IVF January/February 2021?

[jm2020]

Is it too soon?

Hi Is anyone starting IVF in January/February next year?

We had our first failed IVF cycle in October and looking to go for our second cycle but the way my periods are it falls over xmas when they are shut.

So we are starting in Jan :)

x

Morning girls!

Sorry not been posting but I have been reading but I've not been able to answer any of the questions.

Just to add, I wish they progesterone testing would be done as standard - I mean if you are paying ££££ per cycle, a few additional £50 tests to just check and then if the transfer fails, you'll know at least you tried everything.

Has anyone found some good resources/books for your partner to read? Mine opened up this weekend about how he is struggling with speaking with his friend who has recently had a baby and that he fears that he'll never get to do dad stuff. I know that all clinics offer counselling but I'm not he's open to that at the moment.

Hope you are all good :)

I'm being driven crazy by thinking I could have managed to conceive on this cycle naturally - I've had sore boobs for the last 10 days or so, had mild cramping about the time of implantation and my cervix is high and very soft! But I know that I am setting myself up for a massive fall - I'm going to do a test on xmas morning (day before I am due my period) and then at least I'll have conformation.

Everyone else ready for Christmas?

Hey @Mrbay - we’ve been reading Get A Life which has helped us. Each chapter is a stage of the process and is split into a section for her, a section for him and a few words from a fertility specialist. The parts for him are written in quite laddy language and my fiancé read them pretty quickly. Worth a look.

@mrbay oh that’s exciting, I’d already mentioned that we were going to try naturally inbetween cycles. I told my specialist who encouraged me. I thought I might have less pressure as I know there is a plan for FET in January.

@MF1981 that’s interesting, my DH doesn’t really speak about how he feels with this process. All he’s ever said is that he didn’t think he’d be in this position and thought it would happen naturally. So perhaps I’ll have a look at this. I’m medical and he isn’t so he tends to take a back seat, all our appointments are him sitting silently while me and the specialist talk about research papers!

I’ve just received my private prescription for my first FET cycle.

21 vials of lubion have been requested that seems about right. Then 15 pessaries of cyclogest and a whopping 224 x 2 mg oestradiol tablets, can that be right- 8 boxes of 28 tablets?! I’ve seen protocols saying take 2 mg twice a day. I wonder if the quantities have been mixed up. I’ve called to ask someone to check before I order it from the pharmacy.

@MF1981 - that was the first book we read but I think he needs something that talks about failure on a longer term scale.

@Gardenlady543 - I do feel that I am setting myself up for a fall as I've never fallen naturally but we'll see - good luck to you for this cycle!

@Gardenlady543 my oestrogen increases slowly over 15 days so I end up taking 8mg a day I think.

@MF1981 thanks for replying! Maybe it is right then. The clinic haven’t got back to me and I was going to drop off the prescription now.

Ive just had a call from the hospital to come in and sign forms 4th Jan, so looks like I’ll be starting in Jan now. I think I might have to wait till mid Jan so it’s a month in between bleeds.

This will be a FET, my embryo is a 5AA so fingers crossed got a good chance. My last two transfers were 5AA and they weren’t successful, 13 week miscarriage at the start of the year and failed FET last week. But third time lucky. I’m going to enjoy Christmas but keep up the vitamins, vitamin e and pomegranate juice, and be ready to go in the New Year .

I’ll be on 4x dose oestrogen again for my lining (patches, pessaries, tablets).

Let’s hope 2021 is our year

For those talking about progesterone pessarys, my clinic has provided enough to get to test day and then they advise that if successful you buy more and use them till your 12 weeks scan. They didnt even consider or provide the option to stop them early unless you're unsuccessful.

Hi Ladies

So we are starting our first IVF cycle through NHS on the 4th January 2020 hopefully.

I am in the short protocol and its because my DH count was 2million initially and then started taking different supplements which bought it upto 13 million within 3 months.

I have irregular periods and polycycstic ovaries
So a bit worried.

I am excited but really scared too

How many weeks is short cycle?

@Freya2015 for mine I started my injections 29th September and my transfer was 21st October, but my lining was very slow to react so I was on injections a week longer than the original plan.
I have PCOS and no periods they just give me noristorene.

Hi @Freya2015 I did short protocol and it took around 2 weeks but I over responded so it can depend on how your body responds. Short protocol is generally pretty quick though.

Hello to all,
Would you mind if i also join? I got a call today that i am starting my FET as well in January. I am starting Noretheristone start of January so transfer will be in February. I could start taking it from now but i choose to do so in January so i can prepare/get healthy as well.
I had one failed FET back in October with a 5AA embryo. I only have one left 3AB+ and we will see. I will be doing cetrotide injections and then progynova 5 per day for lining. Fingers crossed! Best luck to all!

