IVF / ICSI AUGUST 2025

[VioIetMoon]

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

@zirafica In my experience, I've been on alot of medications that induce bleeds and your next natural period is usually within the month or however long your cycles are. So even tho this is a 'fake period' count as if it's a real period. I've read tho that its not unusual after all the ivf hormones, it can sometimes take a few months for your hormones to settle and cycles to regulate so if your period doesn't occur as usual you might be best to speak to your clinic on how to proceed . I have heard of women starting their FET without having had a natural period .

@VioIetMoon @waitingforday6 Thank you, that is helpful and makes sense. Hoping my cycle gets back to normal relatively quickly!

Will hear tomorrow how many blasts we have to freeze.

Hoping for lots of lovely blasts for you @BellaTink647!

@VioIetMoon fingers crossed for your miracle!

@zirafica @BellaTink647 I have heard that the period after the withdrawal bleed can sometimes take longer to come.

Morning ladies - hope your cycles are going well

We had to cancel before egg collection as I didn't respond to the stimulation injections are expected :( I had 39 follicles but only 2 were big enough, with the rest under 9mm after 12 days of stims. We're going to try again next cycle with a different medication regime. Has anyone else had this?

We still had to take the trigger shot so decided to try the old fashioned way as my lining was thing and after all, there were 2 good eggs in there so keeping positive that maybe this was all we needed to finally get pregnant. We were advised to DTD and use the progesterone pessaries also. A bit of TMI here, but when putting a new pessary in this morning, I noticed a TON of creamy white discharge which I haven't had since using them. Is that just from the pessaries? I only ovulated on Sunday but I'm just not sure what to expect from the pessaries.

As you can probably tell my mind is in a million places at once!

@souiii Sorry to hear this. I can only imagine it must be devastating to have the cycle cancelled and the thought process of having to start all over again.
I can relate to the not responding to the stims . I had over 30 follicles and we only got 3 eggs at retrieval. They couldn't explain it other than "they just didn't want to respond" 3 follicles were 16mm 22mm and 23mm on trigger day while the rest were under 8mm , many still around the 4mm.
Definitely stay positive.
We didn't have a transfer but I've now had positive pregnancy tests despite so many years of being unsuccessful.
As for the progesterone, yes an increase in discharge is natural and nothing to worry about

@souiii I'm so sorry to hear that it must be devastating! I really really hope you will follow in the footsteps of @VioIetMoon and have a little miracle from your supercharged two eggs!! ❤️

@souiii sorry to hear this. I can only imagine how disappointing that feels. Try and take the positives in that they now have more information to work from for the next cycle, so can tailor your plan accordingly. Sending lot of positive vibes. Be kind to yourself.

Thanks ladies - I cried my eyes out in the car park outside the clinic but trying to be positive and remain hopeful for the future

@VioIetMoon Amazing news! Congratulations! What a rollercoaster you've been on. Wishing you a happy and healthy pregnancy!

The plan is they are going to give me a high dose to begin with and then drop it down later - give those eggs a kick up the bum!

Hey @VioIetMoon omg it’s incredible about the positive test. Gentle congrats my love and fingers crossed.

sorry to hear that @souiii - I can’t imagine getting through all the stims to have that information. Good luck on getting those two eggies fertilised.

how is it going @BellaTink647 have you got news on your embryos?

@Waitingforday6 i hope you cycle returns soon. I know exactly what you mean about not peeing on sticks.

I am still waiting on the PGTA results from our 12 embryos. EC was three weeks ago - hoping we get something next week.

@jecca88 we got 2 embryos of good quality so they have been frozen :) couldn't help be slightly disappointed with the number after we had 9 fertilised but of course we knew there would be a drop and now I'm just super grateful we have a couple!

Wow you have 12 embryos! Have you been updated on the tests yet?

@Jecca88 wishing you the best of luck!

