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

Oh and owl great news re EC on Thurs, will keep everything crossed.

Oh flip I keep losing my posts!

Thanks to everyone for your good wishes and reassuring words, it's lovely to know people are thinking of you at each milestone.

It's also very comforting to know the little follies can still grow a lot in a short period of time so thank you for sharing your own experiences...MN at its best :)

I am keeping everything crossed that your little stars get very comfy and cosy in there kool and caramel

Fantastic news about EC owl will you be doing acupuncture? It's something I am still considering if we get to that stage (everything crossed emoticon)

teds good news about no side effects but sorry to hear about the nose issue! Hope it clears up soon

Good luck to everyone with appointments coming up or drugs to start taking.

On a totally different note has anyone seen Harry Potter yet? Saw it on Friday and blubbed like a girl at the end :)

xxx

dannygirl no acupuncture for me. After all the money we're spending on this whole process I just can't pay out any more! Have to admit I'm a bit of a cynic about it anyway although I know some people who think it really helps.

Teds my nose got super sore at one point but calmed down after I started stimming and the dose was reduced to one sniff at a time! If I ever do this again I would ask for the suprecur injection instead of spray.

Garden! Hello lovely pixie , wow you so deserve that work after those nasty old clients yay! Aaaaaah, Kittenkool! That's so cute, gave me a rush of broodiness! Brill that you could be back on the stims so soon .

Dannygirl I'm just echoing everyone else but I totally think you'll be fine. It's not unusual to even keep stimming for 14 days which would only make you just over half way so you've got plenty of time. Remember it's quality rather than quantity they're looking for too. You'll probably have a pleasant surprise on Friday but do phone tomorrow to set your mind at rest. I've not seen Harry Potter, saw the first few and then managed to miss some so I'm lost !

Owl great news re Thursday, how eggsiting (sorry )!

Care! Hello lovely! How thoughtful of you to stay away because of feeling negative, but please don't! That's why we're here (((hugs)))

Hi everyone-I'm so so sorry I havn't been in for a long while but after failed cycle of IVF last month was not in a good place and didnt want to spread the bad vibes or jinx this gorgeous lovely thread. Now feeling alot better and on to ICSI next cycle-YEY...

Am at work and have just written a monster post catching up but it was suddenly wiped when I pressed "post message" (possibly by my employers!!)
Will post again soon when at home. Love to ALL and big (((( ))))) xxxxx.

Thank you for all your love and support after my last cycle-it really meant alot and gave me a lifeline away from RL and gave me lots of good advice I could really reflect on.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Pumpkin! Hello lovely, I'm so glad you're feeling much better, it's a tough old process eh? But I must echo what I said to Care yesterday, we're here however you're feeling, bless you. Anyway, it's ace to see you back. Any idea when the ICSI process will be? Were they able to give you any further explanation as to why what happened last time happened? At least that worry will be much less with ICSI. We ended up having it too as we were using frozen and the motility had really dropped so they thought it'd be best. Sorry you lost your post, don't your employers realise how important MN is?!

I for one thought it'd take a few more days until my 2 week wait mentalling began....it's been 2 days and I can thing of NOTHING else, don't really want to chat to people in RL about it and feel a total loss of control about the whole thing. Caramel are you doing better than me?

I've got into renting films on iTunes. Watched The Heartbreaker today, really good! It's French and there are subtitles which usually make my heart sink (actually that did happen a tiny bit as it meant I couldn't knit at the same time...) but really lighthearted and fun. Now I'm downloading Hall Pass - you can tell I'm not going for anything too taxing today!

hello everyone, esp pumpkin- welcome back. I feel awful today- guessing it's from the down reg injection. Appt on 28th to start stims, so might be with you Garden? Can we start another list of where we all are in the process, because I've got lost!

Ellangirl ICSI Stims beginning 28/7 poss EC 10th August

Evening all!

Firstly apologies to caramel, I hadn't read back far enough to realise that you have a little bean transferred back in there, so I'm sending both you and kool all the toasty, cosy vibes in the world. Go embedment (is that a word?), go!

kool, I LOVE I Am Woman - I've downloaded it and it's totally going on my EC CD. What an amazing song.

Teds no, apart from the PMT, I haven't been too mental at all. Possibly a bit more inclined to sniffle at soppy films, bits in books etc, but no grim side effects, so hopefully you won't have either, apart from your poor nose. It's scan time tomorrow morning and then hopefully ho! for the stims - I am getting really excited about it now!

garden it's lovely to hear from you! And good news re: stims next weekend, excellent .

Hi to zeebee, welcome to our little world Waves to womanly, skitoo (what is PUPO?!), owl , care and all you other lovelies. Danny I'm doing my best follie-growing dance here for you.

