IVF / ICSI June 2025

[GLizzie88]

Hi All!

I might be early to it here, but thought I'd start a threat for anyone who knows they'll be going through it in June this year!

I'm based near Sheffield, and will be going through the treatment in sheffield. I'm 36, will turn 37 during the treatment. We've been through one failed round last August, so we've spent the time since getting further private checks done, and now we're ready for the next round. We came back as 'normal' on the nhs tests, but we found other things with these private tests! We've had all of our follow ups, catch up consultation appointments. Next appointment is our nurse appointment on the 5th May, then after that it's waiting for my next cycle to start at the very end of May / beginning of June.

From the further tests we've had done, I'm now on thyroid medication to bring my thyroid down to fertility recommended levels, my partner had DNA Frag & Oxidative Stress tests done and we've made improvements based on the results of these. I've also been having some acupuncture, which I've also feel has helped my sanity!

Please share your stories and hopefully we can all support each other during this. I'm much more nervous this time, even though I know we're better set up than we were last time.

A quick question someone might be able to help with...I'm emailed my clinic but haven't heard back yet. Feel a bit silly asking it ....

My dose of Overleap is 225IU. I've received packs of 300, 400 and 900IU. Does that mean you might only use part of the vial and you save what's left for the next dose? So you might need to inject twice to get the right dose?

Or am I completely confused ? 🤦‍♀️😂 there was so much information at the treatment planning appointment, it's difficult to remember.

@YellowTackcan definitely relate to feeling differently from my boyfriend at times. It would frustrate me when it felt like he had moved on from our miscarriage and I was still grieving. He also hasn't felt the frustration of not falling pregnant again anywhere near as deeply as I have either. It took me a long long time to accept that was OK. Hope you managed to enjoy your walking tour!

Just come out of my EC and we got 18 eggs so hopefully we get at least one good blastocyst from that!

how is everyone feeling today? Xx

@cakeislife1234 18 is great! Well done 👏

@cakeislife1234 congratulations! It only takes one!

@CloudyIvy55 yes I think that’s correct. I didn’t take Ovaleap, I took Gonal F but I was told to use to inject myself twice if needed for the correct dosage. I would suggest checking you have enough needles and whether the solution needs to be kept in the fridge or room temp once you start using it.

@cakeislife1234 Congratulations on your egg collection!! Hope you’ve got your feet up.

@YellowTack Sorry to hear it’s been such a tough day, hope you can take care of yourself tonight and have a medication free day to let yourself just be. ❤️

@CloudyIvy55 yes, you use one vial until it’s done and sometimes that means injecting twice for a dose, once it’s opened you can keep it in the fridge our out at room temp, but keep unopened ones in the fridge.

@Rayofsunshine22 i also finish my norethisterone on Sunday, and I can’t wait, I know it’s just to stop your period but my goodness the spots and itchiness have been ridiculous, I miss my regular period with no interruptions! How people can voluntarily take this to stop their periods coming is beyond me! What protocol are you on? We may have similar timings. I’m on a Flare protocol so the plan is to stop the pills on Sunday, then take Prostap on Friday and start stims next Sunday, that’s if my period comes between Sunday and Friday 🤞🏻🤞🏻

@KayEmmSquared what is norethistherone used for? I haven’t spoken with my clinic about what a withdrawal bleed/first period/frozen transfer looks like and I’m wondering what to expect.

Also, has anyone done PGT-A testing and what are your thoughts? Our clinic recommends it but it’s a lot of money, £500 per embryo!

@Limmers14 we are planning on PGTA -A testing as I’ve had multiple miscarriages so it was recommended to us to rule out any genetic factors with an embryo we implant. Ours cost about £1700 plus an additional charge for each embryo cell sample taken

We have just had a call from the clinic and out of 18 eggs collected yesterday 13 were mature and 11 have fertilised. And there’s a 12th that still has a question mark above it so they’re going to give it a little more time x

@cakeislife1234 amazing that 11 have fertilised! Hopefully you will have a lot of embryos to send for PGT!

I am back from egg collection, they managed to collect the 3 follicles, good news they were all mature. We will know more on Monday on how many have fertilised.
I apparently needed one suture after the retrieval, this has never happened to me before and is stressing me out a little.

@YellowTack that is fantastic news that all 3 were mature, I’ve got all my fingers crossed for good results on Monday for you.

try not worry about the suture, they were probably just being over cautious so you didn’t get too much bleeding xxx

@YellowTack congratulations on your collection. Hope you can rest all weekend!

@cakeislife1234 cool, thank you. I’m sorry to hear about your miscarriages. It makes sense to do the genetic testing. Our doctor said it can increase the chance of a pregnancy to 70%!

I also had a call from our clinic this morning and we’ve agreed to test 5 and then they will update us tomorrow on how many are being frozen. We had 16 in total at Day 5 and they expect some of the remaining 11 to continue developing so we’ll get a final update tomorrow.

Congratulations @YellowTack, I am so pleased to hear that all three were mature!

Yes we did pgta
Partly due to my age
And partly due to miscarriage history

Cost us a basic fee of 1385 gbp

Plus just under 400 per embryo

Basically 3.5k

Saved us more miscarriage s

@Hopeandfaith1990 sorry been so busy at work didn’t get a chance to post! I am so so pleased yours went well yay! Did you hear whether you will have EC on Monday? If so we are same days again. So glad all looking well very exciting! We are almost there. Love the horse race analogy! Makes total sense.

It went well - she found more follicles so we are at 31 but because about 10 of them are small and not likely to grow large enough she said I am quite high risk for OHSS (finally got answers on this). We are supposed to transfer (hopefully) an embryo on Friday next week following EC on Monday but she warned me it is quite likely because of the OHSS we could have to do an all freeze and wait a month or so. I’m not sure how I feel because in my mind I’m so ready to get going but also know that actually it wouldn’t be so bad to have a break and let my body get back to normal and back to exercise because I am really bloated! Xx

That is fantastic news well done you rockstar!!! Just seen that 13 are mature and 11 fertilised too how amazing. How are you feeling now? Xx

Love to see this amazing news! Any updates today? 🤞💕

@Limmers14 norethisterone is a period delay drug, basically they use it to better time your ivf cycle to their diary. I agree with the process but I am not a fan of the drug now that I’m taking it! If this is as bad as it get but then I’ll be happy! 1 more day of this pill to go 😁

YAY!! All three collected is fantastic news. All that travelling has been worth it! Xx

Omg the satisfaction of this! Last jabs today - have my trigger tonight and I am actually going to miss ticking them off and noting the timings for no reason but my own satisfaction 😆

Only one more day to go and you will be on your way ☺️☺️☺️ the things we do hey! Hope you are feeling ok x

Just did my first injection! I must’ve read the instructions at least ten times for each step. I barely felt the needle, but actually pushing down the end of the pen to deliver the medicine was difficult, so my husband had to help me with that bit 😅. I think I’ll try to use my thumb next time (I used my pointer finger).

@KittyIIV good luck for the trigger!

@FluentTealGuide great job on your first injection! It will only get easier from now on! I also use my thumb to push otherwise I feel like I need more fingers 😁

@cakeislife1234 and @YellowTack congratulations on completing your egg collection! I hope you get some good embryos.

I was planning on PGTA with my most recent two cycles but we ended up without any embryos so assuming there aren’t many I don’t think I’ll do it now. Worth it if you have lots of embryos although I read an article recently about it being unreliable, I can’t remember where I saw it.