Starting ICSI in the New Year. Join me?

[Craftycakey15]

Hi all. I am currently ten days in to taking Microgynon to suppress my ovaries before we start the ICSI process right after my clinic opens in the New Year. I am 40 and my husband is 41. I have mild PCOS but was told that my greater egg count meant that we had about a 50% chance of conceiving in an ICSI cycle. Trying not to be scared and look forward to hopefully a positive outcome from this process. Anyone else starting ICSI soon? Good luck to us all and to all already on the journey. Let's share our positivity and all we are doing to take care of ourselves.

[Danaust]

Hi there, I am on a similar schedule to you. I have also been taking micro but just finished, have been taking the synarel spray since beginning of the month. Stims are due to start Dec 24th with ec in the first week of Jan. I'm 39, my dh is 41. I'm very lucky to have a dc from my first IVF who is almost 3.

Is this your first cycle? Wishing you all the best

[BipBippadotta]

Hi there! Can I join? Clinic do short protocol as a default and said I'd go straight into stims at start of my next period, likely not until mid-late Jan as I've just had a mc.

So I'll be starting later than you two, but as it will be my first IVF experience, I'd be really interested to see what the process is like for people starting now.

I'm 38, DH 42. 2mcs and 1 full-term stillbirth here, no live births. Mild male factor (poor morphology, count lowish end of normal), no PCOS but pretty good ovarian reserve (antral follicle count 28). Going for chromosome testing Monday.

Fairly terrified about it all; ideally I'd like a bit of a break but I don't feel we have time to hang about.

[Danaust]

I'm so sorry for your losses, i understand the devastation of a mc, but of course this cannot compare to a still birth. My second IVF was also successful, but resulted in a mc at 9 weeks.

I have done 3 cycles ( never thought I would say that!) all the short protocol; but as my next cycle will be aboard(we are expats in the UK) there was a need to be able to control my cycle until I arrive back home instead of going by natural timings.

Your afc is amazing, I have endo with blocked tubes and diminished ovarian reserve so have no ever had that many follicles. Will you be having pgs?

[BipBippadotta]

Thanks, Danaust, and I'm sorry to hear about your mc.

I would like to have pgs, though the genetic consultant only recommends it if our karyotypes come back with something wrong. His feeling is that the potential damage that can be done to embryos in the process of testing outweighs the benefits of the screening itself if there's nothing genetically amiss apart from my age. I may still push for it though. The thought of spending so much ££ to have an aneuploidic embryo put back in me is galling (partic as they're resistant to transferring 2).

If you've done 3 cycles, IVF can't possibly be that bad, right? Where will you be doing it this time?

[Cheesypop]

This was me this time last year, as I down regged in January and had ICSI in February, short protocol. It was quite a difficult experience in some ways but it's not all that bad. It's inconvenient (clinic every few days) it's unsavoury (injecting yourself, using pessaries etc) and for me was painful when I got OHSS but overall nothing is as bad as the endless waiting and not conceiving.

It's a surreal experience. Even now I feel like someone else had IVF, not me, like it was a weird dream! My cycle was cancelled on transfer day due to the OHSS, that was a low point and I howled all the way back from theatre but they froze the embryos and did a FET in May and I'm now 32 weeks pg. very happy ending! So it may be a bit of journey but happy endings are possible. It's very difficult to know how it will go until you get stuck in though.

Look after yourself physically and mentally and best of luck. Keep hoping for a miracle

[Danaust]

I've never done pgs either( primarily as it wasn't offered at the clinics I did my previous cycles through) but the clinic i'm doing my next cycle through recommend it. For exactly the same reason you have stated wanting to do it it.

For me the actual IVF wasn't so bad-the injections are ok when you get used to doing them. The difficult part is the 2ww-the emotional stress of that time is difficult and it hasn't gotten any easier for me with each subsequent cycle.

Next cycle will be in Australia-am hoping having support with family and friends will help. It was very difficult to manage with an a toddler and not having any support other than my dh...

[Danaust]

Cheesy-congratulations it is so amazing and such a huge relief when you finally get your bfp.

I totally agree it still feels so surreal that I've gone through IVF too...its such a long and emotional journey but when you get pregnant all is (almost) forgotten.

Wishing you all the best for the remainder of your pregnancy-enjoy this special time

[BipBippadotta]

Congrats, Cheesy! Sounds like you had a particularly stressful time of it with the OHSS - great that it worked out in the end!

Danaust - yowza, so you've got a busy Xmas period, with travelling back and starting stims over Xmas. At least it will be sunny and warm! And as you say, you'll have friends & family around.

[Tashap83]

Can I join you? We've just been told we will visit the clinic in new year and start treatment (also Icsi) in February. This will be our first go, we've been TTC for 5.5yrs but I've had to wait for the referral as needed to lose weigh for treatment.

[MehMehM3h]

Hi all, marking my place too, just waiting for my period to start so think I will start sniffing mid January...as long as nothing gets pushed back again! This will be our first go at ICSI too.

[bananafish81]

Hi all, may I join you?

