February IVF

Polythene Pam

How was everyone's weekend?? I started injections last night and did fine (certainly didn't love it but was fine). We realized my husband cannot help, he was a wrek and made me more nervous but I was better on my own anyway  

any side effects for you guys? I barely slept last night, I know my doc said insomnia can happen, I might've just been worked up. 

rayoflight80

My side effects have been gas, tiredness and wanting to cry while watching TV (though it's only day 2 of meds)  

artemis618

@PolythenePam Glad to hear your first night of shots went well.  My DH just pops his head in from time to time to see how it's going.  I really hate needles and he was a paramedic in a past life, but realistically there's not a ton he can do for me.

I've just been super sleepy but it was hard to tell if it was med-related as I often get sleepy in the afternoons at work!  But yesterday I took a four hour nap and still managed to sleep through the night (with the help of melatonin, I admit)!

Tonight was night 8 for me and I *just* realized they only ordered 9 doses of Gonal-F for me and my calendar has up to 11 total.  I realized this when I pulled tonight's dose from the fridge and realized that I only have one left.  The IVF nurse said something about her being able to get excess out of the rediject pens, but I don't think it's enough for two 300iu doses.  Guess I'll just bring all my used ones in with me tomorrow and hope that I'm not scrambling to find another dose or two in the next couple of days!

Also disappointed that I have some Omnitrope left, which means I'll have three days of four shots instead of the two I expected.  Granted, it's the one that doesn't hurt at all, just not what I was expecting so I whine

laurad75

@Mando15 I hear you loud and clear on the sweets and Girl Scout cookies are my cryptonite!  H and I did a Whole30 diet this month so I haven't had sugar in almost a month and its been really hard.  Our 30 days is up on Tuesday but I am going to try really hard to keep my sugar intake as low as possible until at least ER.  Then I am going to eat some cookies but try to have more self-control than in the past.  

I have only had 3 nights of stims so far but I feel okay.  I was tired last night but it was Sunday and we had been busy all day and then I got a little short with H but I'm not sure if that was because I was feeling moody or because he was legit irritating me.  Tomorrow morning I'll go in for monitoring and hope we are off to a good start. 

JuliaGoolia719

@PolythenePam the only major side effect for me has been exhaustion. I've been in bed by 9pm and slept all night long since about day 2.  Also, (sorry TMI) constipation, which isn't unusual for me per say, but I hear it gets worse after ER so I'm not looking forward to that....
I'm super emotional normally, like the cry at commercials person, so I've noticed a slight increase with that...but not too bad. 

We get to trigger tonight! The only thing that was weird was my right ovary has apparently shifted...so we couldn't quite get to all the follies to measure. She said this might make it more difficult to get to all the follicles during ER. So FX that shifts back where it's more accessible. 

artemis618

@JuliaGoolia719  I'm right behind you scheduled to trigger tomorrow (--> Thursday ER).  They actually pulled enough residual medicine out of three Gonal-F pens for tonight's last dose (and I have residual from five leftover for next round) so I won't even have to open that last one I have left.  I was seriously losing sleep over that last night though.  Hope that right ovary cooperates!

Filled some prescriptions for pain relief, something to prevent hyperstimulation (even with my only 10 follies - they said it's more about estrogen but I'm happy to take it just in case), and bc for the next cycle...

A little bummed my Day 3 reporting will be delayed since no one will be there Sunday, but I suppose my knowing or not won't change anything.

@laurad75 How did you like whole 30?  I actually knew very little about it, but tried a whole 30-friendly crock pot carnitas recipe (to eat with romaine leaves ) we liked well.

ETA:  I have two doses of Ovidrel but my Dr. only wants me to take one. I wonder if this is enough but I guess I have to trust her...

laurad75

@JuliaGoolia719  @artemis618 Very exciting that you are almost done with stims!  

