May 19 IVF

caitiemae

I caved in and POAS.  It's positive!  Not super dark, so I'm going to be cautiously optimistic.  I feel like my test is only slightly darker than it was when I tested after my FET, which had a beta of only 29 and was blighted ovum.  

akak23

@caitiemae I am SO happy for you! I know you want to be cautiously optimistic, but enjoy the positive possibility! Yay!!!

lemondrop1976

@caitiemae That's Great!

I can't wait until Friday, I stopped at Walgreens this morning and bought FRP. I'm at work and about to test, this will determine how the rest of my day goes.

lemondrop1976

Just POAS at work and got a negative, guess 3rd time was not the charm.

caitiemae

@lemondrop1976 im so sorry . How many days post transfer are you?  Any hope it's just too early?

lemondrop1976

@caitiemae 12dpt (3day fresh transfer)

PoeMasque

@lemondrop1976 some of the FRPTs don’t register under 50 units per liter. That being said, my friend did IVF and her HCG was only 24 at 8dp6dt (very likely a urine test would have been negative), she was told not to be hopeful, but her levels kept doubling and she had a successful pregnancy. I know it’s unlikely at this point, but it’s definitely not impossible. I’m still keeping my fingers crossed for you!

lemondrop1976

@PoeMasque Thank you for trying to give me a glimmer of hope. Friday will be D day so I'm just waiting til then I suppose.

PoeMasque

We got a report on our embryos today - sort of. After I called the clinic at 3:45pm to find out if I needed to take tomorrow off for transfer (we are doing fresh if we have less than 4 embryos), they got back to me at 4:30 to say that the embryologist couldn’t remember if we had 3 or 4 still going, but that the RE said we were definitely transferring tomorrow. My guess is we are in the same boat as last time with only 1 or 2 “good” embryos and 1-2 stalled out embryos that they are giving more time. I’m feeling pretty bummed since I know the odds are stacked against us with my being older than last time and the fact that last time (and seems like this time too) embryo quality was a huge issue, but I also know I have zero control and it could be worse! We could have had zero make it.

So tomorrow afternoon I will do acupuncture, head to the clinic, transfer, and then do another acupuncture session. Then we will wait and hope for a second miracle! 

@akak23 how are your embryos doing? Are you testing and doing a FET next month? 

akak23

@lemondrop1976 I am so so sorry. I wish there was something I could say to ease your pain, but I know there is not. This is such a terrible burden we all have to deal with...


@PoeMasque good luck on your transfer today! I am feeling positive energy for you, all we need is one good embryo to make it, you got this! Let us know how you’re feeling.

We ended up with 3 frozen embryos! Last time we didn’t have any, so this is now the furthest we have gotten along the process and I’m so thankful. They will be sent off for testing today and now the next dreaded wait for results has started. My husband and I are also both older, so I’m hoping we don’t have major chromosome issues. If we are able to use any of them, we plan to do a FET in June. 

lemondrop1976

@akak23 Good luck and congrats on your 3 embies! And thank you, it definitely gets harder as we get older.

caitiemae

@PoeMasque how did your transfer go?  Hope you're having a relaxing day and sending good vibes your way!

@akak23 Congrats on your 3 embabies!  Crossing my fingers they all come back normal!

PoeMasque

@akak23 eep!! 3 frozen is amazing! I can only imagine how awful the PGS wait is....I barely made it through the 5 day wait to fresh transfer! 

@caitiemae transfer went well! One 5AA and one 5AB embryo transferred and one 4AB frozen with a high-grade early blast to follow tonight (the embryologist said he was 99% sure the early blast would be freezable, so I’m counting it even though we don’t find out until tomorrow). I am counting it a miracle that we had two to transfer and two to freeze. Beta is June 1, but I will start POAS in 3 days. When is your second beta? 

caitiemae

@PoeMasque that is fantastic!  Congrats on being PUPO!  Stick, babies, stick!

As for me, my beta isn't actually until Monday.  My clinic schedules them for 13dpt.  I did POAS again this morning though...

And the line was super dark!  Test line darker than the control!  I'm feeling a little relieved as the line never really got much darker when I had my m/c.  Anxiously awaiting my beta!!