@BellaTink647 all you need is one good one, keeping everything crossed for you

I'm going out of my mind, I ovulated on Sunday morning after we cancelled our egg collection, and did it the old fashioned way and I have been super nauseous last night and today, gagging or being ravenous and my boobs are super heavy and sore.
I keep telling myself it is the pessaries but my brain isn't very kind to me 😂 please someone tell me I'm being ridiculous and it's too early to be pregnant and mistaking side effects of progesterone with pregnancy symptoms!

Morning ladies, hope everyone is well

This TWW is breaking me - I wish I could fast forward to Sunday so I can take a test to see if we've finally been able to get pregnant.

Boobs are still sore, had some period like cramps last night and woke up urging and now I keep crying. Definitely just want to hibernate for a week

Oh @souiii I'm keeping my fingers so so crossed for you! The TWW is horrible even without everything else we have to go through. I know the feeling to just want to hibernate. Hang in there!! Work is always a good distraction for me I struggle with weekends more. And nothing wrong with going to bed as early as possible to make the days go quicker 😁

Had a call from the clinic today

Going to be going in with 150iu of Meriofert twice a day for 3 days, and then back to once a day, in the evenings to hopefully give my eggs a head start.

Depending of course if we've been able to get pregnant this month. Going to be testing on Saturday if I can hold out that long!

Hey @BellaTink647 i know what you mean about the drop off, but two is still good and yes it only takes one. Whats your plan with a FET?

We got an update on our tested embryos. So we paid to test 10 and 4 have come back as Euploid (which is good) and 1 Mosiac, the other 5 are abnormal and we have another two untested. So 6 potential for transfer, of which 4 i think are good and have better success.

@souiii the pessaries are horrible, i actually put them up the bum lols, way less messy. They also make you feel bloated and with all the meds your on i am not surprised you feel horrible. Fingers crossed for Saturday.

Hi Jecca88, congrats on your 4 euploids! That is a very good number! I am in a similar boat, tested 7 and waiting for results (tomorrow is 2 weeks, trying to hold myself back from calling the clinic and just casually asking if they might've gotten them already). Hoping for 2-3, but like you we've got more on ice to test if needed (6 ones!). Seeing the drop off that happens with PGT-A I honestly couldn't recommend it more to people, I feel like a lot of the non-sticking is happening due to the DNA not being ok and people not being aware. It can save so much heartache in the long run... Not that a euploid is a guarantee by any means!
What's the next step now that you've gotten the results back? Wait for your next period and then start some more meds to prep for transfer? I haven't spoken to anyone about what's coming up so am very curious!

@souiii You never know . The tww is so hard but in all honestly, nowhere near as hard as the pregnancy. Everyday feels like an eternity waiting for that first scan to know everything is ok and then everyday after that until your baby safely arrives.. and when they do arrive your anxiety is just heightened even more fussing over them every moment checking they are ok.

I'm feeling a bit in limbo at the moment but I fear it's not going to be a good outcome for me. I've had really awful stomach pains for days and my hcg levels are low, they are much lower than what they should be for this stage. I have to do repeat bloods now and wait for the results to check if my hcg is doubling. I'm trying to just get on with things the best I can but I do feel a bit down. I can't understand why the universe would give me this miracle just to cruelly take it away .I'm trying to cling on to a tiny bit of hope until I'm told my levels are going down or i start bleeding but comparing it with my successful pregnancy, I've definitely felt the past week that something just isn't right and I do worry the really low levels have now confirmed that . Ive spent hours scouring the internet and im yet to come across a positive outcome. I'm not sure a scan would achieve anything as your hcg levels have to be above 1000 to see a heartbeat which mine aren't close yet and it I don't think it would make a difference even if they could see anything as if my levels aren't rising adequately it won't support the embryo development anyway . I'm hoping we get some clarity towards the end of the week . Id rather if something has gone wrong that I'd just bleed and get it over and done with so i can move on as opposed to just feeling stuck and still testing positive and just waiting for my body to react

@zirafica ahhh you got great numbers to work with. I totally agree with you - I just can’t believe that or my 5 abnormal - of which some are graded 5AA just would not have resulted in a live birth. It so much heartbreak. It has taken me nearly 5 years of losses to get to this point. Basically I have an immune issue and need to have loads of meds to suppress it before a frozen transfer. I have a catch up consultation next week where we will look at next steps. Hoping for a transfer next month. It took me 3.5 weeks for PGTa results. Long wait. Are you hoping to test the other 6? I know there is a risk of losing them from defrosting and freezing again.

