thread 2... TTC bubba #1

@lebe14 Sorry just saw you said November/December! So do you have your protocol discussion appt coming up this week too?

@lebe14 AF arrived on Saturday so we've got our personal planning appointment today. I should know whether I'm doing long or short protocol by this evening! Eeek. We watched the injections instructional video last night, I'm definitely getting my husband to do them for me 😂

Your last message with all the drug names makes more sense to me now too - I recognise the names of most of those now! I'm assuming my baseline scan and stims will start around 19th September ish? But I guess I'll find out this afternoon.

I've tried to keep big work commitments to a minimum in late September but there are a couple of evening things in the diary that I might need to cancel, if only because they're far enough away that I won't be able to keep my meds in the fridge before the evening injection 😬

Have you got an idea of when you'll do embryo transfer yet?

@taytay2020 I feel the same with being in 'limbo-land' at the moment too! But it will be ready for transfer before I know it I'm sure.

That's annoying about AF coming late but like you said, a couple of days is nothing in the grand scheme, but once you've made the decision to start, I know that you just want to get on with it. I was the same.

Are you doing a long protocol? Sounds like you might be. I did short protocol - so as soon as AF arrived I went for a baseline scan the following day and then started Bemfola (stims) that night. After the baseline scan I had scans on day 5, day 7, day 10, day 12. Then had my egg collection on day 14. I injected Bemfola in the evening from day 1-4 and then from day 5 injected both Fyremadel (morning) and Bemfola (evening). then I did the trigger shot day 12 late evening. If you're doing the long protocol then the down reg is probably different? I'm not sure how many appointments you'd need in that period. But when you start stims, expect to have lots of scans 😂😂 especially if you're at risk of OHSS!! I'm not high risk as I have low follicle count. However I've heard FETs can be good as it allows stims to exit your body before the transfer!! X

@Lebe14 oh fab, I'm sure the time will fly by! Yeah I have mixed feelings about whether twins would be a good idea - part of me likes the idea of getting it over with in one go haha! But at least this way you don't have all your hopes riding on one transfer.

We're definitely in limboland at the moment - trying to plan things for christmas and next summer but with the whole 'oh but there's a 45% chance our lives will be very different by then and we need to plan accordingly' with an extra dose of 'but we mustn't get our hopes up'. It's so tough!!

My most recent AF arrived a few days late (maybe cos I had a cold?), so that's knocked our dates back a bit, which reeally annoyed me even though it's only a few days in the grand scheme of things. But I'm still optimistic that we can kick things off next cycle. I don't think there are many in-person appointments for the first month of treatment, is that right? I have a couple of short work trips booked during that time, so I'm hoping we can do the initial in-person appointment within the first few days of the cycle, and I can start the progesterone(?) pills on day 19 while I'm away.

We're both doing a blood test next week, which is required before we start treatment. Then it's just waiting waiting until next AF in mid-late August.

Oh, and apparently I'm high risk for OHSS (my about-to-ovulate follicle was huuuuuge when they scanned it last cycle) so I might be joining you in the freeze-all club.

@taytay2020 hahaha I love your supplement taking techniques!!!

We're looking to transfer in November / December. Have an appointment to discuss protocol towards the end of August so can then get all the meds ready. My consultant suggested transferring both embryos as they're low quality, but think we're going to give both their own chance as can't take the increased risk of twins!! Love the idea in theory but practically, it would be very hard work.

Hope your first appointment goes well - keep me updated!! X

@lebe14 oh I'm so glad to hear that! You must be relieved! How long will it be before can you do an implant? We're not planning a freeze all (if we get any at all!) but I know you sometimes don't have a choice.

I don't think I'll have much to report for a while now. I think I need to book a blood test for the very beginning of August just before my 17-days-of-work stint. Hopefully AF will arrive towards the end of that and I can email the clinic to get things started!

Confession: I skipped an omega 3 on Saturday cos I was away and had no access to smoothie 😀 naughty naughty! But I can confirm that q10 powder can be stirred into baked beans, gravy, curry, chilli and even goats cheese on a pizza (provided you don't mind turning the goats cheese orange!)

@taytay2020 love your yoghurt trick is working and even got a second trick with the smoothie 😂 The things we do!

I actually got good news on Thursday. Both made it to blastocyst and have been frozen 😊 They aren't amazing quality - embryologist said they are 'average' but I'm not too worried about that. If they're good enough for freezing then they have a chance. And I'm so pleased both made it, so at least we get 2 chances before having to do another egg collection.

