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?

@StorkVisit I'll keep my fingers crossed.
It could still be early.
With my successful round I was a late positive. I tested around 7dp5dt and completely negative. I then tested on offical test day and had inconclusive results. Some would say negative and the boots early one was the only test that displayed a super faint line . It was so faint I questioned if I was imagining it or not. I think some womens hcg levels are alot lower and slower rising to begin with.
I really hope it changes for you.
Make some time for yourself today. The two week wait is the hardest part of the process in my opinion

Hi everyone, I have to catch up on all the posts but I hope everyone is doing well. My cycle was cancelled on 02/07 due to poor response, I had been on pergoveris and I had taken cetrotide on the 29/30/1st/2nd. Cycle was cancelled and was told to wait for a bleed and to stick with protected intercourse to avoid the risk of multiples. I had light brown spotting maybe a week after that but I didn’t count it as a period as it wasn’t red, wasn’t a flow and I would often get that spotting a week or so before my ‘real’ period. I waited for my ‘real’ period to show and I’m still waiting. Yesterday and today I felt cramps and I had ewcm, I did an ovulation test and it’s as positive as I’ve ever seen it. Would cetrotide have delayed the release of the egg(s) this long, or I wonder if it is a new cycle that I’ve had unbeknownst to myself? I feel like if it’s a new cycle I shouldn’t waste the opportunity to ttc, not that it’s ever worked before, but if it’s the 4 follicles they saw on the 2nd of July finally releasing I should stay protected.

@SummerSolstice25 im not able to answer your query but i will say i did IUI with 3 mature follicles and it failed. I remember my clinic left it up to me whether to go ahead or not as there was a risk for multiples.
The way my doctor put it was there is a busy road outside the clinic. If you were to run across that road with your eyes closed 20 times you likely wouldnt get hit as the cars would see you and stop. But he said if i did get hit once then it shouldn’t be a surprise as i was knowingly running with my eyes closed 😂
I was fretting about the multiple pregnancy risk but ultimately I went with it and nothing happened. I’m not saying to disregard your clinics advise but I think it’s probably low risk although it is there all the same.

@VioIetMoon thank you for that. It’s what I needed to hear. Just wish time would go faster.

@SummerSolstice25 sorry that your cycle was cancelled. Must be so frustrating.
I can’t really answer what I’d do but I don’t think I’d want waste time.

@DeeKel i have everything xd you can go ahead with a transfer.

@StorkVisit im sorry you also got a negative test. My clinic said there is a reason why they say not to test early and why their testing day is when it is because its not accurate until testing day or our clinic says its not accurate until beta. Im not testing anymore and just going to wait for beta, though I think I know my answer. Its really hard to continue with the meds though.

Hoping all our ladies in the TWW are doing ok ❤️ I’m sitting here anxiously counting down minutes and dreading to hear the phone ring as they said they would call me before 10am today if I don’t have a blastocyst to transfer (it’s 9:30am my time now) otherwise I’m in at 2pm 🤞🏻

Fingers crossed!!!! I have been a silent reader but you have been my cycle buddy the entire time from the dates of stims onwards. I am waiting for news too but I already know it will be frozen if there are any of freezable quality (fingers crossed) due to risk of OHSS!

Good luck @DeeKel , hoping they still haven’t called!

I just had my day 2 update, all 4 are growing well and have 4 or 5 cells. Now just need to decide whether to freeze these ones on day 3 as well or if I’m brave enough to let them go to day 5 this time.

@RainbowFluff no call so hoping that’s good news!
4/5 cells at day 2 is great! It’s a hard decision on what to do for day 3 or day 5. My clinic doesn’t give day 3 as an option or PGT-A testing so it’s day 5 and hold your breath!

@DeeKel my clinic are the same. They don’t do day 3 transfers. Only option is to freeze/ transfer on day 5.
can I ask why you might freeze on day 3? This is my first cycle and whilst I’m hoping this has worked, I’d like to understand options for the future.

@StorkVisit In two of our three previous cycles, our embryos all looked fine at day 3 but then none made it to day 5. We chose our current clinic partly because they offer day 3 freezing, some embryos that wouldn’t survive in the lab can survive better in the uterus. But it means you can’t have genetic testing and it’s a gamble where you may end up transferring a lot of unviable embryos.

@RainbowFluff thank you! Makes sense. Obviously hoping this just works. We didn’t do PGT testing this time. Only had one blast but do want to think about for the future.

@DeeKel best of luck.

Did anyone find much difference between first and second scan with regards to follicle numbers?
Did anyone actually experience an increase in numbers by the later scan?
I had my first scan today, im on day 5 of stims and I have quite a good number of follicles in the ovaries 10 + 10 but only 5 on the left and 1 follicle on the right are growing .
What's everyone's experience with this?
Has anyone had an increase in the number of follicles growing on their next scan? My follicles are already around 8-10mm .
They are keeping me on the same low dose 112 gonal f as nurse said its still early however on my previous ivf cycle, the number of follicles between my first and last scan had dramatically decreased.
How likely is it new follicles may start growing at this stage? I read they grow on average 1-2mm a day, wouldn't any new follicles be too immature ? as the others are 5 days ahead
They are still scanning me every other day because my amh is high and I'm feeling a bit exhausted already with the 2 hour trips at 5am . Do you think they are being over cautious or is there potential for more follicles to grow?

