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

@kikisparks didn't see your message before I posted! Congratulations!!!!

@kikisparks yay congratulations!! I'm not going to lie and say its an easy road from here. My chemical in September weighed heavily on my mind pre scan. And now I'm scared of a MMC even though I have no indication that I'm more at risk than any other pregnancy. Vent away here if you need to! And I keep telling myself "today I am pregnant and my baby is loved" it helped me loads. Yay!

Thank you @loulamay and @Mseddy! I know the anxiety will kick in at any minute, I’m taking some comfort from the fact that the line is quite a lot darker this time than it was at 8dp5dt last time. To be honest I was a nervous wreck the last time as I’d had a natural pregnancy with a chemical before and I think IVF pregnancies in general are nerve wracking as it seems such a miracle to get to this point there’s such a fear that if it doesn’t work out it will never happen again. But you’re in a very good place post scan, like you say there’s no reason why anything would go wrong, “today I’m pregnant and my baby is loved” is a great mantra!

Congratulations @kikisparks! Great news! X

Thanks @MsNoons17!

@kikisparks your line being much darker is a really good sign :) my lines where much darker too. I freaked out so much yesterday that I booked a scan. Baby was fine, just measuring a few days behind which I'm not too worried about.

@Mseddy aw that’s lovely you saw baby again at the scan! What’s the next “official” appointment or scan for you?

@Mseddy you poor thing. So happy you could book a scan and put your mind at rest. I've read that so many IVF babes are a few days behind. They all seem to catch up.

@kikisparks hurrah for darker lines! Mine didn't darken until at least 10dpt. Does your clinic do beta tests or do you just wait until your first scan now? How are you feeling?

Xx

@kikisparks I've got my 12 week scan at 12+6 a week tomorrow. Still feels like ages away! I think 12 weeks feels like such a hurdle that the closer I get the more nervous I get!

@loulamay no beta tests (which was a major stress last time around) so just have to wait for first scan at around 8 weeks which seems an impossible amount of time away. OTD isn’t until Wednesday either, and a nurse from the clinic called me yesterday and checked how I was getting on with the TWW and when I told her I tested already she half scolded me for testing early and half congratulated me!

I’m already getting a bit obsessed about line progression, FRER wasn’t any darker today than yesterday but it is darker than 2 days ago so hope all is ok. It was lack of line progression that first alerted me to my chemical last time.

@kikisparks I totally understand the obsession. How many days past transfer are you today?

@loulamay just 10dp5dt, last time lines started getting lighter at 12dp5dt, so for now focusing on getting through this week and hopefully things still looking ok by the weekend 🤞

@mseddy 12 weeks is a hurdle but as you say you’ve already seen that your baby is fine in the last couple of scans and there’s no reason they won’t also be fine at the next one 🙂! It will feel good to be past that point I bet though.

@kikisparks it's so hard with line progression on the FRERs. I only tested every other day as I was so worried about progression I wanted there to be a clear difference. I really struggled the days around when my chemical happened last time. I spent new years eve in bed sobbing becuase my boobs had stopped hurting and I was convinced that was it. It really is mentally so so hard at that stage. I've got everthing crossed for you though!! X

Oh hurrah - lots of lovely news to catch up on!!

Congrats on the BFP!! @kikisparks!! woop woop!! xx

And so lovely to hear from you @StayingPositive8. 31 weeks - wowsers. Great that you are getting to be able to relax into it!

How did your scan go last night?? @MsNoons17

@loulamay I'm so happy for you seeing that heartbeat - actually welling up a little over here!! xx

@Mseddy great news about the second scan - better to just book it and have your mind put at ease indeed :) x

So that's me back in the saddle! Day 4 of downreg. Feeling ok with it so far! I feel for my consultant though - every day I have a new question or thought. It's a new clinic defining the protocol, and they've switched a few things up - meriofert instead of menopur, and a suprecur/hcg dual trigger. I've asked for an ERA before transfer... assuming we get something to transfer. I think we're going to have to use frozen sperm from early last year as my partner's MFI has returned. I'm a bit concerned about its quality though - so have asked about dna fragmentation testing. I figure, it costs so much for the cycle, I'd rather pay a bit more and know I have everything covered, rather than get to the other side, and wonder "what if...".

I feel a lot more informed this time than last time - I've turned into a real IVF geek haha!

@Mseddy sorry to hear about your NYE, it’s such a tough journey. I’ve made it to OTD (12dp5dt) and got 2-3 weeks on a clear blue digital which I’ve never seen before. With my chemical it was 1-2 weeks at 11dp5dt and tests got fainter after that. So I’m feeling somewhat reassured, but will do another FRER tomorrow I’m sure!

@Lepatz thank you! Best of luck for this round, I’m glad they’re trying something different for you this time. Sounds like you’re going to be armed with more information too with the results of the ERA and the DNA frag tests. Keep us updated with how you get on!

