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?

I’m in a similar situation - sending across all the good vibes

Hi, hope everyone is doing well. I'm on the highest dose of meriofert and it looks like it going to be the worst cycle in. Only 6 follicles seem to be responding. This is my 4th cycle and I'm seriously fed up with it all xx

Thanks for the updates @LuckyFlash and @Happibara it's good to hear from people at the same sort of stage as me.

@Happibara do they not have Saturday scans? They do in my clinic. Those sound like great numbers btw, seven big enough for collection is very good, well done!

Best of luck @LuckyFlashhope they continue on well over the weekend!

I have thee follicles good size for day 10 at 15mm and five struggling to catch up but bigger than 10mm anyway. I have another scan on Monday hopefully the smaller ones will have caught up by then that would be such a relief.
Tbh I'm trying to keep positive but we have had 2 rounds of total failed fertilization with similar number of follicles as to what we have now so feeling very nervous about this round being sucsessful. Statistically most people would need at least 4 eggs retrieved to end up with one blasyocyte so really hoping for at least this and not another dud round!

Welcome @CanuckinLondon that is so horrible that the last round failed, it's really hard isn't it to have invested all that time, emotional energy and money for nothing, Iv been there so can relate to some extent.
Hopefully Monday will bring us all good news! It's going to be a long weekend!

@LuckyFlash @Cherryblossom90 I agree, it's good to have you both going through the same stages!

@CanuckinLondon welcome, and thank you for sharing! I'm also 41 and I completely understand your anxiety. I know te stress of waiting and dealing with disappointment is hard for everyone, but I feel I compound it by adopting a "this may be my last chance" attitude. Fingers crossed you'll get good news on Monday 🤞

@Cherryblossom90 There's still plenty of time until Monday (or Wednesday), and considering your history of needing long stimulation you still have a third of the cycle ahead of you! I bet these smaller follicles will keep growing.

Thank you, the clinic does Saturday scans, but I feel that another scan wouldn't change anything; as I'm certain they won't do an egg collection on a Sunday. So at best I'd be a bit reassured seeing how things are progressing, but overall timing would stay the same.

Even if the lead follicles are too big now, that's just bad luck, the earliest they can be collected is Monday morning. So I need to wait and fret some more 😉 I just hope that even if the biggest ones are lost, that will be compensated by some small ones catching up 🤞

Still waiting for the call, so had no chance to talk with the clinic yet. I think they'll just reassure me and say wait and see. I'm trying veeery hard not to stress it.

I’ll jump on the thread if that’s ok!

We had an ectopic (conceived naturally) in 2020 I then couldn’t conceive naturally again for unknown reasons, had some failed IUIs followed by a round of IVF in 2022, 11 embryos fertilised but only 1 made it to day 5 and that was successful, it did split so I was pregnant with twins but one stopped developing very early on. I now have a healthy almost 2 year old.

TTC #2 now, i’m on long protocol and took prostap early jan, started stims 1 week ago and had a scan today, I have 27 follicles in total, I have another scan monday and it’s looking like EC Weds next week.

I hate the waiting around it’s a killer!

Hope everyone is feeling ok.

@Happibara - I definitely had (have still, maybe?) the “this is my last chance” mindset. I think this will be our last go at IVF (we were lucky enough to have insurance cover it but it’s running out) - but may still try naturally and risk another miscarriage. The reason we went IVF was due to two miscarriages/D&Cs (one confirmed Trisomy 15).

I'm quite far behind a lot of you on this thread! I had my downregulation scan today and they want me to continue for a few more days and start stims on the 13th... Not to much longer then I'll feel like I'm really getting started!

