IVF / FET March/April 2022

[AliceAbsolum]

Thought I'd start a thread for those starting rounds in the next few months.

I'm 36. TTC for 6 years. This will be my 4th transfer. It's a double embryo FET in Cyprus.

Welcome welcome 😁

@LT103 good work with the first injection and that you’ve also got time off if your job is physical. I’ve been resting a lot more this and I think it’s important to do so.

Sorry to hear @HJen22 about your stress with the shot. This whole business is stressful enough without that. I hope things are going better now.

@HJen22 hope your feeling better now after the trigger Incident.

We have sorted our app now, not that we would have dreamed of missing it but it's just added stress we booked days off last week but AF didn't play ball and we stupidly thought we could do early morning or last pm app!
Lesson learnt.

I'm over the stress now that we are going tomorrow and trying to listen to this quote :)

@wholemeal121 I know our whole lives do revolve around this atm but that's the point we need to work ready to fund the ones after NHS- glad it all went well 21! Wow!
Did you feel anything?

@LT103 exciting that first injection is done. :)

I planned on working through except for EC +1 day and ET + 1 day

Am I being really naive and stupid?

@HJen22 no stims for me today the clinic need to see me first- so hopefully tomorrow fingers crossed for you tomorrow sending you lots of baby dust for those follicles tonight.

@wholemeal121 yes we have to both go in for swabs- extremely OTT since this rule will stop by 28th March and I'll probably be having collection after that date.

They only do it between 1:45 and 3:35 too so they could have told us that weeks ago.

How are you feeling?

@PMAmostofthetime no not at all. Depends what you do. Next week I’ll be in and out for scans and obviously EC at some point and I can’t really get time off my work at short notice so it just worked best to do it this way. Work have been great and they’ve just put it through as an extra holiday. I figured it would help take some stress off me but not sure sitting around all day on Google is my best plan 😂

@PMAmostofthetime are you doing your ivf in Cyprus or are you there for work? Or both? I missed that!

@wholemeal121 21 follicles is a great outset (and it was in your username all along haha)! Have they reported fertilisation rate? Crossing fingers :)

@SamTTC I think I'm the Cyprus one Unless @PMAmostofthetime is too and I've missed that!

@wholemeal121 Wow 21 is amazing! Congrats. When will you hear how many fertilised?

@HJen22 Good luck You'll be grand.

@PMAmostofthetime EC plus 1 and ET plus 1 sounds fine to me. I found EC much more draining than ET so if you have a stressful or physical job maybe take 2 days off after EC?

I've discovered Turkish coffee, done on the hob. Its SO good. But I'm going to switch to a small cup of instant after ET. I stopped caffeine for my first 2 rounds - BFN, and drank coffee after ET then stopped when I got my BFP. So I'm sticking with the caffeine this time. Its personal choice isnt it, for me sitting around not exercising not drinking coffee and having s strict diet would just stress me out. I dont drink so thats one thing not to have to give up!

Oh I’m sorry @AliceAbsolum I must have messed up your usernames! Then it all makes more sense 😂

My clinic really wants us to go completely caffeine free. It’s the only place I’ve ever seen give this advice.
I managed to cut down to one cup of normal coffee in the morning, and then decaf for the rest. Cutting it out completely was impossible for me!

@LT103 my job makes short notice difficult l, luckily my Manager is so understanding and just said you have to do what you have to do, so I ring and say I need to go and she said yea that's fine rearrange what you can. I'll get the team to cover the rest.

@SamTTC although I wish I was in Cyprus right now I'm in Wales it's @AliceAbsolum who is in Cyprus for her treatment.

@AliceAbsolum Thank You for the advise I better take some extra days.

I don't drink coffee but caffeinated soft drinks are a huge vice of mine so I have cut down a lot. It was a really bad habit so hoping I can stick at it.

Apparently Cyprus is having the coldest March it's had for decades. The wind is bitter. But it's not raining so that's good.

I've decided to work the day after ET. But only a couple of hours so it'll be fine.

@AliceAbsolum oh no, is it nice to be away though? You managing to do anything nice?

Just been to appointment- Stims start tonight scan 21st and 23rd to see if EC is 25th or 28th.

Hope your first stims went ok @PMAmostofthetime.
We're not doing much at all and loving it tbh. We're Vanlife vloggers (moved into the van full time the day the UK went into its 3rd lock down Jan last year) so we've been traveling non stop - France, Spain, Italy Croatia, Bosnia, Scotland, Portugal. Which has been absolutely fantastic. But it's not an easy lifestyle in a lot of ways and it's fantastic at the moment to have a break from the van. Just to have a flushing toilet, shower, freezer! Is amazing

@SamTTC ooh yeah good point re username!

