Assisted Conceptions (and all the bits in-between) Volume 11

[vallinnapod]

I really hope I haven't missed someone else starting this!

Highlove - I was pondering this today as I was sitting in the clinic waiting room reading a magazine called Fertility Road that was on the side. It itself cost £3.95 and was at least 50% adds for vitamins, random tests I have never heard of etc....it felt really, really exploitive.

I do put value in an all round conception multivit and acupuncture. To a degree I put value on massage/reflexology/cinema/take out etc if it relaxes you and takes your mind off the process.

A pregnancy multivit will tend to have 100% of all you need for the day. Often with these things if you take in more than you need then you just excrete it out of your system anyway. It's all so subjective.

Personally I take a pregnancy multivit with omega. I also take two Spatone sachets a day but I have always had slightly low iron levels. Plus weekly acupuncture.

Sunny, congratulations, love

Highlove, my consultant confirmed this week that absolutely nothing can improve the quality of our eggs, otherwise women over forty would not struggle to conceive

Hi all! Gosh, there is so many posts since mine, so much going on!

Vivienne I am at CARE Manchester too, so strange to think I may bump into you at some point there, and never know!

Massive Well Done to Sunny!! 11 embies is fab, and great news that you want to go for the 2 going back in. Fingers and toes still crossed for you that all goes well and that BFP turns up soon. It all sounds so positive this time.

Highlove I am having counselling too, I also find it very tiring, my first session left me with a massive headache too, but seems to have made me feel stronger and more determined and also helped me open up more to friends about how much I really have been struggling since my mc in Sep. I hope it continues to help you. What is the next step for you with AC?

Vallin sorry to hear about your lining and the drs prescribing you patches that are no longer made, that really is rubbish! As if you don't have enough to worry about. I hope once you get the medication you need, it makes all the difference and the lining thickens up nicely.

I agree with Sunny too re our newly pregnant ladies and their bumps, and our new mummies.. it is proof that this process can work, and you lovely ladies all deserve it after everything you have gone through! As for those that have not got their yet, 2013 will be our year! DSB

Welcome back Monkey. Completely understand your need to stay away for a while, I too was like that for a bit. Have you had your immune results back yet? Is your next cycle fresh or Frozen? I have now been told by my clinic that our results are in and have an appointment booked with our consultant on 29th Jan so scared/excited to find out what the next step is for us (although it will involve a FET as we have 2 frozen embies).

Waves to all I have not mentioned!
xx

Good point vivienne....seems so obvious when put that way!

Vanilla that magazine is the waiting room at my clinic too. And agree it's utter rubbish! It's a very good point Viv; I guess if anything was proven to improve AC outcomes we'd all be told to take it by our consultants, if nothing else to make their stats better. I certainly feel there's a lot of people out their taking advantage of people in our situation and if a few years ago someone had suggested I take random supplements I'd never heard of, I'd have sweetly told them to bugger off. Now though - being desperate - I'm more open to any old snake oil. Frankly if someone told me to dance naked in the snow in Waitrose carpark and it would get me pregnant, I'd totally do it. Fortunately for the shoppers in Waitrose, I'm yet to find advice I try that

Sunny hope your little beauties are still doing great. You might even have them on board by now, so fingers and toes firmly crossed that this is your time.

Ginger thanks for asking. Ready to start our second ICSI next cycle. I'm only CD 4 and as I'm long protocol, realistically looks like I'll start down-regging early March. So a few weeks to go yet. When are you thinking you'll be ready to try again?

Happy Saturday everyone, stay warm.

We were told by our Care clinic that my dh should take supplements due to his poor morphology (lack of motility, poor numbers, generally poor quality sperm and high antibody level!) They recommended Menevit, which is not sold in UK, or getting 6 or 7 different type of separate supplements to do what Menevit did. So we bought Menevit mail order from New Zealand/Australia, worked out including postage £15 a month. His situation did improve on next few tests (he had 4 SA's), can't claim it was the menevit but personally NHS doctors don't accept intralipids or IVIG and I happily paid for that treatment and so on, so was happy to accept the clinic recommending a product they couldn't financially benefit from.

Dh just started high dose Vit C, menevit again - as desperate for a natural miracle number 2. For those that don't know we had ICSI after 7yrs ttc#1, had 5 eggs, 4 fertilised but my only blast didn't implant. Had immune testing, found 6 issues, but had to wait 12 weeks to see the immune specialist - however in that time we had our only ever bfp (natural miracle) and were blessed by having that long awaited appointment and as were under clinic for 2nd IVF attempt they gave us private prescriptions for medications to maintain pregnancy. Now have a 10mth old ds. Cannot get immune medication again as clinic will not prescribe unless you paying for an IVF cycle with them and don't want to do IVF again. So for me, the thyroid medication they put me on, the daily baby aspirin I took and dh's supplements were the only changes we made after 7yrs ttc! Not saying it will work again, or I will not eventually persuade dh to do IVF, but for now natural and supplements is all I can do!!

Sunnyg thinking of you.

