Fertility Appointments and Beyond.... the journey continues

[Gracie2021]

New thread for us to continue our fertility clinic appointment progress...

Some of us are waiting for initial appointments, some are having tests and some are starting treatment!

@tillybabs
@thislittlebird
@kay00
@jeaniej
@PurpleUnicorn01
@paintfairy
@dogmam
@flutterby8
@Ughmaybenot
@dancingfairydreams
@beckycarlos
@jkjellyhead
@juno231
@decaffe
@bumble44
@BritinNZ
@tinkerbell098
@pinkginpls
@thedaydreambelievers
@everymumday
@wanderlust16
@lori23ttc

I know I have not been active on this thread at all but hope everyone is doing as well as can be expected. I'm hopefully staring letrozole soon (process has been so painfully slow) and fingers crossed it helps.

Hi all, work has been crazy so doing my usual catch up on all the happenings.

Love the BFN podcast too. My therapist ghosted me is a fav too for light hearted, take your mind off things chat. The therapist called back but the first date she has is 10th March and her schedule is tricky for me so tempted to cancel and maybe find someone else 🤷‍♀️

@EMM01 welcome and so so sorry about your mum. Can't imagine going through that loss and struggling with this whole process too. I hope you have good support around you xx haven't tried clomid yet, about to try it for the first time in a few days but have done more crying from all the different hormones....

@beckyCarlos im the exact same and can't settle with trades there. Always feel like they'll think I'm lazy if I'm sitting around while they're working.....

@Kay00 sounds like you mean business, well done! Handy to have a SIL in the business too. I had that "this isn't going to work" feeling about the last few TSIs and this IUI too. However have seen so many people who had IVF be successful first time and had tried multiple medicated cycles and IUIs that sometimes it just takes that next step. Hopefully that will be the answer for us too!

@dogmam glad your consultant is looking after you so well and hope the tweaks this time work out well for you. We've some tweaks in our protocol this time too, I find it reassuring rather than trying the exact same thing again. You're so sensible to take the time to prepare properly for this next round. In my head I know we should be doing the same but think for me I'd end up binging even more and this might be as good as it gets. If it goes badly I'm sure I'll be second guessing this decision. Selfishly I also have a little bit of travel booked in April and it's my reward at the end of these two rounds so the timing felt good that way.

CD1 here or maybe tomorrow depending how quickly AF moves her butt. Started on the testosterone gel during the week and have my baseline scan for this next round tomorrow and picking up meds tomorrow too. Will be starting stims and clomid at the weekend so here's hoping this goes better than last months s**tshow..... mood is good at least so we'll see how long that lasts. Hopefully longer than my 1st post stim scan 😂🙈🙈 OHs DNA frag isn't being done until Monday so results will come back too late for first collection but in time for the second collection. No risk factors anyway so sticking with IVF for now but just hedging our bets since we'll probably be working with a small number of eggs.

@TheDaydreamBelievers so lovely to see you. Wish you didn't have to wait so long but really hoping you find the Letrozole good and that you have success with it. How are you doing? Hope you're looking after yourself? For me I find the waiting the hardest part so hugs your way xx

Omg 8 follicles at my baseline scan this morning. Got teary with relief instead of devastation this time!!!! Even my lazy left is pulling its weight with three of them and she said it might have two more in the background she couldn't really see. Tearing up again just typing this. Still early days but I'm taking every win I can get. Hope you're all having a Good Friday and a nice weekend planned ahead xxxx

@Gracie2021 finally some great news for you! 🥳

I was floating @paintfairy then called the nurse to get my AMH results which just came in. But she told me 2.25 but didn't know if it was pmol/l or ng/ml. Was 9.4 pmol before and if it's the same measurement it's now 23% what it was last summer and I'm in the serious danger zone. If it's the other measurement it's now 16pmol which seems unlikely. Have to wait til I pick them up this evening to know which. Omg the rollercoaster of it.

