IVF October/November 2021

[TheSnufflet]

I can't see that anyone else has started one yet, so I thought I may as well!

Just got my calendar through today and will be downregging in three weeks time, starting stims in late October, with EC provisionally in early November. This is my second round, which will now be ICSI-only after my last one ended up with a total fertilisation failure

Anyone else on the same sort of timeframe?

@ExhaustedPigeon1988 thanks for that, I got more probiotics and vitamin D - stocked up for months now! I didn’t get pregnancy Multi as I couldn’t see one with natural folate which I need to take rather than synthetic folic acid as I have the MTHR gene.

@Gensola no probs, glad to help x

Hey, how's everyone doing?

I'm still symptom spotting which is infuriating because I have quite a few but I know that they could also be symptoms of the cyclogest pessaries I'm taking or an upcoming AF. IVF really likes to torture us doesn't it!

I hope everyone is well and has a nice end to the week/ start to the weekend. I've fully recovered from the OHSS now and hoping to go to a deer park with DH on Sunday - will be a nice change of scenery after all this time at home :)

@KatRee good luck for Egg collection today.

Thanks so much @Reefy - getting nervous now!

Glad you're recovered from the OHSS @want2bemum. I think it's impossible not to symptom spot, even if logically we know it can't tell us anything. Google can't tell me how many embryos I'm going to get either, doesn't stop me disappearing down the rabbit hole - and I said I wouldn't this time.

It's just such a hard waiting game

Hope everyone is doing ok today

@want2bemum glad you have recovered. Oh yes it's so hard isn't it! Oh that will be nice to get out for the day!

Hi @KatRee, good luck with today's egg collection, hope it goes well.

@want2bemum felt unwell a couple of nights ago, just feeling really hot and sharp pains on my right hand side but felt better yesterday morning. Thinking was it a sign but did another pregnancy test and it was negative. Deer park sounds nice, its nice to take your mind off things.

I think we will be consulting Dr Ramsay about my husbands SA after Monday. His morphology came back as 2% and motility as 29% and I've heard morphology can be the most difficult to change.

@KatRee good luck today!

Thanks @PositiveeVibes I have what should be the last scan today! 🤞 I had an extra scan as follicles weren’t growing but they are slowly growing now. How are you getting on?

Good luck everyone!

@KatRee Sending lots of luck for egg collection, I’m in a similar boat, expecting 3 eggs, let’s just hope they are kick ass ones!! X

@Shaj123 I don’t want to get your hopes up but pregnancy blood tests are far more accurate. I’m not going to test with urine tests and will just wait for the blood test. You’ve still got hope. Sending you lots of baby dust x

Also my DH has 2% morphology and 28% fragmentation. If this IVF cycle doesn’t work we will also be seeing a urologist to try and help this. We have our long awaited NHS urology appt Dec 22nd! Been waiting 6 months for this one

Thank you @ChocolateinBrugges, yes we shall see on Monday but think I'm just resigned that it won't be a positive.Whats a good percentage for DNA fragmentation? I don't think my DH's sperm analysis ever looked at that.

@Shaj123 @ChocolateinBrugges Similar figures here on semen analysis. It seems like male factor is less talked about generally, it's good to know people going through similar. It sucks but there is hope xx
I think we need to see a urologist too but I guess they will wait and see the outcome of this cycle first. 6 months is a long wait! I hope you get something helpful out of it.

Thanks @KatRee and good luck for your egg collection.

@Shaj123

Thank you *@ChocolateinBrugges*, yes we shall see on Monday but think I'm just resigned that it won't be a positive.Whats a good percentage for DNA fragmentation? I don't think my DH's sperm analysis ever looked at that.

This is what I found on Google:

15% or less fragmentation – excellent sperm DNA integrity
15-to 25% DFI – good to fair.
25 – 50% DFI – fair to poor.
50% or greater DFI – extremely poor sperm DNA integrity.

I think we're bordering the 2nd and 3rd category.

Hi @want2bemum, thanks for providing this info, would be good to look at this if this cycle fails. I think looking at the SA should always be looked at, I think IVF clinics will always recommend ICSI when sperm is less than ideal but a lot of times it can be improved if they find out the cause.

@want2bemum it’s so hard to not symptom spot isn’t it! Glad you’ve recovered and a day out sounds lovely!

@KatRee wishing you luck today!

@Shaj123 good luck with your consultation!

@ChocolateinBrugges good luck with you scan today hope it’s your last one!

