IVF Buddies: the next chapter

[RunningOnHope]

Hi everyone, thought I'd try making us a second thread now the old one is done -

Tagging @Triselly @lemons44 @CR7 @Flowerlover010 @pongom @WholeZebra @TheBirdintheCave @SarahShorty - will go back to the thread and see if there's anyone else to add in, but do tag those I've missed!

@TheBirdintheCave I hope they do too. I sure they would. AF arrived for me with full force last night, had to take codeine to deal with the pain. The weren't joking when they warned it could be intense. Glad it's arrived and will hopefully be out the way for holiday at least. Hope you're having a lovely weekend with family

@charja100 We're just on the road now! :) Got a long drive ahead of us but a delicious chippy tea waiting for us when we get there 😬

Sorry your AF is a painful one :( I'm really not looking forward to mine 😅

I'm really worried about AF this time. OTD is Tuesday but pretty much just given up. It's probably for the best anyway. Just hoping I'm not out on site when it starts.

Really jealous of your holiday. I had one when I first started medication but wishing I'd planned it for afterwards instead.

@DopeyS Any particular reason you think you're out? X

I just done really feel anything, apart from a few twinges that feel like my period trying to start which obviously would have been within the last few days. I just feel like the whole process has just been failure after failure for me. Three rounds of IVF and one embryo to show for it

So test day today and ended up testing at about quarter to 5. It was negative. I just felt it would be. We've decided to have a break for a bit. Although that worries me as I'm 36, 37 in December. But our first appointment was basically 5.5 years ago and just need some time to enjoy life and not worry about it all and see where we go from there.

@DopeyS I'm so sorry xx

@DopeyS I'm 36 in November, so I'm just a year younger. Although admittedly I've not been as long on this crapfest of a journey. DH and I have pledged to continue trying naturally until my periods stop. It's so so shit.

@SarahShorty it's so difficult isn't it. We've never been able to try naturally. It's so hard seeing so many people having kids though.

@DopeyS honestly it's the pits. There's a pregnant woman at my work, and I avoid her as much as possible. AF paid a visit last week so I've been extra snappy. Fortunately we don't work in the same department, so I don't see her every day. Apart from HR and the managing director, I'm the only female in my department, so the only risk is finding out about the guys becoming dads.

I work to live, so my attitude has always been 'Go in, do the job and go home. Leave all the personal shit at the door.' I also have zero friends in real life, which helps immensely. I'd much rather be lonely than hear/see pregnancy announcements a dozen times a year. I'm a big believer in fate. It'll all work out in the end even if you don't get what you wanted.

@DopeyS I've finally had success after a long long road and I'm 42 so don't worry too much about age. I'll be 43 when the baby arrives hopefully xx

Hello ladies, it's been a while so thought I'd check in and see how all your summers are going/where treatments are.

I hope everyone who had disappointments last month is doing alright, I've been a bit quiet here recently but thinking about you all ❤️

@CR7 How are you doing at the moment? Do you have a bump yet? Xx

I've had a bit of a rough few weeks - was working all hours of the day in July to save up for next round's meds, then managed to catch the flu really quite brutally. I was laid up in bed for 2 weeks, and still not back to normal 🤒. I'm due to start stims again in about a week or so, absolutely dreading it and worried about whether the flu will damage my chances etc...

Anyway. In we dive again 😅😭 xxx

@Triselly Still waiting here. I had my baseline scan (which my clinic do the cycle BEFORE the transfer cycle??) last week so just waiting for AF to start the next FET. I'm only just ovulating now at CD24 because I caught Covid last weekend 🙄

I'm sorry you've been ill as well :( I think if there were any issues post flu then the clinic would tell you not to do it, but if they're still keen to go ahead then they must be confident that it won't affect anything 😊

@TheBirdintheCave @Triselly so sorry to hear you've both been poorly but excited that you're getting ready to start again xx

@Triselly got a bump yes, feeling good. Am 20 weeks now, scan tomorrow.

I know it's mega daunting. I did everything and then some, but hopefully it will all be worth it xx

@CR7 20 weeks already! Omg where has that time gone??

