IVF / ICSI AUGUST 2025

[VioIetMoon]

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

Thank you @VioIetMoon I am ok still in limbo waiting for transfer. I hope this has unlocked something in terms of natural pregnancy but I agree it's so cruel for it to happen and then end like this. And I understand the fear of it happening again with a transfer. We have never had a loss and I am scared to take this next step with transfers because it opens up a potential whole new world of pain that is on another level to the already soul destroying negative tests/periods each month.
@souiii keeping my fingers super duper crossed! Don't worry about a reduction in symptoms your body can easily play tricks on you if you are worried about a lack of symptoms that's what will happen, like when you are worried you have a bug and your stomach starts hurting (says the one with zero knowledge on the topic 😂) ❤️

hi @Jecca88 how did your call with the consultant go yesterday? Did they give you an outline of next steps?

I hope everyone is getting on ok, I have been reading everybody’s updates but not been in the headspace or wanting to immerse myself back into IVF yet (until today when my period came unexpectedly, idk why but I thought it wouldn’t be for another 2 weeks yet even though I’m CD 28). The clinic said this timeline is normal though even though my normal cycle is usually quite a bit longer. Got a nurses call next week to discuss transfer timelines and medication. Anyone know if I can use tampons this cycle? I’m on holiday (on UK still) but would be better if I can use tampons instead of pads tbh.

I’m so sorry @VioIetMoon that you’ve been dealt this card. I’ve been thinking of you over the last few days and just wanted to pass on my well wishes. Take it easy on yourself.

I attended epu today ( was there for 8 hours) they suspected etopic. Unfortunately they couldn't visualise my ovaries or fallopian tubes at all to rule that out . The doctor said its not possible to release more than one egg, even with ivf stimulation ?
My levels have now started to decline and sadly there was no heartbeat. I knew in that moment when I heard the sound of pure stillness that it confirmed everything to me. They want me to come back in a week for another scan. I think the failing levels and lack of heart activity is enough. I don't know if there's much point going back just to put myself through that again.
I think I'll take a few weeks to process everything and then decide how I should proceed .
I don't understand how having a baby and keeping a baby comes so hard for some of us yet so easy for others

So sorry @VioIetMoon do they want you to go back to try and rule out an ectopic? Take some time to look after yourself

It was our test day today and it was a BFN. I started crying before the result, for some reason I was really nervous for this one. We're lined up ready to go for our next cycle to try and actually get to egg collection, just need to wait for AF now

@VioIetMoon so sorry to hear that. It’s so cruel to have this little miracle taken away, and such a rollercoaster of emotions.

I really hope you can take time for yourself to process all of this.

They probably want you back to confirm if it’s an ectopic or not as it might not go away on its own if it is the case.

Hey everyone

Hope all is well. We've got our baseline scan tomorrow. Fingers crossed for a better outcome this cycle 🤞

Best of luck @souiii x

Good luck @souiii! Thinking of you @VioIetMoon. I also think they probably want to rule out ectopic. Has your pain improved? Wishing you all the best ❤️ there is no rhyme or reason to why it's easy for some and not others and it's so so so unfair!!!

Bad news, apparently my follicles just don't want to behave whatsoever and my ovaries are still full of them!!

When will our luck turn around 🙃

@souiii what does this mean with regards to your cycle? Are you able to continue or will they make you wait another cycle

@VioIetMoon either wait another cycle or take 7 days worth of provera. I went with the provera. I will have another bleed and then go back again for the baseline scan. Fingers crossed it does the job. We're funding it ourselves and if this egg collection doesn't go well, we are out of doing anymore IVF without getting loans or joining the NHS wait list.

How are you doing? Has your cramping eased?

Hey @zirafica - my appointment was actually today not last thursday. I have had a week long break in Italy which was divine. The follow up today was pretty pointless - i need to have a nurse consultation before we proceed and the earliest appointment is 28th october - i guess we won't be proceeding with a FET next month. I did decide to go for a moderate medicated cycle, basically progesterone from Ovulation trigger as I have so many other drugs i am taking with my other immune private clinic. How have you got on? have your results come through yet?

Sorry to hear this @souiii - so frustrating. So you still have lots of follicles and they need to shrink and reduce before stims?