For those asking re: acupuncture, I've been today (have been having it every fortnight or so since Oct) and now we're getting into stim phase I'll be going twice a week until EC. Then on ET I'll go the day before and the same day. My sessions cost £34 for 45-ish mins, which is obviously cheaper than you guys in That There London, but then this is the frozen north brrrr.

oops, jab time! better dash xxxx

Hi Luck no probs, thanks for the warm cosy vibes!!

Kool no not finding it easy either, I thought going back to work might help take my mind off it but I can't stop thinking about it either!! Its sooo hard to switch off. DH reminded me today not to get my hopes up and I wasn't sure what to answer - a bit of positivity doesn't go amiss and I don't think I'll feel any better or worse if its unsuccessful if I don't get my hopes up. Really does your head in doesn't it!

Owl best of luck with EC tomorrow, keeping everything crossed x

Hugs to everyone else, I think I too have lost track with everyone on this thread its massive - well done Garden for starting it! I think 'I am Woman' should be our theme tune and we should all download it - good call, kool

Speak soon

xxxx

OH MY GOD - I just spent an hour doing a massive post with a great big thick head (think I'm coming down with posy hol cold), a big catch up and personal posts to all and I've just bl*ody lost the lot, aaarrrggghhhh, angry and gutted - sorry peeps.

Can't do it all again now, head is frazzled.

Lots of luck for EC tomorrow Owl, sending you lots of positive vibes for lots of lovely eggies.

Am grumping off to bed now so will try again tomorrow.

Waves, chocolate and (((((((hugs))))))) to you all xx

All the very best tomorrow Owl

Hi Ellangirl, I do you're feeling better today, I'd say it's the down regs for sure making you feel like that. Don't worry, the stims aren't far off and you'll feel better on them.

Yay Luck I'm so glad the song made it to your list . I'm in a little morning routine of listening to my Zita West 2 week wait visualisation then finish with a big boom pow of I am woman - sets me up for the day. Although today I guess it wasn't very invincible or strong of me to sneeze during the visualisation then spend the next 5 minutes wondering whether the power of my sneeze could unembed (see I saw your word and I raised you!) my embie . I'm just not a dainty sneezer..... Wow, am of your much more sensibly priced acupuncture! Ooh, I hope your scan goes well this morning, let us know!

Caramel sorry to hear you're doing a bit of mentalling too (altho I have to admit it makes me feel a teensy bit less mad if I know you're doing it too). Completely and utterly agree with you re the positivity, I think any slightly less positive comments from others are just meant to protect us but I'm totally with you on not feeling better or worse depending on the outcome and how much we got our hopes up (erm, it made much more sense when you said it though!!).

Grrrr skitoo how annoying re your post. Where do they go when that happens? ahem Hope you're not feeling too poorly today and are well equipped with tissues/ lemsip / chicken soup / whatever floats your boat!

Caramel I know you said your appointment was early, hope it's all done now and that you're snoozing away happily after that lovely anaesthetic! X

Morning Lovely Ladies

So I'll try and remember most of what I wrote last night...

Kool sorry you've started mentalling, hang in there sweetie. You've been amazing and 'superkool' so far and really inspirational to me definitely. I can only hope to keep as calm as you appear to have throughout this process. Am digging your morning routine, think I'll have a go at that, got the cd so just need to download our new anthem . Are you back at work yet or planning things to occupy your mind?

Caramel, sorry it's got you too. I think you've got to stick with the positivity and if your DH is like mine then he's just trying to protect you.

Am sending you both huge snuggly vibes for your little kittenkool and caramelbite xx

Hey Garden, nice to hear from you. Am so pleased about your work, thats a great big blok fingers up to your ex-client, hah!!

Pumpkin, we have both been robbed by the internet burgler who stole our posts . I was so proud of mine last night as well. Just going to join in with the other girls as well, that we're here for all no matter how you're feeling. Glad you're feeling better and that you'll be starting ICSI soon.

Luck I hope your scan went well and you are all ready to bring on the stims, whoop whoop!

I'll add to the accupuncture info - I've had a few session now over the last month or so and am booked in for weekly session during dr, then planning to up it for stims and then the same as Luck for ET. I'm paying £46 a go here in the south. Not sure exactly what I think of it but it defnitely makes me feel calm and the woman I see works with lots of people at my clinic so really understands their protocal which I find reassuring.

Sorry to hear the dr jabs are making you feel naff Ellangirl, I'll be joining you tomorrow. Do they just make you feel tired, or like you've got a lurgy? Hope you feel better today . I'm up for starting a list of where we're all at, as there's quite a few of us all at different stages and it would of helped last night when I had a really foggy head. I'll post mine at the bottom.

Chin up Care, hoorah for AF and that you'll be getting your little frostie out real soon.

Hows the nostril Teds, better I hope? Any other side effects yet?

