Please or to access all these features

Infertility

Our Infertility Support forum is a space to connect with others in the same position, discuss causes, treatment and IVF, and share infertility stories of hope and success.

Starting IVF/ICSI this month - anyone want to join the journey?

999 replies

Rumplestrumpet · 02/10/2014 09:25

After over 2.5 years TTC, we're FINALLY about to start our fertility treatment this month (ICSI). My nurse and husband forbade me from chats and forums, but after following MN threads over recent years I think it would be a great help to share the experience with those going through the same thing.

Anyone else want to share the joys/terrors of belly injections, hormonal madness and a series of medical professionals poking around your nether regions?! And, of course, hopefully a BFP at the end of it all Smile

OP posts:
whittlefish · 07/12/2014 20:41

Haha true but in a good way

lildottie · 07/12/2014 21:17

a very good way. I had snuggly baby cuddles tonight! can't wait to hold mine next year!

Smidge001 · 07/12/2014 23:58

Hi Shell you must be at the clinic now awaiting transfer. Good luck, let us know how you get on.

I'm just waiting til I get a better idea of my AF timings to know whether I'll be doing a fresh or frozen cycle when I get back from England over Christmas. I've got both types of consent forms ready. If i make it back to aus before day 23 of my cycle I can do a fresh cycle (with scratch, intralipid infusion, prednisolone and blood thinners!) if my current/next cycle is shorter than normal I will probably miss that boat and either have to wait another month or can do a frozen cycle. I'd rather do fresh first I think, to try to get another frostie for a sibling - given we're struggling enough while I'm 38 I can't imagine our chances in a couple of years time.

Shellster52 · 08/12/2014 05:07

moo, your story nearly brought tears to my eyes. I guess because it so closely mimics mine (except this is my 9th IVF!) so I could just imagine how joyous you must have felt after that roller coaster ride.

Thanks for your words of encouragement rumples. Although sometimes I don't know that I want to be made to feel positive as I will just have further to fall. 9th IVF attempt is very different emotionally from 1st and 2nd. So very glad for you that all seems to be progressing well.

Yes allchat, I had both put back in. One was 11 cells and one was 14 cells. I had previously read a study showing that embryos with more than the standard 7-9 cells at day 3, have a higher chance of dying before becoming blastocyst, but if they do survive, they are the strongest embryos of all. If I had of waited until day 5 for transfer, I guess I would be pretty confident with this information, but having the day 3 transfer means I will now be joining you whittle with the torturous 2ww!

whittle, I thought you had a day 2 transfer - was it actually day 3? How many cells was your embryo?

smidge, can totally understand your reasoning for a fresh cycle and wanting to have hope for a frosty becoming a sibling. Sounds like if your cycles are normal length it should work out for you that way. And the holiday will help fill in the wait.

Oh, speaking of frosties, I was told on Saturday that only 2 of 3 had fertilised. Today I was told that the 3rd did fertilise late and was 5 cells at 7am this morning. The embryologist said it must be 6 cells to be frozen at day 3 but was last checked at 7am thismorning so it could develop more cells by the end of the day. Otherwise I could let it grow to day 5 and freeze it if it becomes a blast. I chose the day 3 option. Just wanted to get it frozen in time as quickly as possible so I could have a glimmer of hope with this as a back up if current transfer doesn't work out.

nutty123 · 08/12/2014 07:29

Well done shell you are in the dreaded 2ww!! So excited for you.

Just a quick one to say that I have my scan today. I feel sick with nerves. I hope something is still growing!!! Wish me luck!!!

whittlefish · 08/12/2014 07:35

Oh nutty good luck and keep us posted

smidge yes I was a 2 day transfer at 4 cells don't know if getting them back in so quick was good or bad but since we only had one I wasn't taking any chances

whittlefish · 08/12/2014 07:36

Sorry shellster that was aimed at your question lol sometimes my phone doesn't display quite right

Rumplestrumpet · 08/12/2014 08:29

Hi all, so much going on!

