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?

@Ashleighlouise if your trigger shot was ovidrel, I am sure it has a half life of something like 30 hours .. so every 30 it will reduce by half .. so if you had 5000, 30 hours later you will have 2500 in your system , then 30 hours after agsin will be 1250, so you can kinda if work out by how many days , what amount should be left in your system and if it would be present on a test, but sometimes it’s easier to just wait to be 100% sure.
Best of luck .. i s as m now day 3 of stims .. it’s going so slow 🥴 but hearing all you guys getting positives and lines already is definitely giving me a boost and positive vibes for the cycle ! 😁

@AnnieStar12 I'm trying to not test frantically I only bought 20 tests so don't want to use them all in a couple of days - as easy as that would be 🤣 I might try and hold for as long as possible today and do another this afternoon!

Glad to hear your scan went ok, that's great you have 2 good/strong looking follicles 😍 and you never know, the smaller ones may catch up in the next couple of days! How are you feeling?

@HopefulllHolly your tests look beautiful!!! Manifesting that I see those in a few days time too 🤞🏼🤞🏼 will see if I can make it until later to do another test or I will do another tomorrow morning if I can hopefully get through the night without going to the toilet 🥲

@hopefullsosbry I'm not actually sure if the trigger was half life/how many hours it takes to leave the system etc! Will just keep testing and see what happens.. thankfully I set myself up to know it could be potential left over trigger so I am not getting my hopes up just yet!

Oh no! So annoying when time goes slow 🫠 the whole thing just feels like a waiting game doesn't it! Hopefully time starts to go a little bit faster 🤞🏼🤞🏼

My scan went well this morning, I’m on day 7 of stimms. Egg collection is booked in for Monday, eeek! I’ve currently got 8 follicles on either side but 2 of them are much smaller so definitely won’t catch up now.

@Ashleighlouise eeekk, that’s absolutely a line!! So exciting, fingers crossed it continues to get lovely and dark 🤞🏻

@AnnieStar12 Sounds like your scan went well today! Hopefully some of the smaller ones have a bit of growth spurt before Friday! How are you feeling about egg collection? I’m really nervous about it!

@positivepetal oh sorry, didn't mean to give you something new to worry about! My consultant says premature ovulation happens in 1% of cycles so very rare, but for most people it's still okay as there are lots of follicles to work with. It's just for me, I only have 2 so it would be a disaster. But honestly, I'm just finding things to worry about at this stage, lol! Sounds like you have lots growing and assume they were confident with how it was going so no need to re-scan you. I find all the scans a right bore, it's a 50 min journey each way for a 10 min scan and I try and do it in work time without telling anyone as I work at home so it's all a bit stressful. Be so pleased when this is all over.

@Seasidegirll sounds like you're body is responding really well, very promising! This is my second round so I had an EC back in March and it was very straight forward so I'm not too worried about the EC itself, more just concerned that we have something to transfer next week as my body hasn't responded well at all, just don't think I have many eggs left in me :(

@AnnieStar12 not to worry. This is our first IVF so learning lots along the way too!

I ended up telling my work as my journey is 1hr 15 each way and the clinic want to do the scans in the morning so they can discuss with consultants in the afternoon. It's defo been less stressful telling work who have been very supportive (prob does put me on career hold for now but oh well)!

@Seasidegirll great news for EC on Monday!

I'm not looking forward to the joys of the progesterone pessaries!

@positivepetal what time is your trigger?

and yes not looking forward to the dreaded pessaries, that was my worst part of the first round!

@AnnieStar12 it only takes one embryo to work ❤️🤞🏻 I’ve got everything crossed for you!

ugh yes I’ve been dreading the pessaries! Everyone says that’s the worst part so can’t wait for that 😂 what trigger are you both using? X

What are the symptoms with pessaries ? I didn’t get them with my last round but I am getting this round ? Are they really bad ??

@hopefullsosbry They mimic pregnancy symptoms so can vary. I’ve had sore boobs, veryyyyyy bloated, tiredness mainly.

@hopefullsosbry they made me feel all the early pregnancy symptoms, nausea, sore boobs etc etc and then they are just really yuk! you either put them up the front way and get loads of waxxy bits coming out and staining your pants or you put them up the back which can mess with your bowels. So just very unglamorous too!

@Seasidegirll thankyou! Yes hopefully I'll be lucky this time and just get one perfect embryo! I am taking Ovitrelle as my trigger, what about you? And when do you take yours?

Awh ok .. hopefully they will be ok .. I will be off work so that’s good if I just want to sleep ! Yeh think I’ll just put in front and wear a wee pad ? Lest the last time I knew what symptoms to look out for and could pretty much tell if implantation was happening .. where as I guess if they give you all the symptoms it will be worse as won’t know if it’s real or just the pessaries ?! 🤷🏼‍♀️ roll on a few weeks time and will know either way 🥴

@AnnieStar12 is your trigger tonight ??

