Baseline scan

Today we went for the baseline scan. When we got there, they were already waiting for us, no waiting time whatsoever which was nice but it kind of made me feel that we came late although we still had 5 odd minutes spare.

Two nurses took me through which was unusual but it looked like the one who was actually doing the scan was learning. The second nurse I recognised but didn't remember her name. Oh well. Scan went well, not too uncomfortable at this stage. I wasn't told exactly how many follicles she could see but apparently it was good number on each side, left ovary being the 'better' one again. Lining was thin as well so we were given all clear for starting Gonal F injections from today. Yay!

After the scan we waited only a few minutes until a nurse from pharmacy picked us up in the waiting room. I got two big white paper bags full of drugs. There was Gonal F, then Zomacton with two sets of needles plus syringes, then aspirin and folic acid. I already did my injections today, 'only' two but tomorrow it will be full house - all three injections plus the tablets. Can't wait.

Pill worked

My last pill was on Tuesday 21st of June and my period started on Sunday 26th. So no stressing about delayed bleeding before baseline scan. That's scheduled for this Thursday. Let's hope my lining is thin enough so I'll be able to start stimulation straight away.
My mum came over for almost a week and left on Thursday. As we were coming home from the airport around 6pm, I started having the worst headache in my life. I never had migraines so can't tell if it was like one but it was terrible. I felt sick, I couldn't get comfortable and two paracetamols didn't help. After about two hours of torture I asked Rick to call out of hours emergency number to ask if we should go to hospital if it was related to the treatment drugs. The doctor on call got back to us really quickly and said it's nothing to worry about as I was on buserelin for 10 days already and also this is our second cycle. I fell asleep after all and when I woke up at 11pm, I was fine. Hopefully I will never get the same pain ever in my life.

Endometrial scratch

I was supposed to get a phone call on Saturday to confirm time of the procedure. No one bothered. I left them a voice mail on Saturday night. A nurse called me this morning around 8:20 and told me to come at 1pm with a comfortably full bladder.
When we got there, we were sat in the corridor by quite a grumpy nurse who told us that someone will take care of us soon. After 15 minutes another nurse asked us if we were being helped. My bladder was very full by then. After another few minutes we were taken through to a tiny room just to have a little chat about what's going to happen today. We had a little moan about what's been happening, how chaotic and unprofessional the team has been. She asked us if we wanted to talk to someone just to put our minds to peace and we agreed. We saw noone.
We were taken to the waiting room and my bladder started screaming, we ended up waiting another 20 minutes. After that another nurse picked me up and took me to the same theatre I had my embryo transfer done. The doctor and yet another nurse were very lovely. I got changed into a theatre gown and got on the chair. The procedure itself took maybe 3 minutes. The scratching part was quite painful, short intense pain but as quickly as it arrived, it was gone. A few seconds of pain and we were done. It wasn't bad at all. The best part of it all was I could go to the toilet straight after. Back in the waiting room I got my antibiotic tablets (just routine) and we were free to go. We went upstairs to the pharmacy to pick up my medications. We got to the check in point and again, we were not on the system. I was getting quite annoyed by that point. They took us to the waiting room though and even gave us a free coffee (in our case hot chocolate) token. Yay. Within a few minutes a nice nurse picked me up and took me through. I got my buserelin, syringes and sharps box so I'm all good to go and start my injections tomorrow. :) Baseline scan is scheduled for July 7th.

Ready, set and... Countdown!

