Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Donor conception

For anyone with experience of sperm or egg donation to share support and advice. Please remember this board isn’t for debate about donor conception.

#makeithappen TTC through Donor IUI or Donor IVF or just undecided – all welcome! Thread #6

999 replies

kwick · 24/02/2017 13:13

This thread is for anyone trying to conceive... or thinking about doing so through donor IUI or donor IVF. Nothing TMI - feel free to join, we are a lovely group here to support and help keep the cray-cray away!

Here is the link to the previous thread: www.mumsnet.com/Talk/conception/2832207--makeithappen-TTC-through-Donor-IUI-or-Donor-IVF-or-just-undecided-all-welcome
Here is the link to the one before that one: www.mumsnet.com/Talk/conception/2769549-TTC-through-Donor-IUI-or-Donor-IVF-or-just-undecided-all-welcome-makeithappen-loadsofBFPs
Here is the link to the thread before that: www.mumsnet.com/Talk/conception/2688511-TTC-through-Donor-IUI-or-Donor-IVF-or-just-undecided-all-welcome-makeithappen
Here is the link to the one before that one: www.mumsnet.com/Talk/conception/2587046-TTC-through-Donor-IUI-or-Donor-IVF-or-just-undecided-all-welcome
And the one before that!: www.mumsnet.com/Talk/conception/1877198-Donor-IUI

#makeithappen TTC through Donor IUI or Donor IVF or just undecided – all welcome!  Thread #6
OP posts:
Thread gallery
37
CautionHormone · 06/03/2017 14:15

Hey ladies!

I see congratulations are in order for Karen & Cherry...!! How wonderful, it's always nice to come back into the thread to see some BFPs!

And hello to all the new ladies, too Flowers

Sorry I haven't been active. I was in hospital last Monday with bad palpitations and sharp chest pains; was there from 10:45am until 6:30pm being pushed from pillar to post, it was a nightmare. They ruled out anything wrong with my heart (I.E heart attacks) but realised last moment it was highly likely I had a blood clot on my lung through my blood results. Enter doctors who begin panicking, arterial blood gas blood tests (which kill!) and blood thinning injections... Based on my symptoms, and my blood & arterial blood gases results, they said "we've got to treat you as though you've got a pulmonary embolism" and sent me home with a prescription of injections to thin my blood and told me to inject myself every night for seven days (good practice for this journey, eh?).

So things haven't really been great here, spent the week lounging around and sleeping and not doing much but I'm beginning to feel better now. At least I've stopped injecting myself now - hurrah!

I've read right back on the thread and have seen lots of things have been going on...

How's everyone doing?? Missed you all!!

Munrowalker · 06/03/2017 15:34

Oh gosh caution that sounds awful. Glad you're on the mend now

Karendvm · 06/03/2017 15:52

Gald to see you back caution. How are you feeling now? That must have been a very scary time for you. Does this mean that they aren't worried about your heart anymore? Have they done all the tests and cleared you? Hope you continue to improve. Hugs.

Welcome grin. Best of luck with your journey!

Karendvm · 06/03/2017 15:53

cherry best of luck with your beta! How are you feeling?

Pez82 · 06/03/2017 17:13

Caution, I was worried about you! You went through a lot, how scary that must have been. Well done on injecting yourself though, as you say, it's good practice.

Has this event delayed your surgery? Do you have to be on a long term treatment (e.g. blood thinners) to reduce the risk of clots in the future?

Hope you recover fully very soon Flowers

INeedNewShoes · 06/03/2017 18:09

Caution - sorry you've been through the mill yet again Flowers The silver lining to your cloud is that you have discovered that you may well want to be on Aspirin and heparin for pregnancy if your blood is a little prone to clotting (like mine).

kwick · 06/03/2017 18:39

caution Flowers so glad you are on the mend though

Horrid day at work - only just leaving now - got in at 7am. Shattered but have been all day. At least I did not lose it in any of the meetings- although nearly did a couple of times. Did cry all over 2 colleagues but not in the wider group.
Off to Brussels tomorrow - another early start Sad
FML

OP posts:
StorkAhoy · 06/03/2017 18:54

kwick that's sucks honey, I'm sorry!

caution get well soon. Xx

grin how wonderfully interesting, and great attitude too! We had an egg donor discussion a week or so ago, how do you feel about it? Are you simply reconcilied, or actually positive in your choice?

