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

[spook]

Hi everyone.
New thread starts here....

LL - great news I see you couldn't wait til tomorrow How are you feeling? Any early pregnancy symptoms (apart from not wanting alcohol)?

Yeah - early days drag so much. What are bewbies?

Doh - oh i c I have massive bogies in pregnancy

Sorry for the rushed selfish message - hope you are well....?

I'm at work so need to be quick - I got a BFP this morning OMG?!!!!

Shitting myself - at least we know the answer to whether DH is firing live ones following his chemo!!

In shock!

Oh Mowmi congratulations at your BFP! You must be in complete shock! I'm keeping my fingers crossed that you have a happy and healthy pregnancy after all you've been through

Also want to say congrats to Issy and RowingBoat on their BFPs (and to Lottie and her 3+ BFP again ).

I also wanted to formally say hello to all you other lovely ladies. I've been a lurker on this thread (and part one ) while me and my DH went through all the various tests. We've now got a male factor diagnosis (low sperm count due to testicular cancer in the past) and we're officially starting IVF/ICSI, as I start my downreg sniffing drugs next Sat 23rd May. If all goes well I should be doing my stim injections two weeks from today. Which makes me madly excited but also nervous and scared. Reading all of your experiences has really helped and inspired me (and my DH when I've told him about the ups and downs on this thread) so I hope you don't mind me barging in and rambling on!

Also, I have a quick question for Lottie: I've been seeing an acupuncturist in North London but it's 5 element (like the Kite clinic) rather than TCM but my practitioner knows nothing about IVF. I'm getting kind of sick of paying £50 a pop to be told my pulses are strong and to keep drinking 2.5l of water (which I do anyway) and am starting to worry about what help he'll actually be on ET day. Then I saw you recommend the Balance Clinic. Since you've tried both 5 element and TCM (I'm such a stalker !) I'd like to know whether you rate the Balance Clinic over the 5 element type? I spoke to Ian at Balance and he seems not just professional but very understanding about the whole IVF journey but I feel bad about "dumping" the guy in North London (which I know is foolish, maybe I can blame my Irish Catholic guilt ).

Anyway, enough rambling, happy Friday to all

Mowmi that's fantastic news! How lovely for you.

mowmi WOW!! What great news!!!!
CONGRATULATIONS!!!
(I was only checking on here to see how lottie was doing, have a nice time in Zurich btw )

Hi all

Well I'm 9 days post transfer (11 days post egg collection) and just couldn't resist testing...and it's negative - PAH! Am feeling a little disheartened, although I do realise it's pretty early days yet for testing. Ugh, here's hoping that my period keeps away and I get a positive when I test next week.

Congratulations Rowingboat and Mowmi - such fantastic news . Take it easy now both of you.

Thanks everyone for the congrats.

Lottie - Have fun in Zurich and congrats on the 3+. I'm going to wait ages before I test again, I got my 2-3 this morning but only after 3 sleepless hours after getting a 1-2 in the middle of the night. I swear I wee water!

FLIP ME don't post for two days and more BFP's

RB - sending you lots of baby sticky dust. I had pink tinge CM and cramping and put it down to implantation bleed. The implantation can be quite intense and the changes in the uterus really painful early on -- well done your embies.... xxx

Mowmi -- good god girl. So pleased for you. You are gonna be so nervous, but try and relax and chill as much as possible. really hope this one is the one for you. See what the power of Zita does? just dusting off those books... LOL

ll -- good news on the CB.. hopefully you can start to think and feel that you are PG now. Tiredness is immense in early PG. It is horrific and I felt like I had been steam rollered. I didn't get bewbies.. but got really painful ones and hooge nips that had a mind of their own. have a nice weekend in Zurich with DH.

emzib - keeping fingers crossed for you and sending hugs xx

issy PMSL at you constantly POAS I did the same and gave myself an ulcer worrying... sending you hugs xx

have a great weekend all xxx

thank you ladies!! your lovely messages mean a lot...yes we're massively in shock!
I kept feeling tingles in my boobs so it was in the back of my mind - noticed I had a test in the cupboard so thought what the eck!
I so thought it was going to come up not pregnant so much so I that I didn't really believe it - bought another and did it when I got to work - it came with 1-2 weeks!
Spoken to the clinic and they don't want me to do anything other than have a scan on the 3 June. They said if I want a HCG blood test to speak to my GP. Seeing GP on Tuesday so will discuss then.
Feeling surprisingly calm... think it's the shock!
I nearly spent £3k on flights to NZ and Australia for Xmas yesterday but I had a query with one of the stop overs so held back thinking I'd book it today!! Thank heavens for queries!!
Cannot believe we got pregnant naturally!

