IVF/ICSI/FET - any more for any more?

[jumpingjackhash]

Hi all, we're about to start FET following an unsuccessful round of ICSI last year (well, we got the bfp, but then I miscarried shortly after ). But... time to get back on the bike and go again...

Anyone else going through this?

Well - Jumping, every single time i've gone in for a blood test over the last 2 weeks i've said to the nurse - is there anyway we can make sure EC is NOT this friday and they have all said to me - it depends on your body - we can't control your folicles etc. But then in the next breath they say they don't do EC's on the weekends - which seems bizarre - if they really need to do it when you are absolutely at the right moment then surely this could fall at a weekend?
Also last time around i was on the gonal f for 15 days, and this time, if EC is this friday it will only have been 10 days (and much lower dosage this time around) so who the hell knows what your body is playing at (or the hospital!)
Z

I'm glad it's not just me who's confused by their insistence it 'depends on your body' but then sees it come down to schedules at their end!

OK, I'll talk to the nurse about it when I'm there on Thursday. Ta!

Good luck Jumping!

Ooh ZB Friday is soon, will they scan you again before then to decide? How many follies did you have on the scan?

Knackered the grading scale really confuses me I'll have to remember to afm for another explanation. Having an excuse to get out of unpacking sounds perfect!

Jumping, ew to being awake for either hysteroscopy or EC. I'm far too squeamish. At my new clinic they give you the choice for EC and defo going for sparko. I will be so drugged up this cycle anyway a bit more wont hurt.

Well Care the hysteroscopy was just like a glorified scan I guess, our clinic does all ECs under general, which is good (ignorance is bliss!).

Whoop! On the injections now (so treated myself to a slab of cake) - but they've increased my dose to 300 wot-sits, so I need to buy another injection pen to give me enough for 12 days - hope HealthcareAtHome call me to process the order today so I can get it delivered to home on Saturday, otherwise will have to get it sent to work and the nosey despatch office . Back for another scan next Friday!

Zeebee, any work on your collection? Will it happen tomorrow?

Anyone seen anything from Cloclo? I hope her CS went well on Monday!

Everyone else doing OK?

Hiya Jumping!
Congrats on starting the shots.... 300 is a big dose - what a nightmare having to order another pen! I can confirm Healthcare at Home DO deliver on a Saturday - we had to get them to deliver another Orvitelle dose last Saturday as our fridge broke down (well actually a small child of a friend of ours turned our fridge off when rushing around our kitchen the other weekend) so the hospital said we HAD to get another one as it's supposed to remain below a certain temp - cost was only £15 - phew!

So happily for me EC is now NOT tomrorow (yipee - my first night performance now won't be ruined!) and is looking more likely MONDAY! CAN'T WAIT! Just fed up with sniffing and sticking needles in now.

We are planning on visiting our friends with their twins (IVF at Guys) this weekend - so that I hope will be a happy experience!

Waves to everyone else..
z

I'm surprised I've been put on 300, I thought I was staying on 225 but the boss man there upped it apparently (I'm now officially in a new age category so that coupled with 'only 10 eggs last time' prompted the decision)! Hoping DH is willing to stay in this Saturday morning (assuming they call me to arrange it all today/tomorrow) - I'm out with my Mum all day so it's either that or have it sent to work (can't really take another day out with all of teh appointments coming up and sit at home waiting for it mid-week). The bill for all of my drugs is around £700 - not sure what proportion of this equates to a Gonal-F pen.

How annoyed were you with the kid turning your fridge off?! At least it wasn't hugely expensive to get another one. Hope you didn't lose too much food!

Great news that your EC is on Monday and you can enjoy your first night - break a leg!

Give the Guys twins a good old squeeze - some of their luck might rub off on you!

"Age categories" - don't you just LOVE that term!? The reason we are doing this fresh round is because I will be 40 in about 6 weeks time and the hopsital were desperate that my eggs didn't start self destructing as soon as someone sings Happy Birthday to me on 4th Septemeber... I tell you my birthday this year is either going to be HAPPY or desparately SAD if this round doesn't work - jeeeeze!
x

Oh my God I feel like crap - I've had a headache since Friday and keep feeling sick when I've eaten. Guessing it's the Gonal-F / dosage? Don't remember feeling quite this grotty last time. [feeling sorry for myself emoticon]

Plus we've just had my mum staying for a long weekend, so I couldn't even really wallow or just try to sleep. We've not told her we've started another cycle yet, as it just means she's constantly on the phone or asking about how we're getting on. I know she means well but it's just extra pressure!

