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Fertility Appointments and Beyond: Electric Boogaloo

888 replies

thislittlebird · 20/08/2022 13:54

Hit capacity on the old thread, will tag you in!

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thislittlebird · 15/04/2023 10:33

@JeanieJ yeah it’s a huge gamble. If there’s no motility issues it makes it easier to pick, I’m sure, but our issue is DH’s don’t swim so it’s not clear which sperm are the good, bad and ugly.

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JeanieJ · 17/04/2023 10:28

Good luck with the transfer today @thislittlebird

thislittlebird · 17/04/2023 11:01

@JeanieJ thanks! It’s over and done, a 5AA is on board, it was a very round embryo on the screen!

8 (I think?) of the embryos were still in play when we got there, which is quite a turn up for the books, they said we had the best outcome they’ll see today. So one is on board, then they will PGT-A test two today because they need to be grades 4 or 5, then there’s a 3BC that might be frozen instead of tested. Another 4 will be checked on tomorrow but I would assume they won’t be likely to make it, but who knows. Hopefully a couple will catch up by day 6 to be frozen or tested.

Huge difference for us from our November cycle. The changes were IMSI, sample prep for DH, higher stims for me, dual trigger and I also upped my dose of CoQ10 to 600mg per day, so maybe that helped. We may not have many left after testing because of my age but it’s nice to know we can make embryos still and our first cycle wasn’t a fluke.

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JeanieJ · 17/04/2023 11:31

@thislittlebird wow a 5AA! That's a top quality blast.
Sounds like all those changes you made have made quite the difference!

Any changes to your progesterone protocol? My sisters on a totally different protocol to me. I'm just on cyclogest twice daily, but she has a gel AND daily injections!

Hoping everything goes well for you 🙏🏻 xx

thislittlebird · 17/04/2023 11:36

@JeanieJ yeah we’ve never had a 5AA before! I know grades don’t make much difference when implantation seems to be a struggle for us, but it’s nice to get a good one. Will keep my hopes fairly low, the first five didn’t work so 🤷‍♀️

Yeah, I’m on Clexane/Arovi daily (I was last cycle too but that one went badly) and I’m on injectable progesterone (Lubion) every other day. I also have to insert 400mg of Cyclogest twice daily, but then I have a history of low progesterone so probably need it.

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JeanieJ · 17/04/2023 13:40

@thislittlebird sounds like you've thrown the kitchen sink at this round. Now for the TWW! Hope you have something nice lined up to keep you distracted 🙂

thislittlebird · 17/04/2023 17:28

@JeanieJ nothing thrilling lol. Was supposed to be doing weight loss and exercise for Portugal trip in May but not sure what to do now :/

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JeanieJ · 17/04/2023 18:55

@thislittlebird I guess some yoga & light walking?
Dunno if I mentioned this before but my clinic are being quite fussy about me running - they still won't let me run & suggested it might even cause a loss :-/
Before the cycle, I ran 5 miles 5 times a week. Since then, I've been walking or swimming when I have the energy, but it's not the same and I've deffo gained weight since the start of the cycle - I'm scared to step on the scale.
My plan is to lightly start again if this scan goes well on Thursday x

Kay00 · 17/04/2023 22:56

Waaaaawww!!! What an epic result @thislittlebird A 5AA on board and 8 still going strong. This is incredible! It's really the dream for me... Well done!

I'm going to do as much as I can to replicate your cycle lol 😅 I'm going to be on higher stims, high strength 600mg CoQ10, and injectable progesterone. I'm not sure my clinic do IMSI, but I'll ask.

Really, I'm so thrilled for you, this is the outcome you deserved xx

I had my operation appointment come through today, so I'll be getting my ovaries drilled on May 12th.

thislittlebird · 18/04/2023 07:35

@JeanieJ tbh it sounds silly to me but it feels like one of those situations where if something does happen you’ll worry it caused it so maybe see if you can take it slower? I don’t want to run even, j want to do weights really. Nothing super heavy, but hand weights and a medicine ball but I’m scared it won’t be a good plan. Long walk today for me!

@Kay00 thanks! I’m so pleased and just super relieved. It was one of those situations where you need it to go well, especially because we’re doing PGT-A and that will take most of the embryos out, I really hope they don’t all come back abnormal. It’s hard though, I’m looking at the list of what we’ve got and thinking I don’t want to sacrifice these, I want them to be frozen so I have more chances. But I know realistically not all of them will be able make babies anyway.

In the end yesterday our 3BC developed so they biopsied 4AA, 4BB, 4BB, and I assume they survived the biopsy because I didn’t hear anything more. It’s £500 per embryo and they asked if I had an upper limit cost wise and I didn’t know what to say, I said just let me know what’s developed Tuesday and I’ll make a choice. It’s just scary to think you could go from 4 or 5 to none within two weeks.

Really pleased your ovarian drilling date is in, that will fly round! What is the outcome they hope for with the procedure?

Have your clinic said what higher stims you’ll be on yet? I can’t remember if you normally do IVF or ICSI, but most clinics don’t seem to do IMSI from what I can see, it’s basically ICSI with a big microscope which might have helped them pick the sperm who weren’t so harmed by the antibodies? Dunno. Does your partner have any sperm issues? I can’t recall.

