10 WEEKS PREGNANT | UPDATE

Hey guys! 

It seems like ages since I last updated this blog and so much has happened too! 

First thing's first - following on from my last post, the 'hook effect' is a real thing and that's exactly what was happening to me. Apparently pregnancy tests are only designed to pick up levels of hcg up to a certain point. Once your body reaches that point they are too high to register, hence why I started getting weak lines on my pregnancy tests. By diluting my urine (25% urine: 75% water) I was able to get nice strong lines once again. 

Regarding our disappearing twin, we've had 2 more scans since my last update (4 now altogether) and twin 2 was never seen again. Very sad, but if it had to die, doing so in the first trimester was the best case scenario. This is because the fetal tissue has now been absorbed by me, the placenta or the other twin. Hence the name 'vanishing twin syndrome'. It's horrible but we've had time to accept it now. I just keep imagining the day I tell my little one that they were an identical twin. : ( I don't even know if we will tell them or not. 

Talking of twin 1 - it's doing really well. In fact, it's doing so well that I'm actually 11 weeks pregnant according to my scans (not 10). We've been so lucky to be monitored by the Early Pregnancy Unit and at every scan our little one always measures just over a week ahead. It's currently the size of a lime!

Over the past 3 weeks my symptoms have been:

Metallic taste in my mouth.

Extreme tiredness - I feel like I could sleep forever!

Waking up frequently during the night. 

Night sweats (gross!).

Feeling very thirsty.

Mild period pains.

Constipation.

Feeling bloated / heavy stomach.

Sore boobs. (Mainly on the sides).

Feeling too hot, then too cold.

Nausea, which seems to be easing up a bit since last Sat. That said, I still feel it every day at about 5/5.30pm. At this point I cannot stand the smell of food cooking! Often I get it around 1pm too.

Heightened sense of smell when I feel nauseous. 

A weird heavy feeling in my crotch area (like my insides are falling out!). The EPU consultant thinks it might actually be my bowel. 

I've now stopped taking the Pregnacare Original tablets and went back onto Pregnacare Pre-conception for a bit. After still suffering with stomach pains and diarrhea I've finally started taking a Boots Folic Acid and Vitamin D tablet. These seem to be much better.

Next up - we have our NHS booking appointment in a week, our NHS 12 week scan in just under 2 weeks and we've booked in for a private NIPT + Scan in just over two weeks (when I'll be 12/13 weeks). This is £399.00 and includes the Harmony prenatal blood test (NIPT), a 2D ultrasound scan (inc prints), sexing (yes we are going to find out the sex!) and a 4DFREEVIEW with 3D ultrasound prints. How exciting!

Jess. xx

IVF BLOG DAY 49 | 2WW | LATEST SYMPTOMS

We only have one day to go until it's official test day. Oh yeah! We're now 13DPT (13 days past transfer) and I'm feeling so pleased that I didn't cave and test early. (Other than when I tested to see if the trigger shot was still in my system! You can read about that here.).

Today I'm feeling really positive and excited. It's crazy how one day I feel down and on another I feel like I do today. It's all that progesterone from the Crinone Gel playing havoc with my hormones. What a game this is.

Anyway, tomorrow I have to go to the hospital and have a HCG (Pregnancy) blood test by 11.30am. The results will be rung through to the Fertility Clinic by early afternoon and a Co-ordinator will ring me with the result.

Here's a final update with the symptoms I've been experiencing since ET:

10DPT

Sunday 23rd July 2017: I had bad period-like cramps all morning on and off. By 2pm they felt really bad. Just like when I'm about to come on. They were also really bad around 10pm and lasted about 20-30 mins.

11DPT

Monday 24th July 2017: In the morning I had a twinge on the left hand side of my womb again and was peeing for England. I had no idea why as I hadn't drank any caffeine which would have been the cause pre-ivf when I was allowing myself to have it! I also had bright pink blood in the Crinone Gel and period-like pains around 8pm. By 8.47pm I was getting the twinge in the left hand side of my womb. It does make me wonder what on earth is going on in there!

12DPT

Tuesday 25th July 2017: I felt sick in the middle of the night and when I woke up the smell of toast cooking made me feel a bit queasy. This is unusual for me as I love toast and eat it most days! I also noticed that the bloated heavy belly was back so I had to undo my skinny jeans. At some point I had the twinge on my left hand side of my womb again and by 10pm I felt really tired. I was also feeling sick and incredibly bloated to the point where I had to lay on my side.

13DPT

Wednesday 26th July 2017: That's today! It's only 10.30am so there's not much to report as yet other than this morning I woke up having hot flushes. These continued for about an hour or so but I feel alright now. My belly is still pretty bloated so I've decided to stay in my PJ's for the day! 

Here's an updated summary of all the symptoms I've had in total:

Total Symptoms (ET-13DPT)

Feeling bloated / heavy stomach

Mild period-like pains / cramps

Strong period-like pains / cramps

Painful twinges

Strange piercing feeling in the centre of my womb

Extreme tiredness 

Sore nipples

Blood spotting

Feeling sick

Feeling queasy

Back ache

Diarrhoea (ever since I started using Crinone Vaginal Gel).

