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

Congrats Cerubina!!!

Hurrah Cerubina! What wonderful news. If there is any justice in the world, this baby will be sticking around for the next 40 weeks because you really deserve it. And if the recent outcome of BFPs on this thread continues, perhaps both Meg and Mog are hanging around...

Arrived in Oz yesterday after a prolonged and stressful move, so forgive me if my brain isn't quite up to a full roll call at the current time. However, big waves and chocolate to all!

That's fantastic news Cerubina, that's so sweet about your DH, he sound very supportive
We don't always remember what it is like for the blokes, making us cups of tea and not complaining even though it can be so stressful for them.

I have put my FET back a cycle so it's going to be October. Feel much happier now.

Brilliant news, Cerubina! So so pleased for you.

Just done first buserelin injection. Fingers crossed!

Congrats Cerubina, i've been lurking to see if you got your BFP, So happy for you and bless your dh.

I had my 7 week scan on Thurs and we saw our little bean and the heartbeat, my symptoms seems to have disappeared the last 24 hours, hoping they come back soon, sounds crazy to wish the sickness to come back :)

I've just popped on very quickly to catch up on how everyone's doing, and I'm delighted to read your good news, Cerubina - congratulations!

Good luck to everyone else. x

Hi all,

just popping in

Kiwi - waves. Hope you are getting your energy back now and starting to get that nest built.

Horton how are the injections going, or are you sniffing?

Italian I think the three boys thing depends on the boys. I often take my friends two boys out with my DS, they are all between four and six.and they are just lovely together, minimal fighting and they all keep each other occupied most of the time. Mind you, I think if they were all two it would be an absolute nightmare. Imagine dropping a bag of ball bearings then attempting to round them up. [shudders]

Keziah I have no direct experience of Care, but I do remember reading about a couple finally having a successful pregnancy there after 13 cycles of IVF link

BB I'm not sure of your age, but I think I can understand your situation. We also have a child who was naturally conceived, and have since, nothing.
I think if I could start again I would probably have gone for an IVF with genetic testing.

Stan I did a bit of digging around and the general consensus seems to be to wait a minimum of 6 months before TTC after a section. It seems the longer you leave the wound the stronger it will become, which increases your chance of a vaginal birth being successful.
There was something about trying too soon possibly causing problems with a low-lying placenta.
Mind you, if you were thinking of going for another section most of that would be academic anyway.

Waves to Lottie

Cerubina how are you?

I am feeling so relaxed after deciding to postpone my treatment. I sat last night and attempted to pinpoint when AF would arrive and it could be any time between the 26th of August and the 5th of September. It will be a relief when it arrives and I can start to calculate the timings for the next FET.

Hi rowing. Hope AF hurries up and gets here so you can start sorting out timings.

I am on a short protocol so no down-regging and no sniffing, just two injections a day with regular scans to monitor how the follicles are doing until egg collection. The injections are fine, really. I don't mind the injecting part at all. The buserelin is one of those fiddly things with measuring the dose yourself and swapping needles etc so I'm not particularly keen on that one but I seem to have managed so far! Gonal F is of course a pen so way easier. I reckon I could manage that one in the dark!

Hi- [waves from couch, listening to rain on the road...]

I have been lurking here the past couple of days... we have one DD who is nearly 2 and starting trying for no.2 when she was 7 months old... we have had 2 mc and now trying to get pregnant naturally. I am a realist though (read panicking...) as I am 40 (just) and know time is ticking. I have been to Lister to investigate MC (have had 3 in total- one before dd). All seems 'fine' according to consultant and he thinks we should be able to get pregnant naturally... but not to try for too long before coming back... I have booked to go back in November with eye on having IUI.

Now I am not so sure if this is the right path. Should we go somewhere else to get 2nd opinion. Should we launch straight into IVF... we want to maximise our chances and really dont know what to do. Dont want to try IUI lots and then go to IVF 6 months later as apart from being financially depleted, i imagine its an emotional rollercoaster...

opinions welcome!

bb i am also looking into ARGC and may just get an appt if I can anyway...

oh and I have a batch of frozen eggs that I had taken a long time ago which I may be able to use as back up- but as the technology was quite new when I had them taken, they may not work...

Horton the short protocol sounds great, you just get on with it. Perfect!
I did Buserelin, but I have a blank how it all worked. Is it the one with the saline where you fiddle around and try not to lose the lot when you change needles. Is it the saline in little glass phials? They can be quite nasty if you break them the wrong way. [wince]
It isn't too bad though really is it, just to get on and do it yourself.
Watch out for the Gonal-F in the dark thing though, could end up injecting your cat or something.

