Assisted conception and the bits inbetween Part Two!.......

[spook]

Hi everyone.
New thread starts here....

HI ladies

RB & LL thanks for thinking about me. I am 22 wks PG as of yday. It is going fast, but sometimes not fast enough. I have a small for date baby (AGAIN) one of the side effects of IVF, but also more likely to be a result of the genetics of the egg donor. Anyway, all seems fine and I have another scan at 30wks to see how big/small etc and all that malarkey.

Not feeling quite so pants as I did.

Right -- so on to IVF drugs... my fave subject.

heidi - the low progesterone is indeed one of the reasons why the MC's. I have no ovaries and have taken every single drug going to sustain my PG's. If your Progesterone is low, then the injections are a good thing. Keeping fingers crossed for you.

Having been on this journey for 10 yrs, you tend to get a feel for what seems to be missing from people's drug cycles and progesterone, steroids and aspirin are likely required to help sustain in quite a lot of cases. I guess, I have seen this through years of observing other people's cycles and then seeing what consultants eventually come to a conclusion on.

LL -- I haven't known many people to use pregnyl during the 2WW, mainly because the cons seem to be worried about false positives. However normally your body metabolises it within 48hrs. so it depends how often it would need to be taken. I took ALOT of progesterone, 1 cyclogest pessary, plus 1ml injection of progesterone, which is important during luteal phase as you stated. I only took pregnyl or HcG injections upon my BFP to help sustain the pregnancy. However, no idea what my levels were cos no one took them! A lot of women do have luteal phase defect, without realising it. One of my colleagues has just been diagnosed with it after 3 recurrent MC's

Your lining sounds good. Mine was about 14mm 1wk before ET and then grew up to 21mm just before ET. I really, really do think a good rich lining helps with implantation and why progesterone is really important and I wish more clinics would test the levels before/during the 2ww to adjust medication to give the embie and woman a chance. (RANT OVER!)

re FF.. i didn't use FF during either of my cycles, I found it a bit to cloying, But I did get great support from Babycentre IVF and fertility treatments boards and have made some great friends there.

Hugs to all and I will be keeping a close eye on this board to ensure you are all doing fine

Oh Lottie you poor thing, but don't panic - your embryologist said they are pleased with the progress and remember in the end you really only need one embryo. Work can take a back seat for the moment - how about you take a walk in the sunshine and try not to worry about it?

Thiking of you xx.

Hey Lottie Chin Up Love. It's not over yet. Those two embies are doing their very best for you and DH. Are you due for ET tomorrow? I hope the little chaps are multiplying like good little embies and are absorbing all the right nutrients from you. Please try to keep yourself calm. The extra adrenaline is not be good for the embies. Or for you for that matter. Of course it's a blow for you but hang in there. Science and IVF is a wonderful thing. Nature sometimes makes conception seem like the easiest thing in the world. Idiots can get themselves up the duff without even realising the chances of conception. We mortals try and try our hardest and the old adage is true sometimes the harder you try the less likely you'll be happy with the outcome. We are all here for you day and night. Confide your worst fears and have a cry when you need to. Bottling it up (which I am guilty of) doesn't help. I usually end up spilling my emotional guts at the most inopportune momemt. Like this morning when a colleague said they "are always here to help" me, except he is only available for a couple of mornings a week and I always seem to have pressing matters to give priority to when he IS in the building and could discuss the file with me. I tell you I don't know why I ended up doing residential conveyancing as a profession. Its very stressful for the Conveyancer (me). I'm sure my Clients think that my job is stressfree and it's only them who feel out of the loop and unable to "make things happen". I don't get to take long lunches or leave the office at 3.30pm on a Friday afternoon. I work bloody hard and I am nearly always the one person left in the office after the office closes. Who said the conveyancing markert was suffering a depression? Mayve they meant I am suffering from depression!

Is DH flying back to be with you tomorrow at ET? I hope so. You'll feel so much better having a cuddle and with his support. How is he getting on with the new, new job?

Don't stress about the presentation that didn't happen. Take some time for yourself today. I hope you are physically feeling OK. I'll be thinking of you for tomorrow.

