TTC 18 months or more -moving on to IUI/IVF/ICSI part 3

[bluebird3]

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!

Do any of you know...
when AF arrives do you already have folicles growing or do they form and grow when you are medicated?
I have always wonderd.

I'm not sure! I presume you do have follicles by AF because they have to downreg you at cd21 of the previous cycle to ensure follies don't form and ovaries are quiet?

Im confused ! I thought that you got AF and then ASAP you are medicated to grow follies and keep them from releasing on the same cycle. ?

I guess it depends if you are short or long protocol maybe? I did long which meant I started downregging (switching off the pituitary gland) from day 21 of cycle, then had AF, then started stims to grow the follies. Deco not an expert though so maybe someone else will chip in!!

I could be wrong but this is how I understand it...

You have a certain number of antral follicles at the beginning of your af. Then normally, as you progress through a cycle, several would begin to grow but at some point one will become mature and dominant and the others will stop growing. This one is released in ovulation.

During antagonist or short IVF protocol the stim drug (Gonal-f for me) starts day 2-3 and helps all or some of the follicles to continue to develop. The 2nd injection keeps your body from ovulating all the lovely eggs before ec.

During long protocol there is an extra step called down-regging. This starts the cycle before and is basically 'shutting down' your ovaries so that when you begin stims all the follicles are stimulated at the same time and therefore grow at the same rate. When the stim phase begins it's the same from there out.

I don't really understand why some people are put on long vs short, but it seems to be PCOS ladies tend to go on long. But others do as well, so not really sure?

Ok thank you yes that explains it perfectly. Its very intresting.

Im sorry to be asking all of these questions i just dont know anyone in real life that has went through this. People are very private with this i wish everyone could be more open . (So that i would have someone to talk to other than DH). He is amazing but sometimes i think it would be nice to get the opinion from someone who has went through it and is female.

Btw as injections progress on a scale of : not at all To Crying because you saw a sad advert on the telly . How emotional do you get?

Egg collection ... how bad is it ? I have read that they give you a seditive. Can you still feel it?

The reality has started to set in i think to be honest and i feel like i know less than i should. So thank you for your help ladies!

How are you feeling today blue?

When is your transfer Gee?

Ask away scottish! Infertility and IVF is pretty much all I think about anyways.

I didn't feel overly emotional on the injections but started to feel a bit queasy and bloated the last few days. I always feel more emotional after ec, probably due to the progesterone pessaries.

I've had 3 egg collections under sedation/painkillers. I have been fully awake/aware of what was happening. I would say it's not too painful but there are occasional 'sharp scratches' that they warn you of and these feel more like an injection. If it starts to feel uncomfortable to can always ask for a top up of drugs and that takes the edge off. It gets more uncomfortable if you have lots of follicles in one ovary as it gets a bit sore the more it's poked. Barely felt anything On the ovary that only had 2-3. Overall it's nothing to worry about and really not painful. At most I would say there were 4-5 times I felt a small pain.

As for me... I don't feel great. I'm quite queasy and tummy hurts. And this is tmi but I had blood in my poo earlier. My dh is a doctor and says not to worry it's probably just because everything is so inflamed. I just need to keep an eye on it in case it continues. But I feel down about how ill I've been. The last two cycles were nothing like this. My dh has 3 friends from uni that I don't know coming to stay tonight as well. I just want to stop in my pjs but need to now clean the house and put my hostess face on. Sorry for the pity party.

You are allowed to feel sorry for yourself... your not well. You sound completely run down! Lets hope that the diffrence between your cycles is a good thing and this one will be better than your last. Fingers crossed. Your lucky your DH is a doctor ...he will be keeping a good eye on you!

It gets more uncomfortable if you have lots of follicles in one ovary as it gets a bit sore the more it's poked

@ScottishJaggyNettle I did get a bit overly emotional on my second cycle when I was stimming in he highest dose. Made me a bit cray cray!
My transfer isn't until January so got all of xmas and new year to enjoy first. Taken the time off work too so will have a nice long holiday. Hope it snows!!
Rest up @bluebird3 - hope you get better and no more blood in the poo - that doesn't sound good. Defo a weekend in bed for you!

Gee January will be here before you know it Snow would be lovely but preferably starting on christmas and finishing on new year. Traffic turns into a nightmare with one drop of snow. Hopefully christmas hurrys up! I could do with the time off to relax

Blue sorry you're feeling better poorly Rest up as much as you can, your body's been through a lot.

Gee, January really will be here before you know it, & as you say, you'll be able to enjoy Christmas.

Scottish I didn't get overly emotional on the drugs, just felt quite exhausted, especially down regging. Egg collection was fine for me, the most painful part was trying to get the IV in - my veins aren't great & had to end up putting it in my hand.

