Ivf#2 FET#1 - Beta Day

Assalamualaikum wbt,

Today is 8dp4dt which is beta day. During this pass 2ww (well to be precise it is 1ww), there were plenty of pregnancy symptom aka progesterone side effect that occurs to me such as cramping, nausea, sensitive smell, flu and rising body temp occasionally (the feeling when you are going to get fever) and facial rash.


To be honest, we had done 2 hpt before this day, and both are negative. We try to be optimist and guessing it is too early to be detected using an internet cheapie hpt. So, at 11am, we went to the nearest BP lab, which is at glenmarie shah alam. After registration, the staff took my blood and the result will be ready after 3 hours. After that, i had a proluton depot jab on my buttock as a preparation for pregnancy.

3 hour suprisingly was not a long time to wait. From BP lab, we went for lunch at segamat rail, sek 9 shah alam while my husband meet his agent and after that we head off to putrajaya for a quick meet up with our client. Then the email popup on my notification. We both recite 'bismillah', and the mail opened.....

Ivf #2 FET #1- Frozen Embryo Transfer day

Assalammualaikum wbt. I wrote this entry using my samsung note 3. I find it is a bit easier to write using my phone instead of my ipad because Crome feature is a bit friendly than using safari.

Anyway back to our topic. Today actually is 2dp4dt. So let me take you back 2 weeks before.

Ivf #2 FET #1 - The Plan

Assalammualaikum wbt,

Today is the day we met prof hashim to plan for our frozen embryo transfer. On our way to the clinic, we pass by prof before he enter his room, and he quickly recognize us! Hehe im glad we are nit just a pass-by patient to him. 

So this is his plan: 

Post OPU complication - ivf #2

Assalammualaikum,

I wrote this entry about 5 months afer opu procedure. It is because i was in a very uncomfortable situation at that time.

This time, although my opu procedure went well, and the eggs retrived was 13, only 5 survive after fertilisation because mostly the sack was empty. And only 4 made it to blastocyte with 2 in a good grade and 2 are average grade. And the worst part was, i had OHSS right after opu! It was so bad, my stomach was bloated like 5months pregnant, i had difficulty to breath, i cannot sleep lying in bed, i had to sit up straight the entire time and i was very exhausted. I had no appetite, eventhough sometime i felt hungry, i can only sip half a glass of water and i felt already full! If i ate or drink more, i will feel suffocated, like drowning underwater.

This condition last for about 2 weeks! Even during the day of my embryo transfer.

That day, despite all the pain, i push myself to feel excited and happy. We went to hukm 6 days after opu. They let us see the blastocyte, and prof suggest to transfer 1 good grade and 1 average grade. I had a feeling my body isn't ready for this. But we pray hard and tawakal to Allah.

7 days after tranfer we went to check for beta hcg and the result was below 2. This time i didnt feel sad much because all i think about was to feel better from all this ohss. It is so bad, at one point i beg my husband to bring me to emergency and poke my stomach to release all the water retent inside me.
I stop all my meds and i got my period the next day. Soon after that, all my OHSS are gone and i felt free again.

It was a traumatize experience for me. I do felt dissapointed but ohss is a bigger issue than being not pregnant. I dont know if i can bare another ivf after this or not.

1 month after that, we went to see prof hashim. He suggest for me to take antibiotic, tab azithromycin 500mg for 3 days every month for 3 months, to rule out any infection in my adhesion side, together with vitamin D3 to boost up my egg quality and diane 35 contraception pill to regulate my cycle. These meds is to be taken for 3 months.

So today is after 3 months, and this is my last cycle. I will be meeting prof tomorrow to ask if we can proceed with fet this month. I am so excited and optimist about this time as my mind and body is ready for another journey and adventure in TTC.

I hope all my friend and readers are still in a high spirit and energy to continue your treatment and ttc journey as this is the sweet bitter part of our life that Allah had given to us. If we had much sabr, inshaAllah He will reward us, maybe not here but in hereafter.