Hi Heidi how are you today? Are you still having period pains? are you still spotting? I am thinking about you and hoping this IUI works for you.

lottie i am relieved to hear you say that your first cycyle after the IVF cycle didn't feel right. That it exactly how i feel physically. I have have period pains for 12 days now. I still have a tiny bit of spotting and TMI warning: I feel dry down below and don't at all fancy sex with my Darling DH. In fact I don't think he fancies any babydancing either. I thought I would want to try TTC naturally between IVFs but now the time is here my heart isn;t in it? anyone else feel like that?

A big hello to GILLY Hope you're doing ok. How have you been since you found out it had not worked this time?

Que sera sera indeedy. Don't beat yourself up. None of us adults are perfect. We all still made it. I know of someone who had twins from blasts and she still wonders what would have happened to the third blast which the doctors said was only at 97 cells!!!! some people are never satisfied!!

Sending you calm chilled vibes for tomorrow. The Acu is a great idea. I might consider that myself next time around.

Hello to dharma and pinkie and NPA and everyone on this thread. It's only bloody Friday (Scott Mills, Radio 1) and I am going out with DH and two friends tonight for a chinese meal. Will definitely need a nice glass of Rose after the day i've had.

Have a great weekend all.

LL good luck for ET tomorrow. keep as positive as possible and don't give up hope just yet. I heard today a friend is having twins from her 1 3day embie transfer, seems they will be ID twins and it was a med quality embie and her DH has male factor... it can and does happen. Please take heart and try not to be too stressed tomorrow. keeping fingers crossed for you. The Acu WILL help destress, it really, really helped me

hugs to the rest of you xxx

Hi lottie, I think that's a lovely thing your dh said there about not giving up on your little embies. Please try and relax as much as you can, I'm sure the acu is gonna help with that. Ivf seems to work in strange way sometimes and I have heard of quite a few people who didn't conceive on a good cycle but then got pg with only one embrio in a much less promising cycle, so don't you give up yet!
All the best for tomorrow!!

NPA - great idea to take a walk in the sunshine. I'll have to try that today!

LL - my heart goes out to you! Huge hugs. Please keep us posted, and here's to cell division!!!

I don't know what is going on with me... I'm usually on the optimistic side, but after IUI this morning, I wanted to walk out crying. I really have no reason to be sad - I suppose things went well, DH's count was way above normal for him... but I get this sense of foreboding - like it's not going to work this time either. Think I'm going to take a break from MN for a week or so to help the tww go faster. I was disappointed that neither DH or I had any questions for the doc today - cause we know the drill, just struck me as sad.

Just want to curl up in front of a fireplace with a big blanket and hot cocoa, but I'm sure a walk in the sunshine would do me even more good.

Love and baby dust to all - I'll be back when I lose my will power to stay away, LOL! I keep hoping for marvelous news for you all!

Popping on quickly to say good luck for tomorrow Lottie.

Sorry can't post more but have to be up at 6am for my scan tomorrow.

Good luck today, Lottie, and I hope your 2WW goes well Islegrin. Stepping away from the computer for a bit sounds very sensible, and best of luck!

Thinking of you today Lottie. As the others have said you only need 1, so fingers crossed. Also my clinic told me that there is no difference in success rates between grade 1 and grade 2 embies.

Re scanning. My clinic do baseline on day 3 of cycle before starting dr on first attempt to assess drug dosage, then dr scan 2 weeks after starting dr with aim of starting stims that evening, then first stim scan on day 5 of stims. After that they generally scan every other day until ready, but I had an extra on day 6 because they were unsure if my dose needed to change. Apparently the clinic that has the best official HFEA results cheats - don't know where that is - so if true my clinic would be the real best one in the UK. No idea whether the extra scans make a difference. Certainly gave me a lot of stress when I thought I was overresponding and my dose didn't actually change until Thursday which was day 8. However I may have been equally stressed not knowing if anything was happening until later.

Islegrin - keeping my fingers crossed for you on the 2ww. I've got teary in the room after IUI before too. Blame it on those hormones. Understand you wanting to step away - I'll probably do the same in my 2ww.

