FET / IVF August 2023 - thread 2

[KG1244]

We filled up the first thread fast!!

Hi all. Jumping back on this thread, had a bit of a melt down last month with my FET. Finally went ahead last week. So much to read back though. Is anyone else in the 2ww from a transfer. My symptom checking is driving me insane.

Hi all, so i had my transfer 6 days ago. I started spotting this morning (pink, then turned to orange /light brown). It's quite a lot as in every time I wipe. No cramps. I'm absolutely devastated. I know this could be implantation bleeding but I no longer feel pregnant after days of lots of symptoms. Please tell me someone else experienced this x

Hi all. I’ve been lurking in the background- 🫢, hi to all 🫶🏼! I’ve had my day 5 fresh embryo transfer today (first ever one) and a bit of a complicated transfer… (hiding cervix and quite a curve to navigate, they nearly gave up 😰). But now pupo! Anticipate a hand hold, otd 24th!

@Hopingforno2in2023 I can only suggest keeping the mind busy. I listen to a lot of audiobooks which gives me a little focus elsewhere ... if only temporary.

@SadieBarts day two for me of tww ! I don't know how I am going to make it to OTD !! Trying so so so hard not to symptom check even though I know there is likely to be nothing!

@Mez456 this could be a really positive thing, I think @Doughnut89 may have had similar ? Forgive me if I am wrong ??

@73pheonix same OTD and first timer too ! How are you feeling? Sorry it wasn't a pleasant experience for you... not that we enjoy equivalent of smear tests but it was nerve racking as it is! Hope you don't feel too battered ?

@Lowo21 - I’m not to bad thank you, I haven’t found the bloating easy (they collected 22 eggs last Friday 🤯)… so I think my ovaries are still quite large! I ‘deflated’ a bit over the weekend but then i think the effects of the progesterone have been making me feel quite crampy/nauseous, even before the ET today. I’m at Oxford tfp as I know quite a few people are on here. So nice to have someone at the same stage 🥰🥰🥰! How are you feeling?

@GCS34 I know what you mean. I don't have any friends who have had to have fertility treatment so it's so nice to speak to people that understand 😊
I started on 6mg on day 2 of my cycle, then went up to 8mg on day 7, 10mg on day 10 and also had two patches on. It took me a while to get them to stick properly 😅. After all that I just plateaued at 6mm. My clinic has a policy where they don't transfer unless the lining reaches 8mm. They told me there was a study recently that said the difference in success between 7 and 8mm is not significant, but if it's less, then the chance of it working is quite a lot lower - so we cancelled. So frustrating. But at least I know what protocol I will be using for the next round. How are you feeling about your scan?

@Hopingforno2in2023 sorry you are feeling down today. I find listening to a good fertility podcast helpful - one of the educational ones. Makes me feel like I am a little more in control and understanding.

Hi All and welcome to the new guys!
I have been quietly driving myself insane in my 2WW. OTD is Saturday (I’ll be 10dp5dt tomorrow) but I am fairly sure we’re out. I’ve done a couple of tests up to now with absolutely nothing.

Mentally prepared to go straight into our next cycle and planning to ask for lubion next time round if we manage to get an embryo. A bit gutted as we only got one, and our chances of that were slim, so feels like our chances of history repeating is even slimmer!

sending sanity to anyone in the 2WW and positive results for all ❤️

@Lowo21 thanks. The bleeding is now bright red. I've given up hope, just in shock it started 6dp5dt x

Keeping everything crossed for you @Mez456 ❤️

@Jellyfish1956 absolutely. Fortunately for me I have 2 friends going through ivf atm (I’m 3 weeks ahead of one of them, and the other is 20 weeks pregnant) but it still helps chatting to people who have different situations and circumstances. Makes you see the full picture you know?
Thanks for the info 🤍 I am on 8mg atm then 12mg tomorrow. I’m just not holding hope. I dunno - just feeling a bit discouraged. What’ll be will be. What’s your new protocol for next round?

welcome @73pheonix @SadieBarts and glad you’ve joined in 🙃

you’re back @MrsMotts woohoo. So sorry you’ve had bleeding. I think @Doughnut89 had this too as @Lowo21 said and it was from progesterone I believe. Have you given the clinic a ring? And was it just today or did it start yesterday?

