So anxious (not the Ginuwine song! šŸ˜)

I disappeared for a while after my last post (in March) because a) I’ve been doing a lot of waiting, and b) things are not going great. I’m going to do this update in 2 posts because otherwise it’ll be too long!

So… when I saw the Consultant at ACU back in January he gave me a list of things that I need to do before we could go ahead:
1) Get the all clear from my GP and the perinatal mental health teamĀ  – [tick]
2) Have the mandatory sessions for implicationsĀ  counselling (because I’m using donor sperm) and the Welfare of the Child Assessment – [tick]
3) Get my BMI under 30 – [in SLOW progress]
4) Have a hysteroscopy to check for polyps and investigate the health of my womb since my lining is thin – [NIGHTMARE!!!]

The first 2 went without a hitch, but the last two…
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Perinatal Mental Health

HappySad FaceSo, I’ve hinted/skimmed over this before but I have a diagnosis of Bipolar Disorder. Specifically Bipolar II which is characterised by mainly experiencing periods of depression, and a “milder” form of elevated mood called hypomania – not the full on mania people usually associated with Bipolar.

I’ve been stable for quite a few years now, but Bipolar is a “serious mental illness” (and comes under the psychosis category although I don’t consider myself “psychotic”!!), so it’s something that needs to be considered and managed through out the pre-conception period, pregnancy, and post-partum…
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Possibly changing clinic

I really like the atmosphere at the private Harley Street clinic (a.k.a “The Baby Making Place” or TBMP) I’ve been to so far however, it’s pricey and it’s not really conveniently located from my office. Since I’m going for stimulated cycles I’m going to need monitoring via ultrasound scans and inevitably some of these will fall on work days. Because of this I think it is more practical to chose a clinic that’s nearer to work.

There’s a big NHS hospital very close to my office (which also happens to be the hospital where I was born!!) and they have an Assisted Conception Unit (ACU). Their prices are lower than TBMP – on the procedural side it’s not a massive difference per treatment, but after a few cycles the significance of that “small” amount increases dramatically.
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