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

Yep, it's like any test anywhere. Receptionists aren't at liberty to discuss regardless of whether they are good or bad.

I'm sure the nurse will call soon and I'm sure it will be fine.

Thanks so much allchat you have made me feel instantly better xxxx

No worries. Hope she calls soon.
Plus receptionists are usually sitting at public desk and their job description would defo not include that sort of patient contact.

I'm sure allchat's right, Anroga, it doesn't mean anything. It's always better for the nurse to tell you so she can answer any questions - the receptionist is just as likely to worry you, because if you ask "is that good/okay/healthy?" she wouldn't be able to tell you!

Hope you don't have to wait too long for the call back and get the reassurance you need.

Reminds me I probably should ask about my own AMH - I was told once that it was "fine" and never bothered to ask any more... not sure if information is power in this case or just one extra thing to worry about!

Thanks allchat x

Thanks Rumple, I know you are both right but you know how we all are about reading into things and her voice made me feel like it was bad news.

Just want her to call back now so I know.

Stupidly I have been so blase about this blood test and not realising that if the reserve is low it changes everything.

Just willing that phone to ring now!

Thanks again girls xxx

Just thought I would let you know allchat and rumple just spoke to the nurse and I have a really good ovarian reserve of 31.2

So after all that worry its ok!

Crikey I have just been terrible waiting for that call, gods knows how I am going to be waiting to do a pregnancy test after treatment!

Xxxx

There you go!! Good things do happen.

No idea about mine. Someone should know somewhere surely? Maybe if a get a dreaded bfn next week, and once I'm over that I'll try and find out.

x

They certainly have this afternoon Allchat! The relief!

Yes the result should be noted somewhere. Fingers crossed for you that you do not need to both finding out come next week!
xxx

Great news anroga - I wouldn't have known what 31 means, but great that she was able to tell you it's really good. Like you, I'm very impatient, and have no idea how I'm going to cope waiting for all the info at each stage: how many eggs were collected? How many fertilised? How many survived? And then, the very worst, Two Whole Weeks of waiting?! Think I might go mad! We'll all be asking allchat for tips.

And we all have our fingers and toes crossed that allchat never needs to worry about her AMH levels!

Oh well we are the same then Rumple! Perhaps we can try and keep each other calm through the process!

Well I don't know alot about it myself but the nurse told me the normal AMH is between 6.8 and 20.3 and mine is 31.2 which means I have a high ovarian reserve which is good, lots of eggs for them to choose from! I am amazed as I will be 38 next month and I know as you get older there is less and less but I think the fact it is high is due to my PCOS. With PCOS it can go either way high or low from what I read.

Anyway I a blithering on as I am happy! I might reward myself with a glass or two of vino tonight, no more than that though x

Good news anroga! I have pcos too and was warned I had 'a lot of follicles' before we started that's why I've had an extra scan I'm told.

allchat hope the next week flies by for you. Everything crossed for that bfp for you!!!

rumples I was talking follicles with my chum who's just had the little boy I mentioned a few posts ago, she had 3 follicles and got her boy just wanted to share that

I'm getting nervous again for scan in the morning. Blimmin eck it's like I've swallowed a space hopper full of butterflies haha

Gonna try to have an early night tonight (like that's gonna happen lol)

interesting how we get told different things. I was told amh range should be 17-40 and mine was 40. still, its the "good level" part that matters, congrats angora

good luck for scan tomorrow moo

Yep no early night for me. Blooming wide awake but shattered at the same time. Lunatic lol

Hi ladies, quick check in post-egg collection. 25 follicles gave up 14 eggs. Waiting for the call this morning to see whether any were good, fertilisation rates etc... holds breath

EC itself not tons of fun, but not too dreadful either. Feeling a bit like someone's been Morris dancing in my lady parts this morning but not as bad as it could be- a weekend on the sofa should do the job! Apparently with that many follicles I'm still at risk of OHSS so they've loaded me with drugs and pessaries but frankly it's not needles so it's okay by me.

Wishing you all very good luck with scans and tests. On the one hand it's amazing how fast this goes, on the other hand, every day takes a million years!

Hi all,
I'm still here, just been really busy at work and then so tired in the evenings.

I can't believe some of you have reached EC already!!! So exciting.

angora if it makes you feel better, my ovarian reserve was 5.2 last September that's why I have to do long protocol and might not get to EC stage.

