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?

@Reefy yes I would just use the new one if you have it. They didn't give me enough menopur luckily I worked it out prior to needing it and had to pick another pack mid STIMS Xx

@heasmanne yes I thought was best. Well I started last Friday & I have a whole new pack & should be triggering either Monday or Wednesday so i will have enough luckily. Thank you 😊

@Reefy Exciting! Xx

Hi all, Haven't posted for a little while as still waiting to get started but wanted to say hello to everyone who's joined in the last week @want2bemum @GodspeedJune @heasmanne @Coops0406 @Mimishy And Congratulations on bfp @Frenchie86 - lovely news. Hope you have a happy and healthy nine months ahead

AF caught me by surprise last night, so will be calling clinic first thing tomorrow to arrange first scan and hopefully starting stims tomorrow evening.
Does anyone know much about the rationale on why they chose certain meds and protocols? Last time I was on fostimon for the first 6 days of stims, which I have found through my googling is an FSH only stim, then I switched to meriofert, which apparently has both LH and FSH (I think same as menopur, which seems to be used more often). This time will be on meriofert only. Really hoping this leads to better quality embryos as that was our downfall last time- only 20% of our day 3 embryos made blastocysts. However, not really sure how much effect the meds can have on this
Hope everyone is well and having good weekends

Hi @KatRee!

Exciting that you are getting started soon!

I don't know much about rationales really but could you ask the clinic about it, if they have time and are willing to talk it through with you?

Everyone is just so different and responds differently to the meds and there are so many ways they can tweak it to suit your body. It's amazing really.

It always feels to me like there is a huge element of just trusting the clinic to know what they're doing, which I find really scary as I like to understand what's going on, but I'm not a fertility expert. (Maybe I will be by the end of this process... who knows!)

Good luck with your cycle.

@KatRee yeah I'm not sure on that one either. I wish you all the best for your cycle! 🤞

@want2bemum good luck for your scan today (if you have one as I do)😂

@Reefy Thank you! And you also!

I just got back, all is looking good and I am booked in for my egg collection first thing Wednesday morning. They are expecting me to have around 12-14 follicles big enough to collect from, so that sounds good, as long as my partner's sample is good enough.

I'm nervous about the procedure but the nurses were very reassuring.
Actually the thing I'm now the most upset about is that I can't have my usual morning coffee on the day so I'm going to be super cranky!

@want2bemum that's brillant! You will be fine, I was exactly the same it sounds worse then it is 😂. I know I was like what no tea 😂😂 the clinic said I had to take a drink & snacks in with me when I went in & the same this time.

I’m also ready for Wednesday!
I have 15 that are between 14-21mm I & a few smaller ones 22 in total including the smaller ones but obviously they won’t know if any good! I defiantly feel like I’m ready as I feel quite full if that makes sense. Normal injections at 8pm as usual & Trigger at 11pm tonight (I go to sleep about 9-9.30pm) 😂😴🥱 x

@want2bemum @Reefy Good luck for Wednesday! 🤞🏻Xx

@heasmanne thank you 😊 x

Hi,

I am new to the IVF forum. We did our egg collection on Saturday 30th October, we did Mild IVF and they collected 6 eggs.

We had to do ICSI and the call the next day said 5 fertilised and they expect all 5 to go to Blastocyst stage. They also said we can expect to freeze 2 or 3 embryos. They will give me a call on Day 3 to give me an update on how they are doing. And hope to do a fresh transfer on Thursday!

Just carrying on with the progesterone pessaries 3 times a day.

@Shaj123 Hi,
Hope you are feeling ok after the collection. That's good that 5 fertilised! That will be brilliant to be able to have some to freeze!
All the best for the transfer on Thursday!

Hi Reefy,

Thank you! I felt unbelievably bloated after the egg collection which has reduced but not sure if the pessaries are causing it too.

Hopefully all 5 stay till Thursday

@want2bemum @Reefy they’re good numbers! Wishing you the best of luck for Wednesday!!

@Shaj123 wishing you the best of luck that they all make it!

@Reefy How strange that we are just lining up on everything! Yes I'm definitely feeling quite full too, made my partner laugh the other day when I said it's like walking around with two water balloons inside me

@Shaj123 Welcome! Great news that you have some to freeze. Good luck and everything crossed for you. Is this your first cycle? I have heard of Mild IVF but not sure quite what it is, can I ask why you had that instead of regular IVF? (If you're happy sharing of course!) x

Question for those with any knowledge/ experience...

With the Day 3/ Day 5 embryo transfers, is there any reason they pick one over the other?

As I have egg collection on Wednesday, the transfer could be Saturday or Monday, but I don' t know which is most likely.

My partner wants his sister to visit Saturday but it might be transfer day so could be a bit weird!

Hi @want2bemum,

We went with the Mild IVF route as the dosage amount appealed to us, less drugs over a shorter period of time however some people do say it can be the same amount of drugs as the normal protocol but its done over 9 days or so.

I felt fine with the dosages we were given, was expecting some side effects but completely fine. I was on Benfola, Cetrocide from Day 8 and the trigger given on Day 11. Egg collection on Day 13.

We have one daughter who turned 3 years old in September and we have been trying since she was 2 years old. They said it is secondary infertility although I feel my AMH which is 14.8 is on the low side.

My husband's analysis in May came back as normal however in September his analysis came back as 2% for morphology and 29% for the motility. This is why they advised we do ICSI.

