August 2020 IVF - continued

[Lepatz]

Morning ladies!

We hit our 1000 limit on the original thread! That’s 1000 messages of support and advice, celebrating every happy milestone, and being there for uncertainty and bad news too. Thanks @Mseddy for setting up our little cohort :)

Will try to tag the regulars, apologies if I miss anyone. @Custardandcream @nextweek @kikisparks @StayingPositive8 @Bruce2 @CardboardCat @MrsT36 @loulamay @MsNoons17 Argh, my phone is refusing to autocomplete properly - I hope that works.

Wishing everyone heath and happiness - whatever stage of the journey you're on xx

Yes definitely a weird year but amazing we've found this group

Merry Christmas everyone xx

Merry Christmas everyone! You’ve all helped so much with the 2020 IVF journey!
Hope you all have an amazing day whatever you are doing! Xx

Merry Christmas everyone!! I lost the plot this morning and poas at 4dp5dt. Wally!!! Haha

Wow the tww has got me good this time!! 5dp5dt today and after my silly peeing on a stick yesterday even though I knew it would be completely stark white, the urge to poas is strong!! I suddenly have a load of symptoms today that I didn't have yesterday too, which I'm sure is just my mind playing tricks! I'm constantly thirsty, I've got cramps/twinges/pulls (I had this last time before the chemical) and sore boobs with nipples that refuse to sit down! Pretty sure I had this last time too. I'm not sure if I just so desperately want it to be our time that I'm imagining it all! Hope everyone has had a lovely Christmas

I will be exactly the same @Mseddy . How are you feeling today and have you tested again?!?!

@loulamay I have tested. I'm 6dp5dt, same day as I got my BFP last round so I couldn't resist. It's a BFP although I'm shaking, out of fear rather than excitement. I'm not sure I can face a second chemical! I'm just praying this one sticks 🤞🏼 god this game is so hard! Every win is also a gateway to the next bit, which always seems emotionally harder than the last.
How are things with you?

Whoo hoo!!!! I will be excited on your behalf but I TOTALLY get how you're feeling! When is your OTD?

Lovely Christmas here and hoping AF arrives soon so that we can start getting on with things!

@Mseddy congratulations!!! A BFP is a great Christmas present, hoping so much for you that this is your baby! Keep us updated

Thanks guys. OTD isn't until Jan 3rd!!! Seems like forever away! That's the next hurdle. Still being pregnant by OTD.
Fingers crossed for AF showing soon @loulamay!!

@Mseddy congratulations!!!!! Oh I'll be keeping everything crossed it's a sticky one xxxxx
Fantastic news so far!!

Just got my period! Would you guys count cycle day one as tomorrow? It's 6pm here. x

I would count tomorrow :) I think most clinics have a "full flow before 12pm" rule. Yay for AF and time to start!

I thought so too @Mseddy but thank you! Did you test again today?

General question for you all. How do you cope when anxiety hits? I've been sleeping badly the last few nights, which could be hormone related but once I'm awake my mind just starts racing and thinking negatively about our next steps. I've tried the Calm app before but didn't really love it although I perhaps didn't give it enough of a chance. I know it's terrible but I'll often just have a glass of wine to de-stress if I've had a bad day but obviously I can't do that in the run up to transfer and hopefully won't be able to afterwards either! Exercise helps but I normally exercise in the morning and my anxiety usually hits later on, early evening or during the night. Any thoughts gratefully received x

@loulamay sorry you haven’t been sleeping well. Evening yoga helps me, after a stressful day with worries playing on my mind doing an hour of gentle yoga relaxes me a lot. If I don’t have time for yoga I just do some breathing exercises. I was skeptical that these things would help but I’ve found them quite effective so far. I’m planning to find some suitable online yoga for after transfer as I know that’s when my anxiety will be through the roof and I really want to be calmer this time around. Hope you find something that will help.

Hi folks, hope you all had merry Christmases and happy hogmanay!
I thought I messaged on Christmas Day, but clearly not - I suspect I failed to hit send. It's been quite a year, and I'm so thankful that we've found such a good little group here :)

Congrats on the BFP @Mseddy - fantastic festive news!! When is your OTD?

@loulamay Yay for AF (the one time it's a good thing heh) but sorry to hear you haven't been sleeping. I also didn't get on with the Calm app too well, but found the focus on breathing in the Mindful IVF to be really good at calming me down. Have you tried supplementing with melatonin? I avoided it, as my sister (nurse!) said it interferes with fertility. But apparently that's only potentially with ovulation - and some say it's actually helps with IVF...

