First cycle - IVF / ICSI - Day 4

[Koalie]

My hubby and I are on day 4 of stims - our first IVF cycle. Just wondering if there's anyone else in the same boat who might want to share the journey? :)

Hi lovely - Just wanted to add my experience so far! :) (I’m 28, DH is 33 and we had ICSI - altho DH sperm count and motility is pretty good his morphology is 1% so the clinic recommend ICSI and we’re private!- not that, that matters lol)

I started stims on 23rd December, triggered on Monday 2nd January 2023, and egg collection was yesterday. We retrieved 11 eggs, of which 9 were mature and injected, and 5 fertilised. I can honestly say, out of the entire process, this part is by far the worst!!! I kept reading ladies saying how horrible it is waiting to see if you get any 3/5 day blasts and I thought “oh I’ll be fine, I’m so optimistic” nope, I am crazy 😂 worrying we’ll have none by transfer on Monday!!!

Other than that, the process has been luckily smooth sailing. Egg collection was a little frightening, but I’d do it all again if I had to💖 I was awake for the entire thing but it wasn’t as painful as I thought!

I’m wishing you all the luck in the world xx

Hi @Izzie94x

Thank you so much for replying! I am 32 and hubby is 35. He has had low motility and morphology results in the past but we managed to get them up to within normal range with various lifestyle changes and supplements, however he also has high anti sperm antibodies and 33% DNA fragmentation which is why we've opted for ICSI too!

Sounds like you had a great result from your egg retrieval and I'm pleased to hear it wasn't too painful - I am terrified and can't stop worrying about it. Were you under sedation? Not having any embryos/blasts to transfer is also my biggest fear but my therapist told me I need to stop thinking about the 'what if's' and focus on what's happening today so that's what I'm trying to do lol. It doesn't help that I have low AMH levels for my age so I'm not sure how I will respond to the drugs or how many eggs I'll even be able to retrieve.

Would love to hear how things go for you and will be rooting for your little embabies to make it to day 5! 😊x

I'm on day 6 now, and in for my first scan on Monday. This is our first round too and I really don't know what to expect. Right now I'm worrying that I haven't been doing my injections right or I just won't respond to the medication - which I imagine everyone feels like but it doesn't make it any easier! We're hoping to have some good news regarding growth at the Monday scan 🤞

@ScottishRach Hey, thanks for replying! I have my first scan on Monday too but I’m only on day 4 today. Which injections are you taking? I’m just on the ovaleap at the moment (225iu a day) and will start Fyremadel on Saturday. Not feeling any side effects yet apart from random hot flushes 😆 x

Hey all, I start my stims any day now. I am on say 28 of my cycle (usually about 30 days) and I am on mild ivf so short protocol. This is my first ever round and feeling nervous!

Im 28 and my partner is 30. My husband has low sperm count & low morphology and high dna frag so we are doing ICSI.

Would love some friendly faces to chat to throughout this journey!

@Izzie94x keep us updated on your embryo progress!!

Hi @Strawberry08 thanks for joining! :) Which medication will you be on for your injections? I'm nervous too ... it's so nice to speak to people who are in the same boat x

I’m going to be on 150 bemfola, what are you on? Have you had side affects?

@Strawberry08 I'm on 225iu of ovaleap. I've had a few random hot flushes and I'm struggling to stay hydrated but that's about it at the mo. I can definitely feel my follicles growing though and I've only had 4 injections so far... feels like I'm going to pop by the end of it lol. x

I'm on 150iu of Menapur and frymadel just started on Wednesday. I'm on day 7 now and feeling quite tight and uncomfortable and needing to pee alot! Also quite tired but other than that I'm generally feeling fine. I'm getting better with doing the injections but there's always the worry that I'm not doing it right.... hopefully some good news on Monday to put my mind at rest. I'm hoping for potential egg retrieval next Friday 🤞

Hi ladies !
Just did my first Fyremadel and it’s a stinger! I also had some blood come out with what seemed like half my dose when I did my Ovaleap! Has anyone else had this with any of their injections? I’m worried that not enough went in 😕

@Izzie94x Did you receive any update on your embies before the weekend? ☺️ x

@Koalie and @ScottishRach does it actually feel tight around your ovaries? Exciting, not long until egg collection.

