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?

I'm crossing fingers it's disappeared by tomorrow! Or at least looks like it's going away and they can give you a couple of more days down regulating! 🤞🏼

The injections have been good to be honest! I added in Ganirelix this morning, little more stingy but it was ok! I am definitely feel more "full" and got sort of a dull ache down there! I've also had a lot of EWCM.. sorry TMI 🤣 nothing was mentioned about an increase in discharge or anything but I imagine that's probably pretty normal! Hoping it means something good is happening 😅🤞🏼

Great news @AnnieStar12 glad youre able to get started. What time is your scan to check on the cyst?

@Ashleighlouise good luck at the scan today too! Hope it goes well!

@wishfulbean grow follicles grow! What time is your scan? I hope it goes ok!

@wishfulbean I’m also in the 2 egg club now. Had my second scan this morning and good news is I have a big folly that’s 17mm now, one that’s 15mm, one at 12mm and one at 8mm. So they have grown over the weekend, a couple by quite a bit. Just waiting on a call to see whether to do one last round of stims tonight or whether to just pull the trigger and go for the two fatty eggs. I’m hopeful to do one more stim though and try and get that 12mm one a bit bigger, but they are the experts. Either way I’ll be having my egg collection Wednesday or Thursday, so I’m excited we can go ahead, even if our chances of getting an embryo are VERY slim from 2 eggs. But if we don’t get anything I’m going to push for another free round on the NHS (mainly as it’ll be their choice to not put me on higher stims when they had the chance to see what would happen, and also because they are choosing to go to collection with fewer eggs because of this - and where I am one cycle includes putting an embryo back in, so it won’t be a full cycle by their definition, if it doesn’t work anyway!)

But yeah, I’ve eaten my feelings this weekend and feel very much on the what will be will be boat now so I am much less tearful today, and feeling ok. 👌🏻

Hi all,

I would also like to join (first time posting in this group)

I am starting my first round of IVF on short protocol, after a failed round of IUI.

We just received our meds and it was definitely overwhelming.

My period was due to start yesterday, but waiting now so that I can start my injections.

Has anyone needed to go out during the evening and wanted to take the injections with them? (The Gonalf F needs to be kept in the fridge) how did you manage?

Thanks!

Hi all

We had our appointment on Friday. So much paperwork!!

But we now know that we are on short protocol, hopefully due to start stims around 10th May. Will be on menopur and fyremadel injections.

Hoping for EC around 22nd and transfer around 27th May 🤞🏻

@HopefulllHolly glad you got some follicles growing. Your numbers sound almost identical to my first round. My clinic explore anything 12mm and over so you’ll have at least 3 and maybe 4 to look for eggs. Hopefully there’s a good one in there!!

I did get a day 5 blastocyst with those numbers. When we have low AMH, all we can do is focus on the ones we got. Hope the next few days go okay for you and you get the extra day stimming you want. Could you also tell them that’s your preference?
Also, if you do end up needing a second round (hopefully you won’t as you’ll be first time
lucky!) my clinic felt that long protocol might work for me to get an extra couple of eggs as at every scan there were 3 or 4 small ones trailing behind while the dominant 2 got bigger. That’s what I’m trying this round to see if it helps them all grow at same pace. Might be worth asking about this as well as the higher stims (I think I’m on the highest, but not actually checked).

No guarantees long protocol will work better for me of course, and I may find this cycle worse than the last one but I was up for trying something different given the low numbers.

I’m on my way to the scan now, internally saying shrink damn cyst!! Will update later x

Good luck to others having scans today. x

@TinyDancer91 exciting having your date set ready to go! How are you feeling?

@positivepetal welcome to the thread. Yeah I have two nights out this week and been contemplating what to do. I think it’ll cause anxiety for me to try take out a cool bag, especially as I’m going to be on Menopur which involves a little mixing thing rather than one pre filled injection. So I’m thinking of picking a late time for my injections. I reckon if I do them at 11pm it just means I’ll have to come home earlier than I’d have liked but still allows me not to feel that IVF has ruined my social life, and isn’t too late for week nights either. Last month I did 10pm which was annoying as a couple nights out I had a panicked dash home in a taxi to get home in time. Having said all that, I’ve actually read that the injections are fine out the fridge for a few hours it just means they need to be used up, and can’t then be stored for long time afterwards. If you come up with a solution for the night out/ injections issue please do share!!

