Last I updated, I was waiting for my period to start so I could begin my injections for our first round of IVF. Well it’s been over a week and a half since I started my needles and I can say that I’m getting very close to having my egg retrieval. I know this not only because of what the doctors are telling me (obviously) but because of how I can feel my ovaries with every step I take. Thanks to my PCOS and the amount of follicles I have developing, my ovaries are literally the size of oranges.

So some people I have talked to since opening up about what we are going through don’t fully understand what my body will be going through with IVF. They know its the ‘test tube baby’ but they are not completely sure how we get to that stage. So here is a quick ‘Amber’ version of what I am currently going through and what is to come in the next week.

About two weeks ago I had a baseline ultrasound to confirm there was no new cysts in my ovaries and then everything was looking good to start IVF on my next cycle. I also picked up all the medications that I would need to start off with. They come from the pharmacy in this cute little purple bag that I think makes it seem not as scary. At least not until you dump it all out on the bed and see it all. Believe it or not, the meds in the picture only make up about 1/3 of what I have taken thus far.

So I had my meds, all was good and now I just had to wait for my period to start to begin the cycle. Last Tuesday it was finally go time. I started taking my daily injections and then on Saturday would head up to Calgary for blood work and ultrasound to see how my follicles were growing.

While IVF is in essence taking my eggs, his sperm, putting them in test tube and then ‘BAM’ you have a baby, there is a lot more to it to get from A to B. Each woman is born with a certain amount of eggs and each month, one of these follicles grows and develops an egg, which once mature will ovulate and if met with sperm, with fertilize. In order to remove eggs for fertilization in IVF, we have to mass stimulate some of the follicles in my ovaries to get a good number of them to grow and mature good quality eggs.

To do this, Dr. P prescribed and had me start with Puregon and Menopur injections. These are the same meds I had been on during my previous IUIs, just in larger doses. I was started on 175iui of Puregon and 75 iui of Menopur. Puregon is the synthetic version of a sex hormone called FSH while Menopur contains human menopausal gonadotrophin which is a combination of FSH and LH. Both of these medications are used to stimulate FSH and LH increase the number of growing follicles and stimulate their development. Within the follicles are the developing eggs. FSH also increases the production of oestrogen and under the influence of this hormone the largest follicle continues to develop. As the amount of oestrogen in the blood increases, this triggers a surge of LH, which results in the final maturation and release of an egg from the ovary.