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.

@Steph2345 I’m not really feeling any side effects from meds, but it’s still very early days yet!

@IVFDublin Good luck for your first cycle! Good luck for your scan tomorrow!

@Pcoswarrior23 Hello!! Good luck for your first cycle!

Thanks @Lauralozzle! It's nice to know there are other people going through it all at the same time

Hope your meds continue to not give you an issues / side-effects. I definitely get in my head a bit about it all and second-guess every craving or pain!

Hi everyone.
sorry just jumping on this thread.
I had my second scan yesterday but I only had one mature follicle, I am going back Saturday for 3rd scan to see if another few days injecting will help mature the rest, is this normal? I will have been taking medication for 2 weeks come this Friday! Has anyone else's egg retrieval date been pushed back before? Im afraid the extra days wont make a difference!

@Alisha1990 i had this! I was delayed a week in the end. it’s so frustrating isn’t it, but hopefully it means that when you do your trigger shot you’ll have more eggs that are more mature than they think.

Hello all,

Hope you don't mind me joining. Waiting on my period for this FET and starting to drive myself round the bend already! Had a bit of bleeding on Monday and thought it had started, but stopped almost immediately.

History
Been TTC for 3+ years and in that time had two ectopic pregnancies and both tubes removed. Did a full round of IVF in April got three blasts to freeze but no transfer as high risk of OSHH. Did a FET in July and got a chemical, so here we are again, onto the next FET!

Great to see such a varied group on here, got everything crossed for us to have summer babies next year (the dream :)

Thanks @Steph2345! Weirdly it says on my info pack not take ibuprofen at any point in the process 🤷

@IVFDublin fingers crossed for those 5 eggs! Glad you're excited to get started! Look forward to hearing how you get on.

@Pcoswarrior23 I have PCOS too and also had ICSI. Welcome 😊 how are you feeling as about ICSI/IVF?

@Alisha1990 I don't think it's uncommon for clinics to give eggs extra time to develop. I hope you get positive news at your next scan! It's a long time to be on meds, how are you feeling? I don't have the same experience unfortunately but if you also make the rounds of the IVF threads I'm sure someone will be able to reassure you!

@KI19 I'm sorry you've had such a rough ride so far! I hope this next one is the dream one for you 🤞

I'm just watching that Friends episode where Phoebe has FIVE of her brother's embryos put inside her. Isn't that crazy? The more we do IVF stuff the more it's everywhere is how it feels. But also FIVE?! Surely that would never have happened even on TV 😂

I am feeling like these tablets are kicking my ass. So much bloating. My body aches. I've had a headache all day. I've only had them for 2.5 days!

Can anyone recommend ovulation strips? My ovulation is hit and miss but I need to track it in a couple of weeks for my FET. Not digital ones though please

I always used easy@home ones!

Hi everyone,

Hope it's ok to join!

It's so great to see a thread has been set up for October cycles. I was on a similar thread in 2021 and found it was such a huge help and support! I've just been catching up with this thread so far.

This will be my 4th round of IVF with IVSI. 1st was successful but ended in miscarriage and then the other 2 rounds were unsuccessful. We've had a bit of time off to put ourselves in a better headspace and feel like now is the right time to hopefully be successful.

I start taking norethisterone on Saturday and then the fun begins!

Hi everyone :)
Sadly I've just had my modified natural FET cycle cancelled, as on my day 12 scan today I had multiple 14mm follicles, but no 'lead' follicle. It needed to be 17mm or bigger to trigger.

I often had longer cycles, say 31 days or so, so I do wonder if a lead follicles will develop over the next few days. Has anyone else done a natural FET with a cycle longer than 28 days? Really I'd just love to hear any experiences. Feeling pretty disappointed 💔

@Alisha1990 I think it can be normal. I’ve followed people on insta who have been close to cancelling due to poor response, carried on a bit longer and ended up getting a few eggs!

@KI19 Good luck with your FET!

@Babyplease23 Fingers crosses for this round. How do you feel going into your fourth round? Saturday will be here before you know it!