Shell that's fabulous news - 2 embies onboard and a potential frostie too? Whatever happens it seems like all the effort you have put in over recent weeks and months has done the trick, as this is the most successful cycle you've ever had, right? I won't tell you to think positive, I know the fear is that it makes a possible fall harder to bear. But I hope you can at least reassure yourself that you've done all you can. Now it's out of your hands.

Nutty best of luck with the scan today, are you 6 weeks? I had mine at 8 weeks last week and got a strong heartbeat, but it might not yet be possible at 6 weeks. Be warned, it'll look nothing like any living form, just a blob really, but just be reassured if the doc/midwife tells you all is well. Fingers crossed for you.

Whittle - I was knocked out by the whole process too - just felt so run down by it all. Don't know if it was the progesterone specifically, or the whole treatment. But I allowed myself to rest plenty, and got DH into the kitchen, making dinner and serving me drinks on the sofa. And the next few days are definitely the hardest, but try to keep yourself busy and plan some nice treats.

Smidge - it's great to have a plan for the new year. Our clinic won't let us do another fresh cycle if we have a frostie, they are very strict about that (probably worried that people will just leave them if they have a successful fresh cycle, and they'll keep up space in the freezer for years!) but I can see why a fresh cycle would be reassuring for you. If only we could all be in Fraz's position with a freezer full!

Hen I've also found it hard to believe the BFP is really going to be a baby, and have worried a lot about miscarriage. And of course we know very well on this board that miscarriages are very real (and I'm still sad for you, Allchat). But the reality is that once you're pregnant, you are much more likely to stay pregnant than not. I sometimes feel we've gone full circle in the miscarriage discussion - we used to not talk about it at all, now we seem to terrify every woman with a BFP that she shouldn't really believe it until 12 weeks. I don't know how helpful that is really. In my case I tried to focus on the daily positives - each day without a miscarriage reduced the chance even further. And once you have a scan with a heart beat the chances reduce dramatically. So yes, we should be aware that it's a possibility, but we should know it's only a small possibility.

Wishing everyone a good week.

OP posts:
nutty123 · 08/12/2014 08:41

rumples I'm 7 weeks tomorrow so hopefully they will see something

Rumplestrumpet · 08/12/2014 09:25

7 weeks, yes, you should def see something - albeit a blob! Best of luck, thinking of you. Keep us posted.

OP posts:
whittlefish · 08/12/2014 14:03

I know that moo didn't but did everyone else POAS before your otd?

BatteryPoweredHen · 08/12/2014 15:03

whittle Umm, might have done. A little bit.

rumple Thank you for posting that, you speak a lot of sense. I also wonder if there is an element of reporting bias where miscarriage is concerned? What I mean is, there are dozens and dozens of posts on MN about deeply distressing losses of pregnancies at all stages. By contrast, there are very few posts about people having a quiet and uneventful pregnancy, because they are less motivated to post about it IYSWIM? From that, it is easy to infer that pregnancy loss is a lot more common than it is.

I am finding [http://spacefem.com/pregnant/mc.php?m=08&d=10&y=12 this] a useful resource. The graph in particular is quite interesting, the marginal decrease in risk from weeks 7ish to 12 is very small - I am still trying to take each day as it comes though.

Shell I have everything crossed for you Flowers

nutty How exciting! I hope you are back soon with fabulous news of your little bean Smile

allchatnicknamesgone · 08/12/2014 15:37

Nope, I didn't poas before the hospital told me to. I think it was something like 16 days post ec. I think I probably knew it was a bfn though and that is why I held off. I didn't want to go through the torture more than once. Also I only had the test the hospital gave me and I didn't want to buy any more…weirdly on the next natural cycle when I conceived literally Superdrug was calling me days before I was even due. I didn't have any symptoms. Just this weird inclination.

