Update

I feel like all of my posts will be 'update' posts from now on (and even before)

Well here goes. I had an email from my recipient this past week and she tells me she is doing well and is 31 weeks pregnant (!!!). I can hardly believe she only has 9 weeks til due date!
I have to admit I have been wondering (read: obsessing) over how she has been doing but now I feel so relieved to know that all is well, she is still pregnant and baby will be here soon. 

She said they are getting the baby's room ready and its all very exciting. I am over the moon with joy over this. I hadn't necessarily expected updates but it is wonderful to have them. 

On another note, a couple of months back I was asked to speak to a local paper about my experiences with donating. I said I would but only if my recipient was ok with that, and it turns out she was. I was worried about one of my grandmothers reading about it all in the paper though (we hadn't had that conversation and she tends to have VIEWS about certain things so I was going to leave it) and was reassured that it wouldn't be in that version.
Anyway, lo and behold it turned up there and I had an excited phone call from my sister in law saying "I saw you in the paper today!". 
Sigh
I contacted the fertility clinic's marketing dept (who organised it), they apologized and then I got a phone call from the actual journalist. Pretty much to the effect of 'oh, you did say that, but I didn't think you meant it'. 
I have to say its soured my opinion of journalists a bit. 

I did have that conversation with my grandmother and while her initial reaction was 'its just like giving up a child' (which its NOT!) she has since spoken to me about it in much softer terms. 

Anyway, I will do an update again in a few months when I hear from them again. 

Thanks
xJ

Final follow up

Had a final appt with the doctor today and had the best news ever. My recipient is 10 weeks pregnant and everything is looking great!

I am so so so so happy with this result. She has had a scan and baby has a good strong heartbeat and she is having morning sickness which is a really good sign. Words cannot quite describe just how relieved I am that they are finally getting the chance to have a child. 

If I hear anymore updates from her (I have released my details to them through the clinic) or from the clinic itself, I shall update it here. Hopefully by the end of the year I will have some brilliant news when baby is born. 

Yay! :D

xJ

It's positive

Had a phone call from the clinic today. My recipient got a positive pregnancy test! 
I know a lot can happen in the first trimester and I dont know the reasons for her failed IVF attempts, but I will be praying it sticks (her blood HCG levels were looking great apparently). 

xJ

Small update

I had a phone call from the clinic today (re-scheduling a follow up appt with the doctor) and they were able to tell me a little more about how the recipient is doing. 

Out of the 11 eggs that had developed overnight (out of the 12 fertilized), 4 became blastocysts. Blastocysts are embryos which have developed longer and have a much higher chance of pregnancy. (good ol' wikipedia). 

1 was implanted and 3 more have been frozen. So this gives the recipient couple up to 3  more chances to become pregnant if this cycle doesn't work and the nurse was really happy with that result. Apparently they will be having bloods on friday to determine if its developed into a pregnancy and she said a nurse will call me early next week to let me know either way. 

Feeling nervous for them and praying hard its a positive result. 

xJ 

Fertilization and the aftermath

I had a phone call from the clinic yesterday. Mostly checking on how I am feeling. I certainly didn't expect to feel quite this sore. Apparently its quite normal as there will be a lot of blood build up in my ovaries which will subside over time. 

I tried to explain it to hubby and this is the best I came up with: Its like on Christmas day with all the rich food- you eat and eat and eat some more and feel really full. And then dessert comes and you eat just a little more. So you feel bloated and heavy. 
That's how I'm feeling right now. My abdomen is a little swollen so in the right (or wrong) clothes I look a bit pregnant. Understandable considering how many eggs they removed. 

As I think I mentioned previously, harvesting so many eggs does make me a bit more prone to Ovarian Hyperstimulation syndrome. Most cases are apparently quite mild but a very small amount can be life-threatening if fluid moves into the abdomen or lungs or causes a blood clot. 
The clinic asked me to weigh myself in 2 days as one symptom is kgs of fluid being put on in days. Some of the symptoms are abdominal pain, bloating, nausea or vomiting, decreased urine output, headache and shortness of breath.

So far so good, though as I said before, I'm still sore. Hubby has been amazing and has been a great help with the night wakes for Mr1yearold. 

I also heard from the clinic that 12 of the eggs were mature enough and fertilized and 11 have developed, which is fantastic. I wont hear anything further unless the couple initiate it, but I am praying that it works for them.

xJ

Egg collection itself...

