IVF/ICSI June 2023

[countrypunk]

Hello, I'm starting a June thread for IVFers - I couldn't see one on the board. Please join!

I'm 39 and this will be our second round. The first round in November resulted in 2 blastocysts from 10 eggs. First transfer failed, got pregnant from the second transfer but miscarried at 9.5 weeks at the beginning of April.

Now raring to go again!

So todays scan revealed I have a good amount of large follicles (Dr didn't go through numbers and I'm just gonna wait to see how many we get at retrieval.) Trigger shot tonight, ER Wednesday. The bad news is as I suspected my endometrium is ridiculously thick (20.4mm) as I tend to overreact to oestrogen. My oestrodial came back as 9090!!! So a month of downregulation is ahead of me before I go into my mock cycle. Then cycle after that is Fet!! Feels like an eternity away but I know if we rushed into a Fet it would fail x

@Chickencrazy3356 thats great news! I get what you're saying about Genetic testing - if you don't have many embryos it's very tricky. Fingers crossed for your 2, low numbers are often better quality and getting high numbers of eggs from what I've read x

@PB86 i can imagine this is such a hard stage! Distraction is what I'm planning for my 2ww but how to distract ourselves from something so important to us is near impossible! Are you working through it? I think I'll be glad to be at work x

@MAbbott34 it’s honestly torture. I would definitely recommend distracting yourself as best you can. My job can be very stressful so I took a week off from the day of embryo transfer just to give it the best possible chance. Back in on Thursday. Don’t know how I’m going to concentrate on anything else!

@PB86 I feel your pain! Time can go soooo slowly when you're waiting for something so important. I don't think you could expect any proper pregnancy symptoms at this stage though (correct me if I'm wrong). I think they set in some time after the pregancy test date. When I had my TWWs last year, I was looking for symptoms every day. But from what I've heard from people that were pregnant, this happens quite some time later on. So I decided not to check my body for any symptoms this time so I don't stress myself. But I know the feeling of wanting to know now and analysing everything your body does. It's hard not to. I think if you're lucky you might have a bit of spotting from implantation. are you planning to test early? I'm planning not to this time. I think in the past i waiting until day 8-9.

@Chickencrazy3356 glad i could help make you feel a little better :) are you seeing your consultant about this or to discuss your embryos on Thursday? I'm so happy for you that you got two embryos from your first round. Gosh that will be intersting to see what the testing will bring. I cross all my fingers for you!! are you doing the next round straight after or do you have a cycle of rest in between?
I'm feeling much better today thank you. I decided that whatever will be will be. I cannot change it and I need to stay positive. And I started planning a last minute holiday if the test next week is negative - we'll be out of here to cheer me up :)

@MAbbott34 Oh brilliant!! So happy for you that you have a good amount of follicles. Are you nervous or excited for the ER? wow I've never heard of a lining that can get that thick! a whole month of downregs wow. will you be on norethisterone for that? yeah it is so frustrating that everything seems to count in months and so time goes by but what can we do.. i was thinking if my embryo doesnt stick this time, it's a cycle break again before i can start the fet again and so time just passes by 😩so annoying.

@Honeybunie I think you’re right it’s just that the medication mimics the usual early pregnancy symptoms which is so cruel but yes, no true symptoms at this stage I don’t think. There’s just such a lot riding on this one lesser quality embryo. If I had a couple in the freezer I might feel a bit more relaxed but I don’t. I really don’t want to test early but then equally I don’t want to not get the chance to test at all so I’m not sure what I’ll do?!

I would be interested to hear from anyone who has done their first round on the NHS then done a 2nd round privately funded. Did you notice any key differences? Did they investigate the cause of the first failure? Did they recommend to do anything different the 2nd time?

@PB86 yeah I get it. It must be a lot of pressure for the little one to stick. I really really hope it will 🍀it is cruel that you get pregnancy like symptoms! Are you on two a day or more? I’m in two and I have no symptoms so far

@Honeybuniethank you! Best of luck to you as well! it’s especially cruel as I’ve never been pregnant before and the only symptoms and positive pregnancy test I’ve ever had are as a result of the medication. I’m on progesterone pessaries twice a day. You?

@PB86 thank you :) oh did you have a positive test from the trigger before? Yes I’m also on two pessaries a day. The only symptoms I had was swollen and sore nipples just before EC but that’s all better again now.

@Honeybunie yes the positive test was the day after embryo transfer and it was quite a faint line. I’ve found doing the pessaries absolutely fine. Very sore nipples to start with it’s just sore boobs all round.

Hi all hope everyone is well. We had our transfer yesterday with a 5ab so over the moon but I was a little shocked when the embryologist wasn't sure whether any others would make it to freeze stage so I went from complete high yesterday and being thankful for one good one, to complete low today being sad that we might not have any others. However today the clinic have said they've frozen 4 (3 5bcs and 1 4bb) so I can't believe it. Just goes to show how much things can change. I tried to work today but was far too emotional so hoping I'll be OK tomorrow and keep my mind busy. What a roller coaster this is!

