Midwife appointment, check!

10 weeks tomorrow and I had my first midwife appointment today! I had a lovely midwife and student who were really excited about learning about my story. They made me feel really at ease.

We went through all the booking questions , bloods, blood pressure and of course the obligatory peeing in a pot. This is my life now!! Because of risk factors I will need to take aspirin and give myself clexane injections. And I will need to see an obstetrician to decide if I need to continue with the thyroxine tablets.

Now I just wait for my 12 week scan date to come through!!! Exciting!!!

Stay safe everyone and ciao for now!

It is actually real… I saw proof!

Today was probably the most nervous I have been to date. In a way I found it more nerve-wracking than the pregnancy test. Today I had my eight week early pregnancy scan. This isn’t a routine scan but if you have IVF it is a way of making sure you haven’t had a false positive but also that the fetus is in the correct place. I spent the morning distracting myself with the children at school but from the moment I sat in my car for the hour long journey it was all I could think about!

I have had so many dreams in the last few weeks where it wasn’t real, or they did the scan and there was nothing there. I also had a dream that I had a miscarriage. Apparently this is normal but it really didn’t help the anxiety! It also didn’t help that once I got there I was informed my scan was actually yesterday!!! I was mortified! Fortunately, my clinic is full of wonderful amazing people and they told me they would still do the scan. And if I’m honest, it worked out amazingly well because the person who did my scan is someone I used to work with who also did my embryo transfer… now known as my lucky charm!

The first moments of the scan were nerve-wracking, Kerry had warned me it might take her a while to find what she was looking for but I could feel myself holding my breath! And then both of saw it at the same time. This little fluttering blob. A little flutter that turned out to be the heartbeat in my little blob baby! Please don’t tell me off for being mean, but honestly, right now my baby looks like a blob! A blob I am completely and madly in love with!

Meet Blob… who has now been affectionately renamed, Bean! For those like me, who have no idea what they are looking at, the black area is the gestational sac (fluid), the round blob is the yolk sac (what is feeding the baby whilst the placenta fully develops) and the bean-like blob is known as the fetal pole, is my baby! Right now, as you can see it doesn’t look like a baby but that is because it is still developing. It has a heartbeat, it has started growing arms and legs, it has started developing eyes and ears and the spine is nearly formed.

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I am finally accepting that I am not making it up in my head and I am , in fact, pregnant! And although it can’t be 100% guaranteed, at this time we only saw 1 heartbeat! I cannot stop smiling! I know I can’t totally relax at this point. I still have a few more weeks to go. And most people wouldn’t have shared their news at this point. Fair play to them because there is no way I could keep this to myself! I know there is still a chance it could go wrong but for now, I am enjoying the moment and I officially consider myself a Mum! I had reached a point where I genuinely didn’t believe it would happen. It’s been two years since the decision to try and I finally know I can do this! Now it is down to my body and my little bean to keep going!

I’m sure there will be more updates to come soon but until then, stay safe and ciao for now!

Today is the day

I am sat here in my bed unable to get up. I have had the longest two weeks waiting for this moment and now, I can’t do it!!!!

Whilst I sit here, there is every possibility that the answer goes my way. But once I pee on that stick, I can’t change it!

Even my cats are getting frustrated and meowing at me!!!

Wahoo!!!!

It turns out actually injecting the drug instead of air makes the process a lot more successful!

I have just returned from my day 1 scan at the clinic where I discovered that the lining of my uterus is perfectly thin and my ovaries are nice and ready with no pesky follicles making an appearance. I wanted to jump out of the chair and shout hooray but I wasn’t really in a position to do that!

In summary, I am very happy right now! I have a big grin on my face, which is probably why the people sat in the coffee shop with me are giving me some strange looks. Either that or my mask wearing has given me a strange mask line in my makeup! Either way, I don’t care!

Ok, so it’s not like I just found out I am pregnant but after the last month this feels a big leap forward. I also haven’t had any huge side effects from the injections,I’ve been a little emotional and I have some whopping bruises but mostly it’s all good. Fingers crossed for more of the same with the next lot.

Once I have finished my coffee I am off home to start the next injections and a week today I will have my next scan to see what’s happening. Come on!!!!!

Stay safe everyone and ciao for now!

Celebrations and emotions.

Tomorrow will be my 21st injection of Buserelin and my first scan to check it is doing its job. It’s been a pretty rough few weeks. Not because of the injections but I have potentially had covid! I say potentially because despite 3 negative PCRs I was one of the 63,000 who then recieved a text to say they potentially had a false negative!

6 weeks ago it started with a temperature, sore throat, headache and general aches so I took a PCR and it was negative. A few days later the cough and breathlessness started. I spoke to the GP who advised me to get another PCR but to get to A&E if my breathing got any worse. Negative. I started to improve but he cough and pain in my chest and back persisted. I went back to work, even managed a netball match and thought all was good. Then one night, my breathing got worse again, temperature went up to 38.5 degrees and I felt like I had been hit by a bus. 2 and a half weeks after that my breathing has improved again, I can actually walk around my house and not have to stop. But now, I feel I could sleep as much as my cats do!