Scan was good, increased from 12 follicles on Friday to 16 today, with most at 10-15mm, lining increased from 5 to 8mm, I'm happy with that as only been on meds for 7days. Another scan on weds. I'm thinking egg collection Friday/Saturday....

pickle162 · 06/03/2017 19:05

Sadsorry you've been so poorly caution, hopefully your in the mend now and no more disasters
CakeFlowerskwick sorry you've had a poop day again

Good luck with ur blood test cherry

kwick · 06/03/2017 19:40

storkahoy I believe you will be living up to your user name very shortly! Well done!

OP posts:
CherryBlossom100 · 06/03/2017 20:04

That sounds good stork.
Welcome grin, it's lovely to see how global we are becoming.
How are you feeling Karen? Any more blood test results coming?
Here's the craziness that I've been living the last few days. I tested each morning on some very expensive tests. Literally peeing my money away. Af was happily absent today and I have my beta blood test tomorrow evening.

#makeithappen TTC through Donor IUI or Donor IVF or just undecided – all welcome!  Thread #6
pickle162 · 06/03/2017 20:27

Eek cherry look at those lovely lines 😁

CautionHormone · 06/03/2017 20:36

Thank you everyone for your kind words!!
Yeah it was a scary time - it was horrible, I felt so poorly! Never for one minute thought it could be a blood clot on my lung, but once I got told the symptoms, I had nearly every single one. They actually discharged me without any treatment and within forty-five minutes of being home, they'd called me back in and said they were sorry they'd discharged me so quickly but they'd looked at my blood results again and weren't happy and needed to treat me for a PE...

Karen, thanks lovely! I think so, I think they're happy (ish) with my heart... They're arranging a 24hr ECG so I think they've still some doubt about my heart, but they didn't really say much about it. I'm still having palpitations but they're probably harmless and it's probably just my body. I'm feeling 80% better than what I was; still not fully there but so much better than what I was. They done all the tests a few days ago and cleared me, thankfully!

Pez, bless you, thank you honey. I'm not sure how I stand with my surgery just yet; I have my pre-op assessment on Wednesday for it (2 weeks before the actual procedure - yikes! Can't believe it's only two weeks away!) so I shall be asking them then. If they need to delay it, so be it, but id rather they didn't, especially as I've had the treatment, feel better, and have been cleared!
They've not mentioned anything about being on long term thinners... I suppose if it happens again it's always a possibility, but I'm hoping this was a fluke and a one off!

Shoes - thank you lovely. That's actually a good point... That's definitely something to bring up with the FC when it's my time, and will definitely be worth investigating. If you don't mind me asking because this is a bit brash, so I apologise and forgive me (you don't have to answer/PM if you'd feel more comfortable), but was your clotting issue the reason for your MCs?

Thank you Kwick, Stork, & Pickle... Hopefully no more disasters!

Cherry that's amazing! Look at that line progression! You must be so happy?! Good luck with your Beta tomorrow eve. Flowers

Sorry for the mammoth post ladies... I promise my next one will be shorter Blush

pickle162 · 06/03/2017 20:58

Jeez I'm bored so reading some random things of MN, some threads have some really nasty comments on. Argumentative etc! I'm so pleased we are all able to be honest without being nasty to anyone

INeedNewShoes · 06/03/2017 22:37

Caution - I don't mind you asking at all. I have two confirmed blood oddities (mild cases of both hereditary elliptocytosis and Anti-S antibodies) both of which can cause sticky blood. After my 3rd BFP in a row was lost I asked to be tested for APS (antiphospholipid syndrome) having read that this is one of the more common causes of miscarriage and it being an autoimmune thing I thought it quite possible that I have it (I've got a couple of other autoimmune conditions). The test came back as a weak positive. In order for a diagnosis of APS to be confirmed you have to have two tests 12 weeks apart and I got pregnant again before I could have the second test (you don't get a valid test result when you're pregnant). So I may have APS but we're not sure. My obstetrician made the call to 'treat as APS' although its not confirmed, the treatment being Aspirin 75mg and heparin. My hunch is that without the blood thinning treatment that I wouldn't manage to maintain a pregnancy but I don't know that for definite.

I've been referred to a haematologist who will redo the tests after the baby is born to establish for definite whether I have APS. If I do, I may need blood-thinning treatment for life (or at the very least for long haul flights etc.)