@River30 Sorry your cycle has been cancelled. I can’t help, as it’s my first FET. Hopefully some others will be able to help. Do you have a plan going forward?

@IVFKinster I’m feeling a bit sick on these tablets! Not sure if it’s the tablets or TOTM though. I have a headache but we’ve had 7 doors fitted and oiled and I put the headache down to the fumes. Roll on Wednesday though for the lining scan! This is not going to be a particularly relaxing cycle - we’re fully living in a building site at the moment! Sleeping downstairs on an air bed!

@River30 thats so annoying! Has the consultant given you feed back? If your cycle is rarely 28 days surely they should take that into account for you?
I told my consultant I’m 30 ish days and he seemed fine with that and said I’d go in for the FET however many days after I get a positive OPK.
what is a modified natural cycle?

Hi @Lauralozzle Yes, they have booked me in for an appointment to make a new treatment plan for my next cycle. It will be a hrt cycle instead. It's such a rollercoaster isn't it...

@Steph2345 thanks for your response! Yes I'm so annoyed/disappointed. A modified natural cycle means that they keep an eye on your follicles with ultrasounds and then one is big enough you do a trigger shot. I think it's so they know the exact timing of ovulation, rather than relying on tracking a natural LH surge. Although I much prefer the sound of your FET protocol, so much more flexible 🙈

@Lauralozzle I feel excited and pretty calm actually. Maybe the reality hasn't set in yet or I've just done it too many times to stress now... 🤣 I'll update you on that next week when I'm having a meltdown haha!

Hey @Babyplease23 . Think we going to be on similar schedules. I start norethisterone on Tuesday.
I'm so sorry you have had such challenging rounds.
I want to feel optimistic but it's like my brain won't allow me. How are you feeling?
I am on my third go. I have had a so single embryo transfer (miscarriage) and a double embryo transfer (chemical)
We have had 1 year off and now starting again. I have very different medication this time around. I'm having meriofort instead of menopur,and I have also added lubion in as well as cyclogest. I'm hoping that combo will work for me 🤞
I'm 37, but very nearly 38.
Xx

Ahhh gearing up to start injections next week and I've no idea whether to be positive and manifest that it will work or go on with a slightly negative attitude and accept that it probably won't the first time round - so tricky!!

Hey @Kitt86 so great to hear from you. It does sound like we will have similar cycles and also that we share similar past experiences too. I'm also on Meriofert instead of Menopur this time. Sorry to hear about your miscarriage and chemical pregnancies. Sounds like you've been through a really tough time. When my first round was successful I naively thought we had climbed our biggest hurdle after the IVF was done. Miscarriage hadn't even crossed my mind as a possibility so I'll definitely be going into this round a little more cautious. I see you've also had some time away. I'm viewing this as a completely fresh start as it's been so long. Our clinic has also changed locations since my last cycles so it feels almost like a clean slate! I'll be following along your journey and cheering you on from the sidelines xx

@marshk best of luck to you! It's so hard to know what to do. Naturally you want to be a bit cautious and protect yourself from potential disappointment. My first successful cycle that ended in miscarriage I manifested so much and had a really positive outlook. Every spare minute I'd be telling myself I was going to get pregnant and imagining seeing that positive test. On my second two cycles I was negative from the start and constantly said to my partner I don't feel like this is going to work. And it didn't. Probably a huge coincidence. But I have been trying to be as positive as possible for our 4th round and remind myself that there's no reason why we shouldn't be successful!

Joining this thread during my second/final NHS funded IVF. Intend to go private next if no success. Our first round was in August - Ovaleap 375 - I had 8/9 follicles, 6 mature eggs, 5 fertilised, double transfer of very low grade E and F embryos which resulted in a BFN, nothing good enough for the freezer. I'm 36, AMH is low at 4.0pmol/L - had both tubes removed this year after diagnosis of chronic symptom free PID. Partner is 38 with no issues.

Currently 8 days into stims doing Ovaleap 300 with Menopur 75. I had 15 good follicles after my first scan and am hoping to go for egg collection on Monday.

