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'm dreadful and don't bother for acupuncture or twandings but figure I'll have a bigger audience tomorrow so had to whip out the big guns 😂😂🙈🙈 thanks, really hoping for good numbers. Keep ye posted!

@Gracie2021 I hope today went well!! And that you enjoyed the anaesthetic haha . Thinking of you x

Thanks @magnoliasinbloom just feeling unbelievably defeated. They got two.... don't even know if these are mature. There two two empty follicles too. Starting back into stims on five days and just feeling like what's the point. Will get over it but for now I'm wallowing.

@gracie2021 I'm sorry! You must feel so deflated. The optimist in me is dying to say 'it only takes one' etc, but after all you've been through you just feel exhausted and upset x x x stims again in 5 days sounds grueling! You really are amazing doing all this x

@Gracie2021 I'm so sorry, I can understand now completely unfair that must seem after seeing 8 on the scan last week. Physically and emotionally this is a huge toll and I hope you can do something nice for yourself tonight. It will all be worth it in the end :) xxx

@gracie2021 I'm sorry you're feeling like that, it's so horrid having so much out of your control. Have a good wallow. I have everything crossed for the two eggs.

@JeanieJ @magnoliasinbloom congratulations to you both!

@Gracie2021 ah no, I’m so sorry, this is shit. The process is a feckin nightmare. When will you hear more? Frustrating they can’t tell you if they’re mature, you’d want to know right away ideally. I don’t really know how you can go straight back into stims 5 days later, won’t they be the same follicles? I don’t know if this is a stupid question at a bad time, I hope not. If it works that’s great because you could have a couple more on top of those two soon. Keep us posted, don’t worry about feeling negative, you’re totally allowed to feel however you wish x

@Sofasogood1 jfc, are you in London? I want to ask what hospital this is, it sounds terrible. Why on earth did they prescribe you stims???

Nothing new here other than my body is trying to make my life miserable. Everything is flared up, every condition I have, the horrible skin issue I’ve had for 2.5 years since we started ttc, a face full of cold sores to boot, and to add insult to injury we can’t ttc naturally this month as I have horrible thrush. I need to talk to my clinic about being on oestrogen for FET. I’m not sure it’s a good idea, withdrawing from it will make me very unwell with a migraine most likely, and I’m bound to get awful thrush from it AGAIN. I’m sick of it all, there have been tears.

@Gracie2021 Oh no, I'm sorry you only got two in this round of stims . When is your next communication due from the clinic? Hopefully they can give you more information about these eggies, and about what the next stage of the process is. I have everything crossed this works for you xx

@thislittlebird Damn, sounds like your body is really putting you through the wringer? Do you think this is a reaction to the stims you were on? If so, then its really good you had a freeze all; your body clearly needs to get back to a non-reactive state before your FET x

I am 9DPO and more spotting again today . I had spotting last month (10/11dpo), and I wonder if its a progesterone issue? Or something caused by the Clomid? Either way I feel pretty rubbish today; I went out last night for a work meal, probably ate too much rich food and literally had to run home to be sick luckily I wasn't sick around my work colleagues lol ... it was close!

@Kay00 is it stupid to ask if you’ve taken a test? 9dpo is very early but not impossible. I certainly wouldn’t want to see another bastard negative though if it was me lol. Obviously the spotting isn’t new, but is the sickness new?

Honestly I think my body really reacts to stress, and I’ve found waiting for FET quite hard. I also haven’t got the motivation to eat well and exercise even though I know I should do this. I think I’m a bit depressed, which isn’t a shock :/ but I guess I would put it down to stress + my body recalibrating and hormones going haywire, maybe my oestrogen is quite high and caused the thrush during my fertile week? It’s usually the reserve of the days before AF. I’m exhausted to be honest. I got upset the other day over a coffee as it feels like there’s never an end in sight. And I know we’ve made progress from the ivf cycle but it’s still so hard. I want to move and see if living by the coast and not in London helps my health, but we can’t do that yet, I need the maternity leave from work. Only positive is a job has come up at work (finally!) that I can apply for. Might not get it but I’ll give it a go, I’ve been waiting for a promotion opportunity for ages now.

