January/ February IVF/ICSI

[Justwaitingforaline]

Starting a new thread for all of us going through IVF/ICSI in January/February!

First round of ICSI for us. I’m on the last week of my birth control pill before starting Gonal F injections on the 18th Jan, with the hope of egg collection on the 30th and transfer on the 4th Feb! I’m egg sharing so have been on the pill a while to sync my cycle with the woman recovering half of my eggs .

Is anyone else at a simile stage?

Hi all, I start my second ICSI round on 17th Feb. Shall I start a new Feb/March thread?

@NV42 Not after EC, but after I had a BFP I was extremely constipated and prunes did nothing. The nutritionist attached to my clinic recommended linseed - you soak them overnight (they get a bit mushy) and then just have a teaspoon and it works like magic! You can get them from the health food shop. Hope that helps!

For those that have had EC how soon did you get your period? I had EC Tuesday but looks like mine arrived today?? I just assumed EC was technically ovulation and that AF would come 14 days later?

@CCS83 mine came about 5 days after I think. Caught me completely off guard and so heavy!

interesting.. so what happens next if you get your period after EC or soon after emrbyo transfer? does it cancel the whole cycle and the embryo is lost?

@ginandtonicformeplease thank you.. I will keep this in mind. It seems that the Lactulose Lister suggested worked today (I also drunk A LOT of prune juice) but if I see that it is not stable I will definitely try the linseeds. I have also heard about flaxseeds too.

Today they told me that 2 out of the 4 fertilised eggs have grown to Grade 2 embryos and they will call me early morning Tuesday morning to tell me if I should go in for the embryo transfer at 10:20.. Fingers crossed... I would really like to see my first IVF cycle go all the way through as I really don't have the money for another one...

Well, I have my period! 5 days post Egg collection. I’m actually really happy to see it because it should mean 4 weeks until getting on with our FET TTC does weird things to a woman...

Great news on your period just! Still waiting for mine - hope it arrives soon! Should be any day.

thund4rcat good idea re Feb/ March thread - happy to join you on that!!

Hi all just a quick update from me. I’m on my way to clinic for an urgent scan! AF came early started on Saturday so clinic has had to get me in today as I’m supposed to start stims from day 3. As long as we get the go ahead from scan, first injection will be tonight 😬😬😬

Good luck reality - hope scan went well!

@Theglitterfairy thanks so I’ve got the green light!!! First injections tomorrow now and back Friday for scan. Can’t belive it’s finally happening now! I had 9 follicles 5 on left and 4 on right. Am chuffed as only 4 last month in total! Even if only half respond there’s a good chance I’ll get 3-4 eggs hopefully!

@NV42 fingers crossed you get a call tomorrow to go in for transfer! Also just so you know, flaxseed and linseed is the same thing. 😀

@Justwaitingforaline glad she arrived when you can crack on with your FET soon!

@TheGlitterFairy hope yours shows up soon too.

@Realitysucks great news it's all starting!! Good luck with injections tomorrow and great you have more follicles than last time. 👍 it's nice you only have to wait 3 days to go back in. They made me wait a week!

My scan is tomorrow ladies, day 7 of stims tonight. Keep your fingers crossed for lots of growing follicles for me please! I'm getting quite a lot of stomach cramps, is that normal?

@boboelephant

I am a heathy junkie and I am so embarassed that I didnt know that linseed and flaxseed are the same

As far as the cramps, yes it is normal.. I was not getting many but it is part of the side effects. the leaflet inside the goral-f box says it and I asked the nurses.

I assume that diffferent people get different levels of pain and crumps..

Funny enough I am lying on the couch right now with lowel abdominal cramps and internal twists if it makes sense.. My lowel abdominal where the ovaries are, is solid and in pain and I am Day 4 after the egg collection.. I didnt even feel like this on Day 1. I am trying to tell myself is nothing but because I live alone I am freaking out at the same time..

I have my scan as well tomorrow and has day 7 of atoms tonight. I'm on a very loose dose but am still getting some cramps and heaviness.

I can't wait to see what is going on tomorrow as I just want to know whether any are growing and how well.

Good luck with your scan tomorrow**@boboelephant**

@NV42 haha don't worry! I didn't know until I had to buy some and then found out they were the same. Glad to hear you had some too and it's not just me. Sorry about your pains now. Hopefully it's nothing and you are all set for tomorrow. Did they give you an update on your eggs today?

@CornishMaid1 wow we are exactly the same! What dose are you on? I'm on 225 menopur. I'm the same, just desperate to know if they are growing and how many! Thank you and good luck to you too! 🤞

@boboelephant we are for the minute but we'll see after tomorrow! I'm on a mild IVF cycle as I'm at risk of OHSS so my dose is only 75 of bemfola.

I'm feeling it on this dose though so not sure how I'd be on the three times the disagree you are on.

