Rumples IVF/ICSI thread continued

[lildottie]

Our thread was originally started by Rumples who now has her bfp, as have a few other ladies along the way. Here's hoping the next thread holds a few more bfps!

[Verkey81]

Fingers crossed for lots of bits I didn't know a post has a limited number of posts!

[Verkey81]

Slight autocorrect on bfp there to bits! Oops

[lildottie]

gotta love autocorrect! yeah they are limited to 1000 posts. if the others don't fill the last one I will have to - I'm very icd about thread filling!

[Smidge001]

Just adding a post so I can find this new thread in the future.

Sorry to hear so few fertilised phoenix. It is such a lottery this game. But as the others have said, it only takes one - and I'm sure those that did fertilise must be the strongest.

[ToesAndFingersCrossed]

Feel a bit bad posting this after Phoenix's news, but have just had the call from the clinic to say 11 have fertilised. I was so shocked, considering it was ICSI I was expecting less than a third to make it. I now have to call at 9:30am on Monday to see if I'll have ET that day or Wednesday.

Because I am such high risk for OHSS and my hormones at so high, they've given me blood thinning injections to take for the next 12 days. Serves me right for getting so happy about stopping injections.

Do you think it's ok to have a glass if wine tonight? I am trying to convince myself it is because I am egg free and haven't got any embryos on board.

[Verkey81]

Aww toes that's lovely, you should have some extra for freezing then? How many was that out of? 11 is really good :) Such a shame you have to have more injections, just when you think it's all over! Poor thing :(

I have to admit to having a glass or two of bucks fizz last night, I was told no alcohol right after the EC purely due to the antibiotics I had during the procedure, but I had the same thought process as you - no embryos on board and I'm doing everything else - pineapple, acupuncture etc so a glass couldn't hurt? Also, it was lovely for us both to relax and have a glass together to celebrate our five little embryos in the lab :)

[lildottie]

tbh I've avoided alcohol the whole way through, even from when I started bcp. it depends if you would blame that one glass or wonder about it if you got a bfn.

[gcerron]

I agree it's better to keep away from the delicious glass of wine, I had to ask for a glass of warm milk with cinnamon at a cocktail bar last night.

[Tootsiepops]

Hi! I'm weeks behind most of you, I think, but hope it's ok for me to join the thread. I've just read through most of it and have been quite emotional following all your stories.

I'm 35, OH is 42. We've been trying for more than two years. I had an ectopic pregnancy last Christmas (thanks Santa ), I managed to keep my tube, and subsequent tests have shown no lasting damage. I've run the gauntlet of NHS and private fertility testing, and the only thing that's been found that I'm a bit vitamin D deficient. I'm a bit fat with a bmi of 34 (losing all the time - in the gym 3x per week), and I have hypothyroidism, but it's well controlled. So basically - we're unexplained infertility.

I just started d/r with norethisterone last week, nasal spray to be added on Tuesday.

Tomorrow I'm having an endometrial biopsy, which I think my consultant has ordered because it's similar to endo scratch and might help implantation when (if) we get to ET.

It's been great following along with where you're all at to date. I'm a bag of nerves for everyone and I haven't even really even got going properly myself (had better go and buy some relaxation CDs!).

[lildottie]

Hi Toots hope everything goes smoothly for you. we'll help try to keep you sane!

gcerron warm milk and cinnamon sounds lovely, must try that!

[PhoenixFire7]

Hi everyone,

The last couple days have been a bit tough after finding out only
3 fertilised so I've needed to keep my distance from anything ivf related. So I went wedding dress shopping instead!

Congrats on the high fertilisation numbers toes. Please don't feel bad posting your good news, I don't wish these bad things on anyone.

In regards to alchohol, I haven't

[PhoenixFire7]

sorry accidentally posted

I have touched a drop since September. It's so easy to blame things like that when you see that bfn so I didn't want anything to taint in this time. I won't be touching any until I get the bfn.

Welcome tootsiepops! I've had the endometrial scratch/biopsy before. It's a little uncomfy but not too bad. It's very frustrating being unexplained isn't it

As for me.... I have my transfer today. The 3 fertilised embryos made it through and are of high quality. We had a two grade 1/2 and a grade 2 with two of them at 7 cell and one at 8 cell. They we'd very please with them!
2 have gone back today and 1 frozen to go with the other 3 we have frozen.

All in all I'm happy but still unsure why my clinic have stopped blastocyst culture and 5 day transfer so this is my first 3 day! Fingers crossed

[ToesAndFingersCrossed]

Phoenix - that's fantastic news! As my consultant says, your uterus is the best incubator there is so I think 3 day transfer makes most sense from that point of view. Hopefully the cold weather will make your embies snuggle in tight :)

[Verkey81]

shell everything's a waiting game but hopefully March won't seem top far away!

[Verkey81]

Welcome toots

[Verkey81]

phoenix fingers crossed for you! Each clinic is so different, mines big on 5 day blasts and single embryos only whereas so many of you seem to be having two transfered! We have to trust they are doing the best thing for the way they work at that clinic! I'm so excited for tomorrow as we should get our phone call in the morning so say how ours are doing and whether we're good to go for Tuesday transfer! Can't think about much else right now, just getting from one day to the next!

[Smidge001]

Hi Verkey my clinic is also a day 5 single embryo transfer proponent.

