Kira’s infertility story – Part 2

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For those of you that have been following our guest blogs, you may have followed Kira’s story. This heartwarming and wonderfully honest blog documented her fertility journey. Kira discovered at 19 that she was premenopausal; a huge shock. Part one can be read here.

Part 2 – Bring on the meds

Beginning my medication was so overwhelming. I am petrified of needles and injections and having to inject myself or be injected once a day and then to twice a day seemed impossible for me. My first injection took 10 minutes or so just to psych myself up for and be able to let my mum do it. I popped my headphones in, music cranked up loud, ‘bam’ it was over. One down, and out the way.

Nothing can prepare you for how you may feel. A journey I felt I shouldn’t be on, let alone living it. I felt silly for being so nervous but this was the start of my fertility cycle, and the beginning of what I needed to do to get my eggs retrieved, stored and hopefully frozen.

Starting to feel real

As my injections continued I began to feel bloated. A common side effect with the medication. I also felt so lethargic, sluggish and very emotional. I’m so grateful of the support around me. This helped me over come hurdles and encouraged me to face my fear of injections, and ultimately keeping me focussed to complete the most important task of my life. Herts & Essex scanned me regularly, and this encouraged me to keep going too. I could see the follicles growing and the possibility of them hopefully guarding and nurturing an egg.

Collection Day

The day had arrived, marked on my calendar as ‘Egg Collection Day’ in red pen. I felt like i could burst, in more ways than one. I was so bloated and so exhausted. And on the other hand I couldn’t help feel excited, however this was always laced with apprehension. My fear of needles came back with a vengeance when I was being prepped for theatre, I needed to have a sedation obviously for the egg collection, but on reflection it was not painful and once the venflon was in.
I was asked to count from 10 to 1 by the lovely theatre nurses, I remember starting the countdown in my head but only making it to about 7. The next minute I was awake and falling in and out of deep sleep. Once I was fully awake I was in some discomfort, however all of the theatre staff were reassuring and very helpful with warm packs for my stomach and tea and biscuits. I had to take a few days to recover but nothing plenty of rest, fluids and paracetamol couldn’t settle. 

What’s next?

I know my journey has only just begun but I’m so grateful for the opportunity I have been given in being able to preserve my fertility. I’ve recently discovered that my last blog encourage a large number of women my age to come forward and get their fertility checked. So my mission and message is succeeding. I strongly encourage ladies of any age to get their AMH levels checked. Infertility doesn’t discriminate by age, race, religion and gender so please make sure you get checked early.

You can book your appointment by contacting Herts & Essex by clicking this link.

To be continued…