April IVF

Momifbysea

@brooklyngirl18 thank you and hopefully I just need an extra day to catch up with these follicles. Sounds like your stims are going well. We are going to be pros at this!

artemis618

@Momifbysea Just want to second what @KLake42 said about the estrogen - last cycle the day before trigger my estrogen was only 1593 and this time (the day before trigger) it was 3220 - I changed protocols from antagonist to luteal lupron, but so far at least, this one's going better for me. Although now it makes me wonder about the quality of the frozen eggs I have (also an antagonist cycle with lower estrogen of maybe ~2500 at trigger) - but I guess I can't do anything about that now.

Momifbysea

I'm staying at same dose til appointment Friday morning. Bloodwork showed estrogen level rising and it was at 117 (no idea if that's good or not on day 3 of stims?) so they're hoping to see some follicle growth by Friday.

brooklyngirl18

@momifbysea i think that's really good! My estrogen on 3 days of stims was 76 and today, 5 days of stims it's 231. 

The dr confirmed I will stay on the same dosage, we'll see what happens Friday!

Momifbysea

Hooray @brooklyngirl18 for staying on same dose, sounds like it's working!

Dragonfly6191

@momifby and @klake42 - Can one of you tell me more about the icing with menopur? Is that before, or after the injection? I just did my first shot last night and boy did it burn and hurt afterwards. I thought I read somewhere about either using ice or heat, but I can't remember how what I read and if it was even for Menopur!

i-wanna-b-the-girl-w-most-cake

@brooklyngirl18 - I received the same expected ER date! Tuesday or Wednesday next week. Also my dosages didn't change either. We are ivf twins

I've learned a lot about estrogen levels when catching up on everyone's posts; very informative! thank you

Concerning my u/s & b/w this morning, my RE doesn't really give me a # when she does the ultrasounds, looks like she is just measuring the follicles. Here is what's in my online file from today....

13.8, 11.8, 11.5, 10.2, 10.0, 9.6, 8.6 (left)

12.0, 10.6, 9.9, 9.9, 9.9, 9.2, 8.8, 8.7, 7.9 (right)

So 7 and 9 I guess?

ESTRADIOL

1084.0 pg/mL

She kept me on same dose of gonal and menopur but had me add a shot of cetrotide every morning til i go back on Fri.

i-wanna-b-the-girl-w-most-cake

Momifbysea my estrogen level on day 4 of stims was around 300 i believe. so it seems to rise very quickly. nothing to worry about i'm sure!

Momifbysea

@Dragonfly6191 my SIL is a nurse practitioner and she advised holding an ice cube to it for 3-5 minutes prior to your alcohol wipe. I hold ice cube directly to my skin with wash cloth to hold other side by and catch drips. Dry the area after icing then do your wipe and let alcohol dry so that doesn't burn. First night of Menopur was hellish burning like awful! Next night with ice was much better! Also, after mixing your powders with your saline let it sit for a few minutes before injecting while you do your icing as this also reduces burn, per my clinic nurse and SIL's advice. Finally, play around with where you have more or less nerve endings. For me, under belly button burns much more than straight out to the side of my belly button. Hope this helps!

Momifbysea

@i-wanna-b-the-girl-w-most-cake okay good to hear, I won't freak out too much. I had no clue what that number meant so it's helpful to see what others are getting. Also, that's an amazing number of follicles, great news! ER will be here before you know it!

kiwisun4385

Wow, so many of you ladies stimming!  So excited for you!  Hope you are all feeling well.. 

i-wanna-b-the-girl-w-most-cake

@mjpbarretto - i hear ya sister. these side effects are no joke. i'm emotional, hungry, tired and scatterbrained. I broke down when discussing a pre-natal vitamin with my pharmacist last night. it was embarrassing.

