One year+ TTC part 4

[lemons44]

Hi all
Onto thread 4! Hopefully this one is lucky for us 🍀 🤞🏼

Just a supportive thread for those of us who have been TTC for over a year. New faces are welcome. Feel free to vent, cry, laugh, ask silly questions, seek advice and talk about anything.

Tagging our BFP ladies who are rooting for us too.

@Tinkerbell098
@NatW2021
@Koalie
@Netflixnchilli
@JSS15
@BakinABaby
@KatieLooLa
@Indianna2006
@Carla2601
@BritInNZ
@FlyOnTheWall89

Feel free to tag anyone I have forgotten.

Nice to see those with babies checking in. I hope you get your routine back soon @BritInNZ! And I hope that you are finding all the injections ok @lemons44?

@Koalie how did you get on at the EPAU? Hope the pain has gone away! If it helps at all I've had loads of weird pains going on, at one point it was literally IN my arse lol.

I had a private scan on Tuesday when I thought I would be 7+1. We got to see the little pea and it had a heartbeat which was just amazing. However it measured small (6+3) which the sonographer said could be due to my irregular cycles, but the thing is with tracking I'm pretty confident of my ovulation date. Of course I went home and googled it, and actually everything was saying that the measurements are usually pretty accurate for the days early on, and if it's small its not really a good sign. I was hoping everything would be perfect and I would feel confident enough to completely cancel my fertility referral in May... but now I'm just back to feeling anxious about it all!

On a side note, she did also tell me that my right ovary is polycystic! Which I am so annoyed about because my NHS scan literally came back saying both ovaries were normal. It's maddening because she showed me and its really obvious compared to the left one! I'm now left wondering whether I would have gotten my PCOS diagnosed 6 months ago if the report had been accurate.

Oh nooo @BritInNZ that sounds tough! All you can do is keep trying different things I guess … hope he settles soon. X

@JSS15 I had my scan this morning and baby is in the right place and measuring on time which was reassuring. Still got this pain which is annoying. I understand your worries. All I will say is that I’ve seen lots of people on forums in the past who have measured behind and then caught up so I have my fingers crossed for you! 🤞🏼 I have also been told by a private specialist before that one of my ovaries is polycystic which had never shown up on any of my previous, NHS scans. I don’t think it means you have PCOS though, you can have ovaries with a polycystic pattern but not have the syndrome but it’s def worth looking into if it will give you some clarity.

x

@lemons44 ah sorry I forgot you were long protocol. It seems to drag doesn't it. But 3rd of May doesn't seem too far away X

@Koalie yes sounds like trapped wind. Good to get it checked out anyway. Did you get your hCG results yet? Fingers crossed everything's fine with your little bean. I'm fine, thank you. Got our 20w scan in a couple of weeks, so looking forward to that :)

@BritInNZ aww hope things settle with your little one. I bet it's also very rewarding X

@Carla2601 glad to hear things have been good so far. Hope it continues on! Boo for having to go back to work in a couple of months. Would you go back full time? I'm feeling fine, just starting to feel some movement now, not too strong, just very light flutters sort of thing ❤

@JSS15 Sorry you are not feeling ok. I have heard the opposite regarding early scans, that they can be inaccurate at that point as they're measuring millimetres and that's so prone to error. I think if you see a good heartbeat at this stage, it's usually very promising, so don't fee disheartened. Also, how annoying that they missed to diagnose PCOS 6 months ago. Could it be that that cycle when you had the NHS scan, your ovaries were normal and it's just come on after? sorry, not an expert on PCOS, so no idea if that's even a possibility?

@Koalie glad all was ok for your scan, I hope the pain will go away soon. There's something called round ligament pain, but I'm not sure how early it happens.

That's very true I have read those stories too (think I've literally read everything at this point!!) and I'm really hoping I'll be one of those women too. I do have irregular cycles too (why I went for the NHS scan) and have slightly raised testosterone. I'm just not overweight so the GP was really dismissive of it being PCOS, and even more so after the 'normal' scan. The gynaecologist actually passed me over to the fertility specialist in January for the diagnosis after I had more blood tests - another reason I'm apprehensive to cancel the appointment in May because the results still haven't been properly interpreted for me. Very frustrating, and probably doesn't help with my anxiety to be honest.

Thanks @Tinkerbell098. I really shouldn't have read anything at all! Yes the heartbeat was obvious, though they didn't measure it. I don't know much about whether your ovaries would look normal one month vs another... but I'm thinking maybe not given it's showing up while I'm pregnant? Who knows!

That's so exciting that you are starting to feel some movement. Will you find out if you're having a boy or girl at your 20 week scan? Hope it comes round fast for you!

@JSS15 Both of my ovaries are polycystic but I haven't been given a PCOS diagnosis. Also, I was told that it can come and go? 🤷🏻‍♀️ Seems odd to me and it hasn't in my case it's just got worse 😂

Hi all,

@Koalie I'm so glad the scan went ok but sorry you are still getting this pain! Maybe it could be as simple as trapped wind? Or a pulled muscle?