28 eggs!! They retrieved 28 eggs! Phew! 

If you saw my last post, my day began at 4.30am. A woken up child alerted me to the fact that I couldn't eat after 5am, so I figured I would be better with something in me than not. I arrived at the clinic at 10.30 and was whisked away to a private room in the treatment area to sign some papers and double check everything. 
I was so surprised to see a huge bunch of flowers, a small gift and a lovely card from the recipient. Certainly was not expecting that!

I had to empty my bladder (pee) and change into a wrap gown they provided but I could leave on my singlet thankfully. Hospital gowns are horrible- these are not. :)

I was taken through into the theatre where a cannula was put into my hand for the iv injections, while at the same time my legs were put onto stirrup-like rests and a nasal breathing tube was fitted (just oxygen).

I dont know how much of the drugs they gave me, but I had Midazolam for sedation, Fentanyl for pain and Amoxicillin (anti-biotic they give donors prophylactically).

I have no idea how long the actual procedure was but I was told it was just over 10 mins. The Midazolam totally spaced me out- like being drunk.

How they do the egg retrieval is fairly straightforward. A needle is attached to an internal ultrasound probe, which is inserted into the vagina. The doctor uses the ultrasound to see my ovaries and locate the follicles. The needle punctures each follicle, and a gentle suction is applied to remove the egg and fluid within the follicle.

28 eggs is quite a haul apparently and the nurses, doctor and lab person (she called herself a scientist) were stoked. 

Having so many eggs does make me a bit more prone to Ovarian Hyperstimulation Syndrome though so I was sent home with a list of symptoms to watch out for (most look like flu symptoms) 

So now, they fertilize all 28 eggs by injecting each with the recipient's husband's sperm and they will know tomorrow just how many have fertilized. 
Then on either day 3 or 5, they will insert an embryo into the recipient and (fingers crossed) a pregnancy happens. The clinic said they will let me know tomorrow how many fertilized, but any communication from after then will be done through the counsellor. 

It feels weird to know that this is the end for me. I really hope this ends in a pregnancy for the couple, but having 28 eggs collected today is very hopeful.

xJ

Day of egg collection

Its 4.30am and I'm sitting at the computer eating toast. My instructions were that I couldn't eat past 5am and couldn't drink past 9am. Thankfully (or not?) one of the boys woke at 4 and needed resettling. I haven't had a huge amount of sleep tonight so getting up briefly, eating and checking Facebook seemed logical. 

My collection is at 11 today but I have to be there at 10.30. Managed to work out logistics with the kids and also I can't drive afterward, so needed a ride there and back. 

Again, feeling nervous. But right now, mostly full. ;)

xJ

Scans and follicles

Had a scan on sunday, as well as a round of bloods. On my right side there were 13 follicles and on the left side, 9. Most were 10mm or under, but a couple were 12 and 13 respectively. 

Went in for another scan today and they have grown quite a bit, but still need a couple of days maturing. 

It looks like egg collection day will be on friday and I have the injection to do the trigger 36 hours before. 

I'm feeling nervous again and it does feel a little strange knowing it is nearing the end of my journey and hopefully the start of some wonderful people becoming parents. 

xJ

Day 6

Introducing... another daily injection. Woohoo!

A quick trip into the clinic today to start me on daily Cetrotide injection which will stop me from ovulating. They want the Gonal F to do its thing and grow lots of follicles nice and big but they need them to get to a certain size before harvest, hence the Cetrotide. 

Its a little different to my nice easy pen-like injection of Gonal F; for this one I have to mix a solution with a vial of powder, suck it back into the syringe, change needles (from a horse-sized needle to a teeny small one) and then inject it into my belly. 

This particular one can also have some minor irritation around the site which is exactly what happened with me. 

I haven't really minded the Gonal F ones, but I am a little antsy about this new one. 

Next appt is sunday for some blood work and a scan to check what my follicles are looking like. I'm hoping the big dose of Gonal F is doing the trick and they are getting big and healthy fast!

xJ

Day 3

Second day of injections. Starting to get the hang of it all though I still need hubby's encouragement to get all the steps right (its not hard, but that's just how I learn best)

Feeling very tired and a bit grumpy. Not sure if that's a legitimate side effect or just the effect of dealing with a hard week (hubby had strep throat)

Please excuse the horribly chewed nails. One of my many faults ;)

xJ

Day 1

Day 1 of my cycle today. Went to the clinic to collect all my goodies:

Mini sharps bin- is it strange I think it's cute?

