Page 19 | Assisted conception (and the bits in between!) - part 4 - all welcome

mummycat1 · 2009-10-28T19:39:52+00:00

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

DuelingFanjo · 07/02/2010 12:47

madame I have read that baby asprin can help though not dure why. I've not heard of prednisalone but hopefully someone else who knows more will be able to help

MercenaryMom · 07/02/2010 13:50

I hope no one minds if I jump into the chat! Its just so nice to read messages from other people in the same boat.

I'm currently in the middle of my 2ww after a rather emotional FERC cycle in which 4 of my best embryos perished when thawed. Although two 'average' ones survived and were transferred (by a grumpy and silent consultant), it has kind of cast a cloud over the whole process and I'm feeling particularly down about the outcome.

However, I don't just want to moan about my problems... I also wanted to let idream and anyone else who is about to undergo ICSI treatment that it can have a happy ending. I've got a beautiful 2yo DD from ICSI. It was a difficult, stressful, unpleasant process, but it also taught me how strong I really am - something useful for motherhood! And the Fates repaid my difficulties in TTC with an easy pregnancy and birth, not to mention a wonderous DD. So have hope!

Penguindreams · 07/02/2010 14:29

Helloooo! So many posts since Friday! How lovely to see lots of new faces (hmm, well sort of faces). Welcome to Idreamofchocolate and madam, this is a lovely thread.

DuellingFanjo hooray for your period starting! What a relief to get it underway at long last!

RosieBeagle lots of positive thoughts coming your way for Thurs. Try and stay calm - easier said than done of course. Great news about its frozen brother or sister too!

Islegrin, my H finished the 2nd hour of Lost and was distraught, 'I can't wait, I have to know what happens'! He discovered series 1-5 on the video on demand channel on our television and has been a man obsessed all weekend!

MercenaryMom (another American joining us from the Mom?), sorry about your consultant, but have some faith in the 2 'averages' - they were good enough to survive the thaw after all.

Bumpless, IG, KK, hello! Bumpless, there was actually an article in one of the magazines at Guy's yesterday as we were waiting to go in (Red I think) about being happier without kids, which I read with a wry smile! One of the comments about having kids was 'It's like putting money in a savings account, and you know it'll pay off in the long run, but you just really want to spend all the money now'!.

KK, so exciting about your drugs getting here - this is it, it's starting!

Thank you all for your messages yesterday, it was lovely to have so many people cheering on our little ones! 2 blasts went back in - after a lot of solemn faces from the doctors and having to sign disclaimers etc. To whoever asked, Guy's are v hot on just using one blast at a time on the basis that pregnancy rates aren't much reduced from 2, but the multiples risk is. I have known a few people who had 2 blasts put back in the US and only had a singleton, and even a small reduction in the pregnancy rate was enough to put me off just selecting one. But who knows? So my H, who was all on board, then had a major freak on the way home about having quads!

If I can have a slightly soppy moment here before I finish this massive post, I read him the relevant bits of Zita West (before I decided it was part common sense and part bollocks), and he slept through the lot. Or so I thought... He came home on Friday with a bunch of orange flowers because she said to surround yourself with orange at the time of the ET... I came over all teary!

V sorry to anyone I've missed out and hope we're all enjoying our Sunday!

One little one got stuck at the 4 day stage but we have 3 little blasts in the freezer too but am just so hoping we won't have to use them!

So the utterly paranoid, obsessive, googling stage has started!

Waves to everyone!

riggly · 07/02/2010 16:12

Hi everyone, seems you have had a few newcomers recently so I hope you don't mind me joining in. We're about to start icsi (long protocol) -have a 'nurse coordination appt' on the 16th and I think I will be downregging in March so maybe I'm just a bit behind a few of you.

Penguindreams I love the idea of hubbie with the orange flowers - really made me smile. Good luck for the 2ww and same to Rosie, MercenaryMom and anyone else waiting for news.

londonlottie · 07/02/2010 16:32

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Message withdrawn

Bumpless · 07/02/2010 16:33

Hi Folks

Hi Madame and MercenaryMom , welcome and have a biscuit too if idream has left you any! Madame I was on baby aspirin and steroids for the last 2 cycles. The aspirin thins your blood and helps flow to the uterus and ovaries, and also helps prevent any blood-clotting complications. The steroids are a precaution against your body deciding your embryo is an invading germ and sending natural killer cells to attack it. Hope they work for you - I can't understand why they're not prescribed as standard in IVF clinics, if the alternative is to have a failure before suspecting there's a problem.

