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 ✨

Looking at the report further it does logically seem that the 5 M2 are those that have fertilised, as the others aren’t mature….. this is what is says regarding them

Germinal Vesicle (GV)
These are the most immature eggs. The germinal vesicle is a large nucleus within the egg, indicating that the egg has not yet completed the initial stages of maturation.
Quality: GV eggs are not yet ready for fertilization. They need further development to reach maturity.

Metaphase | (M1):
These eggs are in the intermediate stage of maturation. During this phase, the eggs are still maturing and have not yet reached the stage where they can be successfully fertilized.
Quality: M1 eggs are generally not suitable for fertilization. They need to complete their maturation process to progress to the next stage.

Metaphase II (M2)
These are the mature eggs. An M2 egg has completed the maturation process and is ready for fertilization. The presence of a polar body indicates that the egg is at this stage.
Quality: M2 eggs are the best quality eggs for
IVF. They have the highest potential for successful fertilization and subsequent embryo development.

Like you I hadn’t heard of any of these before because every bit of research hadn’t mentioned these 😬

so there’s 7 that aren’t mature. This is a giant rollercoaster of a process isn’t it!

@JDann wow they have been very detailed with the eggs !! 5 mature is great

@Bunnymum93 I had a look at my treatment plan and cansee I've also been put on buserelin as opposed to hcg to avoid ohss and they've mentioned freeze all.
Did you produce many mature eggs in your cycle on buserelin?
From having a read on google, I read it slightly reduces the risk of ohss, but can lower success rate during transfer and can result in a lower number of mature eggs. My clinic haven't mentioned anything about the pros and cons of using it as a trigger and I suppose it does concern me why they are triggering me with buserelin as in my last ivf round I triggered with hcg and i had good results with that. Even tho I had high amh I didn't respond very well but 4/ 7 mature eggs with hcg which isnt too bad. I don't have that many follicles on my ovaries, My day 2 of period scan only had 5 follicles on my left.
But then again, my clinic don't seem to be discussing much with me. Still waiting for my blood test results that I had done a week ago

@VioIetMoon I could be totally wrong as this is our first round but I think buserelin is often used for freeze-all cycles. As mine was always going to be one I'm afraid I don't know anything about the impact on implantation! Definitely worth asking your clinic, though, especially if you were fine last time.
I had 29 eggs but only 16 mature, which isn't a very good maturity rate so maybe buserelin was to blame! That being said I definitely have a (thankfully mild) bit of OHSS 3 days on from EC so was definitely the right one for me! Xx

@GamerGirl09 I might give therapie a call. I really don't think I'm off to a good start with my clinic. Didn't feel the consultant really listened to us at all. He didnt even ask about our history of ttc. The first introduction wasnt great. I got told off when I sat down and offered my notes from previous ivf cycle and told me let him go through everything he wants to say first and all the paperwork and then i can speak 😄 I've been through ivf before but he spoke me like I know nothing.
I think he's very set in his ways , our cycle just doesn't feel personalised. Throwing in the fact we were booked in for Semen analysis only to be told nobody is available and would have to wait hours in hope they might be ( but apparently shes just guessing and has no idea when he could be seen) ,so we had to reschedule. It's a 2 hour bloody journey. I had bloods done a week ago and they still won't let me know my results. I'm not sure if I would be wise to hand over the money for treatment based on the experience so far.

Even our nhs round was brilliant. You'd think when forking out £1000 for consultation alone things would be a bit more swift

@Bunnymum93 ah 16 mature eggs, from 29 follicles that's great. It sounds normal. Hopefully you get a few embryos from that.
Do you have a wait a few months for things to settle before you could transfer ?
I'm probably worrying over nothing but just confused why they would put me on something different when I know what worked well the last round. Even tho I didn't have many eggs we had good ratio of mature/ blasts . I'm nervous about switching it up.
What did you stim with ? Last time I stimmed with bemfola and triggered with hcg.
This time , they want to stim me with gonal f and trigger with buserelin

That’s what I thought when I read it 😂 but we only have 5 mature which I know I should be thankful for (and I am) but a 60% drop off at the first hurdle is a little hard to swallow. I know it only takes one good egg, but I can’t help but overthink how we now have to get them to blast and then get them back as normal after NGS testing. Just worrying over it, but as Im sure all of you know from going through this, it’s easier to worry than and is to not 😂 thank you for your positivity. got everything crossed xx

@VioIetMoon aww that's awful you don't feel to be jelling with your clinic, I can't help with the buserelin I had menotrophin stims and cetrotide and had to unfortunately delay and have a frozen as they said my lining was slightly uneven so advised to delay, what clinic are you at can you transfer?

