IVF July/August 2021

[Bethpalmer20]

Hi everyone.

I couldn't find a thread for ivf cycles July/August 2021 so I hope it's OK to start one. I was on the March/April thread for my fresh cycle and it was so nice to have support from others going through the same thing.

My fresh cycle was successful but unfortunately I miscarried at 8 weeks pregnant. We are start a frozen cycle with one of our 2 frozen embryos. Aiming to start tablets around the 10th July with the hope of transfer towards the end of July.

Would love to know if anyone else is in the same boat or has any tips!

Thank you for your messages re: my positive pregnancy test. I really appreciate it. Feeling nauseated +++ a lot at the moment which is reassuring in some ways. I vomited twice today when changing my toddler's nappy with poo in.

@Janefx40 I remember you from cycle in 2018 - I think you cycled before me but I lurked on your thread to get an insight into what to expect. I remember how lovely you came across and supportive! I hope you are doing okay right now.

@bethpalmer20 sorry you had such a horrible experience today. I wanted to reassure you with some anecdotal evidence. Two days after embryo transfer this time, I became very unwell with a kidney infection and had to be admitted to hospital for intravenous antibiotics. I was totally convinced that it was game over and no embryo would survive when my body was fighting a severe infection. I was shocked when I got a BFP. It is obviously very early days right now and anything can happen with the pregnancy but just wanted to give you an example of how these embryos can cope with extreme stress.

To all of you in the 2WW, hold your nerve. I have found it better for my mental health to just resist testing early and I honestly feel like this was the best decision. I really had to suppress the urge to test early though! I think lots of chilling during 2WW is great- and keeping mind occupied with other things!

Hello. Late to the party but we're doing ivf at the moment. My wife had egg collection yesterday so we're sat here this morning waiting for the call

Only got 4 eggs so fingers crossed.

Another day on the 2ww train!
I’ve now gone the other way, and I’m scared to ever test!
I’m planning on testing on Tuesday am (it’s my birthday on Monday so don’t want to ruin that with a BFN).
I have a funny feeling- almost muscular as though I have done too many sit-ups in my lower abdomen (believe me, I have done none!).
@Hoping4baby21 how are you getting on?

@MaggieMoo86 that might be a good sign i remember my friend saying that was one of her first signs. I dunno if anything I'm feeling is to do with anything so 🤷🏽‍♀️. Last time I had brown blood when inserting my pessary by yesterday and knew in my heart it was over, this time I don't have that and today makes another day past that milestone, so I feel good about that. All my "symptoms" stopped by then aswell, my boobs are still sore and I would say I just feel off, I also feel like my uterus is sore, like bruised or something on and off lol! Very strange sensation! I think a lot of these are just the hormones though.

But my husband and I had a conversation yesterday and decided to wait until the blood test, so he has taken and hidden the pregnancy tests.

@LargeYorkshirePuddingAndGravy good luck with the update today fingers crossed for you.

@cannonball8726 glad it is all going well for you!

@CheesyBug Im sure I’ve read that if lots drop off at day 3 that might indicate a sperm issue. Because the sperm takes over at day 3.

Im trying to find where I have read that though!

@PurpleUnicorn01 great news! glad things are progressing well :)

@CheesyBug congrats on your 4 frozen - that's amazing! I hope the fifth makes it too :) hope you enjoyed your Chinese!
As @XjustagirlX said, drop off after Day3 is supposed to likely to indicate a sperm issue - I had been asking a lot of questions as that's when things seemed to go wrong for us last time. But having 4/5 to freeze of around 7 on Day 3 is great! I was told that approximately 1 in every 3 embryos reach the blastocyst stage...

@53rds very glad you're feeling better xx

@cannonball8726 ughhh sorry to hear about your kidney infection and the nausea - hope that settles down, reassuring as it, but I'm glad all is going smoothly for you otherwise :)

@LargeYorkshirePuddingAndGravy welcome and hope you get good news this morning!

@MaggieMoo86 that's exactly how I was last time, too scared to test!
@Hoping4baby21 funny how the world conspired not to let you test early

symptom spotting and the tww really blows your mind doesn't it?! I know all the experts say you can't tell either way, but I hope what you're both feeling is a good sign ;)

Also, could you update me please?
@beachbum85 treatment: 2nd fresh cycle | start date: 28th July | progress: down regulating with baselines scan 17th Aug

I hope everyone else is doing well too - big hugs all around xx

Wow @cannonball8726 you are so strong, you really have been through it! So glad you got your BFP, it's definitely reassuring to know it's still possible! Best of luck for your pregnancy ❤️

@maggiemoo86 I had this muscular feeling in the TWW of my first cycle and I got a BFP! I kept describing it as like I'd done an ab workout, which I definitely hadn't! I hope that's a good sign for you!