sorry youre feeling rubbish @Hopingforno2in2023 i feel you tho - I’ve got that same cycle of mindset and feelings the last few days. Why does our brain just muck us around? 🤷‍♀️😓When are you due on? For me, anything creative keeps me occupied. Baking, reading, doing home reno bits, seeing friends and family with a strict no ivf chat rule. Maybe focus your energy into planning something nice to do for your TWW. Maybe a night away or a day trip. That way you can keep busy now planning it, and keep yourself busy during the TWW. X

@GCS34 hi lovely! ive not had any bleeding - just negative tests at home and I feel like if it had worked there’d at least be a faint line on the FRER by now! Going to do another with FMU tomorrow and obviously I’ll do my OTD on Saturday, but mentally prepared for the worst which is maybe just self preservation. My husband is keeping positive. I’ve just had no symptoms at all (a slight headache from progesterone) but no sore boobs, no bloating, no nothing, so concerned that maybe I haven’t absorbed well enough.

The 2WW has definitely been the hardest part of this for me - I feel like I breezed through stims, collection and transfer 😆 I wish I’d asked for lubion from the beginning now too! I am working through my next 2WW - being off work has given me way too much time to spiral 🤣

it will be so frustrating to fail at the point where our odds were actually the same as everyone else’s too. We only had a 5% chance of getting to transfer because of my AMH/AFC, but if we got there, our percentages came back up to the same as everyone else’s.

Thank you all for your kind words. I listen to a lot of audio books and radio as they do keep me distracted although when I turned on the radio yesterday they were talking about IVF!

My period is due a week today @GCS34 so still some time to wait.

Hard negative again this morning so fairly sure we’re done. I’ll keep on the pessaries until Saturday/OTD.

@Hopingforno2in2023 thinking of you - waiting is agonising and I hope it goes quickly for you x

I’m sorry to hear that @MrsMotts, how many days past transfer are you?

@MrsMotts oh I’m so sorry! I got @Mez456 mixed up with you when replying. Too many M’s. Sorry you’re negative again today 😓there’s still time for it to turn positive by Saturday but appreciate you’re probably feeling the opposite!

I know what you mean for the phases. I am finding this but hard - taking what looks like just paracetamol every day doesn’t feel adequate enough to produce a lining. At least with stims you feel like you’re doing more where as this get prep just feels oddly distant from the ivf process.

that’s so frustrating about implantation. I think the whole thing is wildly unfair and largely down to pure f’ing luck really!

. I scare mongered myself l yesterday By reading about endometrium and how it has to be the right stage in the month for an embryo to stick. if it’s not, regardless of thickness, it won’t impact. But because I did a random day start due to lack of periods, how do they know that it is the right time in the month?

@Mez456 this was meant for you xx

@MrsMotts I'm sorry it's negative, there is still a chance, but I know I'd feel the same as you. Do you have a multi cycle package to go again?

I'm having a nightmare with my clinic - they are now saying that I have to pay for a FET of my remaining embryo, despite there being an FET included in my cycle, as the embryo I want to transfer is from a different cycle. So they say I have to get a refund for the transfer element (about £1k) and pay for a new cycle (nearly £3k). I am trying to get a call in with the clinic manager as this seems utterly ridiculous to me. There would be no difference at all in the treatment cycle based on which embryo I use...

@MrsMotts I'm sorry to hear that, sending love your way and keeping everything crossed for Saturday.

@GCS34 i know what you mean about it being the right time! But the oestrogen is to make the lining grow, and the progesterone is what causes it to start to compact, and starts the clock for the implantation window. It's all about the timing of the progesterone. Once you start taking it, there's no going back, and as long as the embryo is transferred on the right day after first exposure to progesterone, (the 6th day after you start taking it for a Day5/6 embryo) then it's the right time. Hold onto the hope, your time is coming 🩵 My protocol will be a modified natural cycle with, FSH, oestrogen, a trigger and progesterone.

@kirstysmbc that's incredibly frustrating and unfair. Is the embryo they want you to use a fresh one, and that's why they are saying it's different? If it's another frozen embryo it makes absolutely no difference to them the embryo you use. The process will be exactly the same!