Given the impression I'm forming of some fertility clinics and their love of expensive meds, I'm sure they'll be delighted to prescribe heparin to you and charge you an arm and a leg for it Wink but you could probably get the heparin on the NHS given your recent episode; you'll just need to be quick off the mark when you get your BFP. (As far as I understand it you would want your blood to be on the sticky side rather than the thin side at the point of implantation so you wouldn't want to be on blood-thinning treatment at conception, but then as soon as you get a BFP you'd want to start the meds.) It will be important that you request a quick referral to the obstetrics team when you do get a BFP because women are at higher risk of pulmonary embolism during pregnancy as it is so they will need to monitor you for this anyway given your history.

As a general note, remember that the minute you are pregnant you can transfer to NHS care. At the point we get a BFP we're no different to any other woman in the UK who needs looking after during pregnancy. So any (standard) drugs you need to sustain pregnancy should be available on the NHS, as well as any scans needed to investigate bleeding/pain etc.

Karendvm · 06/03/2017 23:48

So 5 weeks and don't feel pregnant. I know that is normal but it's a worry too. Going to contact fc about first scan. Will be referred to obgyn after that scan. Afraid I won't make it that far again but I'm hoping to follow in shoes' footsteps and keep right on trucking.

kwick I truly hope tomorrow is a better day for you.

Oh, and Molly is doing a bit better. Still watching her like a hawk but trying to not be too worried.

INeedNewShoes · 07/03/2017 00:06

Karen - at 5 weeks I didn't feel pregnant. I'm still waiting for the 'tender boobs' that everyone talks about... and nausea didn't kick in for me until after 6 weeks.

One step at a time Smile and brace yourself for a long journey.

I'm afraid the worrying never completely stops, but it does generally get better with every week that passes. I was in hospital for monitoring yesterday evening because baby hadn't moved all day. All is well, but its exhausting when baby hasn't read the textbooks and doesn't do what they're supposed to Hmm causing all sorts of worry!

CautionHormone · 07/03/2017 03:34

Thank you so much Shoes for explaining about your APS. That's really helpful, and has given me loads of insight into what may or may not be needed and what steps I'll need to take and when to take them when I get pregnant.

Im so glad that your obstetrician made the call to treat the "could be" APS, because like you said, you've got a hunch that you wouldn't of sustained a pregnancy, so for all you know, this could well be the reason why you have sustained your pregnancy! How far are you now? How is littleshoes doing in there? :)

You're right about the FC's charging through the roof for blood thinning meds... I think what I'm going to do (as this isn't my first scare; my D-Dimer blood test has come back high/positive before, about a year ago and I was admitted and treated but there was no clot that time) is maybe see what I can do before I get pregnant, because reading up on APS on the NHS website (I know - Dr Google isn't great, but the only source at 3:30am!) it says about the symptoms being similar to MS. Well, I've been tested for Multiple Sclerosis twice within the last four years, and they've settled on Fibromyalgia. So as far as I'm considered I've got Fibro, but everything's overlapping now... I've also had a previous MC, three and a bit years ago. I know 1 in 4 pregnancies end in miscarriages though and I could be reading too much into it now Grin.

I'm so confused! I think a conversation with my GP is in order, do you think? Thank you for bringing clotting issues and APS to my attention, though, and sharing your story. I appreciate it 😘

CautionHormone · 07/03/2017 03:37

Kwick, I hope you have a better day tomorrow and that your commute to Brussels isn't too painful. Flowers

Karen, I can offer no words of advice, just to keep hanging in there. I'm sure the symptoms will start soon and you'll be thinking longingly about when you didn't have them Wink
Glad Molly is doing better, too!

INeedNewShoes · 07/03/2017 07:12

Caution - I think a chat with your GP would definitely be worthwhile. It makes sense to get some tests run for APS and the usual clotting factors so that you know where you are before you start TTC.

witchmountain · 07/03/2017 09:49

I'm so behind as I'm away and had the week from hell to be able to go away, so this might be a bit patchy and cross posty as I'm reading backwards!

Caution so pleased to see you back! I've been wondering how you are. Sounds like you've had a really rough time.

Cherry those lines are making me smile!

Stork good follicle growing! I'm always amazed at how good everyone here is at recording number and size. Despite often turning up with a notebook because of my work escape 'going to a meeting' technique I never wrote anything down. As long as it sounded like things were going in the right direction I didn't think to. But it's a good idea to because then you can compare response to drugs. Although obviously the clinic did that for me. Anyway, fingers crossed for egg collection at the end of the week.