Just had the call. From 4 eggs, 3 have fertilised!

They don't ring again now until Monday morning and then transfer on Monday afternoon.

Out of curiosity, why do we need to wait 2 weeks to test. On a natural conceiving cycle we would wait 14 days after ovulation. But with ivf we are typically already 5 days in. So we don’t they recommend testing 9 days after transfer.

Im not at this stage yet but just pondering...

Morning All!

Hope you're all doing well.

Congrats @CheesyBug on the number! You're doing so well! Also congrats to @LargeYorkshirePuddingAndGravy

Hope everyone in stims and TWW are coping.

We had a day 6 update today as day 5 wasn't conclusive. We lost 1 embryo as it stopped growing. However the other OG embryo has made it to blastocyst stage and is being biopsied (we are also doing PGT to add to this rollercoaster ride). Been crying most of the morning as i'm so emotionally drained. Now for a 2-4 week late, so i guess i'm kinda in the TWW group, just a different kind of wait! In our first round, we had 4 embryos biopsied but all 4 were non-viable, so it's very hard to be positive for this next stage.

Sorry i haven't mentioned more people specifically, but sending so much love to all and so thankful to have you all and this group.

Hello all,
I just found your thread. I had EC on 13/07 (5 collected, 4 fertilised, 2 made it to day 3). A 3dt was put back on 16/07 and yesterday had a hcg of 299. After a long and miserable cycle of miscarriages and infertility I can't bring myself to be too positive about it all as nothing worked out before. I'm sure you all understand how it is. The clinic seemed thrilled with the quality of the embryos but it's not like I have anything to compare it to; it seemed rather a low number to me but I suppose it only takes one.

Anyway, I have to take 3 x Utrogestan suppositories and they are causing awful irritation. Has anyone any tips for dealing with this?

My other comment is that my EC was done with only a local anaesthetic at the points where the needle went in. Apparently this is how 80% of ECs are done at my (non-UK) clinic. I got a paracetamol afterwards. It was a lengthy and barbaric procedure (and I found hysteroscopy etc. almost painless, also without any painkillers so it's not like I have a low tolerance). I'm still in a bit of shock about the whole thing tbh.

@xjustagirlx I think it must vary from clinic to clinic. My clinic have asked me to test on the 4th August which would be 8 days after transfer. But I've seen some lady's asked to test 14 days after..

@Bethpalmer20 oh ok that makes sense. I suppose I’m trying to mentally shorten the TWW when it comes.

@Towerpin omg that sounds horrendous. Where is your clinic?

@XjustagirlX clinics vary with test days. Mine tends to day 10 days post 5dt which is technically 15dpo. Some say longer. I think those clinics just make people wait to avoid an unclear response and maybe miss any chemicals.

@Towerpin that sounds horrendous - you poor thing. Congrats on the positive test - I've been there so I know how nerve wracking it is but it is the first step to something good so fingers crossed. I've always taken Cyclogest not utrogestan so not sure how they differ but personally take them rectally which avoids all the mess and irritation. Takes a little getting used to but much better.

@EHK98 best of luck - we will probably be testing too so it'll be me in about a month (if any of ours make blastocyst).

Of our 12 eggs, 7 fertilised and 4 made it for freezing on Day 3. The other 3 aren't looking good so DP and I decided to let them go as it costs £600 to culture to blastocyst and see if they make it (they can't be frozen on day 3 as not good enough). Only I haven't sent the email to the lab. I know it's crazy but I'm finding it hard to tell them to just throw them away - what if one of them could be our miracle baby?!! But £600 and she said 2 of them were 3 cells and hadn't changed since yesterday so probably already arrested. The other one is really poor. What should I do?

@Janefx40 congrats on having 4 frozen already - great news! That is a really hard decision to make... My understanding is that anything less than 6 cells on Day 3 won't go anywhere, unfortunately. Of course you can never tell, but statistically the probability is very low. I guess it depends as well on what spending that extra £600 will mean for both of you in the context of another round, etc. Sorry, no real advice there but that's how I would be thinking about it if it were me. Big hugs to you, there is no right or wrong answer either way xx

@Towerpin that EC sounds terrible - I'm so sorry you had to go through that! I don't know anything about HCG levels, but I'm guessing that's a good positive at this point and hope things go smoothly from here :) I also take Cyclogest rectally...

@EHK98 I'm so glad you have a blastocyst being biopsied! That's a long wait you have, so I'm wishing you all the patience and strength, and keeping everything crossed that this one comes back viable :)

That's great @LargeYorkshirePuddingAndGravy - best of luck on Monday!

