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

kool so very pleased! 10 sounds like the perfect number to me and I hope the canapés and champagne are being prepared for the grand meeting of eggs and swimmers Glad you had your Mum to look after you but also that your DH is pleased with how things have gone. Lots of lovely ((())) all round for the kool household today I think x.

Appointment went okay. Nurse was lovely and told me to be positive about the mahoosive doses of stims I'm going to get to get my old wrinkly ovaries going. There was some discussion about what day to start down-regging as I have short cycles but we are sticking to Friday - as long as the drugs turn up!

kool - 10 sounds like a great number to me. Are you going to the Zita WEst clinic for acupuncture? I'm wondering which hospital you're at.

Teds - I'm sure your ovaries aren't wrinkly just yet!

After my scan and blood results the hospital called me back to increase my menopur dose from 225ui to 300ui. I was a bit disappointed as I thought 14 follicules was ok, but now I'm wondering if it's poor. Any reassurance would be great!

owl I'm no expert but I wouldn't worry about the dose being 'upped'. Do you have any indication of how big the 14 follies were? If some of them are a little smaller then a higher dose will ensure more of them are nice and big and full of eggies by EC.

I'm going to be a 'poor responder' so I'm going to start on a dosage of 300ui and we're hoping for a best case scenario of about 6 follies in total. Both kool and GP started on lower doses than you as they were at risk of OHSS - I think GP might have had 50 follies at one point but may be misremembering . I also think Care had her dose upped in the final days to push her follies over the line. But they will all hopefully be able to tell you a little more.

So, my very unexpert advice, would be to say there are lots of different responses out there and your's sounds like it's somewhere in the middle. Hope that stops a bit of the worry.

Thanks Teds! Glad you had a good appointment. I'm sure they'll be choosing the best dose for you, remember they can alter it at any time depending on your bloods and scans. Garden gave me the drug company's number so if you're getting worried about them not arriving, I can PM you with it. I'm sure it'll be fine though. Now I hope you didn't have to go back to work and that you're now at home with your feet up!

Owl please try not to worry, I did have more follicles than that but that raised concerns of its own as I was at risk of OHSS. Remind me what day of stims you're on? I think it's perfectly normal for your dose to be changed as you go, it shows that you're being well monitored and that they're tweaking you to get the best possible outcome. And plus, slow and steady wins the race! I've not been going to the Zita West clinic (although have been reading her book, listening to her CD and taking her vitamins....a sucker? Moi?!) but my acupuncturist trained and worked there a few years ago and as she'll be away for my ET she recommended I went to the Zita clinic. I'm having my IVF at Guys and don't really fancy traipsing around before and after transfer (I know they can't fall out, but still!) but London Bridge to Bond St is pretty easy and seeing as I've started acupuncture I kind of want to see it through for the important bit!

X posts with Teds, hopefully we've set your mind at rest Owl I remembered that a nurse kept saying to me that quality was far more important that quantity...remember our thread mantra...."It only takes one!" Can I also add (including the tweaks by Teds) "FFS Just do it"!!

FWIW I started in 125ui and ended up on just 75 as I too was heading towards silly amounts of follicles, so we're all different (but all extremely lovely, I might add ).

Also, thought it was worth saying that for the people wondering how much time to take off work at various stages, you prob only need the day for EC rather than 2. I've had a lovely sleep today but just because the bed looked so tempting rather than needing it and I feel absolutely fine.

Thanks guys. I guess I'm just experiencing the ivf rollercoaster that I keep reading about!
Fingers crossed for everyone!

Hi, I just wondered if I could join you ladies? I've been lurking for a while but we are going for our second appt at the fertility clinic on Friday - and we will hopefully get some more details about when we can have a go at IVF. We've been ttc no 2 for 19 mths now and already have DS (not via IVF - got pg reasonably quickly with him). As this would be our second child we'll have to pay for whatever treatment we have so I think it highly likely that we'll end up having a crack at some sort of treatment but we'll see what the Consultant says on Friday to see what sort of thing.

I do hope you ladies are doing ok at all your various stages of your cycles. Do you have any advice as to things we should ask the consultant on Friday? At the moment we are still under the NHS as we are still having tests done.

So far we've had 2 x SA (one low motility, one 'ok' but still to see consultant about that one, CD2 and CD21 blood tests (ok) and a HSG x-ray (ok).

Do you think there are likely to be more tests for us or any idea what the consultant might suggest? Crystal balls at the ready.............

Anyway, take care
Lisa xx

Hi and welcome Lisa. The HFEA website is really good for info and this page in particular is good for questions. Where are you having your treatment? It sounds as though you've had most (if not all) of your tests done. In answer to what the consultant might suggest, it might be ICSI if there's a motility issue. Good luck

Thanks Kool. We're at the Royal Derby hospital, and I think they have a private facility there too possibly so might be able to stay there for private treatment - but not really sure about what are choices are - that's another question for the consultant!

Just a quickie hug from me for Kool, fab news on eggies - 10 woo Hoo!!!

Teds having a lovely chilled break thanks, so hope to be back and in best poss state for dr starting 22nd, so yes we'll be 'jacking up' together

Sorry not to name check and catch up with everyone else, phone is naff for reading/posting bur great for

Waves to everyone xx

just a quick one from me too i'm afraid to say

Kool, amazing news, well done loveee!

