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?

Hey ladies, day 2 of 13 doses of 0.5ml busrelin. So far, no side effects apart from the injection is much more stingy than I remember ovaleap being and has bruised quite badly.

Onwards and upwards!

Eagerly following all your journeys ❤️

@Happibara congrats! I’m undecided whether I would test out the trigger or just wait as well 😅 but I heard depending on which trigger it can be in the system 10-14 days so it wouldn’t be much earlier than otd anyway, which is what makes me tempted by the other option haha. What do you think you will do? 🤞🏻🤞🏻 this one is sticky for you and then you’ve got a nice frostie too 😁

@ivfjourneyandme well done! Two days down! Stinging sucks though, are you using anything for it or just grinning and bearing it? I think the next week or so will go really quickly and you’ll be finished before you know it 😁

I’m officially 1/4 done with my down reg already which is crazy cos it feels like I only just started it 😅 only 15 more tablets to take now, 7 more days (plus tonight’s dose)

@Happibara congrats on the transfer - everything crossed for you!! What’s your test date?

egg collection went well today. Overall far easier than expected. I even declined DH’s insistence on getting an Uber to the train station and happily took the tube and then 30 min train home.

I went in expecting 3 eggs as a min, hoping for 5 and secretly hoping some might have caught up and result in 7. But they got 16!!! I only ever had 12 follies on the scans so no idea where they were all hiding. I’m delighted as I was slow to respond and had a mild protocol. I know lots were still fairly small on weds at my last scan so expecting a fair drop off tomorrow when we know how many are mature and fertilised.

DH’s morphology was 3% (it’s always been borderline) so we ended up going for ICSI so turned into a very expensive day!

@LuckyFlash wow that’s great! Is it one egg per follicle or can there be more than one egg in each, maybe that’s where the extras came from? Good luck for tomorrow! Hopefully with icsi you’ll get a good amount 😁

@captainsmal good question, I assumed one egg per follicle but maybe not!

Thankyou darling! And I hope yours grow lovely for you too. Natural means basically no meds just monitoring every other day with scans and blood tests maybe a trigger shot then put the sperm and egg together in the lab. In my case they’ve said icsi for best chance and I’ve said I’ll remain slightly flexible to do natural modified which means adding 150 stims daily for 3-5 days ish. So what your on is considered low dose. I did mild ivf which was 350 and that was successful with only 1 egg retrieved. And then I did high dose 450 which just ravaged my body - awful, and still only one egg retrieved which failed. hence trying something different. What’s 150 like? I prefer meriofert, just cause my body knows it.

@Poppycock84 that sounds like a lot less stress on your body at least! I haven’t started mine yet but I’m hoping 150 will be fine, this is my first cycle so I hope it’s going to be enough to respond etc but they seem to think that it’s going to be good based on my results etc. I think maybe if we didn’t have the sperm issue I could’ve done something more natural too but obviously we need extra eggs now so they can try with as many of his “good” sperms as possible. I’ll be on Gonal F when I start in just under two weeks time

@Happibara how are you feeling?

@captainsmal you’ve got this. Not much longer to wait

@LuckyFlash wow, what an amazing surprise for you. I hope not too many drop off, keep us posted ⭐

@LuckyFlash 16 is fantastic, well done! Fingers crossed for some good embryos for you.

@LuckyFlash that's fantastic ✨ I'm extremely impressed with your numbers, it must have been such a relief after the scare you had on Wednesday! Hope they are all ready and will fertilise.

@ivfjourneyandme that's too bad about busrelin 😱 I've heard exactly the same feedback from a friend who used it in her cycle. She used ice packs for a minute before injecting and arnica gel after and had good results, may be worth a try.

@Poppycock84 that's very interesting, I didn't know that's something one can do 😅 With such a cycle it's close to what our bodies do naturally, selecting best eggs from a cohort... so likely these eggs will be of very good quality! And more may grow over the weekend 🤞

@captainsmal you're getting close now, hope your protocol will be optimal from the start. How will they monitor your response? just scans, or blood tests as well?

