abc IVF experience sharing - 2021/2022

[Millymillymillymillymilly]

Hey everyone,

I've benefited so much from the last 2 abc ivf threads that I thought I'd start a new one and hopefully can contribute back to the community.

I'm 33 years old, AFC around 24 (based on the initial treatment scan) and the reason we are doing IVF is due to male infertility issues (morphology lower than 4%) and irregular ovulation. We are undergoing treatment at the Harley Street branch.

Here's my treatment timeline so far:

09/11 Tue - Bemfola injection 125
10/11 Wed - Bemfola injection 125
11/11 Thu - Bemfola injection 125
12/11 Fri - Bemfola injection 125 + 1st scan
13/11 Sat - Bemfola injection 125
14/11 Sun - Bemfola injection 125 + Cetrotide injection
15/11 Mon - Bemfola injection 125 + Cetrotide injection +2nd scan
16/11 Tue - Bemfola injection 125 + Cetrotide injection
17/11 Wed - Cetrotide injection + 3rd scan + Ovitrelle injection (exact timing TBC)

After my 3rd scan today, the nurse said I didn't have to do anymore injections apart from morning Cetrotide shot and the Ovitrelle which someone from the Create clinic will call and let me know when to inject as it needs to fit into their egg retrieval appointments (I still haven't received the call and my scan was at 08.30 this morning).

My follicles' growth was as below:

1st scan
11 < 6mm
10 10 mm

2nd scan
2 < 6mm
12

Hi @Millymillymillymillymilly I will be doing IVF at ABC Harley Street so would love to join, although mine won't start until January so may be a bit more of an observer! I was meant to start with my cycle on 24th November but DH has two stag dos this month, and we realised it would be better to wait and have time for a detox before starting treatment to give us the best chances! DH also has

Hello @LondonladyTTC

Nice to meet you! Yes, feel free to observe till Jan! I've been observing for months on the other abc threads :D

Yes, I definitely think it's a good idea to detox after two stags. It's hard doing IVF whilst having other social commitments!

My other half hasn't been drinking for a while and is taking supplements such as proxeed. One thing that the nurse did mention to us in our initial consultation is that protein powder has a detrimental effect to sperm quality. Husband is big on exercise, so having to give up protein shakes was a big deal... (currently supplementing it with egg whites and turkey breasts - but there's only so much you can stomach!)

We will be doing ICSI too! Hopefully I will have some good updates to share!

Hi @Millymillymillymillymilly @LondonladyTTC, I’m commenting so I get notified and can follow.

Did your husbands / partners have any reason to think they would have low morphology? How long were you trying before you had some tests done?

Wishing you the best of luck and keeping everything crossed for a continued positive experience x

Thanks @FlyOnTheWall89! Fingers crossed!

We were trying on and off for more than 2 years. I only suggested to my husband to do a sperm test just to rule things out and because it's less invasive for a man to do fertility tests (compared to what we have to go through). I didn't expect him to have any issue. He's healthy, fit and eats well, and me on the other hand, not so healthy, unfit and eats TOO WELL with irregular periods (ranging from 33 day cycles to 6 months ones). So, we were both very surprised when his report came out.

@FlyOnTheWall89 We have been trying for 19 months but onto 25th cycle as mine are so short- I have a luteal phase defect. My DH had a sperm analysis around 5 months ago. It was also one of the things needed before a GP could refer (I put my name down for an NHS fertility clinic before looking into ABC but it is all taking so long!). Like @Millymillymillymillymilly we did not expect it to be bad as he is fit and healthy! We are both 32, so know we technically have time on our side but TTC is so draining. I'm not even pregnant and I feel it is impacting my career and life choices! Can't wait to have some clarity.

My DH has also been on proxeed since the analysis apparently it does wonders for sperm!

We are on detox mode from now until January 

I will be with you in spirit throughout your treatment @Millymillymillymillymilly !!!

@LondonladyTTC

I totally agree with you!!!! It's so draining this whole TTC whilst everyone else around is getting pregnant left right and centre! I'm also trying to get a new job at the moment too - maybe I'm too crazy? My company has a pretty good maternity package but at the same time I want that level up... It is really hard to make decisions when you don't have that clarity! I just want to get pregnant!!!