Weight loss (because of the above! - not much, just a few lbs).

Feeling down/moody/emotional/like crying sometimes

Hot flushes

Frequent urination

I think it's important to note that most or all of these symptoms are more than likely down to the Crinone Gel (progesterone) that I am still taking. Progesterone mimics pregnancy symptoms so analysing them in terms of pregnancy would just drive me mad. Many women get their BFPs after experiencing no symptoms at all. This has certainly been the case for me when being pregnant in the past. I had no idea both times.

Anyway....

Today I'm feeling: Happy, excited, positive and glad that we're going to know one way or the other by tomorrow!

I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who's been reading this blog (my stats show me that you're there!). I'll update you all with what happens tomorrow. No matter what the outcome is I'll be back at some point to either give you pregnancy updates or to talk about what we'll be doing next. 

There's a subscribe box in the side-bar on the right of this blog if you want to get updates every time I post.

Good luck if you're on an IVF or pregnancy journey of your own!

Jess. xx

IVF BLOG DAY 46 | 2WW | UPDATE & MORE SYMPTOMS

Wow! So we've been going through the whole IVF thing for 46 days now. It feels like it's flown by in some kind of drugged up bubble. Then again, it has to be said that the 2WW kinda goes by slow. For me personally it's been a real rollercoaster of emotions where I never know how I'm going to feel about it all from one day to the next. You'll see what I mean if you read on.

We're now 10DPT (10 days past transfer) after having a 2DT (2 day transfer). Today I'm feeling pretty good overall. I found the first week difficult but things have got better as we've progressed into the second. My thoughts became quite negative around 3DPT with me feeling sad that we only get one go at IVF via the NHS. I confided in my fiance on Tuesday who said 'well if it doesn't work then we'll just have to find the money'. Needless to say after that I cheered up a bit!

Anyway, as before, I've been keeping a note of my symptoms so here's a little update of what's been going on:

3DPT

Sunday 16th July 2017: After feeling sick, bloated, lethargic and like I had a really heavy stomach the day before (you can read about that here) it was a relief that I felt normal on this day. Too normal actually to the point where I was like 'hang on, where have all my symptoms gone?'. It's funny how they feel bad when you have them but once there gone you kinda want them back. Just in case they're signs of pregnancy. You hold on to that every bit of hope. Anyway the symptoms were soon back by the evening where I had sore nipples and a heavy bloated belly again!

4DPT

Monday 17th July 2017: On this day I experienced blood spotting in the Crinone Vaginal Gel, sore nipples and period-like cramps. At 9pm the cramps got particularly painful. I felt bloated and had a strange twinge/pain on my left side (probably where my ovary is if I'm honest). By 8pm the twinge was pulsating to the point where I could count the seconds between each one. It was so strange and I had to stop what I was doing and lay down. 

I must also mention that in the morning I had a call to say there were no embryos good enough to freeze. Out of the 5 left one had made it to blastocyst stage which I was advised to take as a good sign for the two that we had put back in. 

Knowing that we have no frosties started to make me worrying about our chances being taken away even more. What if this cycle doesn't work out? What on earth are we going to do?

5DPT

Tuesday 18th July 2017: I had a good night's sleep but woke up at 7.30am with the painful pulsating twinges on my left side again. Just like the day before I could count the seconds between them, although it would vary and sometimes be 4 seconds or sometimes as long as 10! I also felt very bloated on this day.

The worrying continued and I confided in my finace who reassured me that we could try to find the money for another go if we needed to. I felt a lot better after hearing that.

6DPT

Wednesday 19th July 2017: Not sure what happened on this day as I haven't written anything down!

7DPT

Thursday 20th July 2017: As above!

8DPT

Friday 21st July 2017: This was the day that things really changed for me as I decided that the best thing I can do is get on with my life during the 2WW, almost pretending that none of this is happening. I know that's much easy said than done but I got on and cleaned my house (without using cleaning products because my consultant advised me to be careful of them. Oh, and I left the hoovering to my fiance as apparently that can be bad too!). I was determined that by the next day I would be getting up and dressed and out of my pj's that I've been slobbing around in for about 45 days!

Symptoms wise, I had a really strange piercing feeling right in the centre of my womb. It was very prominent and not like anything I've ever felt before. The only way I can describe it is a bit like a piercing or a needle going in and it was on the edge of being painful. It lasted about 5-10 seconds and I couldn't help but wonder if it was an implantation pain?

9DPT

Saturday 22nd July 2017: I had very strong period-like pains for about 4 hours on and off during the night. It was so bad it would wake me up. I also had blood spotting in the Crinone Vaginal Gel again which was a little out of the blue after not having this for 4/5 days. Again, I couldn't help but wonder if implantation had occurred the day before. This really is classic symptom checking/analysing at it's best! But if someone told me I'm pregnant and to put money on when implantation had occurred Fri 21st would be it! 