Love,
Asma'

CD13 - Ivf #2 Oocyte Pickup Day

Assalammualaikum,

Today is the day that i fear the most. I know it is a simple prosedur, but i know the consequences it will bring me after that (speak from my previous ivf experience). 

To re cap, 36 hours before opu day, i had to jab myself with pregnyl 10000iu to ensure my follicles undergo the final process of maturation before retrival. Then i had to fast from food and drinks around 12am before the opu day. 

The morning of opu day, we woke up for our fajr. 

At 7.30am, we start to work for sperm retrival. 

7.45am, we get ourselves ready to go to the hospital.

8.30am, we reached hospital and we went straight to the mac clinic. By the time we arrived, there were already like 5 couples there. It is sunday and we never thought the clinic would be this busy. We went for registration, hand over our sperm sample and i have to empty my bladder. After saving goodbye to DH(he had to wait at the clinic waiting room), i went inside to change to their robe(or scrub robe i dont know) and waited for my turn. I think im the second one after this indian lady beside my bed. After like half an hour of waiting, they call my name to the room. I had to layback with my feet being put high above me(it is the positing of you giving birth). And the nurse gave me the sleeping drugs via injection line. After that, i saw prof enter the room and the light went blurry. 

The moment i almost wakeup, they still try to retrive my eggs because i can feel something inside my vagina! However im still half awake so i cant even tell. Then the nurse woke me up saying the prosedure was success and help me to stand. I asked the nurse how many eggs, she say 13. Alhamdulillah.

The nurse guide me to my bed, and i continue to sleep for about half an hour more. I woke up at around 11pm, with soreness at my vagina and stomach. I change my cloth and went to the waiting room. DH was there waiting, i was hungry that time and feel bloated. I ask DH to buy me a milo drink. After that the nurse call us. She ask DH to buy me extra medicine to ease my soreness and to prevent ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome (ohss). It is because my follicle were too many and they afraid it will getting worse after retrival. 

So we got 1 dose of carbegoline and 10 tabs of bromocriptine. 

The nurse hand us the bill we need to pay after 21st (usually you need to pay after the prosedur), she asked us to call them on thursday to updates on our embryos and expected to transfer them by saturday the 25th. Then she jab me with decapeptyl 1ml that i already bought last appointment.

Today's bill:

OPU prosedur: RM 1802

UKM K-health fees : RM 2332

Medicines : RM 49

Total: RM 4183

After the prosedur, you suppose to be headed home straight as the sleeping meds is still kicking in, however, we got a very important wedding to attend, so we drop by Kajang for a quick showup-our-face and went back home. I slept like a baby that evening and woke up with more soreness and bloatiness. It is like u ate or drank so much your stomach gonna blow!

However, the procedur went well and very satisfied with the number of eggs they retrived alhamdulilah. Hope most of them make it to blastocyte!

CD10 - Ivf #2 Scanning day

Assalammualaikum wbt,

Today is the final scanning day. DH just drop me off because he had urgent matter to finish, so i arrived at hukm mac at about 9 am. And i got my turn after about half an hour. Embryologist look very please at the growth of my follicles but as they was so many of them, she cannot jot every size down and just focusing on anything above 14mm. Looks like they were more than 20s and most of them looks very crowded and squeezing each other, makes it more difficult for her to interpret. However she said that as long as there is one or two of big size, prof will be ok to proceed.

At that point, i really had a hard time to bent myself, and my abdomen, especially my uterus ovary area, felt so full and bloated. I also walk like a pregnant women haha.

After handing over the scanning sheet to the nurse counter, i waited for about an hour for the doctor. Luckily during my turn, prof was there and he suggest to do oocyte pickup(OPU) on sunday, 19th feb. i was thrilled and scared at the same time. The nurse, ms azmah was so friendly, she gave me proper instruction on what to do before, during and after upcoming OPU session. Here is the details:

2 days before OPU:

-to inject pregnyl 10000iu at 12am midnight. This to ensure the last prosess of maturation is complete.

