IVF - egg collection June (starting down regulation in May)

[Luz192]

Hi ladies, would be great to chat to anyone who is about to start down regulation, in prep for stims later in the month and egg collection early June.

I start Norethisterone tomorrow. Will be at UCLH/CRGH, first ever IVF. We have MFI.

Mostly terrified of the needles! I have this irrational fear that I could puncture an organ - someone tell me that's not possible?! lol

[ivf2021]

@Aim2912 thank you that gives me some hope! ❤️ good luck for tomorrow! 🙏🏻 Let us know how you get on xx

[Coops0406]

So I've had the scan, slightly disappointed to be honest considering my AMH level, but they seemed fine with it all. I have 2 decent size follicles (11mm and 12mm) and 4 around 7/8mm which will apparently catch up (I memorised her shouting the numbers out to her colleague...they don't really chat through anything with you much). The rest are smaller and probably won’t catch up. They need to be 16mm for egg collection apparently. I expected a lot more due to my high AMH count but I presume the medication is low to prevent hyper stimulation. So sticking with the same dose of medication and back for scan on Monday. Just off for my covid swab now. Just worried as my original consultantation they said only 30% would be genetically stable at my age which with the few follicles they have seen doesn't really give me good prospects

[Coops0406]

Also my lining was about 9.6mm, not sure what that means 🤷🏾‍♀️

[Aim2912]

@Coops0406 I understand your disappointment, as with a good amh you would expect more. If you don't mind what stims are you on and what dose? Could you ask them to increase your dose?. Its hard as some clinics are very reluctant to change dose. The lining is your endometrial lining, it needs to be nice and thick for you embryo to implant. So 9.6 is good and it will grow more untill transfer. Are you doing a fresh transfer or frozen? If frozen I would definitely ask to increase dose and stimm you for longer.
On route to my appointment now.

[Coops0406]

@Aim2912 I'm on 225 meriofert and have just added in fyremadel. So I think just an average dose maybe? We're having a frozen transfer as having the testing to see which are genetically stable. I might ring them and see what they say.
Let us know how your appointment goes 😊

[Aim2912]

Mine are still growing slowly, but still ok. I have 6 between 13 and 10mm, 5 at 9mm the others are small and most likely won't get to 16mm by the time they collect. If they get all 11 id be happy but you never know as my left ovary is hard to reach. My linning is 6.9 again just ok. I'm doing a FET so not to worried about that at the moment.

I think 225 iu is an average dose. I'm on 150 meriofort and 225 fostimon, so on the high side. But the protocol im on is to collect as many as they can and freeze all.

[Coops0406]

@Aim2912 how many more days of stims have you got? It sounds like they are progressing nicely though so that's good news. I don't think they have even discussed my protocol and why, just told me what meds I'm on and when to take them.

Is yours to collect as many as possible because you are freezing all? What are your reasons for freezing all?

[Aim2912]

@Coops0406 the consultant told me to freeze all as during my monitoring cycle my AFC on my right ovary was high, so he said i may over stimulate on my right but he didnt want to put me on a low dose and risk not getting enough eggs. so he recommended a freeze all cycle to let my body calm down if needed. also in my previous cycle a perfectly good embryo failed to implant, so they said trying to transfer on a more natural cycle might help as well.

i havent been told when i will stop stimming yet have another scan on Saturday, and starting my cetrotide tomorrow.

whens your next scan now?

[Luz192]

@Ofpalestsilver sorry for late reply - I have felt exhausted the last few days so not been on my laptop much. The blood tests check for estradiol (which I think they use an indicator of how much they can push you with stims without overstimulating) and LH, which I think sense checks that you've not ovulated early somehow.

@ivf2021 we have MFI too, I'm a bit nervous about that, but we'll see how things go. I have read several clinical reports that suggest that a shorter abstinence time (

[Aim2912]

@Luz192 hope your getting on ok...the back and forth to the clinic can be tiring, but that's what CRGH is known for, their intense monitoring allows them to tailor the treatment plan to the person.

hopefully all worth it in the end. x

[Coops0406]

@Aim2912 ah right. That's good that they are pushing to get as many out and my friend says she felt better a few years ago when she had a break inbetween as she struggled with the stims and her body recovering. Our next scan is on Monday which will be day 10 of stims with provisional EC on Wednesday.

Is the cetrotide to prevent ovulation?

@Luz192 wow!!! You are so close! This is amazing!!! My scan was okay, was a bit disheartened but in a better frame of mind about it now. Had 2 follicles at a decent size (11mm and 12mm) then about 3-4 at 8mm and the rest small and probably won't catch up. I was expecting more really due to a higher AMH count but will see how the next scan goes. They didn't seem concerned 🤷🏾‍♀️

[Luz192]

@Coops0406 I really do think quality over quantity. I have high AMH too and a high antral follicle count, and in some ways I was expecting like 40 eggs, like some people I've seen lol. But from what I've seen, my clinic (and most likely yours) have tried to avoid getting huge numbers, in favour of trying to get quality ones instead.