I'm sorry @VioIetMoon! It really is so cruel! I am hoping and hoping that there will be a good outcome for you! ❤️

@BellaTink647 the drop off is terrible isn't it? But congratulations on your ice babies!!
@zirafica and @Jecca88 fingers crossed for as many euploids as possible! We have a similar number of blasts on ice. We haven't done PGTA testing and it wasn't recommended for our particular circumstances, I know some clinics feel more strongly about this than others. If we have multiple failed transfers we might send a few off to test but it does play on my mind of course whether we will be transferring some that are doomed from the start. I did hear the other day that 20% of those that come back abnormal might actually be normal so a false result so that's something to bear in mind for those on the fence or with a small number of embryos (but please everyone look this stat up yourself). The ones that come back as normal I think they said are around 95% correct so that's definitely a relief. And particularly with as many blasts as the three of us are lucky enough to have it does mean you know which ones to transfer first as it's not really feasible to transfer every single blast. Fingers super duper crossed for everyone!! It's all so difficult and we might well end up testing some as well down the line.

Hiya! The risk of thawing and refreezing is not that high (it's actually so low the clinic doesn't even mention it) plus if the embryo can't make that, it probably wouldn't have survived the pregnancy so it's not something we're too concerned about. You need resilient embryos whichever way you look at it!
I'm sorry to hear what a long road it's been but 4 euploids is honestly so so so good, that's 4 really good chances! When you look at the accumulated odds for 4 tries you're almost certain to have 1 work!
God 3.5 weeks is LONG, I think my clinic is expecting it sooner as they have my check up call next Friday (which actually would be exactly 3.5 weeks after they were sent off so joke's on me!). We'll see. I'm genuinely not that bothered about the wait, it's nice downtime without any meds, but I'd also REALLY LIKE TO KNOW at this point. I've seen girls here write they tested 8 and got no euploids, so I'm just ready for any outcome. I know a couple of people have mentioned they feel like they're keeping their life on hold "just in case" and that's how I feel in this limbo now - just in case there's a transfer in Oct, I am not yet booking holidays, and just in case there's a transfer in Oct, I am not drinking, etc - it's ok but I'd just like to know what we're doing at this point.
I know what you mean about the highly graded embryos! But I've spoken in depth to the genealogist and the embryologist and they both said the same things - the 5AA gradings are basically a beauty contest, telling you if they're developing correctly. But there's no rule whatsoever that an embryo developing correctly is genetically ok - no rule a 5AA would be genetically sound, (or that a 3BC might not be!) so the best thing you can do is test.
I also have a friend who had 3 euploids and two of them have failed to implant (although the first round she was part of a clinical trial for some new meds so she suspects she might've been given the placebo, and the second round her lining was not thick enough but she still went through with it). So many things that can go wrong...

Would you mind sharing the research that shows this 20% of aneuploids being ok as I can’t find it anywhere? Unless you mean mosaic embryos, in which case that’s fine - clinics do flag these can still be feasible as they tend to autocorrect themselves once implanted.

@zirafica it was on a podcast, IVF Real Talk Episode 10, they were interviewing a doctor and he mentioned it but yes please do double-check what exactly he said in case I misinterpreted it. He basically finished off saying he doesn't recommend it for most people but I still think with the number of blasts you have it's a very helpful tool. Although any false results are obviously terrible it happens in all areas of medicine doesn't it?

yes but 20% is quite high so I’d expect it to be flagged. I assume he was talking about mosaics, cause that would make more sense. Thanks!