I'm feeling absolutely fine, getting past the last remaining effects of the EC now, and just trying not to get too excited about the little embryo, or worked up about it's chances. I don't anticipate any symptoms before the test date, in my only past pregnancy I had none.

I just got my period after egg retrieval- altho apparently it's a "bleed" not a period. So calculating IF I have an embryo after pgt-a it would be very end of March or start of April before I can transfer. Seems so long! But I guess it just is what it is.

Pgt results Feb 28th
Meeting consultant March 7th (day 21 this cycle)
I guess you start meds on day 2 of cycle for FET?
So I think day 2 is March 15th. So in and around end of March transfer. December baby 🙏

All this is if I even have an embryo 🤦🏻‍♀️🙃

@spttc the waiting is the worst, isn't it?!? Wait for bleed, for stages and days of treatment, for transfers, for tests... I think we can all empathise.

It's good you have a firm timescale though, and with your numbers there is a strong probability your transfer will go ahead 🤞

Can't share my patience as I have none, so wishing us all lots!

Hi all! Great to read some positive updates @Happibara and @LuckyFlash 16 follicles wow, well done,what a relief for you! Take time to give your body a chance to rest end recover ready for ET (even if you feel amazing!) its obviously worked really hard to produce 16 eggs!

Best of luck to all on down regulation medication!

Update today from clinic which was tg that both embryos are doing well and look like high grade embryos. So very positive. Truly grateful! Such a relief. When something goes well for me with ICSI I always still get such a surprise bc I'm used to abject failure 😅So I guess if they are still doing well on Monday I'll transfer the best one and freeze the other for the future, that would be so exciting! When is you otd @Happibara? Anyone else having ET on Monday?

@Happibara I’m barely being monitored at all tbh! I have one scan on day 10 of stims and if they’re ready I’ll trigger that evening, that’s literally it 😱 I was a bit worried about it but I spoke to an old school friend who used my clinic, she had the exact same protocol and meds as me and that’s what they did with her too! I’m actually feeling quite positive because her situation is very similar to mine, slight male factor, nothing wrong with her, same age etc, same meds etc, and she was successful first time so 🤞🏻🤞🏻 the only difference was her amh is way higher than mine so she had to freeze all and have a fet because of ohss risk. This was all last year btw. So she’s reassured me especially about the lack of monitoring lol!
If my follicles aren’t ready by the day 10 scan I’ll stim for two more days then scan again, they gave me enough doses for 12 days of stims and enough for 9 doses of the other one that stops ovulation. Which is kinda weird because even if I still for 12 days I’ll only need 7 doses of that I think? I introduce it on day 5 morning. Or do you still have to take it even after the trigger shot 🤔 I’ll have to ask them closer to the time lol

@spttc it feels so long doesn’t it when you’re in the middle of it but then probably when it gets to March and April time you’ll be like wow that went quick! At least that’s how I’ve felt through this whole process 😅 I think you’ve got a good chance you’ll have an embryo so 🤞🏻🤞🏻 if mine works I’d have a December baby too lol 🙏🏻 ironically, I’m a December baby and as a child I HATED it, my birthday is way too close to Xmas, people don’t want to spend out on two presents or they’re too busy around the holidays to meet up etc, I always swore up and down when I had my own kids I wouldn’t let myself have one and now there’s a chance I might end up doing exactly that 😆 at this point I’m obviously just like yeah any baby will do and I don’t care when or how it gets here 😅

@Cherryblossom90 that’s really good news! Good luck for Monday now then! It’s so lovely hearing when people get some nice positive news especially those who’ve had previous bad news in their cycles 🙏🏻

Thanks @captainsmal I also found the medicine amounts I got given were weird! But yes you definitly take the stims and frymandel (or equivalent) on day of the trigger.

So funny about the December birthday thing! I'm born in November and if all goes well mine would be due in November too 😍

I meant to ask @Happibara did they say why they gave you the obvitrelle injection by ET?

@Cherryblossom90 that's excellent news, only 2 more sleeps until Monday! Eeek!

