FET/IVF/ICSI - October 2033

[Lauralozzle]

Anyone due to start cycle/have transfer in October jump on board!

Little history:

TTC our first. Trying for 4 years. Officially unexplained but I only have one ovary that responds/works. Fertilisation issues. Positive Sperm Oxidative Stress Test (likely DNA Frag). So it’s really a bit of a mix.

Dec 22/Jan 23 - First ICSI cycle. 8 eggs, 6 mature, 2 fertilised. One poor blast to transfer. Nothing to freeze. BFN.

July 23 - Second ICSI cycle. Using AOA & ZyMot chip. 8 eggs, 8 mature, 4 fertilised. One fresh to transfer and 2 to freeze. BFN.

Oct 23 - First FET scheduled.

Currently waiting for my period to start so that FET cycle can start. Should start beginning of Oct, so FET likely towards end of the month.

@IVFKinster thanks !❤Feeling reassured after your message.
I became dizzy after the injection. So i was quite worried.

@Babyplease23 I’m sure it will be ok if it’s just one day? My protocol was longer, I started oestrogen on day 25 of last cycle and they booked me in for a scan 13 days later. I went in for the scan and they wanted me to start stims that day and come back for a scan 6 days later which happened to be my brother’s wedding day. When I told them this they said oh no problem we’ll push everything out by a day, just take oestrogen again today and start stims tomorrow instead, no big deal. I know my protocol was different but hopefully won’t be a big deal for you either 🤞I can imagine the frustration when you realised your period had started!!

We had our first embryo transfer 10th October. This is our very first IVF cycle.

14 follicles. Had to use ICSI. 11 were able to be used. 8 fertilized. 7 made it to day 5. 1 fresh embryo transfer and 6 frozen.

My partner is now in hospital with OHSS. She is pregnant which is good news and slowly on the mend but what a horrible experience this has been.

I hope no one has to go through OHSS and i hope you all have a safe and positive journey.

Just heard from the clinic. Of 8 eggs collected, 5 were mature, 2 have fertilised and another 2 have “activated” and may fully fertilise in the next couple of hours. Have to wait until Monday now for a full update and hope we have a viable embryo to transfer either on Monday or Wednesday. Feeling deflated, had hoped for better results.

Thank you all :)

A mini relief for now: looks like we can carry on as some of the follicles have caught up, today is day 5 of stims (gonal f tonight) and most are still only about 6-7mm, a few at 10mm and 1 at 12mm. I think she said at least 1 needs to be at 12 at this point to not cancel the cycle. So hope they all grow nicely from now. Waiting for phone call re. Cetrotide injections.

I have been eating a lot of walnuts and Brazil nuts!

@biscuitsndtea I wouldn’t worry too much about bleeding a little, mines inconsistent and generally ok but last nights jab has caused a mini bruised bump. It is into tummy fat so we can’t go too wrong there doing it ourselves 😅

Thanks for the reassurance @GabbyGal unfortunately the clinic close at 12 on a Saturday and the time difference with me being away means I couldn't contact them before they shut. But, I did scroll back through my messages with them in 2021 and can see that I asked the exact same question then haha and they said it was fine so I'll do stims as normal tomorrow and contact them Monday!

@GabbyGal hope you're feeling a bit better today - I totally understand the deflated feeling but all you need is one at the end of the day! Hopefully the other two catch up. I'm finding this weekend torture waiting for the next update - hope you can distract yourself a bit!

@4thcyclelucky that's great news!! Delighted for you

@Babyplease23 I agree with Gabbygal - I'm sure 1 day is fine! But great that you had the previous message from before to give you some reassurance over the weekend 😅

I just did my first little workout since starting stims - took it easy but wow I feel a million times better. Still feel a little tender after the collection but its definitely easing off (and the swelling starting to go down a bit) which is a relief! The mental torture is enough without feeling physically crap on top of it 😖I'm also sorry to say for anyone who has the pessaries ahead of them - its disgusting 😂

I’ll catch up properly later.

I have a time for my transfer Monday. Looking at 2:00PM but have blood test at 12:40 so a bit of a wait!

@4thcyclelucky glad to hear that.