-to make deposit payment of RM848 

12 hours before OPU:

-to fast from any food and drink starting 12am

OPU day:

-sperm need to be collected in the morning in the clinic or at home. We choose to do this at home. Easier for DH to take ghusl after that.

-not to wear any jewelleries

-arrive early before 8.30am

-remember you are fasting.

After OPU:

-medicine need to be bought later after opu is done. 

Dont worry if you panic and cannot remember all this on the spot, they provide us with the written list. Hehe

So today, i need to buy some medicine before heading home. 

2 box of pregnyl 

2 syringe of decapeptyl

Clarinase 6 tabs and aspirin 3 tabs

This is the bill for today

Medications: RM166.40

Ivf Deposit: RM848

Total: RM1014.40

I took an uber to ride home. 

Tips: if you had trouble to pay, actually you can still make negotiation with the doctor. In our case, we plan to have opu after 21st (that's when we will have our money ready), but since it will be too late to wait until that, prof let say pay the deposit on the day of opu and the rest of the payment after 21st. 

CD 7 - Ivf #2 Scanning day

Assalammualaikum wbt,

So today, after 6 days of menopur injection. We had our 1st scan. We came to the clinic quite late. Scanning at hukm is always in the morning before 11am, and we arrive around 10.50am. Luckily i was not the last person to arrive. I hand over my blue planning sheet, that everybody will have when they start their assisted cycle here, to the nurse counter. This sheet is very details about your fertility and treatment that you had and currently take. The nurse will later issue a green sheet for you to pay for today's bill. Follicular tracking is about RM53 for the whole cycle. This means that you only pay once for how many scan you have for that particular cycle. After payment had been made, the nurse will give you a waiting number to scan.  By the time i got the number, it is already my turn. 

 

The scanning lady is an embryologist called fazilah. I like her very much compare to others as she is friendly and always entertain my question. I was so nervous abiut this scan. Will my follicle response well to menopur?

Fazilah sat there beside me with the scanning device. Once she inserted it inside me, she was very shocked and excited as well (i think). She repeatly said,"banyaknya...banyaknya...(so many, so many..)". There i was relieve and scared too. This is the longest scanning session i had. She said she need to properly know the place of each follicle as there were so many and they are in layers. So, this is the result:

There are about 15-20 follicles each ovaries! And the size are varries, some are ok for cd7, some are big enough to matured in a few days. No wonder i start to feel bloated and full. 1 thing i know for sure, menopur works wonders for me alhamdulillah. My endometrium lining also looks good (size: 6.5mm). And my ovaries location is assessible. This is also important as in my last ivf cycle, my doctor cannot reach the right ovary as it was very high. So only follicles at left ovary were being retrived. Below is the picture of my ovaries with follicles. 

After scanning, i handover the paper to the nurse at the counter, waiting for doctor to review my findings. Usually they just text my doctor if he is not around. After waiting for quite sometimes, finally the called my name. My doctor said to continue menopur for another 3 days as plan. So they wrote me an online prescription, and gave me syringes and needles. I need to collect the medicine at the NF pharmacy. We went to have lunch first at the hospital cafe near the emergency department because we knew the queue at pharmacy will be long, and it is already 12.30pm. 

Just as we thought, it was about 20 people waiting before my number turned up. 

This is the total cost of the injection: 

 Rm701 for 9 vials menopur. And always remember to bring along your cold box/bag with ice pack, as this medicine need to maintain its temperature. We head back home at 1.30pm.

Today's expenses:

Follicular tracking at clinic: RM53

3 days supplyof 225iu menopur injection: RM701

Valet parking: RM12 (for 3 hours)

Tolls

Total : RM53+RM701+RM12+

P/s: i will upload the reconstitution video in my next post as i am editing it a bit.

P/s/s: i am worried about ohss, as my tendency to get it is very high at this point. I have started to feel nauseatic a little.