I had second follicle scan today biggest at 17mm and lining nice and thick! Didn’t tell me how many etc. As was kind of a frantic appointment.. 3 times to get my blood and 2 differentl nurses! Hopefully get my plan later maybe another scan Monday EC Wednesday - Friday!

Wishing you all the best everyone x

@PositiveeVibes glad it's going in the right direction!

Thank you @Shaj123 @Gensola @ChocolateinBrugges @want2bemum @PositiveeVibes - it's lovely to get good wishes from you all - we haven't told anyone in real life that we're doing another cycle now, so I really appreciate the nice messages

They managed to get the 'best case scenario ' 5 eggs, so relieved about that. Will be another long wait til tomorrow to find out if they are potentially kick-ass or not, but I think the after effects of the sedation are helping me relax for now!

Sorry you've got another negative test @Shaj123 I will keep fingers and toes crossed that it's different by otd. I always find it helps me to have a plan of what we'll look into trying next in case things don't work out too.

I've heard a lot about Dr Ramsey on here - it's good there is someone who takes the male side of things so seriously and actively helps people improve it. Seems too often it's either assumed not to be an issue after only basic tests or clinics rely on ICSI only to overcome any problems

@ChocolateinBrugges Glad to hear your follicles are growing now. 🤞quality over quantity for both of us

Sorry you've had a frantic appointment @PositiveeVibes - good news about follicle and lining growing nicely though - hope EC is here before you know it

@KatRee aww I feel the same no one knows we are even going through any of this! It’s been so nice to relate to people on here! Grateful for you all! Glad they got best case scenario and hoping they stick around!!
Thank you! I knew it was too good to be true the other day ha ha! I was adamant they would get my blood though!!

Just had an appointment through for tomorrow for another scan! EC might be sooner than I thought!!

Im so grateful for you all also. Infertility is an isolating, hard journey.

So I had my final scan, out of the 3 follicles that were growing nicely, 1 has just stopped. I’m 9 days into STIMS and on day 11 of my cycle, we are looking at 1 follicle at 17mm and 1 at 18mm, they’ve given me more STIMS for tonight and tomorrow and then egg collection is potentially Monday.

The nurse was as lovely as you could imagine, she said it’s quality over quantity. I started crying and she gave me a hug and said don’t despair, you could have two excellent eggs right there. When we started this process I thought we just had DH’s sperm to contend with but now I think we have an egg issue too. I guess our ‘unexplained’ infertility isn’t anymore. One thing it’s made me realise is that IVF is an easy process in terms of the injections etc so if we have to do it all again, I’m not scared now.

I’ve also not told any friends in real life. Only my parents and DH know the details. And DH’s family also know we are going through IVF but not the dates and details. Having you ladies to talk to is giving me so much comfort.

@PositiveeVibes
Can I ask please what bloods you are getting done? They haven’t done any bloods and I wonder if I need them?

Baby dust to all of us x x x

@KatRee Great to hear they got the best case scenario 💕

@ChocolateinBrugges aww as we all say is quality over quantity but it’s so hard!! Yes the injections are the easiest part I’ve realised it’s everything else that comes with it!
Yeah we have kept it private too as don’t want all the questions etc it’s enough pressure as it is!

I am not sure what the blood test actually is but it’s to see if my scan is matching up to my bloods! But nurse did say it’s not overly important scan is the most important thing! X

Oh lovely @ChocolateinBrugges I'm sorry not all of your follicles are behaving as they should. It's positive those two are very similar in size though- my 5 were all different sizes, so not really expecting 5 mature eggs. Also, it may be a protocol rather than an inste egg issue and if you do need to go again, they can maybe look at that and try something different

I desperately did not want to do ivf when I first became concerned about how long we'd been ttc with no results. I really did not think I could cope with such an intensive, invasive procedure on top of the emotional side. But once I got going in my first cycle I realised the medical side of things really wasn't so bad. I know partly that's just luck in that I've not had many side effects from the meds and I'm also extremely fortunate to be close to my clinic. When the first transfer didn't work out I signed up for a 3 cycle package and hoping persistence pays off. At the moment it's really helping knowing that even if this one doesn't work out, the doctors will be able to make observations and possibly tweak things, so it feels like it's not in vain
Just a shame we have to bankrupt ourselves in the process

@KatRee was that through access fertility you done the 3 package? They wouldn't go any guarantee/refund plan for us, which made me concerned before we even started, we are on a standard multicycle, so it's paid for whether it works or not x