I'm also on the NHS waiting list and its been more than 1 year now and I haven't even got my treatment consultation yet! So, doing private now and if it doesn't succeed, hopefully NHS will line up nicely for the 2nd try.

You can look into supplements for yourself too. I'm taking inositol, Q10, vitamin D and preconception vitamins. Since you're starting in Jan, you have enough time to start taking supplements (sorry, you might already!) I found 'It Starts with the Egg' by Rebecca Fett a good read. I believe a lot of people on Mumsnet recommended it too!

Update:

29/11 Friday

I had my egg collection at Create (St Paul’s) at 10am. Everything went relatively smoothly. (For those who wants to drive there, make sure you leave ample time finding parking. Husband had to drive around for a while to find a pay and display bay).

Once we were there at Create, we were taken to a small private space where I undressed and changed into the hospital gown. The nurses then double checked information, height and weight and ask some medical questions. Someone came and collected my husband as he was providing sample that day too. Then they took me into theatre and confirmed my details and my husband’s before putting me to sleep and began the collection.

Then they woke me up (I believe it was hard for the nurse to wake me up as I was so groggy and heard someone repeating my name over and over again) and gave me a cup of sweet tea (I normally don’t have sugar in my tea but that cuppa tasted amazing!!!) and biscuits.

It was all a bit of a blur here because I was just so tired and wanted to go back to sleep. But the embryologist came and said they collected 11 eggs in total but they don’t know whether they are mature or not. So I should receive a phone call the next day to let me know. The nurse then came and checked my blood pressure and asked me to go to the loo and reminded me the things I needed to do when I got home.

20/11 Sat

Got the call from the embryologist at around 11am. He told us out of the 11 eggs collected, 9 were mature and all 9 fertilised as well so they will go for a day 5 fresh transfer.

My husband and I are so chuffed. However, we know this is only the beginning as we need to wait till Monday for the D3 update and then Tuesday they will let us know what time we will be doing the fresh transfer. Fingers crossed we have some embryos that make it to day 5!

Thats brilliant news @Millymillymillymillymilly , so far so good! 9 is an amazing number, fingers crossed you have lots which make it to day 5. Do you plan to freeze any left over? Thanks for the summary of the process, really helpful to know what to expect. Fingers crossed for Monday, please keep us posted.

DH is on the stag do this weekend so I am treating myself to the most relaxing weekend I can. I have booked in for some reflexology as heard that it can help fertility and if not, at least it will be relaxing!

@LondonladyTTC - I hope you had the most relaxing weekend! Mine was a bit stressful as I was just constantly worrying whether or not the embryos are going to keep growing... But I got some good food in me over the weekend so that was good

Update:

22/11 Monday [Finished the antibiotic that I was taking after the egg collection and currently still putting progesterone pessaries up the vagina x 3 daily]

Embryologist called around 13.30 and gave us an update.

Unfortunately, 1 of the embryos just wasn't developing so they had to discard it (she spoke really fast so didn't really get the why).

We now have 6 grade one embryos and 2 grade two embryos. And then she mentioned they only expect 30% of these 8 embryos to make it to blastocyst stage (D5) - so that probably means we will have 2 in the end, 1 to transfer and 1 to freeze (I will be more than happy if this is the case!) Obviously, heard so many horror stories about embryos being all good on D3 and then none surviving to D5 - Google is sooooo not my best friend at the moment

They will call again tomorrow (Tuesday) to let me know when my transfer will happen. I did ask will they give us another update on the embryos and the embryologist said no... (so let's hope we don't get there and then there's nothing to transfer...)

One thing I did wish I asked is that how many cells are in each embryos. From previous threads, apparently even if the embryos doesn't contain the ideal 8 cell at this stage, they can still grade it grade one... Obviously, even if they did tell me it's not really going to change the outcome but I always appreciate more info if possible.

Also, reading other people's discussion, the sperm is more important to the development of the embryo after day 3. So, up to day 3 it heavily relies of the quality of the eggs... A tad worried as we are mostly doing this because of male fertility issues, so there's a high chance that our embryos might not make it to day 5. Oh well, we can only be hopeful!

