Happy 32 Week….

Woo hoo…. Finally I get to see how my BB Boy looks like :)

He is very healthy as what my gynae said, estimation weighted of 1.9kg which is at the good range however he is at breech position. Initially I was thinking to get a 3D video / scan but he is such an uncooperative baby. He was hiding his face and was facing inward; the Sonographer was trying her means to make him turn so in the end this is the best shot we got.

Nevertheless I am happy enough, as during the scan I could see him move and yawn, OMG~ he such a cutie~ just can't wait to meet him next month. 

In spite of this, my body was actually giving me a scare at 31 week, I was having brown discharge and cramp. I was shocked as it happened right after my lunch; in my mind I was thinking what did I eat?! I was definitely eating healthy as I was having fish soup that day. I quickly made a call to the hospital and was asked to step-in the very same hour. Fortunately I was just having polyp and it a mild one, Gynae told me it due to infection and removed for me the next day along with CTG check for the cramp and baby’s heart rate.

The CTG scan was quite fun, nevertheless baby is not cooperating as usual (seriously I think BB boy is like me, we tend to get irritated easily LOL) he do not like the CTG scan so he was actually playing hide and seek with the machine. Eventually he lost….heee…. his heart beat rate is very active and I was having contraction but it got better when I am well rested. So I am been prescribed with NIFEdipine 3 times a day to calm the uterus.

As mentioned, baby is breech. I am instructed by my gynae to do a simple exercise at home to see whether can bring my baby to the correct position. Although chances for me are not high, due to I have a bicornuate womb which make my baby has limited space inside me. Nevertheless, never say die without trying… In case you are interested, this video is shared by my community which is almost the same as my gynae’s instruction. She has more steps.. where else my is just stack up the pillows underneath my buttock to have my body 45 degree angle. The video is 9 min that long but hope it is useful for baby who is breech....

Facebook Community usefulness~

I am in this secret facebook community where moms-to-be with their edd in December this year get together to chat and discuss. I am glad that I have joined this community, although have been pregnant before but this is still consider my first pregnancy hence a lot information is getting from experience mommies and elderly.

I realised a lot elderlies based on myth to advise us, while mommies based on their own experience, however difference people will have their own pregnancy issue hence community plays a big role in sharing information.

Anyway today I am on medical leave as was kinda feeling unwell plus was having 2 sleepless nights, so decided to go and see a GP to get a MC to rest at home. While I was waiting to get my medicine at the counter, there's these 2 aunties was chatting with me telling me that I am so going to due soon. How they presume is based on looking at my swollen lips and tummy is low!?!?!? IT's really freak me up! But I just smile along saying still got 7 to 10 weeks to go...

I quickly log on to my facebook and post up the above. After posting up, immediately i got 40 replies... WOW~ SEE! how effective this community is! I just love them. Of course after chatting with them, it does give me a peace of mind.

Ok time to go for lunch... just feel like gossiping today so pardon if i being too bitchy :P

It getting nearer!!!!

Finally I have come to third trimester, officially a real countdown for me ~ woo hoo….

Everyone kept telling me that the time passes so fast that I am actually left 2 months to go to pop; but I can’t wait for November to arrive any sooner. Guess I am too anxious and excited to see my “most familiar stranger” aka “little lover”.

Theory said second trimester is the most comfortable period for most pregnancy which I have to admit; besides having leg cramps and backache, occasionally I really do not feel myself pregnant at all. A lot times I will be “warned” or “scolded” by my hubby to be gentle which I thought it was quite funny as he is more anxious than me.

Anyway… this is my first week of third trimester and I can start to feel the 3^rd trim “pressure”; for example baby’s movement getting more obvious (which I love the most), my back getting more and more painful regardless I am sitting or lying down, stretch mark but only on my breast and water retention which mean I am starting to have swollen legs and figure... Just hope I can endure well till Nov.

Overall I have gained about 10kg and hoping no more increment, I do not know how heavy or how big is my baby as my last scan was done when I was in 21 weeks since then I never have an ultra-scan. Well, because my check-ups are done at government hospital and they do not practice regular scan for every visits. My next scan and last scan will be at 10 Oct where I will be at 32 weeks. Just hope everything will goes well and smooth for my pregnancy, as I am hoping to go through natural birth and possible with NO epidural or whatsoever pain relief. Heee~ not too confident whether can I handle the labour pain but I am really looking forward to it!

Ok got to go~ will update more whenever I can J  

I am back~again

Hi!!

I am back!

This time I have brought a good news…… Yes! I am pregnant!

