The bill came in a stack and mentioned in great details including the guaze and gloves used.
Main payment includes the following
Injectable Medication – $1200
Progesterone – $444
Art stimulation – $888
Hubby’s sperm analysis – $1200
ISCI and ER – $4800
Embryo transfer and freezing – $2000
It’s a total of $10, 680!!! 😱
It didn’t mentioned if I need to pay by cash but apparently, no second letter was received to chase on payment.
I’m supposed take the blood test on 17dp3dt but due to my serious cramps and folic acid supply is getting low, hubby and I went earlier.
We reached at around 930am and the clinic was packed! We pressed #3 for queue number and took my blood test. Then we proceed to the sperm bank centre to view our embryo babies result.
Unfortunately, the 2 embryos which we were told that they would be under observation did not survived because one of its DNA splitted into 2 sets and the other did not continue to grow. The embryologist also mentioned that when zygote tried to transform into morula on Day 3, its DNA played a huge impact to change the information and thus stage was not an easy stage for embryos to grow. However, the only embryo that was frozen, was kind of determined as it changed from 6 to 8 cell within the day.
As we will have to wait for another 3-4 hours, we went to orchard for lunch. I felt like eating Chinese cuisine so we went to crystal jade. Soup was nice and I like its noodle. While having lunch, I received a call from KKIVF centre and was told that I am confirmed PREGNANT! I was so excited and happy even though I knew it from home pregnancy test. I called mum and told her my results and texted my closed friends. Then we went to get larger size clothings as my tummy is already as big as 4 months old due to bloating, constipation and enlarged uterus from the effect of progesterone.
In the afternoon, we headed back to KKIVF and pressed #4. During our turn, I saw my results that was 295 mIU, which was normal to be a singlet.
According to the chart, my range was normal at week 4 to be considered normal 🙂
I was given 1 month of 10mg oral progesterone and 5mg folic acid.
Total duration : 4-5hrs
Total payment: $115+43 (paid by cash; not reimbursible by medisave)
Next appointment will be on 15 dec 2015 on ultrasound scan and I’ve arranged with S-Presto to allow me to scan for FREE!
I’ve searched online and many forums or blogs don’t really show symptoms as they maybe related to progesterone symptoms.
I’m currently on crinone gel for twice a day. The first 2-3 days symptoms are definitely due to progesterone. There will also be clumps of white discharge stuck in the vagina so my advice is to remove them every 1-2 days to prevent it to be blocked. Please walk for 20-30mins after insertion of the gel.
DPO 3 (0dp3dt) – 17 Nov 2015; ache at lower abdomen, fatigue
DPO 4 (1dp3dt) – hungry easily; twiges
DPO 5 (2dp3dt) – acne appeared on forehead, hungry easily, insomnia; twiges
DPO 6 (3dp3dt) – hungry easily, insomnia; I kept crying non-stop as my CM was super dry and I don’t feel any symptoms positive. I don’t feel tired and there’s no discharge or spotting.
DPO 7 (4dp3dt) – my appetite went back to normal as I don’t really feel i really need to eat like a monster when I woke up in the morning. AF cramp but it’s not really AF cramps as I don’t feel there’s a flow coming soon. Finally, I feel something down there as there’s watery discharge. Backache started
Here’s a timeline of what is going to happen. I hope I’m in-line with it. By now, my tiny little ones should be hatching.
DPO 8 (5dp3dt) – slept around 9ish pm last night and woke up at 3ish am as I felt my bladder was bursting. Then I can’t went back to sleep cos of a furious hunger, so I went to get some food and manage to sleep by 5am. At 8am or so, I woke up feeling dull aching cramps and I thought AF was arriving as my uterus felt full. My right boob felt like it’s been electrocuted. It’s painful! Napped at 11am-1pm and 4-6pm and I can still fall asleep at 11pm after supper. Fatigue started.