mandasd

@fivetimesnoluck my clinic doesn't work with My Egg Bank but works with DEB. My coordinator says she hasn't had any military couples working with frozen eggs but sees why I'm leaning towards it because the fresh donor agency is having a hard time matching me. She said they are fine with me using frozen eggs but her one concern is that if I have any embryos left to freeze, they may not make the thaw later on if we need them since they were previous frozen eggs. I have to research that! 

cashewchicken

@brooklyngirl18- 35 follicles around 10mm each and estrogen level of 230 is great!  I have ~20 follicles, ~10 mm each and my estrogen level is already 1000  My RE thinks the estrogen level is just fine, but I get the impression that he doesn't seem too concerned about OHSS which concerns me greatly.  He did lower the dose now to 200 IU/day so maybe the estrogen level won't be rising as fast... I'm not doing a fresh transfer so I don't have to worry about pregnancy aggravating OHSS, but still.  I'm scared.

@KLake42- Congrats on getting 10 eggs!  Now's the exciting part... just sit back and wait!  

Oh I remembered your tip and I tried to take a picture of the u/s screen after the scan but the nurse had logged off.  Bah.  I may have to ask the clinic for the scan results as we get closer to the trigger day.

@Momifbysea- I'm sorry about your grandmother.  Re: follicles, my follicle count has always grown as I continued my stim injections.

cashewchicken

@mjpbarretto- I said that I haven't experienced any side effects but I take it back.  Now I do.  Not sure if it's psychosomatic or not but after seeing the u/s, I swear I feel more bloating.  Bloating is hard to tell sometimes for me, because I love eating foods that cause bloating even though I shouldn't (like dairy... I'm lactose intolerant.  Sigh).  Driving back home from work, I feel my belly pressing up against the seat belt and was a bit uncomfortable.

@i-wanna-b-the-girl-w-most-cake- we have very similar follicle sizes and numbers!  I was told that my ER is next week but I have no idea yet when that will be.

Hopeful_mom

cashewchicken I hope you're really excited about your US - especially for your age...thats a perfect US!  I say the age thing as that what my dr is always saying to me, my clinic would be thrilled with those numbers! Go follies keep up the good work

Momifbysea sorry about grandma and the tough time that bring you and your family, that must be very hard!  You know every cycle your body responds differently...i know it sux but its true.  One cycle my right ovary did all the work, following cycle would be the left.  I would talk to my ovaries to get it together and get everyone on board!  This past cycle my left side was the one that kept showing follies and the right side actually perked up later in the game so try to hang in there.  And I don't think your RE would cancel anything yet, I did 13days of stemming and then had a cycle converted to an IUI as I had one follicle really ready at the end.  You still have a ways to go, so you're still in it!  AND i'm on day 4 of stems and my estrogen was under 80 so I think you're in great shape for now!

fivetimesnoluck I would transfer 2 - go for it  I have to look into the babu aspirin as I do think i have blood flow issues even though the drs dont think so...but my hand and feet are always cold!

wanderlust14 wow great update!  Are you doing a fresh transfer or Fet, testing?  Sounds like you're off to a great start!  grow embabies grow!

KLake42 congrats - hitting double digits is very exciting - its a victory when you go through so much for sure!

artemis618 i really do try my best to take a minute and catch up with everyone, and its nearly impossible to do on mobile for sure...computer is much easier...i've lost so much on the mobile and then it just gets too frustrating!  As for the testing you are correct with the batching and the sending it off, I think someone made a clerical error and didn't check the box for batching so they just tested them...hopefully it works out in my favor.  They are adjusting my bill but I still think i'm being overcharged and need to double check it.  I just keep finding i'm always paying more when it thought it would be a lil less.
you also make me want to ask what my estrogen was before trigger.  We are so opposite, antagonist with priming was way better then lupron (mine was microdose flare lupron)  interesting how different we all are!

i-wanna-b-the-girl-w-most-cake wow good job, you're responding nicely too!  

