TTC for 18 months or more. Moving onto iui/ivf/icsi.

[lucieloos]

We have relocated from the conception board where we were previously chatting under the thread 'ttc for 10 months or more'. A lot of us are now long term ttc-ers and are going through infertility treatment or looking to take steps in this direction so we feel this might be a more suitable home for us!

Feel free to stop by and say hi and hopefully we can share the journey together and make it a little easier along the way!

Sorry, I'm doing a bad job at keeping up but want to keep popping in to say hi.

Sammy, really pleased to hear your scan went well, I wrote a message before saying how exciting re identicals but not sure if you saw it so saying it again

I'm sorry your cycle got cancelled Maple, its awful when you're all geared up for it and then all of a sudden its not happening and you have even more waiting to do

Star, so sorry to hear that you won't be able to get started until December I've only done short cycles and even then I've had to take the pill for a few weeks before hands which has delayed things, its so hard with the waiting though. Interesting you get 2 funded FETs, we only get 1. I've seen the counsellor at Kings and have an appointment in a few weeks, I do think it helps.

Lucie, glad your scan went well, good luck for EC tomorrow.

Banana, great news about your lining, good luck for EC on Saturday.

Will be thinking of you both and checking in over the next few days.

Going back to the progesterone discussion before, I counted my left over cyclogest last night and if I supplement my 25mg Lubion with one pessary a day I have enough for 54 days and if I do 2 a day for 27 days. Either way, if I got pregnant I would need to fess up at some point....

When I had my FET last year I had my progesterone levels tested 3 days before transfer (after 2 days of pessaries) and my levels weren't as high as they like to see so started on 25mg lubion on top of 2 pessaries. After transfer after 3 days of the lubion and pessaries it still wasn't as high as they like to see so lubion was increased to 50mg then a few days later progesterone was ridiculously high. But took three days after stopping for AF to rock up which seems to be what most ladies get whereas on my two fresh it has started usual time AF would rock up. I'll be starting the lubion earlier this time so hopefully that will help.

Banana, did you say your Dr. has you on one pessary and 25mg Lubion?

We decided to book a break in Tenerife in October and I have a hen party to go to at the end of September (was 100% convinced I would be pregnant by then!) so lots to look forward to and keep me busy between now and November. If we'd been able to go ahead with our cycle I would be testing in a day or two!

Big wave to everyone else

Thanks ladies, really appreciate the replies. Lucie, my AMH is 31 (or at least was last November) and AFC is 27. I haven't thought that egg production would be a problem as they generally think I have a high reserve. Problem is there's no guessing what will happen and if I get nothing to freeze and it fails I'll kick myself. I'm just so conscious of my age. He gave us a 25-30% chance of success at our age which felt pretty small! Had a look at fibroid removal privately and it seems like it's around £5,000 with consultations, anaesthetic etc all factored in. That's an IVF round (or two abroad) so if I decide to do it, I'll go nhs and save the money for later fertility treatment. I don't know, Lucie would you think again with that AMH? I know there are no guarantees with all this.

hi friends, hope you're ok. Will you have any other treatment in the meantime or just wait til Jan? It's so annoying we have to do all this planning when so many others just have sex and give birth 9 months later!!

Star, your AMH and afc are both very good so I wouldn't have thought egg collection would be an issue. If they have indicated the fibroids could impact on implantation though I would be loathe to potentially waste good embryos if they thought the changes were slim. Why have they given you such low odds of success? Is that to do with the fibroids as I'm sure you're younger than me and at 37 I have been told around 40-45% with one blast and that seems to be the norm from the research I've done. £5k is a lot of money to pay to have the op privately. I'm assuming it's a hysteroscopy you would need? If so what about a pre wedding mini break in Czech where they will do it for around £250. I've had one there just for a check up and it was great.

Trixie, if you had low progesterone last time would they not automatically give you more this time? Could you top up yourself and then go to your gp if you get a bfp?

Friends, sorry you also have to wait until next year. I hate all the waiting that this process involves but keep busy and it will soon come around.

Will keep you posted on how the EC goes tomorrow eeekk!

Lucie, my last FET was private and this is on the NHS. I told them about the last FET and they just said they didn't think pumping me full of progesterone was the answer. I guess I could raise it with them when I go in for my first scan in November but I feel like I am starting to sound like a broken record....why can't things be simple!