@Mancbear88 5AA is top quality, so seems you’ll have a really good chance, really hope it’s third time lucky for you!

My fresh 4AA embryo was a chemical and my FET will be with a 5BB but I’m feeling happy enough with that grading, they wouldn’t freeze if it didn’t have a shot. Hope 2021 is our year too!

@Hopeforsuccess best of luck to you too! I’ve never had a FET before, what kinds of things do you do to prepare?

@Freya2015 short protocol for me took exactly 2 weeks from starting injections to transfer- funnily enough it didn’t seem fast at the time but looking back it was really quick! I responded quickly though, it’s very possible for it to take longer than that.

@Gardenlady543 just catching up with the chat about diet and see you’re vegan! I’m vegan too as is my husband. For a couple of months leading up to my fresh cycle I ate plant based whole foods only, no gluten, no refined sugar, no caffeine, I haven’t had alcohol for 3 years. A few days into stims my appetite vanished and I struggled to eat anything at all and fell off the whole foods wagon and for a few days I only ate a few chips and some peas as that’s all I could stomach. Post miscarriage I’ve not been eating that well at all, I eat ok during the week, although I have cups of tea every day and a bit of chocolate here and a biscuit there, but I have a lot of refined/ processed/ foods and takeaways on weekends. I don’t seem to be overeating so my weight is at least stable and BMI in the right range. Planning to get back to mostly whole foods and no caffeine again in the new year.

I use plastic food containers but I’ve asked for glass ones for Christmas! I’m also going to get more natural face creams, face wash, body butter, lip balm etc.

Getting 9 blasts is incredible! I had 12 eggs as well and got 4 blasts (which I’m thrilled with and know I’m lucky to have) but only one was top quality which resulted in my miscarriage, the other 3 are day 6 embryos. If I have to have another fresh cycle hopefully the other changes I’m making will help, I’ll try buying more organic veg too as I don’t tend to just now.

Thanks @kikisparks!
I was very tired both emotionally and physically for the last few months and i need to take a break and go into this as positive as i can be. i also need to repeat thyroid tests as my thyroid is slightly all over the place (started with TSH 3.0 in September and now its 0.05 my endocrinologist suggested to test again before i start). For FET i was told to take folate, and vitamin D as also vitamin e and l arginine. Also vitamin c. Aso I am planning to eat healthier and exercise a bit more for the next month as the last few ones were a disaster for me. A FET is relatively easier than a fresh cycle.

@kikisparks how cool, nice to finally meet a fellow vegan couple having IVF! I spoke to my specialist last week and she said that I had the best results she’d ever seen, she just kept exclaiming “9 blasts from 12 eggs!” And the embryologists has said the same, that these results are rare. I have a AFC of 34 so had to be gently stimulated and only needed the stims for 8 days in the end. I am convinced that it is my diet and lifestyle. But I’m having IVF so it obviously didn’t help with conceiving naturally.

My advice would be to try to eat unprocessed foods as much as you can, I have a vitamix blender so make a lot of things from scratch. I make my own nut milk too which is super easy (store bought vegan mills can have preservatives in them and I don’t trust the long life carton). I will have the odd vegan burger but try to make everything from scratch. Although post EC I may have had a few crisp sandwiches, my thought process was: as I was off food, eating anything was better than nothing. When I had a reaction to the progesterone I went on an anti-inflammatory diet, I only ate fruit, vegetables, beans and nuts, no oil and nothing at all processed, which seemed to help.

I hope everything goes well, if you’re vegan then you’re already avoiding the hormones in meat and dairy which I’m sure don’t do any good.

Hello, hope everyone is coping with the wait to January. My clinic has told me that they have created a new protocol because of COVID-19. They will put me on tablets for up to 14 days to block follicles growing until they're ready to begin treatment. They told me that I'm still on a short protocol but with the addition of these tablets because they cannot handle all the patients during the pandemic. Is anyone else having a similar experience? I'm really worried this could have an impact on the success of the cycle and they refuse to give me anymore information and just tell me I need to wait for my information session for further information.

@EasterBunny7 oh yeah they did similar to me, is it norethisterone? As far as I know there’s nothing to say it will affect success rates. Sorry for the extra added worry it’s causing you.

@Gardenlady543 thank you!

@kikisparks

They didn't mention which tablets, but my understanding was norethisterone was on the long protocol. They insist that I'm still on the short. Really confused!

@EasterBunny7 Noretheristone is to regulate your period so they would know when your next bleed will be.

@EasterBunny7 I was short protocol but they put me on norethisterone for scheduling purposes.

@kikisparks I see! So, you've been through this already. ....I know I'm being impatient but I've just fallen into a depressive mood where I'm fixated on trying again, and them telling me I may have to wait an additional month is getting me down It doesn't help that I'm still counting how many weeks I'd be by now if things didn't go wrong.