AFM:  Thanks for all the responses in regards to pgs - The PGS results are being held hostage haha!!  I did pay them so I really wish they would've given my dr the results like they said they would today.  My RE and clinic were quite SHOCKED to hear that my results were even in, so it was an interesting day for all.  And they are now charging me the batching fee instead so lets pray i have a bunch more to send after this
So far my follies seem to be doing ok and growing together, praying it continues and more pop up!
Left, 12, 12, 8 and 8 // Right 8.5, 8.5,8 and 8...I should go play 8 huh!  Interesting you're all being told about ER already they're not even there yet...but I guess I would think if things continue to go smoothly it should be next week.  I need to order more meds, I keep forgetting and then they're closed ugh!!

artemis618

@Hopeful_mom How nerve-wracking that your PGS results are in but you don't yet have them!  I've never made it that far but waiting for blasts (hopefully - day 5 report is due later today) is positively awful.  Hoping to get to the next excruciating wait this time.  The (lower?) batching fee was the plan, right?  I'm glad they made it right, if so.  Fingers crossed for great results!

Are you also doing antagonist for this cycle?  I guess I tend toward the Dr. Sher camp of too much LH (exogenous or endogenous) being bad for AMA eggs - at least for me, but who knows?  My last (this current?) cycle was luteal lupron (10u for 13 days down to 5u when starting stims CD2) without OCP.  This appealed to me because I understand that the idea is to shut down/empty out pituitary gland of FSH and LH before starting stims.  So a long or luteal lupron protocol should have at least taken my body's own LH contribution out of the mix.  This time I also didn't add LH (via Menopur) until day 5 of stims, doing 450iu of all FSH for days 1-4, switching to 300 FSH + 150 Menopur for days 5-10 (stilled one day longer than last cycle).  Both cycles I primed with Androgel (more "scary" testosterone--> LH) and used hgh, so the difference wasn't that (though I ran out of Androgel a couple of days early - kind of made me hope it'd all be out of my system by the time I started stims).

I also understand the lupron flare protocols to be kind of the opposite, aiming to take advantage of the body's own surge of endogenous fsh and LH when you start lupron right at the start of stims.

But again, who knows?  Every body and every cycle is indeed different!

brooklyngirl18

@i-wanna-b-the-girl-w-most-cake yes we are twins! what dosage are your meds again? I'm 10 lupron, 150 gonal and 1 vile menopur. I cry at the drop of a hat also, so embarassing lol 
@cashewchicken my RE just said he's keeping a close eye and will start to worry if my follicle count gets up around 40 or higher. He didn't give me an actual number but mine was around 35 from what I remember when he was counting. It also changed each appointment so who knows! hopefully I'll have clearer answers tomorrow.

It seems like my estrogen level is low compared to some of you ladies, I should ask my dr about that tomorrow.

fivetimesnoluck

@Aera11, @KLake42 I did not even consider going through ER for myself. I was pretty sure that the expense and time would not have been worth it. Third party was our best bet.

@mandasand I heard from some folks on the other board who had siblings through DE IVF (frozen eggs thawed & fertilized, then refroze & rethawed) - it's possible!

The 11K for the eggs is a flat fee, but there are definitely additional costs. Supposedly it runs less than going with a known donor. And I know it's moved more quickly than if I was trying to match with someone. There are several frozen donor banks and most of them are affiliated with certain REs/clinics. Some docs/labs have more experience/comfort with the idea than others.

Lot of six frozen donor eggs = $11,000
Transport from bank to clinic = $750
Thaw, fertilization (ICSI and assisted hatching included for up to 10 eggs) = $3,800
Transfer = $1,905
Freezing and Storage of additional embryos = $900
Meds (Progesterone in Oil, Medrol, Doxycycline, & Estrace - mostly covered by insurance) = $100

Add in the monitoring ultrasound, SA, and blood work and it's right at or under $19,000.

And, I agree, it's just so nice there are so many options now. Yay for SCIENCE!

sm05-2

Wow, lots of activity on this thread! @brooklyngirl18, it sounds like things are going well! @KLake42, that sounds like a great amount of eggs! @Ash_SE, that sounds like a good number of embryos to me, and I hope to eventually have a similar result.

