IVF/ICSI May 2025

[GamerGirl09]

Hey everyone!

Thought I’d start a thread for those of us starting everything next month :)

Personally, I’m from the UK and will be starting ICSI in Ireland. Just over the BMI limit for the NHS in the UK and have been trying for c.6 years for our first. Had final tests yesterday and consult. Going with ICSI as my husband’s sperm analysis came back teratozoospermic. Other than that, nobody can find any reason we couldn’t conceive naturally, it’s just not happened!

Currently phoning up pharmacies in the UK for medication quotes (struggling to source Bemfola at the moment though). I’ll be on the short protocol and they reckon it’s likely I’ll be a freeze all as AMH and AFC came back decent. If I get get the meds in time, looking like I’ll start at the very end of this month, with egg collection next month 🤞🏼

Would love to connect with others starting around the same time ♥️ Good luck to everyone ✨

@GamerGirl09 thank you 🥰.

Yes I had that and have felt bloated from the get go. Only today after EC do I feel more ‘normal’. Beat it luck with your stims etc xx

I accidentally commented in the wrong group but will re comment here. For 3 days now iv been spotting and I have lost a chunk of something. Have no idea what it could have been. I would be in my fertile window according to my period tracker app and would be ovulating around now though ovulation for me is all over the place and I don't activity track this. I'm thinking about sending an email to my clinic as im not sure what would be the protocol having spotting before a cycle. My first bleed after a failed ivf cycle last month was pretty rough and lasted for 7 days..

Afternoon all, hope we are all doing well :)

had my baseline day 2 scan today, with 7 folllicles on the right ovary, but only 2 on the left (not sure if that’s bad or not) and an endometrial lining of 4.8…. Been giving the go ahead to start the Gonal F at 375 today, so first injection down. Fingers crossed, trying not to over analyse that left ovary with only 2 follicles.

hows everyone doing? X

And just like that, my ivf cycle has been cancelled for this month. I'm so upset. After a failed cycle last month and now a cancelled one. I feel hopeless.

So sorry to hear that your cycle has been cancelled :/ I can’t imagine what you’re going through, but sending you positive thoughts for the next one…. Stay strong xx

@Miraclemuma03 I am so sorry to hear this. This is such a roller coaster process.

@Miraclemuma03so so sorry to hear your cycle’s been cancelled. Hopefully it was just a little too soon after last month and your next try goes perfectly to plan and is successful ♥️ Really hoping everything goes right for you x

@Toryory21in a weird way, glad to hear you were bloated from the get go too (not glad for you obviously 🤣), I didn’t know if it was just in my head but I’ve felt really uncomfortable since starting the tablets haha. Also half of Sunday I had a migraine and felt sick. Started my period yesterday and it seemed more painful than usual. Stims planned for Friday, with a scan on 16th and 19th then EC planned for 21-23rd May. How’s your embryos looking?

@JDannwhats a ‘baseline day 2 scan’ - is this before meds or during? I know you said you were starting meds first week of May. Have the clinic commented on your scan results or anything yet? Hopefully they’ll be able to put your mind at ease. And the Gonal F will develop more follicles for you anyway right? X

It was the scan I had before starting meds on day two of period, so had the scan yesterday and started the gonal f when they gave the go ahead after reading the scan results!

im hoping that is the case as well, more follicles is exactly what we want isn’t it 😂

they did say everything looks good, so I took that and left it 😂

still have the other meds to include, but not until day 7 (Saturday) after the next scan to check growth etc, then we get on the plane tot Cyprus (assuming everything is fine that is…. Fingers crossed!)

just seen above you’re due to start stims Friday,
Hope all goes smoothly for you!
how’s the pre stims been? X

@JDannaahhh gotcha. Everyone has different types of cycles don’t they. You’d imagine on day 2 of period you wouldn’t have many follicles to be seen though right? So yeah I’d just take the ‘everything looks fine’ 🤣. For me, I had a scan on 15th of last month, which was on day 7 I think of my cycle - they said looks good, good follicle count and will probs react well to stims (which is all great) but means I’ll likely be a FET as probs more likely to get OHSS 🤣 so swings and roundabouts haha.

So I believe my cycle is called oestrogen priming? I started oestrogen tablets a week before my period. Been pretty uncomfortable tbh - lots of bloating and feeling nauseous, migraine and nausea on Sunday, painful period. Period started yesterday so the clinic have told me to stop oestrogen tablets on Thursday then start stims on Friday (Menapur). Then Thurs next week need to introduce the second type of injection (Cetrotide) alongside Manapur, scan the next day (Fri 16th) and scan the following Monday (19th). All being well, I’ll need to go back a few days later for EC. Also have an Ovitrelle injection and a Buserelin injection to take at some point (TBC) and some Utrogestan (vaginal capsules) that I think thicken the womb lining etc which I’ll probably be directed to take after EC.