@VioIetMoon how are you holding up my love? what a horrible ordeal you have had to go through. Have you got answers yet?

How are you doing in Limbo @Waitingforday6 ?

My stomach pain has greatly improved. I'm not feeling any pain anymore . Im wondering if maybe my ovary pain was just my ovaries still recovering from the ivf or just hormones but the cruelest part is I've started developing some pregnancy symptoms such as sore boobs, which I never have / food cravings and ocassional nausea .I can only assume this means my hcg isn't dropping as it should. I've been testing every 48hs, . If my hcg was dropping at the appropriate rate 50% every 48hrs on average , I should be negative in a week or so as my levels weren't that high but they are still really strong lines I was hoping it would pass naturally. I'm supposed to attend epu tomorrow to have bloods and discuss options but I think I'm going to reschedule for next week just so I have have some more time to decide how I want to proceed but if things haven't moved along by next weekend I think I'll opt for a d&c

That is mad you're now having the pregnancy symptoms. How far along would you be? Have they identified a sac in the uterus or is it still speculated ectopic?
I have had three D&Cs and 1 MVA (Basically an awake D&C) and a Hysterocopy. The D and C was actually fine - bit scary with the GA - and also you could ask for the hospital to test the pregnancy tissue for genetic issues. I would really push for this.

@VioIetMoon good to hear you are not in pain anymore.

Sorry to hear about your situation and difficult choices to make. I have been there before due to missed miscarriages and there is no easy solution. I have had both a D&C and an MVA.
The D&C was my first time under general anesthesia which was a bit stressful but ended up being fine. What nobody told me before the D&C is that they don’t like to do D&Cs for fertility patients as there is a small risk of adhesions with the procedure which can impact fertility. I might be worth asking your EPU about that.

@Jecca88 I would have been 8 weeks yesterday based on lmp.
The nurse said my hcg could peak before dropping , perhaps it did and thats why I've started getting symptoms as for a few days tests were getting darker too but today then finally seem a little lighter so I'm assuming it's starting to drop now. I was supposed to have my bloods redrawn today but woke up really poorly so I'm waiting for them to reschedule next week.
They didn't give me measurements when baby stopped growing but I'm assuming since they want me back for another scan it's under 7mm as I've read that's hospital protocol to perform a second ultrasound a week apart unless above that range.
They did see sac and fetal pole in womb. As I was having alot of pain , combined with the very low , plateueing hcg I think that's why they suspected etopic but they couldn't visualise my tubes at all, nor could she even see my ovaries oddly. Dr seems to think tho it's unlikely an extra embryo would have implanted elsewhere due to them seeing one in uterus. She actually said its impossible to release more than one egg , even with fertility medications ? The pain has subsided so I'm not that concerned anymore but I definitely was for a while considering I had quite a few empty follicles retrieved and 3 were over the ideal size range, im assuming it's one of those that got released. I think cetrotide just doesn't work for me. On my first cycle I was convinced I ovulated too as I had ovulation pain and my 2 lead follicles disappeared on the scan before trigger day. We didn't have sex that cycle tho. We played by the rules 😆

@YellowTack ah really, I'm glad you mentioned that as I had been considering a d&c if things don't pass soon. It makes sense , I'm sure with any procedure there's a risk of scarring that could impact implantation but I'd like to hope the risk is low. I still want to pass the tissue naturally but I'm not feeling any cramping or anything that's suggesting my body is going to bleed any time soon and I've heard some women can go on for many weeks before the body recognises the embryo has stopped developing. I've had one loss a few years ago but it happened quickly. No intervention needed. I literally started bleeding hours after I tested postive. If I hadn't trusted my gut that something was nt right with this pregnancy, I'd still be here thinking I'm pregnant. Missed MCs feel especially cruel.
I'm sad its happened , and I feel stressed that's it's now delayed us moving forward as I really wanted another collection done before Christmas before I hit 40 in December which is now looking unlikely. Im wondering if maybe my body is just too old for this now. I'm also happy that we did achieve a natural pregnancy ( even if it didn't take 20 years ) as I thought it was physically impossible .
Im guessing its a numbers game. As opposed to just one egg a month , the ivf stimulation recruit more so technically there's more opportunity. More eggs = more likely likely one will achieve a pregnancy I guess.