Had our final call from the clinic. The last embryos weren't good enough quality so the 4 already frozen is our final number and my husband has stopped making jokes about Cheaper by the Dozen! I asked the embryologist about the details, so from 20 large and 10 small follicles, they got 23 eggs; 18 fertilised normally and 3 abnormally. 9 arrested on Day 3, 1 degenerated, 3 made blastocysts on Day 6 but were low quality, and 3 were still developing on Day 6 but too slowly. Glad to have some more details on what happened to them all, at least. Frustrating they don't offer up that information because they're very happy to give it when asked, and it's all carefully recorded. Next step is review meeting with the consultant in August.

Currently having my post-EC period/bleed and up to my eyeballs in codeine. Can't believe how much I'm bleeding considering I only just finished bleeding from my last period 7 days ago... the final follicle scan before EC was a bit of a crime scene, used up all the tissues in the room clearing up afterwards facepalm. But this process is like a strange timewarp and last week feels like last month, so it feels like it's been ages since my last period The female body is a mysterious thing in many ways.

Hello and congrats to @LargeYorkshirePuddingAndGravy

Sorry to hear you had a tough morning @EHK98 and sending you strength for the wait on the biopsy!

@Towerpin I'm sorry to hear you went through that EC experience. Barbaric is the word - unbelievable what kind of pain women are expected to go through, and for such intimate procedures as well. I hope you find a way of lessening the irritation of the medication, at least.

@Janefx40 No advice, but sending you strength for the difficult decisions! Completely understand the dilemma

Thoughts and hugs to all! Xx

@CheesyBug congrats on your 4 Frosties. I know the drop off is huge but 4 is still a good number.

@beachbum85 thank you for the kind words.

I was fine in the end. I knew I was being silly logically but we have such a low chance of success due to my age that it seems hard throwing anything away. I'm the end I called the embryology team back and said I knew I should let them go but was finding it hard. They looked at them for me again and there was no more progress so it was clear that they had arrested which made the decision easier.

So we have 4 frozen from this round and 1 from the first round. 5 in total but all day 3 so no real idea if that means any blastocysts. Already started noresthisterone to prepare for the 3rd collection which will be our very last (ever!).

Xxx

Had my first scan today, I have 5 mature eggs ready and 7 still growing hopefully 🤞🏼

I have no idea if these are normal numbers or not but so hoping some more get big enough before we do egg collection!

I think my clinic is hoping for Wednesday now!

@2021babyhope Ye i chat find a useful graph showing expected follicle numbers either. Have they said when you need to do your trigger injection?

Im having my first scan tomorrow morning so I’ll share my numbers and what they say about expected EC.

Did they give you the actual sizes. I’ve heard they grow 2mm a day. Are they looking to time it for the 5 mature of for the 7 still left to grow?

@XjustagirlX the largest of the 5 mature was 15mm and the smallest 12mm I think.

The rest were all between 6-10mm

I think it'll depend on both to be honest, they won't commit until my next scan on Monday but I think if the 5 are big enough they'll go for them.

Just hope some of the others catch up by Monday! I've got 2 more at 9mm and 2 at 8mm

I don't think the others will grow quick enough as they're only 7&6mm

Hi all, had my first progress scan this morning - around 26 follicles in total with different sizes. Lining at 13mm. Blood test done as well which showed high estrogen level, so have reduced the Ovaleap dosage until my next scan which is booked for Monday. Hopefully I'll have some information about EC then.

@janefx40 Sounds like the embryologists handled that in a thoughtful way and helped you make that decision. Everything crossed for round 3!

Congrats on the milestone of the first scans @csparkles and @2021babyhope! Keep us updated

Hope you all have good, relaxing weekends x

I’ve just had my first progress scan. I have 11 follicles between 11mm and 15mm. 12 follicles between 8 and 10mm, and 11 follicles under 8mm do they didn’t bother measuring them. My lining was 8mm which I’m so happy about as I thought my lining was an issue at one point but that seems good for me.

I’m going back on Monday for the next scan and they said I will be doing EC either Wednesday Thursday or Friday.

Does anyone know, when the trigger injection is done, do the follicles continue to grow and if so do they grow 2mm a day or at a slower rate? I’m trying to work out where they might be in a couple of days. I really don’t want them to focus on say the top 2 eggs when it might be best to wait a bit for the others to grow.

@xjustagirlx well done on your first scan! Sounds like good news. Others might have had other experiences but the clinic want to get as many eggs as possible too! I had a couple of big ones and other ones that were slower and they kept going until they had a decent number above the line. On my last penultimate scan, my nurse looked at my chart and said "Oh they'll probably book you in for EC Weds", then after the review with the doctor that afternoon, they kept me going until the Friday.

I don't know about how much more they grow, think it's more about them maturing chemically. But my EC was delayed by 30 minutes or so and it was the most curious feeling for about an hour before it, like I could feel my ovaries getting bigger and bigger and it got uncomfortable to sit down! Thankfully they got me in before they lost any.