My period has just arrived, day one is tomorrow so Monday is first bemfola jab!

@Strawberry08 That’s very exciting! Bet you’ve never been so happy to see AF 😆 I thought day 1 was the first day of your period though, no? 🤔 x

Ha I know!! I’ve never been so happy to have period cramps 🤣
My instructions say if it arrives after midday you count day 1 as the following day

@Strawberry08 I'm not sure I'd say I specifically feel tight around my ovaries, just the general area.... kinda a mix of feeling constipated and having a really full bladder. When I eat dinner now I feel that I've eaten too much. I feel better when sitting up, it's worst at nights when I'm lying in bed. It's nothing painful though, just similar to the uncomfortable feeling when you did eat far too much or really need to go to the toilet. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it means things are working as they should be as I'm really hoping to get egg retrieval over and done with at that end of next week 🤞. I have a high follicle count so I was started on the lowest dose of menapur, hopefully it's been enough.

@ScottishRach ah yes I know what you mean.
I am in the same boat with lots of follicles, 16 on each side. Did they speak to you about OHSS? The clinic told me there’s a 60% chance we will have to do a frozen transfer in a few months even with the lowest dose as I am high risk for ohss. I was a bit disappointed by that as was really keen to have a fresh transfer

@Strawberry08 @ScottishRach Nobody has ever counted my follicles 🤔 but I am on a higher dose because I have low AMH so I guess they’re expecting a lower follicle count for me 😕 can’t wait for my scan on Monday to see what’s happening! I would also love to have my egg retrieval out of the way on Friday but I’m a couple of days behind you Rach. They’ve only given me enough drugs to get me to Friday though. 🤷🏻‍♀️ I also know exactly what you mean by it feeling tight and like you’ve eaten too much after food! X

@Strawberry08 I've not really been told a huge amount about anything tbh 🙄. It might have been mentioned in the beginning but now I've moved from consultants to nurses I've found they haven't really told me very much at all. But I have watched alot of YouTube videos and read plenty of forums. I'm just taking it one step at a time just now and just hoping that tomorrow's scan shows there's been good growth 🤞. If we get to the blast stage with any I'll be happy, even if there is a delay in transfer.

@Koalie they usually count your follicles in your first scan and baseline scan but maybe just didn't tell you? My very first scan I was told I had alot of follicles (I think about 32/34) as they also wanted to know if I had any other symptoms of PCOS - which I don't, so just PCO on their own - and to talk about the possibility of them over stimulating. At my baseline the nurse didn't tell me how many I had, I just know there were 16 on one ovary as my husband caught a glance of that, but not sure about the other.

@ScottishRach I didn’t have a baseline scan! My first scan is on Monday which will be Day 8 of stims for me 🤷🏻‍♀️ I’ll let you know how it goes. Good luck with yours! ☺️ x

@Koalie Hi lovely! How are you finding the injections? Did you take it out of the fridge 30 minutes before? I found if I did this, it was far less stingy 💖✨ I bet you’re excited for Mondays scan!! Let me know how it goes, I loved going in.

So no updated, they said they’d only call me over the weekend if things weren’t looking great and they needed me in for an early transfer. So I’m off to the clinic tomorrow at 10 for my 5 day transfer!! Ahhhhhh!!! Got my pineapple, Pom juice, brazil nuts and fluffy socks at the ready for the 10 days wait eeee!! Oh - and another old wives tail - McDonald’s fries after the transfer!! I’ll never say no to fries lol! I’ll update you tomorrow with how many made it✨ fingers crossed at least 3!!! X

@Koalie & @ScottishRach good luck for tomorrow. Hope progressing as planned!

