Jan/Feb IVF/ICSI/FET here we go...

[sometimesalways]

Hello, starting a new thread for those of us starting a new cycle after the holidays.

My background: one successful round of ivf a few years back resulted in my lovely DS and now trying for a second. We are about to go for round 3, following 1 bfn and 1 mc.

At the moment I am waiting for af to appear. Seem to be about to ovulate according to opk. So guessing should expect af in about 2 weeks time.

Going for natural FET with progesterone support. The question for me is whether to add steroids too. A little scared of long terms risks so we will see...

@Russkispy @itwasalovelydreamwhileitlasted @Christabelle89
I remember from previous threads you were doing, or thinking of doing another round in Jan?

Everybody welcome to join, wherever you are on your journey. It's a tough business, keeping company helps. Good luck!

I'm good thanks @mincedpea. 13+4 today. Had our 12 week scan on Tuesday and everything looked fine so fingers crossed! I haven't joined a pregnancy board, think I'm scared to admit things are progressing in case it all falls apart again. Silly really!

@Marmite83 so nice to hear from you and that all is well! Yay

And can I just say - how did you know?! Haha I just got my period, completely out of the blue (and while in a meeting on a work trip of all places eek) after over a week's worth of flashing smileys. It must have been an unovulatory cycle for me too. But at least things must be returning back to normal now.

The fact that its Friday evening and I am out of town means we can't really start a cycle with this period but prob for the best as it caught us unawares, we haven't even made any decisions re: steroids. What's a couple more weeks wait eh? If my cycle stays the same I should be able to transfer second week of Feb now I think. (My cycles are fairly short, for once it's a good thing! Not a big wait)

@Oldandsad
My first scan ended up being Cycle day 4 but that's only because days 5&6 fell on a weekend - otherwise first scan day would have been day 5

I don't start tamoxifen and low dose stim until cycle day 3 which is a day later than previous cycles so wasn't much to really see on day 4

@itwasalovelydreamwhileitlasted thank you!

Hello ladies,

This is exactly the thread I've been looking for. I hope it's ok to join.

I've managed to delete every thing i typed so I've started again.

My story, i have an almost 18 month old dd from a fet following a failed fresh transfer. I've just convinced my oh that we should try again so I've been busy getting sorted to start this month. Currently waiting for af probably around Tuesday.

@sometimesalways like you I'm waiting for af. I'm definitely taking the steroids i tested high for killer blood cells and took steroids for my sucessful fet.

@Russkispy I'm so sorry about your delay, it must be so frurstrating! Hopefully that just means the conditions will be perfect next time! I'm also taking the injectable progesterone for the first time. How expensive were they?

@mincedpea massive congrats on the positive! I found the 2 weeks 2 days between my test and the first scan even more stressful and awful than the 2 ww! As soneone said it can take just 1 positive. My daughter was my very first positive.

@itwasalovelydreamwhileitlasted wow you've been through a lot! I really hope it all works out. I would have gone for 2 at the end of transferring if we didn't suceed. With a toddler we're sticking with the 1.

@C88M I'm so sorry about your mc! Good luck for next month. 3 frosties is a good number. My oh kept telling me it was a numbers game to keep my spirits up.

@Cisco2 fingers crossed for your natural fet.

@Bestofyou1982 ooh good luck for your transfer next week!

The other complications i have are i am 42 in March and I'm still breastfeeding. I managed to convince my consultant to treat me while breastfeeding as its keeping my awful endometriosis away!

I'm feeling a bit daunted starting this journey again! It's so fraught with emotion and possibility! We can only hope i suppose!

Ah sorry there were more updates since i read. I'll catch up and post again soon!

So glad af has finally arrived for you @sometimesalways! I seem to recall my af showed up at the weekend and my clinic said a baseline scan on day 3/4 would be fine so it didn't stop us moving forward that cycle. We all have different circumstances but worth checking with your clinic if you haven't already.

@Marmite83 Great news about the scan and all looking well there! 13+4 seems so far away to me, now the days are going even more slowly than during the 2ww. I know what you mean about jinxing it, but I also have the excitement of a first pregnancy so I was straight on to the pregnancy boards haha. I wouldn't let myself go on there before or do any research so I had no info about what happens beyond the 2ww! When's your next milestone?

@sometimesalways Hurrah for AF showing up! In my last cycle the moved my "baseline" scan to cycle day 7 rather than cycle day 2 like normal, so maybe it's still possible for you to go ahead this month. Otherwise, you're right, what's one more month?

@itwasalovelydreamwhileitlasted On the how many embryos to transfer question, I should add that we have no children yet and I'll be 37 this year, which was also why we went for a double.

@Ging78 Welcome to the board and thanks for sharing your story. Really pleased to hear your DD was also your first ever BFP! Will you be having a FET this time around or another fresh cycle? Good luck with everything, AF will be here before you know it and then it's onwards and upwards hopefully! You're right about this next bit of waiting being a bit more worrying than I'd thought it would be, but I'm trying to stay relaxed about it all. Easier said than done!

@sometimesalways glad AF arrived albeit sooner than expected. And maybe we will be buddy cycles after all

Next milestone is 16 week appt with the midwife @mincedpea. She'll listen to the heartbeat as part of the appt so hoping for some additional re-assurance then. I stop my Crinone on Monday so I'm a little nervous about that. Hang in there, time felt like it was going so slowly for me too but it feels like it's sped up a little now. Have you got a scan booked?

