Assisted Conception (and the bits in between) Volume 10

[MoJangled]

Our new home, hope you all find me soon...

Hello all, can I join you lovely ladies? I have been a lurker on and off on the various volumes of this thread, and am now on my 3rd (and probably final) cycle of ivf (icsi) and I now feel ready to pop my head round the door to say hi to you all. Much congrats to all the BFP's and to Lucy and Teds for the birth of their lovely babies, and huge hugs to those who have not had such good news. Anyway, I look forward to what this journey brings this time!

xx

Mojangled sending you a huge hug after all you've been through. But sounds like you've literally left no stone unturned. I really hope this cycle gives you the baby you've worked so hard for. And i'm happy that we can cycle together - i'm a big scared and anxious. And i feel old too... But we can do this together. Right?

Welcome Gingernuts

I meant a 'bit' scared

Pocket well I'm certainly a big scared(y cat) about - well, everything, really. Went to a party yesterday with a friends new baby, which I was psyched up for and had a gift, cuddle and enthusiasm all ready, but not prepared for another friend to turn out to be pregnant and had conceived just when our last cycle failed. Our DCs were born one day apart so it's somehow particularly poignant that she upduffed just when the 7th&Last failed. I did what any normal person would do and hit the wine and congratuations with great vigour, but have been drippily tearful today. (Being 3 days into the down-reg probably not helping.) High time I drew this to a conclusion one way or another! Fantastic to be cycling with you and yes, we will make it work. Go team us!

Gingernuts fab to meet you, and you're very brave to have cycled without the gang hand-holding you. Very good luck for your 3rd cycle. What stage are you at?

Hi Mojangled good to hear you are having one final go. Sorry to hear you were sad seeing a friend?s baby. My friend had number 3 aged 40 and she moaned a lot in pregnancy and still moans occasoanlly and I feel so jeoauls! I just hope the 8th will be successful for you.

hugs to Idreaminchocolate, Bugsylugs, Keziah, Lissy, Beginnings, Teds, Lucy, Sunnyg and pocket.

Best wishes for all your plans.

Hugs and baby dust to kitty, Vics, Scarlett, Josie, Maplecake, Scrummy, Euro, Ellie, BadgerFace, Lexie, Weller, chicken.Mini,Pumpkinjoy, vallinnapod and all.

What have I missed???

Healthy pregnancies, happy babies and families and chocolate boobs to all .

Hi Mojangled, Pocket and Italiangreyhound! Thanks for the welcome!

Mo, I agree with Italian, good to hear you are having one final shot. I am too, as after this we really will have run out of money (and possibly the strength to do this again). All the very best of luck, and I hope it is a big success for you this time!

Pocket, I can understand that you are scared to go through it all again, it is such an undertaking. But the very best of luck to you too!

Me, I am on day 7 of a short protocol cycle, taking Menopur and Cetrotide, and due for my first scans to assess those follies tomorrow.. wishe me luck!

Bye for now.. will check in later.

Hi Mojangled good to hear from you again. Good luck with your next cycle. If I were you I'd be blaming the current tears 100% on the down-regging! At least each day you're one step further towards finishing that horrible stage!

Hello to Gingernuts! This thread is a fab place. Good to see you've delurked.

Pocket Banish those old thoughts. As the line goes (I think), age ain't nothing but a number. We celebrated DH's 40th with a big party on Saturday until 2am, which proves things you can do when you're younger you can still do when a bit older! (and sober it turns out, not sure I've ever been up past midnight without drinking before...)

Keep faith ladies. Looking forward to following your journeys.

xx

P.s. If it's any use to anyone who's self-funding I still have an unopened 450 Gonal-F pen you are welcome to have if it'll save you a few pounds. Would love it to go to a deserving cause rather than in the bin. Also have some lovely Cyclogest.

Hi everyone, hope you are all ok I've been pretty much absent from posting around MN lately, what with holidays and taking a big step back during the countdown to IVF so I could chill out a bit!

pocket I'm a big scared too and excited and anxious and umm a bit bewildered if that makes sense?

I start down reg on 31st August [which sounds much better than 'a week on Friday'...] fx and good luck to everyone!

Good luck Gingernuts.

Hugs pocket.

Just adding myself to the roll call:

Waiting to cycle
Pocket, 45, donor iv/bfp/mc dec/jan, FET/bfn June. Matching with new donor, dates for first new cycle expected July/aug .
Sunnyg,35, IUI Nov bfn, IUI Jan bfn, ISCI egg-share donor May bfp - mc June.
Minih, 34, IVF April bfn, waiting for immunes to drop.

