ABC IVF thread continued

[StarryHannah]

Our other thread is now full so thought I would start this one to continue the chat.

@Beaglemum91 I'm waiting for my period so I can start meds for FET so that is really helpful information about the embryo transfer process. Thank you. Did you have your partner on Facetime or anything for it?

@Icsi2021 so excited for you xxx

@Hoping4baby21 I am at Create in Manchester but via ABC x

@kittyfantastico21 yep you are so right! Getting it off my chest helped as well, clearly just needed a good old rant! Had my treatment consultation today so ready to move forward. Tip for anyone who had an ASDA local you can order the meds cheaper there. I believe through ABC the utrogestan is £35 but with ASDA it's £21 and also the progynova for a FET is £4.80 for a box of 28 and £7.30 for a box of 84.

Realised my transfer date will coincide with a busy work day but Yh they said they can move it back a day or two and it has no affect. I want to take day of transfer off and then chill so ideally would transfer on a Wed or Thurs. but how my cycle is looking to fall it could be a Monday. Will see what they say based on my scan.

I'm also going to do acupuncture again as my work health plan renewed so I can claim it all back.

Hope everyone is doing good!?

@hoping4baby21 thanks for the tip on Asda! Do we still need for ABC to give us a private prescription?

I am good, started the stimulation few days ago! At the moment I am feeling good no side effect!

How's the rest of you?

@Francesmalin exciting that you've started your injections! Glad you're feeling good. I hope everything will go well at your first scan. You'll only need the private prescription/Asda if you have a FET (or if you get pregnant and need to continue with utrogestan after the pregnancy test) - all the drugs for a fresh cycle are included in the cycle price with ABC. I got my progynova for my FET from Asda too (still have utrogestan from my fresh cycle that I didn't use as I had a freeze all), and yes you do need a private prescription from ABC. They sent it to me in the post.

@Hoping4baby21 glad you're feeling better and the rant helped, and that you're also now on the countdown to next cycle!

I'm alright, just counting down the days until my FET cycle - not too long to go now!

@kittyfantastico21 all clear. We'll wait and see what happens after the transfer. Are you doing a fresh transfer or frozen? Finger crossed for you.

@Francesmalin congrats on starting! It is an exciting time. I think because the doses are low you feel pretty good on stims. I started to feel uncomfortable towards the end of stims before trigger but nothing too bad and no other side effects except some headaches straight after a shot. I found drinking enough water helped with this.

Yep my ovulation was early this month so I'll start a day earlier than expected. Just want to get on with it. @kittyfantastico21 I imagine you are the same as you had a freeze!

Baby dust by the bucket load for all of us! ✨✨✨

@Hoping4baby21 Yeah, I just really want to get started now! That's good to know that they can move the transfer a day or two with no problems - I have a work trip on one of the days in the week that I think it's likely to be, so of course it will probably end up being the one day I can't do. But hopefully if that happens it can be pushed to the next day. Of course it will all depend on what our bodies do!

@Francesmalin I'm having a frozen transfer. I was at risk of OHSS after my egg collection so they froze all the embryos and this will be my first transfer.

Hey hey lovelies, just wanted to let you know that in light of DH's most recent SA, we've decided to try naturally for the next three cycles (including this one) and if no luck we'll rebook our treatment consultation for around the end of August. I wish you all the best and I hope to see lots of good news! Take care of yourselves ladies 💕

@Hoping4baby21 sorry you are having a bad day. Hope you feel better soon!

Just to update. My ER is scheduled for Saturday. I have more follicle now- but def not as many matured as I would like.
Although my last two scans the nurses were helpful, I do wish I hadn't gone to ABC. I just don't think their approach makes any sense for me at all for egg freezing when you don't have PCOS, are at higher risk of OHSS under 35 with a 'good' AFC/AMH.

At the end of the day there would be no reason to assume your eggs would be lower quality so ending up with fewer eggs at retrieval is just a miss for me. I really wish they would have explained this better to me. I would have rather just done this once, depending on the ER outcome, I don't think I'd go with them again for a 2nd cycle knowing that they won't change the protocol.
Went down a low stim rabbit hole and all I can find is info saying it's less eggs and lower birth rates. That just defeats the purpose of freezing to me. Hope this helps someone looking to freeze eggs and considering abc.
If anyone has clinic recommendations for egg freezing in London please do let me know. Am now considering city fertility.
The main thing I do like about ABC is their pricing package it is very clear and all inclusive so no surprise costs. Which none of the other clinics seem to have.

Good luck everyone!

@unCliche best of luck to you and I hope it all works out in these 3 months. If you feel up to it do keep us updated. We will be rooting for you!