Yay @Gracie2021 I'm thrilled for you!! Hope you can relax this weekend :)
I got my AMH tested last June and it was 29 and then again last August and it was 40 (always high due to PCOS) so I guess increase is possible? x

Also I have heard that AMH isn't really a biggie but it just helps doctors to know what drugs to use for IVF xx

@magnoliasinbloom think the lower one lines up with the follicle counts they've been seeing but going to focus on my nice number of follicles from this morning for now and try forget about it. Similar to age is only a number so is AMH 😂😂😂

How's the wait going for you? What day past IUI are you now?

@Gracie2021 sounds like a good attitude - the proof really is in the follicle number as you say! I'm 6 days past IUI, trying to stay relaxed and positive, no symptoms or anything! Seeing two pregnant friends this weekend separately and will no doubt talk a lot about their pregnancies so just psyching myself up for that really!

@gracie2021 8 FOLLICLES!!!! omggggg!!!! Go you! X

@beckyCarlos that made me lol. Thanks so much for cheering me and my little eight along 😘😘

@magnoliasinbloom confirmed and it's pmol/l so not good but definitely backs up our decision to do embryo banking now so we're on the right path at least. Even more grateful for todays numbers now.

@magnoliasinbloom halfway there and would be so thrilled to see your get your happy news 🤞 don't envy you that this weekend. Just had a phone convo with a friend of mine and didn't find it easy so can't imagine doing two in one weekend. You're some woman! Make sure you plan a couple little treats for yourself as reward and hope your chats go well.

Despite being told that I have an issue that will likely impact (make unlikely) implantation the Doc wouldn't yet refer me for fertility as said we still need to wait a year of TTC before can refer.
Is that correct even though a fertility issue has been identified???

@beaverdiego unfortunately yes, although depends on healthboard a bit!

@gracie2021 😊 always here as a cheerleader, especially as a fellow low AMH-er, gotta share the love x

Ughhh just typed a long message out and my phone refreshed so now I'm trying to re-type it, with a migraine, on my laptop. Tempted to give up.

@Kay00 that sounds like a great plan! I had intended to start already but I'm on day 2 of post-IVF migraine. Definitely in calorie deficit though, since I've been busy throwing up for two days! 😩

Can't quite get over our decorator. He's gone now, we paid him and just wanted him out of our house and we'll finish the job ourselves. DH is off work 3 days next week so he can do much of what's needed then. Before he came our woodwork/fireplaces/bannister were smooth. Now they look bad, sloppy paint drips in lots of places. He was old so we thought he'd be experienced. In reality I don't think he can see very well. We did the walls in Dulux Timeless and the ceilings and woodwork in pb white. I don't think he could tell the difference???? In some places he's cut in with the white 🥴 😂. It's very ridiculous, can't get over it but at least we never have to see him again.

@EMM01 sorry you're going through this and the loss of your mum. It must be hard. Clomid worked for my sister many years ago, she has lots of kids now! I took Letrozole and it didn't work for us, I didn't haves side effects on that but I know clomid is famous for them.

@beckyCarlos this guy was so messy. I'm very pissed off but we could see by about Wednesday that this was not going to go well. I had to go to bed yesterday when he was here, and I had Deliveroo bring me some food from the co-op. Think he thought it was for hi. Like hell it is!

@Gracie2021 ahhh that's such good news. Starting with 8 is brilliant. I think I started with 9/10? Fingers crossed they grow and I have to agree that that AMH sounds like ng/ml. Even if it isn't, I wouldn't worry too much since you have a good number to start with irregardless.
Like @magnoliasinbloom in bloom mine has varied too, as has my AFC.

@beaverdiego I think so yeah. Unless you're over 35 then it's six months. I think they like you to have tried for that long in case you do conceive naturally.

I forgot to say, we got our letter confirming our 4 embryos are frozen for 10 years! Seems so weird, made it kinda real.

That sounds awful @thislittlebird hope your migraine has passed. Such a horrible thing to suffer from. Do you get them anyway or is it all IVF? Disaster with the decorator. Hate getting bad work like that but think you're right to just pull the plug on it at a certain point and do it yourself.

