Assisted conception (and the bits in between!) - part 4 - all welcome

[mummycat1]

Starting new thread with massive congratulations to Nanoo I reckon the old man can wait till he gets home! But of course - it's up to you really xxx

Woohoo RosieBeagle! 2 fertilised is great news. Lots of talking ahead over the next couple of days for 1 or 2! If we are lucky enough to get some embryos to transfer we're definitely going for 2 - age is not on our side. But a friend of my sister's just fell pregnant with a SET, and the statistics (at Guy's) show almost no difference in pregnancy rates if you have 1 or 2.

Cerubina, no idea what that could be unless you actually ovulated much earlier this month (or the elusive implantation bleeding...). I'd pop in and see your GP (before you move!) if possible. But a gap of a month isn't too long to wait!

EC for me on Monday - they're giving me a couple of days longer to stim. 1 at 17mm and then some round 14mm. Annoying that they don't do EC at the weekends - now I will spend the whole time fretting that I've ovulated on my own and missed the boat!

HI everyone

Rosie - good luck with ET tomorrow will be thinking of you.

Thanks for all the comments but telling my family is just not an option and I know for a fact they have no hidden nest egg (unfortunately) so its going it along (well me and DH).
Penguindreams - it was DH idea to sell the car as he wants a child as much as me. He had the vasectomy over 13 years ago when his circumstances were a lot different to what they are now. In fact he blames himself quite a bit that we are not able to conceive naturally.

X

Hello ladies, remember me? I was a regular over the last year going through 3 IVF cycles and then vanished into a big slump before Xmas, overwhelmed by the reality that it was donor eggs or no DCs. Now finally climbing slowly out of the pit, with patient coaching from Fliberty (Thank you Fliberty!).

Huge congratulations to LondonLottie and Ailz - a bit of a twin theme on thread graduates! LL your girls sucking each-others thumbs are the most adorable thing I've ever seen!

Isle are you around? How are things?

We went to Athens last weekend for our first consultation with the clinic. They are fantastic, but we had another blow (they never seem to stop, do they...): DH's sperm is below the min standards on all 3 counts of number, morphology and motility, and we would never have got pregnant naturally, even if my eggs were perfect. Now why did no UK doctor feel that it was worth telling us that? All they ever said was that it meant ICSI, that'll be another £1000 please. So we couldn't freeze his sperm for our cycle. The doc also said I could consider doing a natural cycle, ie OE and no drugs, because with DH's factors we cant assume all my eggs are definitely crap. While that sounded like good news it actually really threw me, as I've just spent 6 monbths deciding to go for DE and all my tough decisions suddenly had to be re-made! But we've taken a deep breath (again) and re-decided to go for a DE cycle, partly because we just feel like we need to do something that has a chance of working this time.

Rosie fab news about your 2 embies. If it was me I'd definitely have them both put back, unless you'd really hate twins, their chances are so low and I don't think the clinic would freeze a single emby, so too much potential for regrets otherwise.

Waves to OAP , good luck to everyone...

Rosiebeagle
4 eggs wow! Two fertilised, , amazing, that is great.

Cerubina
Good luck with move and get back on broadband soon so you can send us your news. What is 3 DPO? Sorry not sure what that means. Please don?t worry if it is mucked up for another cycle, it does get awful stressful but one cycle is not so much, you will get back on track soon, I am sure.

Penguindreams Good luck for Monday EC. Great name, where does it come from? Have you seen happy feet? Hate the movie but when I was uncertain about donor eggs took that big old egg at the start of the film as a bit of a prompt!

Bumpless Welcome back. All the best with DE and however it works out at least it seems you are getting some good, correct info at last. We have had to pay for ICSI in advance and will get a 'rebate' if they don?t need to use it. They will not know until the day of insemination. At first felt deflated but now feel that at least has better chance of working!