I'm really glad we did Whole30. I needed to dramatically cut my sugar intake and we both had to learn to cook without so much dairy and carbs.  I am very excited to bring cheese back into my life and the occasional sweet treat.  

caseyw8784

Hi everyone! I hope everyone had a great weekend! DH and I just got home from a quick weekend trip to Florida (...luckily it was pretty chilly and rainy the whole time so we mostly hung out at my parents house, and drove to restaurants to eat and wore pants and long sleeves, so if there were any rogue mosquitoes around, I still wore bug spray. Even though Florida said that there is no active zika at the moment... ::shrugs::) 

Tomorrow I have my sono HSG and then we just have to get the approval renewal from insurance and I can start my stims! I'm thinking (if all goes to plan) that I'll get to stop BCPs around Valentine's Day and will start the stims the following weekend.

Catching up on all these posts is giving me lots of good advice about how to do the shots, but also making me nervous - I hate needles!

JuliaGoolia719

@laurad75  I keep telling myself I need to do a W30, my friends who have done it say it was so helpful as a reset and to reconfigure how they cook and grocery shop! Maybe I'll get on the ball between now and FET...
@caseyw8784  what part of FL? We are heading to Destin area in March for a vacay with my best friends from HS and their SO's/families. --very excited that it will fall just before we start prep for our FET so I can relax and have a glass of wine with my friends before we start the PIO shots etc. 
@artemis618  so exciting!! My nurse said today that they won't call us w a day 3 report, just the initial fertilization info and then our day 5. I was not super amused, but she said they've found it keeps you less stressed about it somehow...so whatever. 

So we got the call on how much/which drugs to trigger with, I'm doing a lupron/hcg combo. DH is not amused that one of these has to be intra muscular....which means he has to do it. He's been very happy up to this point to pop his head into the kitchen during my evening shots and say "everything ok?" and then pop back out lol. I'm not amused that we aren't supposed to trigger until 11:15....I've been in bed asleep by 9 for the last 5 nights!
They're also having me start cabergoline which is supposed to help w OHSS, (yay), but also makes constipation worse (not yay). But I'll take no OHSS however I can get it, I'm ready for ER and my ovaries are done with this I think. 

caseyw8784

@JuliaGoolia719 - we were in Delray Beach...about an hour north of Miami. I've been to Destin...in college we used to drive to the Pensacola/Destin area for long weekends...it was so much fun!

artemis618

@JuliaGoolia719  Thanks for the heads up on the cabergoline side effect!  I really don't think I'm at risk but again happy to take it if it'll prevent anything like OHSS).  Yikes, you're brave with the intramuscular shot!  I'm really contemplating suppositories even though they're 3x/day or something like that because I'm so scared of PIO shots - but I'm a long way off.  An 11pm shot time is annoying - mine's at 8 tomorrow night but I still set a calendar reminder for myself because of how much the IVF nurse emphasized its importance.  Just a single 250iu dose of Ovidrel for me - I really hope it's enough (nurse confirmed with the Dr. that it would be - I weigh more than I look like I do!).  We should plan lots of fun things to distract us over the weekend!

JuliaGoolia719

@artemis618 I'm halfway using this trigger shot to see how I think I can handle future PIO shots for our FET lol

artemis618

@JuliaGoolia719 Good luck!  Hope it goes/went well

AFM, 30 shots down, one to go...

hibiscus118

@JuliaGoolia719 hope all went well with trigger!  That is a tough time.  We had to do ours at midnight.. the night before Thanksgiving no less.  I was a mess with nerves and to make sure we were doing it right, my husband was annoyed with me because "I was freaking out," and my mom (who lives with us) was the voice of reason haha.   But then it ended up being no big deal.  I think we were just tired from staying up so late as I was terrified to nap and sleep through it.  Hope yours was a little smoother than mine  

Polythene Pam

@artemis618 we're doing the gel you insert once a day for pregesterone.. when we realized the shots would all be on my husband (who is clearly freaking the F out over shots we opted for that. More expensive but at this point we wanted him to not get sick nightly with nerves. He is freaking out already knowing that he may be up for the trigger, we have a good friend who is a doctor, my husband is thinking of paying him in booze if this friend will come over for the shot

hope the trigger shots went/go well for those at that point!! 

