Second Week of IVF Cycle: What to Expect? What You Won’t Be told?
Infertility brings so many things with itself when it enters your life. And all of them are confusing, embarrassing, and frustrating. It disrupts your life. It turns you into the bundle of nerves. It completely changes you. It curls your amusing smile into confusing one. It turns your glittering eyes into tearful. It makes your wonderful fingertips trembling and your accurate warm wrists cold. It isn’t just that you can’t get pregnant. It brings you more tears than you ever thought you could shed. Because of it, you lay on your bathroom floor in complete emptiness after countless negative pregnancy tests time and time again you had to endure shots, bruises, and all kinds of medications because when you are infertile, and you seek Treatment for help, that is what you are in for.
Wondering what to expect during the second week of your Treatment? Before you choose the Treatment Option and sign the papers, ‘GLANCE INSIDE’ the Second Week of IVF Treatment Cycle and ‘INVESTIGATE’ What to Expect.
1. You Actually feel like ‘A two–legged pill’ or/and ‘A two–legged syringe’
If your second ultrasound monitoring shown that most of your follicles were average–sized, your Reproductive Endocrinologist added a new injectable to the mix. Wondering why? To “boost” those average–sized follicles growth. Surely, you were ‘INSPIRED’ because you couldn’t wait to poke your belly 3 times in a day.
If you are a needle–phobic person, you not only feel as ‘A two–legged syringe’ but also actually feel yourself as a bundle of nerves as used Syringes and Needles have already filled one small box, the new needles and syringes are waiting for you, and you almost ran out of belly space to inject onto.
WHAT TO EXPECT: The easiest shots ever – seriously, these do not hurt even a tiny bit. It’s the world’s smallest needle, and you inject it into the fattiest part of your tummy. You got this, but if you are a needle–phobic person your fear is always with you. Needles, Syringes and Shots are hurtful tandem. You wish there were the pills.
You’re going to feel your ovaries throughout this process and feel Cramping. After every cycle using injectables, you may have cysts on your ovaries. Nausea and Bloating also are the side effects of meds.
2. Third ultrasound monitoring and finally a TRIGGER SHOT
You will have your third ultrasound monitoring to see how your follicles have already grown, and how many of them are still an average size. If the Reproductive Endocrinologist decides to “boost” those average–sized follicles, you will do one, two or more injections to “boost” them. If your follicles are 20mm, you are getting close to pulling the trigger shot [with medication ‘Ovidrel’ at night] and having the Egg Retrieval. The ‘Ovidrel’ trigger shot contains HCG, which basically just forces your body to release the eggs and ovulate. Your nurse or your doctor will give you all the things you need for it just in case. You will be notified by your doctor or nurse that it is trigger time and the exact time and date for your Egg Retrieval. After the trigger shot, you will have to wait the 36 hours until it is go time for the Egg Retrieval.
3. Egg Retrieval procedure [nearly the end of the second week or during the third week of Treatment)
You have the actual appointment at Fertility Clinic for the Egg Retrieval procedure [exact time and date]. But get there a little earlier your ‘SCHEDULED’ time, though so you can get in a gown, hooked up to an IVs, and some nausea medication in your system. If you have never been given anti–nausea medications, this time you will get them. After the meds, the procedure is somehow less intimidating, even if your anxiety is usually at full blast. The nurse will inject an anesthetic medication into your IV and I get the lovely falling feeling. They give you the pain medications first. But you will feel the pain of the needle going into your ovaries. Despite it won’t last long, it will hurt. After the procedure, you will be lying on a couch going in and out of consciousness.
4. What to expect after the Egg Retrieval procedure? A few things that you expect and, don’t expect from this surgery
The whole procedure takes only about 20 minutes, so you will wake up about 30 minutes later in recovery. You won’t be in any pain because they must have given you some good pain medications through the IV. But when the miracle of pain medication disappears, it not just hurts but hurts. You feel excessive fatigue, tremendous pressure, and awful cramps. Post–surgery fatigue lasts several days. Your surgery was done three days ago But you just feel extraordinarily tired all the time. Post–surgery cramping also hurts. The day of the Egg Retrieval, you will experience some intense cramping and abdominal pain. They will give you pain medication, but as each day passes, you will feel the abdominal pain. And you will look 4 or 6 month pregnant. And if the medications you had taken and injected to ‘BOOST’ your follicles growth caused some mild Ovarian Hyperstimulation Syndrome, your abdomen will be filled up with fluid. Therefore, you will literally look 6 months pregnant.
5. FERTILIZATION procedure [Needs time for fertilization and five days for growth. Third/fourth week]
Not all your retrieved eggs will be mature. And fertilization is possible only in case they are mature. For example, out of the 12 collected, 6 were mature. Out of the 6 mature, only 3 were fertilized properly and are growing. And out of those three, maybe one or two would make it to 5–day blastocyst and maybe none would. If they would all at least make it to day 3, you would have at the least one. And it may happen that none would survive. If any of them made it to day 5, they will set your Embryo Transfer appointment.
The above–written scenario happens if everything goes perfect. But if it doesn’t, then what to expect?
6. Not all Treatment Options that glitter are your gold opportunities
Everyone is unique. Not all Treatment Options, Infertility Testing, and medications are ‘suitable’ for you. Therefore, your Treatment Plan should be chosen accurately. During the second week, your doctor will have your infertility tests’ results. And he/she must discuss your Treatment Protocol with you and correct it. Ask your Reproductive Endocrinologist to leave your Treatment Plan flexible to add the other Infertility Tests, medications or Treatment Options if something is wrong or doesn’t work.
7. Again Blood tests
Infertility Specialist will run, and run, and run more blood work, to take a deeper look at your hormones, like Thyroid (TSH, T3 & T4), Prolactin, Estrogen, Progesterone, AMH. Every time you visit your Reproductive Endocrinologist, he/she will run blood work as your hormonal levels are constantly changing.
8. The results of your Hysterosalpingogram (HSG) are ready
If the Hysterosalpingogram’s report shows that your Fallopian tubes are blocked, you might need a procedure called a laparoscopy. It lets your doctor look directly at the Fallopian tubes. But it is an invasive surgery. Laparoscopy is done under general anesthesia. At the time of a laparoscopy, the surgeon makes one tiny incision in the abdomen. The laparoscope is inserted through the incision inside the abdomen. The laparoscope is a thin, lighted fiber optic–tube which contains a camera, allowing the surgeon to see inside your belly. In some cases, microsurgical instruments can also be inserted in this tube, or they may be inserted through a second incision. The abdomen is then gently inflated with gas to allow the surgeon room to see and work. With a clear view of the reproductive organs, problems can be diagnosed and surgically repaired.
Surely, the first thing you won’t be told is that your first weeks of IVF Treatment cycle are really exhausting. Because everything is weird. Everything is scaring. Everything is constantly changing. Nurses, blood tests, painful IVs, fertility meds, external ultrasounds, scans, even surgeries… And you must know what to expect.