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!

Eww, it's all happening now for you both Annie and Purple. Next time I check in here I will be reading how many eggs you have had collected. Then their progress over the next couple of days!

Nothing new at my end. Doing very well on my high protein low carb diet. But it's been less than a week and I still have 7 more weeks to go before I start IVF - plus two weeks while stimming. So I shouldn't speak too soon.

Good luck with the egg collections Purple and Annie - here's hoping for lots of lovely eggs which all fertilize.

Well, that's me back to earth with a bit of a bump: all those follicles, and I've got fewer eggs than last time - only four . Trying to keep positive, but I really wasn't expecting that!

Otherwise, all fine. Bit sore and tired (up at 5.30 this morning to get to the clinic in time), but otherwise not too bad.

I've had my fingers crossed for both of you, Annie and Purple, all weekend. Purple, I hope you don't get yourself down over the 4 eggs -- this surely means that they are brimming with health with all the nutrients nicely concentrated. Annie, how did you get on?

Shell, I really think a break is a good idea -- it's so hard to break when you're living 9 months in the future. Every month that passes just seems wasted if it hasn't yielded any results! But November is good. You'll get a nice break and build up to maximum health, all ready to pop those eggs! Keep up the good work on your diet!

Blue, I wish I could say I did spend hours chopping and prepping (I'd sound so productive and virtuous), but I generally don't spend more than 30 minutes actively cooking. I much prefer to whack things in a pot and let them get on with it! I will DEFINITELY be your private chef! Very reasonable rates, I promise!

Purple, my mum had the exact same reaction to sweets when she stopped eating Cadbury's chocolate as part of a diet -- she finds it sickly now!

My consultation went really rather well -- I saw Mr Hamoda who took out the fibroids and he was really pleased with how my cycles have recovered. He agreed with our choice to forgo another IVF cycle for another four months to see if we can conceive naturally now that the fibroids are out. (He was unsettlingly enthused by the placement of the fibroids, almost joyously revealing 'they were very small, but it's so unusual for there to be so many inside the cavity!') He seems to think that the failed IVF cycle was a statistical regularity, not anything to be worried about, but sent me for a blood test to check my anti-phosopholipid levels for peace of mind. I can't have my endometrium checked until the first day of my next cycle, apparently, so I've booked for that.

I did ask about immunology screening, but he was quite dismissive about most of the treatments available, as he doesn't feel there's enough research to prove their effectiveness. He did, however, say that if I want to use steroids as a precautionary measure during our next IVF cycle to do so without paying £600 for the test this seems to be because the test will likely be mostly inconclusive and taking the steroids will have no adverse effects, even if there is nothing wrong. Very typically for King's, he generally advocated less is more (i.e. taking a pre-conception multivitamin, drinking water, otherwise as you were). I do rather like this approach. It's frustrating on the one hand I just want them to tell me, 'Do this one thing and it'll all be perfect!' -- but I really like that they genuinely seem to want their patients to get the most out of the money they spend and to keep things as simple as possible.

Best of all, however, he said that judging from the embryos we created, I have genetically good eggs and MrGH good sperm. He seems to think that if we do have to do another IVF round, he thinks we will be in the 50-60% success range. This is such a relief!!

Hello, i came home and fell asleep straight away. 8 eggs were retrieved. Still v sleepy. So glad that's done. Just praying at least some will survive and fertilise. I have a feeling a lot won't make it overnight and I'm prepared for that. I don't want poor quality eggs put back so if they are mostly low quality then it's better if they go quickly.

purple well done to us for getting to this stage. Hope you have a good sleep. The sedation drugs are amazing! I sent Mr Annie out for some lovely M&S food to have later and intend to snooze in bed doing sod all all day. Xxx

*EmmaGH glad your consultation went well your consultant sounds great.

Emma - that all sounds great . Keeping everything crossed for you that the 4 month break does the trick and you get to avoid this circus.

That's pretty much what our consultant said about the immunology screening - and we've opted for the "empirical steroids" this time on the basis that they won't do any harm and just might help. I picked up the meds today. Watch this space...

Annie - well done us indeed - and well done you. 8 is a great result - and let's be positive about this - they may be 8 great ones.

You seem to have done well on the sleeping/getting spoiled thing too (mind you, you did deserve a bit of spoiling after being stuck on your own so long). Mr Purple has hurt his back and he's in a worse place than I am, so I'm the one making the cups of tea! We curled up this afternoon and watched a film and now that ds has come home from school, we're all having a DVD afternoon together. We're watching Planes for about the 20th time, but hey.

