Anyone waiting to start IVF/FET in 2020?

[Lemongrass1]

As it says on the title really! Wondering if anyone else twiddling their thumbs and wanted to keep each other company?
Me- 40, was TTC for 4 years (unexplained infertility)- short protocol in 2018- fresh transfer resulted in an ectopic pregnancy followed by a successful FET later in the year. We have 8 frosties which we hope to use in another FET starting Feb/March 2020. First consultation next month. Feels so daunting to be starting the process again! X

Thanks ladies, I appreciate all the support x

@CritterTamer that sounds so frustrating. I only got regular cycles this year in July; when DS was 2,5 yo! Obviously that really interfered with our ttc plans. We also lost our only frozen embie during that time because I never had a proper cycle and my pathetic previous clinic never induced the proper “artificial” cycle conditions for FET . I’m still very angry and sad about that. Wish I’d known better. I never even ovulated on my own until July. And I never really breastfed (supply issues). So I can relate to struggling with cycles. What does your doctor say about your cycles; can they do an “artificial” luteal phase again for an FET cycle?

@Tryin4no2 around when are you expecting cd1?

@Mischali - just told by the clinic this afternoon that I need a rubella record and I can’t seem to find one via my GP (thought I had had it) - so notwithstanding that I have just bought the drugs I’m wondering if this will now delay it! Frustrating!

@Tryin4no2 and @mischali thanks for your replies - it did help to know im not the only one. That sounds awful Mischali - I can't believe they cost you your frostie! I think I am at least ovulating on CD14 - first half of cycle seems perfectly normal, it's just the 4 day LP that's an issue. I have an appointment with the clinic on the 28th now to see what they say. We had been planning a natural cycle FET in may, but if this continues I'll have to hold that they can fix my LP with a fully medicated cycle. This journey is full of so many unexpected setbacks and frustrations - I think I used up all my god luck on our last fresh cycle! I hope you are both coping ok with the anxiety and nerves xxx

@BOBSS how was your scan today?

@CritterTamer & @Tryin4no2 the whole IVF is such a rollercoaster ride it’s ridiculous and horribly stressful

@CritterTamer- I’d have liked to do a natural cycle but I’ve always found it so had to track ovulation with OKPs (does show up on blood tests). So we are on fully medicated FET.

@Tryin4no2- How annoying- if they can’t find your vaccine record can clinic/ GP not check immunity for you with a blood test?

On our side we have had our coordination appt and picked up the drugs + protocol. There seems to be an awful lot of progesterone support now. Used to be cyclogest three times a day but now it’s x2 uterogestan twice a day and Lubion! The progesterone support alone costs £25 a day 😫 It’s a bit annoying as no one in the clinic had a clue how much all this costs and was not given protocol until today so I haven’t been able to get idea of medication budget until now. Basically the cost of the FET is double what we originally told due to all this. Sorry to have a whinge but was just a bit of a shock to get the bill at the pharmacy 😣

Currently on hold now until March as starting buserelin 21 days after Feb AF. Good luck to everyone cycling now/ about to start! X

@Minster2012 Hi..scan was ok ok..lining was 5.2 mm so they have doubled the dose of estradiol 4mg thrice a day n sildenafil vaginal 4 times a day in addition with vit E (rest med n vit to be continued).. he said lining quality is good n thickness is on border line..again appointment is on Monday (i.e 20 Jan 2020)..my doc has said no for pomegranate, papaya n pineapple..n i was having pomegranate :(

Feeling lil low..but trying to keep myself positive..n hoping lining will be better on monday..

@Lemongrass1 - that's interesting - I don't seem to get true positive on opks either. What's involved with the full medicated FET cycle of you don't mind telling me? My clinic also added lubion to my prescription without telling me at our first cycle. I queried it as it added over £1000 to the cost of the cycle and they immediately said no problem, some of our ductus just use it as standard as it's the best, but happily changed it to utrogestan X 3 per day. We went with the principle that if I need early on that cycle we would try lubion on the next cycle but the utrogestan worked fine. Have you bled early on previous cycles? If not I would question the lubion and request they changed it to utrogestan.

@Tryin4no2 my clinic were happy to accept my word that if had a rubella vaccination (back in school) and didn't require any proof!

