Categories: to-be-categorised
Tags: explanations, IVF
Date: 06 October 2009 08:00:17
*Disclaimer - this post was not written this morning, I am deliberately posting these entries on different dates so that I can be fully open about this IVF stuff without people knowing exactly what is happening when. It's a self preservation thing, with all of the injected hormones I become a bit of an emotional wreck, and am saving myself the pressure of people curious to know outcomes before I'm ready to tell.
This whole fertility thing, no matter how you do it is going to get a bit one sided. For most people the experience of making babies requires very little male input at all, OK, yes, that bit is unquestionably crucial, but beyond the point of conception the involvement of the father is a matter of choice.
In the case of fertility treatment, however there's a lot that needs to happen in order for that point of conception to have the best chance of existing. It's still obviously mostly in the female domain, but there are one or two things that we get to do in equal measure.
One of these is pre-treatment blood tests. Not a huge deal really, considering all of the needles yet to come for me, but to start on this journey together feels like an important step. I must confess to teasing my other half as he looked away from what the nurse was doing, I caught his eye and mimed a needle going in, the very thing he was trying to stop visualising.
It's always odd going back to the clinic for the next round. There has to be a gap between treatments in order for my body to settle down again, this time because of various other goings on it's been nearly a year between starting the last treatment and starting this one. The first visit back is always a little disheartening, going back a step to revisit something we'd hoped to put behind us.
The clinic itself is different in so many ways from an NHS one. Whilst the standard of treatment is in my experience comparable, the added on frills of a private clinic are so nice. The small team of nurses that know your name, the receptionist that not only is competent but seems to enjoy her job, the nice handwash in the loo, the decent quality magazines and flat screen telly on the wall for while you wait, not to mention the complimentary tea, coffee (both available in decaff) and bottled water. I could go on, but I suppose given the amount we pay for treatment we might be a bit upset if some of this stuff wasn't there.
Anyway, we've done the first stage, collected the missing antiseptic wipes, and now have to prepare for the cycle proper to begin again.
Please Lord, let this be the one.