Egg Freezing

Day 6 egg freezing

Day 6 belly

You can see in this photo how swollen my belly is getting from all these injections and growing follicles…

I cannot even count the number of ex-boyfriends and phallic symbols or just blatant dicks in my dreams last night. (they came in many forms; dickheads, several dildos, people being dicks, actual dicks) Jesus Christ! (he isn’t a dick and did not appear in my dream) I actually woke up feeling a little embarrassed to be sleeping with myself like “woahh chill out girl!” When I got a glimpse of my reflection in my bedroom mirror my face was priceless – like I’d just been caught red-handed, mid-act doing something naughty. Except I’d been caught by myself. And it was just a dream… But dreams are rarely literal and I know that with a tiny bit of unpacking, it will be glaringly obvious what all the phallic stuff was for. Even as I type this it’s just so clear… hormones, the uncomfortable internal ultrasounds at Genea every few days with that cold, lubed up, phallic probe, creating potential new life in the most unnatural way possible – without a penis or sperm, all the “partner not applicable” sections I’ve had to scribble over forms, doing a (typically) couples thing on my own as a single 23 year old, making 50% of a baby in this clinical, unsexy environment, and yes sure my sex drive is in over drive … dozens of reasons.

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Day 4 egg freezing

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This morning I had my first ultrasound (and a blood test) at Genea. Despite being an internal ultrasound, (if you’ve never had one before you pretty much lie there looking at a screen where you can see all your reproductive organs in black and white while a lovely woman gently pokes around your insides with a huge lubricated, cylindrical, dildo-looking thing that has x-ray vision. It’s pretty amazing) it was totally fine. No discomfort, no pain. And fascinating!

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Day 3 egg freezing

You will notice in the photo of my form that I have crossed out the “partner” section. In the beginning, every medical person who hadn’t bothered to read my file would always say things to me like “you and your partner” or “egg and sperm” or “IVF” or “you’ll make that decision together”… Uhh no! No husband. No partner. No sperm. No IVF. I’m 23, single and freezing my eggs on my own. Because I have Endo. And I want to empower myself and be proactive. I’m so sick of N/Aing and crossing out all the ‘partner’ sections. It’s just a bloody form but for some reason it makes me feel really lonely and isolated – like this is some sort of journey designed specifically for couples. And I’m not one. So I don’t quite fit.

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Day 1 egg freezing

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I was nervous this morning after being so emotional yesterday and basically dreading another day of tears but so far so good! Luckily for me I’m not scared of needles and don’t feel panicked by pain (so used to it) so thinking about the injections has not been distressing – more so the effect they might have on me, whether they’ll interfere with what I’ve got on every day, how they’ll make me feel, whether the huge doses of hormones will make my Endo worse… Things like that. (more…)

Tomorrow, it begins

SylItBeginsSo, I got the call. The go-ahead call. While I was having a dip at the pool, (having a cool swim always calms me down and clears my noodle (brain) ) Genea called me to let me know my oestrogen, progesterone and FSH levels are all flat, (which is a good thing) meaning that I’m fertile and ready to start ovarian stimulation TOMORROW! Man, everything in life just seems to be moving so quickly and happening all at once. EndoActive skyrocketing out of nowhere, uni assignments, and now this… christ.

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Contractions

Ohhh the pain. Could this be the beginning of my first real period in years? Or is it just another false alarm. I’m thinking false alarm. Half way through driving from Bondi to Balmain this morning I was draped over the steering wheel doing my deep breathing, blasting the air con, looking like a tortured woman in labour mid-contraction. Not a safe way to drive.

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Jezebel article on egg freezing

Found an article on Jezebel about egg freezing – a much easier breakdown that what I’ve read in the booklets I’ve been given from my fertility clinic – don’t get me wrong they’re essential to read but just too scientific and confusing for me! Nice to read something in plaaaaaain English.

Have a read of ‘A Field Guide to Freezing Your Eggs’ here. 

My Party Bag of Drugs

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Thought I would take a photo of the party bag of drugs (good drugs) that I’m taking every day right now (at great expense) just to give a glimpse of what my daily routine has turned into…

Today I had my 3rd appointment with my lovely naturopath (although it was over the phone because I was so completely immersed in the overwhelming responses, messages and signatures flowing in every second since our petition on change.org/bayer went live a few days ago that I completely forgot about it!). I began seeing my naturopath (first appointment July 14th) on the recommendation of my fertility doctor – Dr A. She has put me on a bunch of supplements and stuff to help prep my body for ovarian stimulation and egg freezing and just load me up with as much good, natural, healthy stuff as possible.

The fish oil shot every morning is the worst part. And no I don’t mean fish oil tablets. I mean straight up fishy, oily, cold fish oil. Mixed with a shot of juice. Then down the hatch. BLEGH!! *stifles vomit*