@thislittlebird I'm so sorry you're feeling depressed and stressed. You're going through so much right now! A job opportunity is exciting though, and hopefully a good distraction xx

No, I've not tested. I doubt very much I'm pregnant. I think the sickness is a reaction between the Metformin I take and the rich creamy food I ate (lol, I should know better). And apparently a mid LP bleeding can be the result of an estrogen surge, which makes sense if you look at the two temp dips I've had.

Hopefully its not a bad thing as it can mean my ovaries are doing what they should do 😇

Urgh... spotting is now a fair amount of bright red fresh blood 🙄😞 hopefully I haven't had an 8 day LP this cycle...

Just found out only one of our two eggs fertilized. So angry today and sick of it all. Also have some serious questions for our clinic. On Friday had L: 15.6 11.1 and R: 18.8 17.6 15.4 9.1 8.4. No other scan til collection on Tuesday and they had me do two more days of stims on Friday and Saturday to try get the smaller ones to catch up. Feel like no one has given me any answers as to what went wrong yesterday that all those follicles turned into only two eggs. Also start stims again on Sunday for round two and don't have another scan until day 8 of stims because of a long bank holiday weekend here. Just doesn't seem right that we're paying 5k and not one single scan until day 8 especially when things went so wrong the last times. Surely it's worth keeping a closer eye. Also serious disorganization yesterday in the clinic which erodes my confidence. I was sitting about to be sedated when I asked (yet again) who I give the sample to and they re astonished no one's taken it yet. Also no idea who the person doing my collection was and weather it was a doctor or a nurse but it wasn't the doctor who was meant to be doing it. Also heard them making calls outside my room because some doctor had "gone missing" and was needed for a biopsy. And the heating was broken so the place was freezing. Just overall chaos. Was too groggy yesterday to even make an attempt at piecing it all together but today just want to talk to someone who can explain what went wrong. Have a call with my doctor but not til next Tuesday when I'll already be 3 days into the round two protocol and they say she can't fit me in any sooner. Just so frustrated.

Hope spotting hasn't turned into AF @Kay00 and that you're feeling a bit better. Fair play to you with the tracking, you always have such complete charts. Are you just waiting for the funding/app letter now?

Sorry you're feeling so crap @thislittlebird I'm right there with you. So depressed and down today and it doesn't make it any easier when you're trying to eat healthy but you're so down it takes all your energy to even just eat some toast. This whole thing just sucks.

Just sent a strong email asking to speak to my doctor this week and asking for an earlier scan. Fingers crossed. Just so out of any kind of hope at this point.

@Kay00 yeah, it’s hard because I don’t feel confident or resilient right now, so the idea of doing a new job (a harder job) is a lot because I’ve become comfortable in this easy, laid back job. But I think I have to go for it, will see what happens.

What happened with your bleed, did AF start?

@Gracie2021 I think asking questions of your clinic is more than fair. It sounds chaotic to say the least. When I was in my clinic, the doctor and anaesthetist came round to talk to me beforehand so it was very apparent who would be doing what. Did they talk to you in advance? Definitely ask them if those follicles were empty or eggs too small and so on.

Yeah. I’m tired of it all tbh. Hard to believe this could just be the start and I have to stop thinking about that or I won’t function at all. I am going to try to force myself out in my running clothes to do couch to 5k.

@thislittlebird I 100% believe in you! You can do this! Applying for this job will be an achievement whether you get it or not

Going for a run is a great way to feel more confident and the help clear the mind. Its a win-win enjoy yourself!

I'm not really sure what is happening with my uterus - ha! I had very light spotting on 7dpo, bright red blood (a fair amount in a short period of time) yesterday at 9dpo, and now just older darker red blood but only when I wipe. Not sure if this is the start of AF, but my temp was up again today. Either way I'm not pregnant, I did a IC just in case.

@kay01 sorry your womb is being weird!

@thislittlebird I'll be forever in awe of you if you go for a run 🤣 I've tried many times to be 'someone who runs' but I am just not that person.

@gracie2021 I really hope you get some answers and an earlier scan x x

@Kay00 this is true! I need to think of it as practice, and also taking control of something I suppose? Since we don’t seem to have much control of anything in all this.

Period weirdness sounds annoying, keep us posted.

