two separate injections every morning. The nurse taught me how to administer the new injections and sent me on my way. I have to go in again twice next week to see how the eggs are doing.

The nurse kindly said that if I felt grotty on the initial drugs then this would perk me right up in a couple of days. As I actually feel fine, I hope I will simply continue to feel fine.

So far so good. As I mentioned yesterday, to this point the IVF thing is substantially less stressful than the last time I spent on the waiting list (and infinitely better than I was expecting - touch wood). Luckily for me I am not bothered by injections or smear test style things - otherwise this would all be pretty grim. Mainly it is just a pain in the ass to have to go to the appointments, especially as they are before work time so very early. But actually, broadly speaking, I feel much more normal and positive than I have done in a long time. I have been given back some hope.