So happy for you and that you’ve had your transfer hoping the next 2 weeks fly by! That’s amazing news about the other embryos and hope the good news made you feel a bit better today !!

I don’t blame you for not being able to work today it’s a very emotional rollercoaster and all hormones and procedures, hope your feeling ok now

the lab called today and said that our 2 embryos “survived” the biopsy for PGTA and are now in the freezer, feel very relieved as my consultant said I shouldn’t get my hopes up of getting any and both are 4AA.

as we’ve gone private our clinic did a package for 3 rounds, I just wondered what would be a good number of embryos to have frozen before implantation, I’d like to try and get all the injections/ EC done before going forward with a FET but don’t know if 2 embryos is a good number or if I should try one more round and see if we could get another 1 or 2 as I know there is a risk in thawing and if they do not implant.

Fab news @Chickencrazy3356 does that mean the results from the testing have come back yet or do you need to wait? 4aa is brilliant!! Maybe have a think about how many children you want as if more than 1 you'd probably like a few frozen. Also, if you went for it now does that mean you'd lose the chance to do the other rounds you've paid for in your package? Sounds so promising congrats x

@NicHopingForARainbow wow doesn’t get much better than that!

@NicHopingForARainbow thats great news! Always good to have backup embryos, fingers crossed this is a sticky one. I agree that things constantly change. You never know with ivf!

@Chickencrazy3356 i think it depends on how many babies you want plus if you have implantation issues. For example with us we only want 1 more. I suspect I will have implantation issues so I am hoping for a backup embryo and will be happy with 2 genetically normal x

@NicHopingForARainbow wow that’s amazing news. Sounds a bit like my rollercoaster over the weekend! Can imagine you weren’t able to concentrate in work today! 1 transferred and 4 in the freezer and really good grades as well - what a result! Hope you can relax now and hopefully the first one is your lucky one ☝️

@Chickencrazy3356 wow 2 top grade embryos. That’s amazing too! Well done! I’m guessing you’re waiting for the test results now? I guess you’ll never know how many embryos you’ll need. You could be lucky first time around or need a few attempts. You just don’t know. Are you thinking of doing a transfer now before starting a second round or are you defo gonna do a second round first?

@MAbbott34 ER tomorrow! How’re you feeling? Is it first thing in the morning?

Evening everyone! Had my day 3 follicle scan today and have 5 follicles (expected due to low AMH). Started stims this evening and have a day 5 scan on Saturday so hoping for some good progress!!

Loving reading all about your IVF journeys on here x

Thank you ladies I think we’ve have had luck on our side to get 2, it’s a 2-3 week wait now for the PGTA results.

id love to say more than 1 but if successful due to my marfans syndrome I’m classed as high risk and I’m not sure if more than 1 would ever be a possibility for me to carry but never say never.

we might try another round, we have to do the rounds within a year and we’ve been very lucky that parents have helped us for the cost but we’ve put everything we have into paying for these 3 rounds so if we don’t use them I don’t think we’d ever in a position to pay again if that makes sense but the clinic did say you get a refund if you don’t need the rounds 😂hope everybody is doing ok

That sounds like a great package @Chickencrazy3356, takes some of the pressure off but be brilliant if maybe you didn't need the third round and get some money back. I hope you keep lucky for your test results and second round if you decide to go ahead.
Good luck with your stims @Gryffindoratheart I hope they do the job.
Best luck for tomorrow @MAbbott34

Hi all, they collected 8 eggs today. Bit disappointed due to my good amh and antral follicle count but good for my age I guess. Just hope they are good quality! The wait is awful I don't know how you all do it! May not be able to get pgta testing but will see how many blastocysts we get

Hi,

I've been following the thread for a few weeks now but stayed quiet as just on long protocol and doing down reg at the min.

I'm just wondering if anyone can let me know if they have had similar experience and what the outcome for you was..

I started down reg 30th May with Buserelin, I usually get the expected bleed on day 9/10 (or I did do on my last 2 cycles)... I'm due for my first scan to check to see if everything has shut down tomorrow but I got my normal period yesterday which tells me that I haven't responded well to the buserelin. I got in touch with my clinic and they just said to attend my scan tomorrow as normal.

I feel like they are going to cancel my cycle! :( Or would they just make me continue buserelin for longer? any advice would be great, getting myself a little worked up today but I may just blame my period for that !

Thanks :)

@MAbbott34 8 is a good number. I got 6 and ended up with 1 low grade embryo which is realistic for my age (36) I was exactly the same. Had 18 follicles and decent AMH so I was disappointed but being realistic, my results were as expected. If your results are as expected that is a good sign that you have responded to the treatment as you should have so do bear that in mind. Keeping everything crossed for you that you have a good number of mature eggs and they fertilise normally! The wait is truly awful but there is no escaping it so fill your time as best you can and it will go a lot quicker.