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! ❤️

@Tinkerbell098 meant to say a faint positive is a positive!

@1stcycle that's great your clinic gave you more prescriptions so you can get it anytime you need it. They said the blood test results I will get back the same day if I manage to give the blood by 9 am. Thank you! Fingers crossed for you too!

@MinBins we are a lovely bunch here, so feel free to ask any questions you may have about your upcoming cycle. I was so afraid before I started, but having gone through it, it wasn't as bad as I expected.

@Imisscoffee2021 I'm using easy@homes which are really faint and FRERs, which are also faint. AF would be due tomorrow on a normal cycle, so not sure if I should be seeing darker lines by now, so anxious it's a chemical. How faint were your lines and what did you use?

@Tinkerbell098 I was using easy at homes and Frer's too, the lines were faint but there for sure, and got darkest in the morning of 7DP5DT, my husband looked at that one after I started bleeding and knew I was out (as I didn't want to get his hopes up before) and he saw it easily, wasn't a squinter but wasn't an overt positive either. It faded that pm and the next day and I didn't test after that. I was still a good few days from AF though so you getting faints and being so close with no sign of it is good I hope! x

@Imisscoffee2021 I'm thinking it's perhaps the progesterone that's keeping AF away. The fact that I have no symptoms worries me, which can be a sign of a chemical.

@Tinkerbell098 Maybe not, the progesterone didn't keep mine away, in fact it was early! Could be that HCG, but you're right to be cautious, I was too, didn't let myself feel too happy too early as you've got to protect yourself in this IVF business! Hope it's a positive cycle for you but if not there's always next time x

@Tinkerbell098 @1stcycle fingers crossed for you both! It's good that neither of you are bleeding though! That was what happened with me and @Imisscoffee2021 even before my normal date - even the progesterone couldn't hold it off!

@MinBins welcome! Excited for you! I was so nervous but it wasn't anywhere near as bad as I thought it would be and I can't wait for round two to start now which shows it was much easier than I thought. Just allow lots of chilled time, cry when you need to and remember how much of a bad ass you are for doing it all x

Thats such great advice @seekingbabyk :)

@Imisscoffee2021 @seekingbabyk thanks both. The whole chemical worry takes the excitement out of seeing that second line. I've been on threads where they've had stronger positives than what I'm seeing, but when it came to scan day, there was nothing there! It's just heart-breaking.

@Tinkerbell098 yes I get that 100%. I had an ectopic 4 years ago. It was fine I got off lightly with a dose of methotrexate and it was all resolved but now I think until I got to that 6 week scan I would be so cautious just because nothing is certain and I'd worry it was in the wrong place again. It's hard to imagine just falling naturally and not worrying about stuff like that

@seekingbabyk oh I'm so sorry you had to go through that. I'm glad everything got resolved in the end. It's just so hard isn't it? I'm glad you girls get it. My friends have fallen quite easily, some without even trying, so would never understand this side of things.

Thank you for the lovely messages! @Imisscoffee2021 ah thank you - Eek I don't know the protocol yet - just the medications - I have my first nurse session tomorrow so will hopefully know more about it then and will ask them.

@Tinkerbell098 aw thank you. I feel like a bit of a fraud in that it wasn't traumatic or anything. I thought I had a normal Albeit very painful period. Went on for a few days and I read somewhere about ectopic and did a test which was positive. I found out it was ectopic within days so I didn't have a gutted feeling of losing anything as I didn't even know I was pregnant. Then they gave the option of an op or the drugs and I opted for drugs so the risk of losing my tube was less. One shot in the backside, no side effects and it was gone within a week or so. I was very lucky as a friend had two which ruptured and it sounds like it was awful for her!

Yes everyone I know has fallen really quickly too. We haven't told a single other person about this ivf process because of that - they just don't know what to say or end up upsetting us. I'm so glad we chose to keep it to ourselves too - it's felt really lovely just having our own little bubble - obviously with you girls for company too 😉

Ahh welcome to the gang @MinBins, the posters here who went through it before me have been an amazing support so it’s great to have you along.

Thank you for the virtual hugs yesterday everyone. I’m feeling better today. Well, in myself I feel fine at least! I did have a dream the embryo disappeared overnight though 🙈

I have booked an acupuncture session later this afternoon. I haven’t done it before but I’ve heard it’s relaxing.

I haven’t had a phone call from the clinic yet about the two embryos we had left so I’m still not sure if they’ve made it or not!

@1stcycle and @Tinkerbell098 yes absolutely there is hope still! All I can say is that I’m thinking of you today! ❤️

And a ❤️ for you too @Imisscoffee2021 and @seekingbabyk, just because 😊

@Decaffe aww how lovely- right back at you ❤️

I have everything crossed for your two that we're still growing xx

@Decaffe aw thank you 😊

@Decaffe i typed a message yesterday and forgot to hit send and now it’s disappeared. I seconded everything everyone else has said. Your priority is you :) I started acupuncture recently and have had 3 sessions. I find them very relaxing and I hope you do too!