So far the Progegynova tablets (Oestrogen) have been pretty rough and I really weren’t expecting them to be 🤣 so fingers crossed injections not too bad 🤣

How have you been so far on the injections? Sounds so cool you’ll be off to Cyprus soon 😍 x

@GamerGirl09 oh not weird at all! That’s exciting you start your stims soon. I found that as soon as those started the process flew! I have a fresh ET tomorrow! Sounds like there are at least 2 embryos out of the 5 fertilised so at least that’s something. I know it can still all end up with failed round so hoping for the best but preparing for the worst. As this is a round for a sibling I have decided this is my last attempt mind!

@JDann good luck with your trip to Cyprus!!!!!

@Toryory21 good luck for tomorrow 🤞🏼

Thank you @GamerGirl09 I'm pretty devastated. I guess just have to get over it and move forward and hopefully things start working out for next month.

@Miraclemuma03 I know it’s easier said than done, but all you can do is look forward and focus on the next one. Sending all the luck x

Hi everyone! We've started our first IVF cycle this month too.
I'm 31 and my husband's 32 and we're coming up to our 3 year infertility mark which is hard to believe sometimes!
We're lucky in that we get an NHS cycle, but less lucky because where we live that's our lot, so just hoping we can make some little embryos this time round.
We're technically unexplained, although his morphology is always under 4%.
I'm on 150 of ovaleap for stims as my AMH was quite high at 40 and we're relatively young. But AFC of only 10 so of course I'm worrying that the dosage isn't high enough! And AMH means anything we were lucky enough to get would be frozen.
It's nice to hear from other people in a similar boat as no one we know has gone through this. Sending positive thoughts and baby dust to everyone xxx

Hey. I’ve been lurking for a while. I was on the IVF March thread but I had some set backs and I had to postponed treatment until what I thought would be to July but I have been given the all clear by the fertility clinic and I can start this month. I already had my medication delivered in March and I start stims next weekend on a fairly high dosage due to low AMH. I’ll also be having a follow up nurse consultation next week to give us a refresher on our medication as our last nurse consultation was back in February. Best of luck to everyone 🤞🏻

Good luck @Bunnymum93!! Fingers and toes crossed for some great embryos.

@lemonwrighty welcome! I also have low AMH as well and was on high doses this round of a lot of meds. Had a fresh ET yesterday so hoping for the best. Mention human growth hormone to your nurse as this seems to have really made a difference for me this round!

@Toryory21thank you. In what way has human growth hormone made a difference for you? Sending you all the luck in the world for the few weeks.

Hello @lemonwrighty could I ask how much dosage they put you on? I also have a low AMH for my age range. I've been told ill be on 225 Ovaleap. Not sure if this is too high or not.

@lemonwrighty so giving a TW as I know numbers are a sensitive topic.

Round 1 in Jan/Feb - 8 eggs, 6 mature, 4 fertilised, 1 early blasto on day five which was slow growing but transferred as only the one - failed.

Round 2 in April/May - 7 eggs, 7 mature, 5 fertilised, 5 blastos on day 5 all great or good grades (just had a 5AA transferred).

TW AMH/AFC numbers.

@Bunnymum93Welcome! And sending you lots of luck 🤞🏼 Could I ask, was the AFC 10 each ovary or 10 all together? And did they say anything about the AMH vs AFC? I thought that the AMH gives an indication of egg reserves then the AFC confirms it (as in AMH correlates with AFC in some way), but I must have got that wrong because my AMH is a lot lower than yours (17.3 pmol/L) and I’ve been given my AFC as 8/13 (8 in the right ovary and 13 in the left) so I’m confused 🤣

@lemonwrighty Welcome! And best of luck with the stims and EC 🤞🏼

@Toryory21 Those are amazing numbers and grades! Congrats! And best of luck in the tww 🤞🏼

Hiya @GamerGirl09
10 in total, unfortunately! They are supposed to correlate, which is why I'm so worried they've worked out my dosage from the AMH and not taken the terrible AFC into account 😩 your numbers sound great! They just said the AMH put me at risk of OHSS although they didn't see that many follicles on the AFC and left it like that. Wish I'd asked more questions now!
We have our first scan tomorrow to see what's going on so hopefully we'll know either way.
Wishing you loads of luck xx

@Bunnymum93 oooohhh I was confused! Okay yeah that makes sense then. I guess they could maybe tell you to increase the dosage dependant on scan tomorrow? And you can ask all the questions you have then as well to put your mind at ease re dosage etc. I’m sure they’ve taken everything into account ♥️ Also Strawberries said she’s been put on 225 with low AMH so there’s only 75 units different and I’m sure they can adjust dosage/dates based on how your scans show you’re doing on it anyway ♥️ Good luck for tomorrow 🤞🏼

@StrawberriesCream1212I will be on 375 ovaleap and I’m 33, I’ve not spoken to anyone who have been on this level of dosage so I am concerned about OHSS but my clinic have reassured me that they will monitor me very closely especially as I’m also quite petite too.

@lemonwrighty I was on 225 gonal f AND 225 meriofert, as well as norditropin (growth hormone) and buseralin. No OHSS xx

@Toryory21 oh wow!! I am crossing everything for you for the next few weeks for your 5AA transfer, how are you feeling?