Hope the lining improves quicky @BOBSS

@BOBSS sorry to hear that, what was your dose of estridol before? I’ve been on 3x 2mg for 2 weeks then just upped it to 4x 3mg for the last 2 weeks plus 0.5ml of buserelin. They don’t say any supplements other than folic acid but I’m taking a multivitamin too. I Have my lining scan on weds 22nd. Fingers crossed for yours on Monday xx

@CritterTamer Thank u so much :)
@Minster I was on estradiol 32 mg since last 11 days in addition to folic, Coq-300,L-Arginine,ecosprin,consovil (multivit)..
Thank u for the wishes and wishing all the best for 22nd : :)

@BOBSS so yeah very similar then, we could be very similar timing fingers crossed for good news for us both this week for linings & getting our dates for FET xx

@Tryin4no2 that’s the first time I’ve heard of a clinic being difficult about a rubella record! Hope it gets sorted out!

@Lemongrass1 are you looking at a mid-ish March transfer then?

@BOBSS hope the extra meds give you a better number on Monday. Only a few mm to go.

I’m suddenly worried about the medication costs now that a few of you have mentioned it! I’m going to phone my clinic first thing on Monday to find out how much it’s going to cost!!

I’m not doing very well at keeping up with this thread. I will try!

@BOBSS how are you feeling today? That’s a shame that they dismissed the pomegranate. My lining started off around 7mm at first, I think. And they told me that the thickness didn’t matter.... however, after drinking pomegranate and raspberry leaf tea, it was closer to 11mm. I hope the meds help.

@CritterTamer sorry to hear that your LP has shortened. I feel like nothing goes straight forward with fertility treatment! 😔😔 supposedly there is supplements that you can take to lengthen it, but I don’t have any experience with these. Just remember that you BF your twins at the start of their life, and you have done amazing to give them the best!

@Lemongrass1 it’s awful when you think of the cost isn’t it? 😖 completely worth it if it works. But it just adds to the stress. Hope you’re ok

I will catch up rest of the messages at some point. Sorry!

Pretty sure that my period is going to start today. Which means that next period (in feb) is when I phone the hospital. And all of a sudden I am feeling the pressure. It’s all such a horrible process to go through x

@BeHereNowx32 sorry to hear you are feeling a bit overwhelmed with it - try to be kind to yourself - it does sound a tough process, you can only do what you can.

Thanks @Mischali and @CritterTamer Re the rubella - I’m waiting to hear as to whether they will take my word - it would have been a long time ago... Good suggestion @Lemongrass1 - I will see if they could do that!

Sorry to hear @Lemongrass1 that the progesterone is so expensive - on top of everything else!

Hi. Can I join? I’ve just got my period back after winding down BF our 11mo DS, born from our 2nd FET (1round, 3rd transfer, including 1fail and 1MC). Which is bittersweet, as we are now staring down the rabbit hole of trying to give him a sibling. We have one frostie- same grade as DS, day5 blasto.

Needed to wait a year as had ELCS due to breech (seriously, they’re difficult to get then the don’t co-operate??!!) and clinic says needed 2 cycles before FET,so looking at Mid March earliest, probably April.

DS was born after a scratch which my clinic won’t offer anymore.

Keen to share stories of TTC no.2, how to mange this with the demands of an increasing mobile toddler, and refresh myself of his I should be preparing - I feel pretty depleted after pregnancy, 11m BF, returning to FT work at 7.5months.

Oh I’m 36 and we had MFI

Hi @Blondiecub0109! Well it sounds like you are being really proactive about it which is good - I now feel I waited for too long before trying IVF as my DD is now 3 and kept hoping it would just happen....- so at least time is on your side. Good that you have a frostie as well - fingers crossed that may be all you need! Xx

Hi @Blondiecub0109! I’m also nervous about the prospect of possibly having another child with a very active toddler 😁 good luck!

@Tryin4no2 my ds is also 3 and we’ll have an almost 4 year gap IF I fall pregnant right away. How big will your age gap be?

@BOBBS any news on your lining? Fx!

So I phoned the clinic and the medication costs are luckily included in the quote they gave us & that we’ve taken out a loan for.