Fortunately for me, I have succeeded through my first IVF procedure. Now I am 24 weeks pregnant and we are expecting a prince J Hurray~

I have to say it was not easy for my hubby and I to come this far, which explained my disappearance. Beside the IVF procedure that I have to go through, my pregnancy especially my first trimester was a tough ones for us. Not that I was having terrible morning sickness (which my was quite mild), I was bleeding throughout the entire first trimester. We were suppose to be expecting a twin unfortunately at week 8 only one heartbeat was detected; we were devastated yet we considered ourselves lucky and blessing in disguise.

2 eggs inserted (on 17 March 2012)

2 sacs found (on 11 April 2012) - Week 6 

1 sac survived (on 20 April 2012) - Week 7

Baby formed at 23.9mm (on 04 May 2012) - 9 week

There the empty water on top (on 09 May 2012) -  9w 6d

Measurement at 4.39cm (on 14 May 2012) - 10 w 2d

Can see his hand :) (on 23 May 2012) - 12 weeks old !

At this stage my bleed start to stop :) (0n 08 June 2012) - 14 weeks old

Schedule for detail scan (on 26 July 2012) - 21 Week

Gender reveal!!! :) 

I believe you will tend to see my more often here as I am having more time for myself now. I don't need bed rest like when I was in my first trim. So... I do hope I can consistently update this blog and share  my journey to parenthood with you guys.

In the meantime, Happy Hari Raya and have a great weekend ahead :)

Oh please.....

I am an open book, which mean to say my IVF planning is openly known by everybody. IVF to people is well known for its injection, so these days my friends and relatives tend to fond of asking me these questions: "it is tough? is it painful? It must be hard for you" and most ladies' favourite comment is : "if it's me I won't have the gut to inject myself".

Oh please... Ladies, trust me, you have the gut, you definitely have it if you are in my situation. We women have the willpower which we tend to underestimate ourselves, I myself can't believe that I have been injecting myself for coming 3 weeks too, I have to admit that it is painful and there will be bruises but my willpower told me this is all well worth it.

Anyway what I hate most is those ladies already have kid or even pregnant tell me if they face this situation they won't be able to do it. The fact is you don't have too so please.... don't let your unnecessary brings down our morale. For me, I still can handle the comment but I do have a limit, just treat I am petty but seriously I do need encouragement as it not easy going through all this alone (although my hubby is with me by giving me spiritual support).

Especially now, I need to have 2 jabs per day, morning will be suprefact of 0.2ml and night with gonalF of 1.50ml. The injection is easy, just have bear the pain and poke yourself, gonalF injection is much easier than suprefact properly because it comes in a pen form and the needle is much slimmer. I am not sure anyone have side effect from these injection, as for me I do have. For example, headache, thirsty, tiredness and bloating feeling.

The nurse told me among these 2 jabs, gonalF cost the most, by looking at the packaging it very obvious to tell us the price of it. Anyway my review is this coming Friday, guess next week will the Egg retrieval week. Can't believe the days come so fast :) , I was so worried hence was forcing my hubby to follow me to pray just now. I seriously hope my first IVF cycle will be my last.

The days are coming close..

My gonal-f jab will be coming soon, in fact next Monday is the day for my next review, whether can I proceed for Gonal-F will depend on that day.

You may wonder what is Gonal-F for; the Gonal-f come in a Pen injection form, it is used to help ovaries make more eggs. (source from http://www.fertilitylifelines.com/resources/gonal-frffpen.jsp).

My period has already came, so I believe properly another 1 week or so I can proceed for egg retrieval, but!! that is what I hoping for, actual fact still very much depends the scan and blood test I have to go through along the Gonal-F jab. For the pass 11 days of self injection all I can say is I used to it, including the bruise I got. However, I need to use ice to numb my skin else I will not dare to jab in my skin still.

Now I just hope, when I proceed for Gonal-F I wont have over reaction like developing OHSS which I had mentioned in my previous post, else it will be really wasting my money.

As for my hubby, I can tell he is as much worry as me, how can I tell? I just tell him I have headache, he will have a big reaction and ask in a anxious way, it is normal ? Are you okay? Although he did nothing much for this IVF program but his concern and loves are my greatest support.

I made it!

13th Feb was the official day I started my Suprefact injection. My appointment was in the morning and my hubby went with me. I was having mix feeling but more toward to nervous as I am not sure can I accomplish the injection myself.  While waiting at the reception, I am chatting with my friend on my phone and my hubby was observing around the NUH IVF center. He turned to me and told me they will give a red small bag and true enough I saw a red bag and next was my name been called.

If I remember correctly, the IVF nurse named Christine serviced me. She is really very nice and patience enough to go through with me step by step and demonstration on how to go for the jab. At the end of the demonstration, I need to go through the real injection by myself.