Will send another update after day of transfer probably. All the best to you ladies who's on a similar journey

@Millymillymillymillymilly arh yay this is amazing news and sounds so good so far. Best of luck and will continue to follow closely. How exciting for you xx

Hello all, I'm so glad to have found this thread today! I'm with ABC Harley Street and start my Bemfola injections tonight. I have my first treatment scan booked in for Friday 😬
Thankful to have found some of you going through the process at roughly the same time as me, and hope I can be of help to others by sharing my experiences!

Thanks @FlyOnTheWall89 and welcome @Sazles99!

Here's the latest update:

23/11 Tuesday
The embryologist called to let us know what time the embryo transfer was and other things to bear in mind. E.g. show up with a full bladder (start drinking water 1-1.5 hrs before appointment), arrive about 30 mins earlier than appointment time

24/11 Wednesday
Finally, the big day! We arrived at Create around 10.30 for our 11.00 embryo transfer. Signed in as usual and a nurse took us to the theatre/resting area (same place as where they will take you for egg collection) - undress, put on the gown they provide (can keep bra underneath but everything else goes). I totally recommend wearing thick socks because even though they do give you these blue plastic things to put over your feet, the floor is a bit cold. So, I've got some fluffy socks on and I put the blue plastic over them (not sure if egg collection is the allowed as I just wore the blue plastic over my feet. Did ask nurse whether it's ok to wear the socks for the embryo transfer and she said it was fine)

An embryologist then came in and told us the grade of the embryo we were transferring. It was a 4BC. (She said it was good, but after a lot of googling... I have to say I'm a bit unconvinced...) we had another 7 embryos still in culture, 3 of them lagging a bit behind and 4 of them nearly to the expanded blastocyst stage (I believe the embryos need to reach a certain stage/quality in order to freeze them) so she said they will keep them till the 6th day and if none are suitable for freezing, they will discard them all.

Then a nurse came and took me to theatre where I had to lie back and she used the ultrasound (the belly one, not vagina) to check whether or not my bladder was full enough. Once it was all ok, she got the doctor and doctor came in and check my details again. Cleaned out the residue from the progesterone and stuck the catheter in. I had really bad experience of a smear but to be quite honest, this was nothing like that at all! (I know people compare embryo transfer with pap smear a lot!) Then the embryologist comes in with the embryo and the doctor put it in. After this process the embryologist then checks whether the embryo has indeed left the catheter (doctor calling embryos naughty as they sometimes like staying behind )

And voila that's it. Good to go! I've been trying to rest (taken two days off work) and hopefully this embryo will stick

25/11 Thursday
Embryologist called in the morning saying we have 2 embryos that is suitable for freezing. a 4AB and a 4CC. We were absolutely chuffed! Weren't really expecting any left to freeze, but we did! So there's hope all around I think!

Next is to continue with the progesterone 3x a day and then blood test needs to be booked for 03/12. Really hoping for a miracle! But I'm driving myself crazy symptom spotting and this is only the 2nd day after transfer . I did do a pregnancy test yesterday and today - not because I think I'm pregnant, but to ensure if I do test before the blood test, I'm not getting a positive because of the trigger... And both came back negative which means the hcg from the trigger shot must have left my body by now. Fingers crossed.

I will share an update with you all when I next have one. Taaaaaa.

Hi everyone!

I'm due to have my frozen embryo transfer on Thursday. I'm a teacher and we have had a few cases of covid at school last week. I've had to tell my head teacher about my treatment and she's trying to think of a plan for what my next steps should be. Did any of you isolate or are planning to isolate during treatment?

@Becky105

Hi! We were extra cautious plus we both pretty much work from home and drive to get to places. Also, my husband and I both had covid before commencing the treatment so we did know our antibodies were strong (plus we both had our vaccines ages ago)

The clinic will definitely cancel treatment no matter what stage you’re at if you or your partner get covid so I’d say take extra precaution as you don’t want to waste the time and money!

Good luck!

