It Has Begun

After a false alarm last week, my period started yesterday and so I started my drugs today.  When I called the after hours number for the Clinic yesterday to let the on-duty nurse know, she was very helpful and knew the details of my case immediately.  I'm not sure if she was in the Clinic - I guess she probably was, because she could immediately remind me of my dose levels and tell me what day I needed to go in for my first blood test (Wednesday the 4th of May).  She also let me know that she would be at the Clinic this morning (today is still a public holiday in Queensland) for those patients that needed blood tests or other assistance, so if I freaked out and didn't think I could handle my first injection on my own I was welcome to go in to the Clinic for help.  I was pretty sure I would be fine, but it was nice to know that back-up was there if required.

So this morning I got my little drug kit out and did my first injection.  This is the needle:

You can't really tell from that how big it is, but it's about 2cm long.  The little book that came with it said I would need alcohol swabs and stuff, but none of the nurses so far have told me I do, they've just said to wash my hands.  So I compromised and washed my hands and the injection area with antibacterial soap.  I made Dave stand in the room with me for moral support, took a deep breath, and stabbed myself with the needle.

It was completely underwhelming.  I hardly felt it at all, the needle is so fine.  The area was a little tender afterwards but otherwise it was a bit of a non-event.  Still, I've done my first one now, so I know I'm capable of doing the rest.  I just have to keep it up every day until next Wednesday.

On Wednesday they'll give me a blood test and also probably an ultrasound to determine how I've reacted to the drugs.  I may need additional tests on subsequent days, and will probably need a new supply of drugs and needles (I only have enough to last me until then).  Then when they know I'm going to ovulate, it's showtime!

Yesterday I was browsing ThinkGeek when I saw this super-cute baby outfit:

I am totally going to get one of these if we conceive from IUI - it's perfect for babies conceived with a little extra help from science!

Sex, Drugs, and Rock n' Roll

After our appointment last week, Jo the Clinic nurse called and asked for Dave to do another semen analysis, because his last one was nearly a year ago and he's on medication now that he wasn't on last time.  So we dropped that off today.

The thing with a sperm test is that they give you quite strict instructions on when the man has to have previously, uh, ejaculated.  Which I think we are dealing with okay at the moment.  Some men have trouble with sperm tests, because they take it kind of personally.  Dave seems to be coping fine, though.  But he does have the emotional range of a teaspoon, so who really knows what's going on in his head?*

Seeing as we were in the Clinic anyway, we dropped off our new referrals and our consent forms and picked up my drugs.  I'm going to be on a drug called Puregon, 50 IUs a day.  It comes in this fat pen, and I have to keep it in the fridge.  On day 2 of my next cycle, I have to start injecting it in my abdomen every morning.  The needle is about 2cm long.  They give me several needles and a sharps disposal container.  It all came in this little cooler bag package, very flash.  I'm a little bit nervous about the injections, because I've never injected myself before, but hopefully I'll be fine.

Now that we're getting all these fancy gadgets and instructions and actually doing something, I feel almost excited about the whole process.  I find it quite interesting, learning about the hows and whys of it all.  I'm sure if we have to go through several months of this I'll be over it, but starting out I'm feeling pretty good.

In other news, a few weeks ago I ordered a Goddess of Abundance pendant from DragonWeave (the large one, first item on the linked page).  I got it in moonstone, because not only is that my birthstone, it's also tied to fertility because of its link with the moon.  I hadn't been wearing it, because I thought I needed to go buy a cord or something for it.  But in the middle of the night last night I had an epiphany - I had the perfect chain for it already: a silver twisted rope chain that belonged to my Nana, who had seven children of her own.  I'm usually a fairly sceptical person, but I do have hippie-ish tendencies, and as Dave said, "It can't hurt."

I haven't said anything about rock n' roll, have I? Hmm.  Well, I did buy a Flight of the Conchords CD this week to listen to in the car, so that counts, right?

*I tell him this frequently, and he read this post before I submitted it.  So don't worry, Mum!

IUI Registration - Now with 200% more gladiator battles!

After weighing up our options, we've decided to try IUI.  It's less invasive (and much cheaper) than IVF, and the general consensus seems to be that because we are lucky enough to have the option, we should take advantage of that.

