Anyone starting IVF soon? Join me (3)

[purplemeggie]

Ha! I was just about to post the last message in the old thread linking to this, but I'm too late, we've already filled it up! I'll do the same as last time and send PMs to everyone who's been on the thread recently, but everyone's welcome

Hi all, on my phone so will just check in.
Wishing Karou and Ranch good luck with news from clinic. I am also in my "are they pjs or are they high fashion pantaloons?" mode the past few days. Can't see that changing.
And fab photo Purple keeping fingers and toes crossed for you... Exciting times .
Glad everything going well Cat, must be a relief. Keep the good vibes flowing.
Welcome Osirus it will take forever, then be such a whirlwind. My first IVF too and can't believe how fast it's all going.
Trixie hiya. Is your down regging a nasal spray or jabs?

I know I've been MIA the past few days. Had much more promising results from last scan with 8 good sized follicles. I had EC yesterday (at 7:45!!! Yawn) and they managed to collect 4 eggs a few of which were not mature they said. I was pretty spaced as I had general anaesthetic. Slept most of yesterday as a few hrs of sleep anaesthetic and voltarol combo knocked me for six.
I am SO tender today still. Like gastro intensity pain when I get in certain positions, and ok when I am sort of half stood up. Walking round the garden like Golum, watering the plants. Our fence blew down so getting the third degree from the neighbours kids. "Why are you in your pyjamas? Why are you walking like that? What are you doing?" Much better than the usual "why don't you have a baby? When you have a baby can we play with it?"

Got the news this am that all four fertilised, so now waiting for Saturday when we are either going in for ET or being told Monday is the day.

Anyone here used embryo glue? We are giving it a go just in case. The clinic said they see no difference in their results but studies say increase in pregnancy. Our clinic gets pretty high results though, so maybe gets swallowed in that data.

Ooh I also want to know what Aloe said

Hi Ladies, good news Bedouin
Well I was expecting 1 or 2 eggs and they got 9 so we were a bit gobsmacked. DH's swimmers were also the best quality we've had. Opted for embryo glue (they said it's no detriment but results on types of women weren't proved yet). We've also paid to use embryoscope to either give us better chances or, to feel like we've done everything we can to maximise our chances.

For now I'm enjoying putting my feet up with a book and trying not to worry about the phone call tomorrow.

Fingers crossed for you Blue. I could be Sat or Tues depending on results tomorrow.

We used embryoglue

Who's Aloe? Did I miss something?

Oh and awesome fertilisation rate Bedouin and amazing no of eggs ranch. Hope you both and Karou get good embies.

Well done ladies - seems like everyone got a decent number, especially you Ranch! I'm sure you're a bit disappointed Karou but I always focus on the fact that the ones that make it are the good ones....better to know now. Hopefully it will give you some confidence that the ones they pick for transfer will be the best ones.

Shellster good to hear we will be cycling (almost) together. I am taking DHEA - 75mg per day along with the 600mg CoQ10, omega 3, l-arginine, folic acid and the conception multivitamin. My skin is pretty rubbish at the moment and I'm blaming the DHEA...haven't had a single zit since about 1992 and now I've got 2! What's next?! Deep booming voice? Extreme irritability (normal for me)? Chest hair?!

Purple how are you doing - still having the nutty dreams? I hate the 2ww, partially due to the nasty fanny bullets.

IVF is always such an unkown. What a surprise for ranch to be expecting 2 eggs and get 9, while bedouin has 8 good size follicles and gets 4 eggs. I like *blues" theory that having a few means the dodgy embryos have been eliminated and the ones picked for transfer will be the best.

blue, I have heard that DHEA can result in oily skin. If you're going back to youthful teenage pimply skin, hopefully your ovaries are going back a few years with it too! I've taken it on and off since Jan 2013 and haven't noticed a single side effect which makes me think these ebay ones must not be great quality. What brand do you use blue and where do you get it?

Funny that you hate the 2ww blue. I suppose that's normal for most. But because I have had so many EC cancellations due to low numbers and other cycles where my few embryos don't even make it to transfer, I will just be elated this cycle if I make it that far.

Oh, Cat - it wasn't really avoidance - I'm just in such a quandary. It feels very final now...and I've been a bit sad today....just can't believe it would work after all these disappointments, and now that this is the last time, well, let's just say that Plan B is a bit trickier this time. So the longer I don't test, the longer I can keep a bit of hope alive.

I'm not always like this...I was all very positive the other night....lots of crampy pulling sensations and I was convinced that it had worked. I just don't know. I had a catch up with my lovely boss today and she was asking how it was all going - and we discussed the fact that it was the end of the road. She said "I'm going to be on holiday next week, but if it's not good news and you need to be away for a day, just do what you need to do."

We're camping this weekend with friends. It will be great fun, but I'd normally be quaffing the wine with this bunch and I'm sure they'll be wondering why I'm not...

