Embryo batching with PGS testing

[2021ivfagain]

Hello. I thought I’d start a new thread. It seems like the old one has been closed.

It’s been really good to share advice and experiences when going through the ups and downs of embryo batching.

@Sarahk20000

I hope this transfer works for you. You’ve certainly done a lot to prepare. I did acupuncture today again after about a month off.

@2021ivfagain how did you find it after so long? I do like acupuncture but can feel my anxiety getting worse these days as I get into the cycle so it isn’t countering it as much. I was upset today as a friend of mine who is also doing IVF and we were sharing every appointment update hasn’t told me about her pregnancy test result from a week ago. She is speaking normally and happily about many things but not touching on it and I assume she is pregnant. I feel she isn’t telling me because of the time I am having so that made me feel bad as we shared everything (all the negative pregnancy tests of hers and my positive one and subsequent miscarriage) and I would be really happy for her as I am the one who asked her to consider IVF and not put off having children as she was going to wait to turn 35. I know it’s her business and her news but it just upset me that she didn’t tell me and maybe will wait for a 12 week scan before she does. Similarly, someone in my team who I am very close to texted me about his and his wife’s 12 week point of pregnancy and said we needn’t discuss it ever again but he needed to let me know for work reasons. I know people are trying to be nice but somehow that’s making me feel worse if that makes sense? I want people to act like they did and be normal with me. I worry about the impression I must be giving.
Anyway, with regards to this cycle I had my baseline and lining was 1.5mm and no cysts etc so good to start. Hope the next few weeks go quickly. Crgh seem quite booked out as the IVIG was very difficult to book in so things moved a bit by a few days but that was helpful as I did want my transfer to be 1 June if possible. Sometimes the nurses make me nervous as well with missing stuff when the protocol isn’t standard so I have to prompt and check a lot. Let’s see how things go. @2021ivfagain thanks so much for the positive wishes. I feel very down today so it made me feel a bit better and I appreciate that.

@Sarahk20000 Sorry that you're feeling so down. Please don't be hard on yourself - I'm sure you're not projecting anything negative towards others, some people just aren't great at navigating this stuff.

I started IVF over a year ago and at the same time I encouraged my best friend to think about IUI with donor sperm (she is single but we are the same age so it's last chance saloon for both of us). She did go ahead with IUI and got pregnant first time! She now has a beautiful baby and I'm still doing IVF. We are incredibly close and our very different experiences of fertility treatment has never come between us, but I know she found it hard that our fertility journeys were seemingly in opposition. Inevitably she felt the unfairness of it all - she had extraordinary good fortune and I was really struggling. That's a long way of me saying, this is probably more to do with how your friend feels rather than how she thinks you will actually respond. This stuff is so emotionally complex...

I had my FET on Tuesday and found myself fighting tears during the transfer...! I think it was general overwhelm but also this process drains you of hope. Sometimes I wonder if this not a journey to having a baby but a journey to acceptance that I will not. Ive been v low-key with this transfer. I'm telling very few people and being vague about dates. I'm fairly sure this FET hasn't worked as I don't feel anything at all. Last time, when I had a chemical pregnancy, I was very aware of sensations in my womb. We'll see. I hope I am wrong!

Right - time to get in the sunshine and try not to dwell on what we cannot control. Have a great weekend all!

@Sarahk20000

I don't have any friends as soon as they got married and had their kids they dropped me and would meet without me with their kids

10 years on and about 15 friends don't see the value of a childless friend 😔

Now they are having marriage problems and / or trying to get some sort of work prospects going, now I get the odd message which I ignore

Thanks @IUV1980 you are right and I will try and not let other people’s behaviours bother me, as you say this is complicated for everyone. Sorry you felt overwhelmed - you are right the ivf process depletes any positivity. but fingers crossed for a good outcome. It’s very early to be necessarily feeling anything and euploids have a strong chance. Glad you aren’t dwelling on what you can’t control, enjoy the sun and weekend and best of luck for the upcoming pregnancy test 😊

@IVFPrayingForBioChild thats such a shame. Life changes do end up impacting friend circles. I had one friend where even I got tired of taking days off work to do things with her son mainly but went along with it but the meetings got less and less frequent to nothing these days. But overall I don’t see why it needs to, I have other friends where I have been part of seeing their kids get to university age. But I do find life conversations are different for mums and they seem to relate better to each other. IVF definitely is a subject most people (including my own husband lol) don’t seem interested in and find uncomfortable.

@Sarahk20000

I’m sorry you’re feeling upset. The IVF process is exhausting. I cried yesterday as I’m starting to lose hope and wish I could’ve done more cycles last year when my egg quality was really good.