All the very best of luck Highlove with your second ICSI cycle. I'm not sure when we will go for the FET. Our appointment with the consultant is 29th Jan, so hopefully we should be able to get going in Feb or maybe March too. Would be great if we could be cycle buddies (even if our cycles will be slightly different).

Good to hear from you Hoops. Are you now trying naturally for your second? I really hope you get another natural miracle and that all goes well for you.

Thanks ginger - yes trying naturally for our second now. Not expecting it, always said one would be amazing, but will regret it if don't try. Not at stage of being addicted to my fertility monitor - not using it yet! - but am 37 so don't want to wait! Dh told to take 1000mg of Vit C and the menevit again and I am still on the Zita West vitamins due to still breastfeeding my 10mths old ds. May start accupuncture in 6mths or so to try and help - as that is the only other thing I did. On levothyroxine and aspirin now. Have stored about a weeks supply of all the immune medication I had to take - hoping if I get a bfp I can get it all from the gp apart from the intralipids which will have to do without if we are ever so lucky!! Got steroids and clexane injections from first pregnancy and a about 2 days of pessaries (doubt will get on gp prescription though!)

Doubt it will happen but holding onto the thread theme here - DSB.

Found support here immense after 7yrs ttc naturally and the IVF we went through.

Hope you get your next cycle sorted soon *ginger"

Sunny great news on those embies. When is transfer? Assume tomorrow with gorgeous blasts. What's your plan for the 2ww - do you have time off work? Everything is crossed for you my love. Let us know how you get on...

Monkey I do remember you - and thank you for your very kind words. It's great to hear from you again and see you ready for a new cycle with gusto. I am praying this is the one for you. Please let us know how you're getting on.

Hoops how is David? He must be getting big now. Hope you get our wish come true for number two.

Vanilla sorry about your lining. It's so annoying. Mine was the same and meds had to be increased twice. In the end I had 5 proganova daily and two evorel patches alt days. Fingers crossed this new meds plan does the trick for you. Btw are you on evorel? I'm sure I've got a couple of boxes which I don't need. They're yours if you want them - just pm me and I'll post them to you tomorrow.

Highglove I was on zita west vits which were recommended by my lovely accupuncturist (amazon seems the cheapest place to buy them but they're not cheap at £20). I've been told more than once that pregnacare (which I was on originally) is rubbish! Also people speak highly of Brazil nuts because of the selenium. And good luck with the naked snow dancing!

Hello to Ginger, Viv, Italian and anyone I've not mentioned. Special hello to Bugsy if you look in, you're often in my thoughts x

Stay warm and safe in the snow. And don't ever stop believing.

x

Pocket - thanks, my little boy is 10mths now and nearly at crawling stage!!

Highlove, you are absolutely bang-on regarding the fertility industry exploiting our desperation. If a clinic told me they had to remove my eyeballs, shove them up my arse and then replace them, full of shit, into my sockets and then I would get my baby, I would do it in a flash (hope no-one is eating whilst reading this!) What happened with your first ICSI? Did the embryo fail to implant? I'm sorry, I know very little about this procedure. How much does it cost, please?

Hoop, your ttc story has enthralled me. What an unbelievable thrill to conceive naturally.

[waves at Pocket]

I doubt any of you read the Mail on Sunday but its supplement - You magazine - has a terrific article today about the lengths (and costs!) some women go to in securing their dream of a baby. One lady spent £30,000 (IVF, acupuncture, immunology treatment, then four failed IVF cycles with donor eggs - one at Bourn Hall Cambridge, three at Instituto Valenciano de Infertilidad Barcelona) until, finally, she went to the Reprofit Clinic in Brno, the Czech Republic for donor egg treatment (£2000)...and her twins were born in 2010! Can you believe it? Donor egg IVF for £2,000! [runs off to count contents of copper jar]

Viv you made me laugh out loud with the eyeballs. First ICSI went fine - a few less eggs collected than scans suggested and fertilisation rate slightly lower than expected, but ultimately I had two really good embryos put back. They went in early on day 2 because day 3 would be a Sat and my clinic is shut at weekends (and not enough to go to blasto) but still, no obvious reason it didn't work. The consultant thinks its possible I did briefly get pg - I had some odd spotting at what would have been implantation which then stopped completely - but by the time I tested at the equivalent of 19DPO it was BFN. So no idea really. Next go we're having a few tweaks - higher dose trigger as he thinks that I didn't respond well to it, hence far few eggs than good-sized follies, but otherwise basically the same. Anyway, how are you? And how is DP now?

Hoops that is amazing. Interesting about DH on the vit c - mine us too in the hope it will do something about the ridiculously high number of antibodies he has.

Ginger would be fab to cycle together. Though fingers crossed you might be ready to go sooner.

Pocket thanks for the tip re Pregnacare - will look at the ZW vits instead. And thanks for the reminder on brazil nuts - I actually are loads the IUI cycle we got pg on last year but forgot during the IVF. Feel a bit stupid about that now. Will be back on them next time though. Anyway, how are you and bump?

