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 😁

Oh it's apparently three weeks until the transfer, in a natural cycle, cause it's ovulation + 7 days. So much waiting...

@LT103 I'm not sure if they'll scan me in the beginning of the cycle or only when ovulation is near, they haven't actually told me if I'm doing natural or medicated (I just assume natural). It's the first time doing FET so it's all new for me.

That's very exciting @SamTTC

I have no pearls of wisdom, never done FET, but I have had a cyst delay my treatment; I'll resent it forever, it's the difference between me doing this at 39 and doing it at 40, with all the accompanying statistics and write-offs 🙄 mine hung around for 3-4 months, throughout my (delayed) first cycle and then vanished completely... good riddance 😉

I totally get your anxiety on that one... I keep expecting the bugger to show up again in all my scans 😂

I've been getting cramps for the last couple of days, and feeling so bloated. I'm hoping it's just from the ridiculous amount of progesterone that I'm on, and not AF

How many days are you @ginandtonicformeplease ?

@HJen22
@AliceAbsolum Thank you it's dragging :(

@AliceAbsolum
Now when I read your posts I can hear your voice, i pictured you with longer hair for some reason- no idea why.

My clinic scans me at 3 weeks of we are lucky enough to get that far so I'm relieved about that- then they will transfer me back to GP if all goes ok.
How are you feeling today?

@LuckyNovember how are you feeling?

@LT103 That is amazing!!! I expect your ecstatic right now 

@Nutrinerd I was lucky in that my stims were between 6-8pm and I choose 7:30 to make sure I was home from work by then- I can be out later than this in emergencies it's the type of work I am in, but as my boss knew someone would have had to take the emergency late afternoon or swap with me. My pessaries are every 12 hours so I choose 7am and 7pm so I could lie down for the half an hour.

@SamTTC that's great news! Did you have to call to tell them when day 1 was? Will they have you in this week to discuss your plan?

Xx

Hi ladies, hope you don’t mind me jumping on the thread. I’m on cd2 today and start my first injection tonight. Feeling very nervous as this is our first cycle of ivf.
A little about me, I’m 34 and suffer with long cycles and they are all over the place. My AMH is 34 so slightly polycystic, so I’m doing a short cycle of ivf. I have an under active thyroid but other than that not quite sure why I haven’t fallen pregnant at all in 4yrs as there isn’t anything wrong with my OH.
Any advice or tips to help me through this cycle?

@SamTTC whoop whoop exciting stuff

@LT103 Incredible! What's the diagnosis for the infertility? If you don't mind me asking.

@PMAmostofthetime Ha ha that's funny, people do write how they talk too don't they. I also had long hair most of my life so you're not wrong.

@hjen22 Glad you're doing OK. I think with exercise every little counts. The nhs guidance for exercise in pregnancy (which quite a few consultants recommend for those TTC) is 30 mins walking a day so you're doing way more than that with the dog walking too.

Welcome @Suki2020 Totally understandable to feel nervous. I still do and I'm on number 4. Tips wise I'd say take it step by step, don't try to think too far ahead. Prioritize your health and well-being and talk to us and to people irl. Women are doing what we are doing all the time all around the world, we got this :)

Hi @Suki2020, welcome! Exciting that you are starting. I understand that it is so frustrating that you haven't fallen pregnant. When you say underactive thyroid, is that hypothyroidism? In that case it might be worth looking into whether the cause is an autoimmune issue.

PCOS/PCO can cause ovulation issues as far as I know so it is very good you are doing IVF. They say outcomes are good for PCOS patients don't they?

@AliceAbsolum unexplained infertility. All my tests and my OH came back normal. I worry that my issues are implantation as I spot and bleed sometimes from 7 or 8 days after ovulation. I still need to discuss this part with the consultant but I’m hoping a medicated cycle will help!

Hi @AliceAbsolum thanks for relying. Are you doing short or long protocol?

Hi @SamTTC thanks for replying. Yes it’s hypothyroidism. I’ve been tested for auto immune disease about a year ago. I think ladies with a high AMH respond well yes. I think I’m only slightly PCOS as my AMH is 34 but not too sure. I know ladies with PCOS are more likely to over stimulate during treatment, so really hoping that doesn’t happen.
How you feeling about your first FET?

@Suki2020 I'm doing a frozen transfer. 2 embabies put in yesterday :)

@Suki2020
Welcome, this is my first cycle too, I'm unexplained fertility- I still don't know my AMH but I will ask tomorrow when I go in for ET.

We have beenTTC for 6 years and no causes found with either of us I have a pinhole cervix but they all keep saying if stuff comes out stuff can get in. My cycles are long too.

My biggest advice to you is to ask your clinic lots of questions, once they have given you your plan. I assumed that my OH didn't need to be with me for scans so we didn't arrange time off work for him and then found out he needed to be there for Covid swabs.

My clinic told me afterward that all day 3 of period appointments are between 1-3.
All scans are before 1 and all EC are before 12. ET date is always going to be depending if it's day 3 or day 5 unless it's blast so we expected that to be u certain.
If I had know this before it would have been easier to plan work for us both. So ask questions lot of them and ask them to explain every step of the way :).

This thread has been a life saver for me and really helped me through.
I have needle phobia and I got through it with lots of diva fits, tears and these guys on here.

My OH injected me and I couldn't have done it without him. I prepared him that my moods may get bad but honestly Northesteroine was the worse mood change for me so far. The rest of the time I have just been really tearful, at the tv, peoples good news on here etc

@Suki2020 I meant unless it's FET not Blast- I am short protocol.