I’m also starting ICSI in Jan - well, I’m currently down regging, was supposed to start stims at the beginning of Dec but I wasn’t sufficiently down-regulated enough to proceed, and delay meant we’d hit the Xmas clinic closure

My first IVF cycle in Sept/Oct was retrieval only, on short protocol - we had to freeze all due to my lining, and unfortunately because my DH was ill on the day and we had issues with getting a fresh sample, we had to freeze the eggs unfertilised

I have severely diminished ovarian reserves (age 33, I have AMH of 1.5) so was expected to be a very poor responder, however I was thrilled to get a crop of 7 eggs (of which 6 were mature and have been frozen)

Rather than doing a frozen cycle and ICSI-ing the 6 eggs in the freezer, we decided to do another stims cycle to try and get more embryos to work with. This time I’m doing long protocol, to try and get more control over my lining, so that we can hopefully make it to a fresh transfer

I started injecting buserelin mid-Nov, however as I mentioned above, at my scan on 1st Dec it turned out that from having been worried my sleepy ovaries wouldn’t respond to stims, we now had the issue of my ovaries being too stimulated to go to sleep - I’d bloody ovulated whilst down regging! So I’m now on the pill to quiet my ovaries, and hoping to get the go ahead to start stims when I see the consultant on 4th Jan

Although it’s technically my second cycle, as I haven’t yet had a transfer it feels like I started this cycle at the end of September!

Thanks for having me

xx

[Craftycakey15]

Congrats Cheesy, I really hope this happens for the rest of us. I have to say I dont really understand a lot of the phrases used here - I am deliberately not reading too much about IVF/ICSI as it just worries me. I am going with the flow and thankful that we have Christmas to distract us!

Anyone having their womb scan/scrape soon? Mine is next Tuesday. Glad to get that done before Christmas. Going to reward myself with some Christmas pampering the day after!

[BipBippadotta]

I think not reading too much is a very good strategy, Crafty. I could do with taking a leaf from your book, but I'm too far down the road of obsessive reading now...

[bananafish81]

Huge congrats Cheesy wow. Hope your pregnancy has been going smoothly, so excited for you! Not too long now before you meet your son or daughter

Good luck crafty! I’m not having the scratch this time, but will prob push to have one next time. I’m told it’s over very quickly so hope it all goes well and is over before you know it xx

[Osirus]

Hi. I'm 14 weeks pregnant after our first ICSI cycle and it still doesn't feel real. I was so amazed it worked as our chance was given at 26% due to lower embryo quality. I'm 33.

We didn't plan to have ICSI but the decision was made after egg collection due to a poor sperm sample on the day.

Please don't be anxious about the treatment. I may have been lucky but I found it really easy. I had no side effects at all (apart from the hot flushes and bad moods during down reg). None of the procedures were painful and I enjoyed my morning in hospital for egg collection! They were so kind at my clinic they put me at ease whenever I had any concerns.

Best of luck to you all with your treatment.

[Craftycakey15]

Thanks for the good luck messages, Bippa and Bananafish!

So pleased to hear your positive story Osirus, I am quite scared of what the injections mean (how they make you feel). Do you feel ill for those two weeks? Does egg collection and transfer not hurt?

My latest news: silly me lost the plot this week and forgot to take the Microgynon pill for three nights in a row and seem to have got my period today! So now everything is pushed back and I'm not even having the womb scrape til 18th January and the rest of the procedure thereafter! Doh! I have set an alarm for every night now!

[bananafish81]

crafty I found all the drugs fine physically - although I got very very bloated on stims, and couldn't wear my jeans. Stretchy waistband only!! Egg collection was fine, though I didn't get to transfer as we had to freeze all. Emotionally it's a rollercoaster but physically i personally found it a doddle.

[Craftycakey15]

Oh good, I'm only scared of the physical effects. I am deliberately not reading much on it as I say, but always hear of IVF being 'gruelling' - emotional rollercoaster I can take, I have had enough of that with TTC.

[bananafish81]

Honestly the anticipation about the first injection is way worse than the actual doing of it. Once you've done it once you'll be rocking them like a boss I was on short protocol last time but doing long this time which means 4.5 weeks of jabs, but apart from my belly being a bit bruised to look at its been fine. Once you start stimming just make sure you drink tonnes of water to help with bloating. And eat loads of protein (vg for those follies!)

[Tashap83]

How is everyone doing? Feels like this waiting game is never ending

[bananafish81]

Hi tasha, how are you going? Well I've been down regging for seven frigging weeks now and going absolutely hatstand. Appt with the consultant first thing Monday and desperate to know next steps and hoping we can finally, finally get this show on the road...feels like I've been on the longest long protocol known to (wo)man!!

Wishing you all a very happy new year and a fruitful and fertile 2016! x

[Craftycakey15]

Hi again all,

Bananafish - what's down regging?

Im on my sixteenth day of light bleeding/spotting since I stupidly forgot to take the Pill for a couple of days (pre ICSI). I have until January 18th when I have my PIP/womb scan to hopefully be back to normal. Scans and injections start a few days after that. Planning lots of fun stuff to try and occupy myself during that time :)

[bananafish81]

crafty down regging is down regulating - ie the first part of a long protocol IVF or ICSI cycle, whereby you take the pill and / or buserelin injections or nasal spray to switch off your pituitary gland and put your ovaries to sleep - sort of wiping the slate clean, before you switch everything back on when you start stimulation drugs to get lots of eggs to grow. 

Last time I was on a short protocol so I didn't have any down regulating. I just started my stimulation injections straight off a natural AF. 

What's a PIP scan? Xx

[Craftycakey15]

Bananafish, the Pipette is a type of scraping of the womb (to stimulate I think) and then there is a scan done at the same time.

[bananafish81]

Ah OK, sounds like it's another name for an endometrial scratch then? Never heard it called that - good luck! x