EMZIB - It's not over yet...try and keep your chin up.

Issy and Lottie - well done on moving up the indicator!!

Caitni - We have done 2x ICSI due to testicular cancer - we've just been given all clear to try again naturally (12 months since end of chemo) but we didn't know whether he would still be fertile (he had slightly low normality score before he was diagnosed). looks like we've got our answer. Hope you hit the jackpot very soon!

Thanks again everyone

Thank you for your good wishes. I hope this is going to work out, but the bleeding is heavier now and I have passed a couple of clots. I emailed the doctor and he said to take more progesterone to see if it slowed the bleeding and to get some rest.
My lovely DP is being very positive and trying to cheer me up and I intend to test again on Monday to see if I still have something left after all the bleeding - that's if this doesn't develop into a full-blown AF/MC.
It all makes everything seem so surreal all this.
I will keep you posted. Have to go for a lie-down now. How boring!

mowmi congratulations, I'm so happy for you. Really really surprised (not as surprised as you though!) and pleased for you and your DH.

Also congratulations to Lottie, although rather belated ones, I've been in and out of MN recently and missed your announcement. So pleased for you too, am sure all will be fine for you.

And congratulations to everyone else too - am off to read the thread and catch up on everything and everybody now properly!

I'm due to start downregging at my new clinic in about a month for my next IVF cycle. The good news is that my AMH level has been tested at 14, which is pretty good and looks better than my FSH level, so I don't feel so panicky about time running out now (am 40 in December). Onwards and upwards!

Congratulations on your bfp rowingboat! hope your bleeding is easing, I'm sure lying down and getting plenty of rest is the best thing you can do right now. Wishing you all the best!

Congratulations to you mowmi too, I'm relatively new to this board so don't know your full story but it sounds like you and your dh have been through a lot lately and it's great that you managed to get pg naturally now. what a lovely surprise!!

Hope your next test is gonna be BFP emzib, you were testing quite early so I wouldn't worry too much. Good luck!

Welcome Caitni, this is a very supportive thread and it's great to be able to chat to people who understand what you're going through. Not long to dr now. This is my 1st ivf and I have to say so far everything has been much easier than I have feared so no need to worry. I think the hardest bit really will be the 2ww.

How was the appartment lottie? I went to zurich on a weekend trip once and really liked it, having the lake in the middle of the town is just brilliant, and I saw people swim in the river in summer! And then there's the chocolate!! It must be a really exciting time for you, being pregnant and moving away to a different place. Your acupuncturist sounds great, did your clinic allow him to come along then? did they have a special room there or how does that work exactly? I had acupuncture before my iuis but I found the rushing around between appointments a bit stressful tbh so your solution sounds perfect.

I am slowly becoming much better at the injections and I have to admit it's true what everyone is saying: it isn't that painful, I hardly feel a thing. It is just psychological, I felt quite dizzy after the first jab and had to lie down for a bit but now I'm ok with it. The hardest part is the whole mixing bit and making sure I manage to draw everything up with the needle. They have put me on gonal-f and menopur. I went for my first blood test this morning and they upped my dose of menopur so I guess my response hasn't been brilliant. Just hope I won't be a bad responder, I will have my first scan on monday so will know more after that.

Hi ladies

Thanks for your words of welcome

Mowmi I'm still smiling at your news. What a way to find out that your DH is still fertile! Tis the power of Zita as Flibberty says

Duplo as a fellow first timer I'm glad to hear you say that everything's easier than you expected. Well done on managing the injections - sounds like you're handling it really well . And try not to stress about them upping your dose. I've been told the whole point of the scans/bloods when stimming is to tweak the injections to try to avoid under- or over-response so it sounds like they're on top of things. Fingers crossed for your scan tomorrow. What clinic are you with?

Lottie thanks for the tips re 5 element vs TCM...I think I'd like to be able to speak to someone experienced in IVF who's not a medical person so Balance may be good. I'm glad to hear you're feeling calmer - those conception indicators are the work of the devil but yet I'm sure the reassurance is invaluable . Hope you had a lovely weekend with your DH (and enjoyed flat hunting!). Any symptoms yet?