My OTD is 28th February! My clinic doesn't do blood tests, just a standard urine test so there will be no appointments.
I bet yours will be around the same time 😁

And regarding Ovitrelle, apparently on patient's ET day they administer half of what had been given as trigger, as a form of luteal phase support. This is the case for my protocol only, most others get cyclogest.
The whole protocol seems a bit unique, other than ladies on my clinic's FB forum I've never heard of anybody with the same medication and treatment plan... worked for me though and seems like other patients had positive experiences too.
Do you expect to get a cyclogest prescription after ET?

@captainsmal it's lovely you have your friends advice and support, I hope you'll have the same wonderful outcome. And I wouldn't worry about the meds, mine weren't delivered in exactly the quantities I needed, neither stims nor trigger. I haven't run out though, just have random quantities left over, and reckon that's all that matters 😊

@Cherryblossom90 @Happibara so strange how they give odd amounts lol! I just feel like what a waste of two extra syringes cos they’ll have to be binned when I don’t use them 🤷🏼‍♀️ someone else could’ve used them lol

that’s interesting using a version of the trigger for luteal support, I did see that on another thread on here too! (I’ve been reading my way through like this entire infertility topic, currently on page 88 haha, keeps me busy and found some good tips along the way!) my protocol is just cyclogest, in fact I’ve already already got them here in the parcel with the stims and trigger etc

🤞🏻🤞🏻🤞🏻 for your testing dates both of you!

Thank you @Happibara that is interesting about the ovitrelle but I guess whatever works for you! I asked for utrogestran instead of cyclogest as its a more user friendly form of progesterone pessary (also more pricey). I reckoned that if I'm going to be taking a medicine for 3 months (hopefully) it better be something easy to use. I think my clinic says to test 14 days after egg collection.

@captainsmal yeh we thought about the December baby thing too but then like you I'm not going to delay for that! I think my due date will be Dec 13th, then I'm having a elective C-section (had an emergency one the last time) so it might be very end of Nov or very very early Dec which isn't as bad as late Dec. I do think the worst birthday month is January tho 🙈 you get regifted Christmas gifts etc. everyone is on diets, doing dry January etc. At least in December people are in celebration mode!

@spttc that is very true about January lol 😂 when I checked what my due date “would be” (obviously not getting my hopes up but was just curious!) it was the day before my birthday. Weirdly enough, my absolute best friend in the world gave birth last year the day before her birthday in March and kept saying that she thought it would happen to me too! This was months ago before I checked it out so maybe shes psychic, who knows? 🤷🏼‍♀️🤣 we do have weird “twin” things sometimes lol. Day before yesterday we realised we were both reading the exact same book at the same time and hadn’t told each other we’d started reading that series hahaha. I know I probably sound like an absolute weirdo but I do believe in some of that kind of fate stuff lol 😂

@captainsmal yeh the baby I miscarried last year was due on my birthday. Which.... is around the time I'd be finding out I am pregnant (or not pregnant) on this cycle 🙈 I can't lie it will be very sad if I'm not pregnant and it's my lost babies due date.... and my birthday 😭 So let's just hope 🙏 I hope you get your birthday baby and it sticks ❤️❤️❤️

of My 16 eggs 10 were mature (expected quite a drop off here) and 8 fertilised! Yay. I’m with LWC and they don’t do a 3 day update so it’s going to be a long wait until Thursday to find out what’s left. Transfer is all booked and hopefully we make it.

is anyone else doing acupuncture? I’m just trying to arrange me pre and post transfer sessions but it’s starting to give me a bit of stress worrying about the timings so I’m wondering if it’s all worth it! Some studies say it increases chances by up to 40% and others say it’s negligible

@spttc aww I hope you get your rainbow, that would be so nice if you found out on the due date/your birthday 🥰 positive thinking 🤞🏻
@LuckyFlash wow great numbers! Hopefully Thursday comes quickly! I can’t advise on acupuncture I’m afraid, I’ve only ever had it many years ago for chronic pain/fibromyalgia relief never for fertility reasons

@LuckyFlash that’s amazing news! Eight possible embryos ❤️

I’m having acupuncture this round, never have had it before. Part of me thinks it’s a waste of money but in my heart, I want to know I’ve tried everything and anything.