TTC first baby thread 26

[Annny27]

Hello all, setting up a new thread for us old timers to keep up and stay sane on the ttc journey!

Sorry to hear about the DNA Frag results @XjustagirlX my fiancée' s are due back week beginning 5th July and we know his aren't due to lifestyle factors. He did go to see the GP today who "copped a feel" as it were to examine his testicle and said there was nothing really obvious but doesn't mean it's not there so has referred him for an ultrasound to check the boys out and see where we go from there. He's been in such horrendous pain recently it's really affecting him a lot!

@XjustagirlX thanks for those. Yeah, I’m so anxious about it. Everyone talks like male factor is the easier problem and it’s really not if ICSI keeps failing. Has he been recommended anything?

Our results are early July, not sure if we can get an appointment for then though, need to get in touch with with Mr Ramsay’s PA in July.

We’re similar @MIW01. My husband could lose a little bit of weight but not a lot, he eats well, doesn’t smoke and an occasional drink. The pain does not sound good, hope he can get that sorted.

@thislittlebird we have our consultation on Thursday so I will let you know. My husband is taking all of the recommended vitamins about 15 in total. This was all just research, vitamins recommended in it starts with the egg and vitamins for fragmentation issues.

Those ICSI figures are really scary but fragmentation can definitely be improved and ICSI is more successful than ivf for male issues. Also I was reading that a lot of the fragmentation occurs when it comes out so it’s possible to surgically extract the sperm too.

@XjustagirlX yeah, same here. Lots of vitamins, including impryl as docs have recommended.

I'm hoping surgical is our last resort if it doesn't go to plan, good to have that option available if needed I guess.

Evening! Thanks so much all the well wishes ladies ❤️ Apologies for my absence, I’ve just been enjoying the first few weeks of married life and being a wife!!!

@orangeloo massive congratulations, I’m so so happy for you guys, how are you feeling?

@Kiza Look at your bump 😍 and how exciting that it’s a boy 💙 hope you are doing well!

How’s everyone else doing? What have I missed?

Eventually got my thyroid retested, last time my last results were borderline with my TSH coming in at 4.34 but this time it was 5.99 so they have agreed to treat me. Finally!!!!

@Lozzlepop lovely to just have some quality time together and great news about treatment- at long last!

@XjustagirlX are they able to spot the defragmented sperm via ICSI in the same way they spot abnormal sperm?

@Annny27 hope ovulation week is going well for you!

Thanks for all the well wishes ladies 🥰

We had out initial consultation with the Fertility clinic today! My fiancée got his COMET test results back this morning just before we left and unfortunately they are outside the range for anything being successful (natural, IVF & ICSI). He's got an ultrasound booked for the 11th to see whether he has a varicocele but the consultant at the FERTILITY clinic told us they don't look at those results anyway, they just do a standard analysis and go from there. I had my AFC done and had 5+2 which is within range but not great so I'll be getting a higher dose of drugs and she urged us not to delay the treatment as time is not on my side at the grand old age of 35! We are expecting to start the protocol in August. I hope we have more information about fiancée's varicocele situation but I am not pleased that his COMET results won't be considered. It seems to me like they could be potentially wasting all of our time if they insist on using sperm that are not good! His overall score was 30% & range is up to 24% but at the same time I don't think we can afford to wait for him to get repaired as I'm running out of eggs!

@MIW01 for ICSI would they be able to select sperm that has low dna frag in the same way they are able to differentiate from the normal/ abnormal sperm for men with low morphology?

@Kiza my understanding from what she told us today is they don't check this - they jist look at it under a microscope like a normal SA. She said that they don't take DNA fragmentation into consideration at all!

I don’t think they’re able to do anything like that. All they do in ICSI is select the most ‘normal’ looking sperm under a microscope. It’s pretty rudimentary in a way, no means to select based on sperm frag before ICSI takes place afaik.

@MIW01 sorry to hear the results weren’t great, I suspect ours will be similar. I also don’t really want to wait for months to see if it improves, I’m already 38. My most optimistic thought on all this is I’m sure lots and lots of men who haven’t had sperm frag tests go on to have successful ICSI whilst none the wiser. I almost don’t want to know but at least I can manage my expectations, if that makes sense.

Or rather I should say, if they are able, it’s not something that’s offered which makes me assume they aren’t able to do it. All I do know is that the Comet test is done is Belfast.

@thislittlebird at least it will help to manage our expectations with regards to how likely it is to work . . . I'm hoping that if we can "fix" fiancée's sperm in the meantime after we go for round 1 in August then if it is unsuccessful we'll have a much better shot! They also found a fibroid when they did the ultrasound but said it wasn't in the womb lining so wouldn't affect fertility but I was already aware that fibroids sometimes do impact so I'm doubling my efforts to get rid of it naturally so attempting to lose weight and improve my diet etc. Though we're already pretty good! Now I am not working you'd think I'd have more time for this cooking sh*t but honestly, it never seems to happen!

@MIW01 I do more cooking now we’re home more, like you we’re not bad as it is. I could shift a few pounds though, as could he, but not a lot. I say this having just had my paws in a box of Cadbury’s orange Fingers lol.

I had a small fibroid and cyst but not sure if they were still there on the last scan. They weren’t causing any trouble before.

Just been told we can’t see Mr Ramsay until the end of July. I was hoping to start something in August but maybe not.

@kiza for ICSI they can’t see the dna fragmented sperm but they pick out what looks to be the most healthy ones to inject. I e read a few papers which do show that ICSI is generally more success for male issues but I don’t think its definite yet. Australia do most of their ivfs by ICSI though.