@Aim2912 it's true! I feel like I'm in good hands with UCLH/CRGH. It'll all hopefully be worth it in the end. My work have been quite supportive, at least, so I've been able to take the time off without too many questions. I can't imagine what ARGC are like though, as they are known to be even more on it with the monitoring!!

[Coops0406]

@Luz192 that makes sense and I have got my head round to that way of thinking now. It was just a bit of a shock when she said she'll be shouting out numbers to the other nurse and I only heard about 6! Hopefully they will have grown by Monday 😊

[Aim2912]

@Luz192 good luck for tomorrow, hope it all goes well maje sure you rest up after.

@Coops0406 yep the cetrotide is to stop ovulation.

[ivf2021]

@Luz192 That's amazing! Good luck for tomorrow 🙏🏻❤️

@Coops0406 @Aim2912 amazing to hear ur scans have went well! I was really discouraged too with the lower numbers but like u said the other day we have to try and stay positive! 🤞🏻 by our next scans we all have many lovely big follicles! I'm back tomorrow feeling really nervous I've tried everything over the past few days to try and make them grow but still feeling abit flat!

X

[ivf2021]

@Luz192 interesting to hear that one day is better for mfi. We've tried all different days as my partner has had to give loads of samples. But each sample has been completely different. We've got some sperm frozen as they were concerned about it declining more before the fresh sample on the day so hoping that might help our odds a tiny bit! X

[Coops0406]

@Luz192 good luck today! Hoping all goes really well for you and you feel okay after 🥰

[Coops0406]

@ivf2021 let us know how it goes today 🤞🏾

[ivf2021]

@Coops0406 thank you 🙏🏻 today was ok! Had a lot more eggs didn't count but it was definitely over 5 on each side. Most ranged from 12-15 and a couple of 10s. Doctor said my body is just going really slow and steady and is not quite ready for egg collection. So provisional egg collection on Monday has been changed to a scan Monday morning with the hope to do collection on Wednesday. She did say they can stretch it to Friday too if I'm still not ready on Monday. Don't know how to feel .. over the moon I have many more eggs growing at the same rate but hoping they have a big boost over the weekend as just want to get to collection now! @Luz192 hope today went well for u ❤️

[Coops0406]

@ivf2021 that's great...slow and steady means hopefully they are all growing at a similar pace and will give you good sizes for collection. I'm in for a scan on Monday with provisional EC on Wednesday too so we could end up on the same day!

[Luz192]

Hi ladies :)
I had a super rubbish night last night, slept only for 1.5 hours - not sure if it was nerves or excitement, but I just couldn't fall asleep. But everything went well in the end - the procedure itself was fine. Bit nervy walking into the theatre room with lots of people and machines, but the sedation worked really quickly and I woke up back on the ward with tea and biscuits.

I got 28 eggs, which is more than I was expecting. But I don't know how many follicles I had - I just remember seeing the chart from my last scan and I thought only about 12 of them were a good size. So either I misread, OR the trigger shot really did the trick. We will find out tomorrow how many of those are mature (which is key, as lot of the eggs could be smaller follicles that didn't grow big enough), and also how many fertilised. I have to go in on Monday for a scan so they can assess how at risk I am for OHSS and whether fresh transfer if still possible or if they recommend freeze all.

I actually feel a bit better post collection - lighter in a way! Not much pain at all (so far!). They did say that OHSS usually develops Day 3/4 after egg collection, so we'll see.

@ivf2021 that's good progress on the scan! I know what you mean about wanting to just get to egg collection. The stims part can be extremely tiring - but it'll be over before you know it.

[ivf2021]

@Coops0406 definitely feeling a little more positive now! Abit scared to get too excited incase something doesn't go to plan as had so many ups and downs! Hopefully both of our scans go to plan on Monday and we can have egg collection Wednesday 🤞🏻
@Luz192 awww amazing so pleased the procedure went well! Bet ur so glad it's done now! 28 eggs wow!! With the drop outs u should still have a good number at the end 🤞🏻🙏🏻 hopefully u can still have the fresh transfer but if not Atleast u know they are doing what's best for u ur body and ur embabies ❤️ plenty rest and treat urself tonight 🍫 u deserve it! X

[Coops0406]

@Luz192 wow!! This sounds fantastic so far, you must be so pleased with that 😃 Glad you are feeling okay afterwards too! I hope you manage to get some rest ready for hearing the news tomorrow morning 🥰

[Ofpalestsilver]

@Luz192 28 eggs?! Wow that’s incredible. I really hope for some amazing fertilised numbers!

I took my last injections tonight - EC on Monday.

[Aim2912]

@Luz192 wow that's fantastic news!!! So glad it went well. Egg collection is a big achievement in this long fertility journey.