DPO 9 (6dp3dt) – I’m holding on not to POAS as I had past experience that once I know the result, AF will show its ugly face on the next day. There’s no disturbed sleep throughout as I slept with a full tummy and pee before I went to bed the day before. Woke up and felt no cramps?? Oh wait… The cramps now don’t feel like AF cramp. It’s more like I’ve done lots of sit-ups and I could feel ovulation cramps too. I found pinkish stain on the clumps of discharge I picked up today. Backache getting worst.
DPO 10 (7dp3dt) – gained 1.3kg since DPO 6! Cramps were on and off but not as intense as the past few days. I was exhausted after visiting my grandma in the evening.
DPO 11 (8dp3dt) – I thought I won’t be waking up in the middle of the night but it happened again. I was starving and kept going to the loo after 3am. My cramps literally stopped and boobs were not very sore. So worried that there’s not much symptoms 😦
DPO 12 (9dp3dt) – I had mild constipation. Woke up super early cos of my growling stomach. The cramps turned into aching pain. There’s also light brown stains on the clumps of discharge.
DPO 13 (10dp3dt) – I’m still not in the mood of testing. I was fatigue and slept around 8pm. My cramps went worst in the middle of the night and I didn’t sleep the whole night.
DPO 14 (11dp3dt) – Feeling super crampy, I took hpt in the morning. It’s BFP!!
Blood test will be on DPO 19 and will see the results 🙂
It’s only 4 visits and I completed first half of IVF cycle. That’s fast!! I thought I would require to be monitored until CD20 but my embryo transfer is on CD17.
I had my ET procedure done without any sedation and hubby was beside me. Dr Tan arrived at 8.20am and without waiting, he inserted the spectular which was painful for me. The embryologist then showed us our lovely embryos and he inserted it painlessly. We were done by 8.29am! That was super duper fast!
After Dr Tan left, the embryologist explained that I had 9 out of 11 eggs matured. 6 out of 9 eggs were fertilized via ISCI. 3 grew into embryos and 2 were still under observation. I had 1 grade 4 and 2 grade 3. Two best embryos were placed in my uterus and one was freezed while the other 2 remained in the lab.
The embryo on the left is grade 4 with 8 fragments and right is grade 3 with 7 fragments. They were graded according to fragmentation and appearance. I was so touched to see my “babies”. I really really hope they would survive in my uterus. I praying very hard to see them in 9-10 months time.
Then hubby went to collect medicine and I got the instructions as follow.
Total duration – 1hr
Total payment – $70 (crinone gel)
I was feeling very tired and bored as I had nothing to do!
The symptoms I had are as follow.
Remedies to solve my symptoms
I was so nervous for this surgery as I was not sure what would going to happen.
Dad woke us up early in the morning and we left home around 6.45am. Our appointment was 7.45am and we reached pretty early.
When the glass door allow access at 7.30am, we went into KKIVF centre and pressed #2 at the counter. The nurse, Sara at the reception called us and explained to us on the procedures and instructions. Then she directed me to a changing room just opposite the briefing rooms.
After changing, I went into the operating theatre waiting area. Another nurse, Wendy asked some questions and wanted to start inserting the anesthetic needle. As I’m the second to go in, I requested to wait till the first patient went into OT before I start having the the needle inserted into my hand as I was so nervous. They directed me to a resting area. The third patient came in and we started chatting. I found out that she was also under Dr Zou Yu Min and this was the THIRD fresh ivf perhaps it’s due to her starting her treatment late at around 33-35 and she has endothermisis. I guess it’s a norm for us as I have PCOS issues too… I shall give myself 3 cycles for 3 years then… The learning point is PERSERVERANCE and PATIENCE.
When it’s my turn, the nurse helped to insert the thick needle through the nerves of my hand. I thought it would be super painful like the pregnyl jab but it wasn’t that bad. Then immediately, I was directed to the OT. It’s a very cold room and there were 4 nurses all preparing different things. I don’t know what did they do but one of them inserted a syringe of medicine through the needle into my blood stream. Then another nurse gave me a breathing device to check my breathing rate. After that, I saw my favorite Dr Tan!
