October IVF

[Dinky06]

Hi ladies, I’ve been through all of my fertility screening tests etc and am due to start my first and hopefully only round of IVF (positive vibes ) soon. I’m looking to share my hopes, experiences and tips and provide support to anyone else expecting to start a cycle soon. The more the merrier!

@Lightningrain I’m on Meriofert too, I’ll be doing my second injection at 21:00 tonight or thereabouts, last night it was about 10 past because we took a while mixing it. The trickiest part was getting all the fluid back up out of the vial, everytime we thought we had done it, all of a sudden we hadn’t. We realised that there’s a sort of vacuum in the vial so it sucks the plunger back down and brings the liquid back out if you don’t keep hold of it, so just watch for that

@ThePurpleFairy thanks for the tip! I think I’ll have to watch the instructional video again for the mixing as it’s a couple of weeks since the nurse appointment.

I’ll probably get DP to do the first one and try to build myself up to doing it after a couple of days.

@Mancbear88 what dose of oestrogen tablets are you on please? I had my FET cancelled a few weeks ago because of bad lining, I'm hoping and praying it's better this time!

@unknownscot most clinics require two bleeds after EC before FET, so generally 8 weeks after. It's seem long and frustrating but it's definitely best to get your body in the best position for the embryo

@MF1981 welcome and good luck!

@Raggity19 👋🏼

@Lightningrain yey I'm glad it arrived for you, frustrating that it was an hour too late for today, but nonetheless exciting to get started tomorrow

@ivfjourney5 Thanks, that's what I thought - just trying to figure out a rough estimate of timescale!

I'm just home from my first scan - follicles growing nicely 14 on the right, 18 on the left.
Back on Wednesday for another follicle scan.

@ThePurpleFairy I don't know if this works as I haven't started injections yet, but I found this great video of a nurse who is doing IVF, and she suggested a way of avoiding the vacuum by drawing air first. I'm not going to be able to explain it, so I'll just link the video (it's a bit long but I think it's near-is the beginning).

m.youtube.com/watch?v=BSGmgfNX6FE

@ivfjourney5 I’m on quite a lot (I’m going to be a hormonal nightmare).

Pessaries - 10microgram * 3 twice a day
Patches - 100microgram - one patch twice a week
Tablets - 2mg *2 three times a day

I’m also drinking pomegranate juice, taking vitamin e and flax seeds. Plus got some caster oil for fertility self massage. I’m going to ask about aspirin too.

My lining did make it with IVF but took a while so I think they’re just throwing everything at me.

Thank you all so much for your replies, it's nice to know there's so much support out there in what can already be a lonely time and then with covid as well. Feeling much better since yesterday afternoon, bleeding and cramping is much lighter so I started my injections last night and I've been for a run this morning so feeling positive again!

@unknownscot that's sound really promising, good luck for your next scan

@Lightningrain hope injections go smoothly for you today, and great that you've got your partner to help you if need be! My husband was quite keen to do mine for me, not sure if that's good or bad?!

@ThePurpleFairy how did you get on with your second injection? We struggled a bit with air bubbles

@unknownscot wow fab numbers! I can understand why they are doing freeze all. I was in the same position back in July when I had EC. I hope you've got some loose fitting comfy pjs for the last few days of stims

@Mancbear88 thanks for the info. I asked my clinic about aspirin and they firmly said not to, I've got vit E, l'arginine and Pom juice, and I have acupuncture

@ivfjourney5 Yes, I'm living in my joggers 😂
Being off work is certainly helping, chilling out and hot water bottles constantly!!

@mayihavesomecakeplease aww thank you, I sent it to my hubs who does the mixing and he said she has some device that helps her that we don’t have it’s fine we can manage know we know it happens!

@Tara8 last night wasn’t as good as the first, I mean it went ok but when taking it out my husband wobbled and then he ended up scratching me with it. It’s fine it’s only a small scratch and he was definitely more upset about it than I was, but just a bit unnerving! Countdown now to the next one...

Morning ladies, feeling rather flat after my baseline scan today. They found a cyst on my left ovary and I've had a blood test to check my hormone levels. I'm now waiting for a phone call this afternoon to tell me if I can push on with injections starting tonight or if I need to delay a month and go back on Norethisterone. I feel really dejected and worried :(

@Dinky06 that's so frustrating!! It feels rubbish that after so much waiting there's the possibility of having to wait even more :(

Sorry to hear that @Dinky06. I'm praying you get the news you want this afternoon during the phone call. It's definitely best for your body to be in tip top condition so you can get the best results possible, so if it means waiting a little bit longer to have a better environment for your eggs to grow and the embryo to be transferred then it will be worth it xx

Sorry @Dinky06 that must feel so rubbish right now. I hope you don't have to wait too long for the phone call and fingers crossed you might be able to continue anyway! Pardon my ignorance but do cysts develop as a result of ivf medications?
Keeping everything crossed for you...