@sil19 I'm having a good day today that was yesterday but thanks anyway 🙂. I'm sorry haven't had the experience you hoped for. Before I went with ABC I did research on lower doses and found articles to support the opposite but I will say for every paper suggesting one outcomes there's another stating the exact opposite. My main reason was lower meds that attracted me. Also from people with conventional cycles they seem to end up with the same number of day 5 embryos so the quality thing seems to add up to me. But of course that is anecdotal.

Any way it isn't for everyone and if you weren't 100% clear on how this would work for you (lower number of eggs than you were hoping to get) then I understand how it would feel. But the good thing is you have growing follicles and you will have eggs to freeze.

You also now know better how you respond to stims before this you had no idea of course, so if you try again you know you will push for high stim dose! So it isn't a waste, they say the first cycle is a learning experience. I know it doesn't change how you feel but hopefully once it is less raw, you will be able to see that side of it.

All the best for ER next week!! Take it easy afterwards. I didn't need extra pain killers but I didn't need to take it easy for a few days.

@unCliche that’s great news, so excited for you both and hoping all works out 💓💓💓

@unCliche wishing you loads and loads of luck and hoping one of the next few months is the one for you!

@sil19 I'm sorry you feel that you made the wrong choice going with ABC and if you would prefer to try again with higher doses then it does seem like changing clinic might be best for you. I'm glad you have some more follicles growing now and I'm wishing you all the best for your EC at the weekend. I ended up getting more eggs than they had told me to expect, so hopefully some of your smaller follicles will shoot up after the trigger.

@kittyfantastico21 thanks! No idea how this works and what to expect, if any of the smaller follicles will catch up in 2 days. I'm a bit nervous at the outcome. I'm worried about OHSS but I'm also very keen as to get this egg freezing journey off my plate asap. No idea what to expect for ER and after.

@Hoping4baby21 thanks for the wishes. That's the thing I think I can't take quality into account because I won't have that information. If I were using my eggs straight away you only need 1 successful one to get pregnant. But for me I don't have that option so if I only have a few where I don't know the quality or even if they will survive thawing, I have better odds with a higher number. Interesting about the conventional cycles and day 5 though.. I think what made me not feel great about this is because I saw it as something I'm doing for a few weeks for the future and then go back to regular life. Now it's becoming a longer thing and more costly than if I had gone somewhere else.

@unCliche Good luck to you!

Anyone any tips for ER and after, I still feel fine today (trigger shot tonight) Keen on getting back into exercise and sex :). But a bit paranoid about contortions. I haven't worked out in 2 weeks and can't wait to start again. Nurse said I'd menstruate a few days after ER and all will be fine from then on, but am still a bit nervous.

Thanks all of you for your responses I was sooo distraught last week and so unprepared and just didn't understand anything that was happening.

@sil19 no I totally understand that especially when you compare multiple rounds to just having done it once.

I found my recovery from ER fine, I was drinking at least 2L of water a day plus coconut water for the electrolytes. Salty food, I had a big salty meal the day of retrieval. I rested up for a few days not bed rest still moving in the house but I think on day 3 I walked to the local Tesco express and it was a little too much. I had 7 eggs collected so not at risk of OHSS, so took it more easy for a few more days after that. I didn't use the heat pad or anything.

Well I hope they are some great quality eggs for you and that will be seen when you come to use them. As for returning to sex it took me a while to want to even put something in there for fear of doing some damage lol! Of course it was fine but for fresh you are advised not to have sex during the TWW so I had 2 weeks before we tried after ER and it was fine.

@sil19 the procedure itself was totally fine - I was nervous beforehand but the sedation kicked in quickly and the next thing I knew I was back in the recovery area. Afterwards I was quite uncomfortable and slow moving around for a few days, but I potentially had (very mild) OHSS so you might bounce back quicker than I did. I didn't do any exercise other than walking for about 2 weeks after EC because I was terrified of ovarian torsion but that was probably just anxiety rather than a real need to hold off for so long! As @Cinnabun18 said drinking lots and lots of water is the best way to avoid OHSS. I drank some lucozade sport too but no idea if that had any effect or not and continued to eat a high protein diet as that's what the clinic advised. My withdrawal bleed came 4 days after EC.

thanks for the tips @Cinnabun18 @kittyfantastico21
I will def take that on, because I haven't been great at making sure my diet is at it's best. Wow, surprised though that you'd still feel not up for walking a distance after 3 days. I was literally thinking I'll be fine the very next day, so might take an extra day off work then..

I now spoke to City Fertility again- so far very positive patient contact very involved very very clear and more information than with ABC without handing over any money, so we'll see. There is a wait for the consultation though so I just need to relax a bit because prob won't be able to do a cycle for another 2 months. Gonna try to lose some weight before then as well, which hopefully helps with meds.

Thanks so much all for the support, tips, insight- I will let you all know how the ER went.