My news this morning is that all 4 have fertilised. Just waiting to see if the transfer will be tomorrow or Saturday. Depends how they're doing tomorrow, really - if one of them isn't developing, then we'll probably go for it, as we've consented to up to three...

....what's your news, Annie?

How's everyone else doing?

That's great purple! The wait for the fertilisation call is just awful. I don't think I slept a wink that nighton our fresh cycle. Do you mean you've consented to having up to 3 embies put back? Presumably they won't be blastocysts though.

Annie, hope for good news from you too. x

As for me, I took 3 weeks to down reg with the Suprecur. My lining was down to 4mm at the scan last Thursday so I then started the oestrogen tablets last Friday. Next scan is on the 14th and all being well with my lining then, our ET will be 7 days later. We have 3 frosties but have been advised to transfer only 1, as they're all blastocysts and our son is from the same batch. Still nerve wracking thinking about the thawing though and the possibility that none survive, but trying to stay positive. Due to the cancellation of our initial attempt at FET due to lining issues, the ET is now going to fall a couple of days before a busy work trip which is worrying me tbh as I'd hoped to have it at a less busy time. That's IVF for you though I guess - unpredictable! On my fresh cycle I'd been so stressed by the infertility (investigations) etc in the years before that I booked leave for my cycle. I can't do that this time and am telling myself that people succeed with IVF all the time even when working in stressful jobs and travelling overseas etc but it's still niggling me.

Shell and Emma - I hope you manage to stay relaxed and positive on your breaks.

Did someone mention that they're having treatment at King's btw?

Purple, that's ace news! All appendages crossed, I hope you have good news tomorrow. Sorry about your husband, though -- what timing! I'm glad your consultant seems to agree with mine. Do you start taking the steroids after ET?

Annie, I hope your eight have done marvellously!

Hope everyone else is well!

That's brilliant news purple you couldn't have asked for more !

I'm still waiting for phone call. Nervous wreck. They said they'd call between 8-10 .... I hope it's ok..

Four out of four fertilized is terrific Purple, really good news. You may not make all that many, but you must make some darn good eggs.

Hope you get similarly good results Annie.

I'm finally getting back into this thread - I've had house guests for the last two weeks and haven't kept up. But the buggers are finally gone. I actually dropped them at the airport this morning on the way to my suppression check for my FET cycle.

All is well with me - all nicely suppressed and ready to go. Doing my first Estrogen injection on Thursday and hopefully at least one of my two frosties will defrost and be transferred at the end of the month.

Poor you, Annie - waiting is so much the worst bit of all this! Keep telling yourself that they've just got lots of people to call. I'm sure they get the bad news ones out the way first, so they're not kept waiting and then told bad news. Keeping everything crossed for you xxx

Thanks Inconceivable. No, it could be 3 blastocysts. We've already had two transfers of good quality blastocysts which didn't work, I've had a mc at 10 weeks and 2 x chemical pregnancies back in 2011, so they're throwing everything they can at it this time. It may not be 3 - we'll take a view as each day passes if we still have all of them.

Try to relax about your frosties - 3 frosties is an amazing tally. We had one back in July and I was frantic about losing it in the thawing process, but apparently they have a 70% chance of making it out of the freezer, so it would need to be beyond bad luck for none of yours to make it. Keep positive .

Thanks Emma. My instructions so far were to start taking the steroids from Saturday, day 5, but that was on the basis that they have assumed that my embryos will make it that far because all of them did last time. We have agreed that if we lose one along the way, we'll go for a day 3 transfer, because the clinic takes the view that the only benefit in holding off to day 5 is to ensure that you choose absolutely the best embryo, but if there isn't a choice, you go for day 3 on the basis that the mother is the best incubator. I'm not sure where that leaves me with the steroids....need to have that conversation tomorrow if it looks as if we may be opting for a Thursday transfer.

Exciting times, Orange - it's a good feeling when you're ready to go, isn't it? Thanks for your good wishes.

One more interesting development is that I've requested the Embryogen alternative culture medium that I was talking about with Blue a couple of weeks ago. I asked about it when I got the call this morning, and was a bit miffed because I was told that it needed to be lined up before the cycle and it hadn't been, so it was too late, but "maybe next time". I said I didn't think there would be a next time, so I'd been keen to try it this time.

