IVF/ICSI/FET - any more for any more... MORE!

[jumpingjackhash]

A thread for anyone going through fertility treatment, about to start or with a success story to share. Welcome one and all!

So our last IVF/ICSI/FET support, wallow, celebratory and whatever else thread got full, so let's pick up where we left off!

Carebear, great news on your EC on Sat!

I've got over my strop now and have re-rearranged my work schedule so all set once they confirm the date tomorrow!

Hi jumping indeed - my DH found it really hard last time around with no "mumsnet" type chat forum for him to go onto... the best thing he did last time was to take a week off work to jsut come to terms with the loss and anger he was feeling about the situation... this time of course we'd both booked this week off for our holiday so we have spent everyday together chatting about things, seeing close friends who know and spending time with our parents (altho they do tend to say the MOST insensitive things at times without realising...). I think for men it is a lot tougher to deal with miscarrige - it's all been about our bodies up til then, and they feel helpless that they can't feel any of the physical pain for us I guess... also I don't know about you but I feel like I'm a failure this time round - like i've let him down - crazy really, but I really do think it - time away from home and life is a great way to deal with it together I think....

Hi ZB and Jumping, just read your updates, am so very sorry. How awful, I think this kind of thing should not be allowed after such hard won pgs. Sending you massive hugs. And just a reminder that even a few weeks of time passing makes all the difference. Thinking of you.

Hello, My sister who is 40 yrs old has just gone through her 3rd IVF and is now waiting to do her preg test on Sunday coming however she has had some spotting (pinkish). She rang her clinic and they said to drink lots of water however she is very worried as am I, for her. The clinic planted two embyros. Has anyone been through the spotting and still gone on to have a baby or is this just false hope.. Please let me know as she had a difficult time with the last two failed attempts and it would be excellent if someone out there had a success story. Many thanks, Bickies.

Bickies Fri 07-Sep-12 17:12:35
Hello, My sister who is 40 yrs old has just gone through her 3rd IVF and is now waiting to do her preg test on Sunday coming however she has had some spotting (pinkish). She rang her clinic and they said to drink lots of water however she is very worried as am I, for her. The clinic planted two embyros. Has anyone been through the spotting and still gone on to have a baby or is this just false hope.. Please let me know as she had a difficult time with the last two failed attempts and it would be excellent if someone out there had a success story. Many thanks, Bickies.

Bickies - Yes, I had a three day bleed between 12 and 14 days after egg collection (one week after my embryos were transferred) and really thought it was all over. It was my third cycle of IVF too and I'm now 14 weeks and 2 days with twins.

Your sister's bleeding could be implantation bleeding, like I had. If it's dark blood it's old and that's OK. If it's bright red it's fresh and that's more concerning. Not sure why the clinic's told her to drink lots of fluid. That won't really help with the bleeding, but it will help if they're worried she's hyper-stimulated.

Care, Jumping and Zeebee - how are you all holding up? Thinking of you all at this time.

Bickies - I will share my story in a minute but I had loads and loads of spotting - could be an implantation bleed or anything. Not to worry - tell her just to wait for the test and try to relax (Much easier said than done, I know!)xxx

I'm just coming on here to share my story with you - I was trying for 7 years and no glimmer of anything. Went on holiday, got a positive pg test and then discovered at 8 weeks that it was a blighted ovum and there was no baby.

We were determined not to wait another 7 years so embarked on fertility investigations and had an unsuccessful round of IUI. Discovered I had v high FSH and low AMH and male factor issues too. Embarked on IVF. Had an unsuccessful round where they got 10 eggs but only two were left on day 3 and they were v low quality.

Had another go, got 12 eggs this time, still only two left on day 3 but they were reasonable quality. That time both took and I got pg with twins. Sadly I lost them at 20 weeks after premature rupture of membranes and an infection so they had to induce them.

I was devastated and gutted and was convinced I couldn't go through that again but I changed my mind and we had another cycle. This time they only got 5 eggs and only 3 were mature. I was devastated, especially given the failure rate of the other cycles. However, there were still two left on day 3 - one good quality, one poor quality. I had both put back in and one of them took. My daughter is now nearly 5 months old and the most precious thing on the planet.

But I recently stopped breastfeeding and on the return of my cycles I got pregnant naturally on the first cycle. It turned out to be a chemical pregnancy and I only discovered that yesterday, but it gives me hope that it might happen again.

Good luck to all of you - it takes a lot out of you but it's worth it in the end and it can work despite you thinking the odds might be stacked against you xxx

Sorry for all of you with losses. It is heartbreaking, especially after everything we go through to get pg in the first place.

Thanks Bickies for bringing this up and to KnackeredCow and DesperatelyHoping for giving me some encouragement. I'm on day 13 post transfer and have some watery 'red' appearing. I'm hoping it is just spotting but obviously bit nervous. I'm new to the site and I have to say it is excellent, very encouraging with everyone wishing good things for each other. AuntieGaga

KnackeredCow' and DesperatelyHoping', THANK YOU SOOOO MUCH for sharing your positive experiences! I have relayed them to my sister and she feels so much better. I have one question from my sister,.. did either of you experience those, I'm getting my period symtoms..tender breasts, tummy dragging feeling and so on...?
Again, many thanks and much appreciated!
Bickies

Yes - I had those symptoms. Lots of lower abdominal cramping - like my period was going to start and sore breasts. The sore breasts will be due to the progesterone. Your body would normally naturally produce this, but following IVF it doesn't so that's why you need the pessaries. So yes, symptoms should be similar to before your period regardless of whether you are pregnant or not.