Megange1

*Trigger- MC*

Hi all! I’m a newbie so still learning how this all works. I’m 38 and my DH is 32. This is our first round of IVF, but we’ve been trying to conceive for 2 years and found out he has some infertility issues. I had a miscarriage when I was 28, and have never been pregnant since. I’m on day 8 of my Stims. Last ultrasound at day 6 I had 13 follicles, not sure if that’s good or not, with a few measuring 17mm. They are so tight lipped on what is good or normal. Trying to take it a day at a time, but started to feel rough today, so I’m hoping things go well. I wish you all the best. This is not an easy process and although my DH is great sometimes it feels lonely. 

mrsjones91716

@Megange1 13 follicles measuring 17mm sounds really good to me, I would think you would hear about triggering soon? My doctor said his goal is 12-14 eggs, I was a little surprised and disappointed, I thought more like 15-20 was good.

caitiemae

@Megange1 welcome!  Hope you find the support you need here on the bump.  13 sounds very good to me.  My first IVF at 27, I only had 12 (one ovary was being lazy).  Four years later, I got lucky and ended up with 15.  The number of follicles that you see women have vary a lot by age and diagnosis.  In the end, it's really quality, not quantity that matters.  I've seen women only have a couple of eggs retrieved and still get pregnant.  Just expect your numbers to get a little smaller with each step.  Not every follicle may have an egg, not every egg will be mature.  And not every egg will fertilize and make it to transfer. Best of luck to you!  

PoeMasque

@Megange1 I agree with @mrsjones91716 that you should be triggering soon. I would also ask for information on your follicles, they can’t legally NOT tell you! Follicles between 12 and 19mm at trigger are most likely to yield mature eggs, so if they wait too long, you may end up with post-mature eggs that won’t fertilize. Typically they trigger you when three or more follicles reach 16mm. The amount of eggs you get and how many make it to freeze is honestly a crap-shoot. I’ve seen women with 26 eggs retrieved and only 4 good enough to be transferred (this was someone in their 20s). I’ve also seen women with 15 retrieved and 13 good blasts frozen. I, personally, have had 8 retrieved that ended up being 2 good blasts, and had a successful singleton pregnancy (at 37). At 39 we ended up with 4 good blasts, so it’s really hard to predict what will happen. Just remember it only takes one  

mrsjones91716

@caitiemae or you could have every follicle have an egg, every egg be mature and every egg fertilize and then less than half make it to transfer lol.  Such a dumb roller coaster of emotions.

Edit: I hope that didn't come across as snarky.  It was just really dumb when that happened to me.  It's like oh let's get your hopes up oh never mind ha.  And even with everything I read I knew to be cautiously optimistic about the whole thing but it's still a let down with every thing that doesn't go great.

caitiemae

@mrsjones91716 I didn't come off as snarky at all! I totally agree, nothing is predictable in IVF and there is always a curve ball thrown in there somewhere.    

PoeMasque

@mrsjones91716 I think we are all allowed to be a little snarky about this process, it sucks. When we went from 6 to 2 embryos I legitimately thought my RE was grading the blasts wrong and made him go over every, single, one - in detail - before I could “forgive” him for not freezing the ones that didn’t make it. I’m sure he thought I was the most annoying patient! 

akak23

Thank you @PoeMasque @lemondrop1976 @caitiemae!

Welcome @Megange1! Let us know how your little eggs are doing along this process. 

@mrsjones91716 I truly don’t think it’s possible to be positive throughout this process. There are so many lows... with hopefully a few highs tucked in along the way. We’re only human, not perfect, I’ve been so emotional and angry and everything else since we started this process last year. Our 2 IUIs failed, as well as our first IVF - we didn’t even get one single embryo to blastocyst. Praying this second IVF works for my sanity! 

PoeMasque

@caitiemae how was your beta today? 

I have been POAS since 1 day after transfer to test out the trigger shot and today I got just the faaaaaiiintest of lines. I had a friend double check to make sure my eyes weren’t  playing tricks and she said she saw it too! I’m excited, but won’t be too sure until the line is past “squinter” stage. 

caitiemae

@PoeMasque ahhhh!!!! That's so exciting!!! When are you scheduled for your beta?

Beta came in at 1241 at 13dp5dt!!  

PoeMasque

@caitiemae woot!! What a strong number! 

Beta is on Saturday at 9dp5dt, fingers crossed I get strong numbers like you

mrsjones91716

@PoeMasque omg yep, that sounds like something I would do.  I have actually thought that, like why didn't you freeze them all and just try them anyway ha.  Sometimes I think my RE and nurses think I am annoying also but oh well. 
@akak23 yeah, I think we are in similar boats - I wonder if my husband's sperm affected our embryos making it to blast.
Something really fun I did this weekend - watched Netflix's One Last Shot.  My husband came home when I was watching it and he was like do you enjoy depressing yourself?! Like joking but also it made him really sad too. I think sometimes I do just want to feel all the feelings because I have to walk around at work etc acting like everything is fine.  
I am very grateful for you guys, it's nice to have people that get it.
I think the most surprising thing for me after starting IVF was how it was NOT a guarantee.  When our first transfer failed I was like what?! Just before you go through it you just think oh I'll do IVF if I have to. Ha!

akak23

@PoeMasque @caitiemae yippeeee!!! Sending you both so many positive thoughts, it’s so nice to hear good news! Keep us all posted.

