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!

[lucieloos]

I know I agree itsme, I found the time after the bfp much harder than the 2ww. I really feel for you and hope time goes quickly until your next scan.

[Longleggedlovely]

The whole process is flipping horrendous and you'd think after getting the BFP we're all looking for it would get easier but I really feel for you itsme and hope that time goes fast until your next scan.

I'm just taking the progesterone starting from today (lovely pessaries!) so it can't be that. I'm also incredibly thirsty all the time, I've drunk 5L of water so far today! Maybe it's just one of those things and the timing isn't great. Just not felt well enough to do much after work and I'm normally at the gym 4/5 times per week and I'm missing it and feeling bloated and sluggish to boot!

[lucieloos]

Try not to symptom spot long or it will drive you crazy by the end! Apart from implantation bleeding my symptoms have been almost the same with a bfp and a bfn so I don't think any of it means a lot. Who knows what goes on in there during this time! The trigger they gave you for iui would cause your natural progesterone levels to shoot up so maybe it's that. Take it easy with the gym for a bit anyway. Hope you feel better soon x

[Cityzen74]

Hi

Just wondering if I can join you? I've been ttc for about 2.5 years now. Nothing happened for ages then I had a chemical pregnancy in January and then a Miscarriage in June.

I'm 41 and my dh 42 so we've been referred for IVF. They have said we have secondary infertility. I was a bit confused about that as we don't have any children but the nurse said it was because I'd been pregnant but had a miscarriage.

So far we've had lots of blood tests and a scan. Everything fine with scan but my fsh levels are quite high. First test was 12.7 and then next was 9.6. Waiting for the results of amh test. Also found out am not immune to rubella so have had 1 MMR jab and then have to go back for a booster in 3 weeks. So we can't ttc at the moment until October which is a bit frustrating.

Just waiting for my next appointment which should be in the next month or so.

Good luck to everyone. I hope it is OK to join and offer support and to get some support when I eventually start treatment!

[Brenna24]

Itsme, the early scans are not that accurate, so don't give up hope yet. I think I wouldn't survive waiting until 12 weeks. I would definitely get a private scan for in between. Everything crossed for you.

Sorry it didn't work out Star. I have everything crossed for you.

Last week was my fetile week and we didn't DTD at all as DH wasn't up for it. He claimed to be tired which really pissed me off as I had given him fair warning. Then the moment I told him I had definitely ovulated and it was all over he was all up for it. I told him to bugger off as I was far too upset. I am feeling guilty though as i think he was actually stressing about his AS today, which we have had to postpone as he promptly had another attack of the Metly Man at the thought of it. I feel bad for being cross with him, but I am so frustrated that we can't get all the tests done to find out if there is a problem, let alone actually DTD on the off chance there isn't. He has said if he had poor morphology with his sperm then we could do IUI with sperm washing to up our chances. But we can't tell about that without the results of his SA. I have had all my testing done without a murmer. Somebody please slap me and remind me it is hard for them to perform on demand.

[Longleggedlovely]

Brenna you're far nicer to your DH than I am to mine! When my DH had wobbles about his sample I (very nicely) reminded him of my repeated very invasive testing, frequent very early morning appointments before having to do a days work, internal scans, drugs, injecting myself etc etc etc and how he only had one task to complete which was far more pleasurably than any of my part! So IMHO you are perfectly allowed to be cross with him and tell him to man up and get on with it

[Longleggedlovely]

Hi Cityzen, welcome! I'm new here too, it's fab to have a group of people to chat to who 'get it'!

[lucieloos]

Hi and welcome cityzen. Sorry to see you here but hopefully you will find lots of support.

Brenna, really sorry you had to cancel the sa. You are bound to feel a little frustrated. I remember feeling like this too when we missed our fertile period a few times as DH wasn't up to dtd. It is hard. I'm not sure iui is really recommended if there are sperm issues as there needs to be lots of good, healthy sperm to give one a chance of making it. We have male factor and it wasn't suitable for us. Hopefully you can get another appt soon and then you will know for sure.

