November/December IVF/ICSI/FET

[StoneMe]

Hi everyone, just had my first down regulation injection this morning with a scan booked for next Thursday. This will be the transfer of my remaining embryo. I had a little boy last year via ICSI so I know I've been very lucky already.

Anyone else starting now?

[luckyme11]

Hi ladies,

Sorry I’ve been quiet! I’ve been thinking of you all. Hope you’re all having a good weekend. Xxx

[StoneMe]

Sending good thoughts to everyone.

Did my first pessary today. It was really weird...last time it was a long nozzled gel I had. Not really used to fingering my self! 😆

[RedPandaFluff]

@StoneMe I've been given utrogestan pessaries with plastic applicators - I'm really torn, because it's so bad for the environment, using a single-use applicator each time, but then again, I'm not that keen to hoke about up in there with my hands either. I'm also worried I wouldn't get it high enough.

One of the many indignities of this process 😄

[evenprimrose]

Hi everyone please can I join? Just started first cycle and am on second day of Menopur, feeling pretty wiped out by it. Injections themselves way less painful than I expected but brain fog and headache all day. An excuse to be very lazy at least! Good luck to everyone.

[Guio]

Hi @evenprimrose welcome to the group!today will be my 5th day in menopur and despite a couple of bruises injections are ok so far,only one week to go if everything goes well until EC.is this your first?good luck @RedPandaFluff, time will fly!

[AmyK18]

Only got 2 blastocysts again despite starting off with a much higher number of eggs. Am gutted.
So it means I have 4 in total which is 2 transfers as I want to do 2 at a time.
I’m wondering why it is that we are ending up with such low numbers from such a good start. Must be my egg quality?
I am also terrified one of more of them won’t survive thenthawing process, this is very rare right?

[RedPandaFluff]

@AmyK18 I understand that you're disappointed, but you have four - try to focus on that. You never know - you could be one of the lucky ones where it works first time!

Something to consider - I just read some research that says it's better to transfer one embryo at a time, because if you transfer two of differing qualities, your body focuses its efforts on supporting the poor one over the good one, so if the poor one fails, the whole attempt fails. Would you consider transferring one at a time?

I'm with you on the puzzlement over poor numbers - we've had three cycles, each with a different donor, so I'm thinking sperm quality is an issue. The clinic confirmed today that we have none to freeze, so this is our only shot for this cycle. Bit gutted 😔

[RedPandaFluff]

Oh and yes, blasts thaw very well, you should be fine x

[AmyK18]

@RedPandaFluff I know your right, we could have none. It’s just much less than we thought we’d get for two cycles!
My husband was tested in Feb this year and his results were very good. He has now dropped down to 10%, grade one! Have you ever heard anything like that?! I am wondering if this is partly why we are getting so few. I really hope it is temporary as honestly between the two of us!!
I didn’t know that, I will ask my doctor about it next week that’s an interesting point. I assumed if you shove more of them in here then it increases the odds of one taking?
How are you feeling post transfer? Any symptoms?

How is everyone else, has anyone had/having acupuncture??

[Beeflower22]

I went for my transfer yesterday , everything seemed to go from bad to worse for me 😩
I had 3 good embryos on Wednesday, by Saturday I only had one, so nothing to freeze.
Then to top it off, I went down the theatre and my womb lining was too thin 😭
So now I have to wait, and they close over Christmas so will be the new year now.
I know I need to focus on the positive, and I’ve been taking the whole thing in my stride since I started the injections back in October. But yesterday I literally broke down, I’ve had time to come to terms with it now, it’s just so disheartening when you get your hopes up. Hope my little bean in the freezer does me good in the new year!

Sending luck your way! xxx

[RedPandaFluff]

Oh @Beeflower22 that must have been awful! You must have been all psyched up and excited for the transfer; how disappointing. And we know how cruel the numbers game is. I guess the only thing you can do is focus on enjoying Christmas and New Year . . . the waiting is so hard, though. Sending a hug to you.

Apparently transferring two doesn't increase chances that much, @AmyK18 - we transferred two because the second one would have been discarded as it wasn't good enough to freeze, and I couldn't bear that, it felt like such a waste given that it didn't look as if any others could be frozen.

DH's sperm always has something wrong - but a different thing each time, first time it was morphology, then it was motility. The good thing is that sperm quality can be dramatically improved by diet and lifestyle changes, not having hot baths etc.

[RedPandaFluff]

Oh and acupuncture . . . well, I was good as good my first cycle. Healthy diet, exercise, acupuncture, the works. Total failure. Second cycle, I just went about my normal life - didn't bother with anything out of the ordinary. And I had a chemical pregnancy. Sometimes it seems so random.