Dr Tan: Hi emmeline, how are you feeling?
Me: I’m so nervous and scared! It’s so scary.
Dr Tan: Just relax. Everything is going to be fine… Don’t worry… You will be sleeping and won’t feel anything…
Me: Can I have special request? Can Egg transfer be on Day 3 on 17 November, 830-830am? My astrologer said so.
Dr Tan: huh… 730am… A little difficult…
Me: then 8am? Or 830am??
Dr Tan: we shall see how k? Cos we need to know how many eggs have been retrieved.
The nurse then insert another syringe of a aesthetic medicine. I felt giddy and I felt HAPPY! as if I’m going to fly! I then bid goodbye to them and slept soundly. Surgery started at 8.30am.
When I woke up, it’s around 10am and I felt super hungry. I was given milo and biscuits. The nurse and Doctor came to check on me frequently at interval of 10-15mins. Then I was helped to get down of the bed at around 10.30am. I don’t feel nausea but I still feel HAPPY! haha… The nurse then explained things which I wasn’t really listening and asked me to sign and I just SIGNED. Lol…
I was told I had 11 eggs and as requested, my embryo transfer would be on 17th November 2015, 7.30-8.30am. Woho! Dr Tan was so nice! This timing was counted by my friend, Kirby and it’s the most ideal timing on 17th.
I was so happy even though I felt crampy. Then we headed home straight to rest.
This was CD 12 and its another day of visit feeling excited. I wanted to know how thick is my uterus lining, size and number of follicles. I felt fortunate that hubby was with me in almost all visits.
When we arrived, I pressed #1 at KKIVF centre and waited to be called to room 5. During the scan, the nurse just started saying numbers and I heard….
Left ovary: 17,17.5,16,15,10,12,13….
Right ovary: 17, 16, 17, 14….
Total I heard 21 follicles ranging from 5-17.5mm. Then we were called to room 3 after the scan. To my shockness, 2 resident/ senior resident doctors mentioned that I can start my egg retrieval on this coming Saturday, 14 November 2015. It was too soon as I thought egg retrieval can be after 16th. My uterus lining was only 7.5mm but they mentioned its consider normal on CD12.
I walked out of the room and was staring blank in the air. The nurse directed me to the reception to explain the following procedures and I just blindly follow their instructions. We went to collect medicine (pregnyl and antibiotics) and I had the last jab of menopur with 150mg and blood test.
Then I was scheduled to take the last jab (pregnyl) which helped to mature the eggs on the same day at 1030pm at O&G 24 hours clinic. The nurse told me egg retrieval will be done by Prof Jerry Chan instead of Dr Tan HH as he was on leave.
Feeling upset about my egg retrieval schdeule and my gynae in-charge was not around, I left KKH with despair… I had lots of mood swing during my jabs.
After lunch, KKIVF centre nurse called and she mentioned Dr Tan HH would be available for my egg retrieval surgery!! I was rescheduled to take pregnyl jab at 830pm instead.
In the night, daddy drove us to the clinic and the nurse directed me to the room at 8.29pm. I didn’t look at the needles until I felt the extreme pain when the nurse tried to inject the medicine into my muscles! It’s the most painful jab I ever had!
Total duration: 3hrs in the day; 30mins at night
Total cost: $39 (exclude consultation fee)
This is only the second injection!
I accidentally poked my veins and had internal bleeding. I quickly called KKIVF centre to check if it will affect my ovaries development. Oh to my relief, it’s just bleeding underneath the skin and it will heal within 2 weeks. 