MM thanks for your story. Nice to be reminded this game can have a happy ending. The only thing to do with a consultant like that is to imagine him and his scrooge-like face sitting alone at home with no friends, and then get on with imagining those 2 strong, underestimated little embryos of yours settling in for a 9 month snuggle.

Kiwi deep breaths now!!! The drugs should all say on the packets whether they need to be kept cold or not. We had a dedicated fridge drawer plus a cupboard shelf for all our goodies. Am now the proud owner of 3 cute keep-cold bags, with shoulder straps, that they were delivered in, should be great for picnics - hey, a girl can still accessorise even in the throes of IVF, surely!

But I completely identify with the head in sand thing. Having been an obsessive researcher all through last year, when we decided we were definitely going for DE, I booked the clinic and then basically went into denial for 2 months. Sometimes you can only deal with things by not dealing with them until there's no other option.

Rosie I'm so impressed with how organised you're being about testing. Day off - excellent idea, whether you're celebrating or mourning, you won't feel like working either way! I wonder how they can tell that a frostie has survived - thought they had to wait till they came out for that. Fantastic news!

idream grr to your friend... people who say things like that basically have NO idea what it's like on the receiving end!

Duelingfanjo yay that you can get started!

Penguin congrats on getting your 2 on board! And loads of frosties too - you've done really well. I read that Red article too - hmph. LoL to your DH's panic! But the orange flowers - that's so adorable.

If I may indulge in a small whinge. This down-reg injection is a bitch. The bruised feeling is still there and spreading through my bum and hip. I am being a grumpy cow, really not interested in being nice/polite/sociable, unable to concentrate at work and deliberately going to bed late to avoid having to be sweet to my (completely understanding, saint-like) DH. I'm incredibly clumsy - dinner on the floor last night, drawer pulled out and contents everywhere this morning, nearly pranged the car - and my boobs feel like two big bruises. These kids, if they turn up, had better be genius, gorgeous, millionaires, and always, ALWAYS, do as they're told...

Idreaminchocolate · 07/02/2010 17:34

Just been out to get some replacement biscuits for Mercenarymom, Madame & riggly Got some nice chocolately ones for Mercenarymom to help take her mind off the 2ww - and thank you SO much for sharing your positive story

Hi Penguindreams (just noticed the "dream" theme!), there are some nice chocolately biscuits for your 2ww as well (and Rosiebeagle)! Bumpless am getting concerned re: injections after reading your last post - my dinner ends up on the floor on a weekly basis anyway and I'm always dropping / spilling / breaking things without any extra hormones!

riggly - I have the same appointment (I think) on 15th feb - is where you sign all the consent forms and have blood tests etc? I think you might be on a similar schedule to Duelingfanjo and I so we can all hold hands together next month

Anyone else drinking a dairy farm's worth of milk everyday? My clinic says a pint a day, Zita says not necessary, but to me it seems quite intuitive to drink milk - I imagine it's nourishing my womb lining (not even sure if this is what it's supposed to do!) - but I'm compromising on 1/2 pint a day at the moment as a pint is rather a lot. I was round at a friend's last night and she was drinking a glass of milk (rather unusual as the usual beverage at this kind of event is vino) and I thought "aye, aye, what's going on here...?". Turns out she was drinking Milk and Malibu which sounds disgusting but actually, upon tasting, is delicious - it may be the way forward for my daily milk intake (only joking )

madame · 07/02/2010 17:58

Thank you Bumpless, that is such a clear expalanation, why can't the nurses say it like that!

Does anyone have any advice on anything else I should be doing in prepartion for my cycle.

MercenaryMom · 07/02/2010 19:42

Thank you everyone for the biscuits! Nothing like a good chocolatey one to cheer me up!

