IVF July/August 2018

[Sunny1984]

Hey,

So like the title says really is anyone about to start an IVF cycle in July or August?

This is my first cycle and I’m excited/petrified!!! I would love to have some cycle buddies to chat to and for support. It’s all self funded as due to the postcode lottery we get no NHS cycles.

Just a little background. I’m 34, have been TTC for 2 and a bit years now, initial diagnosis PCOS and I had 7 cycles of Clomid which resulted in me falling pregnant in December but sadly I had a MMC at 11 weeks. I have since been diagnosed with endometriosis following an unexpectedly low AMH result. My right ovary is has a significant cyst.

I have an endometrial scratch on Monday and will begin down reg on Monday night. I’m a nurse so have no fear of needles but not sure how I’ll manage with injecting myself.

Really hope to have some company on this journey xxx

Thanks @PositiveThinkingRainbow, the bitterness and jealousy are so hard to deal with, there not feelings I normally experience and it’s so difficult coming to terms with them. Some of our friends have just announced they are expecting (naturally) too which is always a kick in the teeth! We were supposed to be seeing them last weekend but I couldn’t face it so went to see my Mum instead!

@35counting You defiantly did the right thing going to go and spend time with your Mum instead, you owe it to yourself after all you been through to take care of yourself body and mind!

I know the feelings you have mentioned and like you too it is not my normal character but sometimes it just all builds up and it feels like all the frustration explodes and you just feel and think the the worst.

My DH husband normally gets my frustration rants, as to be honest I would not want to share them with other people if that makes sense as he knows what I am going through and will not judge me for it.

All my friends now have children who I do not begrudge at all and I do enjoy seeing them, but there is no denying that you start to feel a little like a spare part.
Of late I have being spending more time with an older group of friends that have older children and therefor have more time and do not constantly chat about their children which I find healthy for me at he moment.

I can not wait to join my friends in being utterly in love with my children and wanting to talk about them the most, but at the moment starting IVF I need to put myself first and only put myself in positive situations!!!

First injection tonight!

Thank you ladies for your support!! I have genuinely really appreciated all the help ive got from here. I will stick around as i want to hear about everyones journeys.
And although mine hasnt progressed, im not at the angry or bitter stage (yet). Just a bit heart broken but not giving up.

@35counting thank you for the shoulder to cry in, here if you also need someone to vent and get it all out to.
My instagram account is; Mrsantreou if you want we can message there. (Any one of you ladies can follow me. It would be nice to see everyones journeys and a face to the name etc)

Will keep checking here still to see how you all are doing!!!
@PostiveThinkingRainbow good luck with your first injection!!!

Xxxx

@aandre26 that is such a great idea! I'll definitely follow you. Its funny, because now i can see how your screen name makes sense from your insta handle. Mine is my initials ... L.A.D... say el-ay-dee out loud.

Agreed with all you ladies about the jealousy. I swear anyone who has fallen pregnant in the last three years has been hidden from my Facebook and now all I see is news articles and cat memes ha ha. I used to go on instagram all the time, but now only once a month as it got me so down. Every time I go on, there is a pregnancy announcement. Its like Instagram prioritises it as important news that I should know. The worst for me was people who have announced pregnancies around when I should have been announcing any of mine that I lost. Absolutely gutting. I've completely hidden them now as they would all have given birth. Even though I've had a positive this time, I'm still hiding announcements because they're at the 'safe' stage and I've been where I am now, before.

The waiting and unknown is cruel. BFNs are cruel. Loss is cruel. But we will all get there one day. We are so lucky to have modern medicine trying to figure it all out for us xxx

@Elaydee your initials break down made me smile because i didnt know what yours meant either, now it makes sense lol.

Did you know you can now "mute" on instagram. Not unfollow, just mute seeing peoples post. A friend just had a baby 1 month a go and literally she post 1000000 photos a day. I muted here and now i dont see her. Its great they have no idea either lol.

Xx x x

Morning Ladies, Did my first injection last light, went fine.
I find the worst part is mixing it, the actual injecting was not a problem. Was anyone else on Menopur?

xxx

Also did anyone eat anything specific at this stage, I have been eating Brazil nuts and have heard that milk is very good?
I am finding the 2 litres of water a day the worst part!! ;)

@Positivethinkingrainbow yes, I was on 150 Menopur, and they didn't change the dose my whole cycle. I found the needles were fine also. In fact, I started to get too confident and I dropped one dose all over my coffee table one day and had to start again haha.

I wasn't given any eating/drinking instructions but my friend was told to drink lots of milk, but that could have been after egg collection.

@Elaydee thats interesting you were on the same dose, maybe its a PCOS and short protocol thing!I have read that milk is good also, I will get some organic on the way home trouble is I like it with Nesquick ;)
How are you feeling today? xxx

So sorry to hear your news @aandre26.

Sorry I have been AWOL all. It's not been intentional. This combination of drugs has completely thrown me out of whack for sure. I'm a bit like a zombie these days. I don't know if the meds compromise your immune system or not or I'm just unfortunately picking up colds wherever I go which is making me feel worse.

I have a scan tomorrow and I'm hoping that it will be good news and I can progress to preparing for ET.