I am on day8 of stims. Lots of mine are in 6 to 7 mm too. Waiting for them to catch up as well.

@biscuitsndtea I meant day 6 (not 5), I have started on cetrotide now too.

@biscuitsndtea are you feeling okay today? Sometimes dizziness can be caused by hyperventilation and panicking. Do you think it might have been that? I hope you're feeling alright!

@OHSSsufferer sufferer I hope your partner recovers soon! Glad there's been a positive outcome from the IVF but OHSS is obviously horrendous. Fingers crossed for a speedy recovery!

@GabbyGal natural to feel disappointed. I'll be hoping for a good news call for you on your next update

@4thcyclelucky glad you've had a positive update! Hopefully that's it for potential hiccups and the rest goes smoothly.

@IVFDublin well done getting back into a bit of exercise but going easy on yourself! I don't actually find the pessaries that bad. I'm doing them rectally though which helps with any after mess! Who invented pessaries? Why such a weird waxy non dissolvable coating?

@Lauralozzle hooray for knowing your transfer time. Annoying it's not too close to the blood test but lots of time to have a car picnic if there's nowhere nearby to eat? Not far away now at all!

Just had my day 10 scan - I've got a few follicles that are definitely the right size and then 6 or so that are are around 12/ 13/14/ They're trying to decide whether to do egg collection on Tuesday or keep us on stims for another day to try and make sure the others catch up - so expecting to hear back later.

Has anyone had this? Worrying they'll say to trigger and we'll miss out on some eggs. I am probably overthinking and I suppose you've got to trust they know what the best thing is!

@marshk yeah I think you’ve got to trust that the clinic knows best in terms of when to trigger. Even if you trigger tonight your egg collection wouldn’t be until Tues, and a lot can happen in a few days! I think they take everything out regardless also so nothing will be left behind anyway

I just had my day 3 update; all 3 embryos are still going - 2 are grade 2 and 1 is grade 1, so am happy with that! Transfer scheduled for Tuesday so hopefully good progress until then 🤞🏻

Thanks @IVFDublin - I'm such an overthinker! Analysing it as if I'm some sort of fertility expert which I am mostly definitely not 😂

That's really good news - keeping my fingers crossed for you 🤞🏼

They've decided one more day of stims with trigger tomorrow so EC will be on Wednesday

Hi ladies, I've a question
On the day of your trigger shot did you have to keep taking your stims ?

Has my final scan today , nurse told me I don't take any meds from now other than my trigger tonight.. but then I got home and checked my calender on their portal and they've said to take my bemfola stims at usual time tonight and then my trigger at 9pm. Kinda confused

@Lauralozzle keeping everything crossed for your transfer tomorrow and yours on Tuesday @IVFDublin - I have no idea on what grade 2 or 1 means (as I’m not in that step yet) but I’ve also heard every clinic grades embryos differently, I am really praying and hoping that all of you ladies here in this little group have positive outcomes.

@4thcyclelucky glad your cycle is still on, I was really heartbroken for you when they suggested to cancel cycle just bc one follicle was larger…during my stims all along I had this one bigger/predominant follicle…I knew it by trigger shot that very unlikely that they would keep/freeze that egg as it would’ve been over mature by collection, so try to focus on the others that will be good at retrieval, the way I see it, 1 follicle is not a good enough reason to cancel everything - but what do I know?!? 😬. It seems you had still a few others growing which is really nice!

@marshk you are almost there 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 how are you feeling? how many follicles are they seeing at the moment? Wednesday will be here before you know it!

@MoonlightDreamer I would call/contact your clinic and clarify what you are supposed to do. It truly is dependent on what they have seen on your last scan/or bloodwork if you have had done some. Before I started everything it was implied to me that on the last day of meds (36hrs before collection) all I had to do was trigger shot that day…but as treatment went on and after my last scan, doctor decided on last day of meds to do everything - a Ganirelix (suppressant) in the morning, Ovaleap (stims) 1hr prior to my usual time (so 7:30pm instead of 8-8:30pm) and that’s because they wanted trigger shot to go exactly at 8:30pm (36hrs prior to retrieval). They were very clear about my timings on that last day, so please check as risking things so close to the finish line (particularly with trigger shot added to the mix) is not worth it.