Bumpless, I love the idea of my embryos being underestimated! That's them - the underdog pair...

And if its any consolation, when doing my down-reg injections I got so emotional that one day I cried from the time I got out of bed until I arrived at work (when fortunately I was able to pull myself together a bit). DH kept asking what was wrong and I couldn't tell him because I wasn't actually crying about anything in particular .

Who is this Zita woman everyone keeps mentioning... and should I be reading her?

Idreaminchocolate · 07/02/2010 22:23

"Zita" is Zita West, she's written a few books, the one I have read is "Guide to getting pregnant". She's also releasing one called "Guide to Fertility and Assisted Conception", but that isn't available until March. I am also using her IVF meditation CD at the moment. She's a bit of a "franchise" and very good at self promotion, but I quite like what she says and how she says it. I have also read "Getting Pregnant Faster" by Marylin Grenville, which pretty much says the same stuff as the Zita West book.

I'm currently on "Nurturing Yourself Through IVF" by Lynn Daley which was suggested to me by my acupuncturist (one of her other clients recommended it). I'll let you know how I get on with it!

Italiangreyhound · 08/02/2010 01:48

Hi MercenaryMom and riggly welcome.

MercenaryMom isn?t it annoying how docs/consultants can influence us when they are treating us and aren't favourable in their manor or comments! I?ve ve been very lucky but have read on here people having bad experiences. Still, great news that the 'average' ones survived. I guess it goes to show you can't really know what is happening inside these tiny little things.

DuellingFanjo my period started today as well. It is kind of weird having them again as they stopped last August and I thought it was for good. Now they seem to be back! It?s kind of nice when you think they have gone and they come back. I used to hate them as a teenager and now I appreciate them, even if the eggs I produce aren't any good anymore just having a period makes me feel womanly - how blo*dy weird is that!

Penguindreams Just out of interest what is the situation with going to blastocysts stage? Does it make it more likely to work and are there any other factors? Just curious as we have not discussed this with Docs.

Your H freaking out at idea of quads makes me smile. I know my dh was a bit freaked at the idea we would get tons of eggs and therefore tons of babies. I think men can't really see the whole thing in the way we can! That's my idea anyway. The good news is that once the baby or babies get here the men seem to be a lot better at dealing with it, or that seems to be my experience anyway! I wonder why orange, maybe eat a few oranges for vitamin C too! to represent orange for you!

Bumpless my friend had steroids and it worked for her, do you know why some people have it/need it?

Idreaminchocolate, riggly and Duelingfanjo, Kiwikat and Bumpless I think I am on the same sort of time frame as you guys, we are signing our forms this week, we started down reging recently and now with period here I am hoping they can confirm down-reging. We may end up with ET mid to late March.

My news aside from my period arriving is that today we bought our gift for our donor. Last time I spent ages agonising over the right thing and went back to the shop at least twice etc. This time I just saw something nice and hubby and I chatted and he bought it! I know it sounds strange but aside from her giving us her eggs this is the only contact we have with her and I wanted it to be special and nice. It is not essential but the clinic said sometimes that people like to give flowers or a gift and I figured it would be something she could keep.

Sorry for the mammoth post!

Waves to all

DuelingFanjo · 08/02/2010 08:46

Idreaminchocolate the nurturing book sounds interesting. I might get hold of a copy myself. I have been reading professor Winston's books; he's quite complementary about older mothers but also quite honest about their chances.

Italiangreyhound I found this quite useful from here

My clinic made me sign a consent form for hatching, is this the same as blasts?

MercenaryMom www.thebridgecentre.co.uk/assets/Bridge%20-%20Preparing%20for%20IVF.pdf this is a short piece which contains Zita West's tips for preparing for IVF. I've found it really useful.

wave to riggly it's really great to have other women at the same stage.

Penguindreams hope you're taking it easy.

Hi to everyone else.

My period is SOOO heavy. I am hoping it will be gone by Wednesday as I have my first acupuncture session.

Cerubina · 08/02/2010 08:47

Morning all, and welcome to our newbies who have been arriving in droves over the weekend! MercenaryMom, Idream, Riggly and madam - hope I have counted everyone - hope your stay here is short and sweet, this is a really great thread though and getting nicely active again now. Good to see.