When I was TTC my first, I read Facebook updates of baby announcements which made me feel upset. I was happy for them but at the same time felt very sad. Your friends might just be understanding of your feelings.

The acupuncture sessions are quite short (30 minutes). I felt less relaxed yesterday as my phone rang during the session and had stress that day with the clinic getting my whole prescription wrong! Hopefully, my other sessions will be good.

@IUV1980

When I did my last transfer, I found walks and doing puzzles helped to take my mind off things. I understand you don’t want to tell too many people. My husband’s family ask how things are going with IVF and I always tell my husband to be vague about details as I don’t want too many people knowing every step of it.

If you had the transfer on Tuesday, it’s still a bit early. I’m keeping my fingers crossed for you.

Hi, Just came on here to wish everyone some enjoyment of the sunny weather. Amazingly we may be able to do another round this cycle (instead of skipping a cycle after our cancelled round) as my 6 week post covid risk assessment is on Monday & AF is also due then. However I had quite a bit of ovary and leg pain at ovulation so suspect I still have a cyst or will end up with one if we try again.

@Sarahk20000 the problem is if people are nice about things it’s an upsetting reminder but if they don’t pre warn re: preg announcements I think I’d be more upset that they didn’t consider my feelings, it would make me feel as though my experience & loss didn’t matter. Either way it makes you feel crap. I expect your friend is just dealing with their own emotions before they say anything.

@IVFPrayingForBioChild i have very few friends just fallen out of touch with people post uni etc..my closest friend is very supportive but doesn’t know about the IVF. I haven’t told her as she can be a bit over sympathetic at times which I find unhelpful. She also has her own mental health issues & I don’t think she would really be able to grasp the difficulties of IVF but perhaps I’m doing her a disservice. My other close friend I barely spoke to over lockdown I really thought we would speak on the phone more, she did ring when I had a panic over something with my IVF treatment but apart from the occasional message since then we haven’t spoken, we keep trying to meet up but it hasn’t panned out. I think she is just busy with her two boys and doesn’t realise how hard IVF is or just doesn’t know what to say. I have one other friend I have made through my support group but that’s quite a new friendship she also had a loss after IVF plus there is an old friend we occasionally see for dinner a couple of times a year at most. We have a big family though and spend most of our social time with them. I keep thinking I should start some kind of miscarriage/IVF social group as there seem to be quite a few of us in the west mids.

Hi everyone, Hope you enjoyed the sunshine this weekend. And I really sympathise with the challenges of friends and pregancy announcements etc. It's really tricky as obviously you're happy for them, especially friends who have struggled, but it's hard not to feel left behind.

A more specific question: has anyone had to take ultrogestan for a FET? The nurse said it could make me dizzy/light-headed and it definitely does! And needs to be taken 3 times a day - not ideal for work.

Also I've asked CRGH about embryo glue. Does anyone have any thoughts on it? It's amber on the HFEA website but there's no harm so I'm inclined to request it (depending on cost I suppose).

I think because I don't have high hopes for this transfer working out, I haven't been obsessing over it. I'm going to get acupuncture after but not before, since I know that won't make the difference.

Hi @Lola245, I assume you're taking the oral utrogestan. You can take a pessary version instead, which is messier but doesn't make you dizzy.

With the embryo glue, I had understood it wasn't recommended for hatching blasts, but I've not really looked into it beyond that.

@Lola245

When I did a frozen transfer with CRGH a few years ago, I had to take lots of different progesterone medications and utrogestan was one of them. It can cause dizziness and progesterone naturally makes you feel more tired. You do get used to it and symptoms do improve.

With regards to embryo glue, CRGH does not use it as it can get messy using it. I asked about it. Apparently, it does not increase the chances.

Hi All, Facing another cycle delay ☹️ so annoying but there are some days at the end of this month that OH can’t have off work so don’t think it’s worth risking starting a cycle. I thought we would just be able to freeze sperm this week but I’ve been told that by doing that we could lose half the sperm. We are doing ICSI but I can’t face another crap cycle for the sake of not having enough good sperm. OH has male factor issues so feels like too big a risk. Anyone else had similar? just looking for a bit of reassurance. Feel like there are just so many difficult choices always having to be made. Also wondering if we will ever get to point of doing a transfer!!

@InvisibleDreamer

Hi. I’m sorry about the delays. I can empathise with this. We’ve had lots of delays too. My husband also has to book holiday to do IVF cycles as we travel from Plymouth to London clinic and back which can take 8-10 hours a day.

I understand about your reluctance to use frozen sperm. My consultant says fresh is better. It’s difficult with mfi issues too.

