TTC for 10 months and the rest. Ten plussers welcome. Thread 2.

Hi ladies,

This thread has got very exciting indeed, and full of positive vibes, I send those that are due collection and transfer over the next couple of days my very best wishes!!

I am feeling much better about things this week, it's a journey and I keep reminding myself it's not easy for everyone. I've had a HSG and the tubes are fully blocked, don't know why so lap and dye on 28th.

My DH has low sperm motility anyway so according to our consultant we would be eligible for IVF on male factor alone. Which is why it's so frustrating that we have to go through this operation on the 28th, I don't see why we can't just get cracking with the IVF on the NHS (we only get one round)

Anyway, more waiting! Hope that BFP is just around the corner for all of you!

Hi everyone,

So sorry for disappearing - I’ve been pretty busy and not been thinking much about TTC, thankfully. THis thread has got so exciting in my absence!

Sammy – how did things go with ov? Did you get your temp rise? Did you book in for acupuncture? I had my second session last week - I turned down the herbs but took the pills. I just can’t drink the tea, which I admitted and she told me off. Given our MF diagnosis I’m not sure why I’m still going, it’s so expensive!

Itsme, hope you’re feeling better this week? It’s so unfair that it’s taking us all so long. What is wrong with your tubes? Have you had them checked? Hope your appointment next week is helpful.

Lucie, amazing news on the scans and the follicles! This is sooo exciting - good luck with EC tomorrow. Looking good for at least two frosties surely.

Banana, AMAZING news on all those eggs, congratulations! Everything seems to be lining up for you this cycle - I have everything crossed that your lining plays ball too. Keep us updated! Just out of interest, how long have you been TTC and how come you’re not eligible for NHS funding? Funding and waiting times and IVF rounds is all such a postcode lottery isn’t it. Where are you in London? I’m in Southwark but moving out of the borough soon but I want to stay with King’s as they’ve been great so far.

trixie, is it your appointment this week? Let us know how it goes.

MPP – how you doing? Hope wedding plans are progressing! I would quite like my OH to stop cycling for a few months but like Lucie’s DH he loves it and it’s the only exercise he does so don’t really want to ask. My Chinese Dr is convinced that her herbs will fix his sperm but he’s not having any of it. Don’t blame him as that tea is so awful, but as she said it's “easier on the body than IVF” (not his though!).

Boris - that's frustrating with the timing. Don't have any great advice I'm afraid as never done IVF, but given the fluctuations in a natural cycle it does seem to be cutting it a bit fine. Very frustrating that there's no flexibility in the childcare arrangement. Is there definitely no family that could step in if you need to stay out there?

I’ve been diligently taking the metformin and proxeed. I’m 100% convinced I ovulate since I track my temps but if it can help with egg quality I’m all for it. I think the feeling is that my ovaries are PCOS-like. I don’t have cysts or a hormone imbalance, and have regular cycles but with 27 follicles on one ovary maybe they’re working a bit hard. I dunno. AF arrived on Saturday 2 days early. Feel fine as wasn't expecting anything with the low motility diagnosis, but still a little disappointed today as I got invited to a baby shower in March :(

banana that's awesom! You are a medical marvel. Hope you are doing ok without meds.

lucie how exciting! Hope you are enjoying Brno everything crossed for you. When are you planning to come home?

I have an issue with my next couple of cycles. apparently we would be looking at egg collection on cd 13/14. DH needs to be back in the UK cd 15 - 17 to pick his child up from school, due to issues with his ex he can't negotiate or change this. Is this too close to work for ivf? Would we be safer to defer until he is likely to be around for a few days after intended EC in case of delays?

Banana that's brilliant!! Congratulations and fingers crossed for lots of embies!

How thick was your lining? Xx

Holy moly. Back from egg collection.

17 eggs retrieved!

All 6 frozen eggs from the last cycle survived the thaw.

So that's 23 eggs in the love lab!

They have to do ICSI on the frozen eggs (because they have harder shells) but will do standard IVF on the fresh, as DH's sample was 'excellent'.

Consultant said he wished he knew what was going on with my AMH as he is completely stumped how someone with perimenopausal AMH and FSH has responded like this. But he is very very pleased, as am I!

Lining is 'so so', so I'm desperately hoping the oestrogen tablets help to thicken it up so we can have a fresh transfer. Dr will scan me later this week and we will see where we're at. If there is any doubt we will freeze all, and transfer in a FET, as he doesn't want to risk transferring a decent embryo into a suboptimal endometrium.

But for now, the focus is on trying to get some embryos. Our eggs and sperm are getting jiggy in the love lab so keeping everything crossed for a decent fertilisation rate when we get the call tomorrow!!

Amazing news lucie - that sounds like a fantastic crop! I don't think it sounds too over mature. And your 13mm might catch up - anything over 15mm can contain a mature egg as you know.

Excited for you!!

I triggered last night, EC at 9am. Started the oestrogen tablets yesterday, please please please lining don't regress like last time.

I have chronic pain due to a spinal injury and take pretty hardcore pain meds - which obv I have to be off by transfer. It takes a while to come off everything slowly enough to avoid going into withdrawal, so I've been in a fuck of a lot of pain the last few weeks and I'm not even off everything yet. If I don't get a transfer AGAIN and I've been tapering off everything for nothing - which is a distinct possibility - I will hit the fucking roof.