Also, I just won a wardrobe makeover! Now I will have to ask them for flowy shirts and pants with elastic bands hahaha just in case. It will have to hide my existing stomach pooch in any case lol.

@Mischali good news re the meds and the wardrobe makeover! Yes will be just under 4 years if I get pregnant first time (which I fear is not that likely).... on one level I had hoped for less of an age gap but my DD is quite high maintenance and doesn’t sleep so maybe for the best!! Of course not counting my eggs before they are fertilised, and transferred... etc..... etc... I’m really relieved that the clinic said I can start the drugs without rubella record and can do a blood test - so good tips everyone!!

@Blondiecub0109 - welcome. Sounds like you are in a similar boat to me. We are having to wait until may to do our FET due to having to wait a year after EMCS (very traumatic premature delivery which almost killed me and my twins). They are 8 months now and I stopped breastfeeding them at 7 months as I wanted to make sure my cycles had plenty of time to return to normal. Really glad I did now as I've had two so far, both with a 4 day luteal phase so I'm very worried something has gone very wrong! We have two frosties left, a 4AA and a 4AB. The twins were born from two 5AAs, and like you, after a scratch, which my clinic also won't do any more so I'm not too optimistic about the outcome, even if they can fix the luteal phase problem. I'm also very nervous about the prospect of having a newborn with two toddlers running about, BV and would be very happy to share this journey with you since we might be cycling close together!

Thank you so much for the wishes @BeHereNowx32 @Mischali @Minster2012 went for the scan..lining improved a bit to 6.3 mm.. might be coz of lupride inj lining is not growing much so they have reduced dose from half ml to 1/4 ml..and added inj GCSF 300 mg today and on 23 rd..rest to be continued..

Review is on 25 Jan now..need your wishes..
@Minster2012 Wish you all the best for your scan.. :)

Also would like to know from everyone ..how you guys keep yourself motivated..when u feel low n all..

Wishing babydust to everyone :* :)

@BOBSS sorry to hear it’s still not where you want it to be but only a nudge away so not much more 🤞🏻It will be fine on the 25th. I’m so worried about mine tomorrow now, I so wish it was the morning not the afternoon 😕.

I’m not really keeping myself positive. DH & I had a massive row on Sunday & im still hurting from it. Was in floods of tears yesterday (hormones prob) but feel so alone.

However @CritterTamer & @Blondiecub0109 we have a son from our first IVF FET without a scratch so don’t put it all on that! They wouldn’t stop offering it for no reason!

@minster2012 - thanks. I know the evidence isn't really there for the scratch, but I'm certain the reason I can't get pregnant is down to my short luteal phase and poor lining. Never had so much as a chemical pregnancy, even with IVF until I had the scratch on our second round, and then boom, twins! I now put a lot of faith in it lol!

Good luck for your scan today, and I hope you make it up with your DH soon. It's such a stressful process for you both - be kind to each other xxx

@BOBSS - I would love to know how to keep positive - I never managed it either! You do have my best wishes for your review on Jan 25th - hopefully everything will be looking good for you by then 🤞

@Minster2012 Oh dear dun u feel alone..we all are in same boat..can understand what you are going through..lots of hugs from my side..
just try to stay positive (i know..easy said then done..applicable to me also) everything will be fine tomorrow for you..vl pray for u :)

Keep smiling :)

@CritterTamer Thank you so much dear :* :)

Hi to everyone that I haven’t said hi to yet. Sorry!

@CritterTamer my DD was a 3AB embryo. She was actually a 3BB just before transfer, and as we were talking, she had developed even more by the time the embryologist brought her out 😍 but my point is your embryos are very good quality. But I know it’s not easy to be positive, even after a BFP it’s hard to believe that it can work.

@Minster2012 hope you both sort things out. It’s such a stressful time. Maybe need to put arguments on pause while you’re being pumped full of hormones!

@BOBSS it’s honestly so hard to be positive, because you want it so bad! I feel like I was a little more positive during my 3rd fresh round. I had went away for a few days before egg collection. Which was lovely and took my mind off things. But apart from that, I think I just was used to it all. And I had started to accept it probably wasn’t going to happen ☹️ but it did on that round, and we have our DD. Just take lots of time to relax! That’s important