TTC through Donor IUI or Donor IVF or just undecided - all welcome! #makeithappen #loadsofBFPs!!!!

[kwick]

This thread is for anyone trying to conceive... or thinking about doing so through donor IUI or donor IVF. Nothing TMI - feel free to join, we are a lovely group here to support and help keep the cray-cray away!
Here is the link to the previous thread: www.mumsnet.com/Talk/conception/2688511-TTC-through-Donor-IUI-or-Donor-IVF-or-just-undecided-all-welcome-makeithappen

Here is the link to the thread before that: www.mumsnet.com/Talk/conception/2587046-TTC-through-Donor-IUI-or-Donor-IVF-or-just-undecided-all-welcome

Kwick that's amazing news!! I'm so happy & pleased, you must feel so relieved!! This is your time now, embrace it!

Congratulations Chasing! It must've been lovely to hear the heartbeat.

Pickle, you're dead right about the support we all give/get on here. It's amazing... I know I'd be lost without you all! ❤️
It's not long til your first consult now! Eeek!

So... I'm moving! Into a brand new, new build house just round the corner from where I am now. I can't wait, I'm so excited!

Chasing, sorry - I meant see the heartbeat!!

Yay kwick! Just popped on to see your news. I'm taking a break from everything this month. My af arrived 3 days ago, I called the clinic to schedule my day 3 but then called back to cancel. I just panicked. I don't think that I can handle the stress right now. So I'm planning for end of the month and we will see how I'm feeling at that point. I don't want Tom 'waste' time, but I also need to be in a better place than I have been.

I hope everyone else is doing well, I know that there are a lot of exciting things happening. Take care and I'll be back later this month.

Thank you karen
A break seems like a wise idea - we will still be here to cheer you on when you are ready. Take care mu lovely 💜

kwick bloody hell girl, get you! I'm so pleased for you!

Hi to everyone else!

late so I'm 38 and single too. Just finished my first IVF round. And it was great. No madness, depression etc etc from the meds. I got a bfn but start the next one in March.

IUI was given a 5% chance of working, so I thought why try that? I want to give myself the best chance. I regret nothing and just hope the next time is my time.

What was not great about it: I grew 18 eggs so the days before my egg collection were pretty full on in terms of how uncomfortable I was. It took me 24 hrs to be able to walk upright after the ec as it was again uncomfortable. Not painful, just internal kind of weird tenderness.

Doing the injections in your legs is no fun, but use an ice pack and just get on with it.

I didn't find it particularly difficult doing it solo, in fact I found it liberating and a really positive experience. Bear in mind you need someone with you after egg collection to take you home and stay with you for 24hrs, so a parent or friend etc. Interestingly IVF with a partner can cause arguments so my friends who are in couples tell me. But I sailed through it, and when it didn't work I snapped back from sadness in a day, and my friends suggest it's because I'm not dealing with a partners sadness, as that apparently can be worse than ones own. Doing it solo I was very pragmatic about the whole thing, I took each scan and injection one at a time, I had support when I wanted to chat from fam and friends, and solo time when I needed it.

So, if you can afford it and the doctors suggest it, then embrace the advice and leap. I saw it as a numbers game and wanted the best chance so for me it was IVF. Any questions about any of it, ask or pm. Xx

Just a quick one but wanted to say well done all you ladies with good news. I'm still lurking around in the background keeping an eye on you all 😀 I have a good feeling about 2017 for you lovely ladies...

Oh, and I totally agree. You lot are a lovely supportive group and I don't know what I'd have done without you. You know way more than my real life friends (including some pretty personal stuff), which just goes to show how nice this group is, that we feel we can share that without judgement #loveyouallback

TD x

Kwick - eeeeeeeee!!!!!!!

Chasing - What's your clinic? All sounds very familiar. It's not Bourn is it?

Late - I'm now 37 (35/36 whilst IUI-ing). Had 7 cycles of IUI. 2 they over drugged me and I ovulated too early so I don't really count those as they were abandoned. 4 more were medicated and didn't work. Last 1 was non medicated and worked.

stork thanks for sharing your experiences with IVF. It must be that the success chances fall off a cliff when you get to 42 - as my consultant said IUI and IVF had about the same rate of success - which I did not find out as it would just bring me down.
What were you injecting into your legs?
FX for your next round

taydex how are things going hon?

All is going well here thanks. Crazy and hectic at times but good fun none the less. Wouldn't change it for the world. I love being a mummy.

kwick, I think mine was my age (38) plus Amh which gave the projected low success rate of IUI. I mean I could have tried it, if I run out of money I may well if ivf isn't successful!

Over the course of the 6wks I was eventually on three meds, buserelin, gonalf and menopur, then they stop at EC and pessaries start....honestly I was black and blue but I bruise like a peach anyway!

Morning everyone

Stork - very useful post on IVF.

A little more on the IVF vs IUI decision making: from what I've gathered from statistics, if no known problems, it works out very roughly that a woman has the same chance of getting pregnant from 2 rounds of IVF as 5 rounds as IUI. I found looking at it this way quite helpful. We're likely to have to cope with more disappointing cycles with IUI and it will generally need more cycles to get a BFP. So its weighing up the time it takes, the mental side of dealing with unsuccessful cycles vs the more invasive, but likely to lead to a BFP sooner IVF. The cost of 2 rounds of IVF is probably quite similar to 5 rounds of IUI which helps take cost out of the decision-making process too when looking at the overall picture.

