Second course of injections
Because it took around 9 months to get from the point of contacting the clinic about donating eggs, to having my menstrual cycle synchronised with my first couple and being ready for treatment, by the time we were all ready to go, I was very excited and eager to make a start.
I felt 100% prepared and knew the decision I’d made to donate eggs was completely right for me. To help ensure I’d considered everything thoroughly, I’d had two sessions of fertility counselling which was organised by the clinic. The counselling was very helpful in challenging me to think of the whole egg donation process and all of its implications involved… some being less obvious than others! Given that I was single and in my late 20s, when the counsellor asked how I would tackle speaking with my future children, about the fact they could have a half sibling somewhere, the question seemed rather profound to me! We also talked through what future partners might feel about what I’d done. Although I didn’t have answers for these questions immediately, they provided me with a lot of food for thought and I made sure I had the answers to these questions straight in my head, before I was absolutely sure I’d donate.
The counsellor also talked me through the fairly recent change in the law, which meant a child had the right to information on their egg or sperm donor, once they reached the age of 18 and that the HFEA had special forms I had to complete to prepare for this. I felt a little daunted at first; what should I write on the forms, for a potential child to access in over 18 years time… by then I’d be over 45 and my life would be very different to what it was now. But I surprised myself and it really didn’t take long to get a feel for the kind of information I wanted to include, it felt like a very personal CV really.
Once the forms and the recipient couple were ready, and I’d undergone the ovary suppression, we were then onto the dreaded stimulation part of the treatment – daily injections!
This was the part of the treatment I was least comfortable with, given that I hate injections. But it helped a lot when on one of the first meetings I had with the clinic, they showed me the self injecting kit I’d use that came in a handy little thermal rucksack (since used for picnics!) I guess in my mind I’d conjured up images of big syringes with liquid squirting out of the top, but in actual fact, the kit included a pen very similar to that used by diabetics, so it was more like holding a pen against my lower tummy and pressing a button… easy peasy really. I can’t say the injections were painful and felt a real sense of satisfaction that I’d been able to cope with injecting myself so easily.