I have to tell you I am so so so nervous and scare! I was having jelly hand and every time I am nervous I tends to do thing in a quick manner. My hubby do not have the courage to jab for me, plus he is going to travel for work from tomorrow onward till April so I have to learn to manage myself. My action was so fast that my hubby has to keep remind me to slow down.

First I need to lift up my blouse to expose my tummy, next I will need to assemble the gears - needle (tuberculin syringe), alcohol wipes and the medicine (Suprefact). 

The injection step goes by below:

• I will need to open the alcohol wipe to clean the medicine top cap (a new bottle will have a metal cap on it, need to take out and will see the rubber cap)
• Push the needle plunger to ensure all air is out in the barrel
• take out the orange cap from the syringe, turn the medicine bottle about 45 degree and insert the needle in the middle of the cap (which is a rubber cap). 
• slowly pull the plunger down to fill the barrel till it reach 50 and remove from the bottle
• I will need to hold the syringe upright and flick with my finger if there is air bubble
• the the alcohol wipe to clean the tummy area which is 2 fingers away from your belly button
• Pinch the skin and inject. 
• Push the plunger down to release the medication
• the count to 5 before taking out the needle and finally wipe it with the alcohol wipe

I have to say the procedure is easy, the most difficult part is not the pain; it is poking yourself.  I really take a lot encourage to poke myself, i dare to say my pain endurance is quite high but it just quite difficult to purposely take a needle to poke your own fresh. Anyway, I mange to do it!!

This morning was my second jab, and I manage to do it all myself with a little guardian from hubby. It all went way just that I realise I got 2 needle bruises now...

result known!

YES!!! I am perfectly fine and ready for my next protocol which is injection!
my injection will start on 13th Feb, and properly will have my embryo extract out and transfer in mid March.
Now I just hope and pray hard i won't have side effect like OHSS.


So what is OHSS?

The medications (gonadotrophins) used to stimulate your ovaries during in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) or associated procedures for fertility treatment are designed to ensure that a reasonable number of eggs are obtained to maximise your chances of pregnancy. OHSS happens when too many ovarian follicles have developed in response to the usual dosage of medication. It is a result of the hormones produced by the ovaries in response to the usual dosage of medication. It is a result of the hormones produced by the ovaries in response to the drugs given.

OHSS is usually mild and causes no more than a slight lower abdominal discomfort in most cases.

Although uncommon, it warrants medical attention as it can be potentially life threatening, if left untreated in severe cases.

When detected early and managed appropriately, the condition can be controlled. 


source from: http://www.kkh.com.sg/Services/Women/KKIVFCentre/Pages/OHSS.aspx

The waiting....

The journey of TTC teaches me an important lesson that is patience. Beside preparing your body for conceiving and BD on the right days next will be waiting and waiting. You cannot be anxious as it will affect your body. It is not easy not to be anxious especially when you are TTC-ing, a lot women especially those ever conceived before are not able to do so. It's easy to say "I am not nervous or anxious about it" but the fact is subconsciously our mind is actually always thinking about it.

Now, i am on the way for IVF and the main protocol of this procedure is WAITING too. I have to wait for my appointments, waiting for the test result, wait for AF to come and wait for the next process that the doc planned for you. Like now I am waiting for my test result to determine am I qualify to go for the program. What I can do is only wait and pray for the hardest that my result will be positive.

On the side note of waiting, I realise a lot people disapprove IVF. I am not afraid to tell people I am going for IVF, as I feel it is not a shame thing I am doing. In fact I am very proud of myself for decided to try IVF. A lot people told me it is not an easy procedure and always ask me am I scare. And recently I get to know a lot couples in Singapore have a negative thinking for IVF, I seriously don't know why and hope to find out the reason. A couple of ladies I spoke to say they are not mentally prepare and few will say they can't afford and what most disappointing is few give me an impression it is a shame to go for IVF. What about men? Why men rejecting IVF? Is it because not wanting to see their wives suffer?

Finally, AF reported

AF finally reported on CNY :) I always believe when AF reported on CNY is a good sign, properly this time is really meant for me as I never have my AF report on CNY before.

Today can consider my CD 2 as CNY day 1 only came with spotting, the full flow only started at night. I just went for Pre-IVF test, 3 tubes of blood were drew from me. It was kind of painful, not sure is it the nurse's skill or my pain endurance is getting weak.