LAW hi. Have you had your bloods done and an HSG? Has your DH had a sperm test, they usually require two samples, around one month apart. It could be that your DH's sperm quality has changed, due to stress, change in diet, activity or something, which would contribute to miscarriage.If they all look OK he is probably right.
Unfortunately, there are fewer perfect eggs around over 35, so miscarriage seems to be inevitable before finding one that sticks.

I am on the over forties thread and sadly there have been a fair miscarriages on there, but many graduates after miscarriage.

Not much to report here. Can't really do much organising until AF arrives and it's just guesswork as to when she will.
In the meantime will be trying to improve my fitness levels and possibly lose a bit of the tubby tum. I have up to 8 weeks to make a change.
Anyone care to join me?

Cerubina Excellent news, so happy for you.

Keziahhopes thinking of you and wishing you well.

MM hope Oz is looking good, can?t believe you are over the other side of the world and still talking to us all!

lateatwork welcome, have we met? Just my opinion but I would certainly investigate those eggs you have got stored and see what the situation was with them. We had successful IUI at 39, but if we had had IVF we may have had embryos frozen and been able to have further treatment with those embryos, as it is we had DD when I was almost 40 and then started trying again naturally and no joy, now years later we are waiting for donor eggs. So although I can give hearty thumbs up for IUI working I can also say that IVF might be good. You can always talk to other clinics or simply find out about costs and success rates. Are you reading Zita (Zita West) and having sex every couple of days! Sorry to ask but that will maximise your chances let?s hope you are successful before November and don?t need to go down the further treatment route at all. All the best.

I am sorry that there are so many comments and postings and I must get to bed so no time to name check you all but you know who you are!

It has been a weird week. I had the most agonising pain in my tooth and jaw, which also resounded into my ear. I had medication from dentist and pain killers but the only thing that worked was putting my hubby's gel filled cool bandage onto the jaw. It is not really like anything I have ever experienced. It was coming and going like contractions but about an hour apart! I ended up having root canal work last week!

Yesterday we went to church and I got some prayer for my ear, which was affected by the bad tooth, I also mentioned my fertility issues. The lady who prayed for me was a dear older lady and she held my hand. I said should I give up hope or carry on having hope, and the lady praying for me just held my hands and said we are always encouraged to have hope, faith and hope.

I am feeling so much better about the whole fertility thing. I feel so honoured to have our daughter, she is so special, she has been so good this weekend while we were away at my in-laws. She can be quite funny at times and skipped off after lunch to make a parachute! I turned to my hubby and said ?Is that the pink blanket? and he said yes, my sister-in-law said how did you know, and I said I just did. It is really so cute when you know what your own kid will enjoy or will do. After the parachute thing we settled down to watch Garfield, which we have seen before. I do love a Sunday afternoon snooze! Love to all.

Thanks all very much for your kind words about our result - it's great to know so many people were rooting for us.

MM hope the relocation has gone as smoothly as it can and that you are getting lots of help with unpacking and not doing too much yourself. Take it easy if possible and let things fall into place when they will! Hope you will continue to check in here.

Italian your tooth sounds vv painful, but I hope the root canal has resolved whatever was causing it! Nice to have some prayers for you in church, I think you are probably due some.

Horton good luck with the new cycle. I agree getting to skip the downregging sounds like a good result, so much quicker and more straightforward. I think I was lucky to get the Gonal-F pen for us, it was so easy to use and we got used to it immediately. I dread to think how many mistakes would have been made if we had to break open phials and so on!

On a similar topic, I'm having real trouble getting rid of a full sharps bin and obtaining a new one. I got rid of the Gonal-F one at the clinic alright, but since I've been on heparin shots I've struggled to find anyone who will do anything with it. Pharmacies won't and the clinic seem to think it's not their issue now, so I am accumulating loads of needles and no one willing to dispose of them! Seems a bit rum - any ideas what to do?

Ladybird very pleased to hear the scan was good and you saw the heartbeat. Good luck for the rest of it and hope you get enough symptoms back to reassure you!

Rowing it sounds as though postponing was right for you if it's made you feel more relaxed to do so. It can be a little bit frustrating when AF turns up unpredictably (starting this cycle was a completely fraught affair because of my irregularity and AF deciding to be a spiteful cow!) but you'll soon be underway by the sound of it. Good luck.

