Anyone starting IVF soon? Join me.

[Shellster52]

After 3 full failed IVF's last year, I am about to embark on my second last attempt. I started an IVF thread during my last IVF, and everyone got pregnant but me. So I swore I wouldn't do that again this time. But I find myself wanting to chat with people going through what I am, so I am starting the thread again. Join me as I seem to be a BFP magnet!

Went well thank you :) she said I have about 12 big follies so hopefully will get some eggs out of that! All booked in for ec on Monday! Scared about that!

Exciting. Things are definitely looking up on this thread!
Shellster - I'm doing a very cautious little happy dance for you x
Happily - hooray! EC nothing to be scared about, you'll be fine.
Liquorice - did I miss something? Thought you weren't testing til Sunday?? What's this talk of cycling again?

Off to the land of internet exile tonight, so I probably won't be in touch again until Monday. Have a lovely Bank Holiday everyone x

EC was absolutely fine for me Happily. The worst part I found was waiting for them to tell me how many little eggs I had collected and trying not to cry until I got to the car. But I am a poor responder and you have 12 juicy follicles so I can't wait to hear your good news on the other side!

Thanks for the happy dance Purple!

Thanks :) I'm terrified if that too. Must be heartbreaking to go through all this and have nothing fertilize or something. That's what I'm scared of. Trying not to to stress though, I've been really relaxed so far and I don't want to ruin it.

I hope everyone has nice plans for the bank holiday! :)

The relaxing has obviously worked so far to have 12 lovely follicles. At least it's not too far away now and then it will all be over with. I am sure with 12 follicles, you don't have to worry about low egg numbers like me.

Hallo all, this is my first post on these forums, which is a bit exciting, and this board seems like the right place to begin as I'm in my first IVF cycle and I had a day-5 blastocyst ET on Wednesday. The ET went well (we got to see the embryo on a screen before it was transferred: it was adorable) and I've been trying to carry on as usual, but I've been getting hideous PMT-like cramps ever since. They're so much worse at night, although not much fun during the day either.

I suspect it's just my body responding to being prodded about so much and to the hormones -- I've suddenly got clown boobs and I'm welling up at detergent adverts, too; however, this morning I had a sudden sinking feeling that it's actually a sign that it hasn't worked. Has/is anyone else experienced/-ing this? Trying to gauge what constitutes a 'normal' cycle is nigh on impossible.

Welcome EmmaGH. I have never been in your situation so I can't give any real advice. Although probably no one can because as yoy say, there is no 'normal'. Everyone has different symptoms and it's just impossible to tell. All I can say is that from my objective viewpoint, it sounds promising if you are at least having symptoms. Seems to early for period symptoms so it can only be a good sign that your body is responding to something - hopefully the embryo implanting! Although some women report all sorts of symptoms from the progesterone and other drugs so no one really knows. It's just a horrible wait!

Thank you, Shellster, it really is! I phoned my ACU this morning and the nurse seemed to confirm that the cramps are as much my body reacting to the embryo as to the drugs and the prodding. Apparently some women just react crampily to progesterone, while others will continue to experience throbbing in their ovaries following EC (which the progesterone can exacerbate). It can also be symptomatic of implantation (good) or the failure of the embryo to settle (bad). The main point is it's still too early to be worried.

Should anyone else find themselves reacting the same way, this might be useful: the nurse couldn't recommend very much other than gentle exercise, a warm shower and to take paracetamol three times a day. So today I'll go for a gentle swim, take a warm shower and top up the paracetamol intake!

Also I'd been using a hot water bottle at night to try to alleviate the pain, but she actually said a warm bottle is better, as an implanting embryo will respond better to warmth than heat, per se.

She also noted that the hCG can cause some women's breasts to inflate and that if the pressure eases (which it has) it's not necessarily a sign that your body is not producing its own hCG. It's more a sign that the artificially high hCG levels (as a result of the injection) are dropping and that the body is adjusting to the fluctuation of hormones.

Phew! It was a lot of information to take in first thing on a Bank Holiday Monday!

All went well today, they got 15 eggs so I'm pleased with that. Just need to wait for the dreaded phone call tommorow! Enjoy your day x

Great news happily! Nervous wait until tomorrow but with 15 eggs I think you can relax a little.

Hi Emma, I think you are right and your body is settling down after all the prodding, although I have no first hand experience as I never got that far! Good luck, whens test date?

How are you Liquorice? Your last post suggests you felt test was going to be negative, sorry to hear that if things havent changed in the meantime. Hope you enjoy your holiday.

What happens next for you Shellster? Was great to hear about the 13 growing follies. Goes to show you know your body best and what will work for you.

Good luck with your next cycle purple. Less drugs sounds good! Roll on June.

My af does not want to stop. Currently day 7 and still a moderate flow. Nervous that im going to have a continual period for months like I did years ago after going on the pill. Hope it stops soon.

Happily, that's great news! We had 7 out of 11 eggs fertilise: with 15, you're bound to have heaps to choose from.

Carriebella, I think our test date is 2 June. You'd expect it to be etched in my memory, but I've been trying to be deliberately vague about things like that so that I'm not fanatically counting down. Back when we were just trying on our own, I used to keep almost religious record of everything and it just stressed me out. I've been so much more relaxed and happy about things since I switched over to letting my partner take care of dates and appointments, so he'll let me know when it's time!

Welcome Emma! I hope the 2ww isn't stressing you out.

Great news happily! Let me know how you get on.