@mayihavesomecakeplease @Tara8 @ivfjourney5 thank you xxx After what has felt like an age waiting, I just the call to confirm that my hormone levels are nice and low and I am good to go. It's such a relief. I now need to get my head into a space to tackle my first Meriofert / Fostimon injection at 19.00 this evening! Hope everyone is doing OK. IVF certainly is a rollercoaster!

Ahh great news @Dinky06 really pleased you got good news! I am soooo rooting for everyone!

@Dinky06 yeyy so happy for you!

Glad you got good news @Dinky06 - I am in a similar boat and awaiting blood test results tomorrow Last FET there were lots of cysts (they called them 'flare cysts') created when I took the prostap injection which had to be drained to trigger down reg and progress with the FET. This time they gave me the pill to avoid but there's one cyst they can see on the down reg scan. Blood tests will hopefully show levels are low enough to move onto the stim tablets tomorrow ahead of a transfer mid October. Feeling hopeful but still nervous. Next milestone is the defrosting of final embryo from this cycle.... then everything that can be overcome will have been and will be taken out of my hands! Will be super glad to get some hormones back on board as feel like I have cotton wool between my ears this week!

Great news @Dinky06. Good luck with the injections - my first one was last night. DP did it while I read out the instructions! It stung a bit but it wasn’t as horrendous as I expected.

I’ve had a bit of a headache today and some mild cramping which could be AF related. It seems soon for side effects already but I guess I’ll find out over the next few days how I react to the drugs.

Thanks all. Injection one done. Such a relief to have it out of the way and v proud to say I managed to administer it myself. DP helped with the mixing but he is such a klutz at times I thought I would be better off doing the injection part myself. I'm convinced if men needed IVF the process would be heaps simpler than having to mix solutions and the like! I've got a target EC of Sat 10 Oct and have worked out that my trigger shot would be at 1am if that all goes ahead!

@granddesigns keeping everything crossed for you. Do let us know how you get on.

Sending you all super well wishes xxx

Hope everyone's doing OK. I had my mock transfer today which was fine. Now I'm just waiting for my period to start so I can start my injections. The mixing sounds a bit tricky but hopefully it will become clearer after I've watched the video. I've never been so impatient for my period to start 🤣.

Sending positive vibes to you all. ❤

I'm glad af has shown her face @Lightningrain

@Dinky06 I'm glad it hasn't caused you a delay . I had a cyst too but she said it was nothing to worry about as the DR drugs would get rid of it anyway. Is this a fet/short protocol problem?

Everyone seems to be in meriofert/Fostimon on here. I'm on gonal F and menopur. Perhaps it's because most of you are doing fet??

Welcome to all the newcomers. I'm getting a bit anxious as I'm due to start DR next a Tuesday but Stork have yet to contact me. I think I'll chase them up tomorrow, it's a bit concerning as for my previous 2 cycles I've had the drugs by now 😬

Hey @Lolly2020 oooh what did the mock transfer involve? It sounds v good that they offer that.

@SpyroC definitely sounds worth chasing Stork up. I found them super efficient in dealing with them so am sure you will get your drugs. The clinic didn't actually explain what may have caused the cyst so I've no idea if it was from being on Norethisterone or not as it made my cycle five days longer than it is on average. The mysteries of the female reproductive system I guess! Keep well xx

I'm glad the injections are going well for you @Dinky06 and @Lightningrain

@SpyroC I think the shortest I once had my meds was three days before I was due to start them. It is worth giving them a call though just to double check if you've normally had them by now

Another night of waking up in the middle of the night, this is my fifth time on norethistertone but I don't ever remember waking up at like 3am every night on previous times and literally being wide awake 😒 arghhhh let me sleep

@SpyroC I got my meds the day I was due to start them, I was very anxious they might not have turned up but they did! I'm on 150iu of Menopur at the mo and then introducing a second injection when they tell me, its begins with an 'F' but can't remember now...I'll have yo check my bag of goodies. So far (day 4) I haven't noticed any changes or symptoms, hope it stays that way!

@ivfjourney5 I think I had that too with norethisterone, I kept waking up at 2am and feeling really hot and going to sleep on the sofa downstairs. I also got really bad acne all around my chin and mouth which I haven't had for about 15 years!