Here's an updated summary of all the symptoms I've had so far:

Symptoms so Far (ET-9DPT)

Feeling bloated / heavy stomach

Mild period-like pains / cramps

Strong period-like pains / cramps

Painful twinges

Strange piercing feeling in the centre of my womb

Extreme tiredness 

Sore nipples

Blood spotting

Feeling sick

Back ache

Some I've forgotten to mention!

Diarrhoea (ever since I started using Crinone Vaginal Gel).

Weight loss (because of the above! - not much, just a few lbs).

Feeling down/moody/emotional/like crying sometimes

Hot flushes

Today I'm feeling: Happy enough in myself. Really grateful to have such a loving and supportive fiance who's been great through all of this. Glad that I'm not so bloated anymore and I wore my skinny jeans for the first time in ages today. (A good thing or not? I don't know - you tell me!). I could wear them for ages because I felt so bloated and it would hurt the places where I had my injections.

It's only 4 days until OTD (Official Test Day) now! That's a good point actually - I found a box of pregnancy tests upstairs so I must get my fiance to hide them!

Jess. xx

I CAVED AND TOOK A PREGNANCY TEST!

Around 12 noon today I randomly decided to take a pregnancy test. Yes I am only 3DPT after a 2DT, however I feel like if I know when the Ovitrelle is out of my system then any positive tests will be for real. Just in case you don't know Ovitrelle (the trigger shot) can cause pregnancy tests to show up positive. As a rule it can take up to 10 days to leave your system after injecting it.

Anyway, the test was negative so I guess that means it's well and truly gone. My trigger shot was 7 days ago so that sounds about right. Now I just need to try and avoid testing until my official test date. Although it would be lovely to see a positive test I think seeing lots of negative ones would be soul destroying. 

If you've had IVF did you make it through the 2 week wait without testing?

Jess. xx

IVF BLOG DAY 39 | 2WW | SYMPTOMS SO FAR

We're now 3DPT (3 days past transfer) after having a 2DT (2 day transfer) and it has to be said, I'm feeling pretty emotional today. I've been thinking a bit more negatively this morning and wondering what on earth we're going to do if this hasn't worked. We only get one go via the NHS so I feel quite pressured, even though at this stage it's pretty much out of my control. I'm doing everything I can in terms of eating right and making sure I don't overdo it. However I also think staying positive is key so I'm going to try and knock these negative emotions on the head!

That said, the 2WW is a really difficult time. I feel like I want someone to reassure me that it's worked. Of course I do. That's only natural. It doesn't help that I'm getting all these symptoms which could be related to any number of things such as pregnancy (please let it be that), PMT (noooo!) or the drugs I've been taking such as the Ovitrelle trigger shot (you can read about that here) or the Crinone Vaginal Gel. It's like hormone city in my body right now!

Anyway, I've been keeping a note of my symptoms as I think it'll be interesting to see how they're linked to the overall outcome in the end. Here's what I have so far:

ET (Embryo Transfer) Day

Thursday 13th July 2017: This was the day of the transfer and following the procedure I had very mild period-like pains. They were nothing to worry about and we went out for dinner so they definitely were not bad. I went to bed at 6.30pm that night and slept for 12 hours as I was so tired! I also had sore nipples throughout the day which I've been having since the trigger shot.

1DPT

Friday 14th July 2017: I felt much better but had some really crazy and quite painful twinges on my left side in the night when I turned over. I have no idea what that was about. I was still getting mild period-like pains on and off every now and again too. I also noticed that when the day's Crinone Gel came out it was blood stained. I think that's probably my EC (Egg Collection) wounds healing. When laying in bed (around 10.30pm) I had quite strong period-like cramps. 

2DPT

Saturday 15th July 2017: I woke up feeling sick, and my stomach felt really bloated and heavy. This went on all day making me feel really lethargic. I attempted to go out shopping but whilst in the second shop it felt unbearable and I needed to go home and sit down. Once at home I fell asleep for an hour. Other symptoms I felt throughout the day included blood spotting in the Crinone Gel, mild period-like pains and I had back ache. 

I'm going to summarise my symptoms in a list and update it each time I blog:

Symptoms so Far (ET-2DPT)

Feeling bloated / heavy stomach

Mild period-like pains / cramps

Strong period-like pains / cramps

Painful twinges

Extreme tiredness 

Sore nipples

Blood spotting

Feeling sick

Back ache

Today I'm feeling: Very good physically with no symptoms as yet (it's only 10.30am though!). A bit emotional - where have all my symptoms gone? Is this a good or bad thing? I wish the 2WW was over. Should I cave and do a pregnancy test? (I know that's a silly idea don't worry. It's far too soon and I probably still have hormones in my system from the trigger which could show a false positive!).

On a side note: We'll find out if any of our embryos were good enough to freeze tomorrow. I'm not holding out much hope as on Thurs they were not. Still, you never know!

Jess. xx