Anyone starting IVF soon? Join me (2)

[purplemeggie]

I see we've filled up the thread and thought I'd better start another one. How's everyone doing?

What has happened to my sense of taste? I can't taste sweet or salt. Last night I thought it was my cooking , but now I realise it's everything! Anyone else had something similar?

Thank you for the details, Purple, that's really useful (and I don't know why this isn't explained in the clinic's documentation).

I daren't really think about it before we get any embryos, but we haven't decided yet how many to transfer back if we have enough good ones, it's only our first cycle, but I'm 39.... I had initially thought about 2, even though the clinic say it doesn't improve the chances of a pregnancy, with more reading I can see that the HFEA are on a bit of a mission to reduce multiple pregnancies and my clinic echo that really strongly.

Thoughts anyone?

Shellster sending you lots of mindful peace

Sorry that should say second not shellster. Good grief, one day back at work and my brain is in bits...

Second injection done and was fine. I had a couple of twinges today but nothing terrible and I feel otherwise great. Went for a long walk this afternoon to try and get some exercise and a bit of space and felt much better afterwards.

I've eaten lots of protein today, nuts, chicken,milk and yogurt and I'm going to have eggs for breakfast tomorrow. I've been making sure I drink plenty of water too.

Hope everyone else is feeling ok x

Cat - we were talking about the how many question a little while ago on this thread. I was told at some point (and some of the other ladies had heard similar things, but none of us could remember where we'd got it from!) that embryos give out an "I'm here" signal to the uterus, so if you put a second embryo back, even if it is of lower quality, the signal is stronger and the good one is more likely to take.

I'm having similar quandaries: we have three frosties left and were thinking that we wanted to have them all put back - we had 3 transferred in my last own-egg cycle. Our clinic sites 65% chance of a pregnancy with a double transfer, 85% chance with a triple, chance of singleton pregnancy, twins and triplets as 50%,40%,10% respectively. Our thinking was that 10% is nothing - we've faced much better odds and not got pregnant, so a 10% risk of triplets weighed against an 85% chance of a pregnancy was worth it. Plus we're kind of wanting closure and putting them all back would either result in a pregnancy or we'd call it a day. But our clinic has strongly advised against the triple transfer with donor eggs and I think we've come round to their view. Safer for me, safer for the babies and although we won't have closure if it doesn't work, we will have one last try. Wouldn't think twice about a double transfer though. I guess it depends how you feel about the risk of having twins and how your clinic rates your personalised chance of success...

Glad it's manageable, Waiting - and it sounds like you're being super healthy

If you are over 36 then I would put two back - especially if you don't have any other children. My reasoning was that I would rather they were in me then left in the petri dish but that is just me being overly emotional! I've heard about the "signal" effect of having two put back in as well. It's a tricky decision though.

Thanks everyone thinking of me by the way! I am feeling pretty mental today. I tested yesterday at 11 DP Egg Collection (I know I know) and it was negative. I resisted taking a test into the loo with me this morning. I'll try tomorrow as it will be 13 days past egg collection and I'm going a bit mad.
I've also been looking at the DE thread. Which is contrary to everything I said about this IVF being last chance saloon. I don't think we can afford it though really.

Good luck second! Did you have a 5 day or 3 day transfer?

Hi all - lots happening on here! Cat.....what Purple said. It will depend on the quality and number of embryos. I wouldn't worry about that yet, cross that bridge when you come to it! The decision may well be made for you anyway. IVF is such a brain melt that it's better to try and focus on today, not tomorrow

Purple - interesting stats on transferring 3. I can understand that you may well want to get everything over and done with in the next cycle, but I wonder if you'll feel the same if the next cycle fails? Perhaps having a back up frostie is a good thing so you can have one last (third) try? It's a tough one - I'm not sure what I would do.

Sunrise fingers crossed for you. The last few days of the 2ww are agony. Wish I had some useful sage advice but I don't - I basically wanted to knock myself out and wake up on 16dpo.

I have a scan this afternoon to see how my lining is progressing (I think). I'm currently mid-AF so not quite sure what the doctor is hoping to see. Shellster he advised me to start the aspirin on day 1 of my period....last time I started taking it after the ET. I haven't done a FET before so am not quite sure what is going on really. Anyway, happy to take aspirin if it might help implantation. Am also on 4 x estrogen tablets a day and I've reduced the downreg to 2 x sniffs a day. Magical, mysterious FET....!

Anyone who can maintain zen in the last few days of 2ww is really a robot, Sunrise. Hang on there we're keeping everything crossed for you. xxx

Just got back from scan. Ovaries are nice and quiet but guess what, I've got 10 (yes, 10!!) follicles in total, on the ONLY cycle where I'm not having egg collection. Sod's law or what? That's basically the biggest AFC I've ever had.

Deep breath...........never mind.......and relax.....

Bloody typical Blue!
Lucie it was a two day transfer. As I only had the two they put them both back asap to give me the best chance.

It's still early day for you yet then second and you are still in the running! Keeping my fingers tightly crossed for you!

That's rubbish, Blue, I'm cross on your behalf. Definitely .

I'm having a really bad evening. Injection really hurt for some reason and bled a lot then I got a massive headache.
Having a hot chocolate and some almonds as a treat (and for the protein) then off to bed as I'm feeling sorry for myself. I felt a bit odd today, not bloated but very heavy and just not 100%.