Dannygirl I shall be waggle dancing for your follie growth as I'm just about to get in the car and drive for a couple of hours, so I'll put some big tunes on and send over lots of positive vibes for some lovely fat follies tomorrow.

Welcome Zeebee, it is daunting isn't it, when my drugs arrived this week, it was like, wow this is real now, never thought I'd be here. But hey we're all here to support each other through this madness

Now who have I forgotten? Sorry if I have xx.

Work is mad so got to run but do have the pleasure of a client contract negotiation this afternoon - the answer is no!

Now apologies for any mistakes but I'm not going to preview as thats how I lost my kahoona post last night

hey everyone!

Scan was fine this morning. Starting the stims tomorrow YAY and I'm on 375 - told you my ovaries are wrinkly! Poor little raisiny ovaries, they were obviously looking forward to a nice, quiet retirement, and instead they're getting Sergeant Major Menopur shouting at them to WAKE UP WAKE UP. 375 means two injections, so along with the down reg one I'll be on 3 a day. Meh, whatever it takes.

I hope everything's gone well today owl - let us know how you're feeling. kool and caramel hang on in there with the mentalling. Keep watching the films; I'm planning an 80s film season after my ET - The Outsiders, The Breakfast Club, Pretty In Pink, Ferris Bueller's Day Off etc etc

Re: acupuncture, I agree with skitoo, my acupuncturist knows a lot about the ICSI process so has clarified a few things that I've been confused about.

Great idea ellangirl to start the list off again - I've added mine below.

Nearly Friday, ladies!

xx

Ellangirl ICSI Stims beginning 28/7 poss EC 10th August
Luckbealady ICSI Stims beginning 22 July, poss EC 3 August

Hi ladies

Just a quick check-in to say thanks for your good wishes. We got 10 eggs this morning which is a good result I think. Now just have to wait and hear about how many fertilise (fingers crossed at least one).
Feeling more sore than I expected so will come back later and read all your updates.

hi everyone,
Congrats owl - 10 eggs is fantastic, fingers crossed for the next step.
luck 2ww is so hard.. i do hope it goes faster for you.
pumpkin good luck with icsi.
garden good to hear you're getting started next wkend.
skitoo it can be frustrating to lose a whole post.. feels like you're given all this..and it's just gone... hate when that happens.

I began my 3rd cycle of IUI today. Scan next Thursday to check for follicles.
Work is crazy so very little time... also have friends visiting this weekend and next week plus Domingo on friday.. ta for now.

Best of luck to everyone.

Owl so glad it went well, 10 is great, well done! They told me how important it was to drink plenty of water to help the ovaries after the stress they've been under and that paracetamol and panadol are fine (I'm sure you know this but just in case) xx

Owl fantastic news and fingers crossed you get a really positive call tomorrow about fertilisation.

Dannygirl good luck with your next scan tomorrow, I would make a list of any questions you think you'll want to ask tomorrow after your scan otherwise its so difficult to remember what you want to ask and you'll remember too late! Many a time I've called up the nurses cos I've forgotten something.

Luck great news you're starting on the stims, it goes quickly after they start.

Kool don't worry about a sneeze but I do know what you mean - everything I pick up I wonder if its too heavy! The wait is torture isn't it! What films did you see today?

Skitoo love the caramelbite!! Makes it sound like a feisty embryo!

Got to dash to feed my DH who has come home from work grumpy!

Speak soon, hugs to all xxxx

owl excellent news about your ten eggs! I'm doing the fertilisation waggle dance right NOW. xx

Owl that's really wonderful news, another milestone!! Hopefully your eggs and your DH's sperm are doing the deed right now :)

kool that song really is amazing, there's something very strong but also very emotional about it too....

caramel and kool you must be so preoccupied, I cant even imagine! You must be crossing off each day in your head

luck your post really made me laugh....I love the idea of our ovaries getting shouted out by some scary Sergeant major! I must say my legs are starting to look and feel like pin cushions with all the jabs, but hey ho. No pain no gain.

Thanks so much to you and skitoo for the follicle dancing! Please keep going! I persuaded the clinic to see me today instead of tomorrow as I was feeling a bit anxious about the size of the follicles on Tues, and I am glad I did as they hadn't grown at all in 2 days :( but the good news is they have increased my FSH to 150 to give them a kick up the ass (although this seems a truly pathetic dose compared to luck - hardly worth doing!). Back on Monday for another scan. Fingers crossed!!

Will also be sending nice follicle growing vibes to you too for your cycle womanly

Big hugs and hello to everyone else xxx

Morning all,

Wow, so much happened since I was last able to get on here! Congrats to Kool and caramal on your little embies. I can't imagine what your 2ww will be like. When do you POAS? Whenever I thought I may be pg, I would always put off POAS for as many days as poss, in the hope that it would make it more definite. Strangely it never made me any more pregnant! Anyway, will you test on the specific day?

