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! ❤️

@Imisscoffee2021 @acaciabluebell so just had the call and out of 7 eggs, 4 were mature and 3 have fertilised. Not sure whether we are doing a fresh transfer yet or frozen. Just keeping everything crossed they make it to Monday 🤞🏻

@seekingbabyk got all my fingers crossed for you!! Hopefully 3 is the magic number for us both. If you're still considering a fresh transfer does that mean you've been taking the progesterone pessaries etc?
I'm feeling a lot more optimistic today after yesterday's emotional breakdown lol. Trying to keep positive. Been reading lots of stories of people who had 2-3 eggs fertilised and had a live birth from it. It's keeping me sane! The wait is excruciating.

@Imisscoffee2021 have you had a day 3 update today? Hoping everything is still going amazing with your 7 embryos xx

@acaciabluebell yes hoping three is lucky for us both too! Yes started pessaries last night - first one was so swollen and painful though it only just went in so not sure if that would have been enough. Going to have a chat with my nurse today about what the meds up to a FET would entail. Also our package only includes a fresh transfer so if we do frozen it's another £2850 to pay which is a lot.

I naively thought one round and EC and we'd have 5-6 embryos in the freezer and never have to do that bit again - sulking about it today 😢

Had my three day update this morning, all 7 still alive and kicking, dividing perfectly and slightly ahead actually, all top quality or good quality. Expecting some drop off now perhaps as we go into day 4 and 5 but what a relief for now, hope they keep going!

@Imisscoffee2021 that's amazing so happy for you! Out of the three of us you were using this one as a test run and ended up with the best results!

@seekingbabyk I think FET meds would be the same progesterone pessaries plus some estrogen tablets. 2850 does seem a lot for one frozen transfer! I thought it was more in the region of 1-2k? Without meds though I think.

Also, I totally get how you feel. I think that was the hardest thing for me and why I was so upset yesterday. I really didnt want to have to go through another round of stims
and EC. Especially as this is our one NHS round and any future rounds will need to be private and will eat into most of our savings. It's something we hoped wouldn't happen. With my low AMH I probably need to bank embryos for the future too. Its so much to think about.

@Imisscoffee2021 Amazing news about your 7 embryos 🎉

@seekingbabyk @acaciabluebell thank you :) I think because I was so pessimistic about this cycle from the start because of hubby's sperm parameters I still don't trust that it'll be perfect outcome on day 5, this is the part where sperm takes over apparently and drop off occurs. So not out of the woods yet, and I'm finding eaiting for the phonecalls quite agonising, couldn't sleep last night!

Hope your three are strong and you get a great update tomorrow acacia!

@seekingbabyk sorry just saw your fertilisation results above, congratulations on your three embabies! Sending lots of good thoughts to them all :)

@acaciabluebell yes I think it's the estrogen that can be a bit rough but will see what my nurse says when I speak to her.

Check out Gaia family if you do need to do another round privately. Our clinic recommended them but I believe if it isn't successful you don't pay as much or something like that.

Yes £2850 is a LOT @Imisscoffee2021 - but as we will be moving in the next few months I am also thinking about packing boxes, etc and possibly feeling sick, tired, etc. But then the other part of me just thinks go for it and hubby can take the brunt of it all and I'll do what I can. I'm so confused about the whole thing. Having said that to wake up this morning and my anxiety to be completely gone about the EC I feel like a new person 😂😂

@seekingbabyk @acaciabluebell frozen transfer can be extortionate, at my clinic its £2200 per one so we got a multicycle package which includes any and all frozen and you get two rounds, it was £8850, not including meds. We used what we had saved in lockdown that was meant to be the start of a deposit but hey ho, had to be done.

@seekingbabyk glad you're feeling better after EC, thankfully ET is nowhere near as complex as EC! I felt good too knowing I wasn't carrying precious eggs anymore and could eat what I wanted, but I overindulged and ended up with horrendous heart burn in the night and then the worst constipation of my life yesterday, apolgies for the TMI! Might be the progesterone too, it's a common side effect apparently.

@seekingbabyk @Imisscoffee2021 Those prices are high for sure... Just checked and at my NHS clinic I'm currently with it's about 1000 for a FET without meds. I think their prices are quite reasonable tbh, their charge for a round of ICSI is 3500 (without meds). But they're not the best of clinics though, so I don't know if I would stay with them if I was paying.

@Imisscoffee2021 aww thanks I'm just glad it wasn't zero tbh! Anxiety was only about sedation- the ET doesn't bother me at all lol!

I heard the sedative can cause constipation too so might be worth getting a softener.