Welcome @positivepetal!
Hopefully your period comes soon and you can start! 🤞🏼 we have all just been saying that we haven't wanted periods to come so badly! 😂

I've been out a few evenings however I am doing the Ovaleap injections and once they loaded into the pen they don't need to be kept in the fridge ALL the time! Might be worth asking your clinic? As I was worried and the nurse said it's absolutely fine for them to be outside of the fridge once they're loaded into the pen.. might be the same for you! ☺️

Had my scan this afternoon! The consultant didn't go through each ovary/follicle in detail however there were a handful of follicles on each side that were 13mm/11mm and 12mm and she said that everything was looking exactly as expected! Day 6 of injections - next scan is on Friday where I will hopefully be ready for EC on the Monday so will do trigger on Saturday 🤞🏼🤞🏼

@HopefulllHolly I’m glad you had a positive day 😊 got my fingers crossed that those eggies keep growing. Hoping everyone else had good news today.

@positivepetal welcome, I’m using the same injections as you. You have to leave them out of the fridge for at least 30 minutes beforehand so I suppose it depends on how long you’re out for?

1st injection is done and you are all right really wasn’t much to be worried about. Got my scans booked in too for next Monday/Wednesday/Friday to see how it is all going. Wishing you all lots and lots of luck and best wishes ✨

Weigh in the morning so nervous just hoping they can book surgery date for me finally

can’t wait to eat lol roll on 11am !

Good news @Ashleighlouise

And congrats on the first stim @Gnatalie16

Good luck for tomorrow @Rebekah77 still think it’s rubbish you’ve had to starve yourself, I’m sorry they use BMI, it’s a really inaccurate and shit way of measuring body mass. I find loads and loads of water in the day helps my weight - otherwise I hold loads as water retention.

@AnnieStar12 Yeah I’ll be super interested to see how you do. I did think they’d put me on long protocol, maybe next time. Although with my age I’d rather be on short protocol and high stims. Though now I know how few eggs I’m getting I may consider going down the create fertility route at some point.

@positivepetal welcome! I have read online that you can have menopur out the fridge for 30 hours. But I’d definitely ask the nurses at your clinic for reassurance. I’m sure it’s fine though, not like it’s warm outside anyway yet 😊

@HopefulllHolly Yay on the two egg club! I'm so pleased they have grown. Do you know yet if you are doing some more stims or triggering? I hope they listen and consider your preference.

I had my scan this morning and it looks like I may now have a third egg! My left side however remains very lazy and un-keen to join the party. After conversation between various consultants they've decided to go for Egg collection on Thursday with those we hopefully have! Whoop! Take last stims tonight, trigger tomorrow and then a night of no injections before EC. All very exciting.

@AnnieStar12 I hope your scan went well and the cyst is going!

@positivepetal welcome! I had Gonal F in the pen form and I believe you can keep it out of the fridge if you intend to use it that night but I must confess I have had no evening social reasons to test that theory! I'd be interested to know what the clinic say if you ask them

@TinyDancer91 great that the plan has been set and you are all ready to go! As for all the paperwork - We must have cleared a small forest between us here!

@Ashleighlouise that's great news about your scan! I hope everything keeps on growing and growing for Fridays scan

@Rebekah77 hope everything goes smoothly for your weighin appointment!

@Gnatalie16 yay for your first stim! Glad it went ok

@wishfulbean We’re still cycle buddies! I’m having my collection on Thursday too. Did my last stims last night so they should call me today to let me know the time for trigger tonight (prayers it’s not 1am because I will be zonked! Might premix my trigger before if it is). Exciting! Though I’m really apprehensive still. Let’s hope our 3 little eggies are top-notch AAA* quality eggs! How are you feeling about it? 😊 Nearly to our next hurdle!

@Gnatalie16 glad you're first injection went well! I was also surprised how ok they were once I did the first one! It's good to feel relaxed and not worrying about each one!! All the best for your upcoming scans next week! I hope they all go well 🤞🏼✨🙌🏻

@Rebekah77 hope your appointment goes well this morning and you get a date booked!! 🤞🏼 definitely get something good for a last breakfast/brunch!! You deserve it!

I got bad news at yesterday's scan, the cyst is still there so they did bloods to see if it is a functional cysts and they came back confirming that it is. Which means I can't start my stims. I just burst in to tears at the train station when they called to tell me the blood results. I should be on day 5 of stims by now :(
The only silver lining is that I'm on long protocol which means they have advised just to keep down regulating and go back in for a scan on Friday to see if the cyst has started to reduce. if I was on short protocol they would have to cancel the cycle and wait to next month, so at least there's still a chance I can start this cycle. I just feel like the most unlucky person in the world right now.