Today is my second day of menses and without calling to book an appointment, hub and I went directly to KKIVF centre as my AF started on a weekend and I can’t make any appointment over weekends. When I arrived, I checked with the nurse at the reception if I can go ahead to start the treatment. After getting thumb up sign, I pressed #1 for scan. The scan room is at room 5. The nurse will scan quickly to check uterus lining thickness and ovaries health. My uterus lining is 3mm and the nurse reported I have many small follicles. Then we waited to be called to reception. The nurse at the reception then gave us list of medicine to purchase at the pharmacy. After we collected the medicine, we went back to the centre and pressed #3 for teaching. The nurse handed me the schedule below and I noted that my stimulation will start on CD 6 with 150IU menopur. 
This is a sample of orgalutran and I have to inject on CD 2-5 and CD 10-12. Look at the needles!! 
After the teaching session, I requested for MC as I was having sore throat, flu and slight fever. I had some rest at home before heading to TCM consultation. It’s a mixed feeling as I’m not sure if this is going to be the first and last round of IVF or its just the beginning… Total Duration: 3hrTotal payment: $1111 (medicine only) Consultation fee (ART) will be calculated at the end of the treatment.
When I arrived at the clinic, I was directed to IVF centre which is inside Clinic D. We took blood test first. Then the nurse showed me some consent forms to fill in and she told me that I will be on GONAL-F (150mg) per day. Immediately, my mind turned blank! Why Gonal-F again??!!! During my IUI treatment in May, I was injected with 75mg for 2 weeks and I only ovulate with ONE egg. It’s as good as drinking Chinese medicine and 3k went down the drain after I suffered from so many injections!
So I requested to change the injectible medicine and I went into a meeting room with 3 other couples for the briefing. The couples are mostly in their mid-30s except for hubby and I. I would say I’m youngest in it but who cares?? As per 2014 records, the success rate is 56% for my age so I don’t mind taking the risk and it is better than trying myself with less than 10% of chance every month due to my condition.
The briefing told us the risk and tedious process. It will all first start with injections until ovulation. Then I will be scheduled for egg retrieval during fertilization period. After which, I will get up to 20 days Hospitalisation Leave (HL). By default, the laboratorist will do ICSI. Please read details below! If there’s more eggs, they will use IVF for some of the eggs.
On the 2-5th day, eggs will be transferred. It all depends on the number and quality of eggs. If there’s more and good grades embryos, the doctor will put the embryos on Blastocyst culture and transfer. This procedure intends to maximize pregnancy rates while minimizing the risk of multiple pregnancies. Embryos are typically cultured for 3 days (cleavage stage with 4-10 cells) before being transferred into the uterus. If the egg shells are too thick, laser hatching will be performed to increase chance of implantation and fertilization. However, these procedures cannot be reimbursed via medisave or government subsidy.
In KKIVF practice, embryos will be transferred typically on Day 2.
After embryo transfer, I will stay at home until day 17 to go for pregnancy test regardless I’m pregnant or not.
I’m also going to share how government subsidy is going to work here. I’m not very sure of the exact amount but vividly, I remembered these. Correct me if I’m wrong.
It doesn’t work the way I think when I thought it’s going to be my first ivf so I can claim $6000 Medisave and $6300 govt subsidy but it turned out to be $500o Medisave claim only as I used the first one for IUI reimbursement. In total, I can only claim up to $11,300.
Final payment will only be calculated and be billed in 4-6 weeks after the treatment.
The total bill for this session should be around $570+, which include all blood test but we did blood test during IUI so we only do HIV test as it will expire 6 months since May. HIV test has to cover the period until egg retrieval.
After the briefing, I went to look for the nurse under Dr Tan. She told me Dr Tan thought that since I’ve used Gonal-F before and I have no side effects, I can continue with it but after I told him, there’s totally no effect on me, he changed the medicine to Menopur (150mg). Let’s see if it’s going to work on me then. The disadvantage of menopur is that it comes in powder form and manual mixing is required. More liquid will be injected into my body too! I guess I will just have to face the worst scenario of having sore tummy after the jabs since Gonal-F doesn’t work on me anyway.
Total duration – 2.5hr
Total payment – $390 (cannot be reimbursed; include blood test)
The Plus-2 Project 