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 ❤️

@2mumlife good luck for your scan tomorrow - will be thinking of you.

Our 1st monitoring scan for lining is tomorrow am pretty nervous as my experience of going to clinic for scans so far has been that it isn't good news and cycle gets cancelled. This is obviously completely different type of scan and DE rather than stims but still that anxiety is there. Am trying hard to keep it at bay but it is creeping in now it is less than 24 hours. I just want to know a transfer is looking likely. I have been on 6mg estrodoil for 11 days now. What was everyones lining on 1st scan? I have ovarian insufficiency so likely to be slower to respond.

Sitting tanking some pom juice as I write this and have been on an 8.5k walk today - anything to help!

@ivf24 welcome :)

@Ellenn Hope you are keeping busy pre scan. Sounds crazy but I recommend jigsaws. If you want a hot drink that isn't coffee then ribena winter spice is like a hug in a mug. It is a bit marmite though you'll either love or hate it.

@jmx3 I think it depends on area what the criteria is for nhs. Might be online if you google. GCRM will do a fertility check privately I would imagine GRI might too. Worth phoning both and asking prices/times etc I have experience with both plus NHS clinic.

@IVFlife good luck for your scan too! It takes me 14 days on oestrogen usually to get above 7mm so I’m a bit of a slow burner! But I believe some people lining can get thicker faster, 🤞 you are already to go tomorrow! I’m not sure if it takes me longer as my cycles tend to be a bit longer? Every medicated cycle been similar though timings! Thanks for the suggestions I will give it a go!!

@Nosejug hello, just wanted to check in with how you are? If you are grappling with donor stuff then definitely recommend speaking to a counsellor. Hope you are doing ok

Thanks. Do you think 7 is the magic number for most clinics? I have seen people say 11?! I just wish I could measure it myself somehow 😂How much do you think scanning machines cost?!!!!

@IVFlife yes my clinic you had to have >7mm don’t think I’ve ever been 11!! I’m always around 7.5mm (even on natural cycles) and then it does get thicker on progesterone it seems by the time transfer happens.

I know what you mean I’m like that at the moment I just want to see if my embryo is actually going to be viable 🙈

rhe good news is if you aren’t quite there yet hopefully by the next one it will be good to go! Of course we’d prefer that lining to be beautiful tomorrow though!!

@Ellenn n To be honest I don't remember exactly when it all ramped up (I kept a bit of an IVF diary but I never kept a pregnancy diary really). First 2-3 weeks after BFP it was a bit more variable then I think I felt more consistency bleh after that. I do remember I had better days, and that they freaked me out because I then worried if I wasn't feeling awful that it was a sign something had gone wrong, but it was usually followed by an awful day, so I learnt to try to embrace the more functioning days. Like today, I don't feel so sick and its panicking me a bit. I drink Barley Cup as well as coffee (its a bit like coffee and has a nice malty taste) but I'm even off that at the moment. At the moment I'm only stomaching
hot water and hot ribena.

@IVFlife Wow can't believe that's your first lining scan already! Hoping you have a nice lining growing. They generally want to see a lining over 7-8mm in my clinic. There is an interesting research article on thickness here: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35109980/#:~:text=Conclusions%3A%20In%20cycles%20with%20a,plateau%20after%207%2D10%20mm. In previous cycles my lining was a bit thin / I hadn't reached that, so in previous cycle with my DD I've had my estradiol increased after the first lining scan to get my lining thick enough for transfer. In this cycle they started me on a higher estradiol for the whole cycle (so been on 8mg rather than 6 the whole time). Try not to worry if you need to increase meds or leave it a bit longer to get to the optimum thickness. x

Our scan isn't until this afternoon and actually the nerves have hit me this morning.

At work so I'll come back on properly later but was totally shocked at scan. The lining was 13.5!!!!!!!! We were so surprised and delighted. She said all looked good and it had the triliminal layer they want. Waiting for a call this afternoon about what do with meds now and thaw/transfer dates.

@IVFlife amazing news 😍 you must be so pleased!! And you don’t need to come back for another scan so saves you a trip! Hope they book you in for transfer soon!

@2mumlife yes it’s weird like now I feel fine but when my alarm went off this morning I literally thought I would throw up 🤢 I like the sound of hot ribena. Sending you all the good vibes for this afternoon that you get to see a wee heartbeat 💗 xx

@IVFlife Wow thats a juicy lining! Glad everything is looking great, hope you get a date for your transfer later today!

@Ellenn I felt it much worse in the evening with DD. This time around I seem to have a few hours in the afternoon where I don't feel as bad after lunch but the rest of the time feeling pretty awful. I think it varies so much person by person and even different pregnancies in same person.