Hello ladies - mind if I join you?
I was on an earlier thread - I recognise some of you from there and I hope you’re all doing brilliantly.
I am 41 (42 this year) and never been pregnant. Had our first cycle in Sept / Oct last year which resulted in 11 eggs, 7 fertilised, and 3 decent blasts.
All systems go until day of the transfer, when the consultant heard me coughing on the phone (as he called to tell us what time to arrive at the clinic) and he got nervous and said we should freeze everything instead and do a FET when I was better.
It had taken me years to work up to doing this, so having the brakes put on at the last minute was really frustrating!
Anyway, took some time out, had a lovely holiday, ate all the Christmas food and now we are just about to start the game again and do our FET.
I’m not really sure what the protocol is - going to the clinic this week to see, ibut couldn’t have done it last time without support from here.
Good luck everyone! x

Hi @parksandrecreation oh it’s so exciting getting ready for your FET. Good luck my lovely xx

Hello All,
Sorry have been mia for a while but things moved fast for us. I was on short protocol and on my second scan which was on day 7 (Friday)was told to take the trigger shot on Saturday. I had 3 follicles and their size was 16, 17 and 17. Egg collection was yesterday and unfortunately for me, I happened to be in that 1% who ovulated earlier the same day in the morning so they could not get any eggs. The doctor did tell us that all the 3 follicles had eggs but by the time they went in the eggs had been released and they estimated that it could have been 3-5 hours before my procedure at 10 am. I did tell the doctor that I got up around 5 in the morning and had a lot of back pain and when got out of bed my ovaries felt very heavy and there were lots of twinges.
We have got our follow up on 7th March and will take it from there.
Still in a limbo and my thoughts are not settling down. They did not do any blood test at my scan and saw on some other threads that they do that to see if there is a LH surge ( not sure if I have got it right) but that can detect how early you can ovulate. This was not offered to us as we are on NHS and this was the only free round that we had and from here on we have to pay.
My OH has been very supportive but I am just not sure whether I want to go with the same clinic or try and find out about more clinics. I am based in Bromley South in Kent so London and somewhere close to our place are our options. Any advice on clinics that you’ll have will be great. We were at Kings Fertility at Denmark Hill and they said we can start possibly in March itself and might be better to go on the long protocol.
Any thoughts that you’ll have will really help to clear my muddled up brain.

@lionesscub oh my goodness. Poor you. That’s such sad news. I’m so sorry to hear that’s happened to you. Where does that leave you now? Does that class as one cycle or are you able to go again?

I’ve been to my clinic this morning for a check on what’s going on down there. Everything appears to look ‘normal’. Should have a better bleed for my next period so we should (🤞🤞🤞🤞🤞) be able to start the cycle for my FET in my next cycle. Due on my period on Friday of next week so will just have to see how it goes. Feeling relieved that all’s looking good. And I feel bad for bad mouthing my left ovary. I think maybe she was just having a bad month for my first cycle as she had way more follicles on there today. Had 9 on there today and only had 3 on there for my egg collection.

Hi all, sorry been a little quiet I have been keeping up to date and good to see most people progressing well with successful EC. I had my baseline scan today, all went well so start gonal-f on Thursday!

How are you all coping with time off work? My clinic are very good at doing the appointments first thing, however, I live outside London (which is where the clinic is) and work in London so having to juggle my days to work from home. As I'm getting closer and people want meetings face to face I'm struggle to keep coming up with excuses, it doesn't help that I am also having intralipid infusions which is a couple of hours off work. It's starting to stress me. X

@intrigued2018 would you be able to speak to HR at all and seek their advice on how to play it with employees? I guess it depends on size of company you work for. It’s not so easy if you work for a smaller company. I don’t work so I have more flexibility.

@Peanut1980 it’s considered as one cycle. With NHS they consider it as a cycle as soon as you start with the injections irrespective of the outcome.
Contemplating right now how to go about. We have the follow up appointment on 7th March but we need to call every week and if there are any cancellations they will try to get us in earlier. I am going to find out about Zita West as heard good things about the clinic and they take a holistic approach right from advising you about your diet etc. Also might look at options abroad.
I saw that you are going for FET and yesterday our surgeon told us that FET does have a better chance of success as all the hormones are flushed out of your body and the success rate is more then a fresh cycle so good luck with your cycle. Am also considering doing FET for future so let’s see.... need to find more information about all of this now

intrigued it's awkward isn't it.

I've just said (during all 3 rounds to date) that I've had medical/ docs appts and will be in work late or wfh afterwards depending on the time of appt. No-one has asked anything though I'm sure they've wondered!

For ECs, I said I had to have a minor procedure and would be out for a couple of days - which then gave a bit of flexibility afterwards; same for the ET I had (round one; alas, nothing since). I'll be doing the same for this up coming round too.

It's not ideal but also wasn't sure what to do about it - and didn't really want people gossiping about me/ knowing what I was doing. I have a degree of autonomy and flexibility with what I do anyway and am not always in the office with work anyway so it's perhaps less noticeable than if you need to be in 9-5. WFH helps too - as you've mentioned.

@Peanut1980 - unfortunately I work for a fairly small company with one HR lady, whilst she is lovely I don't trust her to keep things a secret and gossip is horrendous at my work so HR isn't an option 😞 I have ongoing health problems so said they want to do some tests and I'm on a cancellation list for a slot. Yesterday I was invited to my clients team away day on the day it looks like EC will be ... so I had to think on my feet 🙈 but I hate lying and being inflexible x