This morning whilst laying in bed I commented to Mike that effectively these babies have been in the making or at least on a journey to us since 2010. That's when we decided we wanted to have babies. The whole fertility journey was a roller coaster of emotions that neither of us expected. Here is a quick summary of events:
First major hick up:
July 2011
I found out I was pregnant - Yipee. Just before our prebooked holiday to Thailand. A few days after i had taken a positive pregnancy test and we had done our happy dance around the bedroom we where off on a plane for a lovely holiday in Thailand. Off we went, making all plans of when the baby would be due and talking about all our hopes and dreams. We started the holiday well by going for a short run together every morning. This blissful state was about to be shattered when on the evening of day 3 I started getting very sharp pains in my right hand side which where making it difficult for me to sit down. At first I was able to dismiss this as a symptom of pregnancy, but the pains got worse very quickly. We decided to go back to our hotel room and watch a dvd instead of carry on with our night. I began to suspect something was wrong when we went to collect a dvd and i was crouching in the corner of the shop in pain. On returning to our hotel I started frantically googling what could be wrong and it wasn't long before i had self diagnosed myself with an ectopic pregnancy. Knowing that this is quite a serious condition and even life threatening we decided to go to the doctors first thing in the morning. Although the pain just got worse and worse so at 5am in the morning having had no sleep we ordered a taxi to take us to the nearest hospital that was just over an hour away.
At the hospital we where assessed in A&E and I insisted that they make it a priority to send me the the gynaecologist. As soon as i saw her i was examined and she confirmed my suspicions. I was told it was an emergency as they could see that my fallopian tube had ruptured and i would need emergency surgery. My only option was to have a laproscopy (3 tiny incisions under general anaesthetic) or a full on c section because it was cheaper. Obviously I went for the laproscopic surgery and was in the operating room within an hour. Anyway this story is boring me now, essentially the fallout from the ectopic emotionally was much more than I ever expected it could be. I don't know if that came from the hormones, the general anaesthetic of just the general grief and emotional upset. But it was one of the worst experiences I have ever had to go through and makes me appreciate my current situation so much more.
The following months where very difficult for me and I experienced crying episodes like I have never before and I wasn't sure how to explain them. Nearly all of my closest friends started announcing their own pregnancies which was nothing more to me than terrible timing. I was genuinely very happy for them but each announcement made my own damaged fertility seem a bit worse.
During the following year I went through many different procedures whilst many of my friends went through the joyful experience of growing their babies.The HSG dye test on my fallopian tubes was particularly horrific and confirmed that i had a totally blocked tube thus effecting my fertility. I did 5 months of the ovulation stimulating drug clomid which was definitely a low point. The build up of hopes every month the scheduling of bedroom activity and the certainty that there is no way you could have failed only to be presented with conclusive proof every month that you had to return to square one after spending a small fortune. Not to mention the 3 positive pregnancy tests that ended up being chemical pregnancies or very early miscarriages, these where much easier to get through but still upsetting each time.
July 2012
It was finally time to visit the IVF clinic, yes we could have waited another 6 months or a year and it probably would have happened eventually but the emotional upset and the way your life gets put on hold in every way just incase you are pregnant it allot to handle and allot to live with.
I was very excited about starting IVF and very pleasantly surprised that it wasn't anywhere near as terrible as I had expected it to be. I think the year that ran up to IVF had prepared me well, i was ready for any hormonal difficulties, injections and procedures that followed and importantly Mike was also braced for what we had heard and read could be a very challenging process. It was a pleasant surprise to find that the IVF drugs didn't seem to effect me in any real negative way. The procedures where not very painful and my main emotion was excitement. It definitely helped that I had prepared myself to be as calm and upbeat as possible to go through the process, i was having acupuncture regularly and had been for a few months and i had made sure i wasn't too busy with work so that i could be relaxed during this crucial month. I was extremely well researched on IVF, I had a list as long as my arm of vitamins for us both to take which added to the cost of the procedure. On the very exciting day of embryo transfer we where given the opportunity to try implanting more than one embryo so we literally threw caution to the wind and put 3 embryo's into my uterus. This increased our chance of pregnancy and of course also increased our chance of multiple pregnancy. We had a 42% chance of pregnancy, a 22% chance of a twin pregnancy and a 1/2% chance of a triplet pregnancy. The only one of these outcomes that really scared me was a triplet pregnancy so it was a chance i was willing to take.
At this point I just want to point out I am not trivialising the IVF process. It is an amazing advancement in technology that has given many, many couples the chance to become parents who would otherwise never had the chance. And I know for many people it is so much more difficult than it was for us. We where lucky and it worked first time. If it hadn't I know the emotional fallout would have been very ,very hard to deal with. I'm just trying to summarise the experience that we had and not exaggerate what we experienced.
Ok so now onto the next bit the start of Pregnancy....................
