IVF Scotland - thread 5

[itsmschanandlerbong]

Hello, made a new thread for us Scots going through IVF, thread 5. Hoping this is the best thread yet for dreams coming true ❤️

Hey ladies I thought I’d join if that’s ok. We have been trying since Jan 2022 and caught in feb but had a miscarriage at 9 weeks. Been trying ever since with no luck. I am 36 now so feel the clock ticking and started trying at age 34 (eek). We have had bloods and SA, and a private assessment at Glasgow Royal (my amh was high for my age) and all fine and were referred to fertility at Ninewells in June. We can’t afford anything more private wise though. They said it’s about a 6 month wait so I figure we will get an appt in Dec or January. Is anyone else waiting or with Ninewells?

@Annapolis35 hey! Yes I’m with Ninewells atm too! All the nurses and team are lovely 😊 it was quite a wait to get to the top of the list took 7 mths to get to top then there are a few nurse/doctor appointments before actually starting treatment!

Hope everyone is okay. Had my 12 week scan today and unfortunately it wasn't good news. The sac was empty so its been absorbed at some point in the last 5 weeks. Pretty devastated and definitely need to take a good break before we look at transferring one of our frosties but onwards and upwards.

@Kamiros im so sorry to hear your news 😭😭 how awful when you’ve had lovely scans as well already. That good to hear that you have frozens when you feel ready. Hope you have friends/family/partner that can support you? I just found it excruciating the first week after finding out and really struggled on my own. xxxx

i had medical management at the weekend which was absolutely awful (and definitely not doing that again soon) but my partner is finally back home today after away for 4 weeks. I’m not sure how I feel about it as I don’t think we are on the same page. He just talks about trying to make me not sad about it all but I think it’s still so early days yet. Every miscarriage it seems to get worse and I really thought I would know what to expect after the first one 😢

@Ellenn Thankyou. Yes very lucky that my husband is here and family and friends are great. I think every miscarriage is different, this definitely feels different to my first and its harder. I have to go for another scan next tuesday before they'll let me stop my meds which is awful as I just want to see if it'll come away itself. Given there's only a sac there you'd think it should be straightforward but who knows.

@Kamiros I'm so sorry to hear this. Devastated for you. I really am. Hope you are being looked after xx

@Kamiros I am genuinely so sorry to hear this 😢😢 there are no words. Glad you have some support but I'm sorry for the wait to stop taking meds, that just adds to the pain and trauma.

@Kamiros I'm so so sorry to read your news. I can't yet even imagine, and you've had such a difficult time up till now. Will be thinking of you.x

Thank you @itsmschanandlerbong and @LouScot

I still can't get my head round it just disappearing after seeing a heartbeat. I didn't even know that could happen at that stage. Also means Ive no idea how long its been gone - the sac is measuring 7 weeks but they said its been shrinking so it was after that. The worst of it is I'm still getting pregnancy symptoms which I think must be the progesterone injections - all feels a bit like a bad joke. I'll be okay though, I have loads of support around me and DH says we'll book a holiday as soon as this is over which I think will be good.

Thanks @Nosejug Sorry I missed your message earlier.

@Kamiros irs horrible how we have to wait and have two scans isn’t it 😢 I was actually told I didn’t need to keep taking medication to see if I would miscarry naturally which didn’t end up happening. When is your next scan? I hope it’s not too far away, I found it difficult knowing the embryo was still there and couldn’t move on till I’d properly miscarried.

im hoping to find out a provisional start month for my next transfer this week and I’ve emailed again today. Suspect it will be January 😭 it’s just so far away. I was going to ask about doing a double transfer, has anyone done this/had a conversation with their clinic? Not sure how it works. So far I have had 3 single transfers that have all miscarried. I just feel if I continue doing single transfers and have potential for 25% miscarriage every time that’s going to break me a bit. Although of course it could be the environment - I’m hoping the miscarriage bloods will help rule some things out.

@Ellenn It's tomorrow so nearly there. I can imagine how hard that was, definitely has helped a little that there's no embryo there for me any more, as painful as that was to begin with. I'm having bad cramps so it wants to start but I'm really hoping for either medical or surgical help. I need it to be over.

