July IVF/ICSI/FET

[DeeKel]

I didn’t see a thread for July IVF yet. I am due to start stims around 18Jul with estrogen priming starting the week before that. Collection will be the end of July all going well.
This will be my second IVF and I will be using ICSI. I will be 40 during treatment and 41 come collection. I have a child from my first IVF 3 years ago. Since then I had a chemical pregnancy Dec 2024 with my only other embryo from my 2022 cycle and a failed IUI in Feb this year.
I found the discussion board really helpful and supportive in my first IVF round as we all understand the crazy ups and downs of this rollercoaster. Wondering if there are any others with similar timing?

@Hopeful786 I find the injections really variable in terms of how much they hurt. The first cycle I had a couple that stung but most were fine. This cycle I've found they almost always hurt. I'm trying different areas of my tummy and this seems to improve things a bit.

@Miraclemuma03 The weight gain is crazy isn't it! I'm on day 9 of stims and I've gained 1.5kgs. I'm working from home for the rest of the week so that I can wear more comfortable clothes!

Just had the most stressful scan this morning. They were in a huge rush because one of the nurses had called in sick so they only had one ultrasound room instead of two.
The nurse who did the scan reported the same sizes as two days before, and 7 less follicles as well. I said that can't be right, there must have been some growth in that time.
Somewhat luckily, the assistant accidentally deleted the results so she had to scan again. She said she would be really quick and I said no, take your time, these cannot be correct numbers. I ended up getting quite upset about it.
So then she slowed down with the scan the second time, and the some of the follicles were bigger by about 2mm than 5 mins before, and she counted 6 additional follicles. I know that it's highly dependent on the angle of the ultrasound, but it really doesn't fill me with confidence!

@Pinguino24 what a horrible experience. That would have been so upsetting. Glad she scanned again and slowed down for a better look.

@Pinguino24 sorry that sounds terrible, well done for insisting though - it’s so easy to sit and accept these things sometimes. sounds positive that they’ve grown though!

Got a call this morning to say we have two embryos 🥹 I’m just so grateful to get to this stage. She seemed pretty confident of us reaching transfer stage, which I was surprised by as there are so few of them - is that something they can tell by day 1? X

Also @MotherOfShihTzus good luck with your transfer today xx

@Pinguino24 that sounds so stressful. I echo those saying well done for standing up for yourself, and making sure they got the right numbers.

@Bloop123 congratulations! They say 50% should make it to day 5 so that might be why they say you’ll get to transfer - but they might both be good ones if they’ve had a strong start 🤞i will keep everything crossed.

@Bloop123 @RainbowFluff Thanks! Yes I am over just keeping quiet if I have concerns these days. It's too important (and too expensive) to be stuck wondering if they've got it right or not.

@Bloop123 Congratulations on your two embryos! That's wonderful. In my first round they told me what they expected to get to day 5 based on the statistics for my age. From what I understand they cannot tell on day 1 from what the embryo looks like, but they can base it on the stats for your age. For me that was 35-40% (I'm 40), and we ended up with 40% at day 5, although there is always room for variations!

Thanks @RainbowFluff and @Pinguino24. I’m 32 so maybe that’s why they’re feeling more confident, although my low amh always makes me nervous!

when’s your next scan @Pinguino24?

Great news @Bloop123, looking forward to the update.

I have graduated to “week 2” now so I’m back at the clinic every day until egg collection, so fed up with loitering around. Hopefully won’t be too long away, I gave up alcohol since my first cycle over a year ago so I’m promising myself a glass of wine when cycle 5 is complete!

@RainbowFluff hang on in there, that will be the most well deserved glass of wine ever!

@Bloop123 Yes that will be it. At 32 you've got a very good proportion of genetically normal eggs!
The clinic just rang and have booked another scan for tomorrow. This is an extra scan compared to last cycle but the follicles are growing more slowly this time so I'm guessing they'll extend the stims by a day or two.

@Bloop123 i am same age and i had 90% of fertilised eggs make it to blast so fingers crossed for you!

So turns out I do get updates on Saturday so thats good. Now the wait begins. Egg collection is done and we are heading home to pick up kids and im settling in for the afternoon. I got 5 eggs collected. Pretty happy with that.

