IVF June 2017

[Avocadosmoothie]

Hello, is anyone due to start IVF In June? My consultant has put me forward to start IVF, my next appointment is April 26th and if I start on long protocol I would start stimms late May and egg retrieval would be mid June. Would love to hear from someone on the same path!

[Evie1982]

Hey ladies,

Is anyone still on this thread? I'm looking for some support and it would be great to share this experience with others who are also going through it.

I'm starting on my first round of IVF at the moment. I am on the pill currently and the start the sniffer, injections and first scan on the 18th of September with egg collection scheduled for the middle of October.

I have just turned 35 and my OH is also 35. We have the dreaded unexplained infertility - we have been trying for around 3 years and in the last year, we have had every test you can think of including a laparoscopy which came back completely clear. Ovulation, FSH and AMH, Sperm all completely normal apparently. I still am convinced that the issue is with me, I have always had a bit of a mid-cycle bleeding some i'm wondering if there is a hormonal issue although my Dr seemed happy with all the bloods I have done.

Whilst we have been trying literally everyone I know have had babies with no issues at all and whilst I am genuinely happy for all my family, friends, work colleagues and random strangers its been a real struggle to put on a brave face and stay positive.

I feel slightly more positive now that we are now moving forwards with the IVF as I feel like we have a bit of a plan. We get one fresh and one frozen cycle on the NHS which i'm thankful of.

I would love to share this journey with others who are going through similar experiences so we can support each other. As we all know this whole baby thing is one big rollercoaster and I really feel like I have been thrown in the deep end with IVF and dont really have a clue what to expect.

Please let me know if there is anyone still on here otherwise I will start a new thread.

Eve xx

[Blueberry1]

@barnacles2020, don't know anything about private insurance sorry.

Had 2nd FET this week on Tuesday. OTD is a week on Friday (1/9). Cyclogest not (yet?) causing as much unpleasant symptoms as last time . Not getting as much cramping either, which is something the acupuncture I had is supposed to minimise, or could be coincidence? Found day by day FET timeline, which explained that you shouldn't test before 9 days post transfer (next Thursday). Long time to go....

[barnacles2020]

Hello all query on private insurance. How likely is it to get investigations authorized to private insurance after basic blood test from NHS. We went private as we are not eligible for funding as I already have a child. In private they have done scan and amh which they didn't do in NHS.

[Blueberry1]

Hi @avocadosmoothie - Sorry for late reply, was on holiday (walking in Lake District; lovely!) last week. Natural cycle FET can get cancelled if there are womb lining problems or if you don't ovulate. I had to go for scans which measure growing follicle and womb lining and clinics have acceptable parameters for them. I haven't had problems with either, but some women do. As I think I said before, nurse explained that for women without ovulation or womb lining problems, only advantage of medicated cycle is that you can plan it precisely. If you can do FET, I would recommend as it's easy & low stress.

Last month, I ovulated on CD18 (OPK peak reading CD17) and transfer was on CD22, which was DPO4. Clinic test date was DPO15, 11 days after transfer. This month I ovulated on CD13 (OPK peak CD12) & transfer is today (CD17/DPO4). Am guessing clinic test date will be either weekend after next or a week on Monday.

[Avocadosmoothie]

Blueberry, are you there? Could I ask you a couple of questions on natural FET? I'm still trying to decide whether to do natural or medicated. CD1 is due any day now. Is there any chance a natural FET cycle can get cancelled due to lining issues? Also, what CD was your transfer and how many days long was your cycle in total? I'm tying to work out whether it is too much of a risk for me to try natural given my clinic isn't open at the weekend.

How is your FET round 2 going so far? X

[barnacles2020]

Have my first private consultant appointment. NHS consultants have recommended ICSI. What should I expect on during my first appointment?

[Avocadosmoothie]

Good luck barnacles, let us know how you get on!

[barnacles2020]

Update got my AF finally today. Scheduling consultant appointment for starting ICSI Treatment. Thank for all your support xx

[barnacles2020]

@avacadosmoothie, neither. Its a natural cycle. Till date cycle has never exceed 32. The irony was I had my first consultation booked for today. I've rescheduled for next week.

[Avocadosmoothie]

Barnacles, did you have IVF this cycle? Or FET?

[barnacles2020]

Day 35 bfn again! Dpo 20 days.. any thoughts?

[elenaki4a]

I've read lots reviews on website of different IVF clinics. When my honey and me trying this first time we were ready to try at least 3 times. We earned some money for and tried. Fortunately, our first attempt in march 2016 was successful!! We have beautiful twins now! You can always find an acceptable way to do something. Just don't give up and fate will be on your side!