@positivethinkingrainbow hope your injections are going well! For the water keep a bottle near you and sip regularly rather then drink glassfuls at once- will be easier to manage. I also did the the brazil nuts, avocado, accupuncture and later milk thanks to this forum

@cupcakevampire hope the scan went as yiu wished and soon have a date for the transfer!

@sunny1984 when do you find out how many embabies implanted?

@aandre26 hope you are staying strong! Sending you lots of love! Take care of your self xx

@A280 The injections are are going fine so far thank you, start the Fyremadel tomorrow morning. You are so right about the bottle of water, I keep it with me and I do seem to get through it much easier then a glass of water!
How many more days till you do your test?

@cupcakevampire sorry to hear the meds are making you feel unwell! How did your scan go? Do you have a date for ET?

Hi all

Scan went well, looking all nice and habitable in there so I’m booked in for my ET next Friday.

Onto the joys of the pessaries now , but at least I don’t have any more injections to do now.

@cupcakevampire not long to go now!!! Hope you’re feeling a bit better!

@positivethinkingrainbow I’m ok thanks. My right sided pain came back today which scares me so much. No other signs though...

Hello,

Had my first scan this morning, so far I have 18 follicles ranging 8-12mm. I asked the nurse what it meant and she just replied "its all normal" but you know when you need to know more ;)
They took some blood today to check my oestrogen levels, they will let me know from the results if I need to adjust my Menopur from 150 to 75.

My lining is currently 9.5mm

@cupcakevampire how exciting not long at all!!

@positivethinkingrainbow totally understand by needing to know more! I think the staff are so used to it they don’t realize what the suspense feels like! I always have so many questions and end up spending hours consulting Dr Google!

My test date is fast approaching! I test this Wednesday the 5th!!!

Was any one having cramps before the test date? Ive had some on and off since Friday as well as very light spotting. Really terrified

@positivethinkingrainbow that sounds really good! I had 23 follicles total but only 10 were above the size they like to see at collection, and they were too small through out the whole scanning part. So 13 of them were far too small. In the end I got 7 eggs. Sounds like you have almost double what I did good size!

@A280 I didn’t have any spotting, but I did have very low light cramps. More than I would usually have before my cycle. Fingers crossed!!!!!

@A280 Wednesday only 2 more sleeps, I have everything crossed for you! It must be so hard not to contemplate what every little cramp or feeling might mean!

@Elaydee thanks for the information, so helpful! It is so interesting to find out how our bodies react to the medicine when you have never done it before, they have just phoned to say stay on the 150 Menopur which is what they kept you at wasn't it?
Fingers crossed they continue growing, after all we only need one good one!
Did you freeze some of yours?

Sounds silly but I have not felt any different on the injections so you feel unsure if anything is actually happening!! xxx

@positivethinkingrainbow yep I stayed on 150 menopur and like you had very little side effect while stimming... probably the only good thing about a PCOS cycle! That and short protocol!

Evening all

I'm new here hope you don't mind me joining. I'm due to be starting icsi in the next few months I've been trying to get better understanding of how the process works and learn a bit more about some of the terminology you are using.

Can someone explain what you mean when you say long/short protocol.
Also any tips you think my may be useful prior to starting would be appreciated.

Thank you :)

@journey18 welcome!

I have PCOS, which means I have been put on short protocol.
I started medication last Monday, had my first scan on Monday and have second scan tomorrow. They think my egg collection could be Monday coming but it can change at any point.
Hope that helps. x

Hey @journey18 !

From my understanding the difference between long and short is down regging before starting your injections. It seems that us with PCOS don’t do down regging, which makes the treatment shorter. For example at the beginning of my cycle I started injecting for 10 days then had my eggs collected.

A longer treatment (and other ladies can correct me here) you would take the birth control pill and/or sniff a medication to put your ovaries to sleep. Then once asleep/inactive you start injecting. It seems it can lengthen your treatment for a few weeks.

I THINK PCOS don’t down reg as you get a better response by doing it and with all the extra follicles we have, we are at a high risk over stimulating and getting quite sick.

Good luck!

Thanks @ PostiveThinkingRainbow & @ Elaydee. I think I'm getting a better understanding of the process. Still feeing really nervous about starting it though.

@ PostiveThinkingRainbow how did u find the medication? if ok could u let me know how ur scan goes tomorrow.

Good luck :)

Good luck @PostiveThinkingRainbow hope the scan goes well. Lots of good follicles with healthy eggs in there!!

@Elaydee how are you feeling? Not long until your scan right?

@Journey18 welcome to the group. I hope your icsi cycle goes well. Sorry i cant shed anymore light than @Elaydee already has.

Hope you ladies are all doing well. Xx

@aandre26 thank you, have woken up this morning with mild period like pains so not sure if that is a good or a bad thing. My scan is at 11am, I am excited to see what they is going on in there!
How are you?

@Journey18 Thank you, I will of course be reporting back to you guys later about my scan, that is what we do!!! lol
So far I have found the injections and meds no problem at all, a part from some mild period pains this morning I have not felt any different at all.

@Elaydee is your scan on the 7th?

@A280 Thinking of you today, so hope you get the result you deserve xx