Luckywebby If dh wants to sell car it may be worth it, only you guys can decide. You can buy a car at almost any age but fertility treatment tends to have a limited life span. Not my place to say but maybe you could tell immediate family if you want support, emotional not financial? It?s a tough call. This time round hubby did not want to tell his parents and it was because we had spent a lot of money in the past, no way near as much as we are now spending! So I know you have to respect if dh doesn?t want to share with family. But if he does then you would not need to mention who had the problem or what the problem is. For me it was easier as I often say it is my problem and I am not embarrassed about that but I know some men are perhaps more easily embarrassed about it or simply do not want to talk about it.

Bumpless welcome back! What a shock about your DH though, you poor things. It could be that your DH just had a dodgy test though. The figures seem to change so much depending on e.g. a night's heavy drinking, and I know my DH's count, for example, dropped by 20m over the course of 6 months for no obvious reason at all. Get him taking vitamins (ester-C apparently is good, plus selenium, zinc, pycnogenol and a multi vit) and see if he will agree to cut down on alcohol for a bit, and hopefully his boys will be fighting fit when their day comes! Sounds like you made the right decision to stick with DE though - you've given it so much thought. Although would there be a possibility of doing half and half? I know in the US they will do that for donor sperm, maybe you could use some of your eggs too?

Italiangreyhound, thanks! It's a long story that started with a v random dream I had a few years ago, and now DH and I say 'penguin dreams' rather than 'sweet dreams' before bed! I saw Happy Feet on a plane once but couldn't really get into it, which is strange for me because I normally love talking animals! And DPO is days post ovulation by the way!

Luckywebby, if it's your H's idea then why not go for it. IG's comment that fertility has a limited lifespan but cars don't is v true!

RosieBeagle, hope the ET goes well.

Waves to everyone else!

Hi to everyone. just a quick update, both embies were 'perfect quality' one a 4 and one a 5, so they put the 5 in and we have a little frostie too. I feel so proud of our little beans!! so its the waiting game now, no doubt it will drag but just keeping everything crossed.
We decided on just one in the end as the embroylogist put it, unless we desperately wanted twins having 2 put back wouldnt increase our odds any so thought we would be sensible and go with their advice given im 5'6 size 8, 9 stone (ish)!
ET wasnt too bad but cant say I enjoyed it lol I was literally bursting for the loo to the point where they said i think youd better go when i had all the parephelania in place! I just wanted to get on with it though which they did and then it was pretty plain sailing while they popped it back.
Good luck to everyone else. Feel like we have acheived a huge milestone to get here and whatever happens we know we have given it our best shot .
penguin good luck for EC monday, it will be her before you know it.
bumpless i agree with penguin about hubbys SA, my oh had a few tests at our local hospital which all came back as abnormal and poor motility etc, yet when we went to our ivf clinic and he did the sample at the clinic the results were just above average so its all a bit hit and miss as far as i can tell, maybe the vits etc helped things along and certainly cutting down on the booze helps.
Anyway off to put my feet up and have a well earned rest waves to all x

Well done RosieBeagle, fingers crossed for you and the little beans. Have a nice relaxing 2 weeks with lots of positive thoughts and come back to give us all the good news!

I'm listed for 10am on Monday, looking forward to my Sunday without meds! Although it really hasn't been bad at all - no real side effects to speak of.

Have a good weekend everyone

Hi ladies

Snatching a few minutes at work to get back on here and see how you all are! Moving day went well yesterday but we are still in uproar at home and it was actually a bit of a pleasure to come to work today and do something else other than unpack boxes .

Rosie - the news from your ET sounds so brilliant, I bet you can't believe the difference since last week when you worried you might only have one low quality egg! Good luck for the 2WW and keep posting on here to take your mind off things.

Hi again Bumpless. I was just thinking about you the other day actually and wondering how you were getting on, so it is good to hear your update. I think as Penguin says you have given it tons of thought and weighed it all up, so it must be the right decision for you to press ahead. And you are due a dose of good luck so I look forward to hearing how it goes with the DEs. What is the timescale, and how many trips to Greece will there be?

