As I explained recently, my fertility has been on my mind.
Last month myself and two colleagues, Cathy and Jade, visited the Sims Fertility Clinic in Clonskeagh in Dublin to have fertility check-ups.
We didn’t know what to expect but were all curious to see how we’d get on.
Cathy, Jade and I had blood tests to check our egg reserves and I had also had an internal ultrasound.
The clinic
Sims is a place where you kind of can’t help think of babies.
As soon as you walk in, you’re greeted by a collage of photos of some of the little people that the clinic has helped bring into the world.
Our appointment was late in the day so it was fairly quiet but sitting in the waiting area, we saw couples as well as people on their own and also passed a man and a woman and their little boy, who was about a year old.
It felt like any other private practice, calm and clinical, but with a slightly nervous edge – there’s a sense that there’s a lot of hope tied up in this place.
We were looked after by Dr Florencia Steinvarcel, an obstetrician and gynaecologist. She couldn’t have been more knowledgeable and lovely.
Egg count
A woman is born with all the eggs she’ll ever have and loses them throughout her lifetime in her periods. The menopause (which usually happens between 45 and 55 years of age) signals the end of a woman’s fertile life, meaning that all of her eggs are gone and she can’t conceive any more.
This is why fertility is typically affected by age. The younger you are when trying for a baby the more eggs you have and the more of a chance of conceiving.
I had was a blood test to check my levels of AMH (Anti-Müllerian Hormone). This is a hormone produced in the follicles of your ovaries and, without getting too technical, doctors use the levels of AMH in the blood to measure the amount of growing follicles in the ovaries.
This is thought to reflect your egg count or ‘ovarian reserve’. It’s worth noting that although this can indicate how many eggs you have, it doesn’t denote the quality of your eggs.
It was a very straightforward blood test – Dr Florencia simply took a sample and sent it off to be analysed.
I was told that the results typically take about a week to come back.
Transvaginal exam
This is exactly what it sounds like – an internal ultrasound.
It was a little invasive in that I had a narrow wand with a condom and some jelly on it put between my legs and inside me (that’s about as delicately as I can put it) but it wasn’t in any way sore or uncomfortable.
It looked just like ultrasounds look on TV – I was sitting with my legs up under a surgical blanket, looking up at a black and white picture of my womb on a screen.
Dr Florencia pointed out all of the different parts and checked for anything that could potentially harm my reproductive health like fibroids, cysts and even cancer.
She also checked out my uterine lining, looked at my egg follicles and for blocked tubes.
It was fascinating to see all the different parts of my reproductive system and gave me a serious insight into a part of my body and my health that I’d never really thought about before.
How I felt
Honestly, I didn’t think too much about the testing before I came in.
I’d be more squeamish about needles than I anything else so I was quite happy to have the blood test over and done with and then found the ultrasound to be grand.
The experience ended up being the most eye-opening medical appointment I’ve ever had and so regardless of the outcome, it felt worthwhile.
Want to know how I got on in my AMH test? Find out here.
This October is Fertility Month on Her, when we’ll be talking all things reproductive health and having babies.
You can check out all of our Fertility Month articles here.
Want to get in touch? Email me at [email protected].
