First Egg Donor Appointment

I went to Guys for my first egg donor appointment today and it was such a positive experience.

As my husband couldn't get time off work my lovely sister came with me to hold my hand and help remember family medical history.  I hadn't realised how close Guy's is to London Bridge station - very easy to find!  Rather than spending the morning shopping I managed to fit a work meeting in - beneficial to my wallet and makes me look organised!  I managed to get myself lost both too and from the office in Southwark - not an unsusual occurance for me and also me that ant I got to see lots of lovely streets that I would normally miss.

I had thought that I wasn't nervous but as soon as my lovely husband dropped me at the station I had a slight IBS attack and also asked the man at the desk to double check my train as I couldn't see it in any of the departments!!  Luckily he helped me get my act together and got me on the right train (thank goodness for friendly station staff!).
Doing some work in the morning and meeting my sis early kept my mind off my appointment until about lunch time when I started panicking that we were going to be late - luckily my sensible sis reminded me that we were 5 minutes walk away and still had an hour left before my appointment!!

Guy's is a lovely hospital and the Assissted Conception Unit (where the appointment was held) was really modern, clean and comfortable.  And the artwork was amazing (I would put a picture up but don't want to get sued - not sure about copyrighting and stuff).
First I was weighed and measured by the smiliest, sweetest nurse.  Then I was asked to sit in the most comfortable hospital chair EVER and rest my arm on a pillow.  Sensing what was about to happen my sis came and stood next to me and I squeezed her hand tightly - only for us to feel like complete plonkers as the nurse took my blood pressure and not my actual blood.
Then we met the doctors I will be seeing.  They were friendly, proffessional and approachable.  I felt completely at ease - not sure what I was nervous about at all.  The doctor went through the whole process with me and took the medical history she needed.  Next she gave me an internal scan and a swab.  She also talked through what would happen to any fertilised eggs that aren't used (frozen for future use with the couple and/or used for research)
THEN I had my blood taken.  I'm not great with needles but they used a different contraption which meant that I could barely feel when the tubes were changed - by far the 'nicest' bloods I've had taken.  And yes - the lovley sis took her rings off and let me squish her hand.
Finally - I had a counselling session - which was great cos I love talking!!  It was also good as I like that I still feel confident in my decisions.  The counsellor went through the law, how comfortable I felt about the process, why I was doing this, how my husband felt and also assured me that I could pull out at any time up until the eggs are implanted in the other lady.
It's nice to know that things are starting to happen although I know it is a few months befor the actual harvesting.  In the meantime I need to drop another BMI point before my next appointment in 6 weeks.  Now where did I put my trainers???

Photos from my big day out:

An old fashioned firestation and the first time I've seen a practice tower that wasn't on Fireman Sam!

Other interesting things I saw.

Even the toilets at Guy's had pretty doors!!



My wonderful, lovely Sis