Highlove - yes I switched to Zita West also. The vit C was for the high antibodies etc, and well something we did worked - because even the clinic said 7yrs of ttc was very long and for 3-4yrs it was using a CBFM, the works!! Good to see you having some tweaks on your next cycle, hope it gives you more options.

Highlove, yes, thank you, Mr. Viv and I are doing okay - except for a rather brutal case of erectile dysfunction this month. Pissed-off doesn't cover it.

Can you tell me about the IUI you have had, please (sorry to be a pain)?

..and what are the Zita West vits, please? I'm on Co-enzyme Q10 (still have no idea what they do), vitamin D, folic acid and have brazil nuts sprinkled on my muesli every morning!

I've looked but can't find the same ZW vits online that I had - but there are loads in the ZW site for preconception (but check amazon too as they're probably cheaper). I bought mine from my Accupuncturist so maybe the packaging had been changed.

Highlove, apologies, I think I've been calling you Highglove!

Bump is doing well. Having a growth spurt which is lovely. DP, mum, my siblings and nephews regularly pat and talk to Bump too. Already being spoiled

DSB

pocket thanks for thinking of me. Happy new year to you and bump it is so good to hear bump is already being oiled and things are going well delighted for you. I just looked on active conversations and saw your name so looked in. This will be the year. Did a flexercise class today great for and relaxation but weight has shot up oops. Will re get into the thread soon.

Hugs to all and DSB

Evening all

I hope you are all well and staying warm!

Just a quick one from me with a little update. Had ET this morning and all went fine. Done by Mr T himself! If nothing else that has probably made my year!. He was friendly and lovely and I was pretty star struck. So two good ones on board. 1 was hatching and 1 other blast. Maybe 2 or 3 to put on ice so very happy with all that. I'm off work for the next week, but I think for my own sanity I my go back next week. I'll see how I go but I drive the 15mins to work and I have a very stress-free desk job with great colleagues and we always have a laugh so at this point I am thinking that might be the go. However for the next few days DH has ordered me to be on couch/bed duty only and so that I will. Can't argue with a bit of couch time with my feet up and some DVDs.

Wish me luck for the bench, I'm sure I'll be on here for some hand-holding (and insanity checking!) over the next few weeks.

I will catch up with all of your news over the next few days!

DSB oxox

Great news sunny I have everything crossed for you! Keep believing! X

Finger crossed Sunny! It's nice to have them 'home' isn't it?

That's brightened my day a bit. I had spotting over the weekend, which really shouldn't happen on Progynova and Estraderm so my cycle has been cancelled. I now have Provera to take for a week to have a period. Then we start again. Straight to patches only this time. Feeling a bit, meh TBH. I sort of expected it but now I have to get psyched up all over again.

Sunny fab news. I have everything crossed for you. Take it super easy this week.

Vanilla so sorry to hear your cycle has been cancelled. Be really kind to yourself; it's a massive blow, even if you were half expecting it. Glad you have a plan to do things differently next time, but you deserve a bit of feeling sorry for yourself for now. Take care.

Sunny, fantastic news - my tummy flipped for you! Your colleagues and work environment sound like a smashing tonic to get you through the last part of your 2ww.

Vallinnapod, what a blow, I'm so sorry. I don't know what else to say

Hi all

Sorry for the gap in posting since our failed 4th cycle. As many have said a 'mini break' was much needed. We've booked our trip to Oz for the end of feb for a month - so so needed - to finally get round to doing something which is not affected by dates for Ivf cycling! We've decided to prioritise it!

Update on our situation (my original post on page 3 i think) we really felt a sperm donor is the only next step but a call from our consultant last week indicated she dosent think it is the end of biological chances - so she has requested many opinions of further specialists and a team of 4 specialists are now looking at one of our 4 frozen viles to see if defrost can be successful ( we had no live sperm on defrost on egg collection day and had to go with a fresh sample) yet we did have live sperm on the yet thaw! My god I can honestly say this journey gets no easier does it!!!

So enough about me, I am just working my way through your posts, great news sunny re your embies.

Ivf supplements - as pocket had said, I've taken zita wear vitafem and the vitafem boost due to our poor sperm factor and the vital capsule - 3 times a day, really not cheap. But I would say where Care told me I had a negative response to absorbing folc acid - hence I swapped to femibion on there recommendation - (because that discountinued) I took the zita west and my folic acid levels were perfect in my last cycle!

In terms of men's supplements though, my hubby has taken a good few and I would say zita west vitamen and vitamen boost did not work any where near as well as;
Natural Health Practice Fertility Support for Men Capsules - Tub of 90

These worked wonders on count, motility and even morphology!
I hope this info might be helpful to others.

On a personal note if anyone has home down the start of the sperm donor route I would really appreciate hearing your experiences. It's very daunting thinking about this next step if we need it.

Oh yes babies and bumps, I'd welcome your updates - it really does show this can all be positive one day :-)

Here we are another month, another year and I am telling myself - despite it being bloody hardeont stop believing'

Wishing everyone every hope of success this year xxx

As usual - apologies for typos! Bloomin iPhone! Hope you can make sense of it :-)