Luckywebby, hope we haven't pried too much into your family relationships and so on. You must do what is right for you and your OH after all. What's your thinking at the moment on the car selling question?

Penguin I like the idea of saying "Penguin dreams" to each other before you go to sleep, how cute. Best of luck for EC on Monday morning, at least it will be out of the way nice and early in the day, and you can rest afterwards. Hope it isn't too uncomfortable afterwards and you get a good haul.

I've got a busy few days coming up. Apart from having to impose order at home and get everything else unpacked, I'm back to acupuncture again tomorrow morning (used to have it weekly until about September, when I decided to take a break as we realised it would have to be IVF for us).

I'm in dire need of sorting out actually given this strange bleeding. It's still going on, and I don't know whether to call this day 4 of a new cycle or day 21 of the old one. You might say this isn't really important but it bothers me as (a) I thought my cycle was starting to get under control (more regular, earlier ovulation and longer luteal phase - you can't even call two days past ovulation a luteal phase!) and (b) when we start our ICSI how on earth am I supposed to call day 1 of a cycle and plan the treatment if I have zero predictability on when AF comes and not being sure if I recognise it when I see it? (Mid-cycle bleeding happens to me quite often you see, this isn't a one-off but the lack of correlation with sex triggering it is unusual).

I am feeling a bit crap about it to be honest. Which could suggest it is AF as I feel teary and fed up! That is probably partly the stress of moving I suppose.

But good news is that Monday is our appointment at Guy's and I will ask all these questions and see what they say. Can't wait. I bought a book on Amazon - think it's called the Couple's Guide to IVF - so will do some reading of that this weekend.

Hope everyone has a good one, hi to anyone I didn't mention.

Weird or what, I could not find the Assisted Conception thread on Mumsnet! It had vanished from my screen! I found it by looking under RosieBeagle! Was worried I would never hear from you lot again!

Well, Cerubina I am not sure about the bleeding thing. I would get them to do a few tests when you are there and see what it could be. If it is not tmi is it red/brown/pink/spotting/lots? They will know what it is about and can take a blood test to see where your hormones are in all this, or maybe refer you to a GP to have blood tested. I can't remember/don't know, how old you are or whether you are normally very regular. If I were you I would make notes of all the changes and details so you have all the info at your finger tips when you go in to see docs on Monday. I know that sounds obvious but it is easy to get flustered and forget to ask something vital!

RosieBeagle wow, got your embie in the oven and one in the freezer, best of both world's I hope, for you, that it will all work out ideally. You were wise to take advice; I can't imagine weighing 9 stone anymore! So the docs obviously wanted to give you best chance of it all going well. Great news.

My news? We have got our donor! Confirmed today. Altruistic. There were other possible options altruistic/egg sharer and the wonderful lady at the clinic who helped sort it out just gave us the details and said it was our choice but really the two best options were so similar! I just had a gut feeling for the lady we picked (you only get really limited details of the donors, you don't see a picture etc in this country so you are just going on a few bits of info). In many ways you might not get a choice at all, they try and advise who is best for you but if here are two choices they might say there are etc.

Let's just say she sounds perfect to me. So kind and great, whatever happens we will have given it our shot and without her and her lovely eggs it would not be possible. Praise God, feel like dancing about the living room but have just eaten a very filling Greek yoghurt! Seriously, so happy.

Trouble is I have spoken to people on a couple of other threads so have to work out how to say this in three different ways!

Start treatment next week! [dancing smilie face icon]

Sorry for long post.

All the best to all.

Hi All

Rosie congratulations on your little passenger, hope he/she is settling in nicde and snuggly for 9 months! Sticky dust to you.

Penguindreams (agree about the name, v cute!) yes, vits can help - DH and I have been on bloody expensive specialist fertility supplements, and avoiding alcohol and caffeine and eating organic (and polishing our haloes) for a year, and his count has actually gone up from 19million to 27 million, so possibly it's even been worth it! But it doesn't seem to have stopped the little buggers from swimming in circles... Good luck for EC on Monday, hoping for lots of lovely healthy eggies!