@PositiveeVibes thank you

@want2bemum so weird it's the same time 😂 next thing would be the same clinic 😂😂
I had a day 3 last time as there was 1 doing well & the rest not so good so I think instead or risking losing it they wonder if It will be better inside you.
They called me the morning of day 3 & said please come in this afternoon so it could be last minute as they normally call the day after egg collection then day 3 to update or get you in. I believe some clinics don't do day 3 transfers so I've heard.

@KatRee

Hi all, Haven't posted for a little while as still waiting to get started but wanted to say hello to everyone who's joined in the last week *@want2bemum* *@GodspeedJune* *@heasmanne* *@Coops0406* *@Mimishy And Congratulations on bfp @Frenchie86* - lovely news. Hope you have a happy and healthy nine months ahead

AF caught me by surprise last night, so will be calling clinic first thing tomorrow to arrange first scan and hopefully starting stims tomorrow evening.
Does anyone know much about the rationale on why they chose certain meds and protocols? Last time I was on fostimon for the first 6 days of stims, which I have found through my googling is an FSH only stim, then I switched to meriofert, which apparently has both LH and FSH (I think same as menopur, which seems to be used more often). This time will be on meriofert only. Really hoping this leads to better quality embryos as that was our downfall last time- only 20% of our day 3 embryos made blastocysts. However, not really sure how much effect the meds can have on this
Hope everyone is well and having good weekends

Thank you @KatRee wishing you success in your second round! I'm not really sure re protocols, but have you ever read It Starts With The Egg? I think that really helped with my egg quality, though of course I can't be 100% sure x

Thanks @want2bemum @Reefy @Frenchie86 . Yeah, I think I just have to trust they age. A radon for changing the protocol and see what happens. It can be a bit difficult to speak to doctors at my clinic outside of scheduled appointments and I don't know if the nurses will comment on the prescription, so in the meantime I've been googling. Very bad, must stop

@want2bemum @reefy - Sounds like you both have a good number of follicles. Weirdly I quite enjoyed my EC the first time round, I was quite worried about it beforehand, but it was just a nice sleep! And they gave me tea and biscuits afterwards. Hope it goes well for you both

Hi @Shaj123 - sounds like a very good result so far. Do you mind me asking how old you are? I've been toying with the idea of asking about mild or natural modified ivf for next time if this round doesn't go well. I'm 37 and heard that some people think mild ivf is better for egg quality, which I seemed to have an issue with on my first round. 🤞your embryos thrive

@want2bemum Most clinics aim for day 5 transfers nowadays, but they might recommend a day 3 if when they look at the embryos on day 3 they think none will make it to day 5. That's because there's a theory that they do better in the womb rather than the lab, but if you have a few looking good day 3, they take them to day 5 to get a better idea of which are the strongest and most likely to implant

Thanks @Frenchie86. Yes, I've been on supplementssince reading iswte in March. I started on the 'basic' plan and ramped it up every few months, so by the time I had my last ivf cycle I was on everything in the advanced plan except DHEA and melatonin as I wouldn't take those without doctors advice. They did get more eggs than expected out of me, so I think it may have helped, but I got a bit lazy with it since the failed cycle- I take everything in the morning, but that's it, so not getting a full dose of ubiquinol right now and I think that's the best one ( and of course the most expensive!) I'm planning to really go for it next time if this cycle fails

Actually it's in danger of not even getting started as they found a cyst at my baseline scan. They are thinking it's too small to cause any harm, so will start stims tonight, but back to clinic Wednesday for another scan to check on it. So many hurdles in this process- I don't want to fall at the first one, but if it's bad then the nurse said going ahead this cycle would be a complete waste of time and money ☹️

Hello everyone just catching up with messages as only just starting my cycle now. Had my baseline scan today and everything all good so start STIMS tomorrow. Getting excited now that finally starting the whole process. Sounds like lots of people are at the egg collection and near transfer so wishing everyone the best of luck. Looking forward to next week to see how my eggs are getting on x

Hi, @KatRee,

I’m 31, turning 32 in Jan. Yes the mild IVF route seems to be more focused on better quality egg rather than quantity.

I never thought we would go down this route as I got pregnant with my daughter and we weren’t even trying so thought it would be the same the second time around.

Hi @KatRee they’re so expensive aren’t they? And having to remember to take them all is really annoying, just another thing to think about. I’m sorry they found a cyst, hopefully it’s nothing to worry about. I have a chocolate cyst on each ovary and they weren’t worried about it and went ahead anyway so hoping it’s a similar situation for you. I know how you feel, so many hurdles with starting the treatment, then hoping you have enough follicles, enough eggs, then enough fertilised etc. I was a bit worried as I didn’t think they collected that many (7) and then only 5 fertilised, but in the end we transferred one and got 3 to freeze. So yes there’s always something to worry about hehe but you’ll totally get through it, hoping all goes well x

@KatRee yes it seems I have more then last time so hopefully some to freeze. Oh did they I have to take my own drink & snack 😂😂

@Tiger86 that's good news & good luck with the stims tomorrow!

@Frenchie86 how are you getting on? Have you got your scan booked?

@PositiveeVibes don’t beat yourself up either with the negative thoughts, I definitely had them this round. It’s hard when you’re in that situation where you’ve been TTC for so long and are basically used to disappointment every month when your period comes. So glad you found the injections ok!