Oh another thing you need to know you need a lot of panty liners if you will be using pessaries after EC.

I had some fluid on my right ovary at scans so to prevent OHSS I was told to drink 3 litres of water a day- isotonic drinks like lucozade sport ( I know a lot of fluid and a lot of seeing) and a high protein diet of at least 60g a day. I'm not a fan of meat so I have a protein shake, eggs, tuna and yoghurt.
You could start this as soon as stims start to prevent.

I second the panty liners 🤣 never really understood who the target market was for them... well now I know!!

The post collection drugs took me by surprise too (I have patches and pessaries) but overall I found the drugs ok. Once you get started stimming, it actually goes quite quickly.

@AliceAbsolum aww fingers crossed for you hun.

@PMAmostofthetime I’m starting with menopur injections tonight and fyremadel from day5 in the mornings. I have my first scan next Monday on cd8. I didn’t know about needing that much protein but I will add more into my diet. I got told I needed to drink a lot of water to help prevent OHSS.

@Suki2020 welcome! I sound like a more extreme version of you! I have underactive and overactive thyroid (underactive at the moment but I have both Graves disease and Hashimotos thyroiditis) and I have PCOS but I take meds for it so ovulation etc is OK and AMH is OK.

Is your doctor keeping an eye on your thyroid? I've been having monthly bloods for the last 6 months or so but my thyroid is batshit so you might not need quite as frequent testing. Just make sure TSH is between 1 and 2 and it should be fine.

@Suki2020 you’re on the same protocol as I was. Menopur and fyremadel. I had buserilin trigger. I was absolutely fine tho the fyremadel is a bit stingy after it goes in. They were worried about ohss for me and although I had 31 or 33 follicles I only got 9 eggs and now have 7 little frozen embryos. I wasn’t allowed to do fresh transfer because of my protocol so just need to wait it out now.
Good luck with injections. You will be absolutely fine!!!
I started to drink as much water as I could and got electrolyte tablets for water/lucozade sport even towards end of stims and def for first few days after collection!

@Suki2020 welcome, I also have an underactive thyroid (congenital) and pcos. My thyoxine levels were increased by 25mg when I got a positive test in a previous pregnancy. And my clinic wanted to make sure my levels were ok before proceeding with each transfer.

In terms of my protocol, a medicated cycle with high levels of progesterone, and blood thinners, got me pregnant but I then miscarried at 10 weeks. I then had my embryos genetically tested and added steroids/interlipids to my crazy amounts of progesterone, and blood thinners, and carried that pregnancy to term.

@LT103, because of my pcos I always spotted (not red blood, brown) for a good 4 days before I got my period, and when I looked into it I think I don't produce enough progesterone, so my lining started shredding early. Although the spotting did last all the way up to my period so if you're spotting and then stop spotting then it could be something else. If you're similar to me then it may be worth discussing having quite a lot of progesterone before your transfer to help make the womb nice and receptive

@Suki2020 I’m feeling alright about it, it’s a weird feeling because I think I’ve over-researched this entire process so I’m kind of stuck in worrying I have all sorts of undiagnosed implantation issues. And without PGT testing I also know not all the embryos will be viable, so it’s hard to be optimistic! I’ve had 4 iuis and 1 fresh transfer since starting fertility treatments last year, so there’s no reason to be as worried as I am yet. I just am a worrier, I can’t help it 😶

How are you all doing in your two week waits?

By the way @Suki2020 will your cd8 scan be your very first? It’s the first time I’ve heard of anyone not having a baseline scan at the beginning of their cycle but maybe it’s just about clinic variation thing?

@Suki2020 welcome! I’m also on my first IVF cycle. The ladies have given some great advice! The only thing I would add is to be patient and not to get disheartened if you seem to be behind where you thought you would be. I had to continue my stims for 5 or 6 days more than we had planned and I kept getting told my follicles were small/not as many as they wanted so felt down and I even cried during one of the scans… but so far it has all worked out. Just give yourself time, none of us have been a textbook case 🙂

@LT103 WOHOOOOO!!! I’m so pleased for you! Hopefully you will never have to do this process again

@SamTTC so pleased your cycle has started and didn’t make you wait! Keep us posted on what the process for you now is

@PMAmostofthetime how are you doing? Ready for tomorrow? I’d like to just fast forward 2 or 3 weeks now!

@HJen22 well done for going to the gym anyways today. I have a love hate relationship with the gym and go through phases so I hope you have more discipline than me.
Are you re-starting at the end of your next cycle?

@LuckyNovember I literally thought this, this morning when I was opening another huge box. 🤣😂
I used to think they were pointless.

@Suki2020 I was on Meriofert then added in certrotide on day 4 scan on day 6,8 and 10 was planned but I was ready at day 8 and had EC day 10.

I wasn't told until I had fluid on my right ovary, then they told me at least 60G protein and 3 litres of water post EC I have also been drinking sports drinks with electrolytes in and had a few dioralyte.

@SamTTC @Suki2020 I didn't have a baseline scan, I had one months ago through gynaecology.

@Steph2345 I'm anxious, I'm just lying down for 30 mins after my pessary and then I'm going to read paperwork, check my bad and shower incase they ring first thing as I love 1.5 hours away and I still have no time. Randomly every other time I have been rang the day before to be asked about Covid symptoms and to do an LFT bit not today. I just hope my embryos made it.

How are you?

How's everyone in 2ww- hopefully me and @Steph2345 will be joining you soon 🤞🏼

Bag*
Live*

Good luck tomorrow @Steph2345 @PMAmostofthetime May you have a gentle doctor and big numbers 😎