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

[Rumplestrumpet]

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

Congrats Anroga!!! Thought that was coming after your post yesterday.
Hope you are feeling better but I'm sure it all feels worth it now!
Well done for hanging in there! x

congrats anroga! how many dpt are you?

Oh wow, congratulations anroga! You must be thrilled, (and thinking all those horrible OHSS side effects are worth it now! ). I can't remember if you were a 3 or 5 day transfer? Testing seems to have come round so quickly!

Hooray anroga!! That's fantastic news! Had another scan of my follies today, holding out until Friday for EC - lining is 10mm but only 3 follies were over 18mm so they told me to keep stimming until Wednesday and then trigger in the evening. How's everyone else doing? I'm so excited and impatient!

shell I am going back to the clinic and they are going to do the blood test there, so all I need is to wait with patience.
Good luck and all the positive energies for you.

Congrats again anroga. At 38, your BFP gives me a glimmer of hope that it's still not too late for me. Can I ask if it's not to personal, did you have sex between the transfer and your BFP? Some clinics say no sex, while some studies show much lower miscarriage rates for women who have sex after transfer. Interested to hear what you BFPers did (now that you are officially one of them!)

lil, I guess it does get nervous time now as now is the time when you hear how many eggs, then how many fertilise, then how many survive and it all starts happening! With your AMH of 40, I am sure you will do better than me and I can't wait to hear your update after EC. Then Toes is next in line for EC!

gcerron, will be thinking of you in your 2ww.

Phoenix, any update?

11eggs collected but 2 quite small. dhs sample in normal ranges today so we were given choice of ivf/icsi. we've decided 5ivf 6 icsi. should get a call tomorrow morning to find out how many fertilised

Thanks for all your messages girls x still can't believe it....

shell in my clinic info it said abt sex 12 hours before and 12 hours after transfer as it can help with implantation but nothing abt miscarriage? We didn't risk it.

You refer to being nearly 38, I stopped worrying abt the age thing abt a year ago I will not let people/society make me feel old at 38! You still have plenty of time as do I and all the other 38 something girls!

Sorry my result has made you feel down abt your attempts but hopefully you can keep positive abt my age and me getting a BFP. The worrying does not stop though even now got a long way to go yet - my bathroom bin has abt 8 used tests in it as I still cannot believe the result!

Still feeling terrible with hyperstimulation btw, nurse confirmed yesterday it could get worse now I am pregnant before it gets better!

Anroga that's absolutely fantastic! Huge congratulations! :) :) :) How many days past transfer are you? Was that the first test or had you sneaked some early ones in? Really pleased for you! Has it sunk in? Also, what were you hyperstimulation symptoms? Are you ok now?

I haven't been about much the last week as I had a few emotional days and then was away on a hen do and juts been major busy! I've been reading but just not had a chance to catch up and type, I don't find this the most user friendly site for replying to stuff!

Thanks everyone for the supportive words last week when I was a bit down, I think when it's your first time, you don't realise - no, I didn't realise how much things can change so quickly and I picked up on something which probably wasn't such a big deal, I was probably just a bit hormonal at that point and looking for the negatives when they might not have been there. So I truly appreciated all the kind words last week - just couldn't face typing back at the time - so I hope you didn't think I was being rude not replying!

I've had two further scans and they increased my gonal f to 200 each day - this produced a couple more follicles of note on the right and the all the others seem to be doing ok - I've stopped asking for too much details as I don't want to google and dwell on it! They say it's ok, I'm trusting their judgement. I know some bits - My lining went up to 10.something on the Friday and 12.4 on Monday so that's good? I'm due to trigger tonight, just waiting for the phone call today to tell me when.

For info my clinic only measure the ones over 10mm as well and schedules EC once two are over 18mm. I had one over 18mm and one at 17,5 on Monday, so they move my EC from Wednesday to Thursday to allow that other one to get over 18mm. The chart looked good with lots of crosses in the follicle boxes, I just tried not to start counting and reading into it! The nurse said I'm cooked and ready to go and looking good - so fx!

shell what's all this about sex after transfer? I didn't know it could have any effect at all - I'll add that to the list of things :) - I have my pineapple in the cupboard and I've been doing my acupuncture!

So it sounds like its lildottie for EC today? anyone for Wednesday? Me and Phoenix for Thursday and toes for Friday? gc and allchat you're already in the 2ww? Sorry if I missed anyone! This is all getting every exicting now!

I have to trigger at 9 tonight and be at the clinic super early Thursday morning :) exciting!

good luck verkey. hope you have less pain than I'm in
we have been told no intercourse before date of pg test as orgasm may stimulate muscles of womb and cervix and affect embryo emplanting.

That's interesting to hear lildottie, I never thought about any of this 'no sex' stuff before! Sorry to hear you're in pain - not a nice procedure then? :( Hope you feel better soon. How long until ET? x

no idea verkey we have to wait until embryologist decides! I think the next few days will drag!

Hi everyone! Sorry I've been MIA, its been a rollercoaster lately!

Anroga Congratubloodlations! Thats fab news. Sorry about the OHSS but sooooo worth it!

It sounds like everyone is moving on nicely! We had a bit of a standstill which was worrying.
We had scans Monday, Wednesday and Friday last week which showed slow growth but they were happy with it. They put EC back to thursday to allow more growth. We went in yesterday and had a bit of a shock! I had grown more of the 'less thans' which made lots of follicles but the largest was 13.5 on the right and 17 on the left. I have 3 leading follicles (17, 16 and 16.5) which was really disappointing considering I have around 12 follicles growing in each ovary!