Hope everyone else is well…it is a big week coming up for lots of people in this group, EXCITING - and I am thinking of you! Stay strong ❤️

@ViVRe thanks for your reply . I've sent them a message to get some clarify as I don't understand the conflicting information .

I had my final scan today .
Things haven't gone as smoothly as I hoped. To be honest, I had a little cry in the car.
My left ovary apparently hasn't responded well at all, only 3 follicles. They still can't view it properly and said my ovary looks very small and it's extremely painful trying to rummage around having a look. Ive had so many scans over the past year and my ovary was fine then. Im really baffled why its shrunk. They believe its sitting up higher. They've now said they aren't going to bother trying to collect any eggs from the left ovary.
I'm a bit devastated as 3 eggs could make all the difference.

I've several follicles which have just disappeared on my right ovary.
I had 13 follicles all at my last scan and now I have 8 so I'm looking at collecting 5 follicles on Tuesday. It all just feels a bit hopeless having only one ovary that's responding . If we did ivf again it would likely be the same .it seems extra stress and money. I'm struggling to feel postive as I know there's a big drop off from how many actually fertilise and how many will make blasts.
I'm set to take my trigger tonight.
3 of my follicles are measuring 22mm.
Does that seem normal? From what I'm reading online it seems to suggest they will be over mature by time of collection of Tuesday

Hi everyone .. due to start stims on period starting yesterday and as expected hasn’t arrived as yet anyone at the same place at the moment ???

Hi all, would you mind if I join? I did post in a November fet board but I've realised it's pretty inactive. I've been reading these boards for ages, but finally decided to try and get involved.

For background, I'm 34, ttc for 3 years roughly (I lose count of the months), and my first FET will be in November. I should start meds for it at the end of this month, depending on when af starts. We did egg collection in August but had to have embryos frozen because of OHSS risk. We had - 32 eggs collected, 24 of which were mature, 20 fertilised, and 6 made it to day 5 and were frozen.

I've been feeling ok about the whole journey over the last couple of months whilst we've been waiting to start. Doing hobbies and just trying to enjoy other aspects of life. But yesterday, one of my best friends who has been trying for approx 2 months announced she was pregnant. I know I should be happy but it felt like a punch in the gut. She was one of my last non pregnant friends and am suddenly feeling more alone, and more scared about the upcoming FET. Can't explain why because really I know it has nothing to do with anything. Anyway, joining in the hope of feeling a bit less alone in all of this 🙂

Been gone for 2 days and already can t keep up with the group 👀

Good luck to everyone who is doing their egg collection in the next couple of days. Hope you all feel ok and recover fast!

Also keeping my fingers crossed for everyone waiting to get news regarding embrios or transfers.

I have been a bit moody these last days, probably my hormones and AF arrived finally (after 5 days delay). Still on down regulation until Friday when I have my first scan. My tummy feels sore already from all the injections...and I will have so many more coming my way 😐

@Elkly88 welcome! 😊That s a great number to start off with. Hope everything goes smoothly.
It`s totaly understandable how you are feeling, it s normal to feel a bit defeated when you hear other people just get pregnant so fast and easy. But just think that you are one step closer as well 😊

@Millie89xx I'm same as you stopped noristherone on Thursday and my period still hasn't arrived....I keep feeling like it's coming and it just doesn't. Supposed to start buseralin on 2nd day of bleed, and have scan on Tuesday (which maybe cancelled now if it doesn't start) was due to start stims on Tuesday after scan. Never wanted a period to turn up soo much in my life!! So frustrating. How you feeling. Do you also feel like its on the way? X

I'm sorry to hear that @MoonlightDreamer - it's really frustrating and I don't blame you having a cry. 8 possible eggs is still really good but I remember you said you had a lot of follicles before so understand why you're disappointed

@MoonlightDreamer My right ovary doesn’t respond at all and is tiny. They still got 8 mature eggs, and I’ve had x3 blasts out of that all decent quality. There’s still hope!

I’m having a last hurrah tonight and having some wine. Hopefully, I won’t be able to have it again for 9 months!!!

V v v jealous of the wine @Lauralozzle but agreed hopefully we won't be having it for many months!!