Our doctor in Spain emailed yesterday to confirm the egg collection will take place tomorrow (it’s never certain until the egg donor has had her last check-up). I still find it hard to believe that there is a woman out there willing to go through all this so that she can donate her eggs to us, but I will be forever grateful. I did my first progesterone injection last night and started the full regime of drugs today (Progesterone makes your uterus lining ready for the fertilised embryo, facilitates implantation, and is essential for sustaining the pregnancy). I started the oestrogen patch and tablets at the beginning of the month and have been increasing the tablets gradually (Oestrogen helps to grow and maintain the lining of your endometrial lining in the uterus and sustain a pregnancy). And then a week ago, I had a scan of the lining of my uterus to make sure everything was ok for the implantation, which it was. I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to give myself the injections but it wasn’t too bad at all. Plus I have to. There’s no ‘if you’d like to’ in this situation. But I’m trying to think of it as all these things I have to do are helping us get that little baby growing inside me, and if that’s the case, it’s a small price to pay. It’s a very strange feeling to think I might be pregnant on Saturday! I just hope I can remember to take everything! My schedule goes something like:

7:30am  Oestrogen patch, blood thinner injection, low-dose aspirin

9:00am  Steroid tablet

10:30am  Progesterone pessary

10:30pm  Progesterone injection & pessary, oestrogen tablets, pregnancy vitamins

I can’t remember if I’ve mentioned before, but the fertilisation will be done using ICSI (Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection) rather than IVF. We’ve been told the main difference between the two methods is that with IVF, the sperm and egg are left in the petri dish to fertilise on their own, whereas with ICSI, one sperm is injected into the egg. There was nothing wrong with Mr M’s sperm (which is sometimes why ICSI is used over IVF) but this is the method the clinic in Spain uses. To be honest, I don’t care which method they use as long as it works.