IVF/ICSI April 2024

[Vian67]

Hopefully find others in a similar boat 🙏

Just made my ‘Day One’ call to the clinic this week to set the ball rolling this will be my second cycle, first one failed on 12th Feb 2024.

Bit of background to how we got here, I have had 4 ectopics since Nov 2020 2 resulting in emergency surgery and losing both my tubes. No reason why our first cycle failed, we will be doing IVF/ICSI this time round.

Anyone joining me in the April emotional rollercoaster? X

@Becky105 they look good grades. And 11 frozen is great!

Thats brilliant,amazing results. Hopefully not too long until your frozen cycle!

Hello,

To the UK ladies, I don't suppose any of you have any gonal - f/menopur etc left from your cycle? Unfortunately it's not looking like great news for most of our embryos which seem have arrested. Distraught doesnt touch the surface of the emotions when we got the call this morning, even my husband cried. We are keeping some very marginal hope alive some pull through whilst weighing up the emotional, physical and financial cost of trying another self-funded cycle next month or so.

Anyway, just occurred to me some of you ladies might still have some meds sat around which might go to waste...so if you do have something and are willing to help out, please PM me so we can share contact details.
Infertility really is the gift that keeps on giving 😣. Thanks all X

@Mrsbutterfly24 I'm so sorry, I can totally see why you're upset. It's really hard. It's so much to go through and the costs are just awful.

I'm sorry I can't help with the meds. I have one dose of each of mine leftover but I was on Rekovelle and Cetrotide

I'm so sorry. I don't have any left over I'm afraid, I was on synarel and ovaleap anyway.

What did the embryologist say, what are the possible outcomes? If there's even a tiny fraction of hope then I'll keep all of my fingers crossed for you x

@lemonyfox , thank you.

To be honest we have no idea what happened. At the day 3 update apparently we had a good number of high quality embryos so the update today was a total shock. She said it didn't seem like they had progressed much since day 3 and they seem to be arrested. Apparently they will give them one more day but she said she wasn't too hopeful.... I said what happens now and she said the consultant will reach out for a follow up discussion but likely next step is another cycle with possible change in protocol to see we if we can get better quality embryos next round. To be honest, I don't know what to think, I guess there is a small part of me still hoping some of them pull through but who knows. I guess by tomorrow we will know either way. I was thinking that being 37 and having low lh maybe I should have been put on a protocol of gonal-f and menopur, instead of just the gonal-f I was on? Who knows, maybe it was just bad luck and somehow if we can manage another cycle it might be a better result.

@Mrsbutterfly24 it's just shit isn't it, but hopefully your consultant can shed some light on it and your next round can be tweaked to be more successful. What supplements have you been taking?

@lemonyfox , last few months I've been on co-q10, Maca root, b complex, vitamin c/d, folic acid, omega 3 oils. I have PCO (not pcos) as I had over 20 follicles at baseline scan and retrieved 17 eggs. I heard this can sometimes affect egg quality so at the consultant follow-up appointment I am going to ask about metformin as I heard it can sometimes help with pco/s issues? Don't know if anyone has tried that. Also heard some postives about dhea and egg quality but apparently it has side effects so wary of doing anything counterproductive, I will ask the clinic about that as well.

Ah I’m really sorry @Mrsbutterfly24 that’s awful. I hope they can shed some light when you meet with the consultant.
Has your other half been taking any supplements or anything? My embryologist said that after day 3 the sperm takes over so it could be down to that rather than egg quality?
I am trying really hard to think of my embryos. We only got 2 and we don’t get an update until Tuesday when we are due to have a transfer. My other half doesn’t have good swimmers so I’m not holding out hope but obviously we’d be over the moon if we got an embryo to put back in. It’s so hard, sending you hugs x

@Mrsbutterfly24 its always worth asking about metformin.
I was on it for 8 months and it did absolutely nothing which was also the case for my couple friends that have tried it. But other people have lost weight, had more regular cycles etc.
Can’t say anything about egg quality other than despite being on it and taking loads of supplements. My eggs were apparently rubbish quality

@Mrsbutterfly24 I have PCOS and was put on metformin last year for it. I did have to be quite pushy with the GP for it though. When we started the IVF process in Dec my consultant told me to absolutely keep taking it (even though I'd had my remaining tube taken out in Dec so I wasn't even taking it for improving conception chances anymore). He said the only things he recommends taking is metformin, folic acid and vit D.

So it might be worth an ask!

Hi everyone, could i ask a quick question please. Just wondered if anyone has no symptoms during stims and still has a positive result? I’m worried the stims are not working, as apart from slight bloating and ewcm, I feel fine. I’m due for my day 10 follicle monitoring scan tomorrow so we’ll find out then. Thanking you ☺️

Hi @FunFish yeah that’s normal - I asked the nurse and she said most people don’t have side effects. I didn’t really have any side effects until about day 10 of stims and only very mild aches in my ovaries, and same symptoms as you, plus I was quite emotional over silly things (not like me at all). Don’t worry it’ll still be working. ☺️

Not posted on this thread before but have been reading for a while.
@FunFish I had no symptoms at all during stims so I was worried it wasn’t working but when I went for my monitoring scan, I had responded really well and my egg collection was actually brought forward!