@Rebekah77 good luck today, and enjoy your post-weigh in breakfast.
@Gnatalie16 whohoo, first one down!
@Ashleighlouise that's a great result, you must be delighted.
@wishfulbean @HopefulllHolly so exciting you're almost done for this round! Final day of injections, you must be so relieved!

@positivepetal I asked my clinic about going out in the evening and she said that with Menopur once it is mixed I don't need to keep it in the fridge at all! So that keeps things simple.

@HopefulllHolly ooh, interested you're thinking of the Create mild IVF route. I had a consultation with them, and went to their webinar. But in the end went with the conventional IVF approach as I didn't really understand the benefit of going for less eggs rather than trying to get the max. But I would be very interested to understand more about it as they are aimed at people with low AMH, which is me!!

Thank you all so sweet 🥹

right under lol phew just got to keep under /loosing now during stims !

just got to wait for a surgery date now for collection. Picked up more provera

hopefully get my schedule today or tomorrow

@AnnieStar12 Oh bless you! You’re having a right old time with it aren’t you. Sorry you’re having to go through all of this. Like you say, positive you are on long protocol so there’s still time - will keep my fingers crossed. Could they remove the cyst? And do they know what caused it (sorry if you’ve already said) Sending you hugs.

On Create - I had a consultation with them and really liked them, but for our first cycle I wanted to go all in and see how many eggs I could get. But now I know I will probably only get a few, Create might be an option. Though I think I’ll stick with traditional for one more round with the clinic I’m already with and get them to try me on higher stims to see how that works first rather than going straight for Create. That way I’ll know if I respond better to high stims, or whether it’s the stims that are causing me to get less eggs than the 7 or 8 that show on my baseline scans. I really liked Create when I went for consultation - I found them really personal and tailored to me, rather than with the NHS cycle now I think they have just put me on one protocol and haven’t changed it or tinkered with it even though they had time to. But maybe I’m just overthinking 🙂

@AnnieStar12 I'm soooo sorry you didn't get better news, you must be feeling so deflated right now :( It's awful when you think of where you should be and you aren't there yet, just feels like time is passing by with nothing happening. At least you can keep down regulating and fingers crossed by Friday there will have been improvement with the cyst and you can continue. Be kind to yourself over the next few days 🤗my next scan is on Friday too, i feel like i am wishing the days away hoping for time to go faster!

@AnnieStar12
Sorry to hear that! Hopefully those cysts will have reduced by Friday! Fingers crossed for you!

@Rebekah77 - glad you can start!

I will check in with my clinic once I start taking them to see if how long we can keep them out of the fridge ..as for now still waiting for that period ... so may not even be an issue

Eeek! My egg collection is at 9:30am on Thursday. The nurse who rang to tell me was so miserable. Didn’t realise you couldn’t wear gel nail varnish, going to have to dash to get it taken off this afternoon now. 😅

@HopefulllHolly
I was allowed to keep my gels on last time I had my procedure and even my second piercings

@positivepetal that’s weird! The nurse (who was very grumpy) was very firm about having it removed. Literally just had them done on Saturday 🙃

Thanks everyone for your supportive messages today. Feel like I'm now just clock watching until Friday's scan. Can't concentrate on work, just want the next few days to be over with.

@HopefulllHolly thanks for sharing thoughts on create, they are very popular. Shame about the nails! I have had many procedures with acrylic gel nails on including IVF, IUI, surgical miscarriage management and even my c-section when my daughter was born! I have heard of some clinics being fussy about it, but it obviously isn't an issue as otherwise they'd all insist. I think it's just to be sure they can use the finger monitor. But best to do what the grumpy nurse says and get them re-done when it's all over. x

Hi all, I posted really early on this thread and then just disappeared!! I’m pretty rubbish at keeping up with threads but I’ve been trying hard to follow what everyone is up to. Sorry for those of you who have had a tricky start with this cycle. I’ve got a few days left on norethisterone then I just need to wait for my period to start, clinic said it could take up to 7 days but hopefully it won’t be that long. Im on a short protocol so will be starting stimms on day 2 if all goes to plan! This waiting before starting is soooo long, I’m so eager to get started!

@Rebekah77 congrats about getting started!!

@HopefulllHolly I was told at the last procedure not to wear any scented body wash, deodorant etc as it can upset the sperm. Literally how would anyone ever conceive?! 😂

I have my first scan tomorrow, fingers crossed follicles are growing. I’ve not really had many side effects with my stims so I’m a bit worried