IVF/ICSI February 2025 🌟 ❤️

[ivfjourneyandme]

Hi ladies,

Starting early with this thread in hope some are on a similar time frame!

36yo, been trying to conceive for 2yrs. Severe MFI as well as AFC of 3 and AMH of 1.9pmol/l

First IVF cycle with ICSI ended with a total failed fertilisation - 4 eggs collected, all mature but no fertilisation.

We have now switched to long cycle and added in DHEA, COQ10, melatonin, vitamin D, omega 3 alongside our fertility vitamins.

I should start my period end of Jan; and then start down-regulating February with transfer hopefully late February if I’ve worked it out right!

Anyone else on this mental torture of a ride?

Great news for the egg collections @spttc and @RitaDsZ ! Good luck for the wait, I know how long these 5 days can feel!

I only had 2 out of 6 eggs that fertilised, but today I had my Day 5 update and transfer! I was really panicked that we would end up with no blastocyst but I feel really grateful now! We transferred a grade 2.2 hatching blastocyst this morning.
The second one is an early blastocyst that is unfortunately not suitable for freezing at the moment but they will let it develop until tomorrow and hopefully it will catch-up. I hope it will make it so that we will be able to use it in the future.

Let the infamous TWW begin 😁

Oh wow that is so exciting and so lovely to hear good news! Well done for getting to this stage of the journey and what a relief it must be to have a lovely blasyocyte for transfer! Wishing you a BFP! 💚Are you on cyclogest now? Gosh I really hated those pessaries 😬

@Cherryblossom90 can you explain the cyclogest please? Did they tell you how long and how many you need? I have 3 boxes, and I worry about my short lutheal phase, so they just messaged that in that case I'll need 3 a day, not 2. How long, starting when? What's to hate about it?
I'll guess we hear abou it soon.

@RitaDsZ I always took them inserted twice daily in rectum or vagina. They will tell you how to use them I'm sure!

I just found them unpleasant to use they are fairly large and they leak and stain sorry if tmi! Your hopefully less squeemish than me! I used them for two cycles leading to miscarriages at 11 weeks and 10 weeks and for my DC cycle used them for 14 weeks so it felt like I was using them endlessly at some point 😭 but they should help prevent miscarriage so defo worth it!

I'm going to ask for utrogestran this time, it's more expensive (but the same medicine) but comes with an applicator. Lets see what they say 😂 probably no.

Ok, thanks for the info! Definitely good to know in advance.
Sorry for the outcomes :(

Catching up on all the messages. Amazing thread for support.

I started this thread and still a long way off 😂 start my busrelin on Valentine’s Day and scan to see if down-regulation has worked on 26th Feb

I had my down regulation injection, Prostap, this morning. Back on the 17th for a scan to check my lining and, all going well, I’ll start my stims on the 21st.

So nice to read of successful egg collections and encouraging scans happening this week. Good luck with the TWW @YellowTack 🤞🏻

congrats on the egg collections and triggers this week!

for those who have got there how have the fyremedel injections been? I’m due to start mine tomorrow morning and really nervous I’ve heard it hurts a lot and trying to do it around getting myself ready for work and DH getting our son ready for nursery is stressing me out. The stims have been no bother so hoping this will turn out to be the same.

had a second scan today and some follicles have taken off and others still small. The nurse didn’t really say much about it just that it was early days and looked fine. I feel like I should be asking more questions but just blindly going with the flow at the moment! I’m getting some bad headaches and my ovaries already feel a bit tight

@LuckyFlash I have no experience with that medicine, but I always use ice cube on my skin before injections, that helps a bit

@LuckyFlash tbh I think blindly going with the flow is the way forward 💯 The less stressed you are the better.

@ivfjourneyandme you'll get there ☺️

@YellowTack amazing news and good luck on your 2ww! Let’s hope it’s good news at the end of it! Are you doing stuff to stay busy while you wait or are you quite calm about it? I feel like 2ww is going to be the worst part of the process 😬
@ivfjourneyandme I think we’ll be doing stuff around the same time? My tablets are next week 13th and then stims 28th, do you start stims after your scan at the end of the month or later?

@captainsmal im not sure! I know i start injections on 14th and scan 26th. Possibly stims then if ovaries are asleep?

@LuckyFlash for me the Fyremadel was not that bad. It was the most unpleasant of all the injections, it was always a little itchy and red after the injection but nothing too horrible.

@Cherryblossom90 I have started cyclogest the night of my egg collection so it’s been a few days already, and I am also on 3 per day which is really annoying. This time they told me I need to alternate the vaginal/rectal administration, oh joy!

@captainsmal I feel relaxed at the moment because I was so worried that we wouldn’t get any blasts. I am back at work tomorrow which will hopefully keep me distracted. I know I won’t be strong enough to wait until the date the clinic told me to test, I plan to test at 8dp5dt, which would be Thursday next week so not too long to wait.