Cerubina your bleed sounds v crap, no wonder you're fed up. Hopefully Guys will have some answers. Meanwhile, I hope you're ignoring the boxes and giving yourself a hot bath and glass of wine, sounds like you need it! We go back to Greece around 25th Jan, depending on the donor's dates. I'm so touched that you were thinking of me!

Italiangreyhound how exciting! I'm so glad you found someone who you're happy with, and what brilliant news that it's an altruistic donor too, that should give you the best chance! I start my injections next week too, so sounds like we'll be DE cycle buddies!

Luckywebby finances and families - major stress factors in IVF! Good luck finding the right solution for you.

Bumpless wow, exciting to have a cycle buddy.

RosieBeagle lets hope this little bean sticks around, all best wishes. now representing your little one.

Oh God sorry Bumpless, just realised how patronising all that 'advice' was re vits etc - thanks for taking it so well! We have massive MF too, hence the ICSI. My H has been fantastic about taking the vitamins and even, if more begrudgingly, cutting down on alcohol - but wouldn't have stood a chance trying to get him to cut it out for a year! He's so excited at being able to have cocktails tomorrow night once his bit is over, bless him! Hope it was just a blip though - these things seem to be so hit and miss. Have a wonderful trip to Greece, massive amounts of positive thoughts your way.

RosieBeagle yay for your little bean - hope it's making itself at home.

ItalianGreyhound, that's great news on the donor. Altruistic donors are wonderful. I think this can only increase your soon-to-be baby's chances - what a lovely start to life, being surrounded by so much good karma and human kindness .

Cerubina, hope Guy's have some answers for you. They've been pretty good so far for us - my only real gripe is that no-one ever answers the phone and they take forever to get back to you!

I did my trigger last night (complete with panic that they'd given me the wrong time - 38 hours before EC rather than the 36 hours recommended by Dr Google) and am enjoying my one day without meds. Feeling massively swollen and bloated today - can't wait to get these things out now! Fingers crossed for tomorrow!

Waves to everyone I've missed!

Hello everyone, I'm back after lurking for a while. Had been hoping we'd achieve it all by ourselves, but sadly not, so now we've started down the path of IVF, and I have the first scan on 17th Feb, then start the injections. I don't know why I'm so scared - maybe because all of our hopes are riding on this, and if it doesn't work, then perhaps that's it for us? I want it sooooo much, so it's wonderful to be able to ask questions of people who feel the same way. Rosie, my fingers are crossed very tightly for you.

Hiya gals

Penguin not at all, you don't know what other people don't know and if no-one had told me about vits I'd have missed out! As it was I went to Zita West for a nutritional consultation and now rattle when I walk and am eating forest-fulls of nuts. We haven't managed to cut out alcohol completely , but we have cut right down to special occasions (saturday night's a special occasion, right...?) Day of EC definitely is, bring on the cocktails for your DH! Will you manage a celebratory snifter too?

Italian I take my first jab on Tuesday, when's yours? Feeling reluctant to pump my body full of drugs again, have only been feeling normal for about 2 months following all the cycles last year. Never did down-reg as I was always on the short protocol, so never had this jab before either All in a good cause!

Kiwi hi! V V good luck for your cycle. It's natural to be scared, the stakes are very high and the odds are very crap, but you have lots of friends to hold your hand and the record shows that we've had lots of BFPs on here. Go get 'em!

Hi Penguindreams good luck, is it IUI, I've got confused! All best

KiwiKat all best for Feb, don't worry too much, I know useless to say! I feel sure it will go well for you, lots and lots of people have treatment and I think we forget how often it does work. Can I ask how old you are? Ignore we if want to be incognito age-wise!