So, sorry about the all-about-me post. How is everyone doing?

Zeebee, hoping you get a load of little belters today! Let us know how you get on.

Knackered, how are you getting on? Good luck with your scan this week. I hope this is giving your FIL a bit of a boost too - pieces of good news like yours must help a little in their own way?

Aw jumping / poor you feeling so bad. I'm sure it's the wretched gonalf.
When is your next bloods and scan? Perhaps they will reduce your dose after that? Hope they do...

Visited our friends with their ivf twins at the weeked - OMG HOW cute!?!
Adorable and we just came away wanting twins so much! Or in fact - just 1 will do as well!

Happy Monday's all and good luck for the 19th knackered.
Off for EC any minute now.
X

Hi all
EC went fine yesteday - we got 15 eggs, and the embryologist jsut called to say that over night 12 lasted and they have ICSI'd 9 viable ones. we aren't doing IVF this round as DH sperm motility was so bad only 40% as opposed to 90% the last time we did a fresh round (back in October 2011)... i think it's stress to do with his bloomin job and the fact he's not been excercising as frequently as he used to...
anyway ET might be this thursday @ 10.30am or saturday -they will let us know if they want us to wait until blasto...
Feeling relieved about that bit being over, jsut got to get over the transfer, then the DREADED 2WW... all over this time i'll be on stage performing in an opera each night trying not to do too much hard core dancing! Poor little embies!
Anyone any tips/advice on jsut how relaxed we have to stay following ET??
Waves to everyone
z

15 collected adn 9 ICSId - that's good Zeebee! Fwiw, ICSI is the 'go to' way of doing assisted conception across Europe - we're one of the few countries to still do IVF as the standard as ICSI leaves less to chance with the swimmers. All the cool kids do ICSI .

After the FET it seems so weird to do ET in just a few days, doesn't it? I was recommended Zita West's relaxation CD to help with the ET part of FET - although as it clearly didn't work, I'd say bollocks to all of that guff and just get on with your life (easy, right?! )!

How's the opera going? Does that keep your mind occupied? At least emby/embies will be getting a cultural start to life!

ZB that's great news to have 9 embryo's, well done! I think the advice varies so much about what's best after ET, I would just follow your own instincts.

Had my baseline scan today so start injecting tomorrow - starting on 375 this time! Jumping they said the same to me that as we 'only' got 9 last time, we start on the same dosage that we ended on last time.

Hey Care wow, 375? Do you feel many side effects? My headache has finally gone (DH reckoned it was because my mum was visiting for the weekend!), I've started feeling achey in my abdomen now, almost 'heavy' there so hoping that means the drugs are working and my follies are doing their thing!

Just a quick one to say I'm lurking, but find posting from my phone awkward and we've still not set up the desktop since moving house!

Congrats Zeebee - brilliant result - 9 embryos. You must be pleased. Fingers crossed that they develop nicely.

I think my clinic might be a little different to some others - mine really doesn't like any more than about 12 eggs on collection due to the risk of OHSS. They also said they've seen a correlation between an increased number of eggs collected and decreased quality. So for those of you getting ten eggs or so, my clinic would treat that as a good result. Try not to get disheartened.

FWIW I got 12 on my first EC (Gonal F 200) 11 fertilised (IVF with a DH with excellent count but about 40% motility - we were told that's fine). I got 2 top quality blasts, got pg but early m/c

IVF 2 (200 Gonal F again) collected 16 eggs but only 7 fertilised due to eggs not being so good - some immature. Mild OHSS. 2 reasonable blasts but both failed.

IVF 3 - (Gonal F 200 again) 12 eggs collected and all fertilised. 2 top quality blasts and 2 reasonable quality blasts. Pg again but have made it to 6+6 this time. Scan on Thursday at 7+1.

What I'm trying to say is please don't worry too much about the quantity of eggs - it's quality not quantity that really counts.

Hope the stimming is bearable Jumping

Wishing everyone lots of luck!

Sorry, I feel like I'm bombarding you all again with my waffling!

I have a question - borne out of a concern/ worry and want to know if I'm worrying needlessly!