Gatorgirl2009

So today was my 5th day on Lupron and I have had no trouble with it other than a little red rash around the sight for about 30 minutes after. But today my husband got to watch for the first time and he like flipped out so I started laughing while I had it stuck in my stomach and now it is about two hours later and it still hurts!! I am wondering if maybe because I laughed my stomach muscles tensed up and maybe I hit muscle? Anybody ever have something like this??

laurad75

@Gatorgirl2009 I'm not on lupron but I have done 4 nights of stims and I'm finding that its a little more uncomfortable every night.  I think the injection areas are starting to get a little tired of the pricking.  

@artemis618 You're almost there.  Very excited for you.

AFM - I just had my first monitoring and there was nothing measurable.  I know its early but I was disappointed.  The u/s tech was weird about it, she said 'its not unheard of this early.  it's not like I've never seen it before'.  I wish she just kept her mouth shut and I'll talk to my nurse this afternoon.  

JuliaGoolia719

@artemis618 good luck tonight!! You got this
@hibiscus118  wow that sounds way more stressful! DH stepped up and did a great job w it, I literally didn't feel anything, and when he was done double checked the syringe to make sure he actually stuck me lol. We were both in bed asleep 10 min after the shot, he had to be up at 430am to get to work today. 
@Gatorgirl2009 you also might have changed the angle the needle went in at if you were laughing or your muscles were tensed? I noticed on my L side the shots hurt worse/bled a little and my nurse said it might be from a slight change in angle since I was doing them w my R hand. I also noticed the last few nights it was harder and harder to find a spot I hadn't already poked!
@PolythenePam  I think the trigger shot made me falsely optimistic about doing PIO shots, we may do the gel though since DH works random hours and may not be home in the mornings to give me shots....and I might end up in a hotel for work, which literally just occurred to me as I was typing this!
@laurad75  there have been lots of reports where people didn't see anything at first and then all of a sudden their next appt there are lots that got with the program, hopefully they can adjust your meds and you'll be good to go! 

AFM: triggered last night, went back today for another blood draw to make sure I don't have to do it again tonight (WHAT?! I was like ummmm I thought this was a one shot deal...) and we go in Wed at 845 to see how many eggs the follicles are handing out this round!

artemis618

@PolythenePam  Good to know there's a once a day option.  I'm so far out from needing it, but I'll definitely keep it in mind.

@laurad75 I'm sorry you're disappointed, but yes, it is early.  My first u/s (no blood draw) was after 3 nights of stims and I think mostly she was just looking to see that there was no lead follicle or anything else she didn't like (and to check in).  We have to put a lot of trust into the doctor and all we can really do is what we're told (after raising any questions).

@JuliaGoolia719 My shot tonight is just Ovidrel so I don't need to worry about the intramuscular thing just yet.  I'm glad to hear yours went smoothly.  I feel like my left side is more sore than my right and it's totally plausible it's a hand angle thing.  I would actually feel so much better if they brought me back in for b/w tomorrow morning because I'm still a little paranoid about the single Ovidrel dose being enough.  But I asked and she said it would be...just gotta trust the professional.

Do you feel significantly more bloated after trigger?  You're almost there!