[AmyK18]

@Beeflower22 oh you poor thing you must have felt devastated. It’s so cruel this whole thing. Try and spend the next month or so looking after your health and doing lots of nice things for yourself and get yourself in a good mental state for the new year. The waiting game is torturous I know you just want to scream with frustration. Big hugs xxx

@RedPandaFluff well I’ve learnt from this pgs thing that over 50% of embryos will have chromosomal abnormalities for any person and so it doesn’t mean anything’s wrong it’s just rolling the dice each time I guess isn’t it! Keeping my fingers crossed for You this time xx

[AmyK18]

Ps thank god for icsi!!

[StoneMe]

Sorry to hear that BeeFlower 🙁

[CautiousOptimist]

So sorry @Beeflower22 to hear of the delay of your transfer. I hope you can manage to enjoy a relaxed Christmas and lots of luck with your transfer when the time comes.

Welcome on board @evenprimrose and good luck.

I’m 9 days post transfer now and have suspected OHSS with my tummy swollen up like I’m 4 months pregnant and really uncomfortable. It’s quite common I understand, but I was sick a couple of times this morning and feel pretty ropey so I’m currently at a&e for a scan and blood test as a precaution.

[AmyK18]

@CautiousOptimist poor you I hope you are ok! Let us know how scan and blood test go xx

[Cariad82]

I have just had my last scan and I only have 2 follicles. One that is good and one that is a bit smaller so still needs to catch up. They are pushing my egg collection back from Wednesday to Thursday to give it chance to grow more. I'm pretty gutted that I've responded so poorly. I didn't think I'd get loads of follicles but I thought more than this. And I've been on highest dose of menopur so feel like there's not really anywhere to go from here. Trying to think positive but don't feel very positive

[AmyK18]

@Cariad82 I was only two follicles pretty much right up until the last few days then on the day of EC they got 19! Also I spoke to embryologist today about why I always start off with a big number then drop to so little and she said that actually quite often when you start off with a big number the quality isn’t as good so you end up with less and when you start off with less you actually end up with more! Something to consider.... drink protein shakes that apparently helps too!

[Cariad82]

Thank you @AmyK18 it’s good to hear something positive. It would be amazing if that happened for me. I just feel like I can’t understand why it’s so bad - we mainly had ivf because if MFI. I thought I was ok, for my age anyway. Not great but not terrible. I’m 36, fsh 8.5, amh 16, no other issues as far as they know. Highest dose of meds. I thought I’d be below average because of my age but not this far below. Hopefully something will change between now and EC. I’ve been doing the protein thing. And lots of water, and positive visualization, and acupuncture, and keeping warm...the list goes on. I was even talking to my ovaries yesterday. Felt daft but figured it couldn’t hurt!

[AmyK18]

@Cariad82 - is this your first cycle? No I don’t think that’s crazy at all I think every little helps they always go on about how important it is to stay positive! How long were you trying before you got checked out just out of curiosity?

[Cariad82]

Yes first cycle. We were trying for a year then I went and asked for some preliminary tests because of me being over 35. Mine all came back ok. FSH slightly high but not outside normal parameters for my age. But turns out husband has sperm antibodies which gives us next to no chance of a pregnancy without ICSI. This is our 1 NHS go then we have to go private. Can I ask the same of you @AmyK18? Age, length trying etc?

[AmyK18]

Sure! I’m 33 in January. We got married December last year and have been trying since then. My husband went and got checked in Feb this year and was fine. I then had 3 back to back very early miscarriages so I went and got checked July this year and they found I had a uterine septum which I have had 50% surgically removed ;and also apparently have PCOS, very high AMH). I decided I didn’t want to wait to start ivf so did our first cycle last month, and have just done my second. Both times only got two blastocysts. On top of that since we started ivf my husband seems to have randomly dropped down to 10% motility so reliant on icsi.
I feel hipocrytical giving advise about being calm I am in such a state at the moment that my chest has seized up and it hurts to breathe in . This whole thing just feels like a living nightmare that could go on for years although of course we mustn’t think like that! Xxx

[Cariad82]

Oh god I'm so sorry to hear that. You've been through such a s**t time. All of this is so unfair. And you're right, one of the hardest things is not knowing. The constant hurdles and what ifs and your life being on pause. And the thought of it not working ever and what that might mean. It's so scary.
Staying positive for it all is the hardest thing ever. Hence me resorting to talking to my ovaries.

You have done 2 cycles very close together. My clinic said I would need to wait 2-3 months before trying again. Now I'm wondering if that's just their policy and not a general thing. Do you know if there are any benefits to doing 2 cycles back to back like that? Except for the obvious not waiting so long.

It's weird - sometimes I feel quite detached from it all and then sometimes it just overwhelmes me and I can't even think straight. Deep breaths @AmyK18. Xx

[AmyK18]

@Cariad82 well it’s defiantly not a general thing as I was allowed to go again straight away, but I did actually end up having a month in between as I developed a cyst on my ovary from the 1st egg collection so they put me on the pill for a few weeks. Having said that it is not a bad thing to have a break as it’s really tough on your body! But if you are feeling up against the clock as I’m sure most people are then that would feel like a very long wait! X