August IVF

[Mseddy]

Had a quick look through but can't find an existing thread. Anyone due to cycle in August after a bit of moral support?

We are due to start our 2nd cycle of icsi for male azoospermia and my premature ovarian aging (full house for us!)

I’m pleased the yoga has been a helpful idea for a few of you!

Scan today was fine, although I really hate the feeling of them and it felt like the longest thing ever with 4 (yes 4!) nurses all sat at the business end, apparently it’s been a while since they’ve done a follicle check scan so one nurse was helping the nurse doing mine to click the right buttons and the other two were writing things down.

I asked how many follicles but she just listed them and I forgot to count. The biggest on one side was 14 and on the other 11 so I’m not ready yet. She did say it’s normal that I’m feeling bloated, sore and with indigestion. They don’t seem worried just now about OHSS but they took more bloods. Assuming those are ok I don’t need to go back now til Monday morning and just take injections as normal until then.

Emotionally I’m feeling pretty rough even though this is all good news. Everything that should be ok just feels hard and overwhelming. I’m guessing that could be the drugs too. Has anyone else had problems sleeping? I’m waking up every day suddenly at 4 or 5am finding myself thinking about everything and mentally going down the long road of how I’ll feel if this doesn’t work, and what I’ll do next, and thinking of all the things that could go wrong, all the while trying to tell my brain to shut up and go back to sleep. I try breathing and mindfulness but I can never get to sleep again.

@CardboardCat That’s great your period has come, hope you get through to the clinic soon!

@CardboardCat we are cycle buddies! I did the period dance this morning too :) first injection tonight and then a day 9 scan for me. I'm so excited to finally get going! It took me a few tries to get through to the clinic.

My work have been really supportive. Im not down as off sick, theyve put me down as shielding working from home which is nice. I'm a nurse but I also have a fair bit of management responsibility so I have lots of stuff I can work on from home. One of the consultants from work emailed me this morning saying there are all there for support if I need anything. I really do work in a fab team and this has highlighted it for me even more.

How is everyone feeling? Any symptoms from the PUPO people?! I'm excited for the BFPs to come rolling in

@StayingPositive8 congrats on the transfer going well

What does PUPO stand for?

@CardboardCat congrats on the period arrival!

@kikisparks well done on getting through the scan. I think it's pretty normal for the drugs to muck up your sleep unfortunately. I'm retrying mindful ivf app to try and help me.

@Mseddy that's great your work are being so supportive.

I'm cd 13 of my FET cycle. Had a scan this morning that was meant to show thick lining to book in transfer for next week. Lining only 5.8mm so they've taken blood to check my estrogen. I'm meant to be going on holiday (uk but far away) next Saturday so that's not going to happen now. I cried. I'm a mess. The progynova is still giving me constant headaches (that paracetamol isn't helping) and occasional nausea. I can't sleep. I'm such a snappy cow. I haven't been doing much exercise at all so I'm blaming myself for not getting enough blood flow to my uterus. I can't stand what IVF has done to me. I'm usually laid back and content with life, now I am just angry at the world all the time and overthink everything.

@Lepatz Thank you! My scan went well, nurse could see 16 follicles which I think is OK? And lining was thin like they would expect. I start my injections tomorrow!

Good luck for those who have had their period start and @StayingPositive8 on the transfer :-)

@kikisparks sorry you are having trouble sleeping. I didn't have this last time with my stims, but the anxiety of the whole situation certainly doesn't help my sleep. It sounds from your scan that it's all headed in the right direction though. Fingers crossed.

@seven201 sorry to hear your cycle isn't going quite as planned and its messed up your holiday plans. Fingers crossed your lining thickens and you can go ahead with your FET. Please try not to blame yourself, exercise may help but your uterus will still get blood regardless and your lining is more likely to do with the drugs changing your usual hormonal balance than anything else. PUPO means pregnant until proven otherwise. You become "Legally" pregnant as soon as an embryo is in, regardless of implantation. So PUPO.

@Mseddy thank you. I've calmed down a little, am watching a really trashy film on Netflix and going to eat a bacon butty!

Pupo makes sense, thank you.

Netflix and a bacon butty sounds like a great idea

First injection done! It feels good to actually be doing something again after a 9 month wait!