My Gonal-F runs out on Friday - I'm booked in for my first progress scan that morning, so won't be injecting until after that (as per instructions). I flagged when I was at the hospital last week that my Gonal-F would only last for 9 days as they'd increased my dose after the prescription was submitted, drugs paid for and delivered. The nurse was then going to arrange an order for more Gonal-F to keep me going beyond this first scan.

I'd still not heard anything from the drugs company today, so called and left a message at the hospital. A nurse just called me back and has decided / suggested we wait until Friday's scan, then they can order more accurately (which makes sense), as apparently if they process the order by a certain time the drug company can contact me, process payment and still deliver the next day (Saturday).

My worry is that timings will NOT be on our side and I'll be left high and dry with no drugs! Any thoughts or experiences (or 'get a grip slaps')?!

Christ, another thing to stress about!

argh - i'd call the drug company direct - there is a phone number on their box isn't there for Healthcare at Home? It just might put your mind at rest that they can get those drugs to you on Saturday - withone 1 days notice. It's so frustrating trying to get through to someone at Guys who knows the answer isn't it...
Good luck for the scan on Friday - how many days injecting have you done? Presumably you have been going in for blood tests every other day?
Thanks all for your kind words of encouragement for my little embies - I hope to god a couple of them have got nice and fertilized! We are still waiting to hear if ET really will be tomorrow at 10.30am.. they will call us before the appointment tomorrow if they want to delay to sat - talk about seat of our pants

Thanks Zeebee I think I might give them a bell tomorrow - just to reassure myself they could deliver on time (assuming as they'll have my records they'll know I'm not just some nutter after gonadotrophin for kicks, but a nutter with a real cause and panic!).

Friday will be my 9th day of injecting - I think I did 12 days last time (3 pens, 225 dose each day, so yup, 12 days). But then I had 2/3 scans, Friday will be my first scan, so I'm guessing I'll be on another 3 days of injections at least after that? No blood tests - I'm not even sure I had blood tests last time either, or with the FET (just a million scans then). They did the usual runs and screenings before we started again though.

I hope you get a good news call tomorrow, with loads of plump, busy little embies ready to settle in. Hope you manage to get some sleep tonight (know what it's like the day before 'The ET Call').

ZB huge luck for tomorrow, will be thinking of you. Let us know what happens.

Jumping I'm not sure about the drugs thing, at the clinics I've been to they've had the drugs ready and given them to me. 1 day's notice doesn't sound very long, I think the call in advance would be a good idea.

Just taken injection number 1, so we are officially started again. Next scan is next monday.

Zeebee Crossing my fingers for you! The stress of waiting for ET day is truly awful.

Jumping I'm sure that they will be able to deliver on Saturday - just a shame you can't collect your drugs from hospital pharmacy or clinic itself. Could that be an option do you think?

Unfortunately not Knackered, have asked. They carry 'some emergency stock' but about a day's worth. I can't even get this from their pharmacy, which is a pain (but saves me sitting around for an hour waiting in a queue!). Calling drug company today.

hope the stimming goes well!

How frustrating Jumping. I really am sure they won't have a problem delivering on Saturday. But as you say, best to call to put your mind at ease.

they were good at delivering to us on a saturday jumping - hope you manage to sort it!

Well yes, here I am- hospital called this morning JUST as i finished my pre transfer £60 accupuncture sesh to say that our transfer would NOT be today at 10.30am as embies are looking good and that they want to wait until Saturday to do the transfer - so that will be day 5...

So that's good news i guess... of course i still have a show to do that night, but hey - am going to do it regardless as i've managed to work out a way of not taxing myself too much during the dance routines!

Good luck today Knackered - everything crossed for you that you see lovely things on the scan screen, and carebear - WOO HOO - injection No1 O.V.E.R.!

See you later ladies - am now at my desk at work trying not to obsess over embryo sizes and shapes!

Yay - blastos Zeebee! Keep thinking about those acu needles until Saturday! Belting out a few good arias will be a great release after ET too! (Disclaimer: assuming you're belting out arias!)

Knackered, excited for your scan!

Spoke to Healthcare @ Home today and they have a van free to deliver in my area on Saturday, so as long as the hospital faxes the prescription by 3pm with 'URGENT' on it (and DH's details for payment as I'm running all over the place on Friday pm), the delivery can be done in time. Phew! Now I just need to worry about the follies developing properly and how I can reschedule the inevitable meetings I'll have booked in when they want to do EC!