IVF/ICSI May or late April

[AnnieStar12]

Is anyone else gearing up to do IVF/ICSI in May?

My meds have arrived and I start my down regs next week to start a long protocol ICSI cycle, my egg collection will then be mid-May.

Had my first ICSI cycle in Feb which resulted in only 1 embryo which was transferred on day 5, but BFN. I found the support group on here super helpful with my last cycle, so wondering if anyone else is in a similar position?

@AnnieStar12 how are you finding the nafarelin? I’m not sure whether it’s a side effect or just a very unlucky coincidence, but I’ve been absolutely knocked out this weekend! Super nauseous and no energy, and can’t eat anything. Hoping it’s just a bug and goes in a day or two… 🙈

Welcome @Clairehbear and @DippyDuck19 !

Can I join you all here? :) Looking forward to hearing how everyone gets on xx

I’m in first round IVF TTC1, age 35. Unexplained infertility. CD9, day 7 of stims. I’m on short protocol, gonal f 150 and now day 3 of ganirelix.

had 9+9 AFC at baseline scan, then 6+7 of which 1 on each was at 15mm on day 5 scan. In again tomorrow to see what the latest is, and EC currently scheduled for Fri. Really hoping we can do a fresh transfer.

tonight’s drama was I couldn’t get the needle back off the gonal f pen and had to get the pliers out 😂

no symptoms until today. I feel hungover and exhausted, and getting a combo of sharp and achey pains in my ovaries.

Welcome, @DippyDuck19, was there a specific reason you guys decided to do a freeze all? This is our first cycle too, we have hopefully got a fresh transfer scheduled in 6th of may! So not far behind you!

Welcome @Clairehbear this whole journey is so hard! Wishing you the best of luck on getting as many eggs as possible!! 🤞🏼🤞🏼

Welcome to the group @Sierra26 👋🏼 I'm on short protocol too, however different meds from the looks of things! I start injections on Wednesday! Super nervous on what to expect especially with doing them myself 😬😬 sorry to hear about the symptoms creeping up!! Hopefully they don't get too much worse!

Ooops I actually meant EC is scheduled 6th of May 🤣 I am still getting to grips with all these appointments 🤦🏻‍♀️🤦🏻‍♀️

Thanks @Ashleighlouise just see if we can get any eggs will be amazing but they aren’t overly optimistic but we just have to try.

Has anyone any experience with taking time off work? I’m a nurse in quite a heavy role and we are based in Belfast and our clinic is down south so it’s already going to be a lot of travelling and I want to be as stress free as possible since this is our only chance. I mentioned to my manager about taking time off and she said as annual leave or unpaid! I was hoping to get a sick line from my doctor but not sure if this is possible or not

@DublinIVF so far I’ve found the nafarelin okay and not feeling much side effects, not yet anyway. Which in itself can fee a bit worrying cause not having any side effects leaves you wondering if it’s working! lol, we can’t win can we! Sorry you’re having side effects, hopefully they won’t get any worse.

@Clairehbear Im with you on the very low AMH, and also feel this is something I have to try just incase I’m one of the lucky ones (someone has to be!). My doctor wasn’t convinced it was even worth us trying. I did a round in February and there was one point where they talked about cancelling as there was only two follicles, but in the end 4 grew large enough and we got 3 eggs.
About time of work, you should be able to take it as sick leave if you tell them what it’s for. Last time I told my manager I needed to have a “procedure” but didn’t go in to detail and only took off the day of EC a sick leave. I really regret not having more time off, but as I really don’t want to tell my work I’m doing this I’m just going to suck it up and take some annual leave.

@DippyDuck19 welcome to the group. How you feeling about the transfer? Do you have a few frozen to transfer?

@Sierra26 good luck tomorrow. Hopefully you’ll have lots growing in there. Keep us posted. Omg, the pliers sound like quite an intense experience!!

@Clairehbear exactly. You definitely have to try first and at least you know you've done everything possible.

In relation to time off - I work for Virgin Money and they're been great, they've allowed me to have all my appointments/scans etc down as medical time off which is still paid and we also get 10 days paid leave for just going through fertility treatment. can you speak with HR to see if there is anything extra you can get for time off maybe?

Yeah that’s what I said at least we can say we have tried!

I work permanent nights so wouldn’t be able to get time off for appointments unfortunately and it’s about a 5 hour sound trip just travelling so it’s just not feasible.

to be honest my HR isn’t great I think I’m just going to put a sick line in and hope for the best. It’s funny cause I work in a ‘caring’ profession but unfortunately it’s not very caring at times lol

Thanks everyone! Woken up feeling even more bloated today (and so much EWCM over last few days - anyone else?! I suppose that’s a good sign!). Feeling quite excited for my scan today.

@Clairehbear definitely ask your gp for a fit note covering the appts so it can at least be logged as medical leave. Your manager might be unhappy as they might in their view think they already explained your options, but they should really have a better policy in this day and age! Is anything written in the parental leave policy?

I actually work in HR team and our policy is you get time off paid for fertility treatments, but if anyone didn’t want to say what they were having we would just accept a fit note explaining they needed time off for procedures. It’s a bit easier in my company though as it’s all office work. So I plan to mostly WFH and just work round my appts. Have also told my own boss who is very understanding. Good luck! ❤️

Hi all.

Hope its okay to join.
Background: 34years old, first icsi cycle feb/March, 6 embryos, fresh transfer with 1 which failed. Going in tomorrow for paperwork appointment and plan for FET. I was wondering those who have had success with FET what was your lifestyle and diet like? Trying to find anything i can do to help this one stick 🙏

@AnnieStar12 feeling nervous about it! We have 2 embryos frozen.