My period came a day early, and I did my first ever round of stims last night. It was a bit nerve-wracking and stressful. I love the Freedom Med Teach videos, but I kept rewinding and pausing, rewinding and pausing--I eventually got it.

One trick I figured out for the gonal-f Redi-ject pen is to position the window with the IU upward so I can see it go down to zero as I'm injecting (the first try I didn't get all of my dose in). Now that I've done everything once, tonight should go more smoothly.

Dragonfly6191

For those who have just started stimming- how soon did you start feeling side effects? I've only had 2 days of shots, and so far feel fine other than a little stomach pressure. Just wondering when you start worrying!

i-wanna-b-the-girl-w-most-cake

So I am talking with my clinic's financial person and she gave me a price which includes:

·         Facility cost for your egg retrieval and embryo transfer

·         Utilization of operating room / equipment / time spent in recovery room

·         Fertilization of eggs 

·         Oocyte Identification

·         Culture/Extended Culture

·         ICSI

·         Assisted hatching (if needed)

·         Up to 1 year of Embryo Cryopreservation (if needed)

I worry that there are hidden costs that are not included in this list that I just don't know to ask about. Would you guys ask any ?s about this? Mind sharing? It would be a great help. 

@cashewchicken - i'm also very bloated and just overall uncomfortable. i think the cetrotide has me feeling generally icky. 

@Hopeful_mom - i'm very low on menopur. have maybe 2 vials left but hoping that i'll be done stimming instead of ordering more. not sure if I can even buy it by the vial.

@brooklyngirl18 - i'm shooting 1 vial menopur + 300 gonal in PM + 1 vial cetrotide in AM

@sm05-2 - I'm jealous you have the gonal pen! Anything to make this process a little easier would be great  

@Dragonfly6191 - I started feeling it on Sunday morning after my 1st injection Friday night. That has really been the worst day of side effects so far and I'm already on day 7. I'm sure you'll do just fine!

artemis618

@i-wanna-b-the-girl-w-most-cake Does that include monitoring (office visits, ultrasounds, blood work) or is that totally separate from this "package?" (Sorry if I'm just not paying attention) I'm guessing it includes the actual egg aspiration and embryo transfer?  How about related anesthesia (for ER)?  Sperm prep and lab supplies? Will you need a practice transfer?

AFM, still no blasts as of day 5. We have six morula (4 grade 2 and 2 grade 3) that we hope will come around tomorrow (since we apparently can't test morula).  The other two are just "multi-cell" and my RE does not expect anything of them.  So we wait some more...

i-wanna-b-the-girl-w-most-cake

@artemis618 - those are all excellent questions. I doubt very much that it includes all of that. which is what is so very frustrating about medical bills - everything is billed separately so i'm sure i'll end up with at least a few bills (facility, surgeon fees, anesthesiologist fees, etc) it's just so hard to keep up with it all. But I'm def going to bring these ?s up, thank you so much!

As for a mock transfer, no one has actually said anything about this yet. Is it a standard practice? I'll need to ask tomorrow morning. 

I'm in a lot of pain this afternoon. thinking it's the Cetrotide. my stomach is hurting pretty badly. these side effects are starting to bum me out over here.

i-wanna-b-the-girl-w-most-cake

artemis618 also good luck with the embabies! I truly hope they come around tomorrow! I guess you'll be doing your transfer then? or do they freeze them? (sorry, i'm not too familiar with the processes) 

artemis618

@i-wanna-b-the-girl-w-most-cake Thanks!  I happened to have those questions handy as I'm starting to shop for another IVF cycle with a new RE (this one probably entirely out of pocket) and they gave me a list of the CPT codes that might apply to a global IVF package that I can try to submit to my insurance, though I have a lifetime cap of two cycles with insurance coverage).