Great news Ranch - I think you're the first one on here to get more eggs than you were expecting, so that's a fabulous result. Fingers crossed for great fertilisation rates, too.

Good luck with your crop, Bedouin, hope they're doing their stuff.

I took so long posting that that Blue and Shellster had posted first...someone called Aloemum posted something a few days ago that got removed by MNHQ. I'm with Blue about the 2WW, Shellster - I really wish I could hibernate and wake up at the end. Mind you, imagine the dreams! And yes, Blue - fanny bullets - is there an Ick emoticon? I'm on utrogestan, which is messy, but far fewer side-effects than cyclogest.

Chin up purple. It makes sense that it would work as you had an optimal lining with 2 top quality youthful embryos on board that made it all the way to day 5 and just have to implant. But I guess you felt that way after last transfer - I'm really hoping the more natural FET has your hormones more in synch and your uterus at that 72 hour embryo accepting window when the embryos are trying to implant. But I totally understand it does feel a bit trickier to cope with this time with no plan B purple as I'll be in the same boat.

Well, I guess I have the a la natural method. I'd love to try the forget and it might happen method after this last IVF with the little low fertility period I have left. But if anyone has any ideas on how on earth to do that, I'd like to know! Even if I stop OPK's and ovulation tracking and don't know the exact day of ovulation, it would be hard to have sex without thinking and hoping, then my period would arrive and the disappointment would still set in.

Thanks, Shellster - I really really wish you weren't going through this heartbreak too, but it does help to have someone who really gets it. Just don't know where all my optimism has gone or why - no negative symptoms or anything - and I don't feel stressed (at the moment - let's face it, these things can change in a heartbeat!) - just sort of sadly resigned to it not working. Hopefully a weekend of camping with some lovely friends will sort that out.

Freaky dreams continued though. Last night, I had wormy caterpillar things burrowed into my face (which strangely didn't cause any particular horror or distress - I merely observed them in a "oh, these are not spots, they are wormy things" type way!) and also my teeth disintegrating. Again, not met with the distress I would expect! Paging Dr Freud...

Morning ladies wave. No surprise that 7 out of the 9 eggs they got yesterday were immature - some of the follicles were tiny. BUT there were two they used and both have fertilised overnight :-) So weird to think they are growing in a lab right now somewhere miles away. Get em back in where they belong!
Transfer is tomorrow so starting my zen like status now. Still holding back my optimism though. Will be making sure they use plenty of that glue!

Oh Purple I didn't mean to press you. It must be so hard. Really hope that fairy comes your way this time with her baby dust.

Oh and that deleted post, I saw it - it was basically some idiot posting an advert for a fad diet telling us we were all wasting our time with IVF and we should all contact her to pay her to put us on this diet which would basically guarantee conception. Glad it was removed.

Thinking of all those eggs and embryos today, and willing them to make it.

Purple hope you have a fab time camping with your friends and that this rain stops before your weekend starts x

purple Only just saw your last post. Sorry to hear it's so hard. I'm not looking forward to the 2ww, hell the 9mw... WIting to start IVF was torture. As soon as it started & I was 'doing something' I was much better. Going back to not doing anything & just waiting sits very uneasy with me.

Thank you Ranch - I know what you mean. I'm very much one of life's doers - probably a bit of a fidget, usually doing more than one thing at once. Really not very good at things I can't just work harder at and make happen/do better. Really don't know why I'm feeling so low this early in the 2ww....it's normally only in the last few days that I go mad!

Not helped by my lovely Dad, who keeps making helpful suggestions about adoption overseas. I'm not ruling it out, but I don't want to think about it at the moment and I don't want to tell him to back off either...

Cat - don't worry, you didn't put me under pressure at all. Thanks for satisfying my curiousity - yes, I'm glad MN deleted it too...would have shoved my zen to one side and given her a virtual punch in the chops in my current frame of mind. DO YOU NOT THINK WE HAVE TRIED EVERYTHING BEFORE BEING HERE????!!!! And breathe. All zen again

Thank you Ranch - I know what you mean. I'm very much one of life's doers - probably a bit of a fidget, usually doing more than one thing at once. Really not very good at things I can't just work harder at and make happen/do better. Really don't know why I'm feeling so low this early in the 2ww....it's normally only in the last few days that I go mad!

Not helped by my lovely Dad, who keeps making helpful suggestions about adoption overseas. I'm not ruling it out, but I don't want to think about it at the moment and I don't want to tell him to back off either...

Cat - don't worry, you didn't put me under pressure at all. Thanks for satisfying my curiousity - yes, I'm glad MN deleted it too...would have shoved my zen to one side and given her a virtual punch in the chops in my current frame of mind. DO YOU NOT THINK WE HAVE TRIED EVERYTHING BEFORE BEING HERE????!!!! And breathe. All zen again [smile. When did you test, btw?