There are no other embryos to use, their argument is that the transfer is meant to be one from the egg collection in the same cycle. But I didn't get any embryos in this cycle, so they are saying I should receive a refund for the transfer, not use it for another embryo...

@MrsMotts Sorry you are getting the negative results. My OTD is Saturday too. I decided to not test early. Woke up with my usual monthly spot this morning, so pretty sure that means I am out :(

@SadieBarts @MrsMotts - I am in the same boat... OTD is Sunday 17th but test still coming up negative this morning 8dp5dt. I am pretty sure I am out and just wish the period would arrive to end the agony of sitting on this hopeless fence (due period any time now..). I will keep up with pessaries till OTD or period arrival, whichever first, for namessake. This will be our secound failed fresh transfer :(

@CDiamond @SadieBarts i’m sorry you’re both in the same boat and will keep everything crossed for positives for you!

@kirstysmbc thats so frustrating from your clinic! Surely it shouldn’t matter when your embryo was from if you have one to transfer 😫
We have a second cycle to use (and have agreed if this one fails, we will do one more set of 2 round multi cycle and then admit defeat - so four rounds total)

I’ve just ordered some NMN supplements after reading a bit about how they can improve egg quality so hoping that might help with the next collection 🤞🏼

I kind of just want my negative on Saturday now so I can call the clinic and stop my progesterone and get my period cracking to start testosterone again! I’m in the zone of just keeping going at the moment so want to get drugs ordered etc so we can just get on.

looking for the silver lining, I can get my planned dental work finished before my next transfer hopefully so trying to take the positives and just learn what we can from the failed first cycle!

As always sending love to all of you guys - there really doesn’t feel like there’s any rhyme or reason to the process at all does there!

@Mez456 as @Lowo21 and @GCS34 mentioned yes I had continuous spotting every time I wiped for two weeks straight from 5dp5dt
I would ignore any symptoms you think you had before this. I don’t mean this in a horrible way because I was sooo guilty of symptom spotting in the past but I was told that any symptoms prior to about 10 days post transfer aren’t actually pregnancy symptoms because your body hasn’t produced enough hcg until then to cause any. I also mentioned to @KG1244 that my symptoms all seemed to disappear last weekend (I was 7 weeks on Saturday) plus my spotting came back and I convinced myself I lost the baby. But Monday morning I had my scan and they could see the heartbeat so all good. Honestly I completely get where you’re coming from and know how stressful it can be seeing blood but try not to worry too much 💕

@kirstysmbc that is absolutely awful about your clinic. Can I ask who you’re with? I hate they way they prey on women’s vulnerabilities to make money. I’ve found my clinic to be the same. Such little support, they just care about how much money they can make from me

@Jellyfish1956 yeah I know about the oestrogen and progestrone roles, but it was more to do with the stage in your menstrual cycle you are what I was reading. Thank you for your reply though - it does make me more reassured. I just panic about stuff. Anyway, I should stop second guessing the Drs. I'm sure they know a lot more than I do and Dr. Google does 😅I blame the drugs making me weird. I have a reaaalllllyyyy bad headache this morning.
Has anyone else had bad headaches with oestrogen tablets? Sounds like a really good protocol - so they're going to use the stim phase method to use that to trigger it to grow? I know some people just don't respond to synthetic oestrogen, or don't respond AS WELL as others. Fingers crossed for you.

@kirstysmbc that does seem incredibly unfair that they're charging you for the transfer. What's their reasoning? Surely the only difference is the thaw of the embryo? You won't need any oestrogen as you have a lining built from EC. What have they said and have you pushed back on them?

@CDiamond @MrsMotts @SadieBarts I'm so sorry you're all feeling like this transfer didn't work for you. I hope so much for you all that you're wrong and it will be just a slow one. Have you spoken to the clinic at all?

@SadieBarts has your spotting increased or stopped?
@MrsMotts I love your mentality and determination! That's really admiral. I hope you're wrong and your period doesn't come for positive reasons, but hope it does come if it's the other!

@Mez456 has the bleeding stopped?