For me, it was a good thing that I did IUI first, because after the second IUI and pregnancy loss it gave me the chance to investigate why I wasn't sustaining the pregnancies and organise treatment for that. I think the losses would have been harder to bear if I had spent lots more money getting pregnant in the first place.

In the future, hoping that everything goes smoothly now with this baby (I'm 22+3 now!), there's a possibility I might decide that I want another child so that there's a sibling. In that scenario I would need it all to be as plan-able and least disruptive as possible, as with one child already I can't very well be hopping over to Denmark every month for a few months. In that scenario I will probably choose the IVF route as being more straightforward and hopefully a quicker win. Having said that I really can't imagine my finances ever being in a fit state to be able to find the money to do this again!

shoes ooh that's interesting! Different to my approach which was purely numbers related, but sounds sensible. I think it also comes down to the individual. IVF is more heavy going, it feels like a bigger deal probably due to the meds, and the surgical aspect of egg collection, and of course the cost. Strangely I had planned on doing a couple of rounds of IUI before moving to IVF as in I was sure I was uldnt need to move to IVF!, but the more I spoke to my clinic and friends who had done IVF verses IUI the more I felt my age and the more sure I was of doing IVF.
So there we are.

I hope your pregnancy is going well, I'm so pleased for you!

My friend is pregnant with non identical twin boys and I'm her shopping buddy, I can't wait! Kiddicare baby Mecca here we come!

Ooh Stork - please report back on Kiddicare! They seem to be the only shop that stock the pushchair I think I want (all the other big shops sell it online but don't have it on the shop floor).

Beware to your friend though that according to reviews Kiddicare have a rubbish customer service record where delivery is concerned (and you have to pay delivery costs for returns), so its best to buy things in the shop and take them home yourself rather than organising delivery.

Aw she wasn't feeling great so we have postponed! But shall report back. And yes it seems the only place that does a lot of pushchairs!

Thank you everyone for the support, but particularly Stork and Shoes for the helpful info. I am leaning towards going ahead with the IVF. I spent Friday feeling very miserable, and gave myself Saturday off from thinking about it, which helped a lot. I was driving home from an errand on Sunday and suddenly things started to feel a bit clearer. I still need to make a proper decision, but I am feeling much nearer to it than I was last week... Once I've made the decision I need to decide if I want a package...

(sorry, pressed post too soon)

It makes a huge difference having people to talk/vent to, knowing that others are on the same journey too. You are stars!

I spent a really long time last night reading over our previous threads. To note:

1. We are an amazingly supportive lot
2. Some of us are long timers, others just drop in for a short while
3. My posts used to be loads funnier #willdomore

Ha Kwick - that's hilarious I read back recently and thought how dull and serious my posts were in the early days!

The threads are a useful record of the practicalities of each of my IUIs but also how I felt about each one but I'm kicking myself that I didn't talk about my first IUI on the thread at all! I just popped onto the thread on something like CD15 to tell you all I'd had a BFP but then had a chemical pregnancy. It means I have no written record of what I was thinking about it all at the point I had my first treatment, and my memory is rubbish!

Hiya
I thought I would check in quickly. Had my CD9 scan today, dominant follicle is 13.7 so still needs a few days to mature. Back for another scan on Thursday which will be CD12, which was my ovulation day for the past cycles so we'll see... lining is at 6mm (I'm eating lots of ginger to improve this)

Are these numbers ok??? I'm doing unmedicated

Yep, your numbers sound fine . They grow at an average of 1.5mm a day so on CD12 your dominant follicle should be around 18mm which I think is big enough (I think they look for 16mm absolute minimum).

Hola all!

Just back from the FC for my post bfn consult.

So all was good, eggs, sperm, fertilisation... it just didn't implant. That's all good news really. So I'm moving to IVF short protocol to try and improve egg quality as much as possible, and I've asked for and agreed to an endometrial scratch. They usually suggest these for those who have had 2+ failed transfers, but I say why wait?!

So feeling very positive and have decided to wait till march cycle to start again.

Thanks for the quick response shoes, I'm hoping I don't surge until Thursday

Great news stork, all looking positive!!

Sounds like you are on travk pez and stay hydrated!! shoes advised me months ago it makes a difference and it does!!!

My memory is pants too shoes - hence why I was going back over posts!!! It is like having an online diary!!!

Well done stork! Good to have a plan

pickle was it your appointment today?

2 days and 18 hours till my appointment ....Friday at 1.30- not sure I'll even get out the car park before telling you lot something about it lol!
I'm in the waiting room though for my last check up for my leg, got here stupidly early- kinda hoping that I might be seen a bit early but no-so gonna be a mega late one-won't be home till 8.15/8.30 at earliest which on a school night really sucks but wahoooo last appointment. It's in same town as my clinic tho so giving me butterflies that literally 500yards down the road is my lovely clinic. There is also mention of them opening a satellite clinic nearer me(says end of dec16,but not much info on it) but hoping may be able to do some of my treatment there even if just scans or blood tests, not much difference in mileage but difference from 20/25min journey to 50/60min journey so would make a huge difference especially with getting out of work! So another question to be added on my list so excited

Sorry that was a bit of a waffle for simple answer of no 😂