Then I got a call back from another of the embryologists to say that they COULD transfer the embryos into it, they would normally have done this first thing this morning, so by the time they've got it up to the right temperature it will be about 5 hours late, but they could still get some benefit, if we wanted to go for it. I didn't completely fit the criteria, but I didn't fall quite outside them either. It's an extra £450.

The deal with embryogen is that it contains some growth hormone and something to improve the communication between the uterus and the embryo. Normally, the uterus rejects anything that it sees as foreign. Embryos give off some kind of chemical signal that suppresses that and the Embryogen amplifies that chemical signal. They recommend it for people who have had transfer failures in the past, miscarriages and chemical pregnancies, so I fulful all of those criteria. Apparently they don't think it's quite so successful for women over 40 and, unfortunately, that is also me, but on the basis that it wouldn't hurt and might help, and this is probably our last shot, we decided to go for it.

GoBigOrange - nice to find another FET'er on here! :) Good luck!

Finally they called! Out of the 8 collected 6 fertilised, 1 fertilised abnormally and 1 egg was abnormal. Phew. They're going to ring tomorrow I asked what time because I've been sitting by the home since 8am and I think I came across as a complainer! He said sorry we've been very busy...I just said it because I'm a nervous shaking wreck and feel like crying. Anyway!! Get a grip woman. It's good news for today.

Well done Annie - that's a great result. I shall think of you, as I sit by my phone in Surrey tomorrow, doing the same thing in Edinburgh. Here's hoping for more good news tomorrow. x

Congrats Purple and Annie! Nice to hear some good news on this thread for a change - we're all rooting for you. I know it's still early days but it sounds like you've both potentially got some good embryos there.

Thanks for the tip regarding Embrogyn, Purple. I'll definitely ask about that at my next appointment. I'm going for my blood tests tomorrow - anti-phospholid, anti thrombolising and some sort of chromosome thing. The doc said there's only a slim chance that any of these tests will highlight a problem related to my chemical pregnancies but that they are worth a go. I agree, and the tests are all free anyway.

Guess what folks, I am famous! Prof Robert Winston answered my question on his blog! I asked it before I got the results of my 2nd chemical pregnancy (at the time I just thought round 2 had failed), but he still provides some interesting input. He doesn't think much of the expensive immunological tests. He's awesome, I wish he still did IVF treatment!

www.genesisresearchtrust.com/Blog/ivf-and-immune-screening

Oooh, Blue - lovely to have some validation of your clinic's approach from the big man himself. I'm pleased, too, as my clinic said similar things, so thanks for sharing.

Right....seems we're off! One of our embryos hasn't divided, one is at the 4-cell stage, one 6-cell and one 7-cell. 4 is where it should be today and apparently the speedy ones may not be a good sign because if they go too fast they can burn out.

So on the basis that we said "up to three", we're going to go for it today. Apparently they've never had a set of triplets in a woman of my age....

Oh wow purple that's exciting and good to get it done today. Fantastic to have one 4 cell good one. And the other two still have a chance.. Hope you're feeling nice and relaxed for ET. Enjoy it! (That's what my meditation tape tells me to do -pah!)

I hope I get a good one today and get called in too. Phonecall between 9 and 10...

Thanks Annie - good luck xxx

My update is that it will be transfer tomorrow at 9am all being well.

They are looking at 3 x 4 cell grade 3 (1-4, 4 being highest).

The others are 4 cell grade 2 - one had uneven division, one was multi nucleus and one is fragmented.

That sounds promising, Annie - great to have 3 at just the right stage for today and 3 is good, too (My clinic never tells me the grading...I'll see if I can find out). How many are you planning to transfer?

I'll do 2 if it's viable. 2 is the max at my clinic. I would do 3 if it was available. Its pretty amazing to hear the detail from the embryologist. He said about the multinucleated one that it could be used if it's the only one left but he'd rather not. I think they can be chromosomally abnormal or sometimes turn into healthy pregnancy.

Morning all! Another delightful day of deluge here in the south-east. Blergh.

Annie, Purple, goodluckgoodluckgoodluck!! I am certain all will go well, but we're all rooting for you here!

Blue, I'm off to read your Q&A! I'm also going to keep in mind the anti-thrombolising and chromosome tests at my next appointment (if they're free...).

GoOrange and Inconceivable, are you roughly in the same place in your cycles? When are you scheduled for your FET? I am admittedly terribly envious of your frostie status. We had a heap of embryos but only one made it to blastocyst -- four died the night before, if I'm remembering correctly. I hope it's going well!