I wanted to break down and cry. I was convinced my eggs wouldn't be mature enough so thought it was all in vain! I wanted to run out to DP in the waiting room and hug him until its all went away. Dramatic I know! But its what all of this does to you isn't it?

Well.... it was heartbreaking until we compared it it my last fresh cycle. I had 3 follicles around 18mm, the rest smaller but I still managed to get 15 eggs, 13 matured and 11 fertilised so all we can do is hope that it is the same situation this time round! I have triggered tonight at 10:30, EC at 9:30 thursday.

Is it 3 of us around the same time? I feel completely flat about it this time. A few nerves because of how the GA makes me ill but apart from that I'm numb.

Fingers crossed for you lildottie. I remember waiting for the phone calls. I just found my piece of paper that I'd written on when I got the phone calls on my first cycle a year and a half ago!

Thanks for the summary of everyones progress Verkey. Very helpful. You are probably doing the best thing for yourself in purposely not paying too much attention as Dr Google will only stress you out. I might try that for my next cycle (but probably won't succeed!) Yes, I read one study somewhere about sex before transfer as the prostaglandins in the semen soften the cervix and make transfer easier, then sex after transfer to help with implantation. Although lildottie's clinic says no sex or at least no orgasm) after transfer but anroga specifically says sex before and after! So who knows!

That all sounds fantastic little! Hopefully you can keep sane while you wait for a phone call. Keep us posted.

phoenix, trying to understand. So you have a 17, 16.5, 16, 13.5 and the rest are all smaller? I have read that IVF is different to a natural cycle where a follicle needs to be about 18mm to be mature. With IVF, when there are mature follicles, smaller follicles that are anything from 11mm upwards can contain a mature egg, which backs up your last experience with mature eggs from smaller follies. Anyway, won't be too much longer now and you will get the reassuring words from your clinic to hear of lots of lovely mature eggs to work with. Wow, so your last IVF was 1 1/2 years ago! I can't bare the pain of IVF failure and need to get plan B in place to help me go on - I can barely wait a couple of cycles before trying IVF again.

shellster I had 2 frozen cycles between then and now so no phone calls with fertilisation news. I couldn't wait that long either. My last FET was last march which has killed me but we had a lot going on and DP's brother and girlfriend announced a surprised pregnancy which knocked us for six. We waited for our nephew to be born before thinking about trying again so we didn't feel any upset and bitterness towards them if we had a failed IVF around the same time.

Sorry, I didn't make sense with the follicle sizes. On my right side I have around 12 ranging from 10mm - 13.5mm, on my left around 10 ranging from 12 - 17mm. I've had 1 more Gonal F 150 and my trigger since yesterday and two more days of growth so I'm helping they'll carry on going!

Your knowledge has made me feel much better! Hopefully those smaller follicles will have caught up or at least contain those mature eggies! Thank you

phoenix I had 7 in the right ranging 9-19 on Friday, and 11 on the left ranging 5-16. I was expecting 8 from those figures but we got 11. we've been told 2 are quite small but as dhs sample is in normal range we've opted for ivf not icsi with those. this is because they said the eggs could mature overnight and still become fertilised with ivf. whereas icsi is a one go thing. can't remember if you are ivf or icsi but if ivf the smaller ones may well do OK!

Hi everyone.
Not ignoring other posts but I'm so sorry I just can't bring myself to do anything other than write this.
I started my period in the night. I wasn't even meant to come on until Friday.
I'm a bit distraught. I can't stop crying. I'm not working and it feels like my life has ground to a halt and I'm just trapped. I said to my husband last night that I can only liken it to grieving but each month it gets worse instead of less painful.
I'm really sorry to bring down the thread yet again but I feel so screwed. I don't know where to turn next. I'm scared that I don't know why this isn't working but the possibilities seem endless and the thought of it wears me out.
Maybe I go to another clinic and make a fresh start. The thought of all just makes me sick and tired. All those appointments, waiting in the waiting room feeling like a failure. I know I shouldn't feel like that but I do. I almost feel ashamed. I love my dd so so much it breaks my heart that I can't give her a sibling. She just wants one now and so do I.
Sorry x

Allchat huge, massive hugs for you darling. I can't imagine how terrible this must be for you. Have you done a test just in case?

Treat yourself to a nice glass of wine tonight, you deserve it x

Oh allchat i'm so sorry. do what you need to do to grieve, but please don't forget it's not the end of the road. You are unexplained, and you did get a bfp after 1st IVF so there is every chance you can get your baby the good old fashioned way. I know that is absolutely no consolation now but I think its easy to forget that keeping on trying naturally is an option - i know i keep reminding of it!

I feel bad posting this now but we have 7 embryos, 4 from icsi and 3 from IVF. waiting for a call tomorrow to see how they are getting on.

Dear Allchat I understand that sometimes we see a dark horizon when things like this happens, however follow your heart when you feel better, the decisions must be taken when we are calmed. All the best and don't lose the hope you can get pregnant you did before, think about it. I am conscious that this can happen, so I have to prepare myself but I don't want to think about it. xxxx

allchat so, so sorry to read your post tonight x x x

allchat I completely understand your grieving. You have to remember that although it hurts more every month, you will get stronger and fight it. The thought of more treatment seems daunting to you now but after a few weeks/months you will feel the drive and determination to go again!
Look after yourself for the time being. Give DD lots of love, I hope you're being looked after too xx

Good luck tomorrow Verkey! I'm getting nervous now. I hate waiting for the anaesthetists to do their thing whilst I'm hooked up to the monitor hearing my heart go beep beep beep as I get more nervous and wish they'd hurry the hell up!
I need to be at the hospital which is an hour away by 8am tomorrow so a lovely early morning for me. At least there's no need to worry about make up and deodorant ha!