Anyone Starting IVF? Join Me (4)

[bessie84]

The other thread reached 1000 comments, so having to start a new one.

A puff of Babydust to all

x

Amazing news banana !!! So pleased for you that's an amazing amount of eggs

Fingers crossed all goes well and you get lots of lovely embryos and that your lining thickens up

fab news banana yey x

Wow sounds like a lot you've been through already! I honestly thought it was pretty straight forward. I thought if it works I'd be pregnant by may, but I'm guessing not. How are you finding this process? I'm finding it so stressful and I haven't even started yet! Hopefully you'll be getting sorted soon!

I think for some people it is straightforward so don't let my experience worry you its just its good to be aware there can be delays. I had no idea !
I was stumped straightaway by blood results (TSH level) and hadn't even realised that would be an issue

Also cycle cancellations can sometimes happen. I think I'll be taking a day by day approach to my next FET as I got way ahead of myself last time.
Fingers crossed for you it will be straightforward with no delays though

In terms of stress I have reflexology once a week which helps tremendously and relaxes me a lot. I also try to have a relaxing bath each night and read something not IVF related to give my mind a rest ! Also a walk in the fresh air every day has helped and the occasional stop for tea and cake. I had been struggling a bit feeling low so also see a lovely counsellor who specialises in this area and she's been great

Quick update : had the scariest phone call of my life this morning

We have 16 embryos!!!!!

Of the 6 frozen eggs, 4 fertilised.

Of the 17 eggs retrieved yesterday, ALL were mature.

3 didn't fertilise and 2 fertilised abnormally, so we got 12 embryos from that lot.

They had to do ICSI on the frozen eggs as they have harder shells, but standard IVF on the fresh ones.

OMFG 16 embryos!!!!!

Not bad for someone who the NHS would have written off and many clinics would have said own eggs were a lost cause and to go straight to donor egg...!!

Oh my god Bananafish. So amazing and am very happy for you. Certainly gives hope to me who has an AMH of less then 1.2
I am having long protocol treatment on my next cycle, throwing everything but the kitchen sink at it.
Must join the FF's thread with you guys.
All the very best of luck, plenty of embryos to choose from there!!

OMG banana been thinking of you today, you were our morning coffee conversation before work this morning.

Amazing news banana !!!

16 Mr & Mrs banana babies growing in the lab!! Really seems like your ovaries just needed a few months to bounce back from the suppressing effects of long term pill. Here's hoping your lining does the same!

I used to think I was more of a bad luck charm waiting when I was on here whinging with IVF failure after failure, and then blue and purple at the time also started having repeated failure. So glad I feel like good luck to you. Although I guess it's more sheer determination and just doing everything I could to improve quality when I couldn't increase quantity (and like you, a nice debt on the credit card which I am still paying off!)
I totally empathise with you. I had 4 Christmases go by and each one I was upset that I thought I truly would be pregnant by then but instead were a landmark of another year gone by and me being that bit closer to 40 and my dream never being realised. It truly sucks.

Katie – you definitely don't sound like an immature child at all! I totally agree that the waiting is the hardest part. I live in Australia so not familiar with your system, but I was just reading back on my journal before my last IVF cycle and how glacial slow the two weeks prior went while I waited let alone you having to wait months on the even slower NHS system.

Tuesday was not a good day So it's official......apparently only my right side is producing measurable follicles. They doubled my dosage of follistrim to 150 and will be back for more testing tomorrow morning. Please say a little prayer for my righties.

Hope everyone is doing good today!! Wow bananafish81 that's amazing!!!

Hope you had better news today kaynewjersey sometimes it seems like things are not happening then a few days later it all changed-you never quite know with IVF

Hope all is good with you banana when will you know if you are having a fresh transfer? Fingers crossed your lining is thicker than it was and you can go ahead

I'm waiting for AF, usually between 30-35 days although sometimes more. Today is day 31 I think (need to check my diary) and I just want to get started !! I'm wondering if my anovulatory cycle may have prolonged my cycle, not sure if that's how it works.

Oh KayNewJersey, I too was a poor responder and I so relate to that deflating feeling when the scan brings bad news. I've found myself not being able to wait to get back to my car so I could have a cry many times. That said, if you started on 75, that sounds like a very low dosage to begin with to me and even 150 sounds low. I was on 450 daily to get my lazy ovaries to respond. Let us know how you get on with your follow up scan.

waiting, I used to complain about my short cycles of 24-25 days because I knew that shorter cycles related to reduced fertility - but it must be just as frustrating having longer cycles and a longer wait to count down when you just want to get on with things.

No update from banana. Really hope no news is good news.

shellster bless you for thinking of me! Was going to wait till after my lining scan tomorrow to update with news so I wasn’t bombarding you with updates

And didn't want to pop on with a 'me, me, me' post without doing personals to the other lovely ladies - which I promise I will come back and do!

But no news is good news - we’re going to blast!

Day 3 update from this morning: we have 11 good quality embryos, 2 OK ones, and 3 laggards that I imagine will conk out fairly soon.