Can we get the rollcall updated then, so we can keep abreast of who's in here and doing what?

I think from some of these posts that there are going to be a few of us doing cycles simultaneously - my period looks likely to come today so that puts me in with Dueling and Italian I think.

Here's the rollcall as it stands:

Bumpless, age 42, ttc #1, 3 failed IVF in London, DE cycle in Greece Feb/March

DuelingFanjo, age 39 (just!), ttc #1, 6 months Clomid. MC June 2009, IVF to come in March

Italiangreyhound, age 44, ttc #2, MC 2006, several failed IUIs + 1 abandoned IVF, IVF with DE in UK

Islegrin, age 38 (just!), ttc #1, ectopic May '05, 5-IUI 1-IVF and 1-FET, 2nd FET on Feb 10, 2010

Cerubina, age 37, ttc #1, MMC Feb 2009, male and female factors in struggles to conceive, hoping to start ICSI cycle in a week or so.

Penguindreams, age 36 (about to turn 37, ttc #1 since Oct 07, never had a BFP (probable male factor), in middle of 1st ICSI at Guy's and waiting to hear in about an hour if we've got any embryos to transfer today or Sat!

babybarrister 40 - DS 3, 1st IVF about to start in March, generally all "suboptimal" apparently ie they have no idea I suspect!

RosieBeagle, age 31 ttc #1 since Aug 06, 4 rounds of clomid, currently in 2ww of first of 2 available cycles also have 1 frostie

Kiwikat, age 44, ds aged 3.7, ttc#2. failed clomid, on microgynon, about to start cetrotide, first scan 17 Feb. No idea what we're doing!

Just a quick word for Penguin: I can't believe how good your embies turned out to be! 5 out of 6 getting to blast is a terrific hit rate, and the other one got to 4 days too so that is really incredible. Hopefully it bodes really well for you, and good luck with the 2WW now.

See you all later.

Penguindreams · 08/02/2010 09:04

Updated:

Bumpless, age 42, ttc #1, 3 failed IVF in London, DE cycle in Greece Feb/March

DuelingFanjo, age 39 (just!), ttc #1, 6 months Clomid. MC June 2009, IVF to come in March

Italiangreyhound, age 44, ttc #2, MC 2006, several failed IUIs + 1 abandoned IVF, IVF with DE in UK

Islegrin, age 38 (just!), ttc #1, ectopic May '05, 5-IUI 1-IVF and 1-FET, 2nd FET on Feb 10, 2010

Cerubina, age 37, ttc #1, MMC Feb 2009, male and female factors in struggles to conceive, hoping to start ICSI cycle in a week or so.

Penguindreams, age 36 (about to turn 37), ttc #1 since Oct 07, never had a BFP (probable male factor), 2 x blasts transferred 6/2 and on the dreaded 2ww!

babybarrister 40 - DS 3, 1st IVF about to start in March, generally all "suboptimal" apparently ie they have no idea I suspect!

RosieBeagle, age 31 ttc #1 since Aug 06, 4 rounds of clomid, currently in 2ww of first of 2 available cycles also have 1 frostie

Kiwikat, age 44, ds aged 3.7, ttc#2. failed clomid, on microgynon, about to start cetrotide, first scan 17 Feb. No idea what we're doing!

Morning everyone! I slept like utter crap last night and have been fretting all morning that somehow I have destroyed all their chances (so I seem to be right on track for crazy paranoia then!). Plus I decided to switch to decaf until I test - 'looks like I picked the wrong day to give up coffee'!

DuellingFanjo, I think hatching is even further along than blasts - I think that's when they give the blast a little nudge to start it breaking out of its shell to make it easier for it to implant. In the Guy's leaflet they say they sometimes suggest that for older eggs which might be a bit tougher.

IG - blasts are meant to have a slightly higher success rate. The idea is, if they let them go to 5 days, they'll have a better idea of which are the strong ones, which should theoretically be more likely to settle in and last the distance. Ours all looked the same on day 3, but one of them stopped developing the next day, so wouldn't have made it if it had been transferred the day before. At Guy's they only let you go to blasts if you have 4 or more at day 3 because the drop off rate is quite high apparently, and lots of embryos do better back inside than in their petri dish! And it's all a lottery anyway - as you'll have seen time and again, people with 'perfect' blasts get a BFN and people with 'dodgy' embryos get a BFP.