OAP great news on your AMH result! I had mine tested too and was very nervous while waiting for it (as I had elevated estradiol levels that could have been masking my "true" FSH). And it's great that you'll be downregging so soon.

Issy Yay that you got the 2-3 weeks . Sounds like quite a stressful night of testing so am glad you got the right result . And good idea to wait a little while before testing again...I hope the time flies til your scan!

RB I hope that things are better with you. Your DP sounds so supportive, which must help. Fingers crossed that things go well and those embies stay snug.

EMZIB sorry to hear of your BFN but I echo everyone else - I hope it was just too early to test. I hope you get a good result when you test again

Gilly good news that the first tranche of tests came back negative (your GP sounds excellent btw). I also have short cycles (usually 23-25 days) and have never had a satisfactory answer why, other than ovulating early (ovulating early is apparently why my day 3 estradiol levels were higher than normal). My sisters also have short cycles (and neither of them has had any fertility problems) so I try to not stress about it. Moving in July sounds perfect, as you should be well settled before starting your next cycle. Great timing!

Flibberty hope that all's well with you.

I've been on the pill since last Sat so I'll only be sniffing for about 5 days before I should hopefully be able to start stims (if the downregging works). They told me starting with the pill was probably best with my short cycles and, while it's surreal to be taking it, I'm glad I won't have to sniff for any longer than necessary. I'll be sniffing Suprecor (burselin) three times a day from Saturday. I'm thinking I'll do 7am/3pm/11pm as I often have meetings around 4pm so not wanting to sneak off to take my sniffs from a meeting...I spoke to HR about the IVF a while ago and getting time off is fine. But I'm going to tell my line manager, so he can help with covering my scans, EC etc. Though since I work between two sites I'm hoping that for scans/bloods at least people will just think I'm at the other office...

But today we booked some flights to the States for Sept for my SIL's wedding party. We figured that ideally I'll be pregnant by then but if the ICSI doesn't work then we can just look forward to a nice long two week holiday in September.

Anyway, best scoot off as have to do some ironing [sigh].

Night all xxx

Hi all - I've been away from MN for a while (our router at home is broken, I feel so cut off from the world! ) but nice to come back to all the good news. Congratulations on the BFPs Issy, Mowmi and Rowingboat !!!

EMZIB - fingers crossed for your next test, I'd listen to the wise ladies here about it being a bit early to test reliably.

Hi Caitni and hope it's all going well for you, I found it all a bit daunting at first, but it's amazing how quickly it all becomes routine.

Duplo, best of luck with your injections. I actually found it far easier to inject into my upper thigh than my stomach (this may be because my thighs are pretty well-upholstered, of course ) - have your clinic given you that as an option?

Lottie glad to hear you had a nice time out in Switzerland, but I'd agree that emigrating when DH isn't enjoying his job may not be the best idea. It may be a good thing that you have a pressing reason to sort out soon where you're going to be living - it will certainly focus your minds!

Glad to hear your tests went well Gilly and OAP. I'm just waiting around for AF, really, as I have to go and get my FSH and AMH tested on day 3. Should be mid to late next week, if my cycle isn't too mucked around after the aborted cycle of IVF. I'm feeling quite "normal" again now though, so hopefully it will be similar.

Hi, just a quick one today as I have decided to rest as much as possible at the moment in the hope I can somehow salvage this cycle. I have just returned from a disastrous 1st scan. They found only ONE adequate follicle in one ovary, and a few tiny useless ones in the other one. one follicle ! will have another scan on wednesday. The dr said that there is a possibility that my ovaries take longer to respond and there will be more on wednesday, but if not we will probably have to convert this cycle to IUI. The problem is I'm already at the highest possible dose of stimms so I cannot really do anything else apart from hoping. The thing is I'm only 34, I have always had a healthy lifestyle, I have been drinking loads of water and eating loads of protein and organic fruit and veg. tbh I'm completely stunned! Have had acupuncture today, and will cram in another appointment tomorrow, but that's my only hope at the moment. It seems like this cycle has been cursed from the very beginning. sorry for the rant, but I am in shock, hopefully tomorrow I will be able to think more clearly again.