JuliaGoolia719

@artemis618 I have noticed today I'm feeling super bloated. Then bonus for me got the call that my levels today looks "fine" but borderline, so they wanted me to do another HCG shot just to be on the safe side. She said I should do it "soon" which would have been fine except I wasn't sure I could do the booty shot on my own...and DH is at work...and my parents are at Table Rock lake...
so I got to head back to the office so the nurse could give me the shot. 
Dont get me wrong, the shot didn't hurt and I'd much rather error on the side of caution and (hopefully) not repeat this process again, but man I was just about to lay down for a nap when she called lol!

caseyw8784

@JuliaGoolia719 - that sounds like something i would do if DH is at work when I'd need to do shots! (DH works 28 hour shifts, so he'll be bound to miss a few of them...eek!) Glad that it wasn't a disaster though. When is the ER?

AFM - I had the sono HSG today. It was only 5 minutes, and wasn't that bad at all...looking it up online and hearing about all the horror stories did nothing to squish my anxiety about it being painful! The only hiccup was at the beginning, when they first used a speculum that was too big... The saline and ultrasound part was like a vacation compared to that...!

Now, we just wait for insurance to tell my RE what will be covered, and as soon as they do, I can stop the BCPs and get this show on the road!

Hope everyone had a good Tuesday!

artemis618

@JuliaGoolia719  Sorry you had to get another shot, but isn't it good that they checked so you could do something about it?  I just have to hope my one Ovidrel is enough...

The bloat's just for a bit longer - you're so close!  Thinking good thoughts for you tomorrow morning

rayoflight80

Eek, all this talk of shots is making me nervous! I've been doing gonal and menopur every night (i'm on day 4 of stims) and after today's US they decided they want me to start doing orgalutran (ganirelix) tonight. I'm supposed to do in 30 minutes and trying not to freak out about because I stupidly googled it and apparently the needle is hard to inject.

Other than that, today we ordered our backup donor sperm (in case my husband's doesn't work), which was a huge step for is. It's been weighing on me for a long time so it was a big thing to get done. 

My ER looks like it's going to happen Feb 6/7... which I'm thankful for because by this time next week it'll be over (phew). 

brela11

I'm joining this party ladies seeing January ivf turned into February! I'm right with you @artemis618 triggered with two ovidrels tonight. ER is Thursday at 9am 

will be thinking of you tomorrow @JuliaGoolia719

caseyw8784

@brela11 - congrats on triggering and i'll keep my fingers crossed for you for thursday!

@JuliaGoolia719 - good luck tomorrow! can't wait to hear how it goes!

artemis618

@brela11 YAY for being done with shots!  They ordered me two doses of Ovidrel but told me to only take one.  I'm *really* hoping it's enough (as they say it is - if you can't tell, I'm a little paranoid).

@rayoflight80 Hang in there - the shots will be over before you know it!

natalie4oscar

hi all, I thought I would join this board as I'm completing my third IVF round and day 2 into stimming.

I'm so glad to hear that many of you have been doing Whole 30, Ive been doing Whole Life Challenge, which is very similar as I thought cutting out sugar and other processed foods could help with keeping those little follicles/eggs growing strong.

Yesterday I felt like Shamu stuffed into a Barbie dress, I was so uncomfortable all day long and couldn't wait to come home and get in some less-restricting clothes, today is much better.. perhaps because I'm still in yoga pants

laurad75

I'm so excited for all of you that are about to go in for ER.  I can't wait to hear some good news.

The nurse finally called yesterday afternoon with my first monitoring results and she said that everything looked just fine.  I am continuing with just the gonal-f and menopur another few nights and then going in for another bw/ us on Friday morning.  I'm a little confused because all my paperwork had me starting the centrotide last night but the nurse I spoke to said just the gonal-f and menopur.  I have a history of Oing early so I'm calling back today to confirm.  

Polythene Pam

We started centrotide last night, I'm hoping tomorrow they have a better feel for when ER will be. I went in yesterday and my doc called my eggs "Easter eggs," he has a strange sense of humor I actually feel fine other than not wanting to get out of bed in the morning and officially switching to leggings as pants... but otherwise good. How's everyone else feeling?

artemis618

@PolythenePam  Okay the "Easter eggs" thing is weird.  Glad you're feeling well.  

