Anyone else about to start IVF?

[gardenpixie]

DH and I have our first IVF consultation in a couple of weeks and I just wondered if there was anyone out there who was in the same position?

We've had loads of tests done already so the Dr says we may well be able to start the treatment cycle sometime next month or early May.

We've been TTC #1 for 3yrs now and I am on cycle 5 of clomid so will continue with that until I start the IVF drugs. There are no obvious medical reasons why we haven't conceived naturally, just a case of unexplained infertility, I guess.

I know the odds of getting pg still aren't great but I am really excited about the fact that IVF even exists (isn't amazing what they can do?) and, although I am a bit apprehensive of everything it will involve, I am thrilled to be given the chance to see if it might work for us.

I would love to hear from anyone with any advice or who is in the same boat,

thanks for reading

Care I know the feeling. Physical exhaution is what I go for when that happens...Yesterday I walked for an hour and 25 minutes despite the rain and felt like all that built up energy was expelled out back into the universe! I hope Weds brings you good news - these follicles can grow quickly over a couple of nights so you might just find that good crop of 8 from the sixteen that take the charge.
I watched that human creation video (available on iPlayer) and what I got out of it is - we are here, against all the odds. As we are here, so shall our little ones -- Believe in that. Not in the buts and the yes' and the day to day progress/set backs... believe that despite all these odds our little ones will make it through. That's what we humans are good at. Big hug and sending you to warm you up.
Becca I do not have a lot of pain when I have a period with my variety of PCOS. What did your doctor say about the levels of pain you get..?
Bodeccia Awesome that AF is two weeks away - gives you the long weekend to really switch off fertility stuff completely... what have you planned in the pampering dept?
garden Thinking of you - hope the sniffing is going well.

Morning lovely ladies

Carebear you are SO right about the waiting seeming longer because I want to get to June 10th. If all my appts were exams, I'd be finished with the whole process and watching my children graduate by now

I am sorry you are feeling weary. It's so exhausting, physically and mentally. I agree with womanly though - on more than a few occasions, I've had a CD12 scan which showed a few sulky small follicles and my clomid consultant was fairly pessimistic but then by CD14, there was a lead one of 19 or 20mm. As womanly said, even with no meds, they can decide to grow quite quickly all of a sudden so with all the FSH you're on, I'm sure you'll have a good crop tomorrow. I am sending follicle fattening thoughts your way lovely.

Womanly I hope you are feeling cheerier today - I loved your thought about how we are all here miraculously so our little ones will be too! And you're right - life will find a way. I loved your pendulum metaphor btw, it really summed up the trickiness of uncertainty and a fear of letting ourselves believe it could work. It can and will work for us though, I just know it

You are so right to insist on a prog test to check you've ovulated. Sometimes I think Drs forget that we are all different and our bodies respond to drugs in different ways. I am keeping my fingers crossed for you!

I hope your follicle is ripeing nicely and good luck for tomorrow - may your egg and your DH's swimmers have a happy date (tell DH to remind his chaps to bring flowers - that's always a winner, I find)

Luck I almost ruined my laptop by snorting my tea out over it with your wrinkly ovaries and bemused swimmers comment! I am sure your ovaries are perfectly lovely! As for the swimmers, has your DH thought of getting them a satnav? It's great that you have hols planned, they'll be here in no time

Becca thanks for the info on accu - very interesting indeed! I think if you are having regular cycles of 29 days, that means you are ovulating. My clomid consultant said anything over 35 days means you might not have ovulated, but anything under that is very promising. Good luck for you AMH test tomorrow; how long is your DH away for?

Bodeccia I hope your AF turns up soon! Do you have any nice plans to keep your mind off things until it shows?

Big waves to everyone else

I am on day 2 of sniffage and it seems to be going OK. I do suffer terribly with hayfever so I'm pretty sure the sneezy, itchy feelings I have are more to do with that than the spray.

I had a bit of a dilemma this morning as I was offered some really nice work next month ... but I thought I don't want to risk accepting it and then going utterly bonkers on the meds and messing up. I also thought the commute is a stinker and I need to be nice to my body and mind at the moment given all the meds I'm throwing at them so I think I'm going to pass and concentrate on the IVF process for the next few weeks.

It's really hard because I learnt a long time ago not to put things off "in case I fall pg" but this is a bit different as I will actually be doing stuff that will effect my ability to stay calm and analytical (although tbh I'm not that good at either!) so I feel a little bit more justified in taking it easy for the next few weeks.

