Day 11: les jeux sont faites!

Today was the first day of the roadwork's on one of the city's busiest road junction. Extremely high levels of traffic were anticipated on the alternative routes in and out of The Hague and it was advised to leave the car at home. We toyed with the idea of cycling to the hospital but quickly dismissed it: surely the follies would not have appreciated the bumpy ride!

Although it took us twenty minutes to get out of the centre, extremely high levels of additional stress were avoided and it was a good dress-rehearsal for Wednesday morning: day of the egg retrieval! This day was decided during our 4th ultrasound this morning. It looked like three, four or maybe even five egg cells will join in for the party.

The smaller egg cells did not show a lot of progress since yesterday, so the doctor thought it was not worth stimulating the other follicles more at the risk of sacrificing the big ones. At eleven tonight we are going to administer the human chorionic gonadotrophin injection, code name Pregnyl. This hormone helps induce the release of mature eggs from the ovaries by mimicking the normal surge of luteinizing hormone (LH) that occurs mid-way through a normal menstrual cycle, and causes ovulation to begin.

Egg retrieval is performed about 36 hours after the eggs are triggered to mature with the HCG. This is why it is key to arrive in time on Wednesday morning! We are both excited and looking forward to the next steps!

To remind myself of what is coming, I read Kata's story over and over and absorb all the information. Kata is a couple of months ahead of me in the process: she and her husband are expecting their first child following their first ICSI-treatment. There is a complicating factor in their situation since her husband has cystic fibrosis (CF). This disease causes reproductive problems, since the sperm can not pass from the testicles to the point of ejaculation, even though the testicles are producing sperm. Her husband's sperm had to be removed surgically.

I have been following their journey from almost the start and I know it has not been an easy one. As everybody going through the IVF process, Kata has had good days and bad days. She describes how many hurdles there are to get through and how difficult the two week wait was: would she be pregnant or not? I sometimes checked her site for updates twice a day, keen to know if it had worked. Strange thing that is, having a peek into the life of a stranger, reading intimate details. Like I said to her, it must be one of the side effects of IVF, looking everywhere for information to give some hope. I was so happy for them when the pregnancy test proved to be positive!

Her positive approach is a real inspiration and reading her story has been helpful during momentarily lapses of good spirits. She has been following the Chezcorcutt adventures too and sent me an email yesterday, telling me to keep my spirits up and that she has her fingers crossed for us. Thanks dear Kata! We do remain positive and are aware that the number of eggs are just one step to the actual goal: having a baby.

I now follow her pregnancy journal, waiting for the first belly pictures and stories on the first movements from the little one. I am so looking forward to being pregnant too! Will we be lucky this second time around? I hope so!

Day 10... 3rd ultrasound!

Despite not having to get up early to give Flo her 8 am injection, we still had to be at the hospital at 09:45, so no Sunday morning lie in for us. It's turning out to be very tiring this baby making process!

The point of this 3rd ultrasound scan was to determine if Flo's smaller follicles were still growing and if so, whether they're growing at a rate quick enough to join in the party.

Well, relative to yesterday, things appear to be improving. The lining of Flo's womb continues to look "beautiful" and the smaller follicles are continuing to grow at a rate where they might mature just in time. Meanwhile, the over enthusiastic follicle is managing to contain itself and not become so ripe that it falls from the plant like a big juicy tomato... figuratively speaking of course (I initially wrote apple, but the image was replaced by the mess a tomato makes when squashed... I thought this was more apt). Personally, when I compare the manner in which Flo's follicles appear to be behaving with the manner in which Flo prepares to go out, it doesn't really suprise me what's happening... it's all being left to last minute when there's a sudden mad rush to get ready, which invariably leads to arriving late... but beautifully presented with a short, sweet appology and everything turning out OK.

We have to return to the hospital again early tomorrow morning to check that everything is continuing to progress as anticipated. There's now potentially four candidates in the running (a late entry was spotted but unfortunately has missed the boat somewhat)... we'll be happy if three are successfully "plucked", with one or two strong embryos returned to the mother ship.

The smart money is on a Wednesday puncture.

Day 9: second ultrasound

During fertility treatment one talks in days and during pregnancy that changes to weeks. We are now day nine.

We went back to the hospital this morning for another ultrasound. My womb lining is nice and thick and is almost the 10 mm that are required for implantation. It is good to know that there is a safe and healthy environment for the embryo waiting already!

We were a bit surprised to find out that there were actually three follicles in my right ovary, all around the same size and three at the left side. In my left ovary there is one really big one, it looked almost like it was competing with the others. It had definitely won!

At the moment only two follicles would be big enough for retrieval. The chance that an egg cell fertilizes with IVF-ICSI is around 80%. The smaller follicles would still be retrieved, but probably only contain immature egg cells and would not develop into healthy embryos, if fertilized at all. The doctor said it was a lot of effort for a relatively small chance and gave us the option of stopping.

There is also a possibility that we leave the enthousiastic follicle to its own devices and give the other ones a chance to still join the race. This is only an option if stop being lazy. To help them with that, we are still an extra day on the FSH medication. Tomorrow we will have another ultrasound and then decide with the doctor how to proceed. The retrieval is then either on Tuesday or on Wednesday.

Either way, we are going ahead. We have come this far and we remain hopeful. After all, one egg cell is all that is needed to produce a baby and the first IVF baby ever was born from a single egg cell too. We are still positive that we will be talking in weeks here soon!

Day 8: first ultrasound

At a quarter to nine this morning Jonny and I were staring at the screen at the IVF ward of the hospital, curious to know how many follicles I had produced. There are two smaller ones in my right ovary and two big ones in my left ovary. A bit less than we hoped for, but there is a chance that the smaller ones might still join in le projet néné.

And if not, even two follicles would be enough to do the procedure with. In the end it is the quality of the follicles that matters, not the quantity!

The ones in my left ovary are the right size for pick-up already and the surpression drug Decapeptyl prevents them from ovulating, so they can be stimulated a bit more to give the other ones a chance to catch up. Tomorrow morning we are going back to the hospital to see if the small follicles have caught up. Go follies, go follies!

Day 7: side-effects

It is not that long ago that even Western doctors would examine the tongue to make a diagnosis. In TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine), the different areas of the tongue tell about physical and emotional health because they relate to different areas of the body. So it comes as no surprise that the the acupuncturist picked up on my nausea this morning. I told her that instead of her asking me how I felt, I should be asking her how I felt! That made her laugh.

The nausea is one of the side effects of the hormones I am experiencing. And I am tired, but that could also have to do with the fact that I am resisting early nights and lie-ins.... Furthermore, I am in good spirits. I take the side-effects as a sign that there is something happening in my body. We are both excited about finding out tomorrow how many egg cells are participating. We will also find out how much longer we need to inject me with the follicle stimulating hormones. Jonny is still doing a great job: no bruise in sight!


In order to take our minds of le projet néné (as dubbed by one of my friends), we decided to go to the cinema last night and submerse ourselves in some mindless entertainment: Pirates of the Caribbean. Part two. It sure took our minds off it for a loooong time!