Star, I was also given 40% chance of success last time. Is it worth asking them what the chance would be if you had the fibroid removal? I had a hysteroscopy privately here and it was £400.00, not sure how much it would be to remove fibroids though. Sounds like you would be in for a decent haul of embryos with your AMH and ICSI. Would it be possible to go on the waiting list for fibroids, do a freeze all from your fresh, have the op and then transfer when you've recovered from the op?

Ah ok trixie I see now. I would be tempted to top up yourself and then if you get the BFP deal with it then.

Star, I also meant to say can you get on the waiting list for the op now as by the time you've had the wedding that will be 4 months gone already. Trixies idea is also good although I have a feeling if it's on the NHS they might not be too flexible with things like that and may just prefer you to wait.

Thank you so much ladies, you're so great! Lots to think about. Yeah it's weird, he said normally it's 35-40% success, but fibroids reduce implantation by 20% so we need to remove 5-7% from those odds so it'll be 25-30. I have a maths degree , but I don't need that to know those sums don't work but obviously I just nodded! And that's what he's written on the consent form.

Anyway, I think I will get on the waiting list and see where I am after the wedding.

Trixie, lovely to hear from you. Glad you've got lots of fun things to keep you busy before treatment. Sorry I can't help with the progesterone question, but self medicating in this scenario sounds absolutely the way to go!

Trixie jealous of your holiday! Glad you have lots on to keep busy. I'm afraid I've never taken progesterone so can't help!

Star I think good idea to go on waiting list now - you never know, something might come up earlier than expected!

star I'm so sorry you're facing such a wait. Do you know where the fibroids are? Some can be removed via hysteroscopy, but some would require a laparoscopy - do you know which you’d have to have? For a hysto that's pretty straightforward and easy to go abroad for - a lap is day case but more invasive and has a longer recovery period, so that's one I'd have thought you'd much prefer to be at home for (or stay out longer as unlikely to be up to travelling back post-lap for a few days)

I would strongly echo lucie that it would be well worth getting the myomectomy done before starting IVF - my consultant said he's had so so many women who've had failed cycles, but no one has ever sorted out the uterine environment. He then does a lap and treats endo / polyps / fibroids and boom. Next cycle works (or they fall pregnant naturally!). You have fantastic ovarian reserve but even with super duper eggs and embryos, you don’t want to ‘waste’ a chromosomally normal embryo in a suboptimal uterine environment. Especially as far as miscarriage is concerned - I don’t know if fibroids could affect the likelihood of miscarriage, or just implantation, but having been through the heartbreak of having lost a healthy baby due to a suboptimal uterine environment, we said we wouldn’t put anything back unless we were confident it was in as good shape as possible

With your AMH and follicle count it looks like you could be a very high responder, I’m surprised they’ve put you on a long protocol as usually anyone at risk of OHSS would go onto a short antagonist protocol. The good news is that with such terrific ovarian reserve, you should respond really well to stims. Only issue might be if you respond a bit too well!

trixie great news about the holiday! I’ll be on 1 x 400mg Cyclogest pessary in the morning, and 25mg Lubion in the evening this time. If I were to get a BFP, they check progesterone levels along with hCG, so if they were on the low side I’d be bumped up. This is for fresh cycles however - so there’s natural progesterone being produced. Although we’re putting back a frostie, to all intents and purposes this is like a fresh, as I’ve been stimmed and will have had EC (last time my viability scan showed a whacking great corpus luteum had formed - interesting that one of the 28 follicles decided it was gonna assume that role!)

friends so sorry about the waiting - it feels like life is what happens in between visits to the fertility clinic

Maple I’m so so sorry the cycle got cancelled - I know you know it’s for the best, but no less frustrating. On the plus side, you know you respond really well to injectables!!

lucie good luck for EC tomorrow, will be thinking of you!

I trigger in an hour and have EC on Sat @ 0830. Ovaries feel like beach balls - really very ready to get these eggs out of me! Made the mistake of looking at timings for this cycle, and they’re so hilariously awful, you literally couldn’t make it up. If this one takes, then viability scan would be around the time of my due date from the last one. And if I got that far, 10w - when we lost the last one - would be on my bday exactly. Now envisaging a miscarriage as a 35th birthday present. Urgh.

Loving my positive mental attitude, hey?!

Hi All,

I'm currently away so just trying to catch up on all the news!