@thislittlebird I chose to see suks minhas as Ramsay has been on holiday. We saw minhas today and DH has had some semen infection result and urine samples. We have a follow up call next Tuesday with the results. He advised that we should delay ICSI by 3 months to give the supplements time to work but I just want to get started with it and if it fails we will be fine for the second round.

@XjustagirlX is it your results tomorrow? Ramsay is seriously delaying us right now. Can’t see him until the end of the month. I’m trying to book for the 26th, I’m losing the plot waiting to start some treatment of some kind here.

I suspect we’ll also be told to wait but I’m not doing that. I’m 38, three months wait is a long time! I’m going to buy a Lister package through Access that gives us two rounds and unlimited transfers, then if round one fails we have the other to fall back on.

@orangeloo when is your scan? Xx

Thank you @Lozzlepop it's amazing and still very surreal. So so grateful.

@Annny27 had viability scan yesterday was very emotional and saw a good strong heartbeat. Such a lovely moment and nice to see and remember this is why I am feeling so sick and tired haha.

I hope you all get this moment very soon x

Amazing :D congrats @orangeloo would love to see a scan pic if you want to share 🥰

@thislittlebird it was supposed to be yesterday but the results were not back yet so we have moved the appointment to Thursday morning.

We decided against Ramsay because he was on holiday and I felt the wait would be too long. I also read on here that he was suggesting people keep going to his clinic every month to do a semen analysis and we don’t have the time or funds for that.

Are you paying for ivf privately or are you funded?

I completely agree about not wanting to wait. We have all waited so long that even a few more months is just umbearable. Minhas advised us to wait 3-4 months for lifestyle changes to take effect but My gut is saying to just start icsi next cycle.

It might just work but we could wait and then the funding rules change anyway. We get 2 funded rounds so if the first fails it would be diagnostic in itself and we would probably then apply for pga testing and Karotyping (minhas has recommended this in his letter). I’m sure the benefit of seeing minhas was to get a written professional opinion to give to our clinic and CCG if needed.

@XjustagirlX yeah we’re in the same boat. It’s private because the nhs have delayed me with various cock ups and I can’t wait any longer. Are you guys private? We’ve been caught between Ramsay’s holiday and the IVF doctor’s holiday. It’s ridiculous. Saw them in late May and early June and if I miss my august cycle to start ~something~ then we’re not going to be able to start anything until September! That’s insane to me when going private

I’ve requested to try Letrozole yesterday. I know it won’t be a high rate of success with low motility and they said it may not be an option for us but I can’t just do nothing when I might not be ovulating here, I’m losing my mind. So I emailed and said I want to try it in august, I need to try something.

Interesting about the sperm testing you read about. We absolutely will not be doing that if he says it lol. Essentially I want his advise and then to go away and decide what to do, re-testing constantly is totally unnecessary. I want to move away from him to the ivf clinic once we have the results, not keep going back, he’s so expensive.

The thing with all this lifestyle stuff is I don’t think it necessarily works. Maybe for some, but my husband doesn’t have a “bad” lifestyle as is. He could lose a few pounds but that is all, I don’t buy it. And he’s been on impryl since March, his motility went down since he started it. If it’s not gone up again this time I’m not even sure if it’s worth taking it 🤷‍♀️

Sent too soon @XjustagirlX. forgot to say, when is your next cycle? Do you have time to start?

I think the benefit of seeing Ramsay was the letter too, and then the results to come, so we can lower our expectations.

@thislittlebird we are nhs funded for icsi. But because the nhs have been so useless we paid privately for my recurrent miscarriage tests and my husbands comet test. But our icsi is being done by care fertility but it’s nhs funded. I think we got lucky with our area.

I think you have been really unlucky with the timings and not on when you are paying private. We got referred in mid May and will be starting when my period starts at the end of July.

Yeah my husbands lifestyle isn’t bad either. He has never smoked, only drank once a week roughly but has stopped completely recently. He has a little bit of a belly but his waist is only 34. And he has been taking lots
of vitamins for months. So I’m not sure what more he can do. I did wonder whether it was work stress for any husband though.

I will be starting injecting on my next cycle around 23rd July.

So do you have a male issue and you also aren’t ovulating?

@XjustagirlX & @thislittlebird as I've said before I agree about the lifestyle stuff. Though having said that, I've just read "it starts with the egg" cover to cover twice and spent another fortune on supplements! Fiancée has now been diagnosed with varicocele but we've been advised that repair only solves infertility 50% of the time. I've told him to go back to Badminton now it's allowed to get more aerobic exercise in. But my antral follicle count is low so we aren't delaying and are going to go ahead with IVF round 1 in August. On top of my low AFC, they also found 2 fibroids in my uterine wall amd my uterine lining is thin at 4mm when it should be over 8mm! Part of the reason for more supplements. In addition, I'm in an awful dark place right now with a plethora of pregnancy announcements this weekend.

@MIW01 a few months ago I read it starts with the egg and me and DH are both taking about 20 tablets each a day. I’m annoyed I didn’t read the book sooner. It’s so expensive though. Ye I would also get going with ivf if I were you. I think we just know when it’s time to take that next step.

Hopefully you feel better soon. It’s horrible when there are pregnancy announcements all around you. It will be your turn soon though. It does bring me hope when I see announcements for people I know have had fertility struggles though.

We had our follow up call with minhas. He actually said that he extracts his advise on waiting 3-4 months. He said we should go for icsi now if he were in our position. He was worried that by waiting we could mess up our funding. So I should hopefully start injecting around 23rd July.

@MIW01 what day of your cycle was your lining recorded? I was also told I had a thin lining at 3mm on CD10. But on that cycle I ovulated on CD17. They did a biopsy but found no issues do they have no idea why the lining was thin. I heard that for ivf they just need a lining of 6mm.