Create Fertility - Experiences (Part 3)

[Sunflower360]

Hi 👋

A thread for anyone who wants to discuss their Create Fertility experiences.

I'm 38, have had 3 egg collections with Create (2x natural modified and 1 x mild) and am about to go through my first FET following embryo banking and after having a Hysteroscopy and discovering I have thyroid antibodies...joys of fertility challenges.

Tagging as follows from previous chat, please tag any others I may have forgot.

New joiners to the thread welcome to share your experiences - it's a never ending learning curve for all!

@Maddie23
@gemso2020
@Doxy21
@Plantymcplant
@Jennaqua
@Hopesandsunshine
@jolly86
@VenusStarr
@muddlingthrou
@junieS
@littlebitsocial

Thanks @Plantymcplant

actually I can name 1 symptom @Sunflower360 which I didn’t in my failed round is being very sleepy before I took my test

@jolly86 that's really good, good luck for the next stages @HopefulElle hope your scan has gone ok

@Plantymcplant @Sunflower360 it went well thanks, measuring spot on and a strong heartbeat 💗 … which reassured me for all of a few hours!
How are you both getting on?

@HopefulElle that's really good news. Hopefully you can relax and enjoy it now a bit, I know the 12 week point is where you can relax more but if measurements are looking good then hopefully that's a good indicator. Or you could get a further private scan at 9 or 10 weeks for reassurance perhaps.

I'm ok, had a double transfer today of a 5BC and 5BB embryo. Not sure how I feel, have to keep reminding myself I've had it done because its become so routine now with this being the 3rd FET back to back! Perhaps a good thing as I'm kind of expecting nothing, if that makes sense. Will see how it goes though, but if it doesn't work I'll take a one month break then have another EC before revisiting transfers. We have another 4 frozen embryos too (5BB and below) but their not tested. We're considering PGTA for any possible future embryos whilst their fresh, if only to save time with numerous transfers.

@Sunflower360 yes I’ll be 9 weeks on Mon and I don’t think I’ll be able to resist another scan before 12 weeks. For one thing, I need to tell work very soon (they want me to travel somewhere with a Zika risk which I won’t be doing).. might have one more scan before telling them.
Best of luck with your transfer, here’s hoping it’s third time lucky for you. Good that you still have 4 embryos, and a plan, I always feel better with a plan in place! Really hoping this is the one for you, though.

@Sunflower360 congrats on your transfer! is the day 3 embryo one of these blastocysts?

@HopefulElle that's great about your scan congrats!

@HopefulElle thank you

@jolly86 thank you. Yes, the 5BC was the day 3 embryo. It was from a collection 7 months ago

@Sunflower360 that's good. seems you got a good blastocyst rate.

All the best @Sunflower360
So happy your scan went well @HopefulElle ❤

Thanks @Maddie23

@HopefulElle I'm glad it went well!

I booked a second scan as I was so worried so I saw the baby again at 8+5. All looking good so far but I am struggling to not worry constantly.

I had my midwife booking appt on Wednesday. That was great to feel like I am in the normal process of pregnancy instead of the ivf stage. The midwife was so nice we told her everything that had happened with the miscarriage and the ivf and she stopped, looked at us and said - "I'm so sorry you have been through a lot". That was really nice to hear. I found with IVF we just kept ploughing through. it was nice to have someone else acknowledge how shit infertility and loss is and that it is something we had and will continue to deal with and process even though we are lucky enough to be pregnant

@Sunflower360 keeping everything crossed for you in your 2ww

@jolly86 - congratulations! Wishing you a smooth pregnancy from here.

@Sunflower360 - ooh, best of luck for the 2WW. Hope you manage to stay sane in what I think is the toughest stage of the whole process! Be kind to yourself.

I am 13.5 weeks now and starting to feel my terrible nausea lift. Hoping to start enjoying my pregnancy more now. We have booked a private scan from 16 weeks to find out the gender (and because waiting two months between the two NHS scans is just too much for my anxiety)

@Plantymcplant no way, I have booked a scan for tomorrow which is 8 +5 for me too! Was yours an abdominal scan and were they able to see ok if so? I also have my booking appointment next Wednesday (at my house,I wasn’t expecting that) and same, it’s so nice to have “normal” milestones. Glad to hear your midwife is lovely, I think I’d cry if mine said that, I’m so emotional! I think it’s completely unsurprising that we’re worried after everything we’ve been through, but I do hope to be able to believe it and enjoy it at some point.