@Ashleighlouise We did a freeze all as I have PCOS and high AMH so was at risk of OHSS.

@Clairehbear awww ok i get you now. I would definitely try and see if the doctor can give you a note to say you need the time off for the appointments/time after EC/Transfer etc - awful having to worry and stress about work along with everything else!

@Sherr33 Welcome! Sorry to hear the first transfer failed - i am just about to start our first cycle so no knowledge on what is best to do, to be honest! I think all the usual stuff, lots of water, vitamins, gentle exercise, getting enough sleep etc! I feel like you can get lost down a rabbit hole reading what to do and what not to do 🙅

@DippyDuck19 did you have any OHSS symptoms after EC? I don't have PCOS but i do have a higher AMH so i am also at risk of OHSS, clinic are going to monitor me so hopefully everything will be ok!

@Ashleighlouise I developed mild symptoms - bloating and vomiting but increased the amount of water I was drinking and recovered pretty quickly.

Stay positive @Clairehbear ! It only takes 1 🤞 do you know how many follicles you have at the moment? Have you had your 1st scan ? I have very low amh for my age also I just turned 31 and my last ivf cycle they managed to get 4 eggs which was good for my amh I guess but we unfortunately didn't do icis and none fertilized, over reading so many things online I've came to my own conclusion that my low amh harden the zona pellucida on my eggs and sperm can penetrate them! Kinda like older eggs I guess 🤔

I had a scan at like my first appointment and had 1 follicle but they think it was fluid filled just. So they said 0-1. It’s just hard when you are wanting a child more than anything and it might not happen. I’ve been so down about it all and trying to stay positive, work, go the gym and keep going but I’m just finding it very hard atm.

Good luck for Friday 🤞 you must be the 1st in this tread getting EC! exciting 😁 I hope we all get our BFPs xx

I have a scan tomorrow at 11:30 just a baseline scan and to go over injections and I'm assuming how to use them?! which I then start on Wednesday! It's really starting now which feels crazy!

I had my second monitoring scan this morning and they say I’m ready for EC, bit of a surprise! Had been booked for fri but pulled forward to Wed.

Triggering tonight at 10! Eeek

Good luck for tomorrow @Ashleighlouise ! 💐

Thanks @Cloclo93 I’m hella nervous now it’s happening even earlier! Glad though as I definitely feel ready - can barely move today and petrified my ovaries are going to burst 😂

Thank you @Sierra26 - that's great news you're ready for your EC! How exciting! 😁 gives you less time to think about it now that it's sooner as well 😂😂

I’m now 7 days in to my nafarelin spray. I’ve been told my period will come as usual. It’s due on Wednesday and plan is to start stims on Friday. But I don’t feel like my period is going to come, normally I feel cramping for days leading up to it but I feel nothing and am now worried it’s all going to be delayed if I have a late period. So far I’m finding this long protocol much more mentally draining than the short protocol. Hopefully it pays off in the end!

Good luck for tomorrow @Ashleighlouisehope scan goes smoothly and you can get started. Exciting!

@Sierra26thats very exciting and must have been a relief to have it brought forward so you can stop injecting.

@Sherr33welcome to the thread. Hope your scan goes well. That’s a great number of Frosties you have, hopefully one will be your baby! Regarding diets, I know some people focus on cutting out carbs and sugars, but I’ve tried just to keep up a balanced healthy diet and not worry too much about what I eat as I can’t imagine it really makes much difference to the outcome. I’ve cut out alcohol for the most part, but have the ocassional glass, and only have one caffeinated tea a day. But otherwise I’ve not changed much.

@Sierra26 ah that’s so exciting, good luck with the next few days!!

@Ashleighlouise good luck with the scan tomorrow, the injections are all really straightforward so nothing to worry about. Exciting to get going!

@AnnieStar12 yeah I’ve been wondering the same about how the spray will affect my cycle. I also normally get cramps but have had zero symptoms, and due to get my period this weekend. But I dont have a baseline scan until the 7th and starting stims after that… all feels ages away! Agree long protocol is mentally difficult, I feel very far removed from it at the moment.

Hello,
Hope you don't mind me joining 😊

A bit of background: 34, low amh and very low count. We did an ICSI cycle in 2022 that resulted in my little boy. Had only 2 matured fertilised eggs so can happen with a very low count!
Did another ICSI cycle in January and collected more eggs but had to do a freeze all so here I am starting a FET cycle. Period just started so will start the injections on Wednesday.

I'm a bit unsettled as this is the first FET I'm doing compared to 2 ICSI before so I don't really know what to expect.
Good luck everyone!

@AnnieStar12 can I ask, whats the nafarelin for?

I was prescribed that and Ovitrelle today for my trigger, but in the end was told to do the Ovitrelle only and not the nafarelin. Google tells me nafarelin inhibits ovulation so why would I be given it with my trigger 🧐

@Sierra26 hhmm, that’s odd you were initially prescribed it for a trigger! I’m on it for down reg, so basically to shut everything down. Essentially it puts your body in to a menopausal state. Once I start my stims I’ll have a reduced amount to make sure my eggs don’t release too early. But I believe once I take the trigger I will stop as otherwise it wouldn’t make sense. Do you think they made a mistake prescribing it to you?!

@Loute02 wow, thanks for sharing your positive story - good to hear success stories with low egg count. Good luck starting the injections, what are they for in an FET cycle?

@DublinIVF so have you been told to keep taking nafarelin for 2.5 weeks and expect a period in that time? I begged my clinic to make it all as quick as possible so I could start stims asap. Really hope I bleed before Friday so I start on schedule. Funny isn’t it, after many many months of my period arriving feeling like the end of the word, here I am desperately wanting to see it arrive, lol!