Hacking Nature - my IVF blog

Now we are approaching the most physically painful part of the process - the progesterone shots. On March 3, I went through a baseline check ultrasound to see how thick the uterine lining was. At this time, as I was on Nuvaring, my lining measured 4 mm which is pretty thin. From March 7, my Delestrogen shots started. They are basically the hormone estrogen that thickens our uterine lining in preparation for a cozy spot for the embryo to snuggle up to. For an embryo transfer, they expect the lining to be around 8-13 mm thick. The way to do that is by the estrogen shots. These intramuscular shots go in the butt and if you were one of those people who was taking the subcutaneous ones by yourself, now you would need someone to give you these ones. These are water soluble injections, so they are not that heavy. Also, I had to give them twice a week.  On March 23, I had another ultrasound to check how my uterine lining has thickened up. In the mean time, I ate normal healthy food...

After the egg retrieval surgery happened and my embryos got frozen, February was my month of resting. I went back to my normal life with no restrictions, I started yoga and went back to swimming. My work life also came to a stable ground with me not taking too much sick time off. There was nothing to do related to the IVF process, and my body got time to heal. Here's where I will discuss the frozen embryo transfer process and compare that with the fresh embryo transfer. There are different medical reasons to choose the frozen process, but from a layman's perspective, and also as one undergoing it, I also prefer the frozen process.  1. The body gets time to heal. If I had to do a fresh transfer, that would be 3 days after my egg retrieval. That means my ovaries were sore, still healing from the process, and I was still EXTREMELY bloated. I could barely walk to the bathroom. Going through another process at that time, that is so much taxing on the uterus and my general ...

From when I started the IVF process, I have found quite a lot of well meaning people saying some pretty strange things. At first I was getting annoyed, especially to things like "just relax, and it will happen" but then I figured out it is mainly because of ignorance that people are saying such stuff. As infertility and general reproduction issues are never discussed in a manner they should, no one really knows what is going on at this front. I decided to shine some light. Why does someone need IVF? A person can decide to go through IVF for many reasons. Generally, if a couple tries to get pregnant but even after trying for a year, they do not, then they are advised to see a doctor. For a woman over 35, it is six months. The Reproductive Endocrinologist (RE) doctor would advise a lot of tests to figure out if they have any issues which is causing them to not have babies or delaying the process. For certain cases in women like Poly Cystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS), damag...

I have come to work today, exactly a week after my egg retrieval surgery. After we pulled the trigger shot at 1 AM on Jan 20, exactly 36 hours after that the eggs had to be retrieved. It was nothing different than any surgery under general anesthesia. The problem was I couldn't wrap my head around what was wrong with me. I mean unlike my previous surgeries, I actually had no ailment this time. It was not like my wisdom teeth were bothering me, or the salivary gland stone was hurting. Anyway, I guess this is the first lesson in "this is not just about me". At the clinic, I was put on IV fluids and then taken to the Operation Room in a weird hospital gown (I still don't understand the use of them). I joked with the doctors and nurse as usual. Arnab and I had placed a bet on how many eggs would be retrieved. He had said less than 13, while I said more than 13. The range was 5-19. After talking to the anesthesiologist about my general health, allergies, if I hav...

Today I am done with the stimulation shots and I will take the trigger shot at 1AM. It is hard to believe that the time is slowly coming, I think as I am taking one step at a time, it is getting easier to handle. I am really pleased at how I handled the hormone shots. Or rather, I'd say there was nothing intimidating about the shots. Other than Menopur, neither the Follistim nor Ganirelix hurt. Menopur hurts because of the saline solution and it is very short lived. It is true that I have a higher pain tolerance, so the entire experience was nothing critical. The ultrasound technician is happy with my eggs. She said I have got an A+ in my egg creation. There are in total 34 eggs, 23 on the right and 11 on the left. I do not know why my right ovary is so over-populated (no, it is not because I am right handed). It can mean that there has been some extra blood circulation on the right, but nobody knows for certain. There is a heavy feeling in my ovaries, yes, and with every...

Earlier this week, on Monday, my beloved feisty firebrand cat, May Kitty crossed the Rainbow Bridge. This is so far my first real encounter with death of a beloved soul. It is true I have seen my grandfather moments after he passed away, but to be honest May Kitty's death has impacted me much more than that. It has even touched me more than my own miscarriage. I was wondering what is it about a pet's death that affect us so much. I think it is because how ever old they may get, since we take care of them as our kids, we never really sense that age. To us, they still remain our little kids. May was almost 16, which mean more than 80 in human years. So we should really say that she had quite a long life. Her chronic kidney ailment was under treatment but that is what finally gave in. She withdrew from the world on Saturday, but we still tried to get her back. After 2 days of fight at the ICU when she did not respond to any antibiotic or even human dosage of pain killers, we...

In the software industry, we have a term called "male allies". What it means is that they are that group of men who are supportive of women's rights. As women are a minority in the technical industry, we need a support group of men to stand up for us. (Doesn't mean that we cannot stand up for ourselves, but sometimes you need men to stop other men from road rolling over us.) I have my own set of male allies in my life and I figured out they can be of immense help during the IVF process. To start with, the #1 male ally is Arnab. Yes, he has a big stake in the matter, but that doesn't mean I have to take his support for granted. This is a huge time to test our relationship. A lot of couples go through a very stressful time, infertility causes them to lose temper, blame one another for the "problem" (quotes because it is not a problem as such). We are both very scientific minded, so we are taking this in a practical way. Jokes about the egg retrieval,...