@JDann are you having them tested (sorry if I missed that )

We are testing, age being the reason for it, the clinic recommended it as I’m 41 and hubby is 45, so we agreed. So so stressful this process isn’t it xx

@JDann isnt it so, we are also similar ages we were recommended not to test for last year's collection but if this one ends in miscarriage we will be testing the next lot (if we can get the funds together, everything it's just such an expense) we are male factor they said my eggs were excellent however at 40 they are old really

I do kind of worry that testing wasn’t the best route, we had to mull it over a lot. But if the 5 potentials we have don’t result in anything I’m going to be so gutted. Everything crossed for you that your beautiful baby is growing perfectly to make their entrance 🥰 “old eggs” 😂 I’m with you on that one lol but you’ve got this far, hopefully baby is healthy and thriving! xx

I used buserelin for my trigger and they retrieved 18 eggs of which 13 fertilised. I’m doing a fresh cycle but they did tell me they’d chosen this trigger for me as I was at risk of OHSS xx

@camelinastorm yes we could transfer, it's something I'm definitely contemplating but it's just the fact of having to start the whole process again ,waiting for a copy of our test results and waiting for the initial consultation. I hate the idea of another setback as I'll be turning the big 40 . I don't feel time is on my side to restart the whole process again
There's only one consultant at the clinic . I think they've taken on more than they can handle, judging by all the patients files i seen lying on the sofa. I'm not sure why the clinic continue to take in new patients if they are struggling with the vast amount the have already. Money i presume. They still can't even give me simple blood test results in over a week now .
Did any of you ladies ask for a copy of your results ? If so, how long did it take for them to give you a copy ?
I'd need a copy if we switched clinics as I really don't fancy paying for the initial bloods again. With nhs we had a to wait 30 days before we could collect a copy

@VioIetMoon that sounds so stressful for you, I know when I moved clinics I had to pay for my results from the clinic, however bourne hall (where I originally started, but moved due to jobs ) gave me them for free, contact a few clinics as many may have quite a short turn around as you have had loads of the tests and talks done so you may be surprised they could get you in quicker, or can you discuss your feelings with your current clinic and see if they can come up with a solution,
My current clinic was very reassuring she was like don't worry once you git 40 your fertility doesn't just take a major noes dive so small delays won't impact

@camelinastorm thats reassuring . The ticking clock really does just add to the pressure .I know with having pcos my egg quality isn't the best anyway, nevermind being advanced age on top of it

We have to attend on Thursday for his SA test so I'm going be asking someone there what's going on with these blood test results. Really unacceptable that nobody will tell me the results after a week. It just adds to an already stressful situation.

Hope everyone is ok after their egg collections?? X

Has anyone had beta at 11 days past transfer? I got mine today and it was 95 seems quite low, but I'm back in 48 hrs for a repeat and hopefully an increase

@camelinastorm ah congrats, I didn't realise your cycle was successful.
Regarding the beta hcg levels , the advice I was given was not to worry about the starting point , it's the doubling every 48 -72hrs that's important. Although , that wasn't even the case for me. I had mine tested at gp,then at epu and once more private and mine was always on the lower side and on ocassion mine wasn't doubling . I did my first at gp 2 weeks after transfer to confirm and it was just under the 200. Based on the 3 i had done , i calculated mine definitely wasn't doubling as it should and was slow rising. I convinced myself this can't be good and was going to end in another loss but that embryo is now a 1 year old so try not to worry too much about the hcg levels

@VioIetMoon aww wow that's great to hear, I can hopefully chill for a bit the googling is spiraling out of control now 🤣

@OliveTurtle I am apparently a massive baby because I've been feeling rubbish since mine on Friday. Scales show I've put on half a stone(!), constant dull ache in my lower abdomen, pain when I sit down and I'm so bloated l look like I've swallowed a small child.

But I went in for a scan today and his exact words were "wow your ovaries are actually even smaller than we'd expect at this stage" so my body is doing really well but my brain is not having it 😂

How are you? Do you have your day 5 update tomorrow too? Xx

@Bunnymum93 To be fair.. although I found the collection ok I was extremely bloated for the rest of that day and the day after. Only felt fully back to normal bloating wise yesterday really! Bless you, hope you’re looking after yourself?
Yes we are booked in for transfer at 11am tomorrow and they will tell us how embryos are looking at that appointment. What’s your day looking like?
then the tww….. 🤪

@camelinastorm oh definitely, google is the worst enemy sometimes

@OliveTurtle glad to hear you're back to normal! I feel a little better this evening so hoping that the psychological effect of being told things are fine will cure me of all ills 🤣
Wow that's insane that you find out when you get there, I had no idea! So so so hoping you get a great outcome tomorrow 🤞 tomorrow is our final update before they freeze anything so this is definitely the most nervous I've been xx

@camelinastorm I did not have my BHCG test until 13dp5dt so having it on day 11 does sound early, and @VioIetMoon is right it just needs to be going up.

@Bunnymum93 just because your ovaries are back to normal doesn’t mean the rest of you is after the digging round so defs don’t think you are being a baby!

@OliveTurtle good luck today!!

Best of luck to everyone else with stims, ECs and ETs. I have a pregnancy scan 10 June which seems ages away 😩.