Sorry, I mean't my sister is.... getting period symtoms.. and not me. I wanted to point that out to you both so you wouldn't think I was lying and pretending it was my sister going through it all. You are all fabulous girls and have been through so much, yeez should be proud of yourselves! Hugs, Bickies.

Oh yes - was so sure period was about to start and then the spotting - was convinced there was no chance. Many many pg tests later I finally accepted that I was pg!

Sooooo happy for you! Hugs, Bickies

ZB and jumping how you are getting some down time and treats one day at a time,

Am going to be away for 10 days but you will all be in my thoughts

Thanks everyone. Really really appreciate your thoughts at such an awful time. Had the d&c on Thursday - all went fine - hardly bled at all afterwards - I think because the little ones had absorbed
Back into my body.... Feel a bit stronger each day - weather helps in times like these. We have a long standing appointment with dr ndukwe at zita west clinic next Wednesday- he's supposed to be a lead consultant in array cgh testing. So we will meet with him and see what his thougts are re our journey so far.... We are thinking we will do an FET round before Christmas maybe... Thank you for telling us your success story desparatelyhoping - very inspiring tO read. Hello to care - hOpe u are ok?
Bugsy - have a nice few days away. X

Zeebee pleased to here that Thursday went as smoothly as it could.

Think your approach re array CGG sounds very sensible.

Just a thought, but have you thought your uterus might be super-receptive? I was just wondering because that might explain why your embryos are implanting but not developing. Just a thought. I had a total of 5 embryos put back over three cycles. First one was a v. early m/c at 4+2 so my body rejected it pretty pronto, I assume because there must have been something wrong. Neither of second two even implanted and they were both good / reasonable. And another in between failed to thaw, so I assume something wrong with that one too. So, out of a total of 6 ( if you include the failed thaw) only 2 were "normal" enough to make babies. Sorry, I don't mean this in a negative light, more that it might well work in the future when you get the "right" embryo put back, but perhaps your uterus is super-receptive so ones that wouldn't normally implant are.

Anyway, here's the article I saw on "unfussy uterus" if you're interested.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-19361432.

I hope what I'm saying isn't upsetting, just trying to think why you might be having recurrent miscarriages

DesperatelyHoping thank you so much for sharing your story. Its my 5 yr ttc anniversary around now and having mhcg failed a 3rd ivf round have had several days of wondering whats next. So helpful to read a success story makes me feel less stupid for still not wanting to give up!

ZB thinking of you, what a horrible experience. Hope you're ok, keep strong. Same to you Jumping how you feeling now?

I've been brewing some Chinese herbs as something to do whole I recover a bit. I still have a huge bloated pot belly from the meds.

DesperatelyHoping where did you do your IVF?

Cosmos -I used the London women's clinic. They were great. Don't have as long a waiting list as Lister or ARGC which is why I chose them, but they are lovely.

Hi everyone I have been away for a while and I have just been catching up on all the posts.....

Jumping and Zeebee I am so sorry to read your sad news, I hope you are both doing as well as can be expected.

Knackered I am so pleased to read about your pregnancy and the fact that it is twins, I am so happy for you.

Xxx

Welcome back lumili so good to see you again! Hope you are doing OK? x

Knackered, I am god thanks. Will message you x

I don't think I am god :) I meant good x

Hi Ladies,
It has been such a long time since I posted - needed a bit of a break from things . I managed to find this thread and was catching up on the posts . I am so, so thrilled for you Knackered - hope you are feeling well. Really wonderful news.
Hi to Lumili and to Jumping and Zee - thinking of all of you xxx

Hi Raspberry nice to hear from you. How are things with you? What have you been upto? Hope you are well.

Where has everyone gone???

Xxx

Hi Lumili !
Things good thanks . DD started school now and loving it. Decided to have a break from Ivf after last one before Easter . I was a crazy person for a while afterwards - u know, crying, exhausted, flying off the handle. Hard to take time to cry when a little person around . Enjoyed the summer and made the most of things as she may be our only . Feel better about that now, although mulling over whether to have one last go . .......
How r u???? What have u been up to. ?Good to have a catch up . Xxx

Hi all - little catch up from me... thanks for your kind words everyone.
Everyday seems and feels a bit better but I still get jolts of pain when a friend reveals she's PG or when I realize my dear MIL has spread our fertility issues around the WHOLE extended family etc etc! anyway that's for a diffrernt thread!

So we had our lost twins analysed and it turns out there was nothing wrong with them chormasonally (sp?) so that was good to know - but also sad.

We've since had Chicago tests done at Zita West clinic via Dr Ndukwe and had the results for those - seems i'm anemic, Vit D deficient and need various things to boost my body before EC and prior to ET... also I will be on double pessaries after ET this time... we are hoping to do a fresh IVF round in january - think we will move from Guys to Zita West for this new round.

We have 3 on ice still at Guys which are all good quality blastos so that;s good, altho because of my old age we will go for fresh round as it's more hopefully of success!

Phew - so how is everyone else doing?