At present, I might have to cancel my current cycle and start next month if my levels are not good enough. The problem is it’s got to be done cd1 and I need the blood test results back quickly so I won’t be charged cancellation fee! If I could’ve done all cycles last year I wouldn’t have to keep checking fsh levels all the time.

Anyway, I’m sure things will sort themselves out for you. Is your OH able to book time off for the next cycle?

@2021ivfagain that is a long commute, do you stay down there when you are stimming for the scans? Fortunately we should be able to go ahead next month. I know it’s not that long in reality but our last completed cycle was in March, any delay feels like a long time in this game though. What are you looking at with the FSH? If you don’t mind me asking.

@InvisibleDreamer

I’ve used the same clinic when TTC my son. We used to stay over for one night pre-covid, but won’t do that now especially with our son. I have no childcare as my parents are both disabled. In fact, my Dad is really unwell and getting worse. My mother-in-law is in her late 60s and I think it would be too much to look after a toddler for that amount of time on her own.

We just travel there and back and don’t stay over, so we have to wake up at 4:30am sometimes early and get to our appointment at say 11:30am. Then we travel back and if we are lucky we get home before 7pm!

I’m 40 nearly 41 and I do estrogen priming to get rid of the lead follicle. My first cycle was fantastic but fsh was only 6.7 then. I want to lower my fsh to within normal range as after an IVF cycle it would increase naturally with all the medication. I know it is an artificial way of testing fsh, but I’m just doing it to make sure I’m in range for my stimulation cycle.

@Sarahk20000

How is the preparation going? Are you still going to acupuncture?

I’m doing acupuncture today. Does your acupuncturist ask you what cycle day you are on? Mine does not, but just asks am I sleeping and how my mood is etc. My acupuncturist is doing it for fertility, but I just wonder how methods vary.

Hope you’re doing well. I’m starting to get nervous as I have to decide whether to go through with this cycle or next month’s.

@InvisibleDreamer sorry about the delays. I think it’s the most frustrating aspect of ivf. I hope you get to it asap.

And you were right about friends, my friend did tell me about pregnancy finally in a long convoluted way by sharing some relevant article first etc lol but we seem ok now and I am happy for her. Albeit the two pregnancy news and my cousin’s beautiful baby have made me wonder if we will ever get a chance too. But I feel fine overall. My husband has said he will switch to donor eggs if needed so thats atleast giving me some hope that this last embryo may not be the end of road if it doesn’t work. I have had a lot of issues with my inlaws and joint family living systems etc (part of our cultural set up as Muslim south Asians) which has made for a difficult marriage and stopped me from trying for children for a long time and I still worry if I would bring in a child genetically unrelated to me whether they would use it against me to try and take over. But these worries are for another day and if I ever even get to a live birth! I have enough to contend with the upcoming FET.

@Lola245 yes utrogestan can be a killer for dizziness. Sometimes the dizziness has been so bad that I have had no choice but to sleep it off. This makes the working day very hard. I have learnt the times it hits in and keep trying to build my work diary around it. One thing I did find was that after transfer it gets better for me. I was really worried about having it for first trimester if pregnant but it didn’t seem as extreme during the brief period I was pregnancy before the miscarriage. But yes it’s an awful tablet for dizziness and quite scary especially if in kitchen cooking etc.

@2021ivfagain the travel and home situation sound difficult. I will not complain about the clinic trips now as I live only 1 1/2 miles from it! I can’t begin to imagine how much harder the toddler at home, parent’s situation and commuting makes this. My prep seems ok. The acupuncture is good. Am still having pretty anxious days though. Am having betroot juice, Brazil nuts and getting some pomegranate in soon. Not sure if any of it will help lol the acupuncture still feels very relaxing. She does ask about the day of cycle. She checks pulse and the tongue. And asks about sleep and bowel movements. She said they do some set protocol overall for FET in Zita west so you can use different acupuncturists if needed but I am sticking to her as rapport and comfort seem important. She is always so positive and it makes for a comforting experience (surprisingly considering the pins lol).

fingers crossed for your cycle if you decide to do it next time or month after.

best wishes to everyone on the board with their egg collections and transfers.

@2021ivfagain i should also mention I have been trying meditation and quite liking that too. I never thought I could switch off but feel strangely lighter after it.

@2021ivfagain wow that is a long day, I’m lucky our clinic is so near. I know estrogen & fsh are related but I don’t really know anything about it. I usually end up with very high estrogen during stims & unfortunately last cycle only ended up with a small number of eggs but I don’t know if this is related as the previous round was fine.

@Sarahk20000 its good to have a back up plan we have been thinking about a round with donor sperm. It does take the pressure off. It’s best not to think too far ahead in terms of what might happen re your family. However I know I’m guilty of the same & then I get overwhelmed thinking about what could happen and all the possible outcomes.