Bumpless - jab tomorrow, stopping the booze before we start jabbing! I think I need to do it to help me get fitter anyway but the clinic does recommend that you stop alcohol when you start injecting.

How does everyone remember who everyone is, I keep getting mixed up. I am reading a few threads but I just get mixed up!

Am a creaky 44 (and 10 days), Italian. I get a bit mixed up too, which is why I tend to stick to only a few threads. It helps that quite a few of the same folk are on the same threads that are my lifelines.

Hi Bumpless! I too vanished into the pit for a while... but since my transfer date is slowly approaching (next week) I got up the interest to pop my head back out of the hole to see how you all were doing! Sorry to hear you got thrown for a loop - it's so disheartening when you've been working on ttc and think you have all of the facts to make your decisions, then you find out the fact base was wrong! grrrr... I'm glad you are continuing with DE though! When do you think your cycle will begin???

Hi Rosie, Cerubina, Kiwi, Italian, Penguin and Lucky and welcome to Barrister! Looks like we're gearing up for the New Year.

I'm scheduled for my second round of frozen embryo transfer next Wednesday - but I have my first scan and blood tests today to see if everything is on track. We've decided to have the last three freezer beezers put back in before we do another fresh IVF cycle. I'm not holding out much hope, but there's always a chance. In the meantime, I have 3 estrogen patches on my back and stuffing pills in both ends and only a little prick every AM.

islegrin Welcome back, so pleased to see you here, although not pleased to see that you have to be here, if you know what I mean! You were one of the people I was reading when I first started looking on this thread and I just wanted to send you all the positive sticky vibes I can

KiwiKat Wow, you are 44 and 10 days, I will only be 44 for another ten days or so! Yes, I guess you do see some of the same names on the same threads, I am frequenting the over 40s and the assisted conception with dalliances in other threads when I think I can offer a word of advice or get some tips!

babybarrister welcome and good luck, I?ve just started injecting for IVF with donor eggs, hoping for egg collection and embryo transfer late March. Very excited, been waiting a year! All the best to you.

My little prick is in the evening, currently two pricks actually as have the wrong size syringes! Getting some more from the chemist this week and a new batch of drugs.

Hello Babybarrister, I'm in London too. We can hold hands on the rollercoaster!

A fellow Aquarius, Italian - aren't we gorgeous creatures!

We'll be sending sticky vibes, Islegrin.

KiwiKat I don't follow star signs but I would love to agree that I am gorgeous creature! I do love water better than fire, I'm quite into swimming at the moment but I must admit I like my water hot, so maybe a bit of fire too!

I started injecting last night. I'm currently having 2 jabs as I have the wrong size syringes! Getting some more correctly sized syringes from the chemist this week and a new batch of drugs.

Whoops, already said that, I am repeating myself, not sure how long I can use the excuse of being excited!

Italian you can use that excuse only for 3 months before you have to renew it on your next cycle. Wow, you've been waiting a full year! No wonder you are excited. How is the protocol for injections different on a cycle for DE? Is it similar to a Frozen cycle where you supress ovulation but build up lining? Do they freeze the donor eggs or are they fresh? Just curious, sorry if that was too nosy. I'm chuffed for you already! Best of luck.

Isle happy to chat. The cycle is (I assume) just like a FET. You inject for about 30 days to suppress, then you have to build up the lining (can't remember when you start but I think it is about three weeks in). Then at the end when they have the egg collection and dh does his bit I need to start putting in passerines.

The eggs are all fertilised as frozen eggs are (apparently) very fragile and freeze better when fertilised. The best two are put back. In the UK they will only put back three if you are over 40 and although I am the eggs are not! Of all the fertilised eggs I hope some will be able to be frozen for another attempt.

Just curious, ignore if you like, but do you live in Hawaii are you Hawaiian, American, British or from some other far flung shore. I think from your earlier posts that you can have three embryos put back without any problems, if that almost the case?

Does anyone know why the thread disappears from the main list. I am just concerned that someone might need to join us and would not be able to find us!