Lateatwork welcome. I agree with Rowing that the right course of action completely depends on how your test results are looking. IUI could well be enough for you if you are both basically functioning! But if there are issues preventing sperm and egg from meeting, IVF could be a more successful approach. For what it's worth, although I expected IVF to be an utterly hideous rollercoaster, it really wasn't. Not sure how I'd feel if I had had a BFN from it, but I do know I would have been prepared to go through it again like a shot. I think it helped that I had a lot of time to get used to the idea so was very 'on board' with it by the time we started, and also that I had other things to distract me (chiefly moving house) so it wasn't too all-pervading. If you've been through it time and again to no effect, or you haven't quite got your head round the realisation that you need it, I think the experience would be very different. Good luck with what you decide to do.

Hiya,

I lurk here for guidence and encouragement and have posted maybe once or twice before. I apologise it's not more prolific, I have to take a step back from TTC otherwise it becomes life consuming sometimes.

We have been ttc our first for over 4yrs now and I am on my third and final [NHS] IUI treatment. Test day is tomorrow (handholding is needed, do not feel confident at all).

My question which I would love some help with is....... If this round of IUI does not work, we then have to wait until December for the next available appt with our consultant to 'ok' us for IVF (incidentally, we've never actually met said consultant, only ever one of his lakeys).

After this appt, there is a 6 month waiting list to start IVF, so we're looking at July 2011 at the earlist.

However....my SIL has very kindly offered to pay for us to go privately if we choose to go ahead with IVF. She has said she can offer us money to cover us for at least 3 private attempts (ahhhh, to have that sort of money ).

So.... those of you who have been through private IVF, do you think this would pile on the pressure to succeed? Do you think you would feel indebted (even though it has been stipulated that we should consider this a gift, not a loan) forever after?

SIL has her own family - 3 kids and a husband. My main concern is that, should we take the money, what happens if something (God forbid) awful happens and they need that money back. SIL assures us that it is 'spare' money and that they can well afford it (she is not boasting, merely trying to alay my fears) but the 'what ifs' keep coming back to me.

What would you do? WOuld you accept the kindness offered to help you complete (in our case, start) your family or be patient and wait for the NHS.

Incidentally, I do think the NHS is a wonderful resource but my NHS care so far has been shoddy to say the least. 4 miscarriages and only now do they say it might be worth doing ivestigations into recurrent mc.

I also have the constant argument in my head - is my desire for a family taking away vital funding for something else? My mum is currently going through Chemo and has to travel for her treatment as the local hospital doesn't have a cancer treatment centre. Would they have been able to afford one if people like me were not using up valuable resources?

Can you tell I have A LOT going round my head at the moment?!

Italian your tooth sounds terrible, I sympathise as toothache on its own is bad enough but toothache AND earache combined must be awful!

Rowing - I'm currently on a mission to get a bit fitter, although is proving difficult whilst on the IUI drugs!!

Thanks in advance for any help/advice and apologies for the long missive, I find it difficult to talk about this to many people in RL.

PnM x

Just wanted to delurk and say a big congrats to Cerubina so made up for you, hope the next 9 months are stress free and you can enjoy your pregnancy!

Picknmix that is a lovely offer from your SIL. I agree with Lottie, it depends on your relationship with regards to accepting it as a gift, a loan or not at all. You probably know in your heart what to do.
6 months is not bad, it was 3 years in my area, which has recently come down to around 12 - 18 months. Nightmare for people nearing the maximum age, because by the time they were at the top of the list, they were no longer eligible.
If you buy into Zita West, her argument is that you should be in tip top reproductive health to have a baby, so you could use your waiting time to take the supps, get fit and eat the best diet - both you and your DH.
I think she said it takes 3 months to grow an egg so ideally you would be doing all the right things for those months.
That is one perspective at least.
However, if you just want to get on with it, you could have at least one IVF treatment under your belt before the NHS treatments start.
The treatment itself can take four or five weeks, then you have the 2WW to add on. If the treatment is unsuccessful (but that won't be you ) and you usually wait three months in between treatments.
Re getting fitter, what are you thinking of doing?
I have an exercise bike, which is handy for this weather, so will be doing 20 minutes on that this afternoon. I was doing the couch to 5K programme, but let it slide. Quite fancy doing that if the rain stops - or possibly in the rain.

LAW sorry I completely missed the frozen eggs part of your post. That sounds fantastic, I wish I had done that. Definitely investigate that possibility because once they are thawed they probably contain a higher percentage of perfect eggs. It depends on your age now, but generally the younger the better.

Italian poor you! I really hope your tooth issue has been resolved. [hug]

Cerubina, thank you! There may be a drug user needle exchange scheme in your area. I had to use a chemist where they provided needles when I did my first IVF and I imagine they would have taken any used, not that I had any.
Your GP should know if there is such a thing.

Hi BB and BM.

Cerubina--I'm so absolutely THRILLED for you! Such wonderful news!