Keep me updated on when you get going!!! X

Hi @lebe14 I hope you've had better news since your last post and that there are blastocysts now? Sorry for not replying sooner, I've had a ridiculous couple of days of work and genuinely had to nap as soon as I got home. I've had a few more clinic emails and consent things to sign I've but not had a chance to read and absorb them yet. The good news is my q10-in-the-yoghurt trick is working! I also found that it works well in smoothie, and that the omega 3 pills are also easier to swallow with smoothie rather than water, so that's been my lunchtime pills sesh for the last couple of days 😀

Hahahaha what a brilliant idea @taytay2020 with the yoghurt!!! Never would have thought of that. Thanks for the info on Omega - I'll give this a go!

I got my day 5 update but unfortunately both are still at morula stage and not made it to blastocyst stage yet, which is when they can be frozen. Will get a call tomorrow to see if they've reached the right stage or stopped growing. If they don't make it, I'll be on to cycle 2..... 😔 x

@lebe14 oh, you're right it's 1000iu of vitamin d3. I have no idea what any of the units are 😀

I wasn't told what dose of omega 3 to get so I looked on amazon and got 'super small super concentrated' and I can confirm that they are in fact massive! Booo.

I checked if the q10 was timed release and it's not so this morning I opened the capsule and mixed the powder into my slightly expensive yoghurt. Job done! Now I need to go and buy a few hundred child-sized pots of yoghurt to see me through breakfast, lunch and dinner for the next 3 months 😂 It's just a random brand I'd not heard of 'yoga naturals' but the reviews said they were ok to swallow. Not so! If it's not a mini pill it's not going in!

@taytay2020 just doing a search for omega 3! What does have you got of that? x

@taytay2020 oooo interesting on the omega 3 - I'm not taking that but might have a look. I think I might have taken it over the time TTC - I literally tried everything 😂 Might get back on it. I'm taking 1000 iu of Vitamin D3 - not sure what iu is and how that translates to mg?!

Oh no on the c-10 haha!!! What brand is it? My Zita West ubiquinol is 200mg each and you take 2 per day. But obvs that's just what it says on the bottle. They aren't big - they're okay! Maybe once you finish your pack you can look around for a different brand that's smaller? Zita West ones are bloody expensive so I often only take 1. Maybe I need to up that more often to 2.

X

@lebe14 eek, good luck!!!!

I was already taking folic acid, vitamin d (400mg) and iron cos I had a lowish count in a blood test last year. Plus mild hayfever tablets which I forgot to mention to the doctor, so I've stopped taking them for now just in case they clash with something.

They added omega 3, co enzyme q10 (200mg 3x a day), a stronger dose of vit d (1000mg) and a low dose thyroid prescription cos my tsh was slightly high.

I just tried my first massive q10 capsule and gagged and spat my water out all over the table, so that's going well 😬Please tell me the version you're taking is tiny cos I don't think I can do that 3 times a day!

@taytay2020 so glad to hear your appointment went well and hopefully everything feels really clear around the process and protocol. Would be interested to hear what supplements they've advised you to take! Mine literally suggested vit d and folic, which I'm already taking. Also take coq-10 (zita west one).

It's a lot of effort with appointments when you get going. The meds are fine and will become routine, but it's being available for the scans. So wise to start when you're around and not going to be stressed out!

We're eagerly awaiting our call tomorrow to see if we've got any blastocysts!! X

@Lebe14 Keeping everything crossed for you, this week especially! C'mon little blastocysts!!!

Our appointment was good. She explained the process and did another internal ultrasound, which I insisted my husband stayed for because I found it so fascinating last time. By coincidence, I was on exactly the same day of my cycle as last time (ovulation day!) so we could see a massive 24mm follicle - hopefully they won't all get thaaaat big during ivf or I'll be very uncomfortable!

The clinic was ready to start in my next cycle (approx 18th July) but I'm genuinely not around enough in August and the start of September to do that. I'm hoping the cycle after will start around 16th/17th August, as I think then I could just about fit in the appointment they want me to come in for, before I start the progesterone on day 19.

In the meantime, I've been recommended more pills and supplements. 8 a day! And DH is on 3. Thank god most of them are tiny. I'm hoping this will give me a superhero-level of energy and wakefulness lol. The good news about having to delay by one cycle is that this might give DH's pills time to have an effect, as he won't need to do his sample until the end of September.

