IVF Journey: 17w4d pregnant

This is my IVF diary. My husband and I have been trying to have a baby for four years now, and have a diagnosis of 'unexplained infertility'. We have finally reached the top of the waiting list for IVF - a form of assisted conception. I'm blogging about what happens as it happens, as a kind of therapy for me and as an awareness raising exercise of what IVF is all about.

My midwife called the Consultant on Monday and got me an appointment within 48 hours of her call. Easy. Do not even get me started on what a massive difference it would have made to my life if this had happened nine weeks ago when my GP sent me to triage, or seven weeks ago when my first midwife told me to try some ginger… I remain oh so very angry about the decimating effect that this has unnecessarily had on my life. So so so let down.

So the negative was that my appointment was at 11am but things were running hugely late and we didn’t get away until 12.30pm. Also when we got there we didn’t know where to go as we hadn’t had a letter and the desk staff were pretty rude and unhelpful. And simply wrong. They sent us to triage, who sent us straight back again.

Other than that it was good though.

First a urine dip, blood pressure test and listen for the baby’s heartbeat with the midwife.

Then I saw a doctor. We covered many many points, as requested by the various midwives I’ve seen plus some random things that came up.

Points raised by midwife number 1…

My gallbladder removal keyhole surgery in 2006. As I predicted, the doctor has no interest in this and considers it irrelevant.

IVF. As predicted the doctor is happy to treat this as a ‘normal’ pregnancy thus IVF is irrelevant. But as we were there she offered us an additional ‘growth’ scan at 28 weeks which sometimes people on IVF like to have. Which we accepted, just because it would be nice for us. We’re not overly concerned.

Points raised by midwife number 2…

Blood pressure. Yes, I have ‘white coat syndrome’ and my blood pressure may appear high. Keep an eye on whether it appears high and continues to appear high.

Nausea. The main event as far as I was concerned. The doctor asked a few questions and confirmed that my current medication was appropriate. She said I could try something stronger if I wanted or wait a few weeks and see how things went and I opted to wait as things seem to be going better just now. She advised I stop taking folic acid and vitamin D as these can aggravate nausea.

And special freebies today…

Blood in my urine. There was some. As there always is. I explained that I did not notice any change in my urine, that I didn’t have any symptoms of bladder or kidney problems, that I had been investigated, and that the presence of blood in my urine was often mentioned following dip tests. Today’s urine will be sent for analysis.

Post-natal depression. The doctor said I am more likely to get this as I have had depression before. I can be treated for it. I don’t think there’s any need to worry about that in advance, and I know how to spot it.

Overall she was kind, professional and sympathetic.

She said I should come back in a month to see how things are going.

It feels comforting to be under the care of an expert, finally.