I went to a local support group meeting last week. First time I've been to one, & I'm so glad I went. I kinda wish it was something I felt comfortable with earlier, but I'll def be going to more from now on.

gee I kinda wish I had waited till after the holidays to try again...you made a good decision. I didn't because we are traveling in April for a family wedding and I was worried it would cut too close.

angel glad the support group went well. I've enquirer about joining one locally but it is meeting this Thursday and I have conflicting plans. If this cycle is a bfn I will definitely be going in the new year.

I've been feeling much better. The bloating is going down a bit I think and other than all the horrible progesterone symptoms I am getting back to normal. I actually have to go back to work tomorrow after a week off. How annoying. Better get to bed early.

How's everyone doing?

My OTD is Monday but not sure I'll be able to hold out until then!

Eeeeek! Any symptoms? Very optimistic for you!!!

Blue Lets hope third time is a charm ! Would it show up at this point ? .

Angel Im glad that you have found support It is really tough! I honestly think that people underestimate just how upsetting it really is.

Thanks. My boobs are quite sore. The other 'symptom' which is more a lack of symptom is I always get spots the week before I'm due on and have had surprisingly clear skin.

I've done this too many times to believe any symptoms! I think I will test Sunday as I don't want to test before work Monday morning. I might crack tomorrow...it might show up at this point, but a negative could just be too early as well. Not sure what's best!

Fingers tightly crossed for you bluebird 🤞🏼🤞🏼🤞🏼

Hope everyone is doing well. I had my egg collection Monday, they got 25 mature eggs out which I'm pretty proud of! But also meant I'd over responded and had to go for freeze all due to OHSS risk 😞👍🏼

MORE WAITING now, which has got me very down.

From the eggs we got 11 embryos - which felt like a big drop to be honest - and we find out tomorrow how many made it to day 5. Pretty nervous about this call.

Hope you're all doing well xx

That was meant to be 👎🏼👎🏼👎🏼 to freeze all

Hi everyone. I think I've had a chemical. I took a hpt yesterday (not fmu) and had a very faint positive. I was ecstatic as it was early and not fmu. This morning I took another with fmu and it was a clear BFN.

My OTD isn't until Monday, but your hcg doesn't go down so whatever was there, has gone. I'm utterly devastated. After the last mc I convinced myself I wouldn't live in fear and if I got an bfp I would be happy and plan on it working. I spent several hours yesterday happy. To add insult to injury my sister is having her baby this weekend.

I can't keep doing rounds of ivf that fail. I think we might take time off and get further tests to see if there is a reason our embryo development is so poor. I thought the hardest thing we would go through was finding out and accepting that we couldn't get pregnant naturally. It turns out it's much harder to start to accept we might not be able to get pregnant at all, despite modern medicine and technology.

I'm wishing you all the best of luck with your cycle. Fx for some lovely blasts jam.

Oh @bluebird3 I'm so sorry. I'm not going to bother saying try again, different test etc because you know what you're doing. I just wanted to say, I can truly empathise. I felt the same with my chemical on my last ivf cycle and words don't express the fear of not being able to make and sustain a pregnancy. Ever.
I know it doesn't help at this point and emotional resilience and money aren't endless but just because three cycles failed doesnt mean another one would. But it's too early for that I know but science can help. It's just it's not a perfect science yet.
Take some time and one day at a time. I am really so sorry it doesn't seem to have worked, especially when you really want to feel happy for your sister but understandably will struggle to feel that joy.

I'm so so sorry blue. I know there's nothing I can say that will help, but know that we're all here for you. Take care of yourself

I'm so sorry bluebird you poor love, how cruel any pregnancy loss is 😔 please take care of yourself xx

Blue Please remember if you need to talk we are all here for you !

Thanks everyone. I'm ok, just quite tearful. The disappointment is overwhelming at times.

I think our next step will be sperm dna and no cells testing in the new year.

On a positive I've applied for a new job today. It's part time and a small step down, but will relieve some stress and give me time to work on my health and fitness. I'm thinking that if I get it I will put off trying with ivf again for awhile so that I qualify for mat pay. It will make me take a much needed break from fertility treatment which I think I need, even though it's not what I want. I won't stop trying naturally bc that would be a bloody miracle and I wouldn't care at that point! I feel guilty about leaving my current job as it will leave them really short, and nervous at the thought of leaving my comfort zone, but a bit exciting too. But I'm getting ahead of myself...I might not get the job.

Hope everyone is ok and I will be cheering you all on in your upcoming cycles.

You do absolutely right putting yourself first hon. Sounds like you've started your plans for next steps and I hope that helps your healing. Remember at your lowest moments that the feelings will pass, nothing stays the same xxx