Karen really hopeful for you (and excited). I think lack of symptoms is more common than you think but it must be nerve wracking. I've got a friend who made it to six months without realising she was pregnant, but that's a whole other story.... I thin once you've had one miscarriage you never feel 100% safe. It's like when someone dies in your life, you never quite trust that other people won't also die.

Kwick thinking of you as you slog through the day. Well done for not losing it. I've had periods like that where it's just a matter of gritting teeth and dragging myself through each day. I reallly hope one little thing happens today to make at least today a bit easier. Glad you got to talk to your cousin. Your emerging plan sounds good. Fuck that was an expensive set of tests! I thought I'd become immune to the costs of this process but ouch! I also found CBT made me worse rather than better.

Grin welcome! I think it's great to have some donor egg/embryo people on here. And with you I think we now have all the time zones covered Grin what's your likely timetable for transfer?

Munro I'm glad being off is helping a bit. I hope things continue to improve.

Pickle the months are flying by this year, May is going to come round so soon!

Poppy welcome! The internal scan in your period came as a bit of a surprise to me too!

Hoping and Pez good luck with the waits. Fingers crossed.

Snowdog sounds like a plan! You must be willing the summer to arrive?

Pez and Kwick I was a dinner thing where they had conversation cards and one of the questions was where on earth would you live if you absolutely had to live somewhere different. I said south London which amused me, but apparently the south London dwellers thought it was less funny Smile

I'm looking forward to being a single mum in London. The friends where I grew up all suggested I move back there but I don't want to live there. I think of course you should go back if you want to live there but it's such a big change always there's no point making it more difficult by moving somewhere you don't really want to be. I think for anyone moving out of London it makes sense to see how it goes and move as late as possible because house prices tend to rise more there. Although not so much right now! But I also think if I was definitely going to move I'd want to go and start establishing myself there as early as possible. I just think you have to do what makes sense for you. I am totally up for a thread commune though!! I actually looked into whether there was any collective living places like that in London. It does have to be NORTH London though Wink

I'm sorry about your mum's unsupportive comment Hoping. I think sometimes people just forget to think before they speak. And also other people are quite unrealistic about the chances of just finding someone and having children immediately. Of course it might happen, it it also might not, so why not take charge. I can think of two friends who got married to have families and their lives are in no way enviable. At best they have a bit of a financial safety net. But that has come with a whole load of shit!

Waves to everyone else. Really nice to catch up, I've missed you lot.

Karendvm · 07/03/2017 11:41

shoesso glad little shoes is doing ok. Slept like crap last night. Was having hot flashes and terrible vivid dreams. Feel like I could sleep all day. And also need to drink and drink and drink. Here's hoping everyone is having a good day so far.

PhoenixMama · 07/03/2017 13:09

Hi Ladies, Can I join you too please? I'm about to turn 42 next month. I have a 7 year old daughter from my previous marriage and I've always wanted two kids. My daughter also asks for a brother pretty much every other day, lol!

After 5 years of being single (2 minor relationships) and 3 years of telling myself that surely I'd meet someone and it happen naturally (and 3 years of disastrous dates!) I've realised that I'm seriously running out of time. Time to get the turkey baster out!

I'm looking at Cryos for donors... anyone use them?

I had my AMH tested yesterday and its 8.5...

Seriously going to need all the support and info I can get!

StorkAhoy · 07/03/2017 15:53

welcome phoenix! are you going fertility clinic(FC) route, or doing it yourself a la turkey baster?!

I looked at Cryos but my FC wont use them due to lack of Zika testing and apparently they don't track the numbers of children born from the donors very well - such a shame for me as I had eyed up several potential baby daddies on there!!!!

which clinic are you with if you want to share?

Im with Care in Northampton. and we have lots of London ladies/clinics too.

witchmountain · 07/03/2017 16:21

Welcome Phoenix! I thought someone on here was using Cryos but I might wrong. If you read back a bit, maybe one of the previous threads, you'll see a bit of debate about various sperm bank options. I stumbled across Cryos early in my research but in the end I used London Sperm Bank as I wasn't so bothered about having loads of info about the donor but the family size thing that Stork mentions was important to me. Are you in the U.K.?

Swipe left for the next trending thread