Good news, Bedouin and Ranch. Sounds like you've both had good egg collections with your perfect fertilisation rate, Bedouin and all your eggs, Ranch.

How exciting that you're booked in for transfer tomorrow, Ranch. Try to get a good night's sleep tonight, and I hope it all goes well for you tomorrow.

Looks like we're both waiting for a call tomorrow, Bedouin to find out how our eggs are doing, and when they're going to want us back in.

Your boss sounds lovely, Purple. I hope you have a great time camping this weekend and it takes you another few days toward that test day we're not talking about (but are here for you nonetheless )

Not much to report from Chez Karou. I'm more than over drinking all this water, and the cyclogest isn't my favourite, but it's not really the worst thing. I've been cooped up at home, just sorting things out and catching up on laundry - I think I'm waiting to know my EC date before I start getting on with life. Hopefully by this time tomorrow I'll know what happens next. In the meantime I'm going to settle in on the sofa with a superhero movie. Because why not?

Perhaps it's a good thing you're feeling different this time purple. We usually get optimistic and then it doesn't work. This time you're resigning and trying to work out how to move on - and that's when they say it does work. Of course, I say this and then you get you're hopes up that it will work - which is when they say it doesn't. Arggh, such a mind screw!

Ranch, perhaps it's good that you got a surprise with 9 eggs instead of 2. At least it kept you feeling happy until you got a phone call saying only 2 were mature but all is well because they both fertilised. Let us know when they are both back where they belong. You'll also have to give me your transfer details. Some clinics do ultrasound guided transfer, some clinics have you lie down for five minutes after transfer and I'm curious. I want to do everything for my last IVF and some things such as lie down after transfer may do good or may be a load of bollocks but can do no harm so if you have any extra things, I'll add them to my transfer to do list.

Oops, didn't mean to ignore your post karou - I can't wait to hear your update! Hope you enjoyed the movie :)

And just thought after my last post ranch, the fact that your two first to mature follicles both fertilised really does confirm the study that shows these are the best quality eggs. Now someone remind me of this when I do IVF next cycle and become a hypocrite and panic that I don't have 10 eggs growing.

Shellster I will happily remind you of that...Remember my t shirt printing business? 'It Only Takes One' Ltd?

Karou good to hear you are getting on ok with the cyclogest. Personally I hate them, I usually need a huge dose and they turn me into a weepy, constipated mad woman. One of my least favourite bits of the process.

Purple I understand why you're feeling less excited about this cycle when you usually do a great job of thinking positively. At the moment you're PUPO so I guess you can just experience (enjoy?) this moment for what it is. The Mindfulness book is useful here - don't let yourself get into a spiral of negativity. Anyway obviously it's easy for me to say, I'm usually the most doom and gloom eeyore around in the 2ww. Please remind me of this when I'm next doing the old 'why me' bit.

I''ll try to remember to remind you of that in return blue! Funny, when we hear other ladies stories on here, we can be so objective and give sound rational advice, but we can't apply it to ourselves when we are in the midst of an IVF cycle but instead become a wound up emotional wreck.

Well, they're in!
We paid (a lot of money) to use the endoscope (for 48 hours) which DH is very sceptical about as we only had 2 anyway. We also paid for embryo glue. Even if it is all a con, I'd constantly be wondering 'what if?' If it doesn't work.
Went with a full bladder and when I say full, I mean FULL! How I didn't wet myself I've no idea. The consultant said I got the day's prize for best bladder. Well, they did say to arrive with a full bladder! Having the nurse press the ultrasound scan on my belly was the worst. DH thought it was hilarious!
But, there was no lying down after. Just a mad dash to the loo! Got a picture of our two embryos which is a bit weird but I guess we wanted our money's worth.
Pub lunch and a trip to garden centre on way back and now I'm back in lounge pants reading Gone Girl. The three of us are fine so far!

Sounds like a nice day ranch - aside from trying not to wet yourself!

So I guess since you had them transferred at day 2 instead of day 5, now you've got an even longer wait. Do you have to go back for a blood test on any particular date or just POas at home? Did they tell you how many cells the embryos were at when they were transferred?

Yep, Shellster test is on 12th June. I go in for a blood test and they ring me at home later that day. I'm staying away from poas, I'd rather have the professionals do it.

I had two embryos which were a grade 3 & a 2/3. There was a bit of fragmentation but not much. But the results from the endoscope were good, she said they'd been doing exactly what they should be doing and that put them in the top category for implantation. They are both 2 cells. Or were yesterday!

How does it feel, Ranch, to have them back on board? 12th June doesn't seem that far away - less than two weeks - but I'm sure it'll drag for you.

My clinic called yesterday morning and let me know that my three are all progressing, so embryo transfer is going to be tomorrow morning. I'm not particularly looking forward to an hour's drive with a full bladder, but it needs to be done.