First experience of the ACU

Base line scan day has arrived which means our first experience of the Assisted Conception Unit (ACU). The unit is situated just by the antenatal reception and again somewhere I do not have great memories of.

We went into reception and we were greeted by a lovely receptionist who introduced herself . A nurse came past introduced herself and said the Dr was scanning but we would not be long.  The waiting room was nice, very clean and lots of pictures of babies (mainly twins!) . Whilst we were waiting a couple came out and had just been told they were having twins, it was such a special moment to witness them thanking the staff and hugs all round, contrary to belief when you lose a baby you do not resent anyone else’s happy news it just makes you more determined to have your own, yes it stings and yes at times I have wanted to shut down my facebook account and hide from social media when friends put up pics of their babies, scans, memories but not because I am jealous or resentful but because it makes me sad at times. Life goes on, people have every right to post whatever they want on their social media accounts and because we have suffered I do not expect anyone to hide their happiness or joy,  but that’s the downfall of social media, people (me included) are very quick to publicise their lives and you just have to roll with it and try not to take anything personally or be too sensitive, however it has made me more aware of what I post. Anyway I digress and back to the scan.

We were called in right on time and Dr Z introduced herself, she pulled the curtain around me and hubby and told me to get ready,poor hubby gets the glamorous job of holding my underwear whilst I get changed, I am still flummoxed by this, why not have a little table to put my clothes on or something ! Now internal scans are not nice, they are not painful just uncomfortable and we have not had a great experience of them, in fact I fainted after one due to the intense atmosphere and emotions plus the heat of the room. Both my miscarriages were diagnosed by internal scans , lots of squinting at the screen, willing there to be a heart beat, your mind running 100 mile an hour, thinking you can see something , hoping there is hope, all whilst having a probe inside you is awful , I hate them , hubby hates them but they have to be done.

So Dr Z had a good old look around and she the started explaining that each ovary had a healthy amount of follicles which would produce eggs, she said the lining of my womb is very thin and there is some fluid present. Dr Z thinks this could be down to the two procedures I have had called ERPC’S which stands for the Evacuation of Retained Products of Conception, I do not think I need to elaborate more but this is how our missed miscarriages were dealt with. Dr Z went on to explain that she would think a hysteroscopy (a camera to look closer and yep you guessed it, internally) would be the best way to investigate further and also I would need drugs to try and thicken the womb lining as even if the sperm and egg fertilised there is not a lot of lining for the embryo to stick to. Dr Z said she would speak to Dr D and give me a ring.  Dr Z also advised that this will delay treatment to March or April as the drugs have to last a month.

Walking out I asked hubby how he felt , he is very anti NHS due to the issues we have had and the bad experiences , he said he was happy that the unit were so friendly and organised .

We left the car park and my phone rang and it was Dr Z, she had spoken to Dr D and they have agreed that the hysteroscopy is needed, she advised that she would get the team to call me with some dates to book in , I was very impressed with the speed of response. We will see how long that takes. I am hoping it will be soon  as the follow up is 18th January, however google tells me I may need to be knocked out for the procedure so I hope I get a bit of notice- no pleasing me hey !

I am still awaiting the GP surgery to reply to my email about our address change !