Carrie af arrived in full force before otd so luckily I didn't have to test. I feel fine about it, lots going on at the moment so I haven't really thought about it ( I thought I'd feel devastated but I don't?!)

Shellster I hope your cycle is still going as planned.

Purple how are you? I hope you enjoyed the bh weekend. I will be starting a short protocol around 20th June so we will be around the same time!

Wow Happliy. 15 eggs from 11 follicles. How did you manage that!
My numbers just seem to drop at each scan - not go up! Will anxiously wait for an update. With your husbands new super sperm since starting supplements, I am hopeful for you!

Carrie, you are right. I think we do know what is best for our bodies. Thanks for your excitement for me. I have lost track of where you are up to. You started down regging late March. So does this mean you are starting IVF this cycle - or have you already started injections?

Liquorice, you are such a trooper. I guess the thought of moving straight on to plan B will help to stop you dwelling on the failure of plan A. You've kinda got me scared though. You managed to get two embryos all the way to day 5, have them both transferred so all they have to do is implant, and still both of them didn't take. I can't remember your infertility diagnosis - do you have any incling as to what could have gone wrong?

Emma, hope the water bottle and warm shower is as relaxing as it is helpful to ease the symptoms. Did you end up with any embryo's frozen?

My next scan is this Friday - CD9. I am going to try and stick to my original plan and not ask how many follicles or their sizes so I don't get stressed out by numbers - or lack there of. I just want to know if at least 5 are likely to produce an egg to make the cost of EC worthwhile.

That sounds like a good idea shellster, I'm so glad things are finally going to plan and I have everything crossed that you get good news on Friday. I don't really know to be honest, he just came in and said 15 eggs, so I don't know if I had some follies that they couldn't see or a couple contained more than one egg. Dreading the phone call today, I just really hope some and fertilized, it would be good to get some to freeze for the future too- but il be happy with anything at the moment!!!

Liquorice it really does help to be busy doesn't it! I find I feel much better about things by keeping myself busy. What's your next step?

Hope everyone else is ok x

Hello ladies, although it's a bit late for me, is it OK if I join in anyway? We are going in for Egg Collection tomorrow. Only about 6 follicles were showing good signs during the cycle. I was on 450 Gonal F and then also Luveris as a 'boost' (the clinics words, not mine) towards the end. Gutted that I responded so poorly. Our previous cycle (though 4 years ago) gave us at least 11/12 follicles (from memory). Am praying for at least 4 eggs/embryos as ideally we'd like to transfer 2 and freeze 2 but do feel it's quite unlikely from only 6 follicles. Anyway, we'll find out at Egg Collection tomorrow how it's going I suppose ... Good luck to all ladies x

Hi mini,
Try not to worry too much, it only takes one after all. Was your first ivf successful? I ended up having more eggs than follies so you never know there may be some more in there hiding! X

Hospital just rang, 13 fertilized! I'm so pleased and relieved! X

Happilymarried155, 13 fertilized is amazing !!!! That's such great news.

Our first IVF wasn't successful, but we had 3 frozen embies left and so we did a FET with 2 transferred (one didn't defrost well) and were lucky enough to have our beautiful boy. It's why it's in my mind that I really want some left to freeze in case this cycle isn't successful (even though we are self-funding). Just praying they find enough, but I can't do anymore now except try to stay calm and get through tomorrow.

That's what I said to my husband today, it's nice to have something to freeze so If it doesn't work it will be abit easier next time round!

When is your next scan? X

No more scans for us, Egg Collection tomorrow, gulp ..... There were 6 good sized follicles showing at my last scan yesterday with some others having potential to catch up. The nurse said they'd drain then all, regardless of size and just see what's inside. Am praying loads ... x

That's what I said to my husband today, it's nice to have something to freeze so If it doesn't work it will be abit easier next time round!

When is your next scan? X

Hello ladies, I'm back from the primitive West...I could see this thread, but it timed out when I tried to post - completely infuriating! But all I was going to say was some reassurance to Emma that I was told to expect cramping and not to worry about it - but you've been told that already by now.
Hello and welcome Mini. I only had 5 eggs, but we got one fresh transfer and one good blastocyst to freeze out of that, so 6 isn't so bad. We're about to embark on a FET now.
And wow Happily - 13 fertilised is fantastic....here's hoping they're busy and dividing and you have lots left to transfer/freeze. What's the plan in terms of numbers to transfer and day 3 or 5?

Hoping for a day 5 transfer if everything keeps going to plan! Would be good to have some frozen ones as well.

When do you start your FET? X

Hey girls,
Been reading through this thread thinking whether I should join or not. Wasn't really sure what to say but thought some support from others going through the same thing might be good for me.
Got first IVF consultation in a couple of weeks. Was putting it off for ages in the hope we'd conceive naturally but it hasn't happened. Really scared of OHSS and flooding my body with hormones. Was considering natural IVF but my periods are so irregular and long, and low AMH, that it wouldn't really work for me.
Having to go private because in our borough we don't qualify for NHS until over 3 yrs of trying.
Has anyone got any experience of City Fertility clinic in Farringdon by any chance?

Hi Rach, welcome!

Don't worry it's not as bad as it first seems. If you have a low AMH you are at low risk of ohss I believe. My AMH is 52 and I didn't get it....

I have no experience of that clinic, have you visited it yet? I loved mine from the moment I got there and I think that is very important! When is your appointment? Good luck, this is a nice thread to be on.