@muddlingthrou glad to hear your past 12 weeks and that your nausea is lifting! I threw up in a dog poo bag in my car this morning, vile.

@HopefulElle they offered both. They said there would be more detail on the vaginal one but said we could start with abdominal.

With abdominal I could see the heartbeat, the head and the body and we could see it moving.

Vaginal would have shown a clearer image of the limbs etc but I just wanted to see the heartbeat and some movement. I wasn't really keen on having another stranger sticking things up there

@Plantymcplant - that's understandable, I think we've all had enough transvaginal ultrasounds to last us a lifetime!

It's all very encouraging reading about your successes. And I wish you the very best @Sunflower360 the two week wait is so difficult. Are you all currently with Create (if so which locations) and if you don't mind me asking what age group are you in? Sorry if I'm being intrusive and feel free not to answer. After three years of trying and a failed ivf I just can't shake the feeling that my eggs are not going to work now that I'm nearly 41 and I go into panic mode thinking about it. Reading the testimonials on create website help a lot and reading about all your little growing miracles does too. Gives me hope xx

@LittleMissTrying - I was with Create Wimbledon for both my embryo transfers in 2021 and February this year. I'm 36 now. Wishing you lots of luck - it's a tough road but will hopefully be worth it for you in the end xx

@muddlingthrou @Plantymcplant thanks both

@LittleMissTrying no problem, ask away! I'm 38, started ECs with Create tail end of 37. I'm at the Birmingham clinic. Personall I've been happy with them in relation to approach, I've resided to perhaps there being an element of luck involved in all of this, I'm not sure how much more can be done in my circumstances. I'm on my 3rd FET after 2 BFNs and everything appears fine before transfer so what happens once the embryos are in is unknown at the moment and I've already had quite few tests.

Where are you at with it all at the moment?

Yes @Sunflower360 I completely agree with you it is all luck. We can only bring it so far with science but at the end of the day nature decides. I have been trying lots of things over the past few years and have had loads of tests done with all coming back normal. Only thing that has been highlighted is slightly low progesterone levels but aside from that nothing. I had laparoscopy and tubes flushed in January and then went with NHS IVF march/April. It didn't work and I'm thinking it has to be egg quality. We didn't get them tested and I have to wait for a follow up to find out what grade they were etc and any insights into why it didn't work. I am getting NK Cells and LAD test and possibly a fertylisis microbiome test (would love to hear anyone's thoughts on that if they got it done) at end of month and then signing up to create in June which I see as my last shot. I don't think I would do full on ivf again so looking for the milder/natural approach this time but again the statistics aren't great. I'm luck in that I have a child already a seven year old daughter but for some reason that is making me worse not better. I can't shake the guilt of not trying for a second child sooner and not giving her a sibling. And I feel so sad that I may not get to experience having another child again and am starting to grieve the family I thought/hoped I'd have. I feel the psychological side of infertility as all consuming and I wish I could just turn a switch off in my head to make it go away.

Thanks @Plantymcplant! They only offer abdominal where I’m going but I’m happy as long as I can see a heartbeat again.

@LittleMissTrying yes I’m with Create Birmingham. I did a 3 cycle package with them and have been happy with their medical care (which made the less than ideal admin side worth putting up with!). I’m 36 now, was 35 when I started and when they collected my one and only embryo.
I also sometimes feel upset I didn’t try sooner, but ultimately I made the decisions I made based on how I felt and what I knew at the time.
I was given <5% chance so knew the odds were very much against me. We decided up front we’d do 3 and no more, so at least we knew we’d tried.

@HopefulElle didn't realise you were at Create Birmingham too! Was meaning to ask did you have medicated FET or natural?

@Sunflower360 medicated. I was on estrogen for ages prior, almost had to abandon the transfer cycle as they weren’t happy with levels, first increased tablet dose, then added in patches, then levels looked good but had fluid in my womb. Couple of days of progesterone cleared the fluid and in the end transfer obviously went ahead. I wasn’t feeling good about it after all that and really questioned the Doctor as to whether we should be going ahead, but he said yes, took some time but all looking perfect. Glad I trusted him.

@HopefulElle that's good. Which Dr were you under?

@Sunflower360 technically Dr Felix but I more often saw a man whose name escapes me.. not Dr Datta. He’s very slight and I think his name is similar to Raghu but it’s not that!