I read It Starts With An Egg a couple of weeks ago - I wish I'd read it back in the summer!! I've started CoQ10 and some other things in advance of my next cycle :) Did anyone read it or have any thoughts on it??

I just had a call with my consultant - going to go into another fresh retrieval, with PGS testing. Providing I get enough blasts. They will test the one in the freezer too. It's what I'd roughly mapped out anyway, so it was good to hear their recommendation align to that :) She actually recommended we do 2 or 3 collections, given my age. Nurgh though - the thought of it......!

She said I can start some DHEA. When I asked how much, she just said "whatever the OTC dose is". Which... seems.... unscientific!!!?

So I'm going to have some wine to see in the new year, then going for a med diet, supplement crazy, positive thinking, egg-making, blast-acious, here comes baby 2021 :).

Wishing everyone of us love and luck for new year - happy new year! xxx

Happy New Year to everyone, hope 2021 is our year!

Happy New Year all! Here’s to 2021 being the year for us all! Xx

Happy new year everyone! Here to hoping 2021 is then luckiest year for us all!

@Lepatz my otd is 3rd so 48 hours to go! Still seems so far away.

@loulamay yeah Ive tested everyday becuase I've really struggled mentally this time. I spent 2 hours in bed sobbing yesterday because I thought I was loosing it again. My boobs had suddenly stopped hurting just like last time and I was convinced. I tested about 20 hours after my previous test and it was darker so I felt a litle better. Then my boobs suddenly went tender again! It's a real roller-coaster!

I'm suffering quite badly with heartburn which I never experienced last time, it's woken me up everyday for the past few days, so I guess that still being there is a sign things are still progressing hopefully.

How is everyone else doing?

@Mseddy the fluctuating symptoms really are the worst!!

@Lepatz SO excited for your plan! What does DHEA do? I've seen it mentioned in lots of places. Thanks for the tip - is MIndful IVF an app? Will look it up.

@kikisparks - I remember you found the yoga so helpful. I don't suppose you could post a link again could you please?

Happy New Year @Bruce2 and @MsNoons17!!

Got my endometrial biopsy results back, see below from my Dr:

"I have reviewed report on your endometrial biopsy. This estimates the endometrium to be equivalent to post-ovulation Day 5. You were post-ovulation Day 6 and the accuracy of dating allows a 3 day margin of error. Nevertheless, it would suggest early and not late maturity.
The endometrium is likely to have been in a fully receptive state on the day of biopsy. I would, however, recommend a Day 6 post-ovulation transfer rather than the typical Day 5. This should match the timing of endometrial maturation to the timing of embryo freezing. One day later is better than one day early."

Don't FULLY understand exactly what this means but am just going to follow his advice! Seeing him on the 11th for my first lining scan and looking at dates, if I ovulate when I normally do and we transfer 6 days later, I think we'll be going in around the 20th Jan. I can't remember who said this before, but I'm almost excited to start stabbing myself again! FFS.

Just showed OH my post and said "these are my IVF girls". We're in our very own support bubble here, hee hee. xx

@loulamay the fertility network yoga has stopped for now but should be starting again later this year, I’ll post a link if I hear it’s re-started.

@loulamay that sounds good that they have identified a day 6 transfer will be better than a day 5. Exciting that you have a provisional transfer date! I was explaining to my DH this morning about why it was called August ivf, that we had been supporting eachother since then!

What news everyone? I'm doing dry January and it's surprisingly enjoyable. Thought I'd miss the wine way more haha.

Feel a bit in limbo waiting for my appointment as I'm so keen to get started again.

I hope the new lockdown hasn't stopped any of your plans? X

@loulamay lockdown hasn't really changed anything for us! We don't go anywhere at the moment anyway haha. Well done for dry Jan! I didn't drink most of 2019 in prep for our first round. Then when it went so shit I thought screw it and just stopped the month before our August cycle.

I got 2-3 weeks on a clear blue digital today and I'm 5 weeks today so I'm feeling slightly more chill about things. I have a scan date and a midwife booking appointment which just seems crazy!

How is everyone?

@Mseddy I think after a while you need to find things you can control, like choosing to drink or not, caffeine etc. I don't know how much difference it really makes but in the IVF world I think it's so natural to want to try anything!!!! I've switched to decaf tea ahead of my FET as well, but I think I'm just going to try and keep everything in moderation! Last time I had a normal cup first thing then decaf for the rest of the day. And I even think a couple of glasses of wine a week wouldn't hurt.

Anyway!!! So excited that things are progressing for you!! Do you have any symptoms?