@mrsjones91716 I did the same thing last month - watched that movie on NetFlix and had a good cry. And it felt darn good!

prepfamily

Hello ladies! I'm new to the group. My DH and I are on our second and last cycle. My transfer was on Mothers day of all days. My beta was good (484), my nurse said don't be surprised if you are carrying twins. Two days later I doubled nicely. Had my 3rd HCG test yesterday and I'm just above 5,000. At 5 weeks 1 day that is within normal range but my nurse said she expected me to be at 8,000. It is so hard not to obsess at this point. We have severe male factor and I'm 38. Our first cycle ended in miscarriage and I'm freaking out that this one is going to as well. 

caitiemae

@prepfamily welcome!  Congrats on the pregnancy!  From my understanding, beta values start to slow down a bit once they get high up.  Also, if you were carrying twins and lost one, then your numbers would've stopped doubling correctly.  Hoping you get great news at your ultrasound.  Keep us updated!

prepfamily

Thank you! They did transfer 2 embryos and my fear is we may have lost one. I think someone said it before but there are so many emotions and ups and downs in the process that it is very difficult. My ultrasound is a week from today and the wait is killing us! Everything went well in cycle 1 until the ultrasound the yolk sac had an odd shape and the heartbeat was a little slow. Dr did not seem positive that time and thought we would likely miscarry. He was correct. I miscarried twin A 12/20/18 and twin B 12/26/18. Neither cycle we had any left to freeze. We said we would try twice so this is it for us.

lemondrop1976

@prepfamily Good luck with your US, they should not be making you wait this long to get one especially with your past history. My local RE did the same to me when I miscarried this year. I'm sure everything is fine this round so take it easy and try not to worry too much. Like you this is my last cycle as well so I know the emotional stake is higher and more difficult. Hang in there 🙏

mbradfo2

@prepfamily

My betas were similar to yours at the same point; we did have twins implanted with HB but unfortunately one did not continue to develop. I think I posted this before but for reference my successful beta numbers were -- 358ish on 9dpt, 585 on 11dpt, 2020 on 14dpt and then 5157 on 17 dpt.  I would be cautiously optimistic if I were you.  I also have a history of m/c with enlarged yolk sac and the same thing happened with the twin that vanished in my successful pregnancy. 

PoeMasque

@prepfamily This whole journey is so incredibly stressful! Allow yourself some space to feel all the feels that you need to, this is all so very hard! I work in research and (of course) I did all kinds of research on beta levels and their connection to twin pregnancies; according to science - there’s zero connection between a high, early beta and number of implanted embryos, so I wouldn’t worry too much about having lost a possible twin. Also - being a nurse myself, I can tell you that we often make comments that we really shouldn’t. Her comment about the last beta is one of those “shouldn’t have said it” moments. It’s outside of her scope of practice to interpret results and if the doctor was concerned you would have heard from them. I know it’s hard, but I try to remember that I have zero control over what happens to the embryos after transfer, so I try not to let the worry take over and just enjoy that I am pregnant until proven otherwise  

[Deleted User]

Hi all. I was wondering if some of you could tell me when the last ultrasound was before the retrieval. Does four days before the retrieval sound like too long? Should one be done at least two days before (the day of the trigger)? I thought my clinic may have left too long of a span, but maybe I am wrong. We used a donor IVF this month, my own eggs just were not good. The donor board isnt too active though, I thought I would ask my question here. The reason I am asking is because 8 eggs were not mature, I thought that was a lot, and 7 just didnt create blastocysts. So we just got 5 embryos from a proven donor, but medium grade. I usually hear people going in for ultrasounds at least two days before, not four. I didnt know if maybe that could have caused 8 to not be mature. 

ACAC25

@casey301 I have experienced both. During my first IVF I had an US 2 days before my ER (trigger day) however thos was because my follicles developed very quickly and they had to speed up my retrieval. Last IVF I had my last US 4 days before ER. I cannot speak to whether this changed my results because the rest of my protocol changed quite drastically. 

PoeMasque

@casey301 i don’t know if it’s “normal” or not, but I know that it’s much easier to gauge how many mature eggs you will have at retrieval if follicles are measured on trigger day. I don’t know what medium grade is, but 5 embryos is a great number. 

caitiemae

@casey301 my last few days of stims, I was coming in every morning for ultrasounds until my Dr decided to trigger.  But maybe if she's done this before they have a pretty good idea?  And maybe the follicles were in a pretty wide range so they just took a good guess what would get them the most?  Also, if this woman produced a lot of eggs, having 8 immature isn't too weird.    I agree that 5 is a pretty good number of embryos.  Hopefully one of them will be your take home baby!  

[Deleted User]

Thanks everyone. I thought she should have went in the day of the trigger, but it is what it is now. By Medium grade I meant BB. We are sending them out for PGS and really hoping some come back normal. