March 2018 IVF

ed2018

Hello Everyone.
I wanted to introduce myself, I am 39 and my husband is 36. I was on the January IVF 2018 board for my first time and my first IVF results were 4 frozen emmbies. (Still waiting on testing results after this 2nd time)
 My Dr recommended starting a 2nd round  of IVF because of my age and cost of PGS/PGD  so here I am again.   I start my 2nd round of  IVF tonight and will be batching any additional embryos for PGS/PGD testing.
I start with 300 follistim and 150 menopur( I am on the same medications as I was in January)
I look forward to being on the journey with you and if anyone has questions, I have been there before and would be happy to answer.

mandurz

@prudence9-2 I hope things work out, it sure is stressful. 

AF arrived (3 days earlier than expected.. awesome right?) So I go for baseline ultrasound and blood work tomorrow, should start stims Mon. My protocol is strange apparently. 5 days of femera and clomid and dexamethasone twice a day, then stop femera but continue clomid and dexamethasone until trigger. On stim day 7 start 75 menopur and 150 gonal f every other day. Ganarelix will be added as needed and a lupron trigger. On my last IVF cycle my Dr decided to try a modified low stim protocol (same as above minus dexamethasone). My first IVF cycle 3 years ago we stimmed pretty aggressive and I start with 25 eggs and only 4 made it to freeze, so we were hoping that a slow and steady approach would help with quality. Since I ended with only one embryo to freeze he wants to try the steroid to see if it will help at all. I am super hopefully and confident that we will have great numbers this time. In the end I am looking to have hopefully 4-5 embryos as an option to transfer and will be doing PGS (because of a prior loss).

prudence9-2

@ed2018 welcome and good luck!

@mandurz funny how only we’re so happy when AF shows up earlier  that’s excting that you will get started in 1-2 days! Good luck!

mandurz

Well I am bumped to next month, right ovary is a rebel and decided on BCP to grow a large follicle anyway (22mm). So now have to order an HCG trigger and wait for yet another period. @prudence9-2 yes I WAS happy about AF, until I found out that it's almost useless this month lol. I will still lurk and read. Hope everyone has a good stim month.

prudence9-2

@mandurz oh no! Sorry you have to wait one more month

mandurz

@prudence9-2 it could have been worse, just annoying. My first IVF cycle the same thing happened (on the same ovary). 

prudence9-2

@mandurz yep. Could have been worse... I feel like in this process we spend soooo much time just waiting... 

josiepasta

How is everyone doing?

I did my fresh embryo transfer yesterday morning.  Out of the 12 fertilized embryos, 2 of them were blastocysts and ready to be transferred - one perfect "A" and one almost perfect "B".  The rest were still growing, and they were going to give them another day or two before freezing.  Our original plan was to just transfer one embryo, but seeing that we had 2 ready to go, and not wanting to risk losing the B blast while waiting for the others to catch up, the Dr. suggested putting both in.  So looks like there is a chance for twins!

The transfer itself was quick and painless.  The worst part was that I had to have a full bladder, so it was a little uncomfortable having the nurse push the ultrasound thingy on my bladder.  My sister came with me so that I could take the Valium, which was very nice of her.

I stayed home all day yesterday and vegged on the couch. I stuck to protein/veggie meals, drank a ton of fluids, and even ate some pineapple core (very tough to chew).  Fingers crossed one or both embies stick!

My clinic tests pretty early, my beta is on Tuesday, March 20th.  So my TWW is only a week and a day.  This will be the longest week ever.....

mcgeeva

josiepasta  good luck!!!

kyapplb

@josiepasta fingers crossed on your almost tww!!

I had my egg retrieval yesterday. My baseline ultrasound I had a crazy amount of follicles, so they dropped down my follistim to 125. I seemed to respond slowly to it so they upped me to 200. In the end they harvested 13 eggs (my right ovary follicles didn’t grow at all, so the left side was the productive one!), 12 of which were mature.
Pre retrieval I was a little uncomfortable on the left side, it felt like I had a ping pong ball stuffed on my left side, so I was actually looking forward to the retrieval just to be more comfortable. 
My clinic put me under for the procedure which I was glad. Right after waking up I had mild period like cramps that were managed with tylonal. The weirdest thing was that Standing up after the procedure there wasn’t pain but intense pressure. 
9 fertilized and if they make it to blastocyst we’ll do a 5 day transer on Saturday. 
I am drinking lots of fluids. I know I’m higher risk for ohss, but I am trying to prevent it with a few simple diet things. I know they say high protein and salt. Night before my ER I did a big steak for dinner, and I have hydrosolized protien powder from vital protiens. It is from grass fed cows and tasteless and disolves in water and is supposed to be easily digested. So I began putting that in my water two days before my ER. I have been keeping that going, and I have been drinking lots of Maple Water for the electrolytes. I know youre supposed to have salty snacks so I’ve been munching on olives and salami/pepperoni. Hoping all this keeps away the ohss. 

kyapplb

@josiepasta do you think you could juice the pinapple core and just drink it??? hmmm, I need to google. 

josiepasta

@azetter1 Congrats on your successful egg retrieval!  I hope all goes well leading up to your fresh transfer.  Day 3 after retrieval was the worst for me (super constipated and overall uncomfortable down there), but Day 4 it got better and by transfer day I felt perfectly fine.  I'm not sure about juicing the pineapple core.  I'm not too familiar with juicing, so I would be worried you might lose some of the important pulp of the core that contains the bromelain, which helps with implantation.  Definitely something to google.  

For me - I cut a whole pineapple into 5 equal circular-disk slices, with the core intact, with a plan to eat one whole slice a day for 5 days, starting on the day of transfer.  What made it easier for me to eat, was to cut the circular slice into little triangles, like cutting a pie or pizza.  I then ate each bite-sized triangle individually.  For each bite, the core section was much smaller in comparison to the normal good-tasting part of the pineapple, so it was somewhat manageable.  

prudence9-2

@josiepasta congrats on being PUPO!!

@azetter1 FX they make it to blast!!

AFM - trigger is tonite at 11:45pm!

mcgeeva

@azetter1 good luck sounds like your doing great and know exactly what to do! 

mschmitt17

Hey guys! My husband and I are about to start IVF round 1. Baseline U/S is this friday 3/16. 
My biggest hold up at this point is PIO vs suppositories. My clinic said it's up to me. I will do whichever is best but they assure me there is no difference in outcome. Do your clinics believe that as well? Just trying to optimize our chances. (Also, I totally know this is my crazy infertility brain second guessing every tiny thing, thanks for entertaining my craziness). 

prudence9-2

@mschmitt17 my clinic prefers PIO. And it’s not as bad as it looks... 

josiepasta

@mschmitt17 welcome to the group!  My clinic personally didn’t given me the option, but if I got to choose, I would pick PIO shots over the suppositories.  I’ve heard from several people that the suppositories are a nightmare.  The shots are no big deal.

mschmitt17

@prudence9-2 and @josiepasta thank you guys for your input! I am leaning towards the shots. One friend scared me telling me that it leaves lumps that never go away. But, I would do anything as long as it worked.   @josiepasta good luck with your beta! Be thinking of you!

laurendk

Hello all and good luck to everyone! We just completed our first IVF round and are awaiting blood results in the 22nd to see if it's positive......the waiting can drive you nuts, what do y'all do to distract yourselves?
A little background to us, been TTC for 3 years this past Feb. Went through 3 failed IUIs and finally saved enough money to go through with IVF. Been trying to stay as positive as possible. 

laurendk

@prudence9-2 Menopour did the same thing to me. Take deep breaths, it will all be worth it! Sending prayers your way for a successful process.

josiepasta

@mschmitt17 thanks!

@prudence9-2 good luck on your ER today!  FX for good numbers!

@laurendk Congrats on being PUPO!  I'm waiting for my first beta test on the 20th, so we are on a similar schedule.  This week is dragging on.  Thank goodness March Madness starts today and I can somewhat distract myself watching the tournament.  I've been staying busy this week by (1) working, like normal, (2) cooking fun dinners (protein and veggies mostly), (3) switching my house from winter to springtime decor, and (4) planning a trip that my husband and I will be taking this summer for our 5th wedding anniversary (and hopefully babymoon). 

St. Patty's day is this Saturday.  I've been completely anti-social this entire month while doing IVF, so I promised my DH I'd go out and celebrate the holiday with him during the day.  Any ideas on how to handle going out to bars and fake drinking around a bunch of drunk people?

mcgeeva

@prudence9-2 Good luck! 

@joseipasta - I don't know what your drink of choice is but when I got to my cousin's wedding in may I plan on drinking sprite with lime since I'm a vodka soda girl But it is a green beer holiday! So you could say your stomach is jacked lol! It's my son's bday so I will be drinking a beer while making birthday stuff. 

ed2018

@prudence9-2 good luck today sending positive vibes 

ed2018

@mschmitt17 welcome! My dr just recommend shots. I didn’t know there were other options but then again I am still learning a lot about this. I did my first round of ivf shots in January and just started my second rounds of shots this past weekend

prudence9-2

Thanks @josiepasta @mcgeeva @ed2018 I’m leaving soon. I’m suppose to be at the clinic in 1 hour. 

prudence9-2

They got 10.... which is 1/3 of what I got last time! Hopefully all the 8 mature ones that we saw on the u/s will fertilize 

mcgeeva

prudence9-2  hopefully they all fertilize! Are you doing a fresh transfer?

prudence9-2

@mcgeeva yes. The plan is if I have less than 5 on day 3 transfer all, otherwise wait for day 5 and then transfer all. 

mcgeeva

Good luck I really hope it works out @prudence9-2

prudence9-2

@mcgeeva original plan was PGS and FET. But since I didn’t respond well I’ll just do fresh and hope a normal one sticks 

If on day 3 I have five or less we will transfer all. Otherwise, transfer all on day 5. 

Last time I had 13% normals.  So by those numbers I might have 1 normal.... I just hope this one sticks!!

mayflower513

From lurkdom I wanted to say good luck @prudence9-2!!

lizy181

Hi all! I'm a newbie to this forum, but I started IVF last Friday, March 9th.  I am on day 8 of Follistim 108 and Menopur 75.  Up until yesterday, I wasn't feeling very many side effects except for headaches.  Yesterday, though, I started to feel dizzy, bloated and there was a lot of cramping and just general tenderness in my lower abdomen.  I also had weird bone/muscle aches late last night in my shoulders and wrists.  Today, any time I move I feel this weight and heaviness.  I am also incredibly hormonal.  I've been on the verge of tears just twice this morning for absolutely no reason.  I've done some reading and all of this seems normal but it also feels terribly lonely as I don't really know anyone that has gone through this process.  Any advice on how to alleviate the side effects would be appreciated.

Thanks!

Liz

prudence9-2

Thanks @cmarieb35 waiting for the fertilization report today!!

@lizy181 sorry you’re feeling this way. I also felt bloated. And it will only get worse as the follicles grow. Try to hang in there. It’s almost over. Few more days to go  

kyapplb

@lizy181 Hi! Sorry you’re here! No doubt the side effects suck, and they do just get a little worse. I think we are just stuck with it, unfortunately. I know staying hydrated and eating cleanish, but not beating myself up when I treated myself was all I did. I also haven’t been working out or anything and I actually think that it helped, seeing as it got progressively more uncomfortable to walk leading up to egg retrieval!
I feel MUCH better after egg retrieval, comfort wise. Still bloated, still having side effects from progesterone shots, etc, but at least I can walk around comfortably. The progesterone shots are making my face flush bright red about 30 minutes after, and they all bruise! Hormonally/mood wise I have actually been OK mostly. A little despondent feeling the first week, and I did almost angry cry after getting a notice from the electric company that they had incorrectly read our meter for 4 months and were adding another $500 to our electric bill this month (which is apperantly legal?!!! >:(   )

I have my fresh transfer tomorrow, so we’ll see how it goes. 

@prudence9-2 fingers crossed for good fertilization numbers! 

prudence9-2

@azetter1 good luck tomorrow! How many embryos are you planning to transfer? I’m asuuming it will be day 5?

kyapplb

@prudence9-2 we are leaning towards 1, but will go based on what the MD says on their quality. It is a 5 day transfer but we haven’t had any updates on quality yet. 

prudence9-2

@azetter1 transferring one sounds reasonable as you’re much younger. So you have higher rates of normal embryos than someone older. 

Good of luck tomorrow!!

patriciahomol

Hello! I had my first IVF transfer on 3/8 and got my bfp at 4dp5dt! This was my first IVF cycle and although I am skeptical I am hopeful. Hoping for a sticky babe for me.

josiepasta

@azetter1 good luck on your transfer tomorrow!  How fun to do your transfer on St. Patty’s Day!  

prudence9-2

Ahh. They called. Only 6 fertilized 

So far I'm having worse numbers than last time. Last time I had 66% fertilized (20 out of 30). This time only 60% (6 out of 10)