So today we had our registration appointment with the IVF clinic, Fertility Gold Coast.  This is the clinic that my OB/GYN, Dr Swift, is associated with.  I've read books and blogs and so on that suggest you do research on several clinics before picking one that suits your needs, but I'm happy with Dr Swift so we decided to stick to this clinic for now.  The nurses so far have been very good, I think it's the main clinic on the Gold Coast, and so barring anything terrible happening I think we'll just stick with this one.

The nurse, Jo, ran through everything with us and gave us (me) a rather large booklet to read.  She explained the fees and the tests and the process we'll have to go through.  We had to pay a registration fee of $195 today, which covers all their administration expenses (like the booklets) and so on.  It's a one-off clinic fee, so no matter how many IUI cycles we go through, or even if we move on to IVF, we won't have to pay it again, which is good.  However, it's not claimable through private health or Medicare.

Jo went over a "normal" menstrual cycle with us so she could explain the difference between that and what we'll be doing.  All old news for me of course, I'm not sure how much Dave knows about menstrual cycles but he's definitely learning more than most guys probably feel comfortable with.  The only thing of note was the way she described the egg follicles which develop in cohorts until one becomes dominant and ovulates and the rest die off.  It sounded like my ovaries are staging a gladiator-style tournament each month with a last-egg-standing type outcome.  After that she explained the different drugs that could be used and said that they will be using FSH for me.  FSH (Follicle Stimulating Hormone) is the hormone my body produces naturally to, uh, stimulate the follicles (duh).  They just dose me up to stimulate them a bit more.  She asked if I will be injecting my own drugs and Dave agitatedly said, "I'm certainly not doing it!"  He was imagining the scene in Inconceivable where Sam is injecting an orange as practice.  Luckily, the injections go in my abdomen, not my bum, so I can do them myself.

After that, she took some blood from both of us for routine screening tests for infectious diseases and also basic chromosome testing to make sure we don't have any wonky chromosomes which could also be stopping us getting pregnant.  Then she made sure we understood what happens now.

This is what is going to happen:

1. At some point in the next week or two I have to drop off our consent forms and a new referral (the referral system is ridiculous I must say - I have an ongoing medical condition that my GP is having no influence in managing and yet I still need them to sign a piece of paper that says I need treatment) and pick up my drugs.  One of the nurses will show me how to do my injections at that point.
2. On Day 1 of my next cycle (helpfully due on Easter Friday, naturally) I have to call the clinic (or their after-hours number) and tell them my cycle has started and I'll be starting my drugs.
3. On Day 2 of my next cycle, I start injecting my drugs.
4. On Day 9, I go in for my first blood test.  They'll test my hormone levels and give me an ultrasound to look at the lining of my uterus and make sure everything is progressing as expected.  They'll also check how many follicles are developing: they aim for 1-3, but if there are more than that (or none) the cycle is cancelled and we don't have to pay anything for it.  This is to reduce the risk of multiples.  Potential triplets is scary enough, thanks!
5. Depending on how the Day 9 tests go, I might need more blood tests and another ultrasound, or they might already know when I'm going to ovulate.
6. Once they know when I'm about to ovulate, Dave gives a sperm sample, they wash it and spin it so it's concentrated and the sperm are all excited (maybe they know something cool is about to happen?) and then they inject me with his sperm who race up to meet my egg and have another gladiator-style battle with one victorious sperm becoming half our baby.
7. 15 days after insemination, they give me a pregnancy test.  If it's successful, they give another a week later.  Then 2 weeks after that I get a scan to make sure the embryo is implanted in the right place and has a heartbeat.
8. If we aren't successful, we can try again straight away or we can have a break if we want.  Dr Swift has recommended no more than 3 cycles before we move on to IVF.

So that's it.  Barring a miracle this month, we start our assisted conception journey on Easter weekend - a positive sign, I think, considering Easter was originally a Spring fertility festival.  I'm not going to put too much into that, but forgive me for taking it as a sign that this is the right time.

I'd also like to take a moment to thank our parents for their support in all ways (including financially).  I don't know if Dave's parents read this blog (I'm pretty sure my Mum reads it - hi, Mum!), but thank you to all four of you for your support - it really does mean a lot.