@JSS15 sorry you've been a bit worried. Dr Google can just be the worst sometimes for making us go down worrying rabbit holes ☹️

@Carla2601 amazing that 4 months have passed already! Sorry work is creeping up - i can imagine that must feel hard 💗

@BritInNZ aww no! I hope this passes soon for you and he starts letting his mummy have sleep soon !

@Tinkerbell098 20 week scan 😱😱 where has that time gone?! So excited for you! Will you find out the sex?

The jabs are not too bad thank you. I am having side effects (nausea, achy ness, hormones, dizziness etc) but there is just no pattern or routine to it. It's totally random! They seem to come in short waves so I may feel sicky for an hour and then feel amazing. So it's definitely bearable.

Yesterday was the first time where I've started to feel a bit worried about it all. Thinking 'what if it doesn't work' 'what if XYZ goes wrong'.

Because we are using my husbands sperm that is frozen after being retrieved surgically, this is my biggest fear. I read a few old threads for people who have used surgically retrieved frozen sperm and two of the ladies had their eggs collected and then when the sperm was thawed to inject in the eggs, all the sperm died as it couldn't handle the thawing !! This has just put the absolute fear of god into me and I can't stop worrying about it! Some people had a thaw test on the day of sperm retrieval where they tested defrosting a bit and we never had that ☹️

So yeah I'm basically just in a bit of a worry over the whole fertilisation aspect. We have 4 vials of sperm which they said would do 2-4 round of ICSI incase some vials don't thaw well, but I'm just scared it's all going to die.

Thanks for all your kind words the other day ladies. I had a scan at the EPU today because I had bleeding at the weekend. The little pea has turned into a little bean, now almost measuring exactly where I think (2 days behind, rather than 5 like before)! I’m so relieved!

I’m sorry to read you have started to worrying about the process @lemons44. I’m sure they wouldn’t proceed with the thawing and ICSI if there wasn’t a good chance of it working, but I can totally understand why you are so worried. 4 vials sounds promising to me, but I appreciate I’m not in your situation and not very educated on the matter. Is there any chance they would freeze some of your eggs as a back up if there is a lot to collect?

Argh sorry you had a scary experience @JSS15 but so relieved all is ok for you! How are you feeling?

Thank you - I think I'm just a big worrier! Trying not to think too much about it all and just keep busy with work.

Hope everyone is doing ok 💗

Hi all, hope everybody is ok!

I had my first IVF scan today after being on 5/6 days of stims.

She said I have 19 follicles with most in the medium range but some coming up very small so may not have a mature egg and one big whopper that is already miles ahead at 20mm. She's going to speak to the doctor about the big one but thinks we need to discount it as it will likely collapse in on itself by egg collection next week.

I'm feeling a bit crampy and uncomfortable in my belly already.

How is everybody doing? xx

Hi @lemons44

That’s great news! Nice number of follicles and good that you have a decent amount in the medium range, even if you do end up losing your biggie! Keep us posted, I’m very excited for you ☺️

We’ve had an eventful last week. I had a scary bleed on Thursday night so the clinic brought my scan forward to Friday morning (I was 6+5) and luckily baby was fine and we could see the heartbeat. I have a subchorionic hematoma that covers 50% of the gestational sac. The clinic were hopeful that it would just resolve itself and cause no problems so they’ve discharged me and I’m now waiting for my first midwife appointment. We have been at 6+3 with a heartbeat before that ended in a missed miscarriage so it hasn’t given me the reassurance that it perhaps should. Just got to keep our fingers crossed that this bubba sticks around 🤞🏼

I have also been incredibly nauseous which has just been relentless so they prescribed me some anti sickness meds. I took one on Monday afternoon and felt progressively worse all day until I actually threw up and couldn’t keep any food or drink down so it seems as though the meds did the opposite which is annoying. Feeling more human now but back to the constant nausea which I can’t seem to get away from 🤢 feeling so so grateful to be pregnant after all this time, but this is hard. If anyone has any tips or tricks to help get me through this first trimester, I’d be eternally grateful 🙏🏼😁

Hope everyone else is doing well. Thinking of you all xx

@lemons44 Wow that sounds like a great number! I'll be starting stims tonight (I hope) and then my first monitoring scan will be Friday or Saturday.

@Koalie Sorry to hear about your scare :( I'm glad they know where the bleed is coming from though and that they feel like it will resolve itself. Fingers crossed your wee one keeps growing 😄

Gosh how frightening for you @Koalie having to bring the scan forward. I didn't know what a subchorionic hematoma was but just googled it. It must just feel like such an anxious time in itself let alone feeling rubbish with nausea!
I have read that ginger biscuits help. I'm sure others on here may have a better idea than me though. Really hope you start to feel better soon and I am keeping everything crossed for no more scares.
Do you mind me asking how many follicles you had an how many eggs this resulted in?

