Thursday, April 7, 2016

The journey continues



I was tempted to name this blog post something along the lines of "yet another invasive medical procedure on the long journey to have a baby", but I decided that probably sounded too negative!

A few months ago at our appointment to dissect what went wrong during the first round of IVF (I've heard some women refer to this as the WTF appointment!) my doctor, who I'm nicknaming Dr. Direct (since he tends to state it like it is, and has little time for empathy) started off by saying everything went well during the last attempt and he feels good about round two. Next time I'll try different medication, an antagonoist protocol, which should hopefully help more eggs to develop.

I mentioned that the other doctor, who I'm nicknaming Dr. Gentle (because she is the opposite, has lots of empathy and is more caring), had noticed that my womb lining was on the thin side and whether that could be an issue. Dr. Direct looked over his files on us and he said that yes it was thin; only 6mm whereas they like to see between 8 and 10mm. He then suggested I should consider getting a hysteroscopy which is when a camera is inserted into your uterus to see if everything looks ok. He gave me a referral to another doctor for a consultation.

Whenever we leave appointments with Dr. Direct we always end up feeling overwhelmed with information and choices. Neither hubby nor I liked the idea of me having to get another procedure done under general anesthetic but after doing some research I started to think it would be worth doing, just in case there IS some sort of issue and especially once I realized we could combine it with an endometrial scratch.

That's a relatively new pre IVF extra that has shown very promising results in trials. Basically a tiny scratch on your womb causes the lining to be regenerated with new lining that is extra receptive to embryos the following month. In some studies it even doubled the chances of a successful pregnancy from 29% to 49%. I'm loving those improved odds!

We had to postpone when we could start our next IVF for various timing reasons unfortunately but we should be good to go in a few weeks time. The chances of a 2016 baby are no more but I'm hopeful now for 2017. At least our future child will know they were very much wanted as there is no way anyone would put themselves through the gruelling IVF process if they didn't absolutely have to!

Update: I had the hysteroscopy and scratch and it all went well.

3 comments:

  1. So happy for you that all went well. Best wishes for the future.

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  2. Hi Dubliner ;-)

    i love to read about your stories and experiences in Germany. :-) And i am very happy for your that everything went well! I would have loved to write you to an email address, but I could find one, therefore I am commenting here on your last posts.

    Currently I am writing my master thesis as part of a global research project. We are conducting interviews on all five continents with the intention to clarify the impact of cultural factors in international business settings. The goal is to avoid conflicts and misunderstandings while dealing with people from the respective country. We want to create trainings and coaching for expats so they wont get a culture shock, such as you did, when they come to Germany. ;-) Thats why I was looking for expats from Ireland as interviewee, who live and work in Germany for more than 6 months, when I found your blog and thought to myself, why not ask her.

    The interview would only be 45min. long and via Skypecall, without video. And in return for your participation, you will receive a detailed project-brochure including all relevant results and insights, once the study is completed.

    I would be really happy to hear from you and maybe win you over as an interviewee. Please feel free to contact me at: alica.meetsireland@gmail.com. Thanks and Im looking forward to it! Have a great day and all the best for you and your family!

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