TTC for 10 months and the rest! 10 plussers welcome! Thread 3 (the one where we all get our bfps!)

[lucieloos]

New thread ready for us chatty ladies! If you have been trying to conceive for over 10 months pop in and join us. We are a friendly bunch!

Oh, and what banana said - it's all pretty binary when push comes to shove. Fingers crossed for us all!

Boris - I asked that exact question on another thread and was told that someone's consultant had said as long as you get 30 minutes of 'keeping it in' that the leakage doesn't matter. Someones progesterone level was 600 when she had it tested due to this worry - think it only needs to be about. 50! Xx

Banana, I just asked dr Sher about the lining and estrogen and he said he doesn't think the estrogen supplementation will help now He's always a little negative isn't he. I mean it worked well for you?!

Yeah he's very black and white. Well it worked for me beautifully!!

When I got my original blood test results he said on his forum that I was heading for early menopause and the only way I would be able to get pregnant was with his A/ACP protocol (which he says is individualised but seems to be the only protocol he says works), PGS and embryo banking, and even then it was a very very long shot

I posted a follow up last month with the results of my cycle and he said ALL my three AMH results must have been lab errors. And that AFC was 'imprecise', and that I cannot possibly have had such diminished ovarian reserve to get 17 eggs with undetectable AMH.

So I take his absolutes with a pinch of salt myself!!

Yes it's hard to know what to think. I would like a fresh transfer if we can get any of these eggs to fertilise overnight so it's a bit annoying its so thin for the first time ever. I guess only time will tell if it will work out otherwise it's back to more waiting and we will have to take anything we do get to blast to freeze.

Hi all, I lost the thread, not sure how, but seems like there's been a lot going on! Lucia - sounds like it went well today good to hear that!
So my partner went for the SA on Tuesday and then got a phone call on Thursday from the doctors telling him results were back and he needed to make an appointment, cue lots of panic about the speedy return of the results. Anyway he spoke to the Dr today who said it was pretty much good news, they would expect a count of 40 million and he has 36 million but the Dr said that's not considered a problem and that motility is fine. So.... that leaves me where the problem must lie. I'd absolutely assumed it was him because of the operation for undescended testes so I'm totally unprepared for tests on me but obviously happy to do them and get the ball rolling and got a telephone apt next Weds with the Dr. What do the tests involve? Or does it differ depending on circs? My cycles are pretty regular 27/28 days... surely that means I'm ovulating? Or maybe not! I literally feel like I have no idea about all this...

Lucia....?? Obviously meant Lucie, sorry!

Funnybeanz, that's good news. What were the motility and morphology like were they both good too? Sometimes gps aren't the best at interpreting these things. Did he give you a copy of the results?

Tests for you will involve blood test to check hormone levels and possibly HSG/hycosy to check your tubes. Nothing to worry about really. You can have regular cycles without ovulating. The will do a progesterone blood test which will confirm ovulation or not. It could be you have unexplained infertility.

Funny hi as well as the tests lucie talks about above I also had an ultrasound to check everything looked ok.

Lucie, that's fab news! Fx you get as good results as you have done in the past!

Stealth, your news is fab too! Please keep us posted on how theyre doing.

Boris, I have no advice on pessaries, but I'm hoping your... leakage eases up!

Beanzone, I had the ultrasound Boris mentioned too. Nothing to worry about, as Lucie said, and you'll probably feel better having the ball rolling :)

AFM, AF is due tomorrow, so I'm patiently waiting for her, to start whatever cycle number I'm on now

Haha, Beanzone! Silly autocorrect! Sounds like a dodgy boy band. I meant Beanz, obviously :)

Funny they should also take a history - red flags would include family histories of endo / fibroids, very painful or heavy periods - all of these I conjunction with a HSG and scan should help to indicate any uterine anomalies, which might suggest a hysteroscopy, or indeed a therapeutic laporoscopy to investigate and treat any suspected endo or fibroids.

The uterine environment is often overlooked but my Dr says it's so unbelievably common to find uterine issues behind so called unexplained fertility. Also he says it's criminal that exceptionally painful and heavy periods are treated by many GPs as just something to put up with. He said it's a really sad indictment that there's no research money into issues that cause women so much pain and suffering and that if it was a man's issue they'd have found a cure!!