Off to doze in a corner and call it work!

riggly · 08/02/2010 09:51

Thanks for introducing eveyone, seeing as your doing a roll call here's my (short) history:
age 29, ttc #1 for 2yrs, male factors identified, waiting to start 1st ICSI cycle.

When we were told we would never be able to conceive naturally this hit DH quite hard and I think he's worried he won't be able to produce good enough sperm when it comes to his moment. Our dr recommended selenium and no alcohol - does anyone else have any ideas?

Penguin - sorry you not feeling well, maybe chocolate is needed?

I can't believe its snowing again!

DuelingFanjo · 08/02/2010 09:55

Cerubina good luck for your period today.

Penguindreams sorry to hear of your rough night. I am sure that you've not ruined your chances, try not to fret too much

ALFIEMAC · 08/02/2010 14:54

Hi - just adding myself to the roll call although technically speaking not actually "signed up" for assisted conception just yet but seriously thinking about options and gathering information so thought this would be a good place to start as you ladies are a fountain of knowledge. Signed up to MN last week and have been posting on the fiesty and fab 40s thread many of whom I see are on here too so apologies if I repeat myself.

Bumpless, age 42, ttc #1, 3 failed IVF in London, DE cycle in Greece Feb/March

DuelingFanjo, age 39 (just!), ttc #1, 6 months Clomid. MC June 2009, IVF to come in March

Italiangreyhound, age 44, ttc #2, MC 2006, several failed IUIs + 1 abandoned IVF, IVF with DE in UK

Islegrin, age 38 (just!), ttc #1, ectopic May '05, 5-IUI 1-IVF and 1-FET, 2nd FET on Feb 10, 2010

Cerubina, age 37, ttc #1, MMC Feb 2009, male and female factors in struggles to conceive, hoping to start ICSI cycle in a week or so.

Penguindreams, age 36 (about to turn 37), ttc #1 since Oct 07, never had a BFP (probable male factor), 2 x blasts transferred 6/2 and on the dreaded 2ww!

babybarrister 40 - DS 3, 1st IVF about to start in March, generally all "suboptimal" apparently ie they have no idea I suspect!

RosieBeagle, age 31 ttc #1 since Aug 06, 4 rounds of clomid, currently in 2ww of first of 2 available cycles also have 1 frostie

Kiwikat, age 44, ds aged 3.7, ttc#2. failed clomid, on microgynon, about to start cetrotide, first scan 17 Feb. No idea what we're doing!
Alfiemac - age 43. twin s's (3.8) - ICSI 3 x further attempts at IVF (fresh and FET)now ttc#3

Goodluck to everyone on here who is currently undergoing treatment or going through the agonising 2 week wait.

babybarrister · 08/02/2010 15:06

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Message withdrawn at poster's request.

NewMember · 08/02/2010 15:25

Hi Ladies,

I hope you don't mind me jumping onto your bus! DP and I have been TTC#1 for almost 15 months now. DP has had back 2 'very low' sperm results. This morning we had our first meeting with a Neurologist, she has referred us for ICSI. I am hoping someone can give me a little information on this. Is this the stage before IVF?Can anyone explain the process to me! Thank you for any replies x

islegrin · 08/02/2010 15:50

Penguin so glad to hear about your 5 blasts and the two nestling in. I hope the wait goes quickly and you keep yourself busy with things.

Welcome to MercenaryMom and Riggly!

Waves to everyone else!!!
xx

DuelingFanjo · 08/02/2010 17:17

Quick question, don't know if anyone will have an answer?

My AMH test came back really low - 2.6 . My FSH has also gone up from 12.2 to 16,
Does this FSH seem really high or could it be worse?

tattycoram · 08/02/2010 18:27

Hallo. Can I officially join in? I posted in December when DH and I were told we would need ICSI to concieve again (we already have a three year old son). Anyway, we've now decided to go ahead.

SO