Good News! I am happy to share that I am currently 15 weeks pregnant.
I am happy to share my journey and here are some frequently asked questions:
1. When and how did I find out I was pregnant?
As I was given a HCG shot, doing a pregnancy test too early would give me a false positive result as the test detects the pregnancy hormone (HCG) in your urine.
My doctor was rather open-minded about this. Instead of telling me that doing a home pregnancy test isn’t advisable, she taught me how to test out my trigger shot.
As I started doing pregnancy tests after my transfer, these were what I noticed:
a) The test lines got lighter day by day until 4 days after the transfer.
b) On day 5, the line seemed to have got slightly darker.
c) On day 6, the line got lighter.
d) On day 7 onwards, the lines were getting darker day by day.
Based on the above, I believe that the HCG from the trigger shot did stay in my system for around 11 days, which explained why the test line on my pregnancy test got darker on day 5 and then lighter on day 6, since the test detected the HCG from both the trigger shot and those produced by my body on day 5.
10 days after the transfer, i.e. 15 days post ovulation, I was called to the doctor’s office for a blood test. The result came back within a few hours and I was told by the nurse that I was considered pregnant based on the HCG level in my blood, but the level was a lot lower than average. It could mean that the fetus wasn’t growing properly, it might have been a chemical pregnancy, or there’s nothing wrong at all. As a result, I was told to take another blood test a week later to check on my HCG level.
Luckily, my HCG level was considered normal by then. I was given a transvaginal ultrasound to confirm that the fetus was indeed inside my uterus and wasn’t an ectopic pregnancy.
2. Did everything go smoothly during my IVF journey?
No. In fact, it’s been a roller-coaster ride.
Firstly, on the day of my ovulation, I was told that my uterine linen was very thin and it might not reach the optimal thickness on the day of my transfer, which would lower the chance of success. However, my doctor prescribed me some hormone supplements, and at the same time, with the help of chinese medicines and acupuncture, my uterine linen finally reached an optimal level after 4 days, ready for the transfer the next day.
Secondly, 14 days after my ovulation, which was when my period was supposed to be due if I wasn’t pregnant, I noticed some menstrual period-like discharge. As the home pregnancy test showed that I was pregnant, and that it’s unlikely that I would get my period in case I wasn’t pregnant due to the hormone supplements I was taking, I thought I was having a miscarriage.
3. Did I have to take a lot of medications? And for how long?
You may refer to the attached photo for the amount of medications I had to take from day 3 of my menstrual cycle, up until I was 12 weeks pregnant. I am not even kidding. These could have been more than what I have taken over the last 3 decades.
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