ERA/ALICE/EMMA testing thread 2

[seven201]

Link to the old thread
https://www.mumsnet.com/Talk/infertility/4187520-era-testing-after-multiple-implantation-failures-anyone-had-it-done?msgid=110302437&utmsource=mentions&utmmmedium=email&utmcampaign=2020-10-19&utmmterm=You+have+been+mentioned+in+a+post&rei=438192#110302437

Welcome to the new thread. Anyone welcome.

@VenusStarr yes luckily I’m ok. I was quite high risk of acreta given the huge amount of ops to my uterus (ercp’s / c section ashermans times 2) so I’m glad I’ve been given the clear.
Hoping for all the best for you and a sticky one this time. Did u have one or 2 put back in?

Thanks everyone ❤️ I've been reading through all your lovely messages and feeling reassured.

I had a long chat with my friend who has known me for a long time and happens to be a psychiatrist and she said the world is made up on many personalities and there isn't one type that makes a good parent.

I guess my worry is that she is judging me at my most vulnerable and in such a difficult time of my life and then speculating on how I'd be as a parent based on this. I think her assumptions are wrong, I obviously will protect a child from dangers but she said she doesn't even think I would allow a child to climb a tree. I spent my whole childhood climbing trees, I have young nephews and I'm always out and about playing with them.

I think I'll just have to tell her in the next session that I don't want to talk about what I'd be like as a parent, I don't know why she even brought it up.

I'm 9dpo today, decided to do a cheapie test which was a BFN, expecting my period and it to be CD1 of my FET on Wednesday.

I hope everyone is good.

So glad everything is going well @Cream123 you deserve it after everything you've been through.

@VenusStarr hope you're chilling out :)

Where abouts are you at @Janefx40 I think your last update was a lining check, have you got the biopsy scheduled in?

and @Dochas121 where abouts are you at the moment?

Hope you're ok @seven201 when are you planning your progesterone test?

Just catching up!

@Gardenlady543 bloody hell! Why on Earth is that relevant?! I'd be feeling pretty furious. I think being clear with her that it's not a topic you wish to discuss is a good idea. If you don't get on well during that session then maybe it's a time to look for a different therapist. Not long until your FET!

@VenusStarr well done for feeling so calm. It's weird how we act so differently from one transfer to the next.

@Cream123 nice to hear from you. I'm so glad all is going well.

@Dochas121 and @Janefx40 how are you both doing? I hope I haven't missed anyone (I probably have!)

I'm cd 19 and the opks are still negative, although there was a slight line this morning so still going with the trying in case it is delayed. We're staying in a hotel with dh and dd this weekend so dh is going to use the bathroom to provide the goods in a cup for me! I'm going to to do the progesterone blood test in a couple of days I think. I've got my baseline booked for the 5th - just hope my body agrees with that schedule as re-booking appts is such a pain!

Hi all and happy weekend! Just back from a long walk with the dog which blew away the cobwebs!

@Gardenlady543 glad you’re feeling reassured. Definitely worth discussing it with therapist or finding a new one

@Cream123 glad to hear all is going well.

@seven201 hope you have a nice time in the hotel OPK drama aside. No harm in trying. We didn’t bother this month. DH is too worried about upsetting my lactobacillus 🙈🙈 something I never thought would impact our sex life. He is looking forward of hopefully 9 months of no sex if this transfer works. We would both be way too nervous and I’ve been told I could potentially have a weak cervix. Never has a man been hoping so much for enforced celibacy 😂

I have a scan on Tuesday. Hoping to see triple lining then my transfer would be 1st/2nd Nov. I don’t know how I feel. Two friends kindly checked in asking how it was going. I honestly don’t have an answer for them! It’s been a total disaster with cancer scare, then all good in the space of a week. Could be all good again Tuesday or another disaster.

@VenusStarr hope you are feeling ok today.

Hi everyone. I'm ok thanks. I did a trigger last Tuesday (surprised me as it's a natural FET but I just do as I'm told) then had scan Thursday to check I'd ovulated and doing biopsies on Tuesday. Terrified. How full were your bladders? My past experience says that full bladders are rarely necessary when they say they are - I have a tiny bladder so leaving it actually full would be agonising for me. Don't want to mess it up though by having it too empty?

Glad you're all doing ok as can be expected given that most of us are in difficult situations one way or another.

@Dochas121 good luck with scan
@Gardenlady543 glad you had a good chat with a friend.
@VenusStarr great that you feel calm...it isn't easy especially those last few days.

@Cream123 glad all is ok with you

@seven201 enjoy the hotel - are you anywhere nice?