Sooo.... the seven cell Grade 2 turned into a 3BC today... Googling and MN searching indicates it's not the best, but not the worst, and a 3BC is better than a 3CB.. but it's basically at the lowest limit of what they will freeze. I had hoped for better, but still, one in the freezer!

The six cell Grade 3 is an early blastocyst today so they're going to give it til tomorrow to see if it catches up.

One way of looking at it is that those two are still going today so hopefully the one inside is, too.

I am entitled to one more cycle on the NHS. Ideally I would want to do a full round again so that we can get some more in the freezer and ideally get Day 5s that are better than the 3BC. Also, pragmatically, that would mean that if the second round failed then all we'd have to pay for privately on round 3 is the cost of a FET. I don't suppose anyone knows though, what the policy would be on this? Would my second NHS round have to be the FET of the one we froze today?

@Decaffe I don't know about the nhs bits hun sorry but congratulations on getting one in the freezer and fingers crossed for the other one too! Definitely push for a second round if you can - from what I've read the second time for any cycles gets better results as they can tweak your meds etc to ensure you get lots of lovely eggs x

@Decaffe my understanding is one cycle on NHS includes:

• egg collection (once)
• one fresh transfer
• one frozen transfer

So if you have had one cycle so far and just the fresh transfer, you will be entitled to a frozen transfer on this cycle.

So when they say ‘cycle’ it refers to the egg collection, eg: i only get one cycle on the NHS. It’s really confusing and it may differ from one hospital to another. Does that help at all?

Having dug out my CCG policy, you’re right @Spin101! Crumbs, so we can’t go into another round of embryo banking then. We have to use up today’s 3BC (and potentially tomorrow’s), as FET/s before another stim cycle.

Except… I’m 40 in the new year, clinics close over Christmas, and once I’m 40 I lose eligibility to two cycles. So essentially if this one inside me doesn’t work my only chances are a 3BC that other clinics may not have even agreed to freeze and a Day 6 that’s barely hanging on. We could never afford a private stimmed cycle. Okayyy…. I know this might seem doom and gloom to be planning ahead like this but the way I get through disappointments in life is always thinking, ‘what’s my plan B?’

This post is just a chain of thought one… I’m off to bed! 🤨

@Decaffe i think the policy varies by CCG. Mine only offers one round which is one collection, fresh transfer and any subsequent frozen transfers if the fresh fails. Fingers crossed for your other ones to go in the freezer. Stay positive X

I've rung up my clinic and told them I’m getting faint positives (vvvv faint line on their test) so they’ve booked me in for a blood test for Thursday next week. I just have to hope I won’t bleed before then!

@Decaffe its not doom and gloom at all, this is a place for you to express your feelings/worries/thoughts, I’m sure most of us here have had similar thoughts to you! It’s hard not to have a plan b in this situation, with all the stats and chances of it working. Im 30 and we have no known issues, just unsuccessful for 3 years, our clinic said one cycle should be fine, but we opted for a multi cycle as I was thinking of plan B if it didn’t work. I didn’t want all stress on the first round. and I’m glad we did as this first cycle resulted in 1 fresh embryo transfer and none frozen. I was disappointed with the numbers but having the plan b made me feel less stressed! Fingers crossed for your embaby to stick!

So I thought I was out of the running, no snug of a positive (line eyes would convince me of some but they were either indents or shadows) and I started spotting again last night (sorry if TMI) and night before just brown stringy once when I wiped each time. Then this morning it was a little more and watery and pink/red on my tissue so I thought that’s my AF coming as I’m due yesterday/today. I still tested as living in hope and I saw a very faint line on an IC so then did a FRER and there’s a faint but clear line on there too. I see loads of other peoples tests at 9dp 5dt and they are very strong so hoping I was just late implanting and it’s if it is anything it’s not a chemical. I don’t want to get my hopes up but first time I’ve felt like it could be!

@Tinkerbell098 hope you are feeling ok, congratulations on getting to OTD, fingers crossed it will get darker for you over the next week, did they give you more progesterone? Looking forward to your weekend away?

@Tinkerbell098 @1stcycle fingers crossed for both of you - really hoping for some good news on this thread!

@1stcycle im glad to hear you’re also getting lines so we are not completely out. My FRERs are clear too but the test they gave is vvvv faint and questionable (if my OH saw it, I’m sure he’ll say it’s a no 😂). I’ve seen other peoples 9dp5dt lines in MN which are really strong so that’s what worries me too. They’ve asked me to come around midday to pick up some pessaries and a letter to GP to prescribe more. I’ve got everything crossed for both of us that our lines would get darker in the next few days.