Oh well done @Miraclemuma03 - I had five too and was also happy with that - I was just really worried we wouldn’t get anything at all!

Found out ystdy we have one good blast that’s been successfully biopsied and frozen. So now just need to wait to see how it tests.

The other egg that fertilised made it to day 4 and then stalled. They’re giving it an extra day to see if it does anything but unlikely.

@Miraclemuma03 5 eggs is great well done - will you be doing a fresh transfer?
@FridayFinch congratulations on your blast! Sending lots of luck to your other one too 🤞

@FridayFinch@Miraclemuma03 Best of luck 🤞🏼♥️

Not great news for me in afraid. I had my day 7 scan. They still can’t see my left ovary as it is too high up but my right ovary had 6 follicles but 4 of them are less than 6mm and then the other 2 one is 10mm and the other is 12mm. So I’m realistically only dealing with 2 follicles and I think they will cancel. I’m not sure what to do next. I’ve paid for this cycle and all others privately so funds are getting tight. I wonder could I convert to IUI so as not to waste the two follicles but then I can’t see my left ovary so maybe it is too high risk for multiples if they can’t see what growing there. Feeling a little deflated

@FridayFinch thats good news for your one blast but im sorry you didnt have more. Thank you for your kind words. Il update tomorrow.

@Bloop123 if I get any embryos, then yes il have a fresh transfer on wednesday.

@GamerGirl09 thank you.

Hi , sorry can I ask a personal question. Those of you who had successful rounds, was your bmi under the 30?

@DeeKel sorry to hear that.
During my last cycle it was discovered my left ovary is also sitting very high and doesn't contain very many follicles compared to my right. They found it hard to see on the scan and it was extremely uncomfortable and they told me it's unlikely they would access this ovary. Upon retrieval they were able to access the left ovary and collect 2 eggs. I got 5 from my right.
I'm not expert but At day 7 , I surely its still quite early as alot can change scan to scan. Those follicles can grow fast. At my first scan I had two follicles ahead , already 12 13mm and rest were around the 6mm and by my second scan the rest had caught up.
I've always been aware of an issue with my left ovary as I get crippling ovulation pain and it always seems to be on my right. My ultrasounds before ivf have suggested I always ovulate from the same side too.
What have clinic advised ?
Have they advised you to continue with stims?

Thank you so much for your response @VioIetMoon. It’s all a bit disheartening. The clinic basically said it’s likely I’m dealing with 2 but they will rescan on Monday and see. They nurse did say if the other do grow they are unlikely to have a mature egg. She said if there are any follicles in the left then maybe they will help bring it down a little so they could see/access it. They told me to stay on the stims and cetrotide but if it stayed at 2 come Monday then they would likely recommend cancelling but ultimately it would be up to me. Fingers crossed for miracles but I am considering seeing if I could switch to IUI if things are the same come Monday.

@DeeKel So sorry to hear that! I've realised this cycle how variable the scans can be and how much can change over the space of a few days. Makes sense to mentally prepare for 2, but keep your fingers crossed that another couple jump up in the next few days!

A little update from me. Today's scan was much less chaotic and the technician was much more careful. The clinic called to tell me to do an extra dose of stims this afternoon and then trigger tonight. So planning for a Sunday morning egg collection. The best I can hope for is 7 eggs by the looks, which is one less than last time, but fingers crossed there are a couple of decent ones in there.

@DeeKel Sorry your cycle may be cancelled, that’s so disappointing. My left ovary hides behind my uterus and they always say they might not be able to access it but so far they’ve always managed. It moves into a better position as the follicles grow so maybe yours will move over the weekend? I’d probably risk IUI but our embryos tend not to make it to day 5 so multiples would be a miracle for me, if you think it’s likely I can understand your hesitation. Transfers are crazy expensive at my clinic so we’re looking at transferring 3 when the time comes.

@Miraclemuma03 congratulations on your egg collection, I hope you get some rest over the weekend.

@FridayFinch Still keeping everything crossed for your embryo.

@DeeKel sorry to hear you had a disheartening appt, keeping my fingers crossed for your follicles. My clinic said to me that there are sometimes follicles hiding which show themselves in later scans, so you never know

@Pinguino24 glad you had a more positive scan today! Good luck with your collection