When is your official test day second ? Perhaps you just tested too early, I will keep my fingers crossed for you and hopefully you will get your bfp soon

Oh blue that's so frustrating.

waiting sorry to hear about a painful injection. I sympathise! I had to do two this evening to make up a dose from another pen. I feel cheated!

Day 8 scan tomorrow, fingers crossed. Good luck with yours lucie.

Fingers crossed second....

They sound big for day 10 black. Perhaps as you say because you are tiny, the drugs have more of an effect. All the more reason to keep me motivated eating healthy and losing weight before my next IVF (not that I am overweight, but just wanting to be fit and healthy to maximise my chances). Let us know how your day 8 scan goes.

lucie, with my own theory of .5 AMH for every follicle and your AMH being 7.3, that means you would start with 14-15 follicles. Then they say about half respond so that means 7-8 lovely mature follicles - which is right on track. Honestly, 8 follicles honestly sounds perfect to me. I have read a study showing that women who did IVF and had their eggs tested for genetic abnormalities were then given more drugs to produce more eggs the following IVF. While they had more eggs in the second batch, both batches contained the same number of genetically normal eggs. The first few follicles to mature are the ones that your body is naturally selecting and the best of the bunch, so more does not equal better. Also, women who produce lots of eggs have less chance of implantation success on a fresh IVF cyclebecause the high hormones effects the uterine lining. Hope that's some reassurance. So the largest is 17mm - do you know what the other sizes were?

second, hows the 2ww madness treating you? Hope the sore boobs is a good sign.

Oops, didn't realise I was on 2nd last page of this thread instead of last page when I posted above. So my message is based on old info. So much happening here at the moment - can't keep up!

Thank you shell i really hope you are right. If I had 8 eggs collected I would be happy but I had just hoped for around 12 follicles to give me a bit of room to manoeuvre with it. I have read other people say that Czech clinics don't stimulate as hard though as they like to get quality over quantity so who knows.

The sizes on day 8 were 17,15,15,14,12,11,10,8. I'm not sure if the 8 or 10 will catch up and have time to mature or not? I guess if they do grow at 2mm a day they should be ok. I have my day 10 scan this morning so will report back on growth. They are hoping do EC on sat or sun. My meds have stayed the same and no increase.

I really believe that sounds absolutely perfect lucie. As I say, even if you had 'more to play with', these first maturing ones would be the most likely to be genetically normal anyway - as per the study I read. I read another study showing a medium paced estrogen growth rate of between .31 & .41 (there was some complicated math formula) resulted in the highest pregnancy success, so I reckon your clinic is right in not overdosing you on drugs. Yes, they say an average of 2mm a day, although I found that some of mine grew a bit faster and others slower. Can't wait for your next update!

Who is going to kick off the new thread then? Won't be me sadly, I tested negative again today - 13 days post egg collection. Stupid fucking old crappy eggs. If I had the money and energy I would definitely be signing up to go to a Czech clinic and using donor eggs. We could probably scrape the money together but it would make things pretty impossible in other ways so I don't think we'll pursue it.
I was trying so hard to be sensible about it all, I've got plans of all the baby stuff to get rid of, I've asked some friends which bits they would need, made a list of all the benefits of only having one, and even looked at where we could save to go on holiday if we are only paying childcare for one. But you know what? I am still really upset and fucking furious. This stupid stupid shitty lottery. Can't wait to hear from everyone who knows "Oh well at least you have DC1" like I am oblivious to the 3 years of heartache it took to have her. And the people saying this are the always the ones pushing brand new siblings to their toddlers.
Sorry, I'll be ok honestly, just the face of my gutted DH after I told him is haunting me this morning.

Ok ladies I'm really worried now. Just had my second scan at day 10 with a different sonographer and the results are really different. She has basically told me I will probably only collect 5 eggs and if I were her patient she would tell me to cancel this cycle and start over again :( Some of my follicles seem to have gotten smaller rather than growing and she said the cetrotide which I started last night can cause them to plateau or shrink. Please can anyone give me some advice. If we only collect 5 there won't be much left by day 5. Here are the sizes from day 8 and 10.

Day 8
Left - 17, 12
Right - 15,15,14,12,11,8

Day 10
Left - 12.7,9.2,6.8
Right - 18.7, 17.8, 14.2, 12.8, 12.3, 10.1

Sunrise - I am so very, very sorry. I know how you feel - and yes, for me the worst thing was waking DH up with that news. Miserable for you. Sending a hug xxx

Lucie - how are you doing with your water intake? That's the thing that's plumping them up at the moment, so drink absolutely as much as you can manage. Personally, I had five eggs collected first time, five fertilised and five made it to blastocyst, so you don't necessarily lose as many as the worst case scenario. And what if you cancel but the first sonographer was right? Do you have another scan before EC?

Sunrise I'm so sorry. I feel so disappointed for you - what a hideous, crappy situation. You are quite right, it is a lottery and it's very unfair. Don't blame yourself. Shellster and Purple will both attest to the fact that having DC1 doesn't make it any easier. Hopefully your friends will have the sense and empathy to work that out for themselves too.

There's no need to make any decisions about donor eggs, you've got time to think about that. Your 'old and crappy' eggs (I have some of those myself) play no part, so you don't have to worry about being a bit older. Anyway, take some time for yourself - cry, rant, get angry. Decide what to do next later on.

Lucie I can't offer much help I'm afraid, maybe one of the other ladies will know more. 5 eggs is more than I've had on a couple of my cycles and it 'only takes one'. I'm not sure I'd be in a rush to cancel but you should obviously take expert advice on that.