IVF - Stims Aug - Egg Collection Sep

[RMS0209]

Hi ladies! 👋
Just as the post says... cycle day 1 of my first IVF round, 20 days until I start Norethisterone then Menopur & Fyremadel.
Looking for others starting cycle or in the cycle for some company.
Sending lots of luck to you all! ❤️

Hi @Decaffe - exciting stuff! I was petrified when I was just starting but it's been so smooth and fairly easy so don't worry. I would really recommend a book/journal I bought from Amazon called The IVF Positivity Planner (pink cover ) by Sarah Banks - it's been really good at putting things in perspective and ticking the days off. Hope your first appointment goes well!x

@Imisscoffee2021 I work for myself at home fortunately and hubby works with me too so we are just taking it easy and doing what we can having breaks when we want them, etc. consider myself very fortunate to be in this position x

I’m natural modified which I think is the same as short protocol? It’s NHS through a private clinic; their approach is ‘quality over quantity’ and so lower levels of meds, which appealed to me as I had read so many posts around ovarian overstimulation!

Hi all, just catching up on this thread. Been a little quiet as not much been happening and was just waiting for my CD19 to come to start provera for 7 days. It’s my last tablet tonight then I’ll be waiting for my period to come and then baseline scan, which hopefully this time will be good to go to start stims. Getting nervous again as hope it doesn’t get postponed again, but It’s been good to hear about your experiences with stims and positive egg retrieval and transfers 😊

@Decaffe I only had a small dosage of meds too and had hardly any side effects so you should be fine. I used an ice pack on the injection site for 5 mins before any jabs and didn't feel any of them so definitely try that.

@1stcycle that's great news! Fingers crossed you get to start in the next week or so - it's exciting listening to other stories when you've just been through it yourself 😁

@seekingbabyk thanks! I’m a bit nervous to be honest, but that’s expected. There’s so much info online it can be overkill but this thread has been good to read and see different real life experiences with IVF.

How many days have most done stims for?

@seekingbabyk also I hope the wait for testing is not dragging too much for you 🤞🏻🤞🏻🤞🏻

@1stcycle I did 9 days from first jab to trigger but the clinic said it's usually 8-12. You'll be fine it goes really quickly too! I just kept busy to take my mind off of it all.

So heard back from clinic this morning and last blast didn't make it so it's all riding on the one - never felt so much pressure 😂

@seekingbabyk ahh good, I’m trying to keep my mind off it but just hard not too. But also excited to start.

Im sorry to hear that. But like other people have said, it only takes one! All fingers and toes crossed for you.

@1stcycle it's fine it is what is it and we just believe in fate with anything in life so we will see what happens x

@1stcycle I did 9 days stims too on a short antagonist protocol, side effects weren't terrible really but definitely felt uncomfortable by the time EC came round, just felt full in the pelvis which is no wonder as ovaries are huge! Also advised not to run or loft weights due to potential for ovarian torsion and that's how I prefer to exercise so I missed that and found it effected my mood a little, I knew I'd feel that way so I had a goodbye to running 5k the day before starting stims 😅

I'm actually finding this bit, the two week wait, the worst! At least when you're stimming you're doing something, and the 5 days between EC and ET was quite freeing in that I didn't feel I was carrying precious cargo and now I am again (hopefully its still there doing its thing).

@seekingbabyk sorry about your last embryo, my last one also didn't make it after an extra day so I think it's quite common, wishing all the good luck on your little embaby on board!

I've also been worrying about the blastocyst as can't see the "baby" bit of it in the last screengrab of the embryoscope vid they sent, but they wouldn't have chosen it if it didn't have it, it's a mental time this TWW😅 I'm not googling anything anymore at all, just going on this thread only and not symptom spotting as it consumed my first few days after transfer. Your mantra of meant to be is a good one @seekingbabyk

@Imisscoffee2021 oh no you'll drive yourself mad doing that just try to relax and get some nice meals booked and stuff instead. I'm just putting it out of my mind now. We only have a 50% chance with a 3BB so I don't want to get excited and then end up devastated if it doesn't happen. We have the opportunity to go on holiday late September too so if it doesn't work we will book that and just take time to refocus.

The only thing I'm annoyed at is we tried to book a multicycle package but because my Amh is 21.5 and hubby has had perfect samples they said we wouldn't need it so if this doesn't work I'm hoping they will allow us to swap to that rather than paying the full amount again although I'll probably take a month or so off to just heal a bit. Also will be getting a refund for our embryo storage so that will go a way towards covering any extra rounds too.

