Assisted Conception (and the bits in between) Volume 5

[Bumpless]

Thought I'd set us up a new home! kettle's on and choc tin open.

This is a lucky start to our new thread: 2 BFPs and a fantastic fertilisation rate from Dueling!

Boobs and biscuits to everyone

Hello! Mind if I join? I've been hovvering a bit but finally ready to post. Cerubina, I think we're cycle buddies:) I've got my beta a week tomorrow - is that when yours is? My transfer was on Monday though... so I guess test days vary. Anyway, I had two embys transferred - a six and seven cell. Doctor doing transfer wasn't my usual one and wasn't particularly friendly/forthcoming about quality which kind of put a dampner on things, but fingers crossed, even though I'd hoped for an 8... and none of the others survived for freezing. I hate this part.
It's our final go - we've already got two children (conceived by IVF) so we're already incredibly lucky. We'd just love a third. But two FET failed and this is our last shot - financially and emotionally I think I'm done...
Sorry for the ramble, but someone said you wanted people to post

Roll on next Friday! (or an ill-advised HPT on Tuesday. And Wedndesay. They get thrown across the floor if they're negative)

Hello everyone! I have been trying not to think of things - very hard and not very successful, but am now 11 weeks and have the 12 weekish scan in just under two weeks so can't wait. I may be able to believe it a little bit then.

Cerubina That is wonderful news, how did the spares go?? Are they freezable??? Make sure you are extra careful over the next week or so to give them the best chance of getting comfy and settled. Fingers crossed

Babymooner Hi and good luck for next week, we had two put back in, but unfortunately didn't get any frozen ones so I'm hoping the two stick!

Londonlottie hope Eve is getting better and getting back to normal . I had two heart beats at 8 weeks scan so hopefully will find out if they both are ok in two weeks. If so will probably need advice on coping with twins

Rowingboat Good luck with your choice, I didn't even know that you could adopt spare embies!!

Am off to try and sort out stuff for work so will linger over the next week to see all the BFP's!!!

Hello - I just found your thread and you are exactly what I need! - ladies with assisted conception experience.
I am 41 and just starting to think about IVF after trying for 18 months naturally (1 miscarriage in Dec 09).
Can anyone recommend their IVF/assisted conception clinic? I will have to go private on this (no nhs funding in my borough over the age of 39), and I'm happy to spend the money but want to go somewhere good. Don't have the time to mess around.
I am having acupuncture, have been to Zita West (they were great and got me pregnant last year, which sadly ended in mc), had all the tests (all fine), hubby's results were good..... I eat well, exercise etc....don't know what else to do (except give up - and I just won't!).
Any advice welcome especially clinic info please.
Ps. anyone else tried the cough mixture thing?

Hi Singsong!

Haven't heard of the cough mixture thing although it sounds intriguing:)
ARGC in Harley Street gets good results, although that could be because they won't treat those they think won't be successful. Which might be a good thing - they don't encourage you to throw money away if they don't think you'll have success, but it depends what kind of approach you want. You're right to want to spend the money - I went NHS twice first and just wasted time. Lovely people but standard protocols, no personal treatment, no success. I think at our age it's just worth spending money to find a doctor who will tailor treatment.
I'm sure others will have great recommendations too...

Good luck!

Hi Babymooner,

Thanks for your reply. Have had others mention ARGC - I'll go visit them and have a look. I'm booked to visit 4 other clinics in London (starting Sept), get a feeling for them, ask questions. Other people's experiences are always good to go on too.

I have read much about taking Robitussin if you're ttc (or any cough mixture brand with the same active ingredient, which I cant remember how to spell just now, it begins with G). Apparently it can help with your mucus - thin it out, make it easier for sperm to swim through.....
Just wondered if anyone here had tried it. ? I'm a bit of a natural remedy type girl, prefer not to take medicine if I can help it - so not sure about this .

Hi all,

Lottie I hope Eve is feeling a bit better and is taking a bit more milk now. Do you have to see the doctor again soon?

Babymooner, I completely relate to your situation. It is very tiring emotionally to go through this process. I hope this one takes and your journey can end.