@Becky105

And sorry forgot to say, we didn’t isolate at all :)

Hi everyone! @LondonladyTTC we are also due to start treatment at Harley street in January! Must admit I'm nervous and hoping for a miracle this month so we don't need to go through with it! Hoping everything goes well for you @Millymillymillymillymilly

@Millymillymillymillymilly how do you feel 5 days post transfer?

@Devvy welcome, and so lovely to meet someone who is also starting in January! I am secretly hoping for a miracle too but after 25 cycles I am not going to bank on it 😂 When in January do you expect to start? I will be around the 18th

@LondonladyTTC my baseline scan and treatment consultation is booked for 4th Jan (we've already had this but because we decided to wait until Jan to start treatment which was over 3 months since scan, we have to go through that process again). So depending on that, we should hopefully be starting around the same time as you!

@Devvy, thank you and welcome to the group!

@LondonladyTTC Thanks for asking! This 2WW is probably the worst time ever! The suspension and the every little symptom spotting is driving me up the wall.

I’ve been getting period-like cramps pretty much straight after the transfer and I’m still getting them now randomly. I’m extra hungry these past couple of days but then feel a tad nauseous after I eat. I feel drained all the time but then I don’t really sleep well. And today and yesterday I’ve got a bit of a stuffy nose when I woke up.

To be honest, I couldn’t help myself and I took a HPT yesterday and today and they were both negatives . I know it’s still a tad too early but I used FRER and I saw some women online said they got positives 4dpt 5dt… I know I’m still not out of the game yet but I can’t help feeling that I am.

I’ll probably be testing every day till Friday which is when my beta test.

Anyways, I always know this is a numbers game, if it didn’t work this time, it will bound to work at some point! Also, abc has been amazing so you ladies are in good hand! Let me know if you have any questions and I’ll try my best to answer them

Hi all, I'm on day 5 of Bemfola 125 and after my scan this morning, I was told to come home and take my first cetroride injection! 😬

The lovely lady who did my scan this morning said my follicles have continued to grow nicely since Friday, when my largest was 8mm, and today was 13mm!

Can anyone tell me how many days of Cetrotide they did and roughly how long after their first one they moved on to the trigger shot?

@Millymillymillymillymilly hope you are doing ok! 🤞

I will be keeping my fingers crossed @Millymillymillymillymilly 🤞🏻 hopefully it will work out this month but as you say, if it doesn't it likely will at some other point!

@Sazles99

I was on 4 days of cetrotide. And the last day of cetrotide was the day I triggered as well (cetrotide am and ovitrelle pm).

@LondonladyTTC

Thank you!

Hi all, apologies for the silence! It's been an emotionally draining week! After our third scan, we were told that my follicles hadn't grown quite well enough so had an additional couple of days on Bemfola and Cetritide.

That seemed to do the trick and on Friday I was told they would do the egg collection on Sunday.

We went in yesterday and they collected 9 eggs which we were pretty pleased with, but it was short lived after the call from the embryologist this morning who told us only 3 eggs fertilised so we will be going for a day 3 transfer on Wednesday.. I'm quite disappointed to think we 'lost' 6 eggs, but praying the three we have keep developing as they should.

@Millymillymillymillymilly how are you doing?

@Sazles99 - it only takes one! Praying for your eggs to keep developing and turn into a BFP!

Unfortunately it was a BFN for me this cycle. I had my beta last Friday that confirmed it. I'm now taking some time off to prepare myself for the next round. Our NHS funding came through so we are going to do another full cycle with the NHS. Hoping to rest up and start again soon.

At least I can drink over Christmas and New Year!

Hope everyone is well :)

Ah @Millymillymillymillymilly, I'm so sorry to hear that! I hope you are as 'ok' as can be! Does the fact that you have some frozen embryos gives you some comfort going forward? This is something that has been playing on my mind all morning - that we might not have any left to freeze!

Do you know how long you might have to wait before you can try again? How has the support from ABC been for you?

It's so hard when I'm sure there is only one thing you really want for Christmas, but I hope you can make it as special for you and your partner, ready for a positive 2022 🤞

Thank you for your well wishes, I'm trying to stay hopeful, but gosh is this tough!!

@Becky105 how did your transfer go? Hope you are feeling ok!