Round Two – again!

Neil and I have started our IVF round two again this month. I say again as we have tried to start round two in January 2020 and March 2020.

The first time was cancelled as we found out the first round of IVF had resulted in a twin pregnancy where we miscarried one and the other was growing perfectly in my tube.

The second time was cancelled due to Covid19 after we had just started to inject. Which leads us onto this third time! I refuse to say third time lucky as I do not believe that luck has anything to do with it. We have been so blessed already so I see it as what will be, will be.

Following a scan on the 13th July I was informed that my womb is now “text book perfect”. The IVF clinic decided that we should take my last bleed as the Day 1 and be put on a long protocol where we started injecting on Day 21.

Neil and I have always taken everything in our stride with all that we have endured and faced whilst trying to conceive. We are very happy to be trying again with IVF but also very realistic. We know only to well the challenges ahead and the lack of guarantees.

Many people don’t understand the IVF process and just how much is involved. More importantly people are often naive as to think that this will result in a pregnancy. I often get comments like “this time is going to work I know it”, “when will you know when you are pregnant”?

There really is no guarantee that IVF will result in a pregnancy or even the chance of having the embryo/embryos implanted. Neil and I have four embryos in the freezer. This round of IVF the clinic will remove all four from the freezer to thaw. There is a risk that the embryos won’t survive the thaw.

The plan is for the lab to watch the embryos if they survive the thaw and implant the best two. If we are fortunate enough for them all to survive then the remaining two will be put back in the freezer. These two will of course be what the lab consider to be lower quality but still able to implant and become a pregnancy.

Before implantation we have to prepare my body. The injections I am taking now effectively shut my body down so that the clinic can control the process for the implant. These injections give me menopause like symptoms. My moods are varied, my patience is thinner, my concentration is rubbish and I’m tiered! So basically I’m a joy to be around!

As we are undertaking a frozen transfer (our fresh resulted in the heterotopic pregnancy) we do not need to stimulate the ovaries to collect eggs. Therefore we will be taking oral medication alongside injections to help my womb lining to grow ready for embryo implantation and pregnancy.

I will also be inserting pessaries, medication that looks like a tampon or bullet that is inserted in either the vagina or bottom twice a day (the choice is mine). This is a progesterone medication (progesterone is a natural female hormone) and it also helps to build the lining of the womb.

I will continue to use the pessaries for up to 16 weeks if we are successful and get a positive pregnancy test. This is the plan from the hospital and IVF clinic due to our previous losses. They are unsure if it will make any difference but it won’t harm me or the embryo to keep taking them.

Throughout this process the IVF clinic will scan me regularly to check my lining of the womb and make sure that my body looks ready to accept the implant of the embryos. These scans are internal meaning they insert the probe up my vagina to look at the womb.

As I am forty years old the recommendation is to have two embryos implanted (if two survive the thaw). This is because my eggs may be poorer quality at my age, obviously our eggs were collected when I was thirty nine. At forty years of age there is a 9% chance that IVF will result in a live birth.

There is research that determines that a single embryo transfer at the age of forty appears to lower the chance of pregnancy. Having two embryos transferred does not mean that it doubles our chances.

If the embryos survive the thaw and are transferred then there is a two week wait before we can undertake a pregnancy test. Having two implanted could result in a positive pregnancy test with one or two babies or it could result in a negative test result.

If we get a negative and are fortunate enough to have the other two embryos frozen again then we have one more chance of undertaking IVF. Although these embryos are considered by the lab as poorer quality they would not freeze them if they did not feel they could result in a pregnancy.

I hope that this clarifies some of what is involved in IVF and indicates a little just how hard the process is both physically and emotionally. I can only apologise now if you are close to me and my moods have changed due to the medication.

We are realistic about our chances and we know more than anyone that there is no guarantees that this will work or even if it does that it will result in a live birth.

For Neil and I we are hopeful that this round might be the one. This is not because we have a crystal ball or anymore knowledge than anyone else but rather because if we don’t have hope that what do we have.