Hi new members!
Sounds like some good progress on follicles and egg collections etc for people again!
I had my text today to say my meds have left the pharmacy and are coming between 9-11 Monday morning so that’s exciting 🤩 it still feels so surreal that it’s actually happening now
Hope everyone has a great weekend! One more day of work for me then I have 3 days off thankfully 😅 caught a really annoying cold now so I hope it goes by next week when I start my tablets 😬

Is it normal, that we don't receive any of the results or instructions in writing?
This stresses me so much, how can they rely on patients understanding injection dose over the phone?
Anyway, I'm looking back at my notes from my first cycle and see that we only had grade 2 and 3 embryos, but now we have grade 1 or 2.
But my notes might be wrong. Is it really weird to request them to send our medical records in writing, like sperm result, embryo number and grading etc? We only received the PGT-A test last time.
As I have nothing left from my first cycle just some handwritten notes and the PGT saying none of them viable, I'd like to have all the results, so I could compare with my current cycle.
Are all clinics like this, or only CARE?

@RitaDsZ I'm sorry you have such difficulties to access information, that sounds like a very poor level of service. If I was in a similar situation I'd request all records in writing, as a patient it is your right. And if you're unsure about anything, call them, it's important that you feel you know what to do and feel confident!

I'm with tfp fertility and they provide access to everything, via dedicated patient portal. Every test result, pdf of each letter they sent, calendar widget with medication dates and times and doses, links to video instructions on how to prepare and administer each drug... So on that front I've really appreciated them.

Day 3 update. All 6 still growing 🤞next phonecall is day 5 (Monday). Praying 🙏 She said this is when typically they see a drop off but she cautiously said she expects 3 at least to make it as they are growing so well. Still so nervous as then it's pgt-a 😬 once I get 1-2 after that I'll be happy 😊

@RitaDsZ if you’re with Care do you not have the Salve app? That’s where they send me all my results, consultation letters, protocol etc and you can message the nurses anytime as well?

@Happibara im also with TFP. How are you finding them?

We get the appointment updates fine, and messages, and educational videos, but no exact doses and absolutely no results.
First cycle they just uploaded an empty template with the medicines, and not clear when to start which.
Ok, I will try to request these results again. Thanks

@RitaDsZ I would message them and ask them to send it again because I got all my results and then my protocol with medication doses etc on the forms section of Salve? But sometimes things didn’t come through and I asked them in a message and then it came the second time. Maybe that’s happened?

@ivfjourneyandme it seems I wrote an essay back, sorry 😉

TLDR: I'd give TFP a positive rating so far, but wish they'd go just a few extra steps to provide excellent service, rather than just good.

Positives: As I said earlier the communication / document sharing is very good, as well as payment / invoicing system, all very transparent for us, they also kept to the estimated costs they provided.
All scheduled appointments, medication delivery etc have gone ahead as planned (the only hiccup we experienced was initiated by us, so can't complain).
All the staff we have interacted with were very professional and pleasant, they seem engaged.
The consultant who did our assessment was an expert with reassuring track record, and the clinic success rates are good.
They always came back within a day when I called or messaged with questions.

Negatives: online consent forms are an example of very bad web design (awful to fill in which lead to mistakes, after multiple submissions both myself and my OH we're fed up with them 😂) but that's a really minor gripe.

More importantly our patient experience just doesn't feel very personalised:
-there's not much continuity between one communication and the next (every person we talk to maybe just reads the notes before speaking to us and that's it)

• Not willing to consider individualising the treatment protocol, running additional tests etc.
• now on stims it is just "scan, check if some follicles are growing, if yes then carry on" and I wonder if adjusting dose, or meds, could lead to better outcome.
• The monitoring itself is just scans where other clinics do blood hormone tests as well, and I feel the timing of the scans they set was convenient for them, but not necessarily optimal for me.

At my age every follicle and egg feels so precious; I guess I just wish I had a clinical team who would give enough attention (to my history , results, body, responses to drugs etc) that maybe we could fight for a few more...

However, to give context, we knew what to expect of TFP, and truthfully they were the only clinic available within convenient travel distance and without overly long delays. While they are not my "dream clinic" I'd still rate them as OK, and remain hopeful for the outcome.