@beckyCarlos I did not end up going for the run . Best laid plans and all that. Work got a bit chaotic today, I might go into the office and use the gym there tomorrow instead. I’m definitely not a person who runs lmao. I might be a person who runs occasionally, if she can stick at it. I decided to start couch to 5k from scratch because this is a return to running or jogging for me since I sprained my ankle in the summer.

@gracie2021 for some reason your earlier messages didn't shoe up earlier, so I didn't see them, how odd!!

It sounds like you're having a really frustrating time with a clinic that seem disorganised (at best!). I'd certainly be demanding answers too, esp if I'd paid 5k!!

My spotting seems to be drying up. I'm sure it's caused by my hormones shifting because I have been irrationally grumpy today 😆 maybe this is Clomid's last hooray before I step back into the Wild Wild West of un-medicated cycles?

@Gracie2021 any updates today?

@Kay00 the drugs definitely do some odd things. I think I’m ovulating soon, rather than earlier like I first thought. Might be able to try this month after all, if only once or twice. I’ve had more ECWM this month than I do on non-medicated cycles, it’s strange. I do wonder if the drugs jolt your system a bit to produce some hormones like it’s supposed to.

@thislittlebird Yes, I'm sure they do. My spotting continues today (very light, one small clot) and to be honest I'm not 100% sure it isn't my period who the hell knows?! I'm not so concerned about what day is CD1 anyway, because I'm not taking Clomid on CD2.

@Gracie2021 how are you feeling today?

Hi guys, sorry I went quiet just had a really down day yesterday. Kept going in to the chat and the thought of even writing the update (not that I really have one right now) was too much. Have a convo with my doctor tomorrow and a scan moved up to next Friday so that's positive but very concerned that we're doing no baseline for this leg of the round. Also get the update on our solitary little egg tomorrow so we'll see. No matter what happens with this round decided to take April off. Have been in back to back medicated cycles/IVF since last June. On 10th month straight of treatment and just need the break. I'd be shocked if we didn't have to go back for more egg collections in may but we'll see how this one goes first.

Sorry you're in such limbo with AF @Kay00. How do you feel about returning to the land of unmedicated cycles for a bit? I'm actually really looking forward to no medications at all next month. Will seem like a pure holiday.

@thislittlebird fingers crossed for an ovulation and maybe a nice surprise 🤞 how's your head today? Are you feeling any better?

@beckyCarlos did you have an app for this week or was it next? Can't keep my days straight.

Hi everyone, I was on here a couple of months ago but disappeared for a while as I didn't really know where my journey(?) was heading. I was referred to fertility clinic in Aug last year, and yet to hear back from them, so decided to go private last month. Since then, I've had AMH and HSG done. I had a follow up appointment today at which she said my left tube blocked and referred me to IVF (NHS). She said the wait will be about 3 months, if not we can go private.
Whilst I know somethings about IVF, I'm very clueless as to how much strain the body is put through mentally and physically. Could you lovely ladies educate me on what to expect, timelines etc? Do you get a plan on the first appointment and then how long after would you actually start treatment? How much time off work do I need to prepare for? Would you tell your employer? Sorry, I really am clueless and want to prepare myself. I'm in tears as I'm writing this as I never thought I'd be here. I saw it coming, but it's different when you are actually put in that position eventually. Sorry for the rant.

@gracie2021 I'm not surprised you weren't feeling like commenting yesterday xx I hope you didn't feel pressured into commenting today xx a chat with your doctor tomorrow sounds very positive and I'll have everything crossed you get good news about your egg tomorrow 🤞

@tinkerbell098 I think I'm at a similar stage to you. I decided to get my tests etc at the fertility clinic done privately due to the slow pace of the NHS. I did 6 months of Clomid which didn't get me pregnant so, following a consultation with the doctor at the clinic, I have applied for NHS funded IVF.

I have been told the funding should be sorted in 4-6 weeks and then I should get an appointment with a nurse at the clinic to discuss my protocol, the process in more detail and how to give myself injections. I will then be waiting for a new cycle to begin before I start stims (or down-regs depending on protocol).

My doctor said she expected my egg retrieval to be around June time. She said this was as fast as it could be and it was no quicker for private patients. I'm based in Devon, so it could be different where you are of course.