But 11+2 is beyond even my wildest dreams - I didn’t think I’d even get more than a couple of eggs with my AMH

Interestingly, the embryos from the frozen eggs are kicking the arse of the embryos from the fresh eggs. The 3 good go-ers from the thawed eggs are 9-cell, where the 8 good go-ers from the fresh lot are 6-8 cell. Maybe it’s like veggies, when you freeze em you lock in the goodness?!!!

Big big question mark is whether we’ll get a fresh transfer or not

Lining scan tomorrow - desperately hoping the progynova and progesterone will have worked their magic, and I’ll be on for ET Sat morning

If we don’t get the green light, then anything that makes it to blast will go straight into the freezer, and we’ll start work on building my lining up for a FET as soon as I get my period in a little under 2 weeks time

Thinking thick!!!!!!

Phew banana. I was worried that perhaps you had some really bad news and you had gone to hide in a black hole somewhere. Some I relieved for you that this isn't the reason. I remember feeling guilty on here too that my rants were all me me me during my IVF cycles. But I/we really are here to cheer you on and the rants we need to get off our chest during an IVF cycle are exactly what this is for so please feel free to blab away.

11 good quality embryos at day 3. That's absolutely amazing. You never would have dreamed of being in this position before this cycle started. I only ever had 1 or 2 maximum at day 3 (usually it was 0!) so I am envious of your 11 - which I don't know why when I am currently 31 weeks pregnant but still jealous none the less!

All the 6-9 cell embryos sound good to me. I remember reading one study showing that higher cell numbers at day 3 results in higher number of embryos dying off before reaching blast so faster isn't always better. I've also read studies showing that how fast/slow your estrogen levels rise during the stim phase affects the quality of the embryos so I guess it makes sense that different cycles would produce different quality eggs as my estrogen levels always varied even on the same drugs. (Think I've read one too many studies in my four years of infertility!)

Will wait for your next lining update!

Ok ..... Back today from second scan. 4 measurable follicles on the right side 14, 14, 12, 15 and one, yes just one on the left side.... At a whopping 10! I go back again tomorrow (Friday ) for another scan. Just starting to wonder how many more scans before they say I am ready to go .... ..any thoughts?

Also ..... Not complaining too much but my tummy now looks like a connect the dot drawing in various shades of blue brown and green ......pretty oh so pretty.....so not. = (

So happy for the other ladies that are having progress and success. ...it does give me a glimmer of hope.

So super stressed !!!!!! I am ready for my first EC either tomorrow (Saturday ) or Sunday morning and low and behold on the threshold of a huge major Northeastern blizzard that is coming through tonight. With only about 24-30 inches of snow arriving ...... me and DH will have to trek 60 miles one way to the clinic in the early bloody morning. Can it get any worse ..... agggghhhr.

Will reply properly with personals later I promise but just a quick update...

Oestrogen tablets have worked a treat and lining has thickened up beautifully. The oven is officially pre warmed and we are booked in for transfer tomorrow morning!!

It was 7.2mm last Fri, then at EC on Mon when it has already started compacting post - trigger it was only 5.5mm....

....but today it was a perfectly acceptable 8.5mm, so we have liftoff!!

So pleased for you banana !

eeekkkk! fab news banana x

Hi ladies, hope you're all having lovely weekends

ET today went really well, I have a 4AA blast on board, plus four blasts on ice!!

My gob is well and truly smacked.

Never in a million years did I think that with an AMH of 1.5 I would ever get anything to blast - let alone anything for the freezer.

Dr said he was delighted with the embryos, the big unknown is my endometrium - so just have to hope that this little one clings on extra tight!

congratulations on been pupo banana

Glad it all went well banana and four blasts on ice is great ! Fingers crossed this little one sticks for you but it's reassuring to know they are there ! Hope the 2ww goes quickly for you

I'm still waiting for AF to arrive. Had cramps all day yesterday but no bleeding at all. Fully expected to wake up today with AF but nothing. I'm so tired as well and have awful pmt. I just want to get started but not sure if my stress levels are delaying things. There haven't been many times in my life I've felt this desperate to actually get my period !

Congratulations banana. Everything finally went to plan and your endometrium co-operated! So from 16 embryos on day 3 (or 13 since you already knew then that 3 were struggling), you ended up with 5 blastocysts. Amazing that only one third go the distance to blast. Kinda makes sense why it took me 7 egg collections to get one good one that went the distance since I only produced 1-2 embryos at a time and if the average is only 5 of 16 go the distance. I only ever had day 3 transfers but I think it's better yours are frozen at day 5 as it means you have the top quality embryos decided and I'm glad your happy about these lovely 5 rather than the 2/3rds that didn't make it. Congratulations on getting this far.

Any news Kay? Not sure how you could have a scan Friday and then be told Friday afternoon that egg collection could possibly be the next morning - I always had to have the trigger injection 36 hours prior to egg collection. Let us know how you're getting on xox.

Truly going in tomorrow (Tuesday) for my first EC. With only 5 follicles to collect from.....wish me well. Nervous, excited, scared, exhausted, and hopefull all at the same time.