I’ve hit a real low today with AF arrival why couldn’t we be one of those ‘oh we were taking a break from IVF & we got pregnant’ it’s always somebody else. AF was 3 days late as often happens with my cycle. Just long enough to give you a tiny bit of hope each time. It’s almost a year now since I was last pregnant. We found out just around the time of my brother’s & nephew’s birthday at the beginning of June. It was our happy little secret at their joint birthday party & the only photo I have of me pregnant. Mum messaged me today with the details for this years party & I’m dreading it already.

I’ve also been looking up scarring after miscarriage, the first time I’ve done any research since finding out I may have scarring & now I’m thinking what if I cant ever get pregnant again & if I do my chance of miscarriage is going to be even higher? It just feels hopeless, I always seem to be in that small percentage of people where things go wrong. Plus It’s upsetting to think that these couple of months between cycles when we’ve been trying have been a waste. I wonder now if IVF was a huge mistake & we should just have kept trying naturally. Will be having a scan to look at lining again this month & my consultant has said to book a hysteroscopy after completing our rounds. The consultant seems optimistic but I’m wondering if there is any point carrying on with IVF when I may not be able to get pregnant again. Surrogacy would be too expensive and complicated for us and I’m desperate to be pregnant again myself not watch someone else do it.

Hi all.

@InvisibleDreamer I'm really sorry about the likely further delay. I'd wondered too about using a frozen sample, but I know the clinic isn't keen if it's possible to produce a fresh one.

@2021ivfagain I'm sorry you're thinking this cycle isn't going well. Am I right that you're looking to get the test results turned around ahead of going in for the baseline scan?

@Sarahk20000 I'm so pleased for you that your husband has said he'd be prepared to consider donor eggs. That must relieve a bit of the pressure ahead of your next transfer. I'm sorry that things are difficult with your in laws. And for some reason I imagined you having red hair! Random.

I'm gearing up for a fourth and what must be our final round following retrieval at the weekend. Retrieval turned into the most stressful day ever. My husband went to the clinic before me as we were juggling childcare. He was nearly home when the clinic rang him and said he needed to come back in and do it again! Turns out the first sample became completely immotile within 20 minutes - the lab doesn't know why, but it could have been from contamination. So he ended up with a period of abstinence of 90 minutes. Fortunately the second sample was good quality, but the stress on both of us was something else. I was having visions of needing to freeze our eggs for fertilisation at a later date, knowing the potential attrition rate of frozen eggs. Hope the next retrieval is more straightforward!

@InvisibleDreamer you are so right about the spiral of worrying. I am even sitting here worrying about job cuts in civil service impacting my role etc. my acupuncturist reminded me of the ‘hot’ energy lol from the meds and not sweating stuff and I am doing exactly the opposite.
I am so sorry to hear you are feeling low. The memory of miscarriage is bad enough to contend with but to add to it worry of scarring is so hard. Hopefully it will all be fine and if your consultant is relatively relaxed then you should try to be too (much easier said than done). But I think the knocks of IVF easily let any hope feel useless so this is natural.
@Rosemarypots fingers crossed for your blastocysts from this round. I was always worried about last minute sperm issues and kept a frozen sample incase! Albeit consultants recommend fresh as best.
so funny on the red hair, you really made me laugh. I do have Scottish/Irish heritage on my mum’s side with plenty of red haired people so maybe not so far fetched lol

@Rosemarypots

I’ve not really started this cycle yet. What I mean is as I’m doing back to back if my fsh is not low enough eg below 9 I will cancel and start next month. Apparently a cycle does not officially start until the baseline scan. So all is ok at present I hope.

@Rosemarypots

Yes. I will have my bloods done in cd1 as fsh is not usually much lower than cd2 or cd3. It all sounds stressful but it’s my last cycle before everything is tested and I don’t want it to be a waste.

Thanks for asking and good luck with your next round. Are you doing 4 rounds as well?

@InvisibleDreamer

I’m sorry you’re finding things really difficult. I know what it’s like. When I was TTC my first, it was so stressful due to mfi (poor morphology). It made trying seem pointless. I was 38 when I had my successful cycle and conceived my now 17 month son. I don’t know how old you are but things sound hopeful: the fact you were able to get pregnant naturally.

With ivf, my estrogen gets quite high too (not as high as yours) as I produce quite a good amount of follicles for my age, but I do have fsh issue. So I do estrogen priming to lower fsh to normal range in order for follicles to grow in a more coordinated way.

I know family celebrations can be difficult when you’re going through IVF. I hope you have a good cycle next time. Are you still batching?

@rosemarypots that sounds like a stressful EC day! Glad your OH was able to produce another sample! Fingers crossed for some good embryos.