Owl, my dosage was x4 by the end compared to the start so I wouldn't worry. I was told the maximum was x 9 of what i started on

waves everyone else, i'll type more soon having a knackering week at work. x

Thanks Skitoo and Carebear

We got the good news that out of our 10, 8 were injected and 6 fertilised which I feel pretty happy about. So I'm provisionally booked for ET on Saturday but of course hope that I get to blasto ideally (which would be Monday). Quite surreal to think that our teeny weeny Kools are busy doing their thing right now!!

That sounds great Kool - good luck for the ET or Blasto (what is that by the way? )

Also, thanks or the link to that we page yesterday - got loads of info off there - very grateful indeed!!

Lisa xx

kool that's wonderful news. So very pleased

skitoo my drugs are booked to arrive tomorrow. Enjoy the rest of your break and we can hot-flush together next week

Welcome LisaJayne. The Hfea website also has a search facility for clinics near you and you can search for private and NHS 'self-funded' options on there.

Good news kool. Fingers crossed for you.
How/kool do they decide whether or not to go for blasto?
Thanks carebear, I guess I need to try and be more philosophical about things. Feel that at the moment I'm over-reacting to every piece or news/info.
Good luck to all!

Can I ask a potentially silly question. What is 'blast' and what is the difference with ET? Thanks

Owl I can't offer any proper advice as I don't know my left hand from my right here but I can offer you a hug and a . Knowing how stressful ttc is generally I can't even imagine what a rollercoaster IVF is.

Best of luck over the forthcoming days xx

I've become a bit more expert at these things so here goes...

Your embryos can be transferred back on day 2 or 3 after collection or they can be transferred on day 5 when they are called a 'blastocyst' - this is the latest stage of the cells dividing before they 'hatch'. Blastocysts are more likely to become a successful pregnancy but, and there are various schools of thought on this, if your day 2 or 3 embryo is successful then it would have probably made it to 'blasto' stage.

If you get to blasto then, especially if you are under 35, you'll probably only have one embryo tranferred. If it's day 2 or day 3 then you may be more likely to have two put back.

The decision is likely to be based on the number of embryos you get and also the quality of them.

There is a good article someone posted about the differing views on what should be done - I'll try to hunt it out.

This isn't quite the one I was looking for -

www.sharedjourney.com/articles/3vs5.html

But this sets out one Dr's view on blastos. Keep reading down as otherwise you just get one view. There is a similar article which has two Drs giving two different view points, if I find it I'll post. And as I say, there are definately different views on this.

Thanks Teds that article looks very interesting, I've printed it off to go in my 'file of random information'. And thanks also to all you other ladies that have helped in my rapid IVF education.

Was badgering DH last night to read up on it and he was of the opinion that we just wait to see what the Consultant says and do what he tells us. My view was that I wanted to have read as much background stuff as I could so that we could ask the most sensible questions when we were there and understand as much as we can of what he tells us. Also, it's not like you can nip back in and see the consultant - especially while we are still under NHS care so I'm trying to drill into him that we need to squeeze as much info as possible out of every second of our appointment!

Incidentally he did agree with me and dutifully read pretty much the whole of the HFEA website that I had printed off for him last night - what a good boy [hsmile]

Teds just read that article - very very interesting indeed, thank you so much for going to the trouble of finding it xx

Kool fantastic news, well done sweets! I shall be thinking of your little kools and DH has promised a special waggle dance later . On that subject, can you believe he looked waggle dance up and read me a whole article on bees 'waggle dance' activities.

Teds my drug delivery is booked for Monday, am SO excited, how strange eh!

A big Greek hello to everyone else, hope you're all having a good week. Welcome to the newbies, this is a great thread with lots of lovely, helpful ladies.

Thanks Lisa, Teds and Owl

Lisa, no questions here are silly, the whole thing can be quite a minefield and that's why we're all here. Believe me, you'll be an expert before long! I got a copy of Zita West's guide to Fertility and Assisted Conception and have found it pretty informative. I certainly can't add anything to what Teds said, she gets a gold star

Owl they'll keep looking at our embryos to see how they're going and that'll determine how long they leave it. I think generally one starts with x amount and some might not progress as well as others but if on transfer day others look good too, they'll be frozen. They tend not to freeze anything other than top quality ones though as they're less likely to survive the thaw at a later date. I'd say that if you're over reacting to news and info, it just says that you're completely normal! I remember feeling 'hungry' for any ivf related info but anything I found out generated a million questions and what ifs. So don't worry! When I joined this thread I thought it'd be nice to be along for the ride with others going through the same thing but it's become more than that, a source of info, comfort and plenty of (or if you're allowed!)

Hi to everyone else - wondering esp. how Caramel got on with her EC.

X posts with Skitoo, aw, thanks hon! Wow, your DH is game, what a guy xxx

Brilliant news kool that's soooo fab I am really really chuffed for you. So exciting to think your ET is nearly here :) Welcome Lisa I am pretty new myself, on day 3 of injections on the road to ICSI due to poor motility. On tests, I had the same tests as you plus also a scan to look at my ovaries I think it was. I have questions - have any of you lovely ladies considered acupuncture especially around ET? Also is it pineapple or grapefruit that's good in the run up to ET, I can't remember! Big hugs to everyone x