Makes me feel even better to know you started with 9/10. Fingers crossed I do as well as you. I'd be thrilled with four embryos. Definitely need to get enough to do us as it turned out to be 2.25pmol/l which equates to 0.31ng/ml and that's a drop of 73% in 7 months so the sooner we get our embryos out the better just to be safe 🤞 starting stims in the next hour though and feeling really good about things so hopefully this round keeps going well.

@Gracie2021 unfortunately it’s still going but the sickness has stopped! It’s shit tbh, I had to work through it yesterday which was really hard and today was a write off of mostly sleeping because I can’t do much else. I do get them anyway, yeah. I started getting them in my 20s from what I can recall, and usually once per month right before AF or as it starts and usually lasted around 24 hours on average with nausea but no sickness. But occasionally they start later around cd2-5, sometimes over the last few years (late 30s) they’ve been absent entirely, or I’ll get two per month with one at/after ovulation too. Or, like today, I’ve had a handful that have gone on for 2-3 days with sickness. They’ve definitely got more severe in the last few years, but not every month, just occasionally. I hate them a lot, feel cursed that I get these stupid things instead of ‘normal’ AF symptoms. If I didn’t have a perfectly fertile friend who got hormonal migraines too I’d be wondering if they were something to do with my infertility but I don’t think they are, just a dumb body overreacting to hormones dropping off a cliff afaik. And I guess I had more of a drop off this month with all the follicles putting out hormones.

I think if both of us had been in a better frame of mind we might have argued but what’s the point in asking him to do another crap, rushed coat to fix it when he can’t tell there’s something wrong to begin with. Will fix it ourselves!

Yeah, I’m sure she told me I had around 10. Eight is a good starting point and you know that you need a strong protocol because of the low AMH and last cycle outcome so at least they’re aware. Eight growing is a good number! A girl on that ivf thread and another thread of mine got 5 eggs, all fertilised and all made it to embryos. It’s totally possible to have a good outcome with that many at the start.

How did the stims go? Which ones are you starting today?

Migraines are such a curse. I've a friend who suffers from them too. If it's any consolation I've heard that whatever pregnancy hormones come it can alleviate migraine symptoms for the duration so something to look forward to when you get your positive hopefully 🤞

That's so heartening thank you. Yes will all depend on fertilization etc. Because we were cancelled, still going in blind for that part of the cycle so will be interesting. Just started clomid 50mg, 450iu gonal f and 225 Luveris today. When is your first scan date this month? Do you usually have normal lining thickness?

@thislittlebird 😳😳😳 that decorator!! Omg! Well done for getting rid, hopefully nothing a quick sand and repaint can't resolve. Sorry to hear you're having Migraines too... they are so nasty 😖

@gracie2021 woohoo! 8 follicles is excellent! Great to have some good news ☺️

I told my mum yesterday that I'll be getting IVF this year. I was so worried about telling her, but it went well... although I was difficult to read how she really felt as she kept a poker face and, being a nurse, nothing phases her!

Yes

@Kay00 check these photos out just to show how shit he was. We were very pissed off by midweek but decided between then and Friday to just cut our losses. Yes we could argue or ask him to do it again but he’s done the donkey work, we’ll just spend a few days doing another coat, sanding what he’s been too lazy to sand properly (luckily we have a sander) and painting the woodwork much more carefully. Can’t believe how sloppy he was. And messy. Ugh.

Pretty sure this guy didn’t help the migraine situ either lol!

Really good your mum received the news well. All our in laws now know, having the freeze all took the pressure off of giving updates too IMO.

@Gracie2021 that’s exactly what happened to my friend. I think they disappeared between her first and second pregnancy and then came back again after the second. I’d love that! I will admit I’m worried about how il cope with a baby when they’re very bad. I said to dh he’ll just have to stay home on those occasions I guess?

With fertilisation we went in with very low expectations tbh. Said if we can get one embryo then it’s a success. Obviously more is ideal but you just don’t want it to be a complete cop out so if it’s one then that’s ok, and anymore to freeze is brilliant!

I’ve got this month off, will be calling them around a month from now!