Insulator bag, teeny wee sharps bin, 2 of the drug pens (6 days worth of drug) and a dvd/info sheet on how to administer it (reiterating the 'drug talk' I had with the nurse a couple of weeks ago)

I start injections tomorrow night (day 2) and have booked appointments for Friday (day 6- the start of the next injections) and Sunday (day 8- bloods and scan). 

It's all on! Exciting! 

xJ

The drug talk

Had an appt with the doctor and nurse today. Saw the doctor for a vaginal ultrasound and some swabs (apparently my uterus is beautiful!) and the nurse for the drug talk. 

Sounds ominous... it wasn't. Unless of course, you are scared of injections then yes, very ominous! 

We pretty much went through the daily injections that I will need to give myself once my cycle has started. Its a very very thin needle on a very cool looking pen contraption and you inject it into the fat around your middle. Thankfully I have plenty of that! Knew it would come in handy one day! 

I'm a little overwhelmed by how intensive it all seems at the moment and am still fussing over how its all going to work with the kids/hubby/family. One really good thing that came out of today is that I got some things clarified. 

• They will collect anywhere between 1 and 30 follicles from me. Typically its about 9. They will then get fertilized, 1 will be inserted into the recipient and any others which have developed will be frozen
• Vaginal scans (to check the progress of the growth of my follicles) are all of 5 mins. So taking the kids and someone else with me is a viable option. 
• For the egg collection, I will be at the clinic for 1-2 hours. The actual egg collection part is 10 mins max. 
• Timing is all important. So when they say that the egg collection will occur 36 hours after the trigger injection, they mean it. 

So now we wait for my period... which is likely to be in about 10-12 days. Then it all starts!

xJ

Weaned

Well, that was faster than I expected. Mr1 stopped asking for breastmilk and now has a bottle. All in the past week. 
A quick call to the clinic and now it looks like I'll be donating later this month (my next cycle). 
Hubby and & have had a set of bloods done (forgotten exactly what his were, but they tested for HIV and other potential things he could have passed on to me) and I have an appointment next week for a vaginal ultrasound and swabs. 
Hoping all is well and we can proceed from there. 

I'm excited about it all although a trifle nervous. The daily injections dont worry me, but I am worrying most about logistics in terms of the kids and hubby etc. Silly huh? 

Will post again soon

xJ

Obligations of a donor

Its been a little while since my last post. Mainly the fact that aside from being in the process of weaning Mr 1, there really isn't a lot going on (life aside). I thought that I should finally talk a little bit about the legal side of things and the obligations of a donor. 

Assuming my eggs end up becoming a child there are a number of things to think about in terms of my responsibilities as a donor. I think for most people this is the most scary part of the whole process and that rings true for me as well.

Of course, remember this is New Zealand and so all of this only applies here. There are 2 laws which specifically apply to donation: The HART Act, 2004 and the Status of Children Act. 

Under the 'Human Assisted Reproductive Technology Act 2004' donors must be identifiable- meaning that it can't be anonymous. 
As a donor you can be identified at some certain points:

• Once a child is born, the parents can find out the donor's name
• A child can find out when they turn 18
• Under special circumstances a child can request this information at 16

Donors can request to know the names of children born from their donation, but the child has to be at least 18 and they can say no.

Whenever a child is born through donation, the Births, Deaths & Marriages department must be notified with such information. 

Under this act sperm, eggs or embryos can initially only be stored for 10 years. An extension can be requested through the Ethics committee (ECART) . 

This act also states that it is illegal to pay for donation. This also means that if you go overseas and pay for a donor, it is illegal to bring frozen embryos back into New Zealand with you. This doesn't mean that as a donor you have to pay anything though as the recipient normally covers this- either directly or indirectly. Expenses are reimbursed including a small amount covering travel for each procedure. 

The HART act is quite the hefty document, so if you have a spare couple of hours ;) and feel like giving it a good read, here is the link: HART Act 2004

The Status of Children Act, 1969 defines who the legal parents of a child are. The woman who gives birth is the legal mother and her husband (civil union partner or de facto) is also a legal parent. A donor has no rights or liabilities for a child. (for surrogacy its a little more complicated).

I think that has covered everything. Its a little dry, but information you need to know. 

We are just down to one feed per night. My recipient is on some prep drugs so once Mr1 is weaned, its all go! 

xJ