Anyway, on the positive side, still sniffing the spray, although it is gross going down the back of the throat!! And I have a blood test and scan booked for Tuesday!! If all goes well, I shall be starting injections on Thursday.

I wish everyone luck at whatever stage you are on. May this thread be lucky and we all get BFPs!!

Really good luck on Tuesday nutty. Fingers crossed for you. x

Thank you tail

I can't believe you got 14 eggs!! That's amazing. Hope your phone call is good news and that the Morris dancing has died down to a gentle skip!!

Congrats on 14 eggs! Yes, I found day 2 quite painful still (actually felt great first thing in the morning but by afternoon felt terrible) but by day 3 I felt significantly better. Though I only had 10 follicles so you may be more swollen than I was (how is that possible though, I felt fit to burst with my 10!) all the best with the next stage.

Thank you both! And yes smidge I did feel pretty dreadful with the swelling, but hopefully it will all worth it in the long run...

The embryologist just called with news, 12 have fertilised (!), so now we just wait til Monday to see whether we have any that can make it to blastocyst, which would mean waiting til Weds for implantation. Doesn't seem quite real somehow...

Apparently if we do Monday, it's 14% chance of success with 1 egg, and 40% chance with 2 (though twins also then 40% chance). If Weds, 66% with 1. DH and I will be doing some reading over the weekend over whether to go for 2 or not. I don't suppose anyone has any good advice / links to offer?

tail that's great news. Yay!!

25follicles! 14 eggs! that's fantastic!!

in my clinic they will only put one back if >5 good quality embryos, then freeze the rest. if it doesn't work we get a funded frozen transfer. if we have

Hi everyone. Wow, this thread has moved fast with some great news!

tail that's absolutely fantastic news! I know my clinic only does 1 embryo transfer and freezes the remainder as lildottie mentioned. Either way that's great news & probably the best possible outcome from treatment; well done you!

nutty good luck for your scan on Tuesday, hope it's good news & you can move forward.

How did the scan go moo? I too have pcos so have been warned about ohss but don't think they do anything different. I have no idea what my ovarian reserve is either rumple maybe I too should find out but I suppose if they haven't mentioned it before it's one less thing for me to worry about!

Hope this weeks not dragging too much allchat, I have everything crossed for you.

To anyone else I have missed, hope you're all doing ok wherever you are on this journey.

So, my down regging injections are going ok, 1 week down (how time flies!) and 2 to go. They've booked me in for a scan on 3rd Nov when hopefully I can start stimming. No side effects so far, in fact my DH said I've been in a better mood than the past few years lol! Strangely I am so much less stressed now we have actually started treatment than the years of worry, hope and anticipation! let's hope it continues!

Thank you Leopard I'm both excited and nervous. I just hope the down regging has worked. I see you are down regging too. Have you had your AF yet? Be warned, mine lasted over a week and a half and it was a period from hell!!! So heavy and bad pain. Even the tops of my legs were hurting on one day!! Don't want to scare you but thought you might like to be prepared!!

The only real side effect i am having now is not being able to sleep, and i normally love my sleep!!

Hi all. Great to see everyone is progressing well. Tail that's amazing to get 12 fertilised eggs! Surely your clinic are over the moon too! I guess it makes sense to wait until blast stage, given the number of eggs you have and the increased chances. Like others, we're not allowed to put back 2 embryos. But I'm sure the clinic will be able to advise you more on Monday, depending on how the embryos are growing. So exciting !

Glad to hear downregging seems to be going well for leopard and,nutty, hope it stays that way.

Moo thanks for the reassuring story from your friend. I keep telling myself it only takes one, but am also being realistic about my chances. How was your scan on saturday ? Are you going for egg collection Monday or Tuesday ?

My Scan yesterday showed 5 follies around 20mm, so we were told to trigger last night and go in for egg collection tomorrow. I'm feeling very aprehensive about it, wondering if I should have ditched the idea of tough girl and gone for full anaesthetic after all, but it's too late now! Turns out I have to self "inject" an anaesthetic gel in the morning before I head to the clinic, so hopefully that'll make it all a bit numb and easier... Fingers crossed they'll find plenty of top-quality eggs and I can prove my egg laying status

Oh gosh rumple very good luck tomorrow, how exciting! Fingers crossed for you!

Thank you everyone for the good wishes, I've been a bit poorly this weekend, which is apparently not a huge surprise given how many follicles I had. Really glad to have this two day period to relax and recover. A pretty miserable night last night, but much perkier today. It's meant a lot to have all the positive messages here, so thank you.