IVF / ICSI AUGUST 2025

[VioIetMoon]

I thought I would create an August support thread for anyone that may need it ❤

@Waitingforday6 yes it’s quite a difficult one, I was happy to tell people everything until it start getting closer to the important dates and I just didn’t want that pressure of messages etc on top of everything we were having to do! You’ll know what’s right for you when it comes around to it! Ooooo exciting, keeping my fingers crossed for you🤞🏼

@Waitingforday6 yes it’s quite a difficult one, I was happy to tell people everything until it start getting closer to the important dates and I just didn’t want that pressure of messages etc on top of everything we were having to do! You’ll know what’s right for you when it comes around to it! Ooooo exciting, keeping my fingers crossed for you🤞🏼

Thank you @Chlo1995! I had my EC in early August and had to do a freeze all and then decided to wait until November to attempt a transfer due to some work and holiday stuff but now it feels like such a long wait! Part of me thinks 'I could be doing a transfer right now' but equally I think it'll do me good to have a bit of downtime in between. Was yours fresh or frozen?

@Waitingforday6 ours was fresh, there was some confusion around whether I would do fresh or frozen as the fertility clinic had said I was overstimulating but going for egg collection they didn’t know any of this and actually said they don’t think I am overstimulating, so I had to have a review and blood tests the Friday before transfer to see if I’d be okay having it the following Monday! It was an absolute nightmare!😂 but we ended up being able to do fresh as it turns out is was only on the verge of overstimulating🙃😂

Hi ladies, I hope everyone is well
I'll get catching up on your messages this week. I've been feeling a bit run down this week and I've needed to take a break from everything.
I've decided to give myself a few months and hopefully we will continue around November or possibly January with either another retrieval or transfer. I dont think well jump in straight away with my next cycle. I do think my body could be doing with some more recovery time.
We went from a year of doing medicated cycles, straight into ivf and then a very complicated pregnancy, birth and recovery. It took me a good 8 or 9 months to feel ok physically after the birth of my son. I'd basically just got over it a month or two when we initiated another round of ivf. I think my body is feeling a bit haywire with all the hormones. I'm usually a great sleeper but I've barely slept for nights and when I do sleep I continue to wake up and struggle to fall asleep again. I think I probably need a few months for my hormones to settle down again. I'll probably feel better once I get a bleed.
I stopped the progesterone almost a week ago and I'm still waiting for a bleed.
My clinic didn't advise how long it could take so I don't know what is a normal range

@VioIetMoon hope you’re feeling okay! Definitely give yourself a break, it sounds like it’s very much needed, please look after yourself x

Hope everyone here is doing ok.

What sort of symptoms did people get from the injections? I'm on day 6 of Gonal-F and day 4 of Ganirelix. First few days I felt nothing at all but I've started getting some mild cramping and feeling like my stomach is a bit tight. Obviously will talk to my clinic if I get concerned about anything, just wondering what other people experienced?

Hey @BellaTink647 hope you’re getting on ok. I was on gonal f and ganirelix also (but added the latter in on day 9 as my follicles weren’t quite at the right size yet). Same as you I felt nothing for the first few days but did experience bloating from around day 5 onwards, and twinges on my ovaries (I usually feel this around ovulation/pre-period anyway). I would say it is normal but definitely mention it to your clinic if you’re at all concerned! The tracking scans should pick up anything unusual regardless but doesn’t sound unusual to me 😊

In terms of other symptoms, I had a couple of headaches and my boobs were sooooo sore towards EC day and a few days after. My skin was also quite greasy lol (a glamorous look haha)

@BellaTink647 hey! I didn’t use Gonal-F I used Meriofert but I did use Ganirelix, both together actually made me quite poorly, I was struggling to actually eat anything because the nausea was something else😂 I was also very bloated/swollen.

Safe to say I struggled quite a lot and would more than likely really like to not have to do any of it again😬

@Georgiaivf and @Chlo1995 thanks so much for your responses. It's reassuring to know others experienced similar, even if not overly pleasant for us all! I am due in for my first scan on Wednesday so hopefully that will provide some re-assurance everything is as it should be!

@BellaTink647 I was on Gonal F but added in Cetrotide on day 6. I had one random day of extreme top of shoulder pain on day 4 but I ran it by the clinic and they said it shouldn't be related (although people online mentioned similar). I only had slight on and off cramping and maybe the occasional headache for the first week and the nurse said the side effects tend to kick in after about a week (at my first scan I was worried nothing had happened because I didn't really have side effects but that wasn't the case thankfully and the side effects did start eventually and by the time EC rolled around I was waddling 😆) Good luck!!

@waitingforday6 yes I feel torn between wanting some symptoms so I feel like something is happening, but then worrying what I'm experiencing isn't normal or right!

Ladies, did any of you do the hcg trigger?
If so, do you know how long it can stay in your system?
I know a few of you did alternative triggers due to freeze all

@VioIetMoon I had heard HCG could stay up to 14 days after trigger!