Xxx

@Janefx40 so you’re doing ERA/Emma/Alice via natural FET? Is there a reason they decided that?

I was told to empty my bladder for the procedure. I did the procedure under sedation however so maybe the others can say more about having a full bladder or not? I can understand why for embryo transfer as they’re trying to place the embryo in gently to have bladder lifted up but I don’t think it’s required for a biopsy. I hope it goes ok for you.

@Dochas121 I completely get that. After nearly 4 years of ttc sex I can say that both dh and I would quite happily never have sex again (although we're hoping our feelings on that eventually change). This month we've sometimes been using the cup and syringe method and it is a game changer. I asked dh if we could about 2 or 3 years ago and he was adamant that he didn't want to do it that way. I had a bit of a melt down a few months ago about how I sometimes really had to force myself to have sex with him (did try and hide it) and it just made me feel icky. This month he even suggested it for one night instead of me having to ask. I'm bloody over the moon!

Wow, your transfer should be soon then. Fingers crossed for a lovely triple line on Tuesday!

@Janefx40 ooh that's interesting about the trigger! Guess it gives more control as when I did a natural FET my opk didn't turn positive but one day showed a burst follicle on a scan so they had to guess when I'd ovulated, which isn't ideal.

The full bladder! I always get stressed about that. I've sort of gone with the arrive at the clinic early, have a wee (or at a nearby cafe a bit earlier) then by the time you go in it can be quite a while. But I am the kind of person who goes for a wee about once an hour as I drink a lot of water and am just in the habit.

We're just in a pub near my dad's house as it was a big birthday for him. Been lovely seeing my siblings, nieces and nephews and playing silly party games and eating far too much.

Thanks @Dochas121 yes we're doing the whole thing as a natural FET therefore natural cycle for our ERA, Emma, Alice and NK. The outcomes of natural FET are similar to medicated, I have regular cycles and it has (sort of) worked for me in the past (I miscarried later but the FET and implantation worked) so it seemed to make sense to do it this way. I prefer not to take so many drugs if not necessary plus it saves a fortune on meds too!

Thanks for responses re bladder. Be interested to hear other experiences too.

@seven201 we did quite a lot of syringing too. I was on an amazingly lovely thread for self-insemination for a while. It took the pressure off and meant that sex could be saved for when we actually wanted to do it.

Glad you've had a nice time seeing your Dad and family xxx

I'm having a wobble today 😢 I just don't know how I feel. I'm going to be devastated if this fails. I know on paper everything looks positive. Someone who transferred the sane day as me just got a bfp but I just can't imagine it happening for us. I bled at 7dp5dt last time (ended in a chemical pregnancy so the whole thing was a head🤬) but with the extra progesterone, I likely won't bleed but it still doesn't mean we'll get a bfp 😢😔 sorry for the offload. This is so hard x

I hope you get a nice clear line on the LH stick soon @seven201 why are our bodies so complicated!! my new monitoring obsession is vaginal pH after doing some reading it seems that treating microflora is going to need to be a 3 pronged attack in my case- get rid of bad bacteria (antibiotics), get the vaginal pH acidic and replenish with lactobacillus. Turns out that lactobacillus need an acidic pH to adhere to the vaginal wall, but they are what creates the acidic environment. So I'm going at this with Balance activ, which makes the vagina acidic and probiotics.

Re: cup and syringe, I'm really glad your partner has come round to it, we only did that method this time as it could be our last chance at natural conception with my microflora issues. I used a menstrual cup which I'm hoping protected my vagina from getting too alkaline, but I was on the antibiotics at the time anyway.

@Dochas121 sorry I have the memory of a sieve, did you tell us about the cancer scare? I hope you're ok. There's no sex for me and DH either, clearly my body doesn't like his alkaline semen.

@Janefx40 I've had 5 tries at the bladder conundrum so far and I've realised that just my normal volume is fine, I have literally thought I was going to wet myself at some procedures! For the biopsy, they used US on one occasion and no US on the other 2.

Oh @VenusStarr I'm sending so many hugs your way. This is such a tough time and I remember felling like this in my last FET, I was so sure it had to work, if stressed me out so much. I guess we don't know how we will feel about an outcome until we know it, I know I've been different on finding out the results of my cycles. I guess it's no news is good news right now, like waiting for an exam result ❤️

@VenusStarr it's totally natural to have a wobble, or 5 or 10 wobbles! This last few days is the hardest part. There is just no way to know and that is very hard to handle. We play for ridiculously high stakes here - literally life changing - and there would be something wrong with you if you could stay calm amidst all of that!!! All you can do is distract yourself as much as possible and be kind to yourself. Xxx

@Gardenlady543 thank you for the advice. I'm going for normal bladder. Worst case scenario I can glue water in the room - it takes about 5 minutes for my bladder to fill up. Once when I had an internal scan just after going to the loo the sonographer said she could see my bladder refilling on the scan!