I realized last night that I'm a good ten lbs over my usual weight and my heaviest ever . Before all this I'd basically been the same size for the last two decades (like when I get lazy for Halloween costumes I wear my cheer uniform from my senior year in high school).  I do remember getting huge AFTER ER when I froze eggs 4.5 years ago, but not so much before - it was a while ago.  But thankfully it's warmed up again and I've been wearing dresses the past few days so I don't have to deal with waistbands at all.

JuliaGoolia719

Just got back from the hospital. The Dr couldn't get to my right ovary *at all* (it shifted up and there were some arteries in the way of accessing) so we could only get from the left. We got 10 mature eggs, which the embryologist said look like they're good quality. I can't help but be disappointed, I know 10 is a great #, but if we could have gotten anything from the right I think I'd feel less like I failed. --I'm being dramatic and I know this is not in any way a failed cycle, still on all the pain meds, I anticipate feeling less melancholy later today I hope. It's just such a low # compared to what they were expecting to get, and now I just keep thinking what if none make it to day 5....

artemis618

@JuliaGoolia719 I'm sorry to hear that and understand that you're disappointed (expectations are a bitch) - but 10 mature is a really great number (I'm only working with 10 follies myself), and what they say about quality over quantity is true.

Please don't feel like you failed - you didn't do anything wrong!  Thinking positive thoughts for your 10

laurad75

@PolythenePam 'Easter Eggs'?  No joking about my uterus, okay doctor. 

@JuliaGoolia719 That's frustrating BUT 10 is a great number.  Focus on what is happening now not what might happen.  This is good news.  

AFM: I am adding centrotide on tomorrow night and going in for my next monitor on Friday.  I'm hoping for more activity and good news then.  I saw my acupuncturist this afternoon (hello mid-day nap) and she wants to see me over the weekend right after an ultrasound assuming I have one.  I feel like I am forming a pit-crew to make sure all that can be done to make this successful gets done.  

rayoflight80

@JuliaGoolia719 I think 10 is a pretty good number You only need one to attach! 

Polythene Pam

@JuliaGoolia719 I'm so sorry that happened! That's a great number though, keep us posted as you get updates! Rest up, you deserve it

@laurad75 I'm seeing my acupuncturist tomorrow. I'm totally looking forward to the nap haha. She's like my extra cheerleader (started seeing her when we started clomid in spring)

artemis618

Yay for acupuncture!  I have an appointment after work tonight before tomorrow morning's ER.  I don't know if anything can calm me down at this point though

brela11

@artemis618 thinking of you tomorrow! We got this girl!! 

@JuliaGoolia719 I already replied in Jan but I want you to hold onto that hope. I'm working with 5 right now... 10 seems amazing to me. All about perspective. It's crazy how things can change so fast with this process! Hugs girl! 

artemis618

@brela11 Fingers crossed for an eggcellent morning tomorrow.  Here's hoping for quality!

Mando15

@JuliaGoolia719 sorry you're feeling down but 10 mature is great. I totally understand feeling disappointed though after everything you've been through to get to this point. FX these 10 have a great next 5 days!

There is so much exciting stuff going on right now. Stims starting, ERs, pretty soon we'll be talking transfers! 

AFM.. I got all of my meds today and will get to start stims Friday night! My RE has me starting with 225 Follistim and 20 mini hcg. I am so excited to finally get the show on the road! I feel like I've been waiting for this day forever! FX that February is good to all of us! 

lizycs

@JuliaGoolia719 I think 10 is still a great number. Just remember, in the end, you only need 1. Stay positive! Personally, it helps me to think of the worst case scenario and then realize in my mind that even if that becomes a reality, the world won't end. In your case, the worst case is you try again. There are many who do not even have that option, so there is still plenty of hope. We are all together in this journey, and at this point, we are pretty experienced with the ups and downs. We've made it this far, another hurdle is nothing! Keep hope for your amazing 10!