I am annoyed with myself now about diet leading up to this. We have honestly just been eating crap and lots of meals out kinda like a reward for the stims etc. I wonder how different it would have been if we had been extra healthy 🤷🏼‍♀️

@acaciabluebell where in the country are you if you don't mind me asking?

@seekingbabyk I'm in England, London to be more precise.

Btw I ate very healthy and took a thousand supplements for egg quality but don't think it made much difference

@acaciabluebell those prices are great for london!

I thought the same - hubby usually drinks most days and has hot baths, etc. He stopped drinking for this and went over to showers and produced a worse sample than he has in any other tests and he's done 4 over the last few years in nhs and private clinics. We had a bit of a giggle last night that he should have just carried on drinking.

For me it was just the stress and anxiety - the thought of vegetables or proper meals wasn't appealing at all so have been living on toast or bowls of noodles. Actually feeling relieved to want to get back to eating healthy today as I'm normally a real veg lover!

@seekingbabyk Ok I was just going based off their website but I've realised now the page is many many years out of date 🤣 Found a more recent document and prices are a lot higher lol. I imagine it will get even more pricey soon with inflation constantly increasing!

@acaciabluebell it's so frustrating isn't it! Imagine being able to just get pregnant naturally without the cost and complete turmoil which is this ivf circus.

I think you'll get the best prices available with nhs care so definitely stick with that but worth looking around too just to compare. If you get a multi cycle package it would work out cheaper too. They actually talked us out of that saying one would be enough 😂

@seekingbabyk I said the same thing to my sister when she got pregnant (never wanted kids but saw how hard it was for us and thought hmm better try and caught 2nd month, like my mam!) I can't wait to be an auntie but I jokingly saiwhy do I have to pay for a baby and yours is free!? I don't begrudge her though, it's fab.

How are you guys feeling after EC? I have cramps now, worse than when on stims so hope it's ovaries shrinking back to am acceptable size, I googled how big they may be and was shocked, 10 cm!!

Are you feeling a wierd sort of pull to the idea of having embryos out there? It blows my mind that there is something growing that's half my husband and I, and is already a girl or a boy, and has predetermined eye and hair colour! It's crazy!

Hope your next updates are fab news xx

@Imisscoffee2021

I know I said to hubby it's lovely thinking there's a few half me half him embryos growing ❤️

I feel pretty good today tbh compared to the last few weeks just tired - not sure if that's the sedation yesterday or the progesterone kicking in but just trying to be kind to myself and take it easy. I have had a few cramps but nothing major but yes it is like tugging.

When is your transfer booked for? Saturday?

Yeah Saturday at 8am, hopefully 🤞the paternal gene takes over development from day 3 so I'm not letting myself be too optimistic yet as we don't know how it'll be but fingers crossed we have one to transfer on Saturday. They call about half an hour before to advise what is there but we'll already have left our place by then so hope we don't get bad news at a train station or in a public place! We don't drive as never needed to living on edge of London! Does your clinic do day 3 updates? Ours don't usually they said but we requested one, and I cheekily requested one tomorrow too just so I can prepare my husband if any have started to go as he's really worried about this stage poor fella!

@Imisscoffee2021 awww bless him - I don't think he can look at it like that just see it that whatever is meant to be will be. I believe in just trusting the universe with stuff like this and when the time is right it'll happen.

I'm not sure if we get a day 3 update. I just know we are booked in for 9am Monday but I am sure they are calling us before that. She said they usually expect around 30% drop off to day 5 so just hoping for a couple come Monday. No idea if I have to use a pessary Monday morning- they're a bit messy aren't they so it might be better to do it after?

@seekingbabyk I asked about that and they said not to use it as they have to clean round your cervix anyway and the horrible messy pessaries would get in the way, said to just pop in when we get home :)

I had an update today as we paid for Caremaps, an embryoscope basically so they can see them without disturbing them in incubator, all 7 still alive but embryologist was firm on saying anything can happen and not to get our hopes up. He said three are at early blastocyst and the other 4 are at morula stage.

Just hope we don't suddenly get bad news, going to have a hot bubble bath tonight as won't be having them afterwards for a few weeks, and try to relax!

@Imisscoffee2021 wow that's exciting to have your transfer tomorrow- keeping everything crossed it sticks for you!

That's great news that 7 are still going and it sounds like you'll have 3 almost definitely so that's amazing!

Feeling so much better today the grogginess had completely gone, bloat is going down, etc. Praying our little three embabies are still going strong 🤞🏻

@Imisscoffee2021 that's really good news. Good luck for transfer tomorrow and enjoy that bubble bath X