rumples I think you are right in that there is a large concentration of women on MN and most are drawn here because of issues they are faced with. Having said that mc isn't really spoken about as much as it should. I haven't told people about mine (apart from a few who knew about ivf). But having said that quite a few women in RL have come out about their mc's only when they have babies. I think you have the right attitude. It's unfair that you guys have to see and read this stuff which makes you worry.
x

nutty123 · 08/12/2014 17:55

Ok ladies, think I need some serious hand holding.
I have been sworn to secrecy by both my DH and the nurse (but surely that's just for family??)
Anyway, I had my scan today and saw a beautiful little blob with a very strong heartbeat. So good so far and I was so emotional.
Then, and the nurse almost missed it as I have a heart shaped uterus, she saw another one!!!
However, this heartbeat was a lot slower and the blob was a lot smaller than the other one :(
So I will be booked in for another scan in 10-14 days to see what is happening. It's likely that I will lose the small one and it could affect the bigger one.
I don't know how I feel to be honest. Excited, scared don't even come close!!

whittlefish · 08/12/2014 18:16

Oh wow nutty what a wonderful and scary thing to discover can't imagine what a mixed bag of emotions you must be feeling. Did he nurse sound fairly certain that the smaller one was less likely to make it?

whittlefish · 08/12/2014 18:17

Fx the little fella will prove us all wrong and you will be blessed with two little beans x

MunningCockery · 08/12/2014 18:27

OP Apols if repeating something already posted but can't face reading nearly 700 posts to find out! But just IN CASE no-one has pointed you in this direction, the MN Berries - of whom you are now qualify to be oneXmas Wink - are HERE

Wishing you the very best of luckFlowers

allchatnicknamesgone · 08/12/2014 18:30

Wow. That is a mixed bag of emotions. Did you have 2 put back in?

nutty123 · 08/12/2014 19:57

whittle she didn't sound very optimistic and my dh said the heartbeat was a lot slower than the other one

allchat yes I had two put back. Never thought one would stick, let alone two!!

lildottie · 08/12/2014 20:05

nutty what a shock!! And another tww to go through, hells bells!! Keeping everything crossed for you that everything turns out ok.

nutty123 · 08/12/2014 20:18

Thanks lil
Yes it looks like another 2ww. All we seem to do during ivf is wait!!

whittlefish · 08/12/2014 20:30

Oh god it's awful isn't it I think all the waiting is the worst bit, big hugs to you nutty

lildottie · 08/12/2014 23:10

the waiting is killing me. I'm not a patient person!

Shellster52 · 08/12/2014 23:37

nutty, I can only imagine the emotions you are feeling. My friend had 2 put back and 1 was no longer growing. Didn't affect the healthy baby at all. At first she was gutted for the little one, but now she is just so relieved that she had two put back or otherwise if the healthy one was frozen and didn't survive the process, she wouldn't have her beautiful boy now. Thinking of you.

Okay whittle, so it was a day two transfer. Can totally understand you wanting your solo embryo back safe and sound ASAP. That's why I had day 3 instead of day 5. But now we just have no idea what's going on as opposed to knowing that it made it all the way to blast. When is your official test date? Must be soon... feels like even your 2ww is taking forever. Can't imagine how long my own is going to feel like.

*rumples8, thanks again for your thoughts. Yes, can definitely say I've done all I can. The only thing I can't control is my 37 year age and the percentage of abnormal eggs that brings. Can't help but Dr Google about fast growing day 3 embryos. Some thoughts are that they are genetically abnormal. Others say if they make it to blast, they are strongest embryos of all. Still frustrated the trigger went bums up to waste half my eggs. What a waste. Hopefully it won't matter in two weeks time.

Okay, sorry for that rant. That's all I can do now that I just have to twiddle my thumbs and wait.

Oh, to all you BFPers, can I ask a question. Did you have/abstain from sex during 2ww? Read one study showing that those who have sex in 2ww had similar pregnancy rate to those who didn't, but their miscarriage rate was lower. With that in mind, after my last ET, I especially had sex (TMI alert) ... with orgasm thinking this would get the sperm to the embryo if that will help it stick. Felt all tingly funny in uterus afterwards which never normally happens so I thought it was a good sign something was brewing. But then I got my period and thought maybe this was the reason it didn't work. So now I am two minds about what to do this time.

nutty123 · 09/12/2014 07:14

shell your friend's story gives me hope. I'm just so scared I will lose both of them.
Lil you will learn to be patient when you start. It was 20 days to go wasn't it yesterday? So exciting

Oh and shell we abstained!!!