@AliceAbsolum my fertility nurse said that a coffee a day is fine as there's no clear evidence that no caffeine is best, just that lots might be bad.

@hjen22 How'd your EC go?

My EC all went fine. Slept through it completely and when I work up there was just a tiny bit of mild cramping. It was more painful as the day went on but with paracetamol and hot water bottle it is manageable and I could do a bit more the next day. The embryologist called yesterday to say we had 11 fertilised eggs now we just wait to see how many we have by day 5.

@wholemeal121 11 fertilised is great! And glad to hear you aren’t feeling too much in the days after. I had discomfort for a while after my retrieval, but I wonder if that’s because there were so many eggs left in my left ovary that they didn’t retrieve because they were too small (but looked almost as big to me as the ones they did retrieve), and maybe those follicles continued growing after retrieval 🤔 I’m not totally sure how that works though…

I am still questioning my own result, just trying to work out whether it indicates anything about my egg quality or whether it was just a suboptimal stim protocol. Started out with 16 antral follicles but they triggered me quite early and only pulled out 6 (one was empty). But then all 5 eggs fertilised and 4 made it to blast, 3 good enough to freeze. It’s not a very high number but % wise it’s good. Maybe you can’t really say anything based on just one retrieval, as I can see anecdotally they can vary greatly from cycle to cycle.
I’m ovulating right now in my pause cycle before FET next month, and I can’t help but be a little bit like, noooo… all those little chances….. 😅 does anyone else start to feel that way?

@AliceAbsolum wow that sounds like an absolutely amazing lifestyle! Have you been able to keep that up during covid?

@wholemeal121 great number. Fingers crossed for you

@wholemeal121 11! Nice!!

@SamTTC Yes, since spring last year its been fine. No PCR tests, a few forms and need to show the Covid passport everywhere, but overall no problems, borders all open, etc. So lucky to have had that opportunity to travel when the world was quiet. We went to Venice in August - deserted. Lake District last April - empty. So strange.

@wholemeal121 that's amazing numbers! Well done! Sending all the luck for the next few days!

So sorry for my lack of chat yesterday, EC didn't go quite as well as we'd hoped. We got one egg, and I've had the call today that the little one has fertilised. Gives me some hope ❤️ not out of the woods yet and will get another call tomorrow. Yesterday was a bit of a strange day, I was trying to remain hopeful knowing that it was just the start of our journey and we'd get through it.

@AliceAbsolum wow that sounds amazing! I knew you had a camper but didn't know that's what you guys did, how fun! I'd love a camper van trip!

@hjen22 So tough. Always so disappointing when you dont get the result you hoped for. One day at a time. You're young, that embryo might make it to day 5.

@AliceAbsolum thank you 🤞🏻 expect the unexpected with this journey isn't it! I made it to EC which I've always been terrified about not making. I don't think I've ever felt my heart beat so fast and hard whilst on the phone!

The Dr and nurses were so absolutely lovely. I was fully conscious though, by no means was I asleep, Dr talked to me and showed me the screen etc. I had diazepam to calm my nerves which helped as my BP was through the roof. Woozy with the painkiller drugs (like drunk which has been a while haha) but at least now I know what to expect. Xx

Oh @HJen22 this process is so tough!

Just to give you some reassurance, I know 2 lovely ladies who only got one embryo, both had to have early (day 2/3 transfers) and both are currently pregnant. I really hope it works for you too! Keeping everything crossed x

@Hopeful199 thank you so much, gives me hope to hear stories like that. It does only take one doesn't it. Unfortunately my lining isn't thick enough for a fresh transfer so will be a frozen transfer later if we get to the point of freezing. Trying to see the positive in that and the upside to having a little break in between. I'm feeling emotionally pretty battered and bruised so it would perhaps do me some good xx

@HJen22 sending you lots of positivity! It does only take 1 so hang in there and try to remain hopeful, will be thinking of you 🥰 also, I can't believe you were awake and they were talking to you! I have no recollection of any of my 3 ECs!

@wholemeal121 great news with the 11, you should definitely have a good amount by day 5 which is fab 😊

I had a FET and transferred our last remaining embryo on 03 March and got a faint bfp today OTD, I'm 13dp5dt.... it's too faint right? Should be darker at 13dp5dt? I didn't test until today .

Hi @HJen22 I wanted to send you some positive vibes as I too had egg collection (today) and got 2 eggs. I had 5 follicles and my hormone levels were good but 3 follicles were empty, my heart dropped a little when the nurse told me as I was coming round and I could hear a different lady after me being told she had 12. I wanted to let you know that I know how you feel and I’m pleased you are staying positive and hopeful. I too am doing the same and will be hoping I get good news on fertilisation tomorrow. This journey isn’t for the faint hearted is it?! Keeping my fingers crossed for you.