Xxx

Thank you @Janefx40 @Gardenlady543 it was a hard day yesterday. I have been wide awake since 4am again which definitely isn't helping. I'm not feeling as emotional (yet!) I had quite a lot of cramping last night, even aching down my legs. It's so hard when your wired to notice these things. I don't think it's helped that we didn't have much planned yesterday, although we did go to the cinema and our for dinner in the end, it wasn't enough of a distraction. Work days are definitely more manageable.

@Janefx40 I didn't have a full bladder for my biopsy, hope you don't need to! It wasn't fine under ultrasound either x

@VenusStarr you have my full sympathy, having done 5x 2ww this year I know only too well how utterly testing it is. You're nearly there! I'm waiting for PGT A results for the first time - another 2ww (or 2-3) except this one they also don't give you an exact date which makes it somehow worse still 😩

Thank you @whatcangowrong I'm really tired now. I'm super thirsty too. Argh. Just need to be knocked out and wake up in a few days.
I'm sorry you're having a similar wait for your pgs results, that's really hard to not have an actual date deadline. Hoping for good news very soon 🤞 xx

@Gardenlady543 ooh. I didn't know that was a thing. I think I might look at balance activ too.

@Dochas121 sorry, I missed the cancer scare too. So you have the all clear now?

@VenusStarr sorry about your wobble. There's just such a lot riding on it that the pressure builds and it all has to come out sometimes. Be kind to yourself.

@whatcangowrong hang in there.

@Janefx40 normal bladder sounds good. I've also been told they can see my bladder filling up too.

@seven201 you might want to try some vaginal pH tests, I've been using these ones www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07WNQJGJP/ref=cmswrcpapigltfabc_8PQ98Y2B374Z1EFD0QYW
You shouldn't do them when on your period or in the 3-4 days after as menstrual increases the pH.

I have been using them and it showed that my pH is consistently high so I just thought I'd add in the balance activ in case that's part of the puzzle I need to solve with getting recolonized. I remember your Emma being quite good so hopefully your pH is acidic.

@Dochas121 I just remembered that you were worried about cancer with the endometrium thickness. I was reading about how my microflora might increase the risk and got worried as well. I think some things to focus on are:

• endometrial cancer usually occurs in people who are post menopause, in the cases where it happens before menopause there are usually symptoms like bleeding between periods.
• we are so frequently monitored with our us scans at the moment which is reassuring. If we were worried about our risk post menopause we could very easily arrange regular trans vaginal us scans to check everything is ok.

@whatcangowrong I hope you get your Pgt-A results back asap

@whatcangowrong best of luck with the results. It's a tough wait. My clinic usually just call when the results come back but I couldn't handle the idea of jumping whenever the phone rang (or watching the call come in when I was in a meeting or something). I actually asked the clinic to email me when the results were in to then arrange a time to call. I found that easier to manage!

Fingers crossed for you xxx

So nervous about biopsies tomorrow. Won't have any time to reflect or recover either as have to dash straight back to stuff afterwards!! Going to take paracetamol and ibuprofen beforehand to get ahead of pain. Or will ibuprofen impact results? They did say to take painkillers but can't remember if they specified.

Argh! Must relax. Maybe it won't be as bad as I think.

Good luck @Janefx40 I took ibuprofen (wasn't told not to) and cocodamol. I hope it's manageable for you. Let us know how you get on.

Still wobbly today and convinced its not worked 😢 my sister popped round unexpectedly and I just burst into tears, she had no idea we'd done a transfer as I'd wanted to keep things just us and then if it was good news I could surprise her. But nevermind. Needed the hug. I briefly thought about testing today but it absolutely terrifies me, so will just have to wait for the inevitable. X

@VenusStarr you honestly can't tell at this stage in my opinion. Hold tight a day or two longer!

@VenusStarr how many days post r u? It’s so hard the 2ww . Not long now
Keeping Eveything crossed

8dp5dt today @Cream123 I'm exhausted with the constant thinking. Luckily my dh is off tomorrow. We've decided to go out for a couple of hours in the afternoon (am working most of the day) and we've planned a nice dinner. So glad he will be home with me. Thank you and to you @whatcangowrong x

When r u testing? I broke this time and tested at 6dp…but I usually do 7dp. Well done for waiting. There is just no way of knowing till u do that test. I can even bare to watch the line appear or not. I always run downstairs and let my dh look and let me know! It’s awful waiting!