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 ✨

@JDann how did your scan go today??
I had my second monitoring scan this morning, I’m back on Wednesday for another and my egg collection is booked for Friday!! Feels so surreal!!
having pizza for tea.. just for anyone getting caught up on eating well, I clearly didn’t get that memo 🙈 x

@OliveTurtle Eeek Thats Amazing! Super excited for you… and ironically it looks like we are on the same schedule 😂 had remaining bloods and scans done today and everything came back fine, back for another scan Wednesday and if all good, we get the good ahead to trigger and eggy collect on Friday too 😂 dependant on scan Wednesdays results, but all looks on track currently. Left ovary is slowing again, so it hadn’t responded as well to the stims in terms of follicle growth, but we still have time I guess, I try not to overthink it all too much… but that’s easier said sometimes isn’t it. Pizza sounds yum! I had a Caesar salad…, but it wasn’t healthy with all the dressings and cheese 😂 I’ve tried to eat healthier…. But chocolate crisps and bakery biscuits have still fallen in my mouth at times during these last nine days 😂 remind me, are you doing a fresh or frozen transfer? Are you feeling okay otherwise, apart from the impatient wait and excitement xx

@Bunnymum93 when I did my nhs round I was put on 150 aswell , my amh was 62 at the time. I kept thinking the same thing, that the dose wasn't high enough. From that , I produced 7 eggs . I feel blessed that it resulted in a live birth from one of those eggs but couldnt help but feel disappointed at the low number of eggs as we didn't have any to freeze. I felt they should have utilised my good count so that I could get more eggs in the hope of creating more embryos for future use.
I'm now starting another cycle . I bloody dread having to go through it all again and financially it's going to hit us hard. We've had to take a loan to cover the cost

@StrawberriesCream1212 I did everything possible on my last round. Ate super clean and healthy, pumped by body with superfoods and took every supplement to support egg quality on a cellular level. Still produced rubbish quality eggs .
This round I'm just going to relax and eat what makes me feel good 😆

Ahh we are cycle twins @JDann !! You’re not based in Yorkshire are you?! 😂
That sounds like a nice dinner!! Well done for not overthinking, I need to be a bit better at that. Have you got time off work this week or are you just in and out for appointments?! Xx

that would be uncanny wouldn’t it 🤣

we are doing our cycle in Cyprus, so we are out here for the remainder, flew out on day 6 of stims, all scans etc have been at the clinic whilst we are here, a couple back home before. We will be a FET, if I recall correctly the genetic testing results we are doing can take 3 weeks to come back, so we will be back after that….. I’d love to say this has been a holiday too, but it definitely has not been relaxing in the slightest 😂 are you all set for tomorrow’s trigger?

Have any of you ladies used fertility2u to obtain meds? My clinic have said this is the website they use . How do they deliver the drugs? Is it via courier such as royal mail ect or do they have a private courier? Is it all discreet ? We haven't shared with anyone that were doing ivf and really don't want out neighbours knowing

Oh God @Miraclemuma03 I hadn't even considered the egg perils, I'm one of those weirdos that gets the ick halfway through eating them at the best of times 🙈

@OliveTurtle @JDann I'm booked for egg retrieval Friday too! How are you both feeling about it? When will your transfers be?

@VioIetMoon I'm so sorry to hear you're having to put yourself through this shitshow again. It feels so unfair that the first cycle is more of a trial when you only get the one on the NHS where we live! If you don't mind me asking, how many follicles did you have on your scans considering they only retrieved 7 eggs? I'm so so happy you had success from your cycle though 😊

OoOh are you! Amazing! Personally I’m very on edge about it, we have another scan tomorrow but I’m worrying about the amount of follicles and especially the left ovary that just hasn’t responded as well, although it looked like it had caught up on my second scan, the one yesterday it had slowed again. also worried because I have got off relatively easy with side effts form stims, so that makes me worry it just isn’t doing as much 🙈 Fingers are crossed for tomorrow’s results.

What about you? Are you doing a fresh transfer?

we are a frozen, so will be back here once the genetic testing results are back, either next month or worst case July if it falls at a time when we have works commitments and pre booked holidays xx

I personally haven’t used them, we used Fertility Pharmacy and the meds came in a refrigerated van, which we just had to pop straight in the fridge.

from a quick Google Feritlity2U say they use LF&E another refrigerated delivery, they also say

“All medication is packaged discreetly - there will be no indication on the package as to where it’s from or its contents” so secret is safe on that front too xx

@JDann Sorry I think I should have said 7 follicles, not eggs .