@VioIetMoon it was the same for me, 2 weeks after I learnt that there was no heartbeat nothing had started and I still had pregnancy symptoms which is why I decided to go through D&C the first time and the MVA the second time. It’s just hard enough to go through a miscarriage, but having to wait for it to happen was the worst part for me.

I would advise you to take some time for yourself to process this both physically and mentally. I jumped into another IVF cycle as soon as I could both times because it helped me to keep going and focus on hope, but I think I wasn’t really recovered mentally. It does take some time anyways to get your period back, for me it took 40+days. It’s a really difficult time but I promise you will feel better in the future.

I also wonder if the crazy hormonal changes my body has been through in a short amount of time had a negative impact on my fertility as I had much better results with IVF before my MMCs.

Well I finally started bleeding last night.
I feel extremely sad but glad that it's started on its own. The bleeding is quite heavy but I already feel relief in terms of the heaviness and tenderness in my stomach. Hopefully now I can start the healing process.

@YellowTack I think when we jump back in is something we need to carefully think about isn't it. It's one thing feeling mentally ready but how do we tell when our reproductive organs are ready when we can't talk to them. I think for the next month anyway I'm just going to focus on recovering from the mc and trying to get myself as healthy as possible. Great , back to taking a million supplements a day again. I'll probably book some accupunture and reflexology to help balance my hormones as much as possible . I have pcos so I really have no idea when my next period will return after this

@VioIetMoon im sorry the bleeding has started. It’s so unfair. Is there some small relief that you won’t need to go through a D&C? Hope you’re being kind to yourself xx

@zirafica hope you’re well. How are you getting on?

Sending lots of strength @VioIetMoon sorry you are going through this.

Thinking of you @VioIetMoon! I am also so over the endless supplements but I think it's a good idea to focus on recovering physically, mentally, hormonally and using all those tools to do that. I spent an hour researching the best lactobacillus for embryo transfer (not 100% sure and in no way medically trained or I'd elaborate 😁)
@Jecca88 thank you for checking, I am ok but had a bit of a wobble a week or so ago. Nobody that knows is putting any pressure on me whatsoever, especially not my husband, but I still felt like from here on out it's all on me. Not the first time I wished humans were seahorses and could share the load a bit more 😂 I know embryo quality, genetics, placenta etc is down to both me and my husband but I guess I just have zero faith in my ability to be pregnant. I have never been pregnant and we are unexplained so a part of me thinks 'what if we made a day 5 embryo every single month we've been trying and the issue is with implantation?' Sorry to be so negative 😫❤️
How are you doing?

Thanks for thinking of me girls. It means alot.
Mentally, I'm doing alot better than I expected. I had a few very low days but I'm at the point of thinking now that were no worse off really, other than the unfortunate delay which I would have liked to have avoided with my age but we'd still be in the same position even if we hadn't of got pregnant as we would still be sitting here with our two frozen embryos contemplating a transfer or fresh round again as a natural pregnancy wasnt something we expected at all during that round . Even tho this resulted in a miscarriage, im trying to think of it as a positive thing as opposed to a negative.

It's the physical aspect that's draining 😭
I'm feeling rather exhausted and I've had headaches most days .
The bleeding and pain was quite bad all week , i havent left the house and last night the bleeding really amped up for a few hours . I was just saturating pads and i passed a few clots ( sorry if thats tmi) but i think that has cleared things out as the bleeding has finally settled down and is now quite light. I'm hoping that's a good sign that nothing is retained. I'm now almost testing negative

@VioIetMoon glad everything has progressed and it seems the worst is over. The physical side is such a drain and the mental toll. I am glad you can look at that you have your other FET in the future. I’m sorry it’s been such a rough ride for you.

@Waitingforday6 i totally get what you mean about all the doubts and why would it work this time. Also yesss if only men could take the physical burden. It is draining.

Hello ladies it has been a little while

We started our 2nd cycle of Meriofert with 2 doses of 150 iu for the first 3 days, and now I'm on day 9, but we've made it to egg collection this time and going in tomorrow!

Lots of big juicy follicles reporting for duty