July/August IVF/ICSI/FET

[TinyPaws]

Hi everyone,

Thought I'd start a thread for those of us undergoing fertility treatment in July/August.

I'm (hopefully) having a FET late July/early August, anyone else want to hop on this thread for the ride?

Thanks @TinyPaws & @sometimesalways. I’ve emailed the clinic asking them to provide some stats before our appointment on Monday is poss or at least be prepared to run through these prior to the transfer. For me an ideal situation would be to have 3 embryos. That way we could try with one to start with and if that didn’t work then we could use two after in a FET. It’s difficult as again anything can happen in the next few days and we may only have one if any come Monday. It’s so unpredictable.

Anyway, all of this is overshadowing the good news that I have some embryos developing 🙏

Hi @Peanut1980 we had two put in on their recommendation. My husband was hesitant but they told us the chance of twins was not high, but two would increase our chances of having one by 10%, which with our poor odds was worth it. The second was not good enough quality to freeze anyway and the thought of binning it made me feel sick. We had stern words about it on the morning of the transfer. TBH, now I've had a negative result I would have always wondered if it had worked if we had gone with two, and he admits he would have felt worse if he had put his foot down now. It's a very personal thing though

@TinyPaws so pleased to hear you are doing better today

Thanks @confused107. We’ve had a calmer chat and he’s said we’re to stop thinking about it for now. He just said we should go with our gut based upon what the clinic says on Monday. I can’t argue with that.

We had a big discussion at the clinic about twins as I really really didn’t want to have twins. They went through the chances of conception with embryos of different quality (can’t remember all the figures off hand) and said essentially that if the embryo quality was poor there was only a 10% chance of it implanting. By implanting two poor embryos they each had a 10% chance of implanting, not that there was a 20% chance if that makes sense. Where they left it was - wait and see what the quality is like and let the consultant guide you, that’s what they are paying the big bucks for. On the day I had one AA embryologist was happy to go with one. The doctor doing the procedure really wanted to do two but bowed to the embryologist. We have twins in our family too, and there is still a chance that the one embryo could split in the way that identical twins occur in a run of the mill pregnancy. I’ve reconciled it in my head that I will do a two embryo FET if this one fails. Your figures could be slightly different as I reckon I am probably 2 years older than you.

www.remembryo.com/embryo-grading/

This is a really good overview on the different quality of embryos

I think I might be out as well this month. I had some blood on the tissue paper this morning.

@Dlpdep oh no, how many days till testing? (Apologies I have lost track I think!) Could it be implantation bleeding?

I had my transfer this day last week, so am I 6dpt? I’ve never ever had implantation bleeding before so I would be surprised. I’ll check to see if my cervix is open or closed in a while (way TMI) and if it’s open it’s game over.

Ah I never knew you could check that @Dlpdep ? (There's no such thing as TMI on these threads! Sounds like a good way of checking... ) btw i read somewhere that FET embryos take longer to implant, possibly even 5 days, so it sounds like it could be implantation bleeding? I didn't have any either with my first pregnancy, but they say every pregnancy is different? No bleeding here but def feeling premenstrual. Ugh

@Dlpdep I had what I think might have been implantation bleeding be night before otd. One bit of brown blood size of 5p on pants and when I wiped. Nothing else after. Hold out until test day!

I did a test on an ovulation stick. It’s not meant to be that reliable but it came up with one line. Blood is brown at the moment (but often is at the start of AF for me) and not much. I had a fresh transfer.

@Marmite83 - my OTD is also 10dp5dt, I wasn’t sure if it’s related to how much HCG you get in the trigger? Or if it’s just the clinic’s policy.

@Peanut1980 that sounds incredibly stressful! I’m glad it’s calmed down a little, but I feel for you - what a difficult conversation to have to have at this stage. Fingers crossed you both agree on a good way forward, and hopefully you have some to freeze in case you need.

@Dlpdep - holding onto hope for you, a little bit of blood definitely isn’t a game over until you’re in proper flow.

@TinyPaws - glad bleeding has stopped and still everything crossed!

I think my main focus at the moment is holding out until OTD (Saturday). I feel like otherwise it will completely do my head in. So, SO tired yesterday and today, but trying not to analyse that into a pregnancy symptom, because I know some people get like that from progesterone

That’s interesting. Thanks @Dlpdep. The consultant just called me and said it would add a 10% chance for success. He did say if it were successful the chance of twins would be 1 in 3. He said if we have embryos to freeze and we don’t really want twins then we should go ahead with one. Looking at my results so far he said it’s likely we’ll have something to freeze. So I think that takes the pressure off. We’ll just have to see how the embryos are tomorrow. So pretty much exactly as you said.