Sounds like it's mostly good but big hugs to everyone with the not so good news

My body is being very random, had my unusual 32 days cycle and then was spotting until day 8 started testing for my O on day 10 and that was my high! So think we've missed this month now :-( But having a chat over our time away we've decided to stop keeping so much of a track between now and Xmas as its starting to become stressful particularly for DH as there is lots of stuff going on elsewhere in our lives!

Xx

Hi all, hope everyone is doing ok!

Lucie all the best for EC tomorrow i hope everything goes well for you xx

Banana good luck with your EC on Saturday, sorry to hear your feeling uncomfortable xx

hello all!

Lucie and Banana, good luck with your EC's this weekend! I have everything crossed for both of you, and am thinking of you both!

Star, I am so sorry you have such a wait ahead. As you know, we delayed our treatment til after our wedding too, and while it seems the sensible thing to do, the wait is depressing. The only thing I would say is that, with hindsight, it passed in the blink of an eye but it certainly doesnt feel like it at the time and I can imagine how disappointed you are. I dont know what DH's sample was like on the day as they didnt tell us, but we did do all ICSI. We considered half and half but I was worried we wouldnt get good results that way, and that it would potentially be a waste of mature eggs, though I can understand wanting to leave an element of chance. I hope you are ok, and I am thinking of you xx

Trixie, lovely that you have a holiday booked! I hope you have an amazing time! :-)

Mrsren, that must be irritating for you, to have unexpectedly missed your window! Sometimes a break from tracking is nice.

Hope everyone else is ok!

Good luck lucie and banana

Star - we are having icsi this time. We had no fertilisation with IVF last time (which is apparently super rare with no known male factor). I feel a bit like you with it being meddling with nature. A wise friend sent me this article though which was helpful.

www.hopeandhopscotch.com/blog/2015/should-i-be-doing-ivf-or-icsi

As for me - today is the start of cycle 2. Not sure how I feel. Bring on 3.5 weeks of dr.....

Bean thank you for posting that article - really interesting reading!

Thinking of you today Lucie! X

Sorry I realise I just jumped on your thread without any intro! I do lurk and "know" bean from other threads so got a bit mixed up!

Anyway, whilst I'm here - lots of luck to Lucie and banana for ec :)

Thanks everyone just on the ward now waiting to go in. They have said my left ovary has been quite high on the scan so they don't know if they can get to it or not they will have to see what happens. Really hope that they can as most of my best ones are on that side!

Good luck lucie!!

Try not to think like that Banana, sending lots of positive vibes your way! I didn't realise re progesterone in a FET vs fresh cycle, makes sense though. I realised that I know I am getting 25mg of Lubion but I don't know how many so for all I know they will have me on 2 a day, we'll see when my meds are delivered.

MrsRen, I've often found that when I am checking for ov I end up with a long cycle...its like my body won't ovulate when it is being watched. Sounds like a good plan to take a laid back approach for the next few months.

Bean, best of luck for this cycle!

Impressed with your maths degree Star! I loved maths and always wonder if I should have gone down that route.

Thanks MPP, hope things are good with you, can't be long until your scan now.

Lucie hope you are now recovering and that they managed to get to your left ovary.

I'm back I'm still groggy so will catch up later but I think they said that I have 7 eggs again which is fantastic !

Great news Lucie

That's fab Lucie - presume they managed to get to the left one then!

Amazing news lucie!

Yeah! Congratulations Lucie, great result! All the best for the next few days.

Banana, best of luck for ec tomorrow, it's definitely time to get those eggs out of you. Can't imagine what a haul you'll end up with.

Bean, good luck with getting going. Crossing my fingers for a bfp this time around.

Thanks for all the advice everyone, I really appreciate it. And bean, thank you for that article, it's really interesting. Apparently I can make a decision on IVF/icsi at the time and depending on the sample so I think the most I would do is 50/50, but we're a long way off that decision right now. Christ, I couldn't sleep thinking about what to do about these fibroids. For what I've read I'd need a laparoscopy. I'm going to get myself on the waiting list and see when my appointment comes up. My oh doesn't seem keen. He thinks our issue is male factor and made the point that all the doctors so far have said that the position of my fibroids indicate they wouldn't impact fertility and yesterday the doctor said they might and now I want to have surgery. He has a point, but I'm with you ladies in that even if the effect is marginal, going through IVF with a less than optimal uterus doesn't make sense. Anyway, we'll figure something out.

Hope you all have wonderful weekends and best of luck to everyone in treatment 😊

Good luck tomorrow banana!