What is everyone up to today...?

xxxx GP

Oh for gawd's sake! I think I am def right not to take the extra work ... I just started crying listening to a James Blunt song. WTF? The drugs are obviously having more of an impact than I realised! Must make note not to let myself out in public without supervision...

agree garden - It is a tricky balance isn't it -- we want enough to do to keep us well occupied...but not so much that it adds to the stress of fertility treatment... I got an email this morning asking if I am interested in this 'stress-filled' project with a big client...and I was like... I am trying to see if I can take time off work to just de-stress from this whole fertility thing.. so it's doing no work (and hence having a lot of time to ponder on the yes..and buts..) to doing too much work (and have upped the ante that much more for our bodies..)

Womanly you're right - and the unpredictability of it all is really challenging. I have no idea whether my body will respond properly to the drugs, in which case my June will be full of appts, or if it will drag out into July, or beyond. Oh well, at least I've stopped crying to James Blunt now I guess we really do just need to take things a day at a time; not sure my clients will really understand that though! xxx

Hi ladies

garden I am still laughing about your James Blunt comment - perhaps it was him, rather than the song, you were crying at? (apols to any JB fans!)

becca interesting re: your acupuncture. My practitioner is doing the traditional Chinese version and it's certainly relaxing, although I need a bit more proof that it's regularising my cycles. I'm intrigued by the alternative version - what sort of things are you being asked?! I'm still wondering whether to try reflexology as well/instead.

carebear a BIG hug to you and follicle-plumping vibes your way. I don't know enough about to reassure you, but hope that you will see some lovely fat follicles tomorrow.

womanly and garden the work thing's happening to me too. We're just setting up a shared service across 3 NHS trusts and it all kicks off in mid-June, just as I start my treatment. My boss is making all the right noises about how I must make my treatment my priority and how they'll work round me, but then most of our team are off in July and Aug for school holidays. So that leaves me and my colleague to run the show, and I don't want to dump everything on her... tra la. But I am going to be strong and work from home, if I have to work at all, so that I don't have the mammoth commute that I do now. That's got to help.

Anyway, I'd better sign off, because in the name of work I'm off to visit the shiny new Hepworth gallery in Wakefield. Lovely!

Here's a thought for you. The urge to sing The Lion Sleeps Tonight is never more than a whim away

Happy Tuesday! xx

LOL luck, that did make me laugh about the lion king, that is so random i love it.

Bodeccia, I totally woke up this morning and did not want to get out of bed and face the world, but repeated to myself 'take one day at a time' like you said and I ended up having a great day at work, totally took my mind off things and feeling much better!

Thanks so much to you and everyone else for your supportive, fat follicle growing comments, that's so nice of you all! Made me feel all warm and fuzzy .

GP, crying at James Blunt? Things are serious!! Quick have a .

I totally agree with the work dilemma, and I think enough to keep you going to keep your mind off things without causing loads of stress and travelling is definately the ideal. There are other times to take on great work.

Womanly, I keep thinking should i go for a run, but then tell myself that i need to be taking it easy!! Its just too much of an easy excuse to sit on the sofa.

I am still sniggering about the lion king. x x x

Running is a spiritual pursuit so that is a YES... BUT it might be too stressful physically esp during the luteal phase..though that is when we burn more fat than carbs. I am walking these days which takes twice the time but oh well.... I want one less thing to kick myself about (grin)

Thanks for the vino Carebear , much needed! The exercise thing is tough isn't it - I'm going to cut back after the transfer of the best two of my many many healthy and thriving blastocycsts wishfull thinking but I think until then, I need to do as much as I can to stay less mad than i am at the moment sane!

Luck , I suspect you have a point about my teariness yesterday; it was more to do with listening to JB than actually empathising with the music! You are right to be strong about working at home if you can - it makes such a difference to stress levels. Great that your boss is so understanding too. How was the gallery? And I LOVE the Lion Sleeps Tonight comment

Womanly I hope everything goes well today with the insemination. I am sending special romantic song vibes to your fallopian tubes to make sure the egg and swimmers know what they're meant to be up to! Very very best of luck - I so hope this is your cycle

Big waves to everyone else!

I am on day 3 of snorting and I feel so much better. I read on netdoctor that synarel (my nose spray) makes your hormones spike before they fall (something about desensitising receptors in your brain ...?) so I think mine must be falling as I am much less emotional and my boobs have stopped feeling sore.

And this is excellent timing as I am at a client's office all today and tomorrow so was dreading feeling teary and puffy while trying to hold it together and sound like I know what I'm talking about (this is hard enough at the best of times)!

We're almost half way to the weekend - hurrah!

Hey all

Just wanted to say hi to my fellow a-wimberway pals

Sending huge positive vibes to womanly today xx

Sending a big squashy vibe of fatness to carebear's follicles

luck how was the gallery? I went for a lovely walk in a park yesterday where there's a lovely Hepworth sculpture, so I thought of you (and for some unknown reason started singing In the jungle......who knew?!)

