Starting IVF/ICSI March 2024

[AnnieStar12]

I'm planning to start my first round of ICSI with my next cycle - anyone else in the same boat and want some online company? Or anyone already been through this and got useful tips/advice?

@Capybara95 I kept getting pressure headaches at the beginning of stims but not since then, hormonal changes are known to cause headaches so could be the progesterone, hope it passes soon.

@Drzoem great news! Welcome to the 2 week wait!

@2024forthewin sorry you've been feeling unwell, but glad you're feeling a little better today, got my fingers crossed for you tomorrow

@AnnieStar12 a really nerve rocking time for you, I really do hope you have good news tomorrow morning ❤️

We got a call from the embryolgist this morning, the 4 embryos they were going to watch for another day didn't progress, so I only have 1 frozen, a little disappointed but I do feel lucky that we have 1 in the freezer.
My pregnancy test date is on 28th, I'm only 1 day into the week wait and it feels so long away!

@AnnieStar12 i know what you mean. We will be driving to the clinic and we could get a call while on the way if ours doesn’t survive the thaw. I’m so nervous already and we are weeks away from that yet.

@Beka245 im sorry the others didn’t make it but I’m glad you’ve managed to transfer one and freeze one 🙂

@Beka245 sorry the others didn’t make it, but you’re in a good place having 2. And hopefully one of those will be your baby!

@Steph2345 argh, so much that is out of our control isn’t it! Do you have a rough transfer date?

Congrats on the transfer! I hope the 2ww doesn't feel too long for you and you get your BFP 🤞

@AnnieStar12 @2024forthewin good luck for tomorrow! I hope you'll have good news and the transfers will go well!

@Beka245 sorry to hear that, there are so many steps/phases and it feels so unfair when the numbers keep getting knocked down, but hopefully your transfer will be the perfect one 🤞

@AnnieStar12 no I don’t know yet. I have at least 12 days on this medication (scan is booked for Thurs 28th) so I would imagine transfer will be the first week in April now.
how have you been feeling since the EC?

My egg transfer has been cancelled today, the embryologist has said they’re more at the day 4 stage, so would like another day for them to develop. The clinic has warned me this does happen. Whilst the 5 embryos are there, it’s 2 of them she’s hoping will be suitable. Hoping so much that they make it to tomorrow and can be frozen 🙏 🙏 🙏

Good luck to everyone today, sending you such positive vibes and hope you get better news. ❤️

@2024forthewin I’m so sorry to hear that, I’m sure you’re disappointed but at least they are still developing. Hope you’re able to take some time to yourself today. Fingers crossed for you that they will be at the right stage by tomorrow. Will you be able to have a fresh transfer of one tomorrow if they develop or will they have to be frozen?

Thanks @Capybara95 yep definitely feeling disappointed… and fearful. No they can’t do a fresh transfer of a day 6 embryo, the nurse advised the lining isn’t optimal, something to do with the progesterone levels, so they consider it risky. So whatever they get tomorrow will be frozen and then FET. I’m away at a point next month and it’ll be Sod’s Law that the timings clash

@2024forthewin I'm so sorry to hear that. It's just so crazy waiting for these calls and not knowing what they will say. I am really hoping they catch up and you'll have some frosties for next month. Will they call you tomorrow to let you know?

I am still waiting for my call, they said on Day 5 they don't check first thing so it'll be late morning. Jeezzz, I am anxious! I know the odds are against me, but I just want to know one way or the other now to be put out of my misery.

@Steph2345 good luck with the meds and scan next week, hopefully you'll have good luck with this one as you know it was a good batch, you already have one child from this same batch, right?

@Cathycatcat how are you doing? Are you good to go ahead with transfer day?

@AnnieStar12 yeah a call tomorrow, after anything has successfully frozen. sending you lots of love for good news today, it’s so anxiety inducing!!

@2024forthewin sorry to hear that it got cancelled, sending positive wishes for them developing today so you have a couple frozen.

@AnnieStar12 good luck today! Hope they call you soon!

@Cathycatcat hope you’re ok and everything is moving forward!

Update!
Good news - the clinic called, they said it has made it to an early blastocyst that can be transferred today.
Bad news - they aren't able to grade it right now but they think by time I get to the clinic they should be able to grade it, but that I should "manage expectations" as it will likely be a very poor grade as they can see lots of fragmentation, which means a low chance of it resulting in pregnancy. Apparently it would be unlikely to be good enough even for freezing, but it's all we've got so might aswell go ahead. Tbh, it is hard to feel excited about transferring something that would in other circumstances be discarded!

Those who have had transfers already or in the past, can I ask what grade your embryos were on the day of transfer? @Capybara95 @IrisViolet @Lavendermarshmallows @Steph2345 @Drzoem

@AnnieStar12 congratulations on your embyro making it and that you're able to go ahead with transfer. I know it's anecdotal but I've read of quite a few success stories where people have had average/poor graded blastocysts. So I have everything crossed for you ❤️
The embryo that I had transferred was 4BB, and our frozen 1 is 4CB

@AnnieStar12 my friend just had her little boy through ivf. She did 3 cycles and of all her eggs graded he was the “worst” grade. The consultant told her it wouldn’t work and it did!

@AnnieStar12 great news.

the embryo I had transferred yesterday couldn’t be graded too!!

I had a call from the lab this morning to say they had discarded all the other 4 embryos as they did not progress.

I’m hoping and praying this one sticks🥹🤞🏼
good luck with yours x

@2024forthewin sorry to hear it got cancelled. Hopefully all goes well for the freezing and future FET. Hope you get some rest now and the pain subsides too.

@AnnieStar12 great news that it’s survived! Fingers crossed for you that it went well at the clinic.