@TheBirdintheCave we will be stim buddies!! Let me know how your first one goes. My DH has done all of mine as I'm a wimp. xx

Thank you @TheBirdintheCave … good luck with your stims! Do keep us posted? 🤭

@lemons44 thank you. Luckily, I did know what a hematoma was, as someone I follow on instagram had one with her IVF pregnancy so it was the first thing I said to my husband when we saw the blood.
So re my follicles, at my first scan I had 22 follicles on my right ovary and 17 on my left. I was petrified that my ovaries would burst. I ended up with 18 eggs. But don’t forget, lots of follicles doesn’t necessarily mean more eggs. And lots of eggs doesn’t necessarily mean more blasts. It’s more about quality than quantity. I’ve read about people who have loads of eggs retrieved and end up with no blasts and others who end up with 1 egg retrieved that resulted in a healthy pregnancy. I had also read that if you have too many, they don’t have enough space to grow or mature properly so the preference is to have somewhere in between like you do. I also developed OHSS which wasn’t fun and meant I had to wait another 3 months before I could do my transfer.

Hope this is helpful. I think it’s important at this stage to just try and trust the process and not get too hung up on the numbers (maybe easier said than done.) Happy to answer any more questions you have lovely xx

@Koalie They make you wait three months if you get OHSS?? 😭 I swear to god I'll jump off a bridge or something if someone tells me I have to wait even longer.

@TheBirdintheCave If you develop OHSS and then fall pregnant, the HCG exacerbates the OHSS and can make you so so poorly. It’s possible you could end up in hospital for a chunk of your first trimester so you def don’t want to go ahead with a transfer if you have or are at risk of OHSS. That being said, its pretty rare so I wouldn’t worry, I am sure you’ll be fine and able to have your transfer straight away (I know this is usually a clinic’s preferred option.) The only reason it was a 3 month wait for me was because I did a medicated FET so I down reg’d first. If your clinic recommended a natural FET then it’d only be 2 xx

@Koalie I'm high risk for it unfortunately :( The phrase 'likely a freeze all cycle' has been used once or twice by my clinic.

@TheBirdintheCave oh really? Have they said why? X

@Koalie It's cos I have polycystic ovaries so they expect me to over respond to the drugs.

Turns out I can't start tonight as the clinic said my period started one hour too late yesterday for them to consider it CD1. They're calling today CD1. I am cross. Feel like I should have just lied about it now.

@TheBirdintheCave I think I have polycystic ovaries too .. I have been told once before in the past. I also must say that I don’t think my body was ready for transfer after all the stims. My clinic would have gone ahead with the transfer if I hadn’t asked for a scan to check for OHSS just before they were due to transfer. I was in a bit of pain so I asked them to check which they did and found fluid around my ovaries. During the scan I asked what thickness my lining was and it was only 7.5mm (they like it to be at least 10mm) so I do wonder whether the transfer would have been successful if they had transferred straight away - I may have ended up wasting an embryo due to my body not being ready so even though I had to wait longer, I’m pleased that I did xx

Omg @Koalie was you not super uncomfortable with that many follicles?! I already feel so uncomfortable. This might be TMI but for me it almost feels crampy like you get with trapped wind 😳
Yes that is very true about the numbers. I am eating the best I have ever eaten so hoping my eggs get big and juicy.

Oh I forgot to say! I was so worried about my lining as when I had a scan as part of our fertility assessments last year it was 5.1 on day 27 (day before AF!) so should have been at its thickest! So for the past 10 days or so I am having a daily power walk for one hour to boost circulation and my lining today was 7.2 😊 i felt really proud of myself when she told me that as I sat in the chair legs akimbo grinning at my own power walk success haha

@TheBirdintheCave oh noooo that is SO annoying. I totally get your frustration. It seems silly but I guess they have to put the cut off somewhere.

@lemons44 haha! Well done mate! I did the same, but two smaller walks a day and every time I got up from my desk to go for a wee I would do some hip circles to get the blood flowing lol. & yes I was pretty uncomfortable by the end. I don’t remember it being crampy, just really bloated and full. I was tip toeing everywhere cause I was petrified they were all going to ovulate early and I even put a sign at the bottom of the stairs saying WALK to remind myself not to run up them 😂 x

@lemons44 aww glad to hear everything's going well so far with stims, follicles and lining. you'll be done soon, so just hang in there!

@Koalie glad they found the cause of the bleeding, I can imagine it being such a scary experience. Fingers crossed it will sort itself out. I've been on threads where similar has happened to so many ladies, but everything's turned out fine with the baby, so I'm sure your little one will hang in there nice and cosy. Sorry don't have any tips on sickness as I escaped all of it luckily. Didn't feel that lucky at the start as having no symptoms in my head meant something was wrong. Hope it eases off for you take plenty of rest when needed X

Hi ladies xx I hope it's okay to join. It's been about 14 months of trying for me. One cycle was IVF and that also failed. I'm currently in my fertile window of a natural cycle before the next IVF round. DH has low sperm and every conception we've had has been a chemical. TTC is really, really tough. It's a numbers game and it sucks. I hope you're all doing okay xx

@lemons44 how are you getting on with stims? Hope it's not been too bad. Assuming your egg collection will be this week? Good luck hope everything goes smoothly X