8w6d- Our Gorgeous Little Wriggly (Reassurance Scan)

After our little scare at the viability scan we had at the clinic 11 days ago, we went to EPU (Early Pregnancy Unit) after our GP fortunately referred me, today. I wasn’t sure if they would scan me, as I had no actual bleeding but luckily they didn’t turn me away and this time everything was PERFECT!!! Look at our little baby (we secretly took a photo of!)! He (we’re referring to him/her as a he even though we have absolutely no preference, just a feeling he’s a boy) looks completely different to last time! Last time he was just a little blob with a heart half his size, now he has an actual head and body and little arms!! He was wriggling around like crazy and his heart is beating beautifully! He has a CRL of 19.6mm which is still a little behind but nothing to worry about and more importantly the bleeding around the sac has all disappeared! It must have been absorbed by my body, it’s such a relief! We are just so in love right now!

Aside from that, I am feeling sicker than ever. Constant deep nausea ALL day long. And I’m soooo exhausted! Oh, and my GP rang me up while I was eating lunch with my friends to tell me that I have thrush (apparently common in pregnancy)- charming!! But I’m genuinely grateful for all of this now that I know that baby is doing so well 🙂 One thing I’m not grateful for is the stupid cold I got from work due to the air con making it like working inside a bloody fridge 😦 But tomorrow is London Pride so I’m hoping we can at least go along and watch the parade! Happy Friday 🙂

7w6d- The Magical Heartbeat!

This post has taken a while to be written because it has been an emotional week. On Monday we had our early scan at 7w2d and last appointment at the fertility clinic. The scan revealed the following: I AM pregnant with ONE baby and that baby has a healthy heartbeat of 138 bpm, which is fantastic news!! I guess it wasn’t in our destiny to have twins and we mustn’t be disappointed. We were thrilled to hear the heartbeat and we could see it flickering away too- it’s absolutely incredible 🙂

The doctor performing the scan wasn’t particularly helpful though. She told me to take it easy because I have some Subchorionic collections (blood clots) and the baby is measuring 3 days smaller than it should. I have already been taking it really easy and we left the clinic feeling pretty upset. Since then I have seen a midwife and GP and M has been reading up a lot about these blood clots and we feel a lot more relaxed. Firstly, the clots are really small 10-15mm and apparently quite normal, especially with IVF, secondly I haven’t actually had any bleeding and thirdly, the baby has a really good heartbeat!

Wednesday I had my “booking-in” appointment with the midwife. This is essentially about filling out paperwork, going through medical history (which is interesting when you’re carrying wife eggs and anon. donor’s sperm) and doing some blood tests. We were really impressed with how well we were treated as a two mum family, the midwife was really cool but we’ll have to change anyway as we’ll be moving soon.

Thursday I booked an appointment with the GP to tell her about my scan results as the clinic advised me to have another scan 10-14 days later to see if baby has caught up and blood clots are disappearing. She gave me a referral to the Early Pregnancy Unit but can’t guarantee they’ll actually scan me as the treatment was private and this is not considered an emergency. As she says, if the baby’s not growing and the blood clots worsen, there’s not actually anything they can do. But, I’ll hope for the scan just for reassurance.

We already feel so proud of our Chicklet and just pray that s/he’ll stay strong in there!

5+5 weeks. Just waiting…

I never realised how slowly time goes in early pregnancy and how that first scan seems like an eternity away. Even though we’re having a scan at 7 weeks with our clinic and most people have to wait for the standard 12 week scan. I guess it’s because when ever you find out that someone is pregnant, the next minute their bump is showing and it’s all a big sudden surprise. You don’t realise the slow and agonising wait they’ve already gone through, not knowing if everything is as it it should be, worrying about all their symptoms and what they should or should not be feeling, it’s quite a lonely experience but overwhelmingly exciting at the same time!

So far the only people that know are M’s sister and occupational health at my work. And I haven’t been to work for two weeks now because my GP requested amended duties and work haven’t sorted that out yet. It’s great to not have to worry about occupational health hazards but doing nothing at home every day (in our tiny box of a flat) is so boring and makes the days go so much slower! And all I can think about is whats happening inside me!!

Symptoms have increased this week. I feel constantly sick and still cramping and getting back pain. Not to mention extreme tiredness- and I’m not even doing anything!

We took the last pregnancy test this morning and got the celebrated “3+” result. We’re are really really wishing for twins but are just ecstatic to be pregnant!

4+1 weeks PREGNANT!

After several, very faint second lines I persuaded M to get the digital one that would actually spell it out for me before I could believe it! I’m still so shocked, even though we had IVF and a good chance, I just can’t believe that I’m pregnant!! 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 Chicklets! You’re coming!!

Day 13: Continued. Eggs collected!

M was in theatre for nearly 40 minutes and when she came back she was hilarious! And smiling thankfully. It was so funny, like she was completely drunk, she was just talking nonsense, I’m not even sure it was English and repeating herself over and over again, asking the nurses if they collected what they needed and how many eggs and kept saying “I did it”, “I did it!”. She was completely knocked out for the procedure and didn’t feel a thing. I guess the nervousness before was all about the unknown (we didn’t understand what the sedation was) and I’m so glad that it went well for her 🙂

After a cup of tea and a biscuit the consultant came it with the news: 18 eggs collected! 🙂 They said that that was really good, but we were initially slightly disappointed after having read so many stories about 40/50+ eggs being collected. At the end of the day, it’s the quality that counts and after 18, hopefully M won’t be in too much pain. So far, so good, we’re back home and tucked in bed and she feels okay, just a little uncomfortable. Oh and the bird’s foot is recovering 😉

After the egg collection I also had a scan to check if my lining is ready yet, on Wednesday it was 6.5mm and needed to be 8, now after increased doses and patches it’s 8.3mm, so that’s another piece of good news! Now I have to start on Cyclogest twice a day (pessaries up my bum). The horrors we have to go through! Gross!

We’ll hear from the embryologist on Monday morning about how the eggs and sperm got on 🙂 And hopefully they’ll make it to 5 days! If they need to do ICSI (if the sperm didn’t thaw well), they’ll let us know today, but so far we haven’t heard anything so it sounds like some good sperm 🙂

Today really made me grateful and glad that we are doing this together and creating our baby together. M’s done her most important part now and is passing the baton on to me. It feels so special ❤

Happy days so far! Wish us luck!