Not long to go until that next milestone @Marmite83. I'm sure listening to the heartbeat and having a few checks will be reassuring. Do you get a scan as part of that too? I've got my viability scan booked. It's in two and half weeks so we are counting down to that. I downloaded the babycentre app and it has a week-by-week growth timeline, so I am distracting myself with the science of it all! Hope your last Crinone goes OK and you feel alright today. It always feels a bit worrying when something gets changed, but keep faith that it will be OK.

Hello ladies!

@mincedpea best of luck with your viability scan. I found that wait worse than the 2ww! 2.5 weeks isn't too bad to wait.

@sometimesalways have you definitely had to delay for this month then? I hope you're ok with it.

My AF arrived at the weekend so I'm waiting for 9am to call the acu to get my baseline scan booked it. Started taking my prognova this morning too. It's a medicated cycle again mincedpea!

Hope everyone is good!

Great news about AF @Ging78! Sounds like it's all go already for you. Fingers crossed it's a good cycle!

Do you have to stop breastfeeding or can you keep going? I'm sure you'd be keen to keep it up if it keeps your endo away.

Evening everyone, hope it’s ok to jump in the thread.
A little bit of background, after 8 unsuccessful IUI’s we moved onto IVF in 2018. Had egg collection but due to the high risk of OHSS (28 eggs eek!) our embryos were frozen. I was then made redundant so we decided to hold off until I was back in a secure job. Anyway AF arrived at the start of January which marked the start of our first frozen cycle.
Been on estrodiol for the last 17 days and had our scan on Saturday which means our embryos have been thawed today. Started the progresterone pessaries yesterday and my god my nipples itch and my mood swings are awful.
Anyone else had similar side effects?

Hello everyone hope you are all doing ok?
Wanted to ask when is the best time to do ovulation stick testing? I did one this morning and then this evening and it was peak. But reading the guidelines said best to test in the morning..it’s all so confusing!!

@Cisco2
If it's the cheap test strips you can pretty much test when you like but the guidelines from my clinic are twice a day - morning and night. If you get a peak in the evening ovulation is classed as not the next day but the day after that.

@itwasalovelydreamwhileitlasted Thanks. It’s all so confusing! I’ve been using ClearBlue one. Have emailed my consultant to see what they say.

@Sarab2020 I had horrible side effects on the progrestone pressaries too - add lots of bloating, spots and thrush to that list!

Great news about AF @Ging78 when is your scan booked?

@mincedpea good luck for your scan and @Marmite83 when is your midwife appt good luck for that too. The week by week growth chart kept me distracted whilst I waited for the next milestone :-)

Thanks @Cisco2 ! I sorted out my midwife booking in appointment this morning, but I'm so used to disappointment I almost wanted to say to her, shall we just wait a bit longer, there might be no point to doing any of this. All of IVF and pregnancy seems to be one long agonising waiting game.

On the ClearBlue OPK tests, I normally started testing on day 8 as I have a 27/28 day cycle and normally ovulate around day 12 or 13. I think you're meant to use FMU with those ones, and also the first test will always be the blank circle as the testing stick needs to set a baseline. If you've got a peak already with evening urine, then it seems plausible that LH has been detected. Good luck either way!

I also had (and have) similar side effects from the progesterone pessaries @Sarab2020. They're not nice, but do help. Good luck with this IVF round! Do you have a FET date yet?

Thanks ladies, I’m getting used to the pessaries now as much as you can! Currently heading to the hospital for our FET I’m so nervous I could be sick! Not looking forward to the TWW

Gold luck @mincedpea with your scan

Masses of good luck for your FET today, you'll be fine @Sarab2020, it'll be over before you know it and there are a couple of good TWW threads on the Infertility board at the moment to help keep you sane. Keeping my fingers crossed for you!

Good luck @Sarab2020!

Good luck Sarah!

@mincedpea. It's so hard to believe at first isn't it! In my first weeks/months with my dd i took pregnancy tests and went for scans frequently to reassure us! You'll feel better once you feel it move x

I hope everyone else is well!

I've been for my baseline scan. My lining was 8.5. They like it to be 4. They doctor scanning said that is because of her period. The nurse took blood to check for oestrogen level... which will be elevated because I've been taking prognova since Monday! They are calling back about 4. Feeling deflated.

Just called my oh to say remember we had this issue before. I said yea that'll be my heavy periods. It was, it cleared out and we went went on!

They are talking about possibly cancelling the cycle this month!

So the nurse called to say we could continue with the cycle. My consultant was happy. Phew!

Hope you're all good!

Hi all, so sorry, some work travel and family issues kept me away from MN for a few days.

Welcome to the new ladies!
@Ging78 ah our cycles would have been so aligned! Had I not decided to wait for the next one... which I have. It just felt too rushed to go for this one and I thought, what's an extra 2 weeks, if it means I will be at a better place mentally and more ready for it. So glad you are able to continue with your cycle now! Good luck! Keep us posted

@Cisco2 I test both mornings and evenings some times! It IS confusing as I think clear blue says mornings but you often read that evenings the hormones are stronger so give clearer results.

Good luck @Sarahb2020 how did it go? Fingers crossed the 2ww goes by quickly for you and you get a bfp

Afm Just waiting and starting some acupuncture to help me relax. This was essentially my first real period post mc and have to say it was especially painful and annoying. But over now thankfully. Starting opk to check how this cycle goes, hopefully I will get an ovulation smiley as normal this time

Our FET went well, we have 2 embryos transferred. Now worrying though as they are both fragmented at around 20% but other than that classed as good ones. Keep praying one gets cosy and sticks.

Glad to hear you can continue your cycle @Ging78