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thislittlebird · 18/04/2023 09:50

Ok final update today:

5AA transferred
4AA biopsied
4BB biopsied
4BB biopsied
5CC frozen without biopsy because unlikely to survive

I wish I could keep them all but we’ve agreed to PGT-A so here we are. Keep your fingers crossed for me that some of my tested ones come back euploid.

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JeanieJ · 18/04/2023 11:02

@Kay00 that's great news about your procedure! So glad you haven't got to wait so much longer. Do you know Hagar the recovery is supposed to be like?

@thislittlebird glad to hear your results. They look so good. Fingers crossed they come back ok 🤞🏻🙏🏻

xx

thislittlebird · 19/04/2023 13:02

@JeanieJ i hope at least one done because otherwise our cycle will be over very fast lol. I’d like to buy ourselves six months to pay for holidays and stuff in the house and then we need to save again in case we need more ivf. Not sure I want more ivf but I suspect if this fails I’ll want to try one more time and then call it a day.

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Kay00 · 19/04/2023 21:51

@thislittlebird I'm just so bloody pleased with your results. I hope you get genetically normal results too, but I also home your transferred egg is the one that sticks 🤞

My Stims dose is usually Meriofert 150mg and then we reduce. I think our plan will be to keep at 150mg without reducing through the stims cycle.

My OH has low morphology, but decent numbers. We haven't had his sperm genetically tested, but I am keen to do it (OH isn't).

@JeanieJ I'm unsure about the recovery time, for some people it takes a couple of weeks, but for others it's a couple of days. My op is on a Friday and I'll probably take most of the following week off work, the week after that however I'm off to Disneyland with my mum, sis and niece lol, so I hope I'm recovered by then.

IWillBeWaxingAnOwl · 20/04/2023 13:17

@thislittlebird crossing my fingers hard for you and wishing you all the best with this round🤞

@Kay00 - Paris or Florida? Either way, I hope it's wonderful!

Kay00 · 20/04/2023 13:50

Just the Paris one 😊 but I'm sure it will be a lovely trip

JeanieJ · 20/04/2023 20:20

@Kay00 well I hope it goes well & that you have a good recovery 🤞🏻🙏🏻

Disneyland sounds fun 🤩 hope you have a blast!

xx

thislittlebird · 21/04/2023 08:35

@Kay00 the issue now is I’m dreading getting a BFN and bad genetic testing results on the same day 😩. It’s never a smooth ride in this game!

Not reducing seems like a good plan. My worst outcome was with a varying dose (150/225 alternate days) and the consistency seems to work better for me.

It’s worth dna fragmentation doing tests on him if only to rule it out would be great. Why isn’t he keen?

Ovarian drilling is keyhole? You should be ok for the trip.

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Kay00 · 21/04/2023 22:16

Yes, it's keyhole, so I'm hoping to be back to normal within a couple of days. But might milk a few days off work 😜

I think OH isn't interested in having issues with his sperm... So by his logic, he can avoid that by avoiding the DNA frag. It doesn't help that our fertility consultant said he didn't need it, so changing his mind would be like turning the Titanic... And it's not worth the hassle unfortunately.

When is your test day @thislittlebird ?

thislittlebird · 22/04/2023 12:56

@Kay00 definitely milk the days off! I took three days sick for EC and then worked from home the week after.

Ugh men and their sperm. We’re not lucky DH has an obvious problem, so at least he’s been unable to avoid it. Some consultants really don’t help matters either, it’s an expensive process and you want to maximise the outcome. The times we’ve been told ICSI will overcome all sperm ills and it’s just not true.

Test day is Wednesday. I really don’t know what to do, I have a busy couple of days at work and don’t know whether to wait until those days are over and I’m finished for the day on Wednesday night. Usually I’ve caved and tested the day/night before because my body has given me reason to. A couple of times my period has started before test day, but hopefully I’m on so much progesterone that that won’t happen this time.

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thislittlebird · 22/04/2023 12:57

I meant to type ‘BUT at least that means he can’t avoid it’, which would make more sense

I’m planning some gardening for early or Mid May, hoping the weather picks up soon.

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JeanieJ · 22/04/2023 13:55

@Kay00 I really recommend the DNA frag test & also seeing a urologist if you can.
If we hadn't have done it last year, I firmly believe we would have walked into a standard IVF cycle & it would have gone badly.
For us, getting the result gave us answers as we were 'unexplained' before & it helped us figure out a way to help resolve things before doing ICSI. I'm still not out of the woods with this pregnancy, but I really think that I've only got this far because of that test & everything that happened after.

And, if your partners results are normal, then at least you know.
x

JeanieJ · 22/04/2023 13:56

@Kay00 also our fertility consultant totally dismissed dna frag test too & said we can just jump straight into icsi instead of trying to resolve it.
V annoying.
x

thislittlebird · 25/04/2023 16:21

Another negative test for me. I could have sworn implantation had happened or was attempted. I felt like I did last time, when I had the chemical. Started spotting the same time too, but negative test. The only time I’ve achieved implantation was when on prednisone, so I need to hope I get a PGT-A embryo and another chance.

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Kay00 · 25/04/2023 23:00

@thislittlebird 😞 meh! I'm so sorry you had a negative test. What day did you feel implantation? And what day is it now? Could it still be too early?