Everything looked good a scan (phew!). Measuring 6+4 which is pretty bang on for being 6+5 today, and little heartbeat fluttering away. Implanted in a good spot and singleton pregnancy as we were expecting with single embryo transfer. No sign of SCH or anything to explain the bleeding I had last week. Sonographer asked if I wanted to take a little video on my phone of the heartbeat which was lovely as didn't have anything like that for DD. Just need to order a few more meds to see me through and then official discharged from fertility clinic. So its just a case of keeping on pushing through the first trimester nausea and hopefully keep doing what its doing until the 12 week scan 🤞

@2mumlife such nice news to start the week off!! I was actually feeling nervous for you 🙈 you must be feeling relieved? Do you think you will get another scan before 12 wks?

@Ellenn Im feeling like I can be nervous for you now mines over! No plans to do any extra scans before 12 weeks. I think it’s such a slippery slope with extra scans as I think once you get into the habit of doing lots you could end up doing them every week!

@2mumlife that sounds like a good plan! My plan is if Thursday goes well to slide down that slippery slope 🤣🤣 maybe get one at 8 and 10 weeks 🙈 I feel like I shouldn’t say that incase Thursday goes badly 😳 I’m just trying to keep myself super busy so time goes fast!!

@2mumlife ah fab news about the scan!

We got a call from clinic and they plan to thaw our donor eggs on Thursday and so long as all goes well with the creation of our embabies then transfer will be next Tuesday. Which seems so close but also a life time away as I'm so aware of all the steps involved in that first.

@Ellenn I think its really understandable given your previous experiences to want the extra scans. Hopefully everything looks really good on Thursday for you.

@IVFlife How exciting / nerve wrecking! I always found the almost daily updates about egg fertilisation / how many made it to day 3 etc etc really emotionally nerve-wrecking. Do you know how many DEs you've got to work with? Hoping you have lots of embryos to choose from on Tuesday!

@2mumlife we have 8 donor eggs. Which was the highest number the clinic had avaliable. We had some donors with 3 which also matched me but we went with the higher number. I am worried as although 8 is high the drop off rate is obviously an issue.

Yes I think that's the wait I might find hardest as nothing I can do. Where as 2ww I can at least trick myself into thinking I have some impact on stuff eg pom juice etc 😆

Did you have the embryoscope? I really want to be able to see some videos of them I think that would be so amazing.

@IVFlife That's interesting there were some donors with only 3 eggs - I'd just assumed you'd get more eggs than that from a donor! Hopefully with DEs you wont have as much as a drop off after fertilisation? I guess like anything these things are always a bit of luck of the draw. GCRM use an embryoscope I'm pretty sure, but they never show you pictures or video of the embryo. I've always thought it would be a nice thing to see as well. I think some places might not show you in case you obsess over the image e.g. if you can see some fragmentations etc?

How is everyone's work being about ivf? The work that were fab last time have a new manager now and I'm feeling very upset by their response

@IVFlife I’m lucky as work flexible hours from home. I did tell my line manager I had some medical appointments coming up and would be offline for a few hours on certain days. I was working for a different employee, same
sector, when doing our previous rounds and did the same just said it was “medical appointments”.

I think sometimes it’s easier to approach it as “I have a medical appointment” rather than saying what it’s for. I’m sorry they aren’t being supportive though - I think it’s still very variable how good work places are at this sort of thing.

@Ellenn How are you feeling about scan tomorrow? Hoping all is going well

@IVFlife sprry to hear your manager wasn’t very understanding, is there anyone else you could talk with about it who might be more helpful? I feel many people just don’t understand what we are going through and realise how grueling the process is - it’s just difficult for them to see our situation xx

@Ellenn im so nervous 🙈 not sure what to think if it’s going well or not as my symptoms are really on/off and not constant. Not had any bleeding although last time I didn’t either when I was on lubion so not sure that’s even reassuring! Arghh this time tomorrow we will know if it’s looking good or not eek ….

@Ellenn You might just be one of the luck ones who is t in constant nausea-land 🤞 hope everything is looking good, sending you all the positive vibes for tomorrow

Today is thaw day. Hopefully all 8 of our magical donor eggs survive the thaw and can be safely fertilised.

@IVFlife Thats exciting! Hope they all survive the defrost and all fertilise! Will the clinic give you an update today or will you have to wait until tomorrow to find out how its gone? Sending you lots of positive vibes next few days, I've always found this bit of waiting to see how many embryos you have to work with the toughest part x

@Ellenn Thinking of you for your scan today, good luck 🤞

@Ellenn good luck for scan x