BB What a silly DH, what on earth would you do with sperm in your tummy, it's supposed to be a petri dish. [shakes head]

Singsong I have read a lot about CARE I think it is called (vague expression) they do quite good genetic testing, which, I think is pretty crucial when the ovarian quality drops. As far as I recall they are based in Manchester.
One of the clinics I am currently emailing in the Czech Republic also offer a number of genetic tests: Fish, ART something else. I wish we had done that in first place, rather than waste time.

I'm not sure where I am in my cycle, which adds a certain extra something when trying to plan a natural FET in a foreign country.
AF was 7 days late because the last FET was a CP, so this should be day 8 or 9, but last night I had a lot of ovulation type pain. I am now wondering if my body thinks the first day of this cycle was 7 days earlier than I do????!!!

Hi, I have had 2 successful cycles at ARGC, which produced my little son, and I'm currently pregnant with twins. Their success rates are fantastic but my goodness it's full on treatment. I had a suspicion I had auto immune issues before we even got started, and had ARGC's tests which showed I had some issues which would make carrying ti term almost impossible. Singsong10, if you're not keen on medication, then ARGC will be a shock!
From a cost point of view, my first cycle was abotu £7500 and this cycle was about £10k all in, including all the post BFP scans and monitoring.

An alternative if you want to continue to try naturally is Dr. Amin Gorgy at the Fertility and Gynaecology Academy, who will monitor and test for immune issues without your going through ICSI.

There are cheaper clinics than ARGC but I was getting on a bit when we decided that there might be a problem, so we threw everything at it as soon as we could.

Londonlottie is right though, there are cheaper alternatives with great rates - UCH seem to do well with younger women and male factor, and Lister have loads of experience with older ladies. ARGC seems to have found its niche with ladies with repeated miscarriage/IVF failure elsewhere, and/or a history of autoimmune stuff.

HUge apologies if I've repeated other posters, but very very best of luck! x x

Hi all! Just a quick post to let everyone know that "Sniffing: The Sequel" will begin in the Lissysilver household on August 24th. Saw Dr. at The Bridge Centre, who gave me a thumbs up and loads of positivity. Will keep you posted.

How's everyone doing?? Hugs and chocolate boobs all around...

BagofHolly congratulations on your second successful IVF. It sounds as if no stone was left unturned at ARCG.

Lottie, I know it's awful the stress you experience. I know babies can safely be hotter than us. I had a freak out with DS when he was 38 degrees or something. The NHS24 nurse said it was OK for him to be up to 39 degrees at his age. I think he was around a year old. It turned out to be a slight ear infection so he had antibiotics and he was a lot better.
You don't suppose Eve is getting some teeth/tooth-gum-bumps as well as the malaise do you? Always spells horrible nappies and going off eating a bit.

Babymooner I forgot to say the ingredient for CM is the one found in chesty cough mixture or expectorant (which is what we want to be really ). I'm going to attempt to spell it: gaufenisin (?). It is in cheapo Asda chesty cough mixture, in the same quantity as more expensive, branded types.

Must harness up the donkey, where did I put that carrot?

Hi - just caught up on posts.

Wanted to say thank you for the support and suggestions after my last post - am going to gp tomorrow and hope to be pro-active in moving things forward. It is now 6yrs of ttc#1, with 2 years of serious ttc etc!! And have had all the tests the nhs offer ...
and thans Italiangreyhound - I had septacemia, so treated and now resting up (in theory!) but as I have an immune deficiency I am at risk of infections so they are treated when they get through the prophylactic antibiotics. And thankfully my immune problem not deteriorated to anything worse, but dr not understand why I keep getting severe infections!

You know, i read this and just think POOR US!!! Moment of self pity all round:)
I had auto immune issues too - thyroid in my case. Gosh, it's a faff though (and an expensive, exhausting faff at that) - I have dreamt so many times of just getting up the duff the normal way...
Still, great thread. And congratulations bagofholly - amazing news!
Londonlottie at crawling. it's downhill all the way But SOOOOO sweet, no?
Ah well, I'm going to have a decaff tea. Felt pregnant yesterday, don't today. Am steeling myself...