@hopefullsosbry yes, at 10.30pm - the doc wants me to do trigger at 35 hours before EC, rather than usual 36 hours.

Ahhh so nice to see your tests @Ashleighlouise and @HopefulllHolly!! I agree there’s a definite line Ashleigh and Holly yours is so dark now!

thank you for the reassurance re wine. I think I’ve gone into a bit of an obsessive hole after reading that book (years ago now!) and even when not following the advice just feeling really guilty! So it’s actually been really useful to share with others. I also found a really useful thread about chemicals somewhere which put my mind to rest about using face cream etc, I didn’t moisture for the whole of my stims but now I’m slathering it on and just feeling a bit more relaxed!

I agree it’s so nice to have people that get this to share this with. I haven’t actually told any friends or family I’m doing this. I’m frightened of failure and don’t want them to feel sorry for me if that makes sense? I hate that sexist trope of ‘oh she’s desperate for a baby and can’t have one, how sad she can’t have one’… I also had lots of traumatic things happen in the last few years and don’t want to add it to the heap lol. They all know I froze my eggs a few years ago tho, which will be my next port of call - unfreezing and seeing how they do.

offical test day tomorrow! Convinced it hasn’t worked and stayed up till 2am Googling what I’ll do next (ask for clomid and ask for dna fragmentation test! ) but feeling zen again today. I think the progresterone makes me calmer?

I’m so happy for everyone getting positive tests, it gives me hope.

im on Day 5 of stims today and from tomorrow I’ve to add in cetrotide as well as the gonal F. The past day or so my ovaries are feeling very sore, it was just the right one to start and now it’s both but I’m hopeful that this is a good signs and it means there is something growing. I’m just so scared I won’t get anything.

@CreamLampshade Awww I’m so glad you’re feeling better! Such a yo-yo rollercoaster ride. Oooh yeah slather that cream on! I actually went mental last night and checked every product I use on this website that tells you if it’s safe for pregnancy. Properly jumped the gun! 😂

Sorry to hear you’ve had a tough few years, hope you get some luck going forward. Not long to wait to test! That’s so exciting. Keeping my positive mantras going for you and everyone else. Amazing you froze your eggs, what I would give now to have frozen them when I was in my 20s. Hindsight is a bitch sometimes!

Keeping my fingers crossed for you 🤞🍀✨

Thanks everyone!

I just did another test with 6 hour hold and it was pretty much the same, maybe a little lighter so maybe it is the trigger shot still in the system 🤷🏻‍♀️ only time will tell with this one but I think if it was positive because of pregnancy it would have been a little darker?

@CreamLampshade I get the whole not telling anyone because of peoples reactions, I told family and close friends and I just know if I'm not pregnant everyone will be so sad for me and while it's nice to have the support it's also additional pressure for me to support them back and convince them that I'll be ok 😮‍💨😮‍💨 I definitely underestimated how stressful this would be tbh I've found this part is the hardest of the whole journey

So I have had my scan and EC booked for Friday 🥰
However I am at risk now of OHSS which is a bit of a pain but does mean that I have lots of eggs she even mentioned my ovaries were kissing 😘
I've been given different trigger to originally sent and given some tablets to help with the OHSS.
Just waiting for my call to know what time I'm booked on Friday and when to do the trigger

@AnnieStar12 @Seasidegirll
I am still waiting for the clinic to call regarding when I need to trigger and timing for EC.
I have been given Otrivelle.
I've just emailed the clinic to chase!

So this is the test I took this afternoon! No idea if it's lighter or darker I can't actually tell if I am being honest 😅 I don't know if the trigger would be quickly leaving my system now so would another 6 hours make a difference! BAFFLING 😂😂😂 good job I like peeing on sticks lmao!

Maybe I should get a FRER and put myself out of my misery 🤣

@Ashleighlouise It does look darker to me! Order yourself a FRER and try with your first wee of the day. I think you can pay a little extra for same day delivery if you’re feeling particularly mental today 😂😂 (I did)

@Gnatalie16 glad to hear you have lots of growing follicles 😍 I was also at risk of OHSS but thankfully everything was fine after EC! I made sure to drink lots of Lucozade sport as everyone recommended that and apparently the electrolytes help!!

Question for you all who have had / having egg retrieval - what advice did your partners get about abstinence and/or were you given about intercourse?

When we did IUI we were told he had to be abstinent for between 2 and 5 days, not more or less. But with this ICSI we've just been told that he must have no more than 5 days abstinence, but with no lower limit. Which just got me thinking maybe we should DTD tonight then I'm covering myself incase of premature ovulation that I'm paranoid about. Or do you think intercourse will interfere somehow?