Long, hope you are feeling a bit better today. *
*
Still no sign of af for me it's so frustrating!

[Borisisback]

Brenna - I had so many similar issues with DH. He failed to get tested for 6 months and often would get stroppy about DTD in my fertile window. In the end I told him he had to come up with the strategy - did he want to know when I was fertile and if so how should I tell him and how far in advance, how often (after I gave him the science) did he want to do it each month? Giving him the science and the chance to develop the baby plan put him back in control and gave his mojo back. He unfortunately went for the sex EoD or every three days plan which was tough.

[MrsRen]

Welcome city :-)

Brenna you sound incredibly kind and patient with the situation, I think we all need a mini meltdown every now and again to 'reset' us if you like :-)

I'm the same Lucie, still no AF for me and another BFN on an IC this morning. Not hopeful though as thinking it should be showing now, unless I had a super late implantation.

Good luck to everyone else x

[lucieloos]

Mrs Ren, I found ic's really bad. I didn't get a bfp on those until at least a week after my bfp on a frer so maybe worth picking up some of those just to double check.

[MrsRen]

Good idea Lucie, I've got one at home I think but will get another also :-) X

[lucieloos]

Good luck Mrs Ren, really hope it's s bfp for you!

We had some good news this morning. We had 2 frosties from our recent round of IVF and we had them biopsied and the chromosomes tested to check for any abnormalities and things such as Down's syndrome etc which would mean the embryo would be unlikely to implant or would result in miscarriage. Anyway of the two, one has come back as normal which is in line with the stats for my age! We are over the moon as we also have another normal one frozen from a previous cycle along with a further 2 untested blasts so altogether now we have 2 tested and 2 untested frozen. Really hope we can get something from this little collection.

[maplebaby]

Welcome city!

Itsme delayed response but just to say I agree with others about booking in a private scan - the fact he saw a heart beat is reassuring but sorry that he was a douche bag

Brenna I'm sorry the SA was cancelled - like boris said would it be worth talking to him / explaining the timings etc and seeing if he would want to be told? Or have you had that conversation already?

Lucie that is really great news about your 2 blasts! Plus the extra 2! Sorry to sound stupid but can you use them for your NHS cycle or are they in Brno and saved?

I'm 10dpiui now with no news - had some lower back pain this morning but that's it - no other symptoms! Just waiting for AF to arrive. Silver lining has been that I've not started my usual spotting yet! I think maybe because I had more than one egg perhaps it boosted the progesterone (even though I was told levels were normal).

[lucieloos]

Ohh maple, keeping everything crossed for you too. There's a couple of potential bfps on here now. We can't use our frosties on the NHS as they are in brno and the NHS don't know anything about them as we are only supposed to have one go privately before it affects our NHS entitlement so we have to keep it quiet! I'm glad we have another full round on the NHS though and the if that doesn't work we have these as a back up.

[maplebaby]

Oh I see! I wonder what the policy is for mine - will try and find out. I know I get one fresh and one frozen go (I think).

I'm preparing myself for a bfn already so currently swigging my coffee and planning on having some drinks at the weekend at another BBQ!

[Brenna24]

Thanks all. Boris he wants to be told and has been told and that just makes it more frustrating for me. In fact he has to be warned when I am fertile as otherwise he spends his time wallowing in a hot tub cooking his swimmers and he has to leave off that.

Long I have had to bite my tongue and not remind him what I have had to do over the last year. Up to and including suffer 3 miscarriages, one at 11w3d. Which was hell on earth. It is hard not to point out to him that one quick bit of pleasure and he has a pot full of stuff for testing. Although I can see it is less pleasure when you are on a time scale.