I've not been allowed a double transfer as a multiple pregnancy would be too high risk. Its so hard to go through another one knowing it could end this way, I'm so sorry and hope you get some answers from the testing x

@Kamiros I’m so sorry to hear this has happened to you. Hope you can take some time to heal and hopefully get a holiday somewhere. take care of yourself. If you want to chat privately feel free to send me a DM xx

Thanks @Kitty12345678 I'm very up and down. Just want to get through this scan and move forward. Dreading going to the hospital too as it always involves sitting in a room of pregnant women- not easy. xx

i know what you mean about getting a scan. If it’s at EPU at GRI then you can hopefully sit at the couple of seats next to the scan room, rather than the main waiting area. I found that easier to deal with sitting there with my husband. Please take care of yourself x

@Kitty12345678 Thank you. I'm in Fife, their set up isn't great but actually I'll just ask if there's anywhere else we can sit, worth a shot. x

@Kamiros hope you are doing ok was thinking about you xx

I heard yesterday the clinic will let me start medication in my December cycle so hopefully get a transfer in January Woop! Still so far away but it’s nice knowing what the plan is.

That's not too long @Ellenn. lt'll be here before you know it. x

I'm ok thanks. Had scan on Tuesday and chose medical management as there was a 2 week wait for a surgery slot. Tuesday was pretty horrible, I started the pills at 12 and it worked really fast. I ended up bleeding really really excessively and had to go back into hospital. Fortunately everything had passed in the first 8 hours and it calmed down without much intervention, just a top up of blood needed. Now I'm mainly just exhausted but glad the worst is over.

@Kamiros medicated management is awful I could not deal with the pain at all 😢 sounds scary with the blood loss, I’m glad it worked ok for you though and it didn’t drag out, and the hospital got you all sorted. I don’t think I could of waited 2 weeks for surgical either - I felt like I just wanted everything back to normal and cycling as fast as poss. It’s hard to try and come to terms with it when you are still waiting to miscarry I thought

@Kamiros I'm just so sorry this has been ongoing for you. The emotional toll must be extreme. I'm glad you've said you have good people around you. I'm not sure anyone could understand without going through it themselves.

@Ellenn we had our call with Glasgow royal yesterday, and are also looking to start treatment roughly in December (Though only if my biopsies results come back promptly and without need for further treatment. Please God.)
But would be amazing to finally know if i respond well to stims. Doc said if less than three eggs then nhs won't pay for more treatment (unless a donor..!) They say amh isn't everything so some hope is there.
Excited for you too, good to have a rough date for beginning.

@Nosejug exciting! I did my first cycle at glasgow Royal, I hope you respond well 🤞I hate how they have these rules of minimum eggs cause surely you just need one to work so you should get more rounds! I’m also hoping by the time it actually comes to transfer time I should have all my results back for recurrent miscarriage profiles although probably won’t change anything but would be nice to rule things out!

how are you feeling about it all? I was super excited for my first cycle

@Ellenn It really is, I'm sorry you had to go through that too. I definitely felt like I couldn't move on with the sac still in there

@nosejug Thanks. I'm glad things are moving for you too.

I'm spending today looking at holidays and will be booking something as soon as I've had the call with the hospital on Friday. Hoping to feel normal for a bit.

Ha, I'd love to be excited, but the docs have all been keeping my expectations low. I'm very curious to see how I react to highest dose of stims... I once had a hormonal implant in my arm in my 20s and wow I went off the scale emotionally. Might tell my partner to steer clear of me lol. But definitely excited to be moving on from stagnation--whatever happens at least I'll have answers! Any advice for surviving emotions on stims will be gratefully received. Glad to hear you're excited to start, I want to be both realistic and leaning on positive... I was in a bit of an obsessive and bad place for a while there but I think I'm coming out of it??!

@Kamiros a holiday sounds like a very good idea.Xx

@Nosejug ha yes it is quite an overload of hormones. Not sure I’ve got any tips apart from pre warning your partner 🙈 I definitelt was pretty emotional and sometimes forgot that was a side effect of the drugs 🤣 I tried to make sure I didn’t expect too much of myself when on medication so didn’t plan much and made sure I just did whatever I felt like which sometimes was eating a huge bar of chocolate 😝

im excited to have something to look forward to but I know once I’ve had the transfer it’s going to be super unfun but what can you do 🤷‍♀️ things we put ourselves through just to get that chance of having a baby