From that we got 4 eggs. 3 fertilised and 2 embryos. We put back both on day 5 and they werent good quality and they werent willing to freeze the spare anyway. Only one of them took.
I actually had an appointment with a new clinic today and the doctor there seems to think it was rather odd aswell that only 7 follicles were growing considering my amh at the time. I had a scan done today at clinic on day 2 of my period to check my count and I had 15 follicles on my right and 6 follicles on my left .
I think ill be called back as they did notice a cyst that looks like its bleeding on one ovary and said they want to check that out first. Our last ivf round was back in October 2023 and given that I'm almost turning 40 I'm assuming my amh has probably dropped a bit. They've done new amh bloods today and I'll get the results on Friday and then we'll draw up the treatment plan with what doses ect and then we'll start prepping. They gave me a prescription to go on the pill for a month before treatment starts . Is that what anyone else has done? We never did this prep month with our nhs clinic.
This clinic was much more thorough. It was honestly overwhelming. We were there for 1 /12 hours with consultant alone and another 1 hour doing scan and bloods . With nhs it was a quick 30 min consultation and that was including bloods and scan.

@VioIetMoon I also haven’t used them and have ended up using Stork mostly for my two rounds.. expensive but efficient and relieved the stress when Boots basically failed to provide anything when they said they could 😆.

Hope everyone is doing ok with scans, stims etc. I really haven’t watched what I have been eating this round because it’s been a bit of a stressful time with work and I like pizzas but this round has been ok so far!

I am now 6 days post 5 day transfer and I feel sick tired and like my period could start but isn’t. Who knows if this has been successful as these can be side effects from pessaries as much as anything else!!!

@Bunnymum93 I have to say I’m a little nervous about egg retrieval but I do know I’ll be absolutely fine. I just think I know too much about what the procedure involves and sometimes ignorance is bliss 🙈. All being well if we end up with any 5 day embryos I’ll be back in next Wednesday for transfer!! Keeping everything crossed.
@VioIetMoon my meds came from fertility2u!! It was very discrete. I’ve still got the packaging actually as some meds are still in there and nothing on the outside says anything at all about where it’s from. The lady who delivered mine simply told me which package needed to go into the fridge. I hope this is helpful!
im hoping for a fresh transfer @JDann but when I asked the other day about that she said ‘I’ll just check with the consultant’ so im not sure if my follicles suggest otherwise?! I’ll ask again tomorrow!! X

Had my scan today, we trigger tomorrow evening now and egg collection is pushed forward a day toSaturday, feeling very deflated and emotional tbh, not that much growth since Mondays scan, left ovary still hasn’t responded as well to meds either. I think at best we are looking at a maximum of 8 eggs…. But then there’s the next hurdle of them fertilising, reaching blastocyst and coming back normal after testing…. Just overly emotional about it because I know we should be happy we have got this far when some people can’t and there’s still chances so I should be positive, but Google hasn’t been my friend when it comes to looking at statistics. Maybe it’s just the stims meds that have gotten to me. I donno!
good luck to those scanning today, everything crossed for you xx

@JDann this is such a wild rollercoaster of emotions! Try to stay positive and off Google if you can. On both my egg collections I had differing results to predicted from scans .. also remember is quality not quantity. Keeping everything crossed for you! X

@JDann wishing you the best of luck.
Try and take your mind off things. I know easier said than done. It's nice weather , could you go for a walk this evening? Or maybe listen to some music ? My acupuncturist had suggest during this phase to watch alot of comedies. Just do something that will make you relaxed and happy. I definitely found this part the hardest and distracting myself was the best thing. Absolutely, stay off google. Sometimes it does more harm that good.
Regarding one ovary responding , apparently that's very common. My left ovary didnt respond during my first cycle and yesterday when I had my consultantation the ultrasound nurse told me the same thing again that she sees it quite alot. 8 eggs is still a good chance. We only had 4 mature eggs to work, 3 fertilised and quality was terrible. Probably my age.. 5bc and 3cc blasts , they werent willing to freeze so we just stuck them both in and that resulted in our son so you definitely have a good shot at this so stay positive