Cycling
Gingernutdreams, 35, ttc #1, 3rd cycle of ICSI, (first 2 were BFN), on day 7 of cycle.

2ww

BFP
Scrummy, due 3rd January - expecting a boy!
BadgerFace due 21 January (2 days before my 35th birthday!)

Our graduates
Lissy, gorgeous Rosalie born Feb
Keziah, gorgeous David born Feb
Beginnings, gorgeous Catherine born April
Lucy, gorgeous Ben born July
Teds, a gorgeous girl and a gorgeous boy, born July

Hello to Badger and Scarlett, good to hear from you both. Badger, I am very impressed with the sober partying, not easy, I know.. I was invited to a hen do on Fri but cancelled as not sure I could quite get into the party spirit whilst stone cold sober (plus I didn't really know that many people). My DH is also going to miss a stag do, as he does not want to drink so near to when he is due to provide his "sample" , bless him!

Best of luck to you too Scarlett, sending baby dust your way.

Hello also to all the others, and the ones I haven't met yet.

Gingernutdreams I just wanted to lend my support to your and your husband's abstinence by saying I am convinced that my DH not drinking for 3 months prior to our egg collection was the most significant factor in improving our chances.

We both drank more than the recommended units whilst TTC in the beginning. We had DH's sperm tested early on and he had a low sperm count in the density department - 7 million/ml (the WHO average is 20). We both cut down on drinking after a few months with no BFP and when we were referred to the ACU a year later his density came out at 11. We cut right down in January and then gave up booze completely a few months before our IVF cycle. On the collection day his density results had shot up to 32.

It might be unrelated, it might have been the Q10 vitamins he was taking, but we both still think it was the abstinence which improved things (in his words) to super-jizz.

Obviously all cases are different, and ours was mainly male factor issues (we think) but it resulted in Mini-badger (currently wiggling away inside at 18 weeks) and we have 6 top grade blastos in the freezer.

We founds not drinking hard in the beginning as it was a lot of what we did! Turns out it was good practice for me for now... Although I was smugly not hungover after his party yesterday so it has it's definite upsides. Good luck!

Thanks BadgerFace for your support, it means alot. We have only been abstaining from the beginning of this cycle, but cut down a bit prev to this, and every little helps (as Tesco would say), I guess. DH recent count was ok, about 20 mill, so around average, but low motility. I have also got him on multi vits, so fingers crossed this will help to make lots of lovely blasts (if they get this far). Good on you both for your results, that is fab! And having some frozen ones for a future brother or sis is great!

I have been for my first monitoring scan this morning, and so far so good. I have around 7-8 follies which are over 10mm, so all progressing well. They have upped my dose to 300 iu, from 225, so hope this takes effect quickly. They think egg collection may be as near as Sat or Mon!

Exciting times gingernutdreams! I am on holiday from today so won't be checking in for a few days, look forward to hearing your egg collection's happened when I get back...

Grow follies grow!

Have a lovley holiday Badger

pocket it it's scary business because so much rides on it. How are you doing honey you are and have been very strong and have given real comfort and great advice and support to others. We are here for you.

badger hope you have a lovely relaxing holiday

ginger welcome not long to go by the sound of it hope the increased dose does not drive you too mad. Scan sounds good remember it only takes one and there are a good few there.

italian great to hear from you thanks for remembering us all.
mojangled about the party some things come out of nowhere or when we are not expecting them and throw us a little. Glad you will be cycling with pocket.

scarlet not long to go deep breaths etc.

Someone give me a big kick up the backside you would think I was 10 yrs younger the way I have not moved things forward unlike you other lovely ladies have still not got the acupuncture sorted or my immunes. Am awaiting karyotyping results and also an appointment at womens re my abnormal MTHFR. If anyone knows a consultant who specialises in this area I would be grateful to know.

I will get myself sorted before hols in sep. DH has to do another sperm sample and wants to do after hols due to wine maybe he should do it before.

Waves to all I have not mentioned sorry

Hi bugsy, thanks for your support. I am keeping my fingers and toes crossed for a good haul, but I guess one good one is all it takes..

It is such a long process, especially when you have to do immune testing and wait for the results, so don't beat yourself up for not moving things forward. It is sometimes hard to find the energy for it all too. I don't know of any specialist consultants for this, but good luck with it all. Good luck to your DH for his next SA too. Also, hope you enjoy your hols in Sep!

Hi to all others out there. It is quite quiet on here at the mo, is everyone on hols? Any news from anyone?

Will check back in tomorrow after another scan to update on the progress of my follies.

