My IVF Pregnancy Journey Part 7

Our third consultation with the fertility specialist was on Friday, 21st June 2019. We started our drive to Adelaide early morning. My mother-in-law came with us again. (I am truly blessed to have a very supportive and loving mother-in-law, who loves me like her own daughter.) I'm glad she supports our decision and only wants what's best for us.

21st of June 2019 was the day that we had to inform the doctor of our decision, either to go through the IVF or to prefer the easier, less painful, less risky and less expensive treatment, that is the Ovulation Induction Therapy.

My husband and I had come to an agreement, whilst taking my age into account. I was already 36 then, and as I have explained in my previous post, that when it comes to counting the fertility range of a woman, the current age is not considered the actual age because her reproductive cells were formed from the moment she was a fetus in her mother's womb. And as the years go by, the number of her egg cells gradually deplete. With that being said, my fertility age then was 37 years old. Again, TIME WAS NOT ON OUR SIDE.

When we arrived at the clinic, we waited for a few minutes before it was our turn to see the doctor. It was nerve-wracking and exciting at the same time as I had never imagined myself being in this situation where I had to make a major decision in my life. This was huge for me. I didn't know what I was getting myself in for. Exciting, though, because if this would succeed, I would experience something miraculous that would happen in my body.

As usual, I was organised. I brought all the paperwork with me, those consent forms that we needed to sign in front of the doctor. John and I perused them thoroughly prior to this meeting. We wanted to come prepared and we wanted our doctor to know that we were determined and fully and mutually decided to proceed with the treatment.

Finally, the doctor invited us into his office. We gave him all the consent forms and told him, we would like to sign all the forms so we could start with the IVF treatment. Yes, that's right! We chose it, not because it was what our doctor HIGHLY recommended for us to decide on during the last couple of times we had seen him, but because John and I did consider our age (although there seemed to be no problem with all of the tests we had taken, except with the fact that the doctor speculated that I don't ovulate regularly), the 50/50 chance of success in either treatment so we might as well choose the IVF while I was "not too old" yet, and if it would fail, then we would just give up on IVF and ovulation induction therapy would be the way to go.

So, we signed the forms plus the additional forms such as:

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Consent to Surgical Procedure

This surgical procedure would involve transvaginal ultrasound-guided oocyte retrieval, in plain words, it's the egg cells retrieval or pick up. There are risks associated with this procedure, and of course, for disclaimer purposes, I had to be made aware of its nature, consequences, and risks (specifically to myself), such as bleeding, infection, injury to some internal organs, and anaesthetic failure. In this form, I also consented to be sedated and be given anaesthetic drugs during the procedure.
Treatment Plan for IVF Cycle

With this plan, I would have to undergo an Antagonist Protocol, which is the most commonly used in IVF. To explain it simply, the antagonist protocol is a type of process where my ovaries would be stimulated with the use of certain drugs so that my ovaries would produce more eggs than the usual and release more mature egg cells (Take note that a woman's ovaries may release only one mature egg cell per cycle and in the purpose of reproduction, millions of sperm cells would have to rush to find their way to that egg cell). Then, I would have to inject these drugs to myself. The first drug that I would need to inject on my belly area is the Follicle-Stimulating hormone (FSH) and luteinizing hormone (LH) for 10 days starting from day 2 of the cycle, and then on Day 5 of my cycle, I would have to inject another "antagonist", which is the Gonadotropin-Releasing Hormone, to myself on top of the other hormones.

The treatment plan also indicated my husband will have to produce his fresh own ejaculated semen on the very same day of the egg retrieval. The collected egg cells will then be cultured with the semen and fertilize them in a lab until each successful fertilisation reaches the blastocyst stage, which is the form of the embryo. They will then have to store the embryos in a cryogenic freezer until I am ready for insemination. ONLY ONE EMBRYO WILL BE IMPLANTED INTO MY UTERUS when that time comes.

We did ask the doctor if it was possible that two embryos be implanted into my uterus, but the doctor said they have been sanctioned to implant only one embryo because multiple pregnancies were a common occurrence in an IVF assisted pregnancy. With multiple pregnancies, there is much higher risk and complications involved, and the doctor said he did not want that to happen to me.

So, after a lengthy discussion covering all the large scope of the treatment and procedure, we were given the IVF flow chart or schedule as to when I would start the treatment. First, I would have to wait for my next period to start before I could commence the dreaded injections. (Up till now, I still haven't gotten used to needle pricks and injections. Yes, some people say I'm such as wuss, so how much more when it comes to giving birth when I will experience more severe pain than a simple needle injection.)

The fertility doctor also gave me prescriptions for the drugs: Gonal F (175 iu), Ovidrel (250 mcg), Orgalutran(250 mcg) and Crinone 8% (90 mgm). Then before leaving the clinic, we paid our consultation fee at the receptionist's desk and went to Flinders Fertility pharmacy to buy the prescribed drugs. After that, we dropped my mother-in-law at her daughter's house in Adelaide. John and I, on the other hand, had checked in at a motel just close to where my sister-in-law lives. We stayed in Adelaide for two nights that weekend and spent our quality time together.

To be continued in Part 8 of My IVF Pregnancy Journey