Useful links:
www.conceiveuae.net Dr Pankaj Srivastav
www.wellbeingmedicalcentre.com Dr Lanelle Chapman - Naturopath/Acupuncture
First major hick up:
July 2011
I found out I was pregnant - Yipee. Just before our prebooked holiday to Thailand. A few days after i had taken a positive pregnancy test and we had done our happy dance around the bedroom we where off on a plane for a lovely holiday in Thailand. Off we went, making all plans of when the baby would be due and talking about all our hopes and dreams. We started the holiday well by going for a short run together every morning. This blissful state was about to be shattered when on the evening of day 3 I started getting very sharp pains in my right hand side which where making it difficult for me to sit down. At first I was able to dismiss this as a symptom of pregnancy, but the pains got worse very quickly. We decided to go back to our hotel room and watch a dvd instead of carry on with our night. I began to suspect something was wrong when we went to collect a dvd and i was crouching in the corner of the shop in pain. On returning to our hotel I started frantically googling what could be wrong and it wasn't long before i had self diagnosed myself with an ectopic pregnancy. Knowing that this is quite a serious condition and even life threatening we decided to go to the doctors first thing in the morning. Although the pain just got worse and worse so at 5am in the morning having had no sleep we ordered a taxi to take us to the nearest hospital that was just over an hour away.
At the hospital we where assessed in A&E and I insisted that they make it a priority to send me the the gynaecologist. As soon as i saw her i was examined and she confirmed my suspicions. I was told it was an emergency as they could see that my fallopian tube had ruptured and i would need emergency surgery. My only option was to have a laproscopy (3 tiny incisions under general anaesthetic) or a full on c section because it was cheaper. Obviously I went for the laproscopic surgery and was in the operating room within an hour. Anyway this story is boring me now, essentially the fallout from the ectopic emotionally was much more than I ever expected it could be. I don't know if that came from the hormones, the general anaesthetic of just the general grief and emotional upset. But it was one of the worst experiences I have ever had to go through and makes me appreciate my current situation so much more.
The following months where very difficult for me and I experienced crying episodes like I have never before and I wasn't sure how to explain them. Nearly all of my closest friends started announcing their own pregnancies which was nothing more to me than terrible timing. I was genuinely very happy for them but each announcement made my own damaged fertility seem a bit worse.
During the following year I went through many different procedures whilst many of my friends went through the joyful experience of growing their babies.The HSG dye test on my fallopian tubes was particularly horrific and confirmed that i had a totally blocked tube thus effecting my fertility. I did 5 months of the ovulation stimulating drug clomid which was definitely a low point. The build up of hopes every month the scheduling of bedroom activity and the certainty that there is no way you could have failed only to be presented with conclusive proof every month that you had to return to square one after spending a small fortune. Not to mention the 3 positive pregnancy tests that ended up being chemical pregnancies or very early miscarriages, these where much easier to get through but still upsetting each time.
July 2012
It was finally time to visit the IVF clinic, yes we could have waited another 6 months or a year and it probably would have happened eventually but the emotional upset and the way your life gets put on hold in every way just incase you are pregnant it allot to handle and allot to live with.
I was very excited about starting IVF and very pleasantly surprised that it wasn't anywhere near as terrible as I had expected it to be. I think the year that ran up to IVF had prepared me well, i was ready for any hormonal difficulties, injections and procedures that followed and importantly Mike was also braced for what we had heard and read could be a very challenging process. It was a pleasant surprise to find that the IVF drugs didn't seem to effect me in any real negative way. The procedures where not very painful and my main emotion was excitement. It definitely helped that I had prepared myself to be as calm and upbeat as possible to go through the process, i was having acupuncture regularly and had been for a few months and i had made sure i wasn't too busy with work so that i could be relaxed during this crucial month. I was extremely well researched on IVF, I had a list as long as my arm of vitamins for us both to take which added to the cost of the procedure. On the very exciting day of embryo transfer we where given the opportunity to try implanting more than one embryo so we literally threw caution to the wind and put 3 embryo's into my uterus. This increased our chance of pregnancy and of course also increased our chance of multiple pregnancy. We had a 42% chance of pregnancy, a 22% chance of a twin pregnancy and a 1/2% chance of a triplet pregnancy. The only one of these outcomes that really scared me was a triplet pregnancy so it was a chance i was willing to take.
At this point I just want to point out I am not trivialising the IVF process. It is an amazing advancement in technology that has given many, many couples the chance to become parents who would otherwise never had the chance. And I know for many people it is so much more difficult than it was for us. We where lucky and it worked first time. If it hadn't I know the emotional fallout would have been very ,very hard to deal with. I'm just trying to summarise the experience that we had and not exaggerate what we experienced.
Ok so now onto the next bit the start of Pregnancy....................
Useful links:
www.conceiveuae.net Dr Pankaj Srivastav
www.wellbeingmedicalcentre.com Dr Lanelle Chapman - Naturopath/Acupuncture
Your story is truly touching. The journey of infertility is a pain and we need to hold on ourselves at every step. I believe it is important to get in touch with the right specialist for the best treatment. I had been to Sharjah for fertility treatment and I had wonderful experience with them. I think UAE is the best place for fertility treatments.
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