My biggest concern was my IVF. I was terrified that it would get delayed again. If it was this time last week there is no way I would consider the scan tomorrow but I now feel like I am good to go!

So tomorrow, on my 39th birthday, I will be scanned to check the thickness of the lining of my uterus. If all goes well I will be given the go ahead to add the next injection into my daily routine.

39… another reason I do not want any more delay to the process. That’s 1 year until I am 40. I didn’t mind being in my 30s, obviously 20s were the best but that number 4 feels like it has HUGE significance, particularly when it comes to having children. 40… that’s the age that children start thinking you are ancient! I remember being a child and thinking 40 was so far I the future it would never happen. But now it is just 365 days and 3 hours away.

I don’t feel it. I still feel 21. Ok, so my joints creak a bit more and last year I had to call and ambulance when I got stuck on the floor because my back had gone into spasm… but deep down, I just don’t feel like 40 is so close. I know I am going tosound like my grandmother now but seriously, where did my life go?!

It’s usually this day every year I sit and ruminate on time and how cruel it is that we can’t go back. Although, if like me you watch science fiction, you know that time travel could cause all sorts of issues of its own!

Anyway, I digress! This is not a science fiction blog… this is a blog about a woman in her late 30s who is facing her biological clock which seems to be ticking at an ever increasing rate! Had things gone to plan with IUI number 1, I would be 8 months pregnant by now. But it was not to be. So here is to IVF, positive thoughts and another birthday!

Stay safe everyone and ciao for now. Xxx

Apologies for any spelling or grammar errors… I really am exhausted!

And so it begins…

Thursday was the first injection day! I’m not going to lie, it felt like a bit of an anti climax. I had built myself up, getting so excited and, of course, it was over in seconds and, well, that was it.

I’m not really sure why this surprised me. It’s not like I haven’t given numerous injections in my time and I know it’s just the start of the “journey”. Was I expecting fireworks and streamers?!

But these injections are now part of my morning routine and will be for the next few weeks. Let’s just hope they do what they are intended to do!!

Back to the real world now and time for housework! Not much else to do on a rainy, windy day!

Stay safe and ciao for now!

Here we go again.

So, here I am for a third time, dat in my car waiting to go into the clinic. Since I last wrote I had another round of IUI followed by another negative test. I have had a roller coaster of emotions lately. With the first negative test being very closely followed by the disappearance of my cat who then appeared again not long after the second IUI, dehydrated and very hungry. I then had a second negative pregnancy test.

I wasn’t sure at this point whether I should give up on IUI and go for IVF but after a good chat with one of the nurses at the clinic I have decided on a third IUI before a rethink.

I then had the amazing news that my cousin was pregnant! I am so incredibly happy for her but coming just a few days after a negative test I also felt a bit emotional. It’s such a strange set of emotions. I have never been in a situation where something can make me so happy and so sad at the same time. But my happiness for her has outweighed my self-pity and I am looking forward to a new member of the family!!!

Whilst waiting for my next IUI my other cat obviously felt she wasn’t getting nearly enough attention and started bleeding everywhere! She has a problem with her blood not clotting properly and although she is on medication three times a day, for some reason she started having bleeds again. So two nights in the veterinary hospital for her and more worry for me!

I am happy to say she is home now and the bleeding has stopped . We are just waiting on test results to see if there is another reason other than her illness.

And that leads me to today. Sat in the car in very windy and rainy weather waiting to see if third time is a charm. It means a day off placement but sometimes you just have to prioritise and I know which is more important! I am just hoping my cervix is cooperative today! Last time was more painful than the first as my cervix didn’t want to let the catheter in! Not helpful!

Please keep your fingers and toes crossed for me!

Stay safe and ciao for now. Xxx

So close!

What a Christmas it has been! We were very lucky to have a fairly normal Christmas even though my brother was on a deadline to get back to Wales before it closed!

I feel very blessed to have such an amazing family and friends who have been checking in with me to make sure I am not too lonely, it makes me realise despite not yet having children of my own I am still surrounded by people who love me.

Since I last wrote I have also had my offending tooth removed and my mouth is finally pain free… just in time for the Christmas turkey!

And of course the dreaded blood test.. something I have come to dread! I phoned today for the test result and… 2.8! Part of me wants to jump with joy and part of me wants to scream! So close to that 2.5 but still soooooo far! The clinic is closed for the Christmas break so I need to wait to speak to them next week but with treatment in touching distance, could 2021 be my year? Of course there is also the question of the covid vaccine? Not tested on pregnant women and not being anywhere on the list… should I wait for the vaccine???

It’s safe to say nothing is simple at the moment!

Happy Christmas (or any other holiday you celebrate) and Happy New Year!

Ciao for now.