@JDann mine was pushed back a day and I managed to get a good amount of eggs, I don't know if you have said, but what clinic are you at in Cyprus, I'm also a Cyprus ivfer I flew back on Saturday

@JDann I'm so sorry, that sounds so stressful for you! Mine had done a good growth spurt from Friday to Monday, but today's scan showed barely any growth. Hardly any are over the line, and we trigger tonight! It's so hard not to focus on the negatives but I just keep reminding myself it only takes one! I have all my fingers crossed for you for Saturday. Hopefully these last few days give them the boost they need 🤞xxx

@OliveTurtle that's so exciting! I'm not sure I'd cope with a transfer now I feel emotionally wrung out just from stims and like I need at least 10 years to recover 😂 really hoping you get some lovely little emmies and the retrieval isn't as awful as we're dreading it will be xxx

P.s. As if this process doesn't rob you of all dignity, they just told me that the antibiotic suppository goes IN THE BACK DOOR of all places 😭 my husband has handled the jabs like a trooper but I think I'm on my own with this one 😆

Morning all!! Did my trigger shot last night so I’m all set (ish) for egg collection tomorrow morning! I have to be there at 8:30 so at least it will be done before I have much time to think about it 🙈.
they did tell me yesterday at my scan that I’m at risk of OHSS so they may insist on a freeze all but the consultant will speak to me about this tomorrow.. little set back!
xx

@OliveTurtle good luck I hope it all goes smoothly and enjoy the sedation (it was the best bit 😆 for me). Fingers crossed for mature good quality eggs xx

@Toryory21 djd you find it ok? I’m getting nervous xx

@OliveTurtle first EC was an absolute breeze second one slightly more uncomfortable afterwards but I think it was because I had it only 2 months after my first and I had a lot of empty follicles, so whilst I got 7 eggs they obviously did a lot more digging around!!! Tbh it’s a relief to stop injections. Xx

I’m worried about feeling awake and knowing what is going on 🙈! Thank you, it really helps talking it through with people xx

@OliveTurtle the sedation was the best sleep of my life! Don’t worry about that bit 😆 x

@Toryory21 it really is isn’t it, my other half asked if I was okay and I just cried 😂 I think I underestimated how much emotionally this would take a toll. Thank you for the reassurance, hopefully we get on okay, as you said it does only take one. Positivity! ❤️
How are you feeling so far since your transfer? 🥰 xx

@VioIetMoon far, Aww thank you for such an encouraging reply, you aren’t wrong at all, keeping busy is probably the best thing, we did a big walk around the old town and visited the Ghost town…. Not sure the 20k steps was the greatest idea because I definitely felt my ovaries complaining afterwards 😂 but it did help.
Nice to know the left ovary not working as well isn’t necessarily just my body not performing too…. I’m with you on age, I turned 41 the day we arrived, so the biological clock ticking so something I’m also always aware of. Being female is great isn’t it 😂 So glad you got your baby boy 🥰

Is it still Friday you get your bloodwork results to start your next cycle? Lots crossed for you! ❤️ xx

@camelinastorm Oh bless you, was that to give the follicles more time to grow? Ours didn’t actually specify the exact reason to why, but I’m assuming that’s our reason 🤷‍♀️ have you transferred yet or are you doing a FET?

We flew in the day you left 😂 we are with Cyprus IVF hospital in the north, it was a minefield of different clinics when we were deciding who to go with, but something just felt right about this one…. So far very impressed, but we still have the most important parts to go, so fingers crossed! Who did you go with? xx

@Bunnymum93 That is so similar to what is happening with us, so I know how cr*p it is, but as everyone else has said and you have yourself…. It does only take one! And we really won’t know the exact outcome until egg collection…. So everything crossed!
How are you feeling after the trigger!? Hope you’re having a nice chilled day today so you can stay relaxed xx

@OliveTurtle your back door comment did make me LOL!
Fingers crossed for you! Hopefully you get the fresh transfer you’d like, but if not it is as you said, just a little set back…. Your health has to come first, but I wish you all the luck!

Be thinking of you all tomorrow, you got this ❤️ xx

PS hope I got everyone’s reply in and sorry it’s long 😂 xx