I know. I feel like it's dragged ha. But I'm sure it hasn't x

@CR7 goodness! 20 weeks - time has flown.
@Triselly and @TheBirdintheCave hoping for nice smooth sailings this round for you both! Sorry you’ve been unwell :(.

All good my end - 10 weeks and struggling with the constant sickness. Does seem to be relieving a little now. Have another appointment with the midwife tomorrow.

Sorry to hear about those of you who have been unwell, but hopefully you get all the illness out of the way before your next cycles start. Good luck for the coming weeks!

I’m currently 13 weeks, I went for a private scan yesterday as my 12 scan with NHS isn’t until next Wednesday (I’ll be 14 weeks 😩) but all was good, baby was in there wiggling around! It’s starting to feel a bit more real now. I think my husband is starting to panic a bit 🤣 I still haven’t had a face to face appointment with a midwife, but that will be after my holiday now. The NHS have been really slow off the mark so I felt a bit in limbo between the clinic and the doctors for a while.

@WholeZebra sorry to hear about your morning sickness, I’ve been really lucky and had very few symptoms, however after my loss last time I think I’d rather have some kind of symptoms and then at least I have something to monitor (I’m sure I wouldn’t be saying that if I felt sick everyday though) hope the sickness subsides soon for you! 🤞🏻

@CR7 wow 20 weeks! That’s amazing! Hope all is going well! When is your due date? It must all be feeling very real for you now!

@KG96 @WholeZebra I can't believe how far along you both are either! :D Glad you're doing ok!

@CR7 @WholeZebra @KG96 oh my I forgot we had more success stories! That is wonderful, although sorry to hear you've been struggling with sickness. I've heard that dealing with infertility takes away some of the excitement of pregnancy, have you guys found this? No need to answer if you'd rather not of course ❤️

@TheBirdintheCave So sorry to hear you've been sick as well! It's just never ending isn't it? My period has been completely all over the place too, whether due to illness or missing a tube 🤷🏼‍♀️ Please let us know how it goes with your FET etc!

Xxx

@Triselly no sickness at all over here.

You're right that indefinitely feel more is riding on this.

Also, non ivf pregnancies are only discovered by a missed period so those early stressful weeks don't exist. My sister found out a couple of weeks after her missed period (was never regular) started taking supplements and that was it. Wildly different to my journey xx

@Triselly what I can say is that the anxiety I thought I would have, I haven't. I am anxious before a scan, defo. I went for my 20 weeks scan this morning and haven't felt relaxed for days because of it. The relief after is massive.

I'm just taking it a day at a time. Refusing to buy any baby stuff but have done some research and I've got ideas what I'd like xx

@Triselly I was really excited the first time I found out I was pregnant. I’d never seen a line on a test before and I guess I’d never really thought about what happens after you see that line. I felt like that was almost the finish line and I felt like I’d finally got there!
But then I found out I’d miscarried, I went for a scan at 11 weeks and they told me that there was nothing there, just an empty sac that was measuring around 7 weeks.
Although the news was hard to take in, I tried not to let it get to me. After I’d gone through the medically managed miscarriage I rang the clinic and booked back in to start the ball rolling for our frozen transfer. It didn’t take. So then we were on to round 2.
I definitely felt more apprehensive the second time. It was our final free round so I was worried how many eggs/embryos we would get.
When it came to test day there was a faint line but I convinced myself it must be a chemical.
I’ve definitely been much more apprehensive this time round. I haven’t been very willing to saying I’m pregnant and I’ve monitored every tiny symptom (and I haven’t had many to monitor) I think the combination of the infertility and the loss have taken the edge off the excitement for me. Even seeing it wiggle around at 13 weeks I still feel a bit numb about it all. I think going through fertility treatment really makes you see another side to it all and you get used to putting on a brave face all the time.
Sorry that was a bit of a ramble.

After the infertility and the losses I have terrible anxiety during pregnancies, I just go out of my mind with worry as I'm always completely convinced everything is going to go wrong. I don't know how I'll react if this next FET takes.

@Triselly I’m still finding it really difficult to believe. It just still doesn’t feel real. But then I don’t know if I’d be the same if I had gotten pregnant naturally… Who knows?!