Scuse potty mouth but BLOODY BODY!!!

Xx

Boris I just told work I was having some 'medical treatment' and left it at that. Re the Gonal-F, the only side effects I have had is massive bloating. I honestly looked 4 months pregnant after just 2 days of stims. It's abated a lot since dropping the dose down, so I think it was def worse with the elephant dose!

The injections themselves are a doddle, esp Gonal-F as the needles are teeny and the drug is pre mixed in a rediject pen. I put DH on prep duty for the Cetrotide which has to be mixed up - that's the blocker drug I add in after a few days of stims to stop premature ovulation. The type of blocker you take, and when you start taking it, varies depending on your protocol. They will explain everything in detail so you know exactly what to take and when

Hope you're not feeling too horrible Sammy - thinking of you

On the thin lining front, had a productive discussion with the consultant which might be of interest. He said be thought it wasn't that I'm not necessarily producing enough oestrogen - as with all those follies if he were to measure my levels it would be sky high. He reckons it's that the oestrogen receptors in the endometrium (antennae, as he called them) are a bit desensitised and need to be woken up - so he'd expect to see a cumulative effect over time as they're exposed to more oestrogen.

We discussed how we would do a FET if we can't do a fresh transfer . Likely route would be to try an HRT cycle straight off my period after this cycle: try and thicken up the lining, and hope that it syncs up to the right thickness at the time of ov (as once the progesterone kicks in the lining will change appearance and compress). If that were the case, we'd transfer.

If it didn't sync up, then it would be a useful exercise in oestrogen priming to wake up the antennae, and we'd then start down regging me 7 days after ov, in prep for a full medicated FET the following cycle - where if we remove ov from the equation, we can keep going with the oestrogen pills and patches to get to the right thickness for as long as it takes.

Was v helpful to have it explained to me in a way I could understand. The bloody pill though - I would NEVER have taken it it I'd have known it could contribute to this. Argh!

Thanks ladies for all your wisdom. It's such a comfort. Let's hope the HRT does the job for you banana.
What are the side effects of Gonal F? I've watched online videos of how to inject, looks simple enough?!

That sounds great Boris, that's a really nice starting dose

I was started on a sledgehammer dose because of my FSH and AMH (450iu) although it was dropped down to 225iu and I've been on 150iu Gonal-F for the last 3 days of stims

With such cracking AMH you'll hopefully do really well on stims!

lucie brrr, wrap up warm! So excited for you

Started the HRT tablets to try and give my lining a kick up the arse.

Xx

Thanks lucie I'm not planning on telling my work either. Hoping to manage without needing to. How did you get on with the 200ui Gonal? Did you also take from day two with a different drug at CD 7 or so? Was your egg collection as planned?

Thanks lucie I'm so excited for you! Have you told your work what you are doing? My aMH is not bad for an old bird its 17. They have me on 200 units of Gonal f from cd 2. I don't know what that means though :)

sammy I'm so sorry about thrush. What a nightmare you didn't need. I have no experience of how it might affect things but realy hope you get it sorted and are ok. I know I dont know you in real life but you abd your future baby are often in my thoughts and prayers. You will get there. X

lucieabd banana it's also exciting!

I'm taking selenium as part of my cocktail of vitamins reccomended by Dr purdiepie.

I've got my plan through from the Czech republic. Just need to agree dates with DH and get the prescription. DH can't be with me the whole time as he will need to be back in the UK at the weekend for his kids which is making logistics more complicated. Anyhow we will possibly go feb or March. It's cold out there right now lucie have you packed your thermals?!!

lucie I'm day 11 today - had done 9 days of stims before my scan, did my 10th dose this evening.

Sounds like yours are growing nice and steady - last time I had a couple of 15mm follies the day before I triggered, that had a growth spurt and ended up yielding mature eggs. Come on eggies!

lucie I'm day 11 today - had done 9 days of stims before my scan, did my 10th dose this evening.

Sounds like yours are growing nice and steady - last time I had a couple of 15mm follies the day before I triggered, that had a growth spurt and ended up yielding mature eggs. Come on eggies!

Thanks sammy!

You poor thing with the thrush :( I guess the stress could def contribute to delaying ov? Hope you feel better soon!

Today my Dr said he would be absolutely delighted with this kind of response from any patient, let alone someone with such (apparently) diminished reserves.

If we hit the jackpot and got 14 mature eggs from the good-sized follies, plus the 6 mature eggs from last time, that would be 20 eggs. Not bad for someone who the NHS would have written off!!

Consultant said minimum thickness was 7mm, but last time my lining regressed massively (from 7.6mm on the Friday, so 6.4mm at EC on the Monday morning). So if it goes backwards again, we don’t have much wiggle room. So hoping the oestrogen tablets help to give it a kick up the arse!

Deffo try selenium! Have you tried L’arginine or vitamin E? Have The book ’It starts with the egg’? has quite a bit about what to take to support endometrial lining - they all help to support blood flow. Hoping you get a nice juicy endometrium for your frostie!
xx