I'm not sure how common it is to have a practice transfer.  My RE actually gave me the option to transfer one untested at day 3 this past Tuesday if I wanted (and we had no practice transfer) because our results were so awful last time.  Her partner who did my ultrasounds while my RE was out of the office mentioned to her fellow that my uterus is extremely tilted so my bladder will have to be quite full - not sure if that merits "practice" though.

Our goal is to have something to biopsy to PGS test and good enough to freeze tomorrow.  We're leaning toward doing another cycle anyway since we got nothing (no blasts) from our first one and I'll be 40 this year, but it depends on how the insurance works (my plan requires a transfer within 90 days of the 2nd ER).

Cetrotide made me itchy and burn-y for like an hour after I administered it each time last cycle.  I'm sorry it's uncomfortable - just remember it's all only temporary and will be over soon!

Hopeful_mom

see i have some catching up to do but its a lil tough through the tears, will do it later.

The news is in and its not good, all 3 great quality embros are all abnormal.  One had an extra gene and the others missing one.  Heartbreaking to say the least, you need 46 and I had 45 and 47.  All girls too.  OH is angry that I keep finding out the gender and keep getting more upset but I'm upset any which way.  Being in the middle of a current cycle I really don't know how i feel anymore and what to do.  There goes my whole banking option.  I wanted more then one child and looks like having one is going to be tough enough!

I MC a normal embryo and now i can't even make one normal one WTH!

Ash_SE

@Hopeful_mom I'm so so sorry. I really hope this round will be different . Maybe you just had a bad batch last round. Is your protocol any different? 

i-wanna-b-the-girl-w-most-cake

Hopeful_mom You are understandably upset; so sorry take your time to recover from the disappointment. we will all be here when you return. hugs.

artemis618

@Hopeful_mom I'm so, so sorry to hear your news  As much as this seriously sucks, testing helped you avoid another loss (which would have also cost you more time - which is precious). Those particular three were just not meant to be.  It doesn't mean that the eggs you are growing right now aren't.

Our initial plan when we started was to PGS test and hopefully bank - PGS testing was the whole reason we went straight to IVF.  But when I didn't even get any blasts to test with my first cycle, we changed the plan for this cycle to consider a day 3 transfer since the last cycle went so poorly.  It's now day 5 and I *still* don't have any blasts to test - I wonder if I should have done a transfer on Tuesday but I can't do anything about that now.  Sometimes things don't go the way we hope they will and we have to adapt.  I'm not really sure what's next for us if we don't get any blasts from this cycle either, and even if any makes it to blast, we may not get any normals either.  But I am trying to remain optimistic that we'll get to parenthood one way or another - and you will too!

Our little girl was NIPT-normal (I don't think they check all the chromosomes - just the biggies - but it was a deceiving result as we lost her two days after we got it) - I (DH maybe not so outwardly) worry that she was our one good out of ten (or whatever the stat is) eggs, but that sort of thinking doesn't help anything.  I also wondered how I wasn't able to get anything to survive 5 days in a dish when I carried that little girl to 11w5d, but it seems there are a ton of unknowns in this field which is super frustrating.

Sadly, I think at our age we just have to go through more eggs to find our good ones.  Your current cycle is another step toward doing that.  Please try to stay positive, and remember that every cycle is different and you don't yet know how this one will end up.

Hang in there - I'm thinking of you! *creepy Internet hugs*

cashewchicken

@Hopeful_mom- I'm so, sorry.  I've been there.  The last cycle all 5 of my blasts were abnormal.  I'm hoping the protocol makes a difference.  Even if it's the same cycle, cycle to cycle there's a difference, I heard.  

Momifbysea

@hopeful_mom I'm so so sorry for your news. It's heartbreaking and please take care of yourself. This whole journey is really tough. I'm hopeful this next cycle can turn this around. Hugs.