@seven201 sorry your lining isn’t playing ball and you’re finding it hard and having headaches, nausea and insomnia. I don’t know about you but emotionally lack of sleep makes me feel about 10 times worse.

Try not to blame yourself- we all do, I know I feel guilty for any little thing, but so much of this process is out of our hands and our control that in most cases nothing you do or don’t do will make a difference- unless you’re chain smoking or doing hard drugs, the research suggests it’s really unlikely lifestyle factors will be making a big difference. Trashy Netflix films are my go to “I’m having a crappy night” option too!

@Mseddy well done on getting the first injection out of the way!

I’m getting better with the injections, I’ve worked out how to chill it so the area is properly numb, I think DH’s technique has improved too as I have some peachy bruises from the first few but the last couple have barely left a mark. He’s been a bit worried because the last few drops of the Fyremadel won’t seem to come out when the needle is in me, I’m sure that’s fine as most of it goes in but maybe I should call the clinic.

I got 7 hours sleep last night which was such a relief. I still woke up after a dream about fertility treatment where some characters from a tv show I’ve been watching were telling me it’s unlikely to work so my brain is obviously still on overdrive but at least it gave my conscious brain some respite.

Such a relief it’s the weekend and can just chill out!

Also @nextweek glad your scan went well, 16 follicles sounds good to me!

@Mseddy well done, my first one is tonight!
@kikisparks what's the best way you've found to chill the area? I've been having such weird fertility related dreams to!

Blimey, I can't tell if I'm having hot flushes from the stims... or if it's just really really hot!!

(See also lethargy...)

@nextweek at first I was using ice cubes in a tea towel but it was a bit of a faff so I bought some kool pak gel packs and froze those. I wrap it in some very thin material so most of the cold still gets through and press it down on the appropriate area, then i set a timer and hold them on the area for 10 mins- I can usually tell it worked because the skin gets stingy with the cold and then the stinging feeling goes away.

@Mseddy well done on getting the first injection out of the way. I know what you mean about feeling like you're doing something now.

@kikisparks thank you for your kind words. That's great that your injections are going better.

@nextweek 16 follicles sounds good to me.

@kikisparks glad your injections are going better.

I've felt odd today. Dizzy, headaches and a touch of nausea. I don't remember getting any side effects last time so I'm wondering if the heat added to it!

How is everyone getting on?

@Mseddy &@CardboardCat congrats on the period arrival!

@seven201hope you’re feeling better today, it’s such a rollercoaster of emotions

Hope those who have had a transfer feel ok

My period started this afternoon, unfortunately after the clinic had closed so will be calling them first thing tomorrow (I always get slightly concerned they’ll say I can’t start for some reason!). PMT always makes me extremely anxious so yesterday I was really worked up and overthinking everything. I’m currently having a glass of wine and trying to relax

Just reading back through the last page or two and catching up.

@Mseddy It's nice to have a cycle buddy! I'm on cd2 today and did my first two injections tonight. It was remarkably ok once I went for it. My hands were shaking so much on the first one and then on the second I had to stick myself twice as the first time the needle didn't go all the way in. I think I blunted it on the Menopur vial. I didn't find it too painful (although I carry a fair pooch on my tummy so I think that probably helps).

@kikisparks glad you managed to get some sleep, I had a really bad night last night waking up worrying every hour. Also weird dreams- lots about being pregnant and then waking up and realising where I am. Feels rubbish.

@Custardandcream Enjoy your glass of wine!! And good luck with your clinic in the morning. I'm sure you'll be good to go although I was also certain mine was going to be "fully booked" or something when I called.

@Lepatz How are you feeling now? Still got that sedated, nice feeling? xx

So nice catching up on everyone's journey so far. I love we can chat so freely on here. We've not told anyone we're going through this so it can be a lot to keep from people, nice to have an outlet on this forum.
I hope you're all doing ok in the heat too!

Been off this for a while as work been crazy, we had egg collection last week
12 collected
6 fertilised
4 made it to Day 5

I had my embryo transfer yesterday, managed to get a Day 5 hatched blastocyst grade 1:1, also got 2 other days 5's for freezing (think those were grade 1:2 & 2:2) and the 4th is on the small side so they're giving it until today to decide whether it makes it or not!
So it give us a few option if this doesn't work out.
Which I'm finding hard to believe will work after our last 2 attempts failed. Just can't shake the feeling I'll be needing sanitary products rather than pregnancy test.

Still on the pessaries every morning and night for now and just generally trying to take my mind off it all.
Always scared of doing anything wrong so taking 2 weeks off my regular exercise class which is relatively intense but missing it loads

@Mseddy sorry to hear you’re having dizziness, headaches and nausea. I haven’t had any of the first two, hope you can take it easy and use paracetamol if you need it.

Day 8 of stims here and I have had nausea too, and my (usually very good) appetite is totally gone since yesterday, I’m forcing myself to eat and drinking lots of ginger tea. Every time I do eat I have to run to the loo soon after, TMI but food seems to be going right through me. My plan to nourish the follicles with lots of healthy food has been pretty upset by this! I’m also so bloated nothing fits and I’m wearing only my loosest pjs and clothes. My lower abdomen and hips are very achey. Emotionally though I’m not as bad as I thought I would be, I do feel much more anxious than usual but I think that’s just the whole situation rather than the drugs.

Scan tomorrow and I’m so hoping that my follicles will be the right size to stop stimming and do the trigger, but my constant fear is a cancelled cycle so as long as it’s not that then I’ll count my blessings. I’m also going to try and pay more attention this time and count the follicles during the scan- I wish I could bring DH in with me to note them down!

@Custardandcream hope you got hold of the clinic this morning!

@CardboardCat well done on doing your injections and glad they weren’t too painful! Sorry you’re having poor sleep too. I hate pregnancy dreams or dreams when I have a baby, it’s horrible to wake up and realise it’s not true.

@Bruce2 those numbers sound fantastic, that’s amazing you’ll have 2/3 as a backup, all fingers crossed for you though that the one that’s in is sticky! When is your test day?

@CardboardCat Hope you managed better sleep last night. Fertility dreams can be so annoying. I had a really heavy/painful period after the norethisterone - and kept dreaming I was in labour due to the cramps!

@nextweek 16 follicles definitely sounds good!!

@Mseddy @kikisparks I'm on day 4 stims.. have a bit of bloating, v mild nausea, and some headaches. And some twinges in my abdomen. I think it could be my ovaries? Or just psychosomatic!

I mostly just feel super lethargic though. Which could be heat related too i guess! Seems like my worrying about not getting out for a run during stims was unnecessary - I can barely get myself to walk to the park!!

Hope everyone is having a relaxing Sunday :) xx

Hope everyone is managing to have a relaxing Sunday despite the heat!

2WW is going ok. Unfortunately our other two embryos weren’t good enough quality to freeze, so trying to keep hopes up for the one that’s in! At least with the weather being so hot I haven’t felt guilty about not doing anything but relaxing!!

@kikisparks not sure if this will help but I had a protein shake each day to up my levels of protein and veg. I basically bought a bag of vegan pea protein and had at least one scoop in the nutribullet with avocado, frozen spinach, apple, pineapple etc with water. It doesn’t taste amazing but really made me feel like I was getting a lot of nutrients packed in!

Have a lovely day everyone

@StayingPositive8 i think relaxing is probably the best thing you could do!! (Other than the protein shakes... which sound... worthy ;))

The doc just called, I need to up my stims to 450 from tonight. So I'm now worrying I'm not responding (I thought 375 seemed high to start with!!).

@Bruce2 They are fantastic numbers. I think our brains stop us getting too hopeful to protect us. I really hope your embryo on board sticks but also amazing to know you have backups.

@kikisparks test date is 21st August - it period doesn't show before then

@CardboardCat thank you, I hope it sticks in there too. I just can't see past the right here and now. I got so excited past twice (ridiculous now as it seems so complacent) that I can't even think as far as test date let alone it working out.
I'll keep you posted either way

Hope everyone had a lovely Sunday, nice to see some sun.

Thanks very much @StayingPositive8 I do have some vegan pea protein shake I bought to make sure I got enough protein, I might try putting it in my porridge tomorrow, not sure I could face drinking it even in a nice smoothie like you made. I’ve managed to eat a few bits and pieces today but it’s such a struggle. My poor DH has had to listen to me whine about it all day! Relaxing sounds like a great idea for the TWW you definitely shouldn’t feel guilty!

@Lepatz sorry to hear you have to up your stims, it’s only early though, there’s still plenty of time for you to respond. Fingers crossed the new dosage is the one that works for you.