@spttc that's wonderful, everything crossed they'll all keep growing! It's very reassuring your embryologist said these are likely to progress.
Keep strong until Monday!

@spttc great to hear they are still growing!
@RitaDsZ absolutely you should have everything in writing. They should have your records electronically ask for a copy. I also find it really useful to compare this cycle to all the past ones! So glad I kept all the bits even though it's alot of paperwork to store.
@Twittwoo2020 welcome. 27 follicles wow that amazing you must be feeling very excited, hopefully this will be a sucsessful round for you! I'm hoping for E on Wendsday too if given the okay on Monday! Let us know how your scan on Monday goes!
@Happibara wishing you all the best for your egg collection on Monday 💜

@RitaDsZ and I also with Care and have the same experience. After my EC I requested all my clinical notes, I had to sign some forms online and then they have a month I think to send them. That should include everything, such as scan reports, blood tests results, embryology reports…

For the medications, I received a written document the day of my baseline scan telling me what to take when. When I asked for this information in advance they were always very dismissive even though the treatment was already established as we had received all the medicines.

The last thing that they have done that really surprised me is that my transfer was done by the sonographer, not by the consultant as it was done during my first cycle. I think this is very weird!

@Happibara your feedback on TFP is very helpful, I am seriously considering them for the future because my current clinic is too far and not that great.

My main issue with my current clinic (Care) is that they only do progress scans and egg collections on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, and transfers on Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays. I feel like they don’t plan my treatment how it would best fit my cycle but how it would fit their strict schedule.
Are there also set days for TFP or are they more flexible?

@YellowTack No, I'm sorry to say that TFP also operate to set days of week for procedures, at least where I am (Glasgow clinic & Edinburgh for scans & samples).

As I understand from patients' FB group, things still can be, and are carried out during weekends (especially FET, as they have to pick the best day for transfer depending how the embryos develop); but from my experience the clinic does everything in their power to slot as many of patients' treatment steps into set days as possible.

So for me, they put me on Norethisterone before the cycle for set number of days then scheduled everything else from the date I started and stopped the pills. If they were more flexible this could be avoided as I have very regular menstrual cycles and there's no need to induce a bleed. And I already mentioned that I am a bit worried that by my EC on Monday some of the biggest follicles will be lost.

I'm not enthusiastic about this aspect of the treatment, but again, I knew going into this that this is the way they run things.

I also understand that this is fairly standard as a mode of operations, for a lot of clinics in the IVF field, so it may not be easy to find a clinic which does things differently... but they do exist!

Good luck in your research, it's worth to shop around a bit if you can!

@YellowTack just wanted to clarify that (at least looking at the FB group patients comments) our TFP clinic does do EC and transfers all weekdays... so at least that's better than 3 set days a week 👍 I would always check with your local clinic before committing though.

@Happibara thank you so much for your response, that is very helpful. All weekdays already sounds better than 3 days a week! I will contact my local TFP clinic to learn about how they operate (but hopefully I won’t need another cycle anytime soon).
I think clinics that operate during the weekend are very rare, maybe a few in London, but it would be too much of a hassle for me to travel to London for IVF.

Thank you everyone's comment on the documents, I'll look into it. I'm a bit more calm today, in day 3 we had 6 embryos, grade 1 and 2, and well see tomorrow how many will be frozen.
How is everyone after the egg collection? Still bloated? I'm on day 4 today, still feeling big and a bit sore. I think it was easier on the first cycle, but this time I made 2 eggs more. Hopefully it calmes down soon and we can plan frozen transfer next month.
Does anyone have experience with it? What kind of scans/preparations can we expect?
(At Care there was no baseline scan, when stimulation starts. The first scan is day 9 of stim, and then day 11 or 12, depending on weekends, and then EC. I guess we will get more info next week about the next steps.)

I also have one more question: regarding vitamin D. I'm taking it, I think enough, but also read about the importance in successful implementation.
Do you think a Superdrug home blood test is worth to check my vitamin D level?