Italian--Bummer about the tooth. My DH was complaining about tooth pain as well, and it turns out he grinds his teeth in his sleep and needs to wear a biteguard. It's helped him, so maybe if tooth pain continues that's something you can look into.

MM--Hope your move went smoothly and that you'll have some time to destress.

Pick--My in-laws and my parents went splitsies for our IVF treatment, which is amazing to say the least. Unfortunately I miscarried after the first attempt, but luckily I haven't felt any pressure about having to "succeed". If your SIL offered, without asking for repayment, and hopefully she's offered because she loves you and sees how much you desire a child, then take it!

In terms of going to ARGC, it was one of the options I considered as well. But after visiting a few clinics and researching half a dozen more, I found the IVF+ program at The Bridge Centre, which offered two cycles for the price of one, if the first cycle didn't succeed as a live birth. They offer acupuncture as part of the ET process, as well as a mandatory counselling session for you and your partner. They were only accepting 50 couples, and I don't know if all the places have been filled, so it might be worth it for you to check it out. After some slight miscommunications at the start of my treatment, I have found the staff and nurses to be extremely kind and understanding. The director, Mr Menabawey, absolutely radiates kindness, and was very helpful during my cervical cancer scare.

That's my two cents. Hi to all newcomers, and hugs and kisses to anyone I missed.

I start sniffing tomorrow!

Good luck tomorrow Lissy! Hope you sail through the sniffing!

I'm starting to have some pre-menstrual symptoms. I start to get indigestion for a week before AF and have had it all day.

Thank you so much for your advise.

Lottie thanks for the suggestion of finding a clinic that might have some kind of deal going - I had no idea they offered things like that I'm going to start doing a bit of investigating - unfortunately live about 1.5hrs away from London and I think I only have one private option locally. Will look into it though. Hope your littlest girl is on the mend now?

Rowing brilliant idea about having one treatment before the NHS one, I hadn't thought of doing it that way either The local private clinic is run by the same consultant as my NHS consultant (yep, living in a backwater over here!) so not sure whether that's beneficial or not really.....

As to how I'm getting fitter - I've cut most of the crap out of my diet, including products that contain aspartame. I am also now a caffeine free zone - Starbucks may well go out of business soon because of this! I'd managed to go decaffeinated during IUI but now its pretty much gone completely. Excercise is a whole other issue - we adopted a dog recently (oh Gosh, we really have conformed to the barren stereotypes....) so I'm going to take over my fair share of the dog walking (husband currently does both the walks every day, whoops!). An exercise bike is a fab idea though - sit in front of 'Stenders and 'bang' there's your half hour of exercise done!

Lissy sorry to hear about your first IVF attempt, good luck with the sniffing (is this the start of your second treatment?). However, it is great to hear that your family were incredibly generous as well. Great also to hear about the lack of pressure, you also almost wrote word for word my SIL email to me re loving us and seeing how much we desire a child.

Oh, I don't know. Is just all so difficult.

Did a test this evening as well. Nada, not even an evap line. Ho hum....

Thanks again for your help and advice.

PnM I was laughing at the barren couple dog comment. As long as you don't take the dog to the park and put it on the swings I think you are safe.
Dogs can be a good incentive for exercise, although I do know people who drive their dogs to a place and walk a few feet from the car whilst the dog does the necessary.
Good start on the diet front, how de-toxed you will be.
I agree with Lottie about the trying other clinics if you can. Definitely worth checking out any help with sustaining a pregnancy and finding out how the clinic would deal with that possibility as part of your treatment. It may well be that your local clinic is excellent in that respect.
My personal feeling is if you are happy with the responses from the clinic and they take time to explain their approach that is a very good start.

BB are you on a comfy seat?

Lottie what's the weather like over there? It's a bit grim here.

good morning. have been doing lot of research into clinics and stuff the last couple of days. think i am more confused than ever.. but will get there. boy argc sounds scary. not sure if i am ready for that type of work up (or work out...)

italian yes- dropped into the over 40 board for a little while and lurk sometimes but mainly spend time on the 'bus' board.. so i think we have met before..

pick you have an amazingly generous SIL. I would accept if i was in your position.

rowing yes eggs on ice... but taken in 06 when technology in this area wasnt so advanced... so chances of thawing all ok slim and thats before any type of fertilisation! i knew this when i had them taken but wanted an insurance policy (had just broken up with long term partner... really wanted bub and didnt want my desperation to influence my choice of partner... (ie wanted to remove the 'knock me up' tattoo from my forehead)...)

lissy is it hard to get on the program at the bridge? does it have qualify criteria? i cant see it on the website....but am probably being a bit dim.

breakfast time now...