Welcome ginger and good luck with this cycle. Initial scan sounds good so fx (and toes) crossed for you.

mojangled I really hope the hysteroscopy and treatment will be the elusive key and I can only guess how tired you must be. We will be here to help as much as we can.

Afm, well, some of you may recall I had the elevated cytokines and then found out had latent tb. Finally saw chest specialist and he confirmed that it really was latent and risk of it becoming active was very low. Only reason to take antibiotics is therefore so I can take immune suppressants. Antibiotics though take six months during which no TTC as too dangerous, no alcohol as liver already under too much stress from tablets so need liver monitoring for damage, need to take vitamins to avoid nerve damage as well. All in all we decided that it couldn't be healthy to put my body through all that for six months and then take immune suppressants on top of that - not the greatest prep for a pregnancy. So long and short is we are going to cycle without immune suppressants and just have intralipids (and I think ivig but I do get confused). If it fails we may reconsider depending on reasons for failure but for now I need to try without the immunes. If we find out there is no other option then I might feel differently. So, I will be cycling September/October!! Think that means I will be slightly behind pocket and mojangled but will be almost cycle buddies. Yay!

Waves to all and sorry for incomplete name check.

Oh miniH, that sounds awful, what a lot to have to put your body through! I think I would have made the same decision re cycling without the immune suppressants. What are intralipids and ivig? All the very best for your cycle in Sep/Oct, I really hope it works for you without the bother of suppressing your immune system.

Mini that sounds like some big decisions, I think that would be a lot for your body to take so I probably would've come to the same conclusion as you.

ginger any update? How are your follies progressing, do you think you will get in for EC this weekend?

pocket any sign of your elusive AF? Try POAES [Expensive Stick lol], she usually turns up right on cue a hour later in my experience

Mo how's your cycle going so far?

Italian how on earth do you remember everyone names?? I'm impressed! Any update on your journey?

I'm looking forward to this weekend, my sis is coming to stay so will be a bit of a boozy one! I've started telling people that after the bank holiday I'm detoxing, swearing off booze til Christmas to cover me for [at the very least] the 6-8 weeks of IVF cycle, and then [hopefully fx fx fx] that should take us to 12 week around the holidays

What's everyone else's plans for the Bank Holiday?

Hi Scarlett. My second scan was yesterday and had another today, and all is well with the follies! I have 11 at 20mm, 1 at 19mm, 2 at 17mm and the rest are between 11 and 15mm. My egg collection is scheduled for Mon, and the clinic will ring me tomorrow to confirm when I need to take the trigger shot. I am excited but also quite nervous and trying not to get my hopes up as I have been here twice before and never got a BFP. Still, one step at a time, I know. Not long now till you start your cycle ey Scarlett? Well done with your resolutions to detox and avoid booze, fx this works for you (and me as I am currently abstaining from alcohol too).

Mo you've gone quiet... is all ok? Have you started the stims yet?

Hello to everyone else!

Sorry, I meant to say 11 follies, 1 at 20mm.... etc etc...

Hi all!

Well, I have been in for my egg collection today, and all went well. I got 12 eggs and DH sample was great (had gone up by about 40 mill!). They are going to try for blasts if enough of the embies survive, and we have also secured our place for the embies in the embryoscope, so all is good so far. I am very tender and sore now though, so hope I feel better tomorrow as am going back to work.

How is everyone else? Any news? Hope to hear from you all soon.

Hi

Hope everyone?s had a nice weekend ? despite the weather!!!

Thanks Bugsy that?s really kind of you. Go easy on yourself though, its okay to take a bit of time out ttc. After the mc and d&c earlier this year, I waited ages before going again. I really enjoyed the break ? it was nice to get back to normal life and I imagine that?s how you feel now.

Mini wow you?ve had a journey haven?t you ? you poor thing. But its great that you have a plan. Welcome aboard the September/October cycle bus ? here?s to success all round!

Scarlett hope you enjoyed your boozy weekend. Your pre-Christmas detox idea is a completely brilliant way of masking what we?re up to ? I?m going to use it myself! Thank you!

Ginger hope today went well and you?re feeling okay. Exciting week for you?. Let us know how you?re doing?.

Hi to everyone else

AFM, AF is still missing ? its 8 weeks since the last one so I?m a full 4 weeks late now. Apparently its normal to be all over the place after a failed ivf cycle, but its so frustrating as I can?t start my next cycle until we know where we are. I cant imagine there's hope for a September cycle now

Oh pocket, that really sucks. I really feel for you. It is so frustrating when you just want to get on with it! Massive hugs and fingers crossed for you that AF makes an appearance v v soon!

Huge hugs pocket.

Well done ginger.