@Steph2345 glad the wait is over and you’re finally starting! Good luck with the meds.

We just got the transfer done and all went well I think . The one they transferred was a 4BB/borderline C. one looks like it might be frozen tomorrow if it grows. The third one apparently is still alive and trying but not holding out hope.

Congratulations @AnnieStar12 you’re still in the running 🤞

@HopefulllHolly that’s a lovely hopeful story!

@Drzoem so sorry to hear about the 4, but rooting for you that the transferred one sticks 🤞 🤞

@Cathycatcat fantastic news on your transfer! Sending lots of hope your way!

Does anyone know if it’s normal not to freeze Grade C embryos? The embryologist said that’s clinic policy, but I’ve no clue about grading. I’m wondering if I should be following up with them to push for a fresh transfer for the lower grade embryos, considering they may be discarded anyway? Does that make any sense?!?! As in, I’d rather they were transferred than discarded - even though I’m well aware the likelihood of them sticking is v low. Ugh, just feel like I’m somehow missing an opportunity with the progesterone there etc. sorry I’m probably losing my mind slightly over here….

@2024forthewin I think it’s defo worth you asking them. I do know if they are poor quality then they can be transferred, but not frozen. And if they are discarding them, then I would also be asking them why they’re not transferring. Worth calling them to discuss as you were booked in today anyways.

@Drzoem im sorry the others did not survive. Guess we’re on the same boat with all hopes on the one embryo transferred! So nerve wracking!

@Cathycatcat congrats on the transfer! And holding out hope for your other two 🤞when did they tell you to test?

I am on my way home from the transfer. Apparently it had improved in those hours since speaking to embryologist in the morning, and they were able to grade it at 3BC, which is only borderline worth transferring! I’m just hoping it keeps improving now it’s in the best place it needs to be.

My test date is 27th. I like to pretend I will wait, but I know I’ll end up testing early! Is anyone here planning to test out the trigger hormone to do early pregnancy tests? Or will you all be patient and wait until your test day?

@AnnieStar12 congrats on the transfer. Here’s hoping it’ll keep improving quickly and sticks! My test date is 14 days after so it’ll be 31st March.

Well done everyone on your transfers in the past few days and wishing all the best of luck 💞 sending out good thoughts to you.

Still waiting for my period! I am deep in PMT and stressing about work today, plus exhausted! Taking a deep breath.

Has everyone completely cut out caffeine for their IVF cycle or not? I only tend to have one caffeine drink in the morning and have decaf all the rest of the day, but I saw something yesterday that said "avoid" rather than reduce so just wondering what everyone else was doing?

@2024forthewin sorry to hear that, praying they'll be good for freezing tomorrow 🤞

@AnnieStar12 I'm glad you tenasfer went well!!

@Cathycatcat congrats on the transfer and fingers crossed for the others!

@Lucylaughing I am still having my morning coffee, I wouldn't be able to start the day without it! I reduced it to o ly one espresso shot instead of two though

I had my EC this morning and I am actually over the moon. I got 17 eggs but this wasn't expected at all! When I had my AMH level checked before starting the treatment, they told me it was close (borderline) to low levels for my age (5pmol/l at 36yo) so they put me on 300mg Gonal F for Mt stims. It seems my body has responded very well to the medicine as I only had 8 days of stims and got this high number. They have asked me to come on Wednesday just to check my ovaries as they worry now I may develop OHSS.

In January, I started taking a multivitamin supplement that a private fertility clinic in Spain recomended when I was visiting my family at Christmas. They advised to take it for 3 months before starting a fertility treatment to improve egg quality and quantity. I also took extra co Q10 and vitaminC. Ihave only taken them for 2 months and I don't know if these supplements helped at all but the numbers I got were totally unexpected.
I'm under no illusion and know that numbers can quickly drop down if eggs are not good quality/fertilised/etc, but oh my, I cried when they told me they got 17 eggs as I was under such pressure hoping to get at least some!

@mlruirod wow, that's incredible news - please keep us posted on how they develop. Hopefully your ovaries are okay and you can have a fresh transfer later this week - fingers crossed!

@Lucylaughing hopefully you can start soon then. I have allowed myself one caffeinated tea each morning but then switch to de-caf the rest of the day. And have mostly cut out alcohol apart from the occasional glass.

@Cathycatcat how odd we have testing dates 4 days apart even though we have had EC and transfers on the exact same day?! My clinic said it is 10 days after, so guess they just have different protocols. When I've been pregnant in the past I've always had positive tests 10 days post ovulation, which is the equivalent of 5 days post transfer. But I know some pregnancies take longer to show up on tests so safer to test later. You can probably tell I'm already impatient! I need to find a new series to binge watch and a good book to keep myself distracted for the next few weeks.

@AnnieStar12 glad your transfer went well! That was great that the embryo had improved so much! Fingers crossed that is a good sign! They just told us ours was top quality and starting to hatch but they didn’t give us a grade and didn’t tell us grading of the frozen ones either so I’m not sure if it’s not something they do or if it was just because I didn’t ask. I was just so happy to have some I didn’t even ask!

@Cathycatcat congrats on having your transfer too! Good luck for your update tomorrow also 🤞🏼

@Lucylaughing i still had some caffeine but did cut down. I was having one coffee most days and would drink fizzy drinks too some which have caffeine. My husband cut down to the same too. That might be a lot for some people but it was less than usual for us. We didn’t drink alcohol at all in the run up.

@mlruirod thats amazing news!! I’m sure you’re delighted! How are you feeling now? I had 19 eggs collected and didn’t get OHSS so hopefully you will be ok! Good luck for your update tomorrow!

I hope I haven’t missed anyone!