Oh, and absolutely agree on ARGC - drugs, tests, daily monitoring... but I'd rather that thant the two NHS cycles I did at Chelsea and Westminster where it felt like no doctor was involved, they just ran the same protocol twice, shrugged when it didn't work and said maybe I should think about adoption or egg donation - and I was 33 back then. The change of approach at ARGC was just staggering - everything was scrutinised and tweaked contantly (including me), it cost the earth and I went self employed because there was no way I could hold down my (then) senior position without either coming clean (didn't want to), or getting fired because I was in there almost every day! But I have a 3 year old and a 16 month old who woudln't be here otherwise:)

I think problem cases generally are their thing...

Hi all,
Keziah I hope your GP was helpful. How did it go?

BM I agree poor us! It's a complete bitch of a disaster of a travesty, but what can you do. Keep on going!?
ARGC sounds great though, perhaps we should have spent more, too late now though, money's all gone, just a few coppers left.

BB do you have a date in September?

Singsong did you buy the cough mixture?

Lottie how are the girls? Is Eve feeling better, crawling after Juliet? (It is Juliet isn't it?!?!)
I was wondering today how your DH was. I remembered you describing his crazy boss. Is he enjoying work now? Do you like being in Switzerland, or could you be anywhere at the moment and not noticed?

I have just had an email from Reprofit about taking oestrogen and having a scan. Oh poo, I really wanted a very low intervention jobby, not druuugs! Wah!
I wonder if they would do a more natural cycle I asked? Hmm!

Rowing - gp bit more helpful, now in a time of "waiting" again. Hope you get the cycle you are wanting.

Hello all. I've been away for far too long. Our extension has produced so much dust and dirt and general disruption that we ended up staying in France for nearly a month. Was v nice, though.

Now about to start my second IVF cycle, again at Create Health. I'm on a slightly different protocol this time so it will be another journey of discovery but I am feeling v positive about it. We had an appointment with Geeta Nargund who basically said that we'd done as well as she'd expect anyone to do last time in terms of numbers of eggs and fertilisation rates and decent embryos produced so there is absolutely no reason why this shouldn't work for us. Nice to hear. It turns out that I produced 9 eggs (which I knew) and which is pretty good for a short/low-stim protocol with no down-regging even for someone much younger than I am. I thought that only 6 had fertilised but it turns out that actually all of them did fertilise, only the others were penetrated by more than one sperm. So we are very hopeful for next time. This time, I mean. My period is due in a few days so I will be starting again very soon.

I gather there are a few BFPs to congratulate - very well done, all of you and much luck for the next stage!

Eve and Juliet are such lovely names, lottie. I didn't know what your girls were called before.

Hope all are well and happy.

singsong10 - we used BCRM in Bristol for our ICSI (BFP June 2009). We were NHS for that round. They cost about £6k for ICSI with average quantities of drugs.
I'd recommend going to the best one you can find that is the closest to where you live. You don't want travel stress on top of everything else!

Hi all,
Horton that sounds like a great result. Hope this next cycle it all works perfectly.

Whatthe I agree it is so much easier when you are nearer to the clinic. This influenced our second cycle hugely, after a cycle in Europe. Having said that I wasn't very impressed by our local clinic.

I have just received a prescription for the oestrogen and progesterone and am hyperventilating because it is all becoming a bit too real.
Oh dear, must sit down with the calendar, this is the problem with travelling for treatment, it requires gargantuan feats of organisation - not my strong point.
If I even knew when AF would turn up that would certainly help with the flight booking, it's so expensive to wait until the last minute. Currently wondering if I should wait for another cycle, to let things settle back into a pattern. Or just leap in feet first?

Rowingboat, I'm a leaper, personally:) I prefer to just jump in head first and get on with it. But nightmare with flights etc I agree. Are you flying in and out or can you leave a couple of days either side to give you a bigger window?
I'm 9dp3dt today. Having my beta tomorrow. Peed on a stick yesterday and was negative - but was also the middle of the day so not exactly the first-urine sameple they suggest. Still, it's never nice seeing that blank white staring back at you. And if my beta IS negative, then there will be no justification for the daily naps I seem to have started taking
LondonLottie - great to hear your story. I sometimes beat myself up for 'wasting time' at Chelsea and actually, maybe we were just unlucky? Such a game and no one really has the answers.
Anyway, am going to do my best to think about OTHER THINGS until tomorrow. And I'm not poas again. Better to know definitely either way I think.