And Owl, well done on a successful EC. I loved Dannygirl's comment on your eggs and DH's sperm doing the deed! Seems almost indecent to be thinking of what they're getting up to in the quiet of the lab!

We're still waiting for an appt letter. I haven't received the copy letter from the referring consultant (I read it on the hospital intranet, looked up my file since I work here!) so suspect that the hospital post is so slow that the clinic won't have received the referral yet either. Oh well, patience is a virtue, so they say!

We are still SWI as still on clomid. My SIL is staying at the mo, but today is CD12, so I woke DH v early to get on with it. He complained that he was actually mostly asleep, but still managed to perform quite well. Bless him! Maybe a little perfunctionary, but needs must!

Hi there

Another quick update from me, feeling absolutely terrible today. tmi - I almost passed out when I had to go to the loo earlier. Dd is being lovely to me though. It's great how going through this experience has made me realise how lucky we are to have her.

The embryologist just called and 4 out our 10 have fertilised, so we the plan is to transfer 2 on sunday or 1 on tuesday depending on how things are going. Feeling quite nervous about the whole thing but need to focus on making sure I start to feel better.

Glad to hear you're starting stimms luckbealady - all the action starts now.
Good luck kool and caramel with the waiting, what are you doing to get through it? I'm going o be a mess (if we get that far...)

Good luck to everyone else!

A lot is going on in this thread - Sorry luck and kool - I got my messages mixed up for you both. Kool My very best support and vibes and strength in the 2ww -- keep the marching going and I hope the days fly by.
owl Good luck for the ET. Hope you feel better soon. Assisted conception is so much more stressful..
dannygirl how did the scan go? Fingers crossed..

Hi Owl, congrats on your embies, yay . Now I'm don't think you should panic or anything but have you called the clinic to tell them how you're feeling? I'm a bit worried about you as I wouldn't expect you to be feeling so bad after EC, I was back to normal the next day. Are you taking painkillers and drinking plenty of water? How sweet that you've got your precious little DD being all lovely to you . Sounds like a good plan re 2 on day 3 or 1 on day 5 as that solves the issue of having to decide without DH being there. I know it's easy for me to say as I too found it hard but all you can do now is rest, take it easy and try try try not to worry too much. I prescribe films, rests and cuddles with DD! In answer to your question about what I'm doing during the wait, well just kind of trying to be as relaxed as possible, doing my Zita West visualisation cd every morning and then watching films, knitting (it's pretty rock n roll around here ) and having a little walk every day. The good thing about this 2 week wait is it's not actually as long as 2 weeks as you start counting from EC so by the time transfer happens you can already tick off a few days. I'm not saying I'm finding it easy....I'm not sleeping brilliantly and of course it's all I can think about but I'm feeling quite sensible about fact that I know there's not really anything I can do or not do to influence the outcome.

Hi Lucyraggydoll, your swi story made me chuckle, what a trooper your DH is! I'm sure as soon as your paperwork comes through the ball will get rolling nice and quickly and you can join in with our mentalling!! Wow you've been very restrained to not test until a few days later in the past. I will be testing on the day I'm allowed, as soon as I wake up!! I'm a teensy bit tempted to do it earlier as Caramel had ET the day before me but is allowed to test 2 days earlier than I am (jealous? Me?!) but I'm going to wait...

Dannygirl glad you're loving the song too - I should be on commission . Omg I'm so glad you went with your instincts and called your clinic, I was so sure they would have still been growing, so thank goodness you went and they've upped your dose, I'm sure that'll do the trick and it's good that it'll have a few days to take effect until your scan on Monday.

Caramel thanks for the sneeze reassurance!!! I guess the only one I'm really worried about is all the walking I did straight after ET. In some clinics I read that they get you to lie down for an hour, mine were more like, all done, off you skip, the second after it was done - was yours like that? Today I'm watching Hall Pass Tonight I'm going for my implantation acupuncture. I never did end up working out when implantation occurs, the answer seems to vary according to which website you're reading...

Luck how were your first injections? I can picture your ovaries all wide eyed being like "whoa, what the HELL is going on here?!!". Hope you found it ok. Are you injecting your tummy or leg?

Skitoo impressive post after losing your last one...I'm getting a bit scared that I'm gonna lose this one as it's turning into an epic.....Aw, thanks for the very kind stuff you said to me , if I do seem calm I'm obviously doing a good job pretending! No I'm not back at work as I'm not working at the mo while DH is poorly, which probably results in me spending far more time obsessing thinking about it!!

Womanly good luck with this IUI cycle .

Hi to everyone else, whether you're waiting, down regging, stimming or anywhere else, it's probably time for a group ((((hug))), come on, don't be shy!

Womanly x posts, thanks lovely xx