After I sent the email to the clinic on Wednesday, I got a phone call from them about an hour later. The nurse was quite confused/confusing because according to my notes I started the down regulation for IVF #2 on 26/04! I couldn't believe they actually thought that when it was the same team who told me to wait for my next period and cancelled the treatment after I started bleeding on day 18. She told me that she was going to have a doctor review my notes and that she would call me back later that day. She never did.
I though to myself, they are probably busy, she is definitely going to call me on Thursday or send me an email. No, nothing happened. Rick was starting to get a bit annoyed as well so he said he was going to call them. All good, they are going to let us know. Cool.
Went to walk our new puppy (Alfie, the German sheprador) and didn't hear my phone ring. I had a voicemail saying that the doctor wants me to start oral contraceptive pill as soon as possible and that I will have to go there to collect them if I don't have any. To be honest, birth control pills are not a thing to be found in my cupboard when we are trying to have a baby... Haha.
I got all panicky because I remember when I was younger and on the pill, they have to be taken from day 1. It was too late to go to the clinic so would have to go the next day (today) which would already be my day 3. I thought that we would have to wait for my next cycle AGAIN to plan the treatment. But fortunately the nurses told me that missing just a couple of pills is fine since I'm taking them only to regulate my hormones and make sure that I'll bleed before my baseline scan. So today I'll start taking the pill and I'll be going back to the clinic on 20/06 for endometrial scratch and will start down regulation on 21/06.

Finally... Auntie Flo came

After 39 days I can finally say that my period started. I have been very irritable and quite a bitch to be honest for the last week. When I called the clinic last time, I asked if my period should start normally after about 4 weeks after the unexpected period which started on day 18 of my last cycle. The nurse said yes. And yet here we are, more than a week later. I'll send them email again tomorrow about my 'progress' and I'm planning on including my AF schedule since the unsuccessful treatment in February. Just to let them know that my cycle has been very irregular and I think it might affect the treatment plan since it is all based on regular cycles. I'm not sure what I want them to reply. Whether I want them to check me to see if everything is fine or readjust the treatment dates according to my cycles now or whether to continue as planned (buserelin starting on day 21, no baseline scan...). We'll see tomorrow, hopefully they'll answer quickly.

Overwhelmed

Everybody around me is getting pregnant or already had a baby. Literally. My college classmates, friends, colleagues, family members... It just seems unfair. Why not me? I mean I am happy for them and it was very unlikely for us that the IVF would work the very first time but why can't we be in the middle of IVF #2 as we were supposed to be? Why is everything so much dependent on how my body reacted or still reacts to the drugs that are out of my system for over two months now? It's ridiculous. I now pray that I don't start bleeding in the middle of my next cycle again because I really want this to happen. I understand why other women get frustrated easily when this or something similar happens. I can't help but think about all this all the time. And we are only in the waiting period just now. I think Rick is getting a bit annoyed with me because I keep going on and on and on about it. I can't help it, honestly. Oops.

Another delay

Today was supposed to be The Day. Day 21, start of my injections and also endometrial scratch. But nothing of that is happening. The reason is simple. On Friday night, respectively Saturday, I started bleeding. It was my day 18. It wasn't just spotting but probably another period. Or something. I never had any spotting or bleeding in the middle of my cycles before but now it matters. I sent an email to the clinic straight after I knew it wasn't just a day's worth situation. Their reply came just before a nurse called me yesterday to arrange a time slot for the procedure. I had to tell her again what happened and I got redirected to another nurse, Sarah, who told me that a doctor needs to review my notes and will let me know what happens next. It is not great. The scratch needs to be done in luteal phase of the cycle which either didn't happen for me this cycle or happened earlier and it is not advisable to do the scratch while bleeding. Also it affects the start day for my injections. Turns out now we have to wait for my next natural period and start countdown to day 21 from there. That means we won't start treatment cycle #2 for another 7 weeks if everything goes well.

21...20...19...

Yes, officially as of today we can start our countdown to treatment #2! Auntie Flo finally came, 10 days late. I sent an email to the nurses at the clinic straight away and was checking every hour for their reply. It came really quick and it was so detailed. They gave me all the dates, when I have my endometrial scratch, when I start Suprecur, Gonal F, aspirin, higher dose of folic acid and Zomacton, they even gave me an appointment for my first scan. That means there will be no baseline scan this cycle. I guess it's not necessary since I reacted well to all of the drugs and they are keeping them the same for this cycle so there should be everything going well with my body like last time. I can't wait!