@YellowTack I'm now 21 days past trigger and I'm producing very obvious positives on tests. Clearblue is saying 2-3 . I'm absolutely baffled whats going on considering we didn't do a transfer and we've been having unprotected sex for 20 years together with our only child being ivf.
I spoke to the dr today and I have to wait 2 weeks for bloods.
Im completely confused and I should never have allowed google to diagnose me 😆 i keep coming up with all sorts of reasons that can produce hcg in the body

Oh my God @VioIetMoon!!!!! Keeping my fingers so so crossed!!!!!! I have never heard of hcg being in the body for that long or they wouldn't be able to do the pregnancy test following transfer. I have heard of people testing out the trigger around 10 days. You can purchase a couple of private hcg blood tests and do them at home (fingerprick) two days apart to see what's going on? They aren't that expensive (in the context of IVF). How exciting!!!! Maybe there was a follicle left that they didn't get and it hung around for a little bit and did the trick? So no withdrawal bleed yet?

Just remembered you can send gifs 😂

@Waitingforday6 Unless it was hidden? As the dr said they retrieved all 8 follicles. The rest were all around 4mm, they didn't grow at all. I'm still in disbelief that we could possible be pregnant. I'd given up all hope of it happening naturally years ago.
Ahh I know all about those home tests. I definitely won't attempt it myself. Last time I couldn't get the blood out , I spent an hour and I ended up hacking my finger with a knife trying to draw enough blood for the vial 😆
Hope your having a stress free week

It must have been a hidden follicle! Maybe you ended up with an unintended ovulation induction cycle free on top of IVF. 😆 It must feel completely surreal!
Oh no that happened to me once as well with the home tests with one of the million fertility tests I have done over the years. I kept frantically pricking more fingers and a big dollop missed the vial and I cried 🤣 I'm ok thanks waiting for my first real period after the withdrawal bleed. No idea when it might show up I am usually super regular but it felt like I ovulated quite late after the withdrawal bleed. Once that's here I can hopefully see roughly when the October/November transfer will fall.

@VioIetMoon OMG, this is sooooo exciting!! I have everything crossed for you, I would definitely test in a couple of days, see if the lines are getting darker?

So I had the buserelin trigger which I know isn’t hcg because they thought I’d overstimulated but after egg collection I was then given Zivafert trigger which does have hcg😂 I did a pregnancy test 10 days after collection so 5 days after transfer and had a positive (very faint but it was there) I had my blood test to confirm 10 days after transfer and turns out I was actually pregnant, so I wonder if it depends on the dosage you have? I imagine if you have a smaller dosage it would would be out of your system sooner than a higher dosage would x

Hope everyone is doing ok.

@VioIetMoon I imagine you are feeling quite unsettled but keeping fingers crossed for you!!

I'm going in for Egg Collection tomorrow. Will be sedated. First time so any top tips?!

Hi @BellaTink647 how are you feeling so close to egg collection? I was waddling 😂 I was most nervous about egg collection and sedation when we first decided to do IVF (swiftly replaced by being terrified of a cancelled cycle once we actually got going 😅) but once I was in there and the nurse was looking after me I was a lot more relaxed. They will keep you comfortable but do tell them if you need more painkillers (unless it's deep sedation in which case you should be fine on the pain front anyway). It was fine for me and all passed in a bit of a blur and the relief afterwards was huge. I immediately wanted to go for brunch but was walking very slowly and gingerly for a couple of hours so take it easy. I then decided to lie down for an hour or two and after that the pain was pretty much gone. Stay hydrated and take it easy and ask the nurse when you are allowed more painkillers as they will probably dose you up before you leave the theatre so you don't want to overdo it. Good luck!!!

@BellaTink647 not a top tip as such but I was surprised when they asked me to put a pessary up my bum! Other than that I found the whole thing to be alright!

@waitingforday6 thanks for this! They haven't mentioned 'deep sedation' so I guess it's just regular. Physically I'm feeling fine! Not in any discomfort...maybe my eggs aren't too big 😆
Really looking forward to collection just being over and done with, and hopefully some good results. I'm always hungry in the morning and generally a thristy person so not looking forward to not being able to eat after dinner tonight or drink much in the morning! But will have some nice snacks lined up for afterwards.

@yourtipsydog that made me laugh 😆 Glad I can be prepared for this request!

What time is your egg collection? Mine was 8am and I was very happy it meant limited fasting because I love my food in the morning too 😆 I was worried I'd forget and reach for some water without thinking but in reality I was awake from about 2am waiting for it to be time to go. Some nice snacks after are definitely needed and they should give you some biscuits or something but bring your own just in case. Apparently the first thing I said post EC was 'oooh CHOCOLATE' when the nurse brought in biscuits 🤣🤣🤣
I am sure your eggs are perfectly sized 😆 I am glad you aren't uncomfortable! Hope it all goes well keep us posted 🤞