Garden I'm glad that sniffing appears to have settled down now. It's a roller coaster isn't it? I'm sure they'll be spoilt for choice with your fantastic blastos! Are you definitely going to try for getting 2 put back? The Dr we saw at Guy's said they'd probably only let me have one put back if we get to blasto? Maybe it all depends on individual circumstances. My wonderful DH is on chemo at the moment (which is the main reason we're having IVF) and she did say that the stress of his illness coupled with the possibility of twins might be too much....a good point I guess.

at teds, becca and Bodeccia

Sorry if I've missed anyone. I realised I didn't ever put my stats on....I'm usually on my iPad and am a bit computer illiterate on it.....cutting and pasting doesn't always seem to do what I want it to!

My AF turned up today so I'll have to get my bloods done tomorrow then hopefully get a call from the nurses to get my schedule before starting sniffage. garden I seem to remember you waiting a while for the call didn't you? I guess I've got three weeks before anything happens. And the patient info evening next week too (seems a bit back to front but I guess we just have to tick the boxes!).

I have a guilty admission to make.....when I got pg last year I joined a due date club on MN. The babies have now started arriving and I'm still avidly reading the thread even though I feel that I'm not part of it anymore. I should just stop reading it but I can't seem to manage it. I guess reaching my DD was always going to be hard...

Oops sorry, hi to bondi and jumping too

Hi Kool we haven't actually discussed the blasto issue yet with Guys - I know they really pressure people in just having one transfered ... and I do understand why, but I know when and if it comes to making the decision, I'll be pushing for 2 (keeping my fingers crossed this is even an issue for us!).

Can I ask how old you are? I am 35 which puts me on the cusp of the group where they are happy to transfer two; and I've not got any DCs as I've always been super careful with contraception so I don't think I'll fall into the "likely to get pg" category.

My understanding of it is that, unless there is a strong reason to go for one or two, they make the decision in conjunction with the couple.

I am sorry to hear that your DH is going through chemo; what a lot of things for you to deal with at one time. I hope it is speedy and that he is feeling OK.

In terms of my appt timings, I had to call the nurses two working days after my bloods were taken to set up my schedule appt (they were really busy so I couldn't have the appt until the working day before I started sniffing) and then I had to chase the drugs company myself to get the meds delivered because they usually deliver after you've had your schedule appt but obviously that wouldn't have worked for me.

I still have the drugs company number so just let me know if you want me to PM you with it so you don't have to wait for the nurses to get back to you.

I'm sure you'll be fine though - I was just awkward a special case because of my odd timings.

A-wimberways all round

A-wimbaway Wednesday, everyone!

Kool big hugs for reading the DD thread, it's totally understandable. And also for your DH, I hope he is doing OK on his chemo. You've got a lot going on, I'm impressed at how sane you sound.

The gallery was great, I'm not mad keen on modern scuplture but there was some I really liked, including a fab polished wood Henry Moore figure > www.henry-moore.org/works-in-public/world/united-states-of-america/buffalo/albright-knox-art-gallery/reclining-figure-1935-36-lh-162 . It was so shiny, I just wanted to stroke it. Interestingly (given our situations), there were several woman-and-child/madonna/maternal scupltures. They gave me a few moments of pause and reflection.

Anyway, from the profound to the well-wishing, I hope all of you are OK, and your snortage/injections are all going well. It seems to me the things we all desperately need during this process are patience and hope, so I'm sending you all bucketfuls of both. Not that I have much of either, but I'll sneak one of the bucketfuls back for myself.

xxx

Luck I am very good at being patient for other people, but not so much for myself. So I'll give you one of these:

in return for one of your!

ergh, I meant ^yours^ obviously...

garden thanks form your reply. I'm 34 and have no DC so we're in a similar situation I guess. Thanks for the offer of the drug co details, I'll let you know how I get on an may well take you up on your offer. I do remember the nightmare you had getting your drugs! Thanks for your well wishes for my DH, it's a really tough thing to be going through but I don't give up hope, this is our new normal now.

luck how flattering that I appear sane ! I guess my philosophy right now is as hard as it often is not to sweat the small stuff and to try to live in and enjoy the present as much as possible. Not to mention a damn good cry and some every now and then, of course!! I'm taking the maternal sculptures as a massive good sign for you and all of us, btw!

Ah, kool , yes, I remember them saying that if you are under 35, they generally don't transfer two blastos. You young'un, you! The advanced age of my uterus obviously means they will be happily chucking as many as they can back up there in the hope one might stick!

I am in awe of you and your DH going through chemo and IVF. You have inspired me not to be such a lame-arse over my own snuffly situation!

