Sk1pper, I'll go through my IVF treatment below:
Once you've had all the tests/checks done to confirm you're fit for IVF, it's pretty quick. I was on a short protocol because I had good reserve of eggs, which meant for me the whole actual IVF treatment (injections to egg transfer) took four weeks. I believe if you're on the long protocol I think it's 6-8 weeks.
I had the internal scan first, which is like a webcam on the end of a short stick, to have a preliminary check of my ovaries and uterus shape. Didn't see anything glaringly wrong or out of place here.
Then I had a HSG where they put dye in your uterus under an x-ray to see if your tubes are open. This is where they saw that one of mine was completely blocked and the other was barely letting a trickle through.
After that it was decided that I'd go for a lap and dye operation. It's a day op where they open you up to have a good look at what's going on inside. Here they found that all my tubes were swollen and inflamed. They removed the right one as it was beyond repair and they managed to salvage the left. Lots of antibiotics for two weeks and bed rest for a couple of days.
Six months after that, I started preparing for the IVF treatment, which meant pills for two weeks to make sure I wouldn't accidentally get pregnant. Then wait for CD1.
At CD1, I started the injections. One in the morning for a few days then morning and an additional injection in the evening. While that's ticking along, I had to have an internal scan every other day to check the follicles are producing eggs and that they're growing. It is also in these scans they discuss if you needed to up or lower your dose of injections. Total of 11 days of injections for me. I was not a fan of the needle to begin with but these are so small and very sharp I hardly felt them go in my stomach so I quickly got over my fear!
When you've done your course of injections you have one day off before you go off to the clinic to get your eggs collected. They give you a sedative and I dozed off just before they started so I didn't feel a thing and it was 20 min procedure. Woke up as they were wheeling me out. A little sore but nothing that paracetamol can't fix.
In between collection and transfer, the clinic will call you to let you know how many of your eggs have fertilised successfully and how they are progressing.
You then wait between 3-5 days to go back in to transfer the egg. You stay awake for this one, it doesn't hurt at all and I got to see them put the egg inside using the ultrasound. 5 minute procedure and I was out. They gave me a fact sheet of what I should and shouldn't do/eat/drink and also, underlined, you won't lose your egg if you sneezed!
Then it's the normal two week wait. AF arrived bang on time for me.
So the IVF procedure worked as so far as to mature some eggs and get at least one to mature into a healthy looking blastocyst to transfer back inside. It was my body that rejected it. When we had the review with the consultant, they said that we did everything to the letter, I even created a timetable spreadsheet.
Because we had a brilliant consultant who helped us every step of the way and brilliant nurses who we got to know well, I am feeling okay with the failure because I know we did everything we could. You can't control nature or your biology. Also, I'm definitely not infertile so there's still hope for me yet!
Sorry for the giant post! I didn't realise it would be so bloody huge!