IVF Status

AF finally showed up, 6 days after the end of the 5 days course of duphaston. called KKH IVF and made an appointment to start Lucrin 16 days later on 3rd July 2007.

at the same time, made an appointment with Caroline for counselling.

in the meantime, suppose to start on Microgyon for the next 21 days.

looking eagerly to start the program.

KKH IVF - Pre IVF cycle Day 6

Time seems to be crawling. so far completed the course of duphaston for 5 days at 2 tabs daily. now just waiting for AF to start. normally after a course of progesterone, AF will start like 3-5 days later. Let's hope this holds true again.

i wonder if it's the effects of the progesterone - i have been feeling teary, fatigue and unable to sleep well at nights. I am trying to relax but arghs....the lack of sleep is making me so tired. i worry if this continues that it will trigger of fibromyglia.

today is also the second day after hubby had his 2 teeth; 1 wisdom and 1 molar taken out. needless to say he is in excruitating pain and milking it completely. how i wish i am home looking after him now.

my mind is 1/4 at work, 1/4 in IVF and 1/2 at home.

KKH IVF

Friday 08 June 2007 3pm

WE had an appointment with KKH IVF at 3pm. Staff Nurse Tan CK went through the details of the program. Basically it's more or less what we expected, except that the jabs went on longer than expected. I will be on lucrin for almost 21 days, in addition to Puregon for up to16 days. That's like 37 days of self inflicted pain.

a night jab of IM pregnyl and 4 days of HCG if egg collection is less than 15, or 17 days of IM progesterone if number of eggs collected is more than 15.

i really cannot imagine 17 days of progesterone jabs. last time we did alternate days and it was damn painful to the extent of numbed butts.

The actual schedule as follows:

Day 1 : start of menses - call KKH IVF
Day 2 - Day 16 : Microgyon (birth control pills) x 16 days
Day 16 - Day 21 : Microgyon 5 days + subcut Lucrin 10 units x 5 days Total Microgyon 21 days
Day 21 - Day 30 : subcut Lucrin 10 Units 9 days Total 14 days Lucrin - baseline scan & bloodtest for E2
Day 31 - Day 37 : subcut Lucrin 10 units x another 7 days
Day 38 - Day 44 : subcut Puregon 200 IU x 7 days + Lucrin 10 units
Day 45 (8th day of puregon)- Day 53 (16th day of puregon): subcut Puregon + Lucrin 10 units (dosage depends on growth of follicles) - 1st scan on 8th day of puregon; 2nd scan betwen 9th -12th days; 3rd scan between 13th - 15th day. When follicles reach 16mm, STOP Lucrin. Total 16 days puregon
Day 54 : IM pregnyl at night , ER 2 days later
Day 56 : Egg Retrieval
Day 57 - Day 58 : wait for fertilisation
Day 59 : Egg transfer / balance embroyo to freeze
Day 60 - Day 76 - return for progesterone blood tests (x3) - if more than 15 eggs collected, got to return for IM progesterone daily for 17 days. If less than 15 eggs collected, 4 x HCG jabs.
Day 77 : 17 days later, pregnancy test

Now the challenge is to put the estimated dates in

Day 1 : Mon 18 Jun
Day 16 : Tue 3 Jul - start of lucrin + appt at KKH + counselling session with Caroline
Day 30 : Tue 17 Jul - baseline scan & blooodtest
Day 38 : Wed 25 Jul - Start Puregon
Day 45: Wed 1 Aug - 1st Scan
Day 48 : Sat 4 Aug - 2nd scan
Day 51 : Tue 7 Aug - 3rd scan
Day 54 : Fri 10 Aug - IM pregnyl jab
Day 57 : Mon 13 Aug - ER
Day 59 : Wed 15 Aug - ET
Day 77 : Sat 1 Sep - pregnancy test

starting on IVF

Starting on IVF is daunting - not just about the physical aspects, but also the emotional and financial aspects, not to mention how it will affect my work.

but then if we don't get started, nothing will happen.

after all the reserach done in the past 2 years, we decided the best place to do IVF would be KKH IVF

reasons as follows:
1) the medical team headed by SF Loh. His approachability via emails is huge factor in our decision, not to mention that he helped me get over the ectopic pregnancy. btw he's now the head of the reproductive dept in KKH and the director of the IVF program.
2) the success rate in KKH IVF exceeds the rest of the centres
3) the convenience of early morning clinics for scans and blood test - which means less time off work
4) the financial cost factor.

Our first appt at Clinic D didn't start of very well. the appt was at 430pm but we only got to see the doctor close to 6pm. and it was a very rush consultation as there are still quite a few patients after me.

the decision was made so swiftly by Dr Loh that we didn;t have a chance to absorb it. half an hour later while we were waiting to make payment, the doc happened to walk past us and he made an effort to talk to us about the rough time scheduling of this IVF cycle. that help to reliev some of our doubts about chosing KKH.

The next appointment will be on Friday at the IVF clinic for registration, counselling by the doctor, required blood tests, and counselling by the phychologist.

Start of a new cycle - this time IVF

We tried 3 cycles of serophene in NUH but nothing happened. we thought that with the better HSG results and the successful ovulation, we will be able to achieve a baby by now, but no nothing happen.

i started a new job and am now in my 3rd month, wasn't planning to start TTC again so soon..except that MIL announce that SIL is pregnant.

That brought back a lot of memories, and not all good. It was all i could to control myself and not break out in tears on the spot.

life is so unfair.