IVF Update- Day 8 of stims and ?s

babydreams13

This is my first IVF so bear with me.  

So tonight will be day 8 of stimming. I am on 150 of Menopur and 300 of Gonal F. I started out with 150 of Gonal F, then to 225, and then to 300. I went in on Thursday and I had two measurable follicles on each side measuring 10. Today is day 8 of stimming and two days of being on the higher dose of 300 and only 3 measurable follicles. I'm adding in Garnilex now also. I'm going back on Tuesday so I'm hoping the 3 more nights of stimming helps. Usually for IUIs on Gonal F I have way more action by now. Retrieval is tentatively scheduled for Friday. Lining is 7. something. 

Anyone been in the position of not having a lot of follicles at this point and then more turning up? What do you think? Should I not expect a lot of follicles at this point? Seems like I will be stimming for up to 12 days....does that seem long?  Tell it to me straight should I be worried?  

RE seemed pretty surprised that I only had 3 and said something about, well its quality over quantity. Also he mentioned something about for my age he thought there would be more. UHHH

So basically now I'm freaking out. Lots of tears on the way home. 

Ohhh and the fun part was going to a baby shower today about an hour after I left the appointment....right. 

Thanks for listening.

Twinkie0612

No experience, but did he note any smaller follicles that weren't measurable? I would think that it's possible to have some smaller follicles catch up.

It really is quality over quantity, since the point if IVF is to produce one healthy baby.  My RE reminded me of the quality over quantity philosophy when I got upset after our ER that we only got 6 eggs.  Unfortunately our quality sucked as well since we ended up with only 3 very poor quality embryos.

Hopefully you'll end up with some rockstar embryos and prove that it is quality over quantity!

babydreams13

Twinkie0612 Thank for the info.  He did say some smaller on the right and left.  Hopefully they can catch up. Starting out with a small number of follies scares me bc then we don't have much to work with.  I know they don't all fertilize.  

Sorry about your first IVF.  Hopefully your RE has a good plan for IVF 2 and you get your BFP.

This whole process is so stressful.  

poohniki

I'm so sorry this is stressful. It seems a little unusual for you to have more follicles for an IUI than an IVF. Are you using the same RE that you used for the IUI? I know usually about half of the eggs retrieved are mature and fertilize. Typically the RE doesn't measure them until they are 10, so maybe you have a lot under 10 that should grow. 12 days of stims seems about normal. It seems like with Ganirelix it takes a little bit longer than with a lupron protocol (from my experience). Keep track of your estrogen levels, that also gives some clues as to how many follicles you have and how mature they are. 

I would have an honest talk with your RE and see if it is better to try another month if you only have those 2. But if you have 5 or 6 under 10, then it may be a lot of worry over nothing. 

At least you have a great lining. Good luck!

babydreams13

poohniki said:

I'm so sorry this is stressful. It seems a little unusual for you to have more follicles for an IUI than an IVF. Are you using the same RE that you used for the IUI? I know usually about half of the eggs retrieved are mature and fertilize. Typically the RE doesn't measure them until they are 10, so maybe you have a lot under 10 that should grow. 12 days of stims seems about normal. It seems like with Ganirelix it takes a little bit longer than with a lupron protocol (from my experience). Keep track of your estrogen levels, that also gives some clues as to how many follicles you have and how mature they are. 

I would have an honest talk with your RE and see if it is better to try another month if you only have those 2. But if you have 5 or 6 under 10, then it may be a lot of worry over nothing. 

At least you have a great lining. Good luck!

Thanks.  I have 3 measurable follicles- I think they were 15, 12, and 12.  He said there were some smaller ones on each side. This is the same RE.  I thought it was weird too that for IUI with only Gonal F I had 4-5 follicles and with Menopur and a higher dose of Gonal F I have less....well so far anyways.  

I had a talk with him today and I said this doesn't seem so great.  He said well its quality over quantity. He also said bc of my age and bc I'm petite ( not anymore due to weight gain with all this stress and meds for the last 8 months) he thought I would have responded better.  I asked if we should see more going on when I go in on Tuesday and he said Yes.  I'm just worried all this effort for nothing.  You are right if there are only these 3 I'll talk to the RE about if we should proceed or not.  I was hoping to be able to have some frosties.  

Just a hormonal breakdown type of day.  Also it didn't help that another of my REs patients who is on the same day of me had 8 measurable follicles today and I had 3.  UHHHH.

Thanks for listening.  Good luck with your FET.

poohniki

((hugs)) As much as it is supportive to talk to others, it's so stressful to compare cycles with other people. There will always be people with more follicles, 14 frosties after 1 IVF and then some like me- 1 blast after 5 IVFs. There is hardly any rhyme or reason to any of this, and I think I've learned trying to make sense of all this chaos is what makes you crazy. If those are your best follicles (which my RE says are usually the big ones) having 3 is a really good sign and maybe the others will be ok and catch up soon. Don't beat yourself up over breakdowns, they help you make sure you're not holding everything in. Hopefully Tuesday will be a better day. 

babydreams13

poohniki Thank you! You have been through so much and seem like a positive person. I'm trying to be optimistic but its hard.  GL to you as well.  

50feet

I had 11 follies, but only 5 eggs. So I wouldn't stress too much over the number of follies... They can all be full! Good Luck!

babydreams13

50feet said:

I had 11 follies, but only 5 eggs. So I wouldn't stress too much over the number of follies... They can all be full! Good Luck!

Thanks for the info.  I go back tomorrow and hoping some more follicles have shown up.