mini eggs - not creme eggs

Mon 5 April

Its a bank holiday - Yeah! Had to get up early for a scan and bloods again - Boo!

Just to explain the time scales around the menopur & scans. After you start menopur, they bring you in 6, 8 & 10 days later to test the blood for hormones and scan your ovaries looking for follicles which contain eggs. The blood test is to determine if your dosage of menopur is correct. Too high and you could over stimulate, too low and they wont stimulate at all. The scan is to measure the follicles. They need 3 each side which are 17mm across before they can harvest.

I was told when we started that 10 days of Menopur is usually enough for the eggs to be the correct size for collecting so I was expecting to be told on Friday 3rd April, that we were ready for egg collection, the final injection would be on Saturday night and we would be going in on Bank Holiday Monday. Now this would have been perfect as I have taken the week off to recover and have the little easter egg implanted. So in theory, when I went back to work on Mon 12th April I would be pregnant and well rested.

Damn my lazy crappy body!

So last week I had a scan and bloods on the Monday. I had been injecting menopur for 6 days and the scan showed 3 chocolate chip sized follicles in my left ovary. Unfortunately my right ovary was being shy and hiding behind my intestine but the doctors were happy. I rang in for my blood results at lunchtime and they said everything was fine and to carry on with the same dosage of menopur.

The scan on Wednesday showed the follicles had doubled in size and looked like chocolate peanuts. They didn't do bloods this time as they were happy with the scan. I was also very happy as I could see them growing rapidly and I thought we would be on target.

It was around Wednesday that the pains started, nothing bad, just like period pains but without the bleeding. My boobs are a bit sore but not swollen and I'm getting headaches, although they could be caused by stress from my Dads news.

Friday was Good Friday and hubby was able to come with me to the clinic for a change. I was so happy when hubby said he wanted to come in for the scan as it meant he wanted to be a part of this, rather than leaving it all up to me. Its so easy to forget this is also a big deal for him and I would encourage your partner to view all of your scans if he is able.

The scan was great and the big follicles were the size of mini eggs, big enough I thought but I was told no, they still have lots of growing to do and I needed to carry on with the injections for 2 extra days and come back on Monday. They had to give me a prescription for 8 ampules of Menopur which we had to get from their local Boots. Luckily they gave us directions and the chemist opened at 9am, so off we popped to get more meds. At least this means egg collection would be next Wednesday and possible egg insertion next Friday so I was still on target to go back to work pregnant.

Ok so Monday has arrived. We got up early again and set off together. I am still getting pains and I have discovered they are connected to my eating habits/digestion. They are worse when I am hungry or have overeaten. My stomach is being very vocal and lets the world know when its empty, I assume this is all because my ovaries are now taking up more space.

Anyway, we had another scan, hubby came in again and we were pleased to see bigger eggs, and many more smaller ones. They measured the eggs but only one of them was 17mm, the others were mostly 15mm or 11mm, still not big enough so we have been asked to continue with the menopur for another 2 days and come back on Wednesday - Gutted! This means that egg collection will be on Friday 9th and I will need to come back in on Monday 12th for my Easter egg implant, when I should be back at work. How am I going to explain that to my boss?