@seekingbabyk in a way its good your clinic aren't just taking money from people but yeah they should really make it a multicycle for you now considering you specifically asked and they steered you away! Hopefully you won't even need it though :)

We're you given the percentage chance at your clinic? Ours didn't say anything to us about odds or statistics, just in it went, take your meds, OTD and goodbye :)

@Imisscoffee2021 no but I found it online pretty easily

natalist.com/blogs/learn/guide-to-ivf-embryo-grading

Not sure how accurate that is but gave a general guideline. Also have to consider we have no known issues so hopefully would be higher than that

@Imisscoffee2021 I can imagine the wait feeling long. This last few weeks have felt long for me just waiting for it all to start after being postponed. But I guess like you said once you start stims you have something to do each day and it goes faster. I don’t do weights or run…walking my dog twice a day is enough for me 😂😂

@seekingbabyk we had a similar situation, as there were no known issues with me and my husband, We were not sure to do a multi cycle or not. But we went for the 2 multi cycle in the end not to feel so much pressure. And thought if the first works we would be so happy we wouldn’t care that we paid a little more.

Well, I had a chat with a really lovely nurse this morning and she explained the medication regime I’d be on, the days of my clinic visits and so on.

One thing that surprised me is that I had blithely assumed that I would be doing a full round of IVF ‘in one go,’ so to speak. However, I was very surprised to learn that on egg collection day, the consultant may decide my lining isn’t thick enough to sustain a fresh transfer in which case the embryos would be put on ice and we’d do a FET the following month.

Writing this now of course I realise this is what’s happened to a PP on this thread (sorry I can’t scroll up at the moment!).

I guess I hadn’t really twigged though that that is what might happen. In my head I’ve built it up as IVF on the next cycle. Not the next two cycles, if that makes sense!

Lots to take in and process, anyway. Not sure whether my nerves are excitement or scared. Probably both!

Merrily assumed, perhaps. Not blithely!

@Decaffe it can happen yeah, do you have a known lining issue? They're good at monitoring throughout stims so you'll know before egg collection I'd have thought, I wasn't scanned for lining after the second monitoring scan, so had transfer a good week and a half after that scan, so you'd get a bit of notice :)

@Decaffe also apparently there can be a higher success rate with FET so don't worry if they won't transfer. It can be good for your body to heal from meds and EC before starting the next bit. They'll advise whatever they think is best

Thanks for the messages of support 😊

The only thing I know about my lining is that when I had my AFC scan, the notes say

“Day 7 - endometrium 5.4mm - becoming trilaminar” Does anyone know if this is good or bad or in between?!

I think my only concern with having a frozen transfer in the following cycle, is that, if it doesn’t work, I have to have my second and final IVF cycle in the very next month, due to age cut offs and Christmas getting in the way of clinic opening hours.

So instead of:

month 1 - IVF
month 2 - nothing, giving my body chance to rest
month 3 - IVF

It would be

month 1 - IVF egg collection
month 2 - FET
month 3 - IVF

I guess we will just have to wait and see?

@Decaffe so at my second scan the nurse said that all the follicles give off estrogen and what they were looking at was the estrogen lining. Not sure if that's what they mean with you but once you have meds going in creating more follicles, the lining should increase from that anyway. Then the progesterone also helps with it I believe so fingers crossed that won't be an issue. @acaciabluebell may be able to help more with this as she is doing a FET next month

Sorry to jump in everyone - I just had my ec yesterday morning and they got 17 eggs which was great but they had said I was at risk for OHSS previously. I had some pain afterwards but the sedation meant it wasn't bad. But since yesterday afternoon the pain had got gradually worse - it's only on the left side and is whenever I move, stand, walk, turn etc. And is worst when my bladder is full. I have no nausea, minimal bloating and am going to the bathroom fine so don't think it's OHSS but I don't know how much pain is normal. Paracetamol doesn't touch it and I have endometriosis so am used to pain but this is worrying me. Hospital have just said "some discomfort" is normal and to go to emergency gynae department if I'm worried, but I don't know if I'm overreacting. Anyone else experienced this?

@KateAlva That sounds so uncomfortable, poor thing! I didn't over stimulate as had 7 eggs collected but though I had some mild discomfort in ovaries after EC it was super mild, like 2 out of 10 pain. It does sounds like you may have some level of OHSS, might not be severe but worth keeling an eye on. I think with ovaries being so huge from stims too there's risk of torsion so might be worth keeping the Hospital up to date and if in doubt go to emergency. Hope it subsides soon!

@Decaffe they want a nice thick triple layered endometrium so trilaminar sounds like the posh clinical term for that, so sounds good!