@taytay2020 that's great you've got your appointment so quickly!! Even if you don't start until August at least you should understand your protocol, the process, meds etc. and you can get that all ready for August. Would you start this month? I started literally a couple of weeks after my consultation when AF arrived. The meds were really quick delivery. Guess it depends when you're due in July and if you could get everything done before August. Timing wise - I had my EC exactly 2 weeks after I first started stims. But if you have a better response to stims and more eggs, it could be quicker.

The EC process was fine - the sedation was amazing!! Haha. We only got 4 eggs (we were hoping for 4-6) and got a call this morning to say that 2 have fertilised. So just hoping at least 1 makes it to day 5 blastocyst so it can be frozen for transferred later in the year. Not sure I can put myself through another EC process right away if we don't get any embryos.

Hope your appointment goes well on Monday! x

@lebe14 Ooh I hope egg collection was ok! We've got our first appointment this coming Monday, so that was super fast as we only called them to arrange on Wednesday. Lots of forms to quickly fill in and return before the appointment! Not sure if we were supposed to also send them copies of all our previous appointment followup letters to show previous test results or not. Hopefully the previous clinic will have sent our info across because I don't think the letters we got were actually that accurate due to being written with dictation software.

I have no idea how soon they'll want us to start but I'm away from home for a lot of August so I suspect we'll have to wait until my mid September cycle either way...which if we're successful is a bummer for next summer as that's always my busiest time work-wise! 😀 Oh well, you can't plan these things!

@taytay2020 that's great there's no waiting list. Hopefully you'll be able to get going on your next cycle. We went straight to private as NHS only offers 1 cycle in our area and we're likely to need more with trial and error of protocol.

My egg collection is likely to be Friday. Had a scan today and have another on Wednesday. We're doing a freeze all cycle so if we get any embryos we'll be freezing them and hoping to transfer around November / December due to other commitments which I don't want to be pregnant for. But we wanted to get started asap due to my low AMH. Also means if we don't get any embryos this cycle, we can do another collection before our commitments. Didn't want to waste time.

Let me know how you get on with your appointment and good luck!! Xx

@lebe14 yes I guess so, we don't know much about what happens next and what the timescale is (although we were told at the clinic for the original tests that there's no waiting list in our area). We're literally at the stage where we've been granted funding and we've chosen which clinic we'd like to go to for treatment.

Thanks for the reassurance about the treatment! When are you expecting to do the egg transfer?

So sorry to hear you're in the same position @taytay2020..... the injections are absolutely fine - don't worry about them at all.

I have low ovarian reserve (and probably bad quality) and my husbands semen tests came back absolutely fine. I've been put on a high dose of stims (450 Bemfola) and then started taking Fyremadel 5 days in. I'm on day 10 of stims. Bemfola is easy-peasy. I was hesitant about Fyremadel but it's actually fine. We're also doing ICSI as although we don't have make factor, my consultant wants to give the best possible opportunity, since they won't be able to retrieve many eggs.

Is your first appointment to talk through your protocol etc.? X

Hi @lebe14! Same here - never had a BFP but we've just been granted funding for one cycle of ICSI so we're in a similar position to you, just a few weeks behind! How's it going? I'm nervous about the jabs! We're hoping to book in our initial appointment tomorrow (I missed their call about it on Friday)

I'm back on Mumsnet! But for a different reason in that we've just started our first IVF cycle. Seems strange looking back at these threads - little did I know I still wouldn't have had a single BFP by this point.

@taytay2020 @xoJellyBean - how are your journeys going?? X

Hi gals,

Hope you're all well!

31 years old. TTC #1 I'm on cycle 3 but did a test last night 2 days from AF & it was negative.

Feeling super low about it, it's really wearing me out. Lots of my friends & family seem to have been successful really quickly with their first & I can't help but worry about if there's something wrong.

We did the Clear Blue advance OPK this month & I think we baby danced at all the right times so I just don't understand why it's not working 😥

Just waiting for AF now.

Has anyone had experience with doctors doing tests before a year? Since TTC ive noticed I'm getting cramping pains starting from the third week of the cycle. Not sure if that's normal or why I've only just started getting them while TTC.

Wishing you all the best on your baby journeys xxx

Happy new year everyone!

@xojellybean I'm glad you have more answers now and will keep my fingers crossed for you over the coming months!

DH and I took a break from ttc for the last few months (due to awkward due date timings), but didn't really take any steps to avoid it either. Still getting BFNs though! Back to proper ttc again this cycle - I'll start doing opks this weekend and making sure we have time to dtd next week 😀

It's coming up on 1 year since I stopped the pill now - I haven't been to the doctor yet but will think about that in March ish if needed.

Where are you all at?