@Izzie94x eeeek how exciting!! Good luck, I hope it all goes well

@Strawberry08 thank you 😊. I had 4 larger follicles on my right ovary, and about 6 on my left. About 4/5 were around 12mm then one at 17mm, another at 19mm and the largest at 21mm. So we'll see how things go at my next scan on Wednesday but they say things are progressing. In my mind I want more though, knowing that I do have a high follicle count, so I'm really hoping for more growth on Wednesday 🤞.

@Koalie good luck with yours - let us know how you get on 🤞!

Hi everyone,

Hope you don't mind me joining.

I am scheduled for my first transfer tomorrow 😱

Had egg collection last Thursday, we got 6 eggs, 5 fertilised and the update from yesterday was 1 top grade, 2 good and 2 average.

I seen I am just 1 day behind @Izzie94x so be nice to have someone to keep me sane while we wait for testing day 🤣 good luck for today 🤞🏻

@Strawberry08 thank you so much! The transfer went amazing. It’s almost magical✨ by far my favourite part of the entire process, felt on a little high throughout the whole thing. Excited but knowing not to get TOO excited lol!!

We amazingly had all fertilised make it to blastocyst, which is incredible and we’re so grateful! I was hoping for a couple. So to have 4 Frosties now is great💖✨

@User491 ahhhh how did you find egg collection? It’s not that bad but the recovery took me a couple of days! I also had some brown spotting too which was worrying (fyi ladies if you get this!) but the clinic have said all still looks fine in there and it’ll be leftover from collection! The transfer was so lovely, you’ll absolutely love every second tomorrow 🥰 you feel on a high, it’s lovely!! Now the dreaded 10 day wait! Ahhhh!!! Willl you be waiting till test day or testing early? Xx

Hi ladies :)

@Izzie94x it's not my refrigerated injections that sting, it's the bad boy that stops me ovulating that's a stinger and he's kept out of the fridge! lol. I'm so pleased to hear how magical your transfer was! That's how I've always imagined it to be too. I have also got all of your post transfer bits on my list too lol - including the Maccy's fries! Now you just need to keep yourself busy - when is your OTD?

@ScottishRach I've just come back from my scan. I've got 22 follicles on my right ovary and 17 on my left, however 14 of them are between 0-5mm so we can discount those, so 25 follicles total. I'm actually a little bit apprehensive, it's a lot more than I had expected/hoped for and I'm now worried about getting OHSS. I've also read that if you have too many eggs then they've not got the space to grow and end up being of lower quality so naturally, I'm now stressing about that too! I would be very happy with the amount you have knowing they've got the space to mature well. They've reduced my dose and my next scan is on Wednesday too. She said she expects I'll be ready for retrieval on Friday! Were you told the thickness of your lining? Mine was 6mm.

@User491 Hey! Welcome to the group :) how did you find egg retrieval? That's very exciting that you have your transfer tomorrow! Did your clinic say whether they will be freezing any of your other 'good' or 'average' blasts?

One thing I'm feeling a little uneasy about is that my clinic are strict on freezing blasts - they only freeze in 20-30% of cycles so that's making me feel a little anxious as well. One of my friends (different area/clinic) had 3 rounds of IVF before her twins stuck and they were the lowest grade embroys out of all her transfers so I'm worried about any blasts I have not meeting the criteria for them to freeze when they could be absolutely fine. Does anyone else know what their clinic's rules are around freezing?

Here I go again, worrying about the future and not living in the now lol. xx

@Koalie she didn't tell me the thickness, but she did show me the screen (I should have paid attention) and said it was a good 3 layer lining so I don't think that's an issue so much.

I had meant 4/5 follicles were at 14mm rather than 12mm.... doesn't seem like much but every mm seems to count in this game 🙈. I had lots of <10mm follicles but had a trainee nurse so she just counted the bigger ones. If I can get a few more to grow to the right size and maybe have 15/20 to go in with I'll be happy 🤞. I hadn't heard about too many affecting egg quality but I have read some posts saying the ones that were at around 13mm at this stage produced the better eggs over the largest follicles.

We'll see what Wednesday brings but my trainee nurse was very unwilling to give me anything concrete unfortunately, so still in limbo for now ☹.

Fingers crossed for Friday for you 🤞❤