Hello @Custard7891 , sending you positive thoughts and hope you get lots of good eggies/embryos 🤗🤗🤗 you and I have similar stats, except I am 37, I am on day 2 of Ovaleap (450iu), this is my first time doing all of this…how are you feeling during stims? From your experience what sort of side effects did you get? 15 follicles sure sounds promising 🙏🏻

so far I am doing okay, had a bit of headache on and off in the last 24hrs (but nothing too crazy), have been hydrating tons, and then this afternoon onwards I am feeling a high backache which is a bit unusual for me (but I do have a very active job, did 1hr light walk, and cleaned the house for 1hr - all normal activities for me and if anything, I didn’t push myself as usual), but still felt tired…so maybe it is a side-effect?!? 🤔 or is it too early for side effects? And I’m still on my period 🤪 at this point just hoping my husband and I are doing these shots right (I am prepping, he is injecting 😅).

Hi everyone!

I hope you don't mind me jumping on here.

I have started down regulation with Buserelin for my first FET. 10 days in and the headaches are unreal!
Anyone else using Buserelin?

Just a little background - my partner and I started ICSI in April this year which ended up cancelled due to covid. Started ICSI again in May - Had 9 mature eggs out of 12. Just the one fertilised and had one fresh day 3 transfer which was unfortunately BFN. We started ICSI again in September. But this was a freeze all due to risk of OHSS. We have 2 beautiful blasts.

I didn't have many side effects with any other medication but the Buserelin is pretty awful!

Ve really struggled this week feeling so miserable. It's nice to have somewhere to chat about it all.

Wishing you all success!

How are people finding energy levels when they kick off the injections?

I'm generally a fairly active person and do some kind of exercise every day. Starting Pergoveris (450) tomorrow... I know we're supposed to totally scale back anything other than walking really but I'm already a bit anxious about not having any kind of outlet!

Is there any exercise that's OK during stimulation? Or what have people's experiences been?

@River30 It’s good they’ve booked you in for a medicated cycle. Hopefully it won’t be too long for you.

@Babyplease23 Excited and calm is good! You might be onto something about doing it so many times it just feels like not such a big deal!

@Kitt86 I found I had better results changing drugs. I had meriofert and gonal-f this time as opposed to ovaleap.

@marshk Try to be positive. I follow so many people who it worked for first time. I think I’m in a bit of a minority where nothing seems to implant on top of our awful fertilisation issues!

@Custard7891 Welcome! I think you’ll be among the first here for collection/transfer!

@ViVRe It could be a side effect. We’re taking in a lot more hormones than our bodies are used to!

@LuckyPineapple I’m not doing long protocol for this FET but I remember how vile buserelin is from first round of ivf. Hopefully when you start taking extra drugs you’ll feel a bit better.

@IVFDublin I found it was towards the second week that I cut down on exercise. I felt ok initially but more sore/bloated/aware of my ovary towards the second week. I think it really depends on how you respond.

Update for me: I’m not sure if it’s the three oestrogen tablets I’m taking a day or if I’ve picked up a bug. I have stomach ache (working from home because I’m not sure I’d make it to the office IYSWIM) and awful nausea. I feel sick constantly. Can’t eat much because everything is just going through me. Never felt this bad when on stims. I’ve got a wedding to go to tomorrow and I honestly don’t know if I can face it.

My period was really painful this month, but the upside of that is that it’s heavy and quick. It’s practically finished now - just spotting. I thought the stomach issues were initially down to that. Who knows? 😐

@Lauralozzle oh that sounds awful! If I was you I would 100% cancel the wedding - you have to prioritise yourself, and there's nothing worse than trying to fake having fun when you're not feeling great.

I'm actually in the middle of a very painful period too - I thought it might be related to the Norethisterone? But so hard to know what to pin on treatment or not!

Hi @ViVRe thanks, and nice to meet you 😊 Hope everything goes well in your first cycle. I think the Menopur/Ovaleap combo is working better for me this round, as I seem to have more follicles and they're a bit larger this time. I've been feeling a bit of discomfort after a week of stims, but honestly last time on Ovaleap 375 I had next to no side effects! Had another scan this morning and I've now got 18 follicles and 8 of them are pretty much at the size threshold they look for.