We've had the call from the embryologist this morning and we have 2 mature and both fertilised normally. I was so nervous I pressed the wrong button on my phone and declined the call twice so didn't get to speak to him but luckily he left a message. He said they will continue to grow them over the weekend and will ring me again Monday morning and let me know whether it will be a day 3 or day 5 transfer. I don't really understand that as surely if there are only 2 there's no point keeping them going until day 5 unless they are going to be funny about me putting 2 back but I thought most places let 2 back on day 3. Anyway so I can relax for a day or two now. We still have our 100% fertilisation rate which DH is pleased about Now we just have the lining to worry about which I still think will be a problem. Even if it does thicken up over the next couple of days it still worries me that it wasn't where it should have been before trigger and I wonder if that could still affect things although the fact this happened to you banana and you have still had success is the only thing calming my fears at the moment!

Yay Lucie congratulations!!! What a fab success rate

Bloody fantastic lucie!

Everything crossed for you lovely. Hope you're feeling OK today xx

Great news Lucie

Fab news lucie!

Great news lucie - your DH must be very pleased too :)

Benefit to leaving them to day 5 might be more time to let the oestrogen do its thing and assess whether to do a fresh transfer or freeze all

Similarly, if one or both do make it to blast then they're hardier when it comes to freezing

Obviously the risk is that if nothing survives to day 5 there is nothing to transfer, and there's always the niggling doubt that maybe it would have been different in utero vs in vitro

It's a tough one as rationally I know that if they don't make it in the dish they almost certainly wouldn't have made it in the womb either. Emotionally you're psyched up for a transfer and so nothing to transfer feels psychologically different to ET but BFN.

I realise this is obv absolutely no help whatsoever but just the thought process I went through thinking about what we would do on the day 3 question xx

Thanks banana, it is a difficult decision. If we were freezing we would definitely take them to day 5 rather than freeze at day 3 as the survival rates are much higher. I'm not sure they would even let us freeze at day 3. I think we will have to wait until Monday and see what the lining is doing. If it's still rubbish then the decision will be made and we will have to go onto day 5 and reassess then. If the lining is good on day 3 then I would want to transfer them both there and then. I'm just a bit worried about what dr sher said as he basically said that he doesn't think adding estrogen at this last stage will help and he said progesterone actually thickens the lining not thins it but it doesn't increase the endometrial cells and that's what matters and why they assess it before trigger. What did your doctor think about it banana? I mean he was just happy that the lining was a good thickness wasn't he and didn't really mind that it grew later than normal?

I don't think it matters when the lining grows (although am definitely not the expert!). I guess you can have your scan and then see how you feel.

Got my day 3 report - apparently 29 embies are still going strong. Am amazed and still thinking that something awful is going to happen to them all at some point!

I asked my Dr if the oestrogen could still work even after starting the progesterone and he said yes - it changes appearance to become secretory and loses its triple line but the oestrogen can still exert an influence

It obviously did as I started the progesterone the day after EC and my lining had grown 3mm even after it had started to compact.

My Dr said he would not risk transferring a good quality embryo into a suboptimal uterine environment and if there was any doubt about the endometrium we would freeze all

At my lining scan he was very pleased with the response and said he was confident it was reasonable to proceed as things stood

The concern was the unpredictable nature of my lining - that it had thinned from 7.2mm the day before trigger to 5.5mm at EC.

So I kept up the oestrogen and the rest, as they say, is history

At my viability scan the lining was appropriately thickened and appeared to be supporting the pregnancy beautifully

So with respect to Dr Sher, absolutes aren't helpful. It sounds like you are in terrific hands and they won't recommend transferring unless they're happy it's worthwhile to do so.

Thinking thick!!

Yes that's what dr Sher said. He said that progesterone will thicken the lining by causing secretions in the glands but it wont increase the proliferation of endometrial cells and that is what matters. It must have done something for you though and I think you have a very good doctor who like you say definitely wouldn't have risked anything if he felt it was sub optimal.

Yes it switches from proliferative to secretory mode. But apparently the oestrogen does still play a role. He himself advocates oestrogen as luteal support - so even if he doesn't think it'll make a difference to the thickness he obviously believes it has a role to play.

He doubtless wouldn't have transferred with my lining as it was before trigger and at EC. However my Dr believed otherwise and apparently it worked OK for me!

With respect to Dr Sher, he's not my Dr and neither is he yours. We are in excellent hands with our own treating clinicians and think that's the thing that matters! Xx

Afternoon girls! Hope everyone's ok?

2dp5dt here and other than huge boobs I don't really feel any different. I keep forgetting, then I'll suddenly remember and think 'oh no, have I accidentally done anything to hurt the blast?'

Been at MILs today, she was babysitting dniece and they have a trampoline. 'Aunty Sammylou will bounce with you' she says.... Errrrrr....... I mumbled something about an injured back and wandered off! Hsg! Xx