The blood test costed me SGD370.22, woah! That is very expensive! The break-down of the tests are
1. Thalassameia screen - $74.90
2. Amenorrhoea - $107.00
3. Anti-Mullerian Hormone - $34.24
4. Insulin - $34.24
5. Fertility Infectious Screen - $119.84

The insulin test needs me to fast from yesterday 7pm, but I did drink bit bit of water as I couldn't stand the thirst, hope this won't cause any error of the test :( feel kind of guilty now when especially knowing it's so expensive.

My next appointment is next Friday 10.15am, hubby really need to take his sperm test urgently, else we may miss the appointment. Let's hope he can make it.

Report searching - bicornuate womb + ivf + pregnancy

okay, finally i found a report based on bicornuate womb and ivf. The report is based in Europe country, although it is not promising but at least i know what are my chances:


Patients with a bicornuate uterus also had a 50% reduction in pregnancy rate per transfer and implantation rate.



The second study compared IVF rates with a historical control.[32] Looking at only 17 subjects with uterine anomalies undergoing 55 IVF cycles, this study found a lower delivery rate per embryo transfer compared with a historical database at the same hospital and facility (8.2% vs. 17.5%–19%). The study stated that unicornuate uterus had a reasonable pregnancy rate of 19.4% (no control data were provided) but an especially high ectopic rate of 33% (2 of 6 pregnancies). The didelphic uterus pregnancy rate per embryo transfer was 11.1%, but the single pregnancy resulted in a miscarriage. Because of its extremely low number of subjects, this study is difficult to interpret. This Finnish study did not consider subjects who had a bicornuate uterus or an arcuate uterus.


The third study looked at 24 subjects who underwent 47 IVF cycles.[33] Using their own historical data, the authors found that overall clinical pregnancy (37.3% in uterine malformations vs. 38.8% in controls) and implantation rates (17.5% in uterine malformations vs. 13.0% in controls) were similar. Subjects with a didelphic uterus had a 27.3% implantation rate (IR), those with a septate uterus had a 22.5% IR, those with a bicornuate uterus had an 11.6% IR, and a woman with a unicornuate uterus had a 13.2% IR. This study suggests also that specific anomalous uteri, such as bicornuate and unicornuate uteri, have lower IVF success rates, but these studies also suffer from small numbers.

Source: http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/471012_8


Question is what type of uterus is my? 
Based on the X-ray i took,  the separation is not very define and I had asked Dr Peter Chew whether my top uterus is flat or curve in. He told me is flat so i gave my own assumption that I have a septate uterus.  Plus, Prof Wong saw my x-ray and he mentioned that the x-ray doesn't looks not so bad... kind of relief for me.


However, Doc told me the implantation may be an issue, hence I purposely go and find more report on the possibility to conceive through IVF with odd shape womb and the reason is depressing:


IVF pregnancy rates appear to be decreased not because of decreased number or quality of eggs obtained but rather due to the uterine anomaly itself. Resulting implantation rates and clinical pregnancy rates are still uncertain but may be reduced by 50% compared to women undergoing IVF without anomalies.
Source: http://www.seattlefertility.com/diagnosis/uterineAnomalies.asp


Nevertheless, I need to believe in miracle...let's hope for the best and I believe everything will go well for me.

Year 2012...

Happy New Year!!

This year is an important year for me, as it embarks my conceiving path even further.

Hubby and I finally decided to go for In vitro fertilisation (IVF) after the suggestion from Dr Charles Lim at Mt Elisabeth Hospital.  He referred us to Prof PC Wong at NUH and yesterday, 11 Jan 2012 was our first consultation. Prof Wong is a very straightforward person, personally I feel he is the kind of doctor who is very careful and don’t give blank hope to his patients which I like.

At first he suggested us to go through IUI, but we refused. We kept arguing with him that we have been trying for months and the results are always on the left tube which is the ectopic tube. He gave in to us and let us proceed with the Pre-Ivf test, but I have to wait for my menstruation to come to do the test, so yesterday my hubby went for the blood test first. However, Prof did warn us that my chances of conceiving through IVF will be lesser chance as compare with the general ladies. Reason being, I have a bicornuate womb which may cause the fertilised Embryo having difficulty to implant on my womb. SIGH~

Now, all I can do is to pray hard, and stay as healthy as possible. I just hope my period will come sooner so that I can quickly go for the pre-ivf test.  For what are the pre-ivf test,  I have listed down which the list are for me and my hubby. I don’t know what are these test for and also don’t know which is belong to me and my hubby, so properly will google to find out later..

Insulin(fasting)

Chlamydiatrachomatis DNA (PCR, qualitative)

Andrology, Semen Analysis (obviously this is for my hubby)

Anti-MullerianHormone

Fertility Infectious Screen

ThalassaemiaScreen

Amenorhoea

Ultrasound Scan (Special)