Mild Stimulation IVF, round one

[primrosechill]

I wonder if anyone else here is doing the Mild Stimulation protocol? It's my first round, started injections four days ago and going for my first scan tomorrow. Would love some buddies with a similar experience! 🥰

Yep I am! Currently on my 2nd round of mild stimulation protocol. I'm on day 10 of stims. How are you finding things?

Hi @PPPPPP hello! I don't think it has fully hit me that I'm doing IVF yet to be honest. I've had enough time to think about it but then right before I was about to start, my period decided to be a few days late and made me believe I might be pregnant naturally - a very cruel timing/joke from the universe! So I felt quite emotional the first couple of days but I think my head is in the game now. So far so good - Bemfola injections are easy, I'm more anxious/curious about the next steps!

How did you find the whole process end to end with your first round? Also sorry that it didn't bring you the result you were hoping for but all the best for this round! X

Hi @primrosechill and @PPPPPP
I was wondering who you are with for mild stimulation IVF? I am new to all this and have recently started looking into the different types of IVF.

@ABC222 I'm with Create!

Thanks @primrosechill I had come across them and downloaded their brochure this morning funnily enough. Wishing you the best of luck with everything!

I'm doing mild ivf next month, so about 4 weeks behind you. I've got my nurses appointment next week and af is due early May. Just wanted to say good luck! 🍀

@primrosechill oh no, I hate it when our bodies do that to us. Yep, the bemfola injections are super easy although I ended up having a mishap with a couple of the pens for the first round and the meds ended up squirting out the sides of the pen!

I found the 1st round quite easy going, but definitely finding the 2nd round harder. At least I have an idea of what to expect so the injections/scans are pretty much second nature now. The team have been incredibly supportive though.

@ABC222 I'm also at Create too. I'd recommend them, they've been fab.

Thanks @PPPPPP Good to hear you would recommend them. Best of luck to you!

@VenusStarr exciting! Please make sure to keep us updated on here when you start, although I obviously am keeping everything crossed to be on my way out of here at that time! 🤞🏼

@PPPPPP how are you doing? Your EC must be soon? I had my day 6 scan today - all progressing nicely and starting my cetrotide tomorrow morning - a bit more intimidated about this one and the whole injection mixing process but hope it goes well. Back for another scan on thursday.

@VenusStarr ahh, you'll be fine! You must let us know how you are getting on with your cycle when you start.

@primrosechill getting on OK, sadly my cycle this round isn't as good as my last one. I have low AMH and last cycle I got 8 eggs, 6 mature and 3 fertilised. This time round they think they'll only be 3 eggs, as my follicles just didn't want to grow this round. EC is Friday or Saturday! I'm doing embryo banking this time round so thankfully won't have the stress of the transfer until at least June/July.

Ahh the cetrotide is one fiddly bugger. I recommend taking it out the fridge half an hour before you inject - it stings less! Also use the grey needle to inject, not the yellow. I've heard horror stories about people injecting with the mixing needle 🙈

How are your follies going? Do you mind me asking why you've gone for mild IVF too?

Ahh thank you for all the tips @PPPPPP, will let you know how the first injection goes tomorrow.

Sorry that this round isn't as fruitful as the first one. Also, I'm completely new to this ivf business: what does "embryo banking" mean exactly? Does it mean you're just accumulating embryos until next cycle? Is it because you have fewer eggs this time so are skipping the transfer until you have more?

Follies are doing okay, there's 26 of them so far and growing as expected - let's see what they look like on Thursday. It's all super new to me so I am sort of learning what questions to ask as I go along.

My background: have been TTCing for 15 months. Got pregnant naturally once, last April, but ended in MC. Reason for mild ivf is because I have a high follies count so dont want to risk overstimulation and hubby's SA showed slightly lower than average morphology, although he's managed to increase it slightly. How about you? xx

I'll be starting mild stim in my next period. Couldn't this time as we had to attempt to improve dna frag.

@Delectable we'll be here when you start :)

@primrosechill yep, so three months of banking some embryos (hopefully!) and then a fresh transfer in 2 more cycles time. I have low AMH and low antral follicle count so I need the extra cycles. I actually have my egg collection on Friday!

Your follie count sounds good! Fingers crossed for you. Have you started the cetrotide yet?

@Delectable welcome! let us know when you start

@PPPPPP yes, started centrotide this morning. I'm glad I read your message first because I saw the longer syringe when I opened the packaging and immediately freaked out haha! I also see what you meant about it stinging more than bemfola. Actually in general the more days in, the more sensitive my body seems to be to the injections - the first ones didnt hurt at all and today I felt uncomfortable with both but we are definitely getting into the swing of things in general.

Have another scan tomorrow so we'll see how the follicles are doing and if I get an EC date yet. Good luck for friday, keep us posted!

@PPPPPP how did it go today??

@primrosechill hey, I've been in bed all day! EC did not go as smoothly as the previous one! 🙈 My eggs didn't want to come out of the follicles so she had to flush them multiple times and she mentioned that this means that they may be immature. Really gutted as I was on the same protocol as before which yielded 6 mature eggs, and also I had some juicy 22mm follies that should have had a mature egg in them.

I'm just feeling very sore I guess from the repeated flushing! But don't let that put you off as my first EC was absolutely fine x

@PPPPPP sorry it didn't go to plan this time and that you were so poorly yesterday - hope you're feeling better today?

Had my day 10 scan today - follies are growing and having a proper party in there - lots of them and big as well.

My EC is on Monday - I'm both anxious and excited. Definitely starting to feel the side effects of the stims (mostly nausea and heaviness) so glad to be done with them.

They're not sure yet if we'll be able to go with fresh transfer this cycle - just because they're scared of overstimulation. I might end up having to freeze embryos this time and try transfering the next cycle!

What are the next steps for you now?? I assume you're "free" until the next cycle?

Forgot to clarify: they will give me a call back this afternoon to specify which trigger injection to take and whether we're going ahead with fresh or just freezing this time.

@primrosechill oooh your follicles are looking pretty good! Yeah I had high oestrogen in my last cycle too - almost 8000 so they said I might have needed buserelin? Instead of ovitrelle.

How are you feeling about EC?

Yes same story for me @PPPPPP - they will call me later today to confirm which one I should take - they gave me both just in case.

I am quite excited about the EC tbh - I have been feeling a bit more nauseous and bloated (more like heaviness than bloating, actually) so glad to be done with stims. I find the whole process quite fascinating so far - the geek in me loves to see the follicles visualised on the screen and ask questions about what it all means 😂

Brief update from me - we collected 8 eggs and created 6 embryos 🥰🥰🥰 I'm excited and hopeful - for now we're planning for a fresh transfer this Saturday.

@PPPPPP how are you doing?

That's really exciting @primrosechill 🥰🥰 best of luck for Saturday.

I had my nurse consultation today, we're on track for starting stims in early May, just waiting for my ovulation, but hopefully will start bemfola around 6th May ☺️

That's exciting for you as well @VenusStarr - how are you feeling about the whole prospect of ivf?