I just got back from my intralipid infusion this morning. Feel fine. Had a scan and blood test too and stupidly hadn't realised I could have had the blood test done at the same time as the infusion (ie using the same cannula thing) so have ended up with holes in veins on both arms today! Doofus.

Hey ho. My scan didn't show massive increase in my follicle sizes (particularly on the left where the largest still seemed to be around 10mm... Is that possible after being that size back on Thursday?). Anyway my doctor said they often get a bit of variability on the scans particularly as I had mine at two separate clinic sites, and isn't worried. Same dosage and back for another scan/blood test on Wednesday. Likely egg collection on Friday or Saturday. (Any later and I'll have run out of lucrin).

[Verkey81]

Smidge the nurse at my last scan said the same thing to me, that there can be a lot of variability between who does it, and one follicle she recorded as small, then after a bit of moving about, she deleted the previous record and said it was actually huge! I was also running out of the meds but they literally gave me just enough, topping them up at each scan! Are you getting excited for EC?

I had to google intralipid infusion but it sounds really promising - I didn't even know they could do that! How did you get them to test you for that? :)

[ToesAndFingersCrossed]

Smidge - I echo the variability. When I was at my last scan before EC I had 7 follicles that looked big enough. 2 days later they collected 19! So either they suddenly grew really fast, or we're bigger than they thought.

I just called the clinic, they are going to do a 5 day transfer, so another two days of waiting for me! I really wanted a 3 day transfer - I just want my embies back

[Verkey81]

I know that feeling toes I am just sat staring at the phone waiting for them to call about transfer tomorrow. I've finished my pineapple for the week and I'm ready to go!!!

On another note, is anyone on the Crinone gel? Hows that going? Any side effects? It's pretty yukky to have to do it everyday but as the clinic told me to walk around for 15-20 minutes a day afterwards, it means we get to go for a lovely evening stroll together every day - silver linings of this process and all that! Don't think it's making up for the fact the clinic told us no sex for 6-8 weeks though in case of miscarriage :( :( He's not impressed about that one bit! Was anyone else told that?

Tonight, he's suggested we go out for dinner and the cinema to take our minds off tomorrow and make this evening go a bit quicker so it's just today to get through the drag of - lets hope he doesn't decide to go for a snooze at the clinic during transfer tomorrow!

Will update later once I hear from the clinic - fingers crossed my embies have made it to good enough quality for transfer :)

Seems a slow update week for everyone else, are we mostly in waiting time now!?

[allchatnicknamesgone]

Hello. Waving to everyone. Marking place on new thread. I'm ok. DH not. Been in hospital all weekend because out of nowhere he has a problem with kidneys. So thats a bit crap and all that's running through my mind is that he's never going to be up for it now! Is that really selfish? He's got to have a biopsy and I'm like 'bugger, I bet that falls on fertile week'. He's ok though in himself and has even gone to work. I'm having to give him an injection everyday to keep his blood thin to stop any clots. How the tables have turned! He was a complete woos and said I was so brave to have so many. I was ok administering it. I thought I'd be a reck as it was a proper syringe that I had to push through.
He's got a scan in the morning though so hopefully that will rule out clots and then we can stop injections! Funny posting about something completely un-trying for a baby-related.
Me - I've had a bit of an odd period. I bled normally for 2 days and then it kind of stopped to a very light/spotting flow. Barely nothing now. One little dot so far today. DH wants me to test just to check, but I just can't bring myself to even go there. Plus those 2 days bleeding was bright red normal flow. It's just after then it went weird. Haven't called clinic either to tell them AF came. can't face it.
Oh well. I'm going to try and limit myself on here but I'll keep an eye out.

I know it's impossible not to fret, but I'd just like to remind everyone that it's luck not numbers! I had a 100% fertilisation rate, but only 3 made it to day 5. I thought those 3 must be dead certs and yet I still had 2 bf's from them (one fresh and one frozen). If they are popping an embie back in then you have hope. x

[Verkey81]

Oh allchat that's awful, hope he recovers well and it's nothing long term, on the plus side, it's good that he has a window into how it is for you to have all those injections! I'm sure all men are complete wimps with needles, when my fiancé had them last time, the doctor told him to 'man up' :) :)

My suggestion would be to test... puts your mind at rest either way? Also surely the clinic will need you to? You already think it's a BFN and are grieving/ feeling the loss, so maybe you could continue feeling like that, but even maybe a small chance you may be surprised? Put your mind at rest?

[Verkey81]

Sorry for posting so much today - I've been glued ot the computer and watching the phone all day!

They've just rung... Transfer is on for tomorrow, no news as of today as they like to leave them alone on day 4 apparently but yesterdays embryo news was: 5 embryos were viable, 4 were progressing, 1 was a bit behind but could well catch up

I'm off to go and do something useful with what's left of my day!

[ToesAndFingersCrossed]

Did everyone else get an update on their embryos? The nurse I spoke to knew nothing except that I was having transfer on Wednesday. Is it ok to be a bit pissed off that they didn't tell me more?

[allchatnicknamesgone]

Hi toes.
I had a call the day after EC to tell me about fertilisation rates then they just said see you in 5 days time. I had no other updates. My clinic is funny about grading and you have to really push to find out. Even when I had the fet, one didn't survive the thaw. I asked if the better one had made it and once again they said they try to avoid looking at the grades and they didn't actually know which was the better one when they thawed. I can see their point. It doesn't actually help patient knowing. X