[Blueberry1]

@barnacles2020 - It's not unusual to get "false negative" if you test too early. A pharmacist advised me not to test before 14DPO as HcG levels can be too low to detect before that.

If you know when you ovulated and it's more than 14 days ago & past your usual luteal phase, then BFN is probably correct & your cycle is just playing silly buggers (this has happened to me at least twice ). If you're not yet at 14DPO, then wait another day or so and test again crossing fingers

[barnacles2020]

So I'm in day 33 still not AF and I hpt is bfn. Any one got bfp after bfn?

[Blueberry1]

@avocadosmoothie - Yes, you're right at least IVF feels like taking control of things. BTW I asked consultant about blood test for ovulation and she said they do that only for women who can't use OPKs.

Have CD10 scan booked for early next week to do FET again this cycle. Consultant also suggested embryo glue; will read up. However, as we're then away for a few days, I need OPK peak NOT before Sunday (when we get back), so clinic can do 2nd scan before ovulation otherwise they'll cancel FET . This is when medicated cycle would be useful as could be timed perfectly. Consultant offered, but I decided to take my chances. crosses fingers for ovulation after CD15 like last month

[Avocadosmoothie]

Blueberry, I completely agree that the TTC naturally with no success is more stressful and upsetting than any part of IVF (even the BFN).

I really hope it works out for us all, at least we're in the IVF process now so doing all we can!

[Blueberry1]

@Barnacles2020 - thanks.

@avocadosmoothie - Clinic said doing OPKs and several scans (to measure follicle size & lining) was enough and never mentioned blood tests for ovulation. I have follow up appointment with consultant tomorrow, so I'll ask then, thanks for the tip you !

I felt more fed up/annoyed than sad on Friday, so no problem to get on with 2nd FET right away (it's also DP's preference). TTC-ing for 1 year with no result was by the end more upsetting and stressful than doing IVF has been. This week I will turn 42 and still be childless; IVF can't make that situation any worse and there's a small chance (20%) it could make it better .

[barnacles2020]

Sorry to hear that @blueberry1:(

[Avocadosmoothie]

Oh I'm so sorry to hear that! hope you're not feeling too bad and can start again as soon as you're ready.

If you did natural again, could they test your blood too? The clinic im at said not to bother with ovulation urine tests as blood is a lot more accurate for timings. Might be worth adding in?

[Blueberry1]

Hi @Avocadosmoothie - blood test was BFN as expected . Transfer was on CD22/DPO4, 5 days after I got LH surge on OPK. I have a reliable, but slightly irregular cycle of 27-30 days.

I asked clinic about doing medicated FET next time thinking it might offer a greater chance of success, but was told the only advantage (given my reliable unproblematic cycle) would be planning. As my clinic does transfer at the weekend if needed, I won't do medicated FET.

However, I now plan to try acupuncture and had initial consultation. There is some evidence (proper clinical trials albeit small scale) that acupuncture can improve IVF success rates if used before and after embryo transfer. The evidence isn't conclusive , but acupuncture isn't going to harm me, so why not?

[Avocadosmoothie]

Blueberry, how did the blood test go?

Could I ask you... what CD was your transfer on? And how long are your cycles usually? I'm trying to decide between natural and medicated FET. My cycles are reliable and I always ovulate but my clinic doesn't do transfers at the weekend....

[Blueberry1]

@avocadosmoothie, as I ovulate reliably, I just had to to use OPKs and do several scans (so they could track progress of follicle & womb lining). Once I got LH surge, they did transfer 5 days later. Assuming BFN confirmed tomorrow (boo!), then I'll ask about arranging next FET.

I am a bit deflated, but not heartbroken because it seemed too good to be true that 1st FET of 1st IVF cycle would work. I wasn't pessimistic, just realistic (at my age chance of success is 20%). But as everything had gone smoothly & end result was 3 good blastocysts & embryologist was enthusiastic about quality of embryo being transferred, I thought maybe we could be lucky.

[Avocadosmoothie]

BFNs are the worst!! I've never seen a BFP, I can't imagine what it feels like.

That would be great if you can go straight into next round. If it is a BFN just try and focus on that

Did you have to have any blood tests whilst you were looking for your surge or ovulation tests only?

[Blueberry1]

Hi @avocadosmoothie, BFNs are rubbish aren't they? I decided not to test agaim and just to wait til clinic blood test tomorrow. Don't expect it to be any different. As it was natural cycle FET, I think we can do 2nd next month. I'll just have to use OPKs & do a couple of scans again.

[Avocadosmoothie]

Blueberry, sorry to hear about the BFN

Did you retest again this morning? If it is negative, could you go straight into another FET?