@ivfjourneyandme we might be doing them at the same time then if yours are asleep by the scan 😅

@YellowTack thats really good! Is there hcg in the trigger shot you used? I know some of them have it and can cause false positives and that’s why they make you wait two weeks, I’m having zivafert I think so I don’t know about that one. I’m not sure if I’d be able to wait either when I get to that stage 😅

@captainsmal hopefully! Will be nice to have someone to talk to. I am feeling really
isolated and finding it hard to read about TWW as I never even made it that far and may never make it. This journey is hideous.

@ivfjourneyandme I’ve really really got everything crossed for you that you make it to that stage this time 🤞🏻🤞🏻 obviously being my first round I don’t know whether I will get there or not, I’m trying to stay positive but also bear it in mind that nothing is guaranteed, you’re right it’s a horrible journey to be on and it feels like so much is out of our control! It’s definitely isolating but the forums like this are so helpful so thank you for starting it!

Hopefully this will be your lucky round @ivfjourneyandme 💜the waiting is so hard, it's like time goes sooooo slowly.

I think from my own experience alot of people will be watching this thread and will only join in and comment when they get nearer to EC and are looking for more support (that's what I used to do anyway) so please don't feel isolated I'm sure there are more people on the same schedule as you and they will be along soon to share their experiences.

@captainsmal @ivfjourneyandme we are on the same protocol and I got told today that I will get my scan on the 17th and then start stims on the 21st, given @ivfjourneyandme you have also been given a scan 12days after your down regulation starts, and @captainsmal you’re starting your stims 15days after your down regulation starts, it looks like once you start down regulation you start your stims 15days later. Are you also due a scan @captainsmal ?

sorry, totally just guessing here but trying to give myself a little calendar in my head to work towards and maybe it will help you guys too?! The info sheet I got from the hospital was next to no use at all so I quizzed the nurse today as much as I could think of, especially in terms of timings! If I’m getting my info a week before you, I’m happy to pass it on, if that helps even a little bit.

@captainsmal I have used 2 Zivafert for my trigger, and I have read on forums that it can take up to 14 days to leave the body! The day I plan to test would be 15 days after trigger 😅.
At my first IVF cycle I managed to wait until 9dp5dt but this time it would fall on Valentine’s day and it’s just too much pressure to test on that day.
The other reason I would like to test early is that I would like to try to get the Cyclogest pessaries through my GP, as technically it should be possible because of my history of miscarriage. It takes ages to get an appointment and I am going on a trip soon so I hope to be able to get the appointment before the trip if needed!

@KayEmmSquared no scans for me,
I just do 13-22nd down reg, and then I wait for the period to come after stopping the tablets. They say 2-5 days after stopping it will arrive so 🤞🏻🤞🏻 it’s on time 😬 First stims will be 28th if I’ve had a bleed by then. I don’t know what happens if the bleed is any earlier whether they will stick to the stim day, I’ll have to wait and see. Hoping it just comes on time again because the original dates they gave me worked out really well with work shifts etc 😅

@Cherryblossom90 that’s actually a really good point, I’ve definitely lurked so many threads and also read really old ones in the last 9 years, this is the first one I’ve actually joined just because of being so close to everything starting now!

@YellowTack thats fair enough. I wouldn’t test on Valentine’s Day either 😅 Wow 14 days to leave the system 😱 so if I do get to have my original EC date of 12/3 I guess I’d have to wait until at least 24th March just in case? I would be triggering on the 10th of the follicles are big enough. I just know I’m going to be itching to do one before then but if I know it can take 14 days to leave the system that might be a good motivation to stop me early testing lol.

@captainsmal oh that’s slightly different to me then, I got an injection today to down regulate and got told I should get my period in the next 2-5days then my lining should thin right out and then back 17th, stims starting 21st. It’s so confusing how there are so many different ways and trying to get a clear answer from the Drs is so hard.
Fingers crossed you can stick to the same dates, especially if it suits work! I have holidays to use up so I’m taking 2 weeks mid-March when I think I should be getting EC and ET.

@KayEmmSquared yeah it’s crazy how many different combinations there are!
My holiday doesn’t reset until 1st April so I can’t use any of that but I get 5 paid days “Ivf leave” with work. I also work weekends and have Mondays and Tuesdays off which helps as a lot of my appointments have fallen on those days so far. If I can stick to these dates, I’ll basically use 4 of the days on the Wednesday to Saturday shifts for scan/EC/maybe a second scan if follicles aren’t ready. Then I’ll use the final day for transfer day. But they reset each round so say I end up needing to freeze all my embryos, I’ll get 5 days again to use for scans and appointments for that cycle. It’s a really pleasant surprise tbh, my old job would’ve been awful about letting me have time off!

Got the call from clinic. 6/9 eggs fertilized. So our new number is 6. Actually shaking I'm so nervous now. Next call is on Saturday (day 3).