I responded on the other thread and Georgia mentioned me but I had 21 follicles on day 7 and none of them were big enough, the nurse said 'small but normal for this stage' (so of course I panicked and was annoyed they didn't up my dose). I don't know the exact sizes but some were quite small. On day 10 I had grown another 18 follicles and they were all bigger, they kept me on another two days of stims, same dose all along, and in the end they retrieved 30 mature eggs. So the new ones must have caught up quickly and the older ones stayed fairly steady as I was also worried about them getting too big. I understand the stress and I was so scared of early ovulation or over mature eggs and if it had been my decision I would have triggered earlier to save those that were ready at the expense of the smaller ones but I had to hold my nerve and it seemed to pay off at least initially (don't have the day 5 results yet). Maybe they won't up your dose to keep the bigger ones from maturing too much while more grow? Fingers crossed!!!!

@DeeKel I hope you had good news regarding your transfer today. It looks like we are probably unlucky this time. Our one embryo hasn't developed enough at day 5 today. The clinic said they will check again tomorrow for a day 6 blast but that's it's unlikely since there is still quite a lot of growth needed.

I hope everyone is doing well, I haven't read back through all the posts but wanted to send good wishes to everyone whatever stage your are at.

I have a day 5 3BA onboard! They said there are two others that are early blasts so they will give them to the morning to see if they can freeze. I guess the other 4 didn’t make it that far.

@Allnew2021 im sorry to hear you’ve disappointing news, keeping everything crossed for tomorrow for you. Hope you’re okay.

@DeeKel congratulations on your transfer! Thats a good grading too :)

Not looking great for me unfortunately, more bleeding and negative tests, but feeling better about it all today.

I’ve been spotting pretty much since 3dpt, with cramps, which often happens in my luteal phase. I tried to suggest that I might need increased progesterone supplements next time to my current clinic but they dismissed this. But I’m sure some women need more progesterone - anyone know if this is a thing? On previous tests I’ve had low levels at day 21, so I just think it may be another piece of the puzzle.

@Waitingforday6 I have only done two rounds of egg collections but in neither of my rounds were the first two scans a good predictor of how many mature eggs I ended up with.

In my first round I ended up with a lot more growth and more follicles in the second scan vs the first scan.

In the second round the scans generally gave me a lot of concern, and in the end I had fewer eggs collected than the first round but a much better fertilisation and overall result. I also learned that the scans are very subjective - some technicians just won't bother counting smaller follicles, others will come up with different sizes for a follicle even when measuring the same follicle twice in a row.

I know this doesn't provide much comfort but I'd encourage you to really try not to worry about the first couple of scans and to trust the clinic on the meds.

Im so sorry @Allnew2021. I will say that I had a morula on day 5 before and it developed to a day 6 blast so you never know. I will be holding out hope that you get some unexpectedly good news tomorrow.

@Bloop123 im so sorry to read your update. I think the least the clinic could have done was check your progesterone levels if you were having breakthrough bleeding. Would you consider going to another clinic if that’s an option?
@VioIetMoon i only had 2 measurable follicles on on my first scan and then loads popped up after another 3 days. I ended up with 11 eggs 7 of which were mature. I just think some people’s ovaries just take a little more time to respond.

Sorry to hear about your news @Bloop123 I how your are feeling OK.

How exciting @DeeKel I'll keep everything crossed that your little embryo hangs in there!

I'm doing ok, we are now away on our holiday this week so other than the phone call for another update tomorrow I'm trying to be present in the moment and enjoy the sunshine.

Hi @bloop- I’m so sorry to hear this. Try and take any learnings you can from this round, but let yourselves feel what you’re feeling. Been there so many times. Look after yourselves.

Needing more progesterone is def possible in some women; after 3 ivf early losses last year, I was on 2 x lubion injections and 3 x pessaries a day. I actually had sky high progesterone of 153 (tested through bloods) 1 day before transfer, so we reduced 1 injection. Tested bloods 5 days later again and progesterone had plummeted to only 30; we increased the injections again! It should be at least 30, so maybe speak to your consultant about testing 1 day before transfer and again 5 days later. Obviously I’ll never really know if this made a difference but I had I not retested and increased injections, it could have been a different story.

happy to hear of a fresh transfer for you @DeeKel! Stick, baby!

@Bloop123 My clinic do a progesterone blood test every other day after transfer to make sure levels are high enough. I haven’t had a transfer with them but for dual stim I was on 6 pessaries and 3 lubion injections a day to stop my period, which made me wonder as at my previous clinic I was only on 3 pessaries a day and they didn’t test progesterone levels. Anyway perhaps you aren’t out of the running yet!

@DeeKel wishing so much luck and baby dust for your embryo!

Looks like im out for sure. Had a cry to my husband and a friend this morning. Really hard to continue with my pessaries when I know its over. 8dp5dt today and a big white negative this morning.

Congrats @DeeKel for being pupo. I wish you all the better luck then what I have had

@Bloop123 im sorry for your negative also. Its so cruel sometimes to go through all that work on your body and nothing to show for it.