Here, have an a-wimberwaywine:

xxx

Loving a-wimberwaywine!

Off now to acupuncture. I wonder if she can deflate my currently very sore boobs. Sorry if that's too much info - and alas it's not a PG sign, this happens every month. If you hear a loud pop from Yorkshire, you'll know what's happened...

xx

luck here's hoping your acupuncture will be a jab well done....sorry, couldn't resist

Hi All,

Lots to catch up on here....
WomanlyTales it must be so frustrating to not know where you stand. My Dr told me that is good to push the clinics to ensure you get what you want. Ask as many questions as you can.

Care Its OK to have days when you dont feel 100% Maybe some self affimation in front of the mirror like this little lady thinking about all the things you LOVE...!! :)

Becca it must be tough with DH away. I know its not the same but you can always post here and I am 100% sure one of us will send a reply very quickly

Hi to everyone else, sorry I cant do the full list.

Good news with me is AF arrived on the weekend and I had my first scan Monday and all OK to start IVF. Injections started last night and so far, so good I guess.... Not sure if wind is a known side effect maybe thats the falafel I had at lunch! oops

womenly i think my comment to you is a bit out of date now i have read more of the posts. hope today went well and you are kicking back on the sofa.

A big thank you ladies for all your good wishes and positive vibes - My insemination appt was a breeze. DH went in early in the morning and I followed suite at 11am. I was worried because last time I was so sore I couldn't get out of bed for the rest of the afternoon - and had a lot of cramping and pain. This time however, it was literally a ten minute or less procedure and though I came home, prepared for the after-cramps... I was fine..So I was able to go out in the evening for my writing class. FAB!
Of course, last time the nurses took three attempts to find my cervix..and that lead to all the cramping after... It is amazing what they can do when they are really skilled and do a good job.
kool Fab that AF is here and you're on your way to do your tests.
luck laughed at your comment about the pop sound from Yorkshire -- How did the acupuncture session go?
Bondi yeah to starting your IVF cycle :)
Garden I am to test on June 10 so we are twins again - waiting for the same date :D
Have a lovely rest of the week. FOr me, it's going to be completely NUTTY till June 10 BUT my SIL is visiting next week so hope to really distract myself as much as possible.

Morning ladies

Luck how are your boobs this morning? Hope the needling helped!

Bondi hurrah that AF turned up and that you're on the injections. Are you doing short protocol?

Womanly so pleased that it all went well and yay that we're testing twins again

Hope everyone else is doing well?

I am OK although a bit more tired than normal (I have been cutting down on the caffeine though so it could be that rather than the drugs).

I'm a bit peeved that the counselling people haven't called me back yet to set up an appt - I called them ages ago, on Saturday! It's not that I'm about to throw myself off the top of a tall building or anything but for some reason starting IVF has made me feel really about my own childhood. Nothing awful happened, I was just pretty isolated / ignored for most of it (parents v busy with their own stuff and mum had depression which she never acknowledged so didn't get help with) and I guess going through all this just for the hope of maybe being able to bring a LO into our lives is throwing a rather stark light on how definitively uncherished my brothers and I were.

I'm sorry to get all mememememe ... I thought I was OK with it all but it's sort of rearing its head again and I don't want it to play a part in what DH and I are going through. Needless to say we haven't told my parents we are going through IVF (my mother keeps banging on about how "having children isn't that great" so we figured we wouldn't get much support there!) and I feel I need to rant to someone about it before I go more nuts than I am normally

Maybe I should just sort out counselling privately ...

Anyway, sorry ladies; I might just go and get a quick !

Happy Thursdays - it's very almost the weekend

Oh no now all the girls who work in this office and don't have kids are talking about how rubbish having kids must be ... and they want me to join in because they reckon as DH and I have been married for 3yrs and don't have LOs, it must be because - and I quote - we have "seen the light" and decided not to.

Ergh. I think I might go for a walk...

Oh garden my thoughts are with you. I hope you're still out walking, what a horrible conversation to have to witness, let alone be dragged into. Sorry to hear too that you're feeling wobbly about past stuff at the mo. I was so sorry to read that. Most GPs have a counselling facility so you maybe could get a referral from them? Might be worth a go. I wonder if the IVF counselling might be IVF specific? I've had counselling in the past and if you find a good one I think it's time well spent (unfortunately money well spent too as I've always tended to go private). It must be tough to not be able to share this journey with your famility too. Another good reason to have started this thread though, we can all support each other.

I got a letter from the unit today just summarising our initial appointment. It says I have an antral follicle count of 20. No idea whether that's good or bad though?!

womanly so pleased to hear that things went so smoothly for you yesterday.