@Lepatz you sound like you are very in control of this cycle which is amazing! I've got everything crossed that this is the one! I was on meriofert for my 2 cycles. Keep us posted with how it goes!

@kikisparks yay for 2-3 weeks and OTD. Sounds like you can settle into it a little now :)

I'm 12 weeks today, so exciting as that is, it also means its my last day of meds! I'm worried as I've seen in a pregnancy post ivf fb group that quite alot of people have a withdrawal bleed. I run out of lubion today, but I have another box of cyclogest, so I think I'm going to keep taking them so it's not everything in one go! As nice as it would feel to be off all the meds, I'm just not sure I'm brave enough! My scan is 12+6 on Tuesday so I might stop everything at the weekend, then if I bleed I've got my scan for reassurance!

@kikisparks so happy things are progressing!

@Lepatz I love that you are so informed. A girl after my own heart 

@Mseddy I am having my own major wobble today after waking up and feeling pretty normal, nothing like the nausea I had yesterday. I know symptoms can come and go but I was finding it so reassuring. So worried that it might be a mmc and feel so out of control that there's really nothing I can do if it is God I hate this. Can't concentrate on work and feel like sobbing.

@loulamay I'm sorry you are feeling this way. Symptoms at this point have no baring on the baby. This is what I keep telling myself. Imagine what level your hcg was the first time you felt sick, you hcg would have to drop below this to stop your nausea if that was the cause. It would take sooo long in your pregnancy now to drop that low, and I think with a MMC it doesn't drop quickly. So that isnt the reason your nausea has gone. But I felt exactly that way the first time mine went away. I currently seem to be on a 3day on 3day off cycle! 3 days of nausea from hell, 3 days of feeling completly normal.
I think the only way to reassure yourself is to book a scan x

@Mseddy congrats on 12 weeks! If I get that far I’ll be scared of stopping the meds too, sounds a good idea to stop just before your scan, hope you don’t bleed anyway though.

@loulamay so sorry you’re having a wobble because your nausea is gone, as I understand it symptoms can come and go though. When is your scan?

I’m feeling very anxious today, my FRER of yesterday (13dp5dt) wasn’t any darker than the 11dp5dt one, but the control line was a lot fainter on the 13dp5dt one. I was a bit reassured though when I took a cheapie and it was much stronger than the cheapie from 12dp5dt. However today the cheapie is only the same as yesterday, I know that can be ok as HCG only doubles every 48 hours but I’m still getting really worried. It was around this time last pregnancy my line progression stalled and then started getting lighter. I hate obsessing over tests, I really wish there was somewhere nearby I could pay for a beta blood test but from my research last time there isn’t anywhere.

Thanks both. The nausea came back last night so I felt like a bit of a plonker for reacting so strongly but I just feel like I'm on eggs shells! Poor OH was wonderful and let me cry on him and by the evening I was doing better and had an early night.

@kikisparks my scan is next Thursday. I'm so sorry about your worries, but I think as long as the line isn't getting lighter then you're ok. Especially if the control one is fainter, that would suggest you're stealing all of the dye with your result! I totally understand though and all I can say is that trying to keep myself busy and distracted is the only thing that helps. Sending you a virtual hug xxxx

@kikisparks I think if the control line is getting fainter your test line is darker, its just so dark it won't be viable to the naked eye. I know it's hard to step away from the tests, but it really helped me when I stopped. I did my last frer the day before otd and then did 2 weeks indicator tests at 5 and 6 weeks to check for progression. I really hope things carry on progressing nicely.

@loulamay glad your nausea came back (awful as it is). I've woken up today feeling awake and not nauseous which is nice :) I just want to get to my scan now so I can relax

@Mseddy thanks, I didn’t test at all yesterday and today I did a clearblue weeks and got 3+ (I’m 5+1 today so was happy about that) so think it’s time to stop testing now. My first scan is still over 2 weeks away it feels such a long time! Good luck for your scan tomorrow.

@loulamay thank you, I’m glad your symptoms came back and good luck for your scan on Thursday! I have no obvious symptoms yet but I do get mild cramping and second guess everything else I experience like had some heartburn and lower back pain but these might be totally unrelated.

Just had my 12 week scan at 12+6. Im measuring at 13+2 and everything is looking perfect can't belive I've made it this far! Maybe I'll relax a little now, probably not though haha.

How is everyone getting on?

@Mseddy gosh that's a jump! I thought you were measuring a few days behind at the last scan! I'm curious, does your due date change with this new information? So glad all went well!!

@kikisparks hurrah for digi test results!

Got my next scan in two days and am 8 weeks today. So hard not knowing what's going on in there but still getting nausea, sore boobs and fatigue so just hoping it's all ok. The waiting is such a killer!

@Lepatz how are you getting on? X