They're pretty sure that I'll be having EC on Monday, but waiting for blood results to confirm. The one concern is that my lining was 9mm on Tuesday, 8.6 on Thursday and 8 today, but I haven't bled at all and my hormone levels have been rising so they think it's just different angles on the scan. They're more worried though because same sonographer has done all 3 and 'she's very good'. Just remembered that the sonographer did say I had excellent blood flow around the endometrium though. Was also panicking because (tmi - warning) my CM has changed from EW to the post-ov stuff, but nurse said that was normal. Left ovary has finally woken up. I now have 6 follies at or above 1.8, 13 between 0.9 and 1.6 and 9 too small to record. Getting excited now as nurse said it was a really good picture, still keeping feet firmly on ground though as egg quality could be rubbish and silver lining on that cloud is at least I'd know and could get on egg donation register. Forgot to ask about the GA versus sedation though. Sorry going into loads of detail - you can tell I'm doing this alone and don't have anyone else with whom to talk follicle sizes.

Hi everyone else.

Hi guys

Lottie -- glad to hear all went well and you're feeling a bit better about everything. Everyone is right...you only need one and your two little guys sound like they've got the docs behind them... so stay positive

Thanks for the concern flibbertywidget and KC11 I had a progesterone jab on Thurs, Fri and today...they hurt quite a bit, the buggers. However, TMI ahead --
I'm still bleeding quite heavily...more than just spotting

My hgc on Thur was 48...and I bought a home preg test for the weekend and this morning I had a faint line in the positive section...so whatever is going on I seem to still have enough HGC in me [hmmm]

I go for more blood tests tomorrow and hopefully the doc won't suddenly decide to stop trying to save the pregnancy because he's worried he may be helping an ectopic... I really don't want another d&c...and know that no matter what happens the docs are probably going to call off next month's cycle

Anyway, trying to stay hopeful for tomorrow and will come on and update once I know more

have a good weekend

I'm having a freaking nervous breakdown!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I called the clinic at 13:15pm to check on my blood test from this morning. Nurse said Beta gone down from 48 to 16. Nurse wouldn't say what this means for next month either. She says I have to wait a week to have another beta and then once it's down to 0 I can talk to a doc.

I knew it was a long shot that this one would work out. I knew there wasn't much hope...and yet I still fell apart.

Then the phone rang at 14:30. It was the nurse -- she was all excited. She said the lab just called. they were getting funny results on one of their machines so they ran the tests from this morning again on another machine and my beta is actually up to 367!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I just burst into tears...and the nurse said she's starting to cry with me. Then she said that she was so excited to tell me that she didn't ask the doctor when I needed to come back, So I was put on hold and then she came back and said I need to come back on Thursday and in the meantime keep up with the progesterone jabs and Endometrin until then.

Of course, I'm still bleeding more than simple spotting so I'm worried that some of the blood is going to come out with whatever bean is growing there...so who knows what tomorrow will bring...but for now I'm still pregnant...with a good beta increase. Now all I need is to stop bleeding.

The rollar coaster ride continues!!! Can you believe it??

Hi ladies

LL --- great news on the embies, am rooting for you..

heidiSOMFG at your clinic. Good news on the HcG. There are some possibilities about the bleeding. You could be just one of those people who bleed, you could have a cyst on the ovary which is causing the bleeding. take heart sweetie. Fingers crossed that everything works out.

gilly -- all your feelings are so normal and needed, IVF is a pleasure and pain journey and you need to ensure you grieve and let it all out. I still have jealousy swings. I know we wont be able to afford anymore IVF and I would love to have a brood of kids. It makes me mad when I hear/see people taking pg for granted et etc.

remember we are all here for all of you..

hugs to everyone that needs them... xxx and apologies for all that I have forgotten!
xxxxx

Wow Heidi - what a day! Great that your levels are increasing nicely and really hope the bleeding stops for you soon.

LL - great news on your two embies. Fingers crossed for you. Glad they've upped your progesterone. I have 2 pessaries per day so was worried when you said you only had one. Yes the other clinic was the ARGC - apparently they actually have 2 clinics and only allow the good patients into ARGC and the not so good ones are treated next door. My lining had to be 8mm so I'm right on the line, but thanks for the link as I'm feeling better now that I'm 2mm out of the danger zone.

Sending lots of positive sticky vibes to both of you.

RB - how are you doing in Hungary? I'm getting a little nervous about EC tomorrow now.

Gilly - does a warm laptop count instead a hot water bottle . Don't worry about not having had a full out sob - it'll come when you're ready.

Can't believe this time tomorrow I'll know if there are any eggies in those follies and 12 hours later some may have fertilised. Best go now, been neglecting my friend, who's come up for EC. Take care all and hello to everyone not mentioned.