@HopefulllHolly @ivf24 Thank you so much for your comments. Just had my scan this morning and I have 11 follicles (2 on left and 9 on right)! Slightly uncomfortable now on my right hand side especially as there’s a 2.3mm one in there. Just waiting for a call if we trigger tonight or tomorrow. Is 11 a good number of follicles? Also, the nurse picked up a bit of fluid in my uterus- she’s not too bothered about it she said it might clear up before egg transfer otherwise they’ll cancel my fresh transfer. Anyone had this before? Xxx

Sad day… Had 3 eggs collected the other day- all fertilised by ICSI. Come day 2 today, had a call saying 2 didnt progress and 1 was atypically fertilised, so nothing to transfer and a failed cycle. My head was in bits that forgot to ask why fertilisation has failed, maybe I haven’t got good quality eggs? xx

@FunFish ah I'm so sorry, that's really tough. Can you call the embryologist team back for more info?

@FunFish , really sorry to hear this. I had a similar outcome sadly, so I understand how disappointing it can be. You will be OK, just be kind to yourself, take time to process, then you can plan next steps. Xx

How's everyone getting on? X

@lemonyfox I got my BFP in my cycle (transferred in May) ☺️ just waiting for my scan at 7 weeks so I’m very anxious! How are you doing?
@Lucylaughing hope youre going ok? ☺️

@HopefulllHolly congratulations!! Was this your first transfer? What's your estimated due date at this point? I'm so happy for you, love a good IVF success story.

I'm good, just in the inbetween waiting stage now from egg collection to FET. I'm tracking ovulation this month so I can at least have a heads up on when my period starts so I can get going. I'm on CD24 and no sign of anything yet which is frustrating, but I'm hoping my FET will still be sometime towards the end of June 🤞🏻

@lemonyfox Ah at least you’re moving! I‘m sure it will come along soon. Do you know how long your luteal period usually is? Excited for you to get started!

Yeah it was my first cycle. It’s a bit of a miracle really. I had 3 eggs retrieved (low AMH and low AFC, plus we have male factor too), our consultant said we had about a 15% chance of IVF working for us. Of the 3 eggs 2 were mature, both fertilised but only one made it to day 5 blast. Had my transfer and got a positive 5 days after transfer (I’m an idiot early tester but I was going out my mind worrying so it was mainly to prepare myself emotionally!). We’re both so shocked as we had planned for a minimum of 3 cycles and never in our wildest dreams did we think it would work first cycle. Due 23rd January! Really hope it all goes ahead and the baby is healthy. The wait for the scan has been the hardest bit for me so far, no one talks about it but its horrible, all you think about is miscarriage and the worst scenarios, so I’m very ready to know if its ok in there rather than just relying on my (many!) positive tests. But I’m very very very VERY grateful to have even gotten to this point. Feels like a little miracle ✨❤️

Hi, I'm 10 weeks on Wednesday now. This little embryo has really been defying the odds so far and just hope it continues. We had scans at 6 weeks and 8 weeks and everything looked good. I'm still feeling ill with OHSS and also had covid so it's been really tough. I've got my booking appointment on Thursday. Hopefully she will give me the date for my 12 week scan then. Not counting any chickens but due date is Christmas Day(!)

Hope everyone else is ok. @HopefulllHolly congratulations!!!

@Lucylaughing Awwww I’m so pleased for you! What a little fighter bean! So sorry you’ve had such a tough time, I bet you’re absolutely knackered! A little Christmas miracle coming through, how exciting!! I’m so thrilled for you ❤️ Good luck with the booking appointment and let us know how you get on with your 12 week scan soon! I think im definitely going to have a scan in between my 7 week and 12 or I’ll go even more mental! 🤣 I am not coping well with all the waiting and worrying!!

Hey, lovely news on all the positive tests!!

we got our positive from our first cycle which I just couldn’t believe. We are so so so grateful! Plus I’ve been feeling semi ok just very very tired.
I agree @HopefulllHolly the wait for the 7 week scan is so hard, when we were sat in the clinic waiting for the scan I thought I was going to throw up. I’d done about a million tests up until that point but I just didn’t fully trust it always thought the worst. But we were able to see little baby and saw the flutter of heart beat I’ve never cried so much! They checked my ovaries and said they were still quite big which could cause abit of cramping and stuff which made me feel more at ease cause I had had some cramps prior which was making me worried.
We got discharged from our clinic and I’ve got to ring midwife. I made a joke to the nurse at the clinic saying we will be booking private scans every other week and then they offered to scan us again so we accepted and we go back at 9 weeks!
Our due date is 10th January so going to be a crazy exciting last Christmas the 2 of us!