With regards to IUI. He is catholic and will not countenance IVF. We know he has at least some sperm as I have got pregnant 3 times, just not been able to keep it. I have all my test results back and there appears to be nothing wrong with me (that they can test for anyway). It is possible that he is making plenty sperm, but some are morphologically bad and those are the ones which are winning, in which case doing a sperm wash to get rid of the bad ones and IUI with the good ones left would solve the problem. But we have no way of knowing whether or not that is the case until he has the stupid SA. I just want to know whether or not we should rule it in or out.

Oh well. Hopefully this wednesday for the win.

[friends123]

Hi all.
Star, I'm so sorry about the Clomid. I think we both knew that us taking it probably wasn't going to lead us to that miracle.It still hurts though. I've decided not to take the third cycle. I hope all goes well on the 1st. Hopefully we'll both get to start in October.

Itsme, I hope everything goes well at your next scan.

Hi Cityzen, Brenna, Boris. Hopefully I've not missed anyone. I'm sorry we all have to be here but on a positive note ( desperately trying to find one) I'm relieved I'm not only one having to go through this, which is how it seems in real life.
We have the opposite in our house my DH is always happy to oblige,I feel like I wait for the fertile week and when it arrives I don't want to do it. I think it's mainly because I'd be in the 2ww then. Also if its not possible, you can't be disappointed.

Lucieloo, Good luck with your little collection, I'm really pleased that you got some frosties.

Ren & Maple, fingers crossed for you both.

So I'm on cycle day 7, I'm still really bloated and I've had a brown bleed everyday for the last 3 days. It kind of only happens once a day then that's it. Gosh Clomid really messed me up.

Good luck everyone, a good run of BFP would be nice

[MPP81]

Hi all!

Welcome, Cityzen, but sorry you find yourself here. Everyone here is very lovely and supportive, and will be more than happy to answer any questions/be of any help to you.

Maple and Mrsren, everything crossed for you both!

Lucie, brilliant news on the testing! I hope AF hurries up so you can get going with your NHS go.

Brenna, I have no idea if they're any good or not, but I was in Boots yesterday and they had a sperm testing kit for £30. I dont imagine it will give any idea of motility or morphology so may not be worth it, but it does apparently test sperm count. When I read your posts, I wondered if maybe your DH would try one of those first, as he would have all the time he wanted to get it done? It may be completely useless of course, and I apologise for suggesting it if so, but I've never seen them before so thought I would mention it.

Hope everyone else is ok!

[Brenna24]

It is a thought MPP. He has an appointment next wednesday. If he postpones that one then maybe we will think about it. Thanks for the thought.

Sorry Cityzen I was so ranty earlier I missed saying welcome to you . So sorry you are here but welcome. Lots of good advice and support here.

[Itsme247]

I think my DH found it easier to do the SA because I had my hsg which said my tubes were blocked, so he genuinely didn't think he was the problem and so wasn't scared of what it would show.

When I had my lap and dye which was fine and turns out he was the root cause... He took it really very badly indeed. I think most men do unfortunately - Im sure if he knew now what the outcome would be I think he would really struggle 'performing' too

[Itsme247]

Maybe you could say one of your hormones were out and that's probably the reason your not concieving and it's probably not him at all but it's a tick box excersie to get the NHS funding?

[loopylou1984]

Sorry I haven't been on for a while, hope everyone is ok?
Brenna - I have one of those SA testing kits at home, if it's not out of date I could send it to you if you like? We never used it as fast tracked DHs one at the clinic in the end. Let me now if you're interested and I'll check the date when I get home. Xx

[loopylou1984]

I just checked it and expiry date was November 2015, sorry, probably no use. Xx

[Hope2409]

Hi all, just checking in, hope everyone is doing ok.

Welcome City, Brenna & Boris, goodluck on your journeys! I wish i could say its good to see you here but lets face it we would all rather not be in our situations but its lovely to be able to have such lovely people to talk to at such a difficult time!

to all

Xxx