Don’t count yourself out yet @Dlpdep. Each pregnancy is so different 🤞🤞🤞

Thanks @caityprice. You’re doing so well holding out for your official test date.

I’ve progressed from brown to red so I think I’m defo out. FET for me I guess. Anyone who has had FET can you let me know how that goes?

@Dlpdep have you done your cervix check? I would have no idea how to check mine but I’m intrigued as to how you do it!

You basically have a root around up there to see if it’s closed or open. You’d need to be used to checking it though to know. I haven’t. I’ve been putting it off but will do it shortly.

Ok, I just had a shower and a poke around. Anyone who mightn’t have the stomach for the finer details, this is your trigger warning.

I don’t know if any of there rest of you are on Crinone for progesterone support. I am, and I read on another of my many many searches of various things that it does not come back down like cyclogest does. You have to have a ‘clear out’ yourself every couple of days. So I had a clear out and a poke around. Everything that came out (sorry!) was brown, no red fresh. My cervix isn’t fully open anyway but may be getting there. I’m just not sure. Either way my coochie is now clean and clear so whatever comes next will be telling.

Normally with my cycles I get a bit of brown discharge and then wham almost immediately into AF. Like within an hour. This isn’t happening at the moment so it’s different. But I’m also hyper aware that with such a medicated cycle it could be very different to a normal cycle and that may be what’s delaying it. Also in the back of my mind the clinic said I could get some brown spotting. So I don’t know. I’m no further on. I have two pregnancy tests that I got from the clinic, I’m not sure what benefit testing would give me, could either a BFN or a BFP be trusted at this stage. This is worse than any of the other stages. My DH is away for the night and I didn’t tell him this morning as I want to let him enjoy his night away and not be worrying. Time will tell I guess.

@dlpdep I agree this stage is the worst. Is there anyone else you could hang out with tonight with your other half away? Or something to do to take your mind off it? Girly movie/tv show/nice takeaway, face mask, a long walk... anything?

Still hoping for you 🤞

I have a roast chicken in the oven and DD and the puppy to keep me company so I think we’ll stick on a movie for the evening and snuggle on the couch.

@Dlpdep I agree, I don't think that it sounds like all is lost. Until there's full flow fresh blood there there's hope. @Caityprice is right, don't think about it too much if you can (SO hard! I know) and wait to see what happens in the morning...

I don't think I'd be able to tell where my cervix is at! No sign of af here yet so who knows.

I had a medicated FET cycle and it took about 6 weeks start to finish. For me it was 10 days of norethisterone to control when period comes and once that is done it was three and a half weeks till ET. I think this is what they call a long protocol. I think you can do a short version and just start when your period comes naturally without the norethisterone phase but not sure what the decision depends upon

That sounds more positive @Dlpdep. I’m still so uncomfortable from the egg collection. Have a little bit of spotting still. I’m preparing myself for the possibility they might delay due to OHSS. I’m sure all the discomfort had cleared up before my transfer for my last cycle.

It’s bright red now but not a lot of it. I’m going to take my Crinone tonight and contact the clinic in the morning. Does 6dpt seem very early to get AF? Most of my googling seems to be from day 9 onwards

Oh @dlpdep I really feel for you. Take it easy tonight. I hope you manage to get some sleep. Let us know what the clinic says in the morning xxx

@dlpdep I’ve just been googling bleeding at 6dpt and I’ve read about successful pregnancies so try not to worry. Feel awful saying that but put your feet up and relax for now x

@Marmite83 Good luck for Tues. Not long to wait now.

@Peanut1980 That sounds promising.

@confused107 Thanks! Your reasoning is very sound. I hate the thought of discarding a potentially viable embryo.

@Dlpdep Sorry you've had bleeding. This is a TMI warning, skip over this next bit if you don't want to know more than anyone ever wanted to about my lady bits. I had a poke around up there when I had my bleed and found an insane amount of utrogestan up there. Like, I've no idea how my vagina even held that much I was scooping out great blobs of it for forever. I had a medicated FET, it was definitely a less gruelling process than the fresh round (and also much less expensive). Having a frostie to fall back on was a comfort after my fresh cycle ended in a chemical at 5+0. However, I'm still hoping that this is implantation bleeding and that the OPK was negative because it's too early.

@sometimesalways How are you doing?

I've had no more bleeding since Friday. Freaked out a bit today as this morning's test was slightly lighter than yesterdays but tested again this evening and got a lovely dark line, much darker than yesterdays, so feeling better. Hoping and praying that this is the one that sticks.