Sorry that we haven’t posted in a while, our journey became very military and we overthought a lot which we think had an impact on our result.

Anyway… back to the beginning.

On the 12th April I started taking Northisterone tablets for 2 weeks, these tablets were to stop my period and also what I can only describe as turn me into a hormone monster. On the 23rd April I also started taking 1 injection each evening of Suprecur, Pete did this for me, I can do it, although it takes me a lot longer to inject myself, so Pete stepped up to Doctor Pete. Suprecur is used during treatment to stop the natural release of hormones which stop the release of eggs from my ovaries. These injections were taken for 2 and a half weeks, and they turned me into an evil, hungry, bloated whale monster. Pete could do nothing right, even when he was completely right, it was a stressful time.

Also during this time we booked a ‘scratch’ now these are quite new and there isn’t a lot of research into if they are beneficial or not. The point of the scratch, is to cause a small ‘cut’ in the uterus, this is not done under sedation, and I was told it could be quite uncomfortable. Now as a woman, I find it hard enough trying to explain a period pain to a man, but trying to explain the pain this scratch caused is impossible. But what I will say is it was one of the most intensely painful experiences I have ever had, I cried out in pain and could stay still. I managed not to cry, until I saw Pete then I turned into a child who wants attention after falling over. I’m going to do another blog post on the scratch itself as it’s something I am interested in knowing wether they are worth doing on not.

As well these injections, a week in I started taking a second injection which was Menopur, this was kept in the fridge and stung so much when Pete injected me. This injection was to provide follicle stimulating hormone (FSH). If you remember I was told I had very low FSH produced for my age, so the dose was a strong enough to help produce as many eggs as possible. I took Menopur for two weeks and during this time, I had numerous internal scans to ensure that my uterus lining was thick enough and also to see if I had any follicles in my ovaries.

On Monday 6th May I had my last egg activity scan and was told to take my trigger injection that evening at 9pm. The trigger injection to start ovulation, this takes 36 hours. So I was booked in for egg collection on the Wednesday 8th May at 10.15am. I was told I would be sedated which calmed me a little, as the scratch I had really shook me, I found it very intense and painful and any procedures I have now in that area my heart rate shoots through the roof. The doctor sedated me and gave me powerful painkillers before they started the procedure, it took 15 minutes, I wasn’t as sedated as I had hoped as I felt the pinches as the needles went into the ovaries, but other than that it was quite painless.

From the egg collection we had 17 eggs! Which the doctors were very happy with considering my low FSH levels. Needless to say Pete and I were ecstatic!

That evening the eggs were fertilised, Pete didn’t want to talk about the amount of eggs or even think about how many may be viable, so we waited until early next morning when the clinic called me and of the 17 eggs, 14 were mature enough to try fertilisation, and of those 14, 12 managed to fertilise!!

We then had to wait to see how many of our embryos went forward and how many would make it to the day 5 blastocyst stage. We had a call 3 days later and the clinic booked us in for a 5 day transfer, they were happy with how the Embryos were progressing and it look promising for a 5 day blastocyst transfer.

On the day of transfer the embryologist advised us that as well as a grade A embryo they were we had 3 embryos that were grade A and could be frozen. 1 was nearly good enough and could get to were where it should be, 5 were not quite good enough and 1 didn’t progress. AMAZING – 3 frozen embryos as well as the 1 they were putting in!!

Did you know that most women are born with 1-2 million eggs. However they are as many as they’ll ever have. These eggs are in the form of Ovarian Follicles, during menstration a number of these follicles are activated, although usually only one egg is released the others are absorbed and lost. Research has estimated that women naturally ovulate 400 times in their lifetime although every month we potentially lose upwards of 1000 follicles a month.

Let’s do the maths. I’m 34 in 8 days, I was 10 when I got my first period.

So 24 years. 288 Months.

288,000 potential eggs lost.

And this only increases the older we get.

Before starting IVF the Doctors needed to check that my eggs were still viable. Basically checking to see if I still had enough eggs left in my bank. They do this using a AMH (anti-Müllerian hormone) test, AMH is a special protein hormone produced in the follicles. So by checking the AMH levels in my blood it can show the Doctors an estimate of how many follicles I have left.

Between the ages of 30-34 The AMH levels should be in the range of 4.1% – 58%. The lower the percentage the lower the egg count.

My egg count was 5.6%

The Nurse advised me this was low for my age, however Pete is nice and strong in all aspects and they can still offer us IVF although it needs to be ASAP. As after the science lesson I’ve taught you above, every month gone is thousands of potential eggs lost.

So we are on a mission to make and save as much money as possible. And again a massive thank you to anyone who has supported Joloves, or even shared our story.

We have a nurses appointment on my birthday – 26th March at 2pm to talk about what happens next, and to potentially go on the waiting list.

We’ll keep you posted

All our love

J & P

x

Yesterday Pete and I had tests to make sure our bodies were strong enough to withstand IVF. We get our results on Wednesday, I still find it crazy that results can be ready that quickly. With the NHS we are so used to waiting weeks to get a result of a blood test. Although it did cost us £265 for the pleasure, oh as well as the initial consultation we forgot to pay for on our original meeting which was another £205. So it was a very expensive 20 mins, although we know completely worth it.

Just an update on the fundraising for our procedure, our IVF was melts are selling wonderfully and we have sold 10 sets which has helped pay for tests yesterday. Thank you to everyone who has supported, shared, purchased or just giving us a smile. We have had such positive feedback from our first post and so many kind words from people we’ve never even met, it’s amazing how people really can be so generous and kind.

Thank you so much.

We’ll update you with our results on Wednesday. Fingers crossed we are nice and healthy.

Love

J & P