Momifbysea

AFM, this morning's ultrasound showed 3 decent sized follicles on each side. My clinic's rule is to proceed if there are at least 5 by this day so I squeezed by just barely. I realize people have follicle numbers in the 20's but for age 42-1/2, you know what, I'm damn proud of my six. Don't count this AMA lady out, lol! The nurse will call this afternoon after checking my estrogen level and let me know any dosing changes and when to start the other injections. I have ganirelix and Ovidrel unopened still.

immiet

Hopeful_mom said:

see i have some catching up to do but its a lil tough through the tears, will do it later.

The news is in and its not good, all 3 great quality embros are all abnormal.  One had an extra gene and the others missing one.  Heartbreaking to say the least, you need 46 and I had 45 and 47.  All girls too.  OH is angry that I keep finding out the gender and keep getting more upset but I'm upset any which way.  Being in the middle of a current cycle I really don't know how i feel anymore and what to do.  There goes my whole banking option.  I wanted more then one child and looks like having one is going to be tough enough!

I MC a normal embryo and now i can't even make one normal one WTH!

@hopeful_mom, so sorry to hear this! 

cashewchicken

@Momifbysea- Congrats! Six is a good number and you should feel proud!  Are you doing Ovidrel for trigger?  How many shots did your clinic prescribe?  I'm thinking about switching from Novarel to Ovidrel, as I'm just about willing to try anything different from the previous cycles in the hope that the % of mature follicles would go up.

cashewchicken

@dragonfly6191- I started to feel bloating around day 4.  It's hard for me, as I  generally feel bloated after eating (distended stomach, maybe, I don't know), but I felt bloated even when I was hungry when I just woke up.  This is day 7, and now I really feel my ovaries.  Ick.

@i-wanna-b-the-girl-w-most-cake- I have only done IVF up to culture/PGS, but I guess maybe ask if your clinic will charge extra for maturing eggs in vitro?  Doubt you'll run into this, but I had a cycle where I had a very low % of mature eggs and the clinic ended up trying to mature eggs overnight.  My clinic didn't charge me, but it is not done routinely so I thought some clinic may charge money for this.  Oh and ask how many u/s is covered in your plan.  My previous clinic included 4 u/s appointments in the plan and anything more, we had to pay extra.

cashewchicken

Today's the first day of my staycation.  I decided to take some time off around ER to recover, because I maxed out my PTO.  I have u/s this morning and swing by the pharmacy, but other than that, I'm just going to chill.  

brooklyngirl18

@artemis618 fx you get good news on blasts soon.  
@i-wanna-b-the-girl-w-most-cake my dr hasn't said anything about a mock transfer. I'm not sure how standard it is, I've seen some girls on here talk about it but not everyone. I'm sorry the pricing and coverage isn't clear, i hate insurance companies. everything is so difficult. 
@hopeful_mom i'm so sorry. so many hugs and fx you get better results from your current cycle. 
@Momifbysea that's great, keep on growing follies!

AFM- I have about 35 follicles. 15 around 13mm the rest around 10 or 11. My dr is lowering my dosage of gonal. I go back Monday and will likely trigger and have a retrieval Wednesday. I'm starting to get pretty uncomfortable, I had bad cramps this morning. My dr said it will likely only get worse as they grow. Only 5 more days.

shaykay9

Hi Ya'll! I need some support here! (don't we all when going through infertility, so tough!) I haven't even starts Stims yet, and I'm super emotional and stressed! Mostly concerned about my FSH and age. Me 36, Him 35, FSH 8.5, AMH 2.97. Thoughts on my FSH and AMH?? 

IVF cycle # -  1! And it will be successful! 

Type - IVF w/ ICSI FET

Protocol - Lupron, Menopur, Gonal F 

Male Factor Infertility 

Start STIMS Saturday! 

sm05-2

@Hopeful_mom, I'm so sorry to hear your news, that must be devastating. I hope that (as others have said) it eventually means that you'll get closer to having a good result.

@cashewchicken, chilling sounds like a good plan.