@sil19 I'd recommend taking the day after egg collection off work if you can. You might feel fine but you might still be sore/bloated etc. It took about 4 days for me to feel back to normal (but I potentially had mild OHSS so you might recover faster).

How's everyone doing? Are you getting any side effect from the stims? I am feeling ok except today I feel really tired. Do you feel the same?

For those who already did the egg retrieval what day of your period was it?

@Francesmalin glad your feeling good, I didn't really get a reaction from the stims except for close to retrieval and it was just a sense of feeling my ovaries and some discomfort. Nothing bad.

My ER was on CD12 - I triggered earlier than expected. Have they given you an indication of when yours might be?

@Francesmalin my egg collection was on day 13. I didn’t really get any side effects until the couple of days before EC, and then I felt a bit bloated and tired. Have you had any scans yet?

I had my first treatment scan yesterday but no mention of potential dates for egg retrieval. My follicles are still small but at the right size for day 6! Only one of the follicles was quite oversize so the nurse lowered my Benfola dose. I am back on Monday morning so I will have a better picture of the situation when I go there. ☺️

@Francesmalin it sounds like it's all progressing well. I hope your scan today was good!

@sil19 I hope your egg collection went well at the weekend and you're recovering quickly.

Hope everyone had a nice weekend and is feeling good about starting cycles soon. I've got my usual pre-period symptoms (due on Saturday) so at least I know it's definitely on the way and I can get this FET cycle going soon.

@kittyfantastico21 it's all progressing in the right direction and egg collection will be later this week! It's getting closer

Hi all,

Just thought I'd give you all an update. @kittyfantastico21 thanks for asking. Had my ER on Saturday, they collected and froze 9 eggs. Procedure went well. However, on Sunday I started getting really bad cramps and my abdomen was hard and stolen, gained 2 kg's in one day. Couldn't really move around much or stand up straight. So ended up calling the emergency number and went in to abc this morning for a scan. It all seemed to look okay but I have been given more meds (sigh :'( ) to shrink my ovaries that are quite big now and blood thinners to prevent blood clots. I def don't feel great and was totally unprepared for the recovery to not be smooth. Thanks for the heads up ladies, had it not been for your tips it would have been even less prepared.

Final review /thoughts egg freezing at ABC.

Pro's: this clinic is great if you are looking for a more affordable clinic. Especially if you have already done a cycle before and already understand the process and don't need to be handheld/ or a lot of explanations. If you have PCOS or other underlying issues where mild stimulation would better, this is a good clinic for that. Aftercare has been good, I called the emergency number, abc called me back in 20 minutes on a sunday and I was booked in for a scan the next morning (today).

Cons: I just wouldn't not recommend ABC if you are 'socially' freezing your eggs under 35 with no evident fertility issues. You are looking to freeze as many eggs as possible and this clinic won't do that and I don't think they were clear about what they WONT do. i.e: I was expecting protocol to be adjusted for max success, mine was adjusted but slightly and they wouldn't normally do that as I was already at max stimulation for their clinic. I only ended up with 9 eggs frozen and the process has been stressfull, because of a lack of explanation and tbf really consulting with me on what was best FOR ME as opposed to 'this is what we do' and understanding of this clinic's protocol on my end, and the recovery not being so smooth. Had I gone with another clinic I could have been one and done, which is what I wanted. ABC never really asked me what I wanted or what my expectations were to see if it aligned with what they could do for me and I did not have the knowledge to ask the right questions. Now I need to wait months to do it again and a process that I thought would be a month of my life is turning into 6 months.. (any ladies done IVF back to back, how long did you wait?). In the end I feel disappointed and tired. I understand I am still in a privileged position to even have these eggs. But I do feel as though I wasted a month where I could have had a better cycle and money where I'm now going to spend more and end up with no savings at all, than if had I done a cycle with a 'regular' clinic'. Also, I am turning 34 shortly, so I am also nervous that I need to do another cycle to get the amount I want but am getting older so can't afford to wait either.

Thanks for all the support, you have really been great and all the best wishes for everyone who is going through a cycle/ ER at the moment. Please do let me know what your experiences have been with a 2nd or more cycles and how long you have waited.

xx Sil

As an addition: the main thing that I didn't understand from ABC's end or wasn't clear to me, was that their mild stimulation basically means less eggs; point, blank, period.

I thought mild stimulation meant that you don't actually need as much meds as other clinics give you and could still get a good results. Which is not the case if you are looking for quantity. They did say in their consultation they look to get 8-13 eggs based on my test results. Tbh I was naive in thinking I'd still get maybe 15.
I thought the results were based more on my body , AFC and AMH as opposed to directly being related to how much medication you take and their protocol.
That bit is me not understanding it properly and not asking the right questions. That being said I still ended up with a result on the lower end of what they expected, which tells me their protocol doesn't suit my body.