Anyone starting IVF? Join me (5)

[waitingimpatient]

I don't think anyone has started the new thread yet? Apologies if so and ignore this one if its already been done

I'm hoping by the end of this thread I'll be waiting and impatient for a new arrival fingers crossed

Thank you banana! Here stuffing my face with sandwiches. Yes the music will be playing, and they are lighting candles, scattering rose petals, and dressing my eggs on something exciting by Agent Provocateur. Gonna be epic....

Banana - do you buy what Dr Wren said about freezing all tomorrow? She isn't just delaying my disappointment to the summer? She was very convincing that there is absolutely no desire to grow them now when no fresh transfer is happening. I don't know anyone that has ever done an all-freezing cycle so I just have no frame of reference.

On another note when my lovely male nurse in recovery told me we had got five eggs, I was still very groggy and a few tears plopped out, and I then asked him to kiss me. Which he did awkwardly on my cheek. Not feeling terribly cool about that..... The last time I had a general I woke clutching the nurses hand to my tear stained cheek. So I have form in this area.

I am surprised by what Lister have recommended, as it's the exact opposite to what was recommended to me when it looked like we were going to have to do a freeze-all cycle, and also to others on this thread (and other forums) who planned freeze-all due to possible risk of OHSS

We planned to culture everything to day 3 at the very least, and then only freeze the embryos of a decent grade, that were most likely to survive the thaw. If we had at least 3 good ones on day 3, we planned to culture to day 5 and see what made it to blastocyst. Now, our first batch of eggs was 6 eggs, 4 embryos, of which 3 were terrific quality on day 3 and one looked OK. However by day 5 they had all conked out. We therefore wouldn't have had anything to freeze or transfer (we were fertilising them at the same time as the batch of fresh eggs from my 2nd cycle - long story as to why we froze the eggs unfertilised!). However I personally take the view that anything that doesn't make it in vitro wouldn't have made it in utero either, and that by leaving the embryos for extended culture, the strongest ones selected themselves. Or indeed dropped out the race, as was the case with the first batch.

We were told that they would only freeze embryos of a certain grade, as they were most likely to withstand the freezing and thawing process - they didn't want to freeze embryos and have you go through a FET to then having nothing to transfer because they didn't survive the thaw.

However Dr Wren clearly has her reasons and what one clinic recommends is going to be different to another's. If in doubt, it would be reasonable to ask her the pros and cons of freezing at day 3/5 vs day 1 so you can make an informed decision. I am not a Dr, and I am not your Dr, so I would def listen to the clinical advice you're given than some rando on the internet with zero medical qualifications whatsoever....!

Thanks banana! What you say makes total sense too of course.

There is no doubt that what won't make it to day 5 won't make it in utero either - Dr W was very clear about too. If we did wait for 3 or 5 days and they all conked out there is no doubt that none of those would have been a fresh transfer pregnancy either. She is certainly not saying freezing tomorrow will increase the success rates in any way at all.

What I think she is saying is that if we were to wait and one or two made it to blast but they were AVERAGE looking blasts, then they may not thaw as well (maybe not at all) as single cell day 1 embryos. But those average blasts could create a successful pregnancy in a transfer situation. But if we freeze all tomorrow then we can start the whole growth stage again when we thaw them all before transfer and choose one or two ( I say one or two because it will be two over my fiance's dead body).

Psychologically this is rather easier on me because if I ended up with nothing at 5 days I then have to wait until August to try again and that would have been a painful wait when trying to enjoy wedding!

I think it is just a timing point really - whether we grow them now or after freeze I believe the result will be the same and I wouldn't mind delay in any bad news until I can do something about it...

If we try to grow them in the summer and they all conk out, then I can start stimming again immediately.

Makes perfect sense! I had been told that the more advanced the embryo the more complex the structure and thus losing a few cells from a blastocyst was different to losing a few cells from a cleaved embryo - however this is evidently not the case for a 1-cell embryo so sounds like a terrific plan xx

I must say if I had your sort of incredible last egg collection result I would be pushing his point much harder. But for now I am happy To go with flow.

Home now with our puppy - wanna see something cute? He weighs 2lbs...

hi folks, just joined this thread as a previous comment caught my eye. Shellster, it was what you were saying about the first follicles to grow yielding the best eggs. I definitely think this was true in my case and wondered where you read this? My clinic kept me going on stimms for a lot longer to see if my lining would thicken up. By this point my first large follicles had disappeared and at EC, a lot of my eggs were over-mature. My lining still didn't really thicken that much so can't help but wonder if might have been better going to EC earlier and freezing any eggs/embryos for a future cycle instead.

Morning ladies. Hope you all doing ok. Well it's test date tomorrow for me. The end of the tww and I'm petrified to look at the result. I really want this to have worked!!! Hope you all have a good day. I will keep u updated. If I can bring myself to actually do it.

Do it do it do it H2016!!! Let us know and if it isn't positive then let's do the next bit together!!

Waiting to know how many of mine have fertilised...will also let you know.

Thinking about you. And lots of puns about wonderful Easter Eggs for all of us...

Thanks LH. Any ideas on what tests are better ?? I'll keep everything crossed you get a good number. I'm sure u will X

I like the pink one - First Response?

I have had the call - of my five eggs only one has fertilised normally so far. One abnormally and three have not (and late fertilisations are very rare). So I should assume just one day 1 embryo to go into freezer.

I am trying not to cry....I wanted two. Will someone say something nice to me? I am on way to a vey important meetings where I have to perform for two hours and am now so distracted of course....

LH Returns - I am so sorry you have so far had only 1 egg fertilise, but you still have this. Try and stay strong. I am sure you can get through your meetings and hope that you do get a late fertilisation too. Lots of love and hope sent to you.
Am delurking on this thread, posted ages ago, but I just wrote out a huge message to quite a few of you on here, and my damn net connection crashed. I will try again later

Sorry to hear it's only one LH but it only takes the one. Please try to stay strong and positive. As hard as it is. It's ok to cry but be strong for your meetings. Things will all be ok for you. Sending lots of love

glummy I'm afraid I don't have any relevant data points but can only say that my consultant didn't want to sacrifice the larger follies to wait for the smaller ones to catch up: my lining was appalling, so he basically said our focus for this cycle was going to be about making embryos, and wasn't going to sacrifice the larger follies to do so, and if the endometrium didn't thicken by transfer day we would freeze all and transfer in a FET

As I've mentioned on another thread, so you've probably heard this ad nauseam, it was touch and go whether we would have a fresh transfer or not, and my lining only thickened after EC once I started taking oestrogen tablets. We decided on day 4 at my lining scan whether it was looking good enough for a transfer the following day, or whether the embryos should go straight into the freezer

I'm afraid that's just one anecdote but consultant seemed to believe it was better not to lose the larger ones to enable the smaller ones to catch up (or indeed the lining)

At my first tracking scan when he saw there was one dwarf planet follicle larger than the rest, he got me to take a double dose of Cetrotide that day to slam the breaks on more quickly, and dropped my stims dramatically so that the biggest one didn't gobble up all the stims and leave the others for dust...

lh omfg puppy power!!!

Hope you're feeling OK post EC and not too sore?

I'm so sorry you didn't have the news you were hoping for from the love lab - I KNOW it's trite but it really only does take one. I can't tell you how many women on the low AMH / high FSH board I'm on over at Fertility Friends have got their BFPs with one embryo from natural or mild IVF. My consultant said he's had women with 18 eggs and no embryos, and women with one follicle, one egg, one embryo and one baby.

Will you do another stims cycle to get more embryos and thaw this one together with a fresh batch to let them culture for longer?

Hope you're doing OK and that this one is the golden egg xx

Good luck h2016.

Definitely go for a FRER (first response early result) they are by far the most sensitive

Do NOT go for a clearblue digi as they are notoriously much less sensitive. And the ones with the date counter on are notoriously unreliable

Superdrug own brand ones are much more reliable than the clearblue digis

Waves to everhopeful

Just waiting to go into this stupid meeting.

Banana that is exactly what I was just thinking. Maybe a late June / early July second frozen cycle to get MORE into freezer prior to August transfer. That makes me feel more positive.

DHEA and Coq10 supplements have arrived. Onwards and upwards!!

Thank you I'll get one today. Will be testing first thing tomorrow. Everyone keep your fingers crossed for me. Hope everyone else gets some good news soon

Bananafish - slightly off piste but do you not rate the Clearblue Ovulation kits as well as the pregnancy ones? The last time I tried (outside IVF treatment) I had a LH surge for 6 days, did think that was rather odd
I will definite purchase a FRER for my pregnancy testing date on Sun - just have to hold off doing until then!!

Good luck everhopeful I have everything crossable crossed for you

As far as I'm aware it's just that the Clearblue HPTs have a much higher threshold for the level of hCG they detect. And that as levels for different stages of pregnancy vary so much from individual to individual, someone could be 6 weeks pregnant but with lower hCG levels than someone who's 4 weeks pregnant, but the CB digi would say they were both 2-3 weeks pregnant. So many women have panicked themselves with the dates that I personally wouldn't want to shit myself up unnecessarily

I did use the Clearblue fertility monitor (basically the same as their dual hormone OPKs) - complete waste of money for me, as I never got a high reading as I never produced enough oestrogen for it to detect rising levels to give me a 'High', so mine always jumped straight from Low to Peak. Which told me the same as the cheapie OPKs, as both were just detecting my surge - the CB was supposed to give me my whole fertile window

However it was a useful diagnostic in and of itself, as the lack of rising oestrogen and my total lack of any CM, plus scanty periods, meant we checked how my lining was doing in a natural cycle, and identified that it was too thin to have ever been able to support a pregnancy, and meant that we agreed that we would do monitored cycles with oestrogen support in between IVF cycles (we assumed that the cycle would fail and I'd have to wait 3 months before I could cycle again. We didn't expect it to work, me miscarry, but have 4 frosties on ice)

The monitor automatically cuts out as soon as you get your first Peak - it gives you a second Peak day by default and then switches straight to low, without asking for more piss sticks, as it assumes by the time it's detected a surge, ovulation is imminent

This is why it doesn't necessarily work if you have PCOS where LH levels can be higher and you can have multiple surges but no ovulation

LH it really does only take one so fingers crossed for you. I know it's hard when you want more embryos as a 'safety net' but after my failed FETs I feel I'd rather have known straight away which ones weren't going to progress rather than go through transfers etc. I think it's true what banana says that if they don't make it in the lab they won't make it in utero either.
Btw your puppy is gorgeous !!

Good luck H2016

Jus tested. Bfn I'm devastated

H2016 I am so sorry.

Talk to us - what is your current position? Remind us what you have in freezer, and what you planned to do next if this round didn't work?

So sorry h2016 - hope you and your partner can be kind to yourselves

I feel sick. I really do. It's day 13 so guess it would show up. I have two frozen. I don't think I can go on. Plan would be another fresh cycle

I'm so sorry H2016 - I know when I start trying to transfer I will feel the same when I get a negative. I am gutted that I only have one fertilised egg to freeze - the disappointment is like a knife. A negative result must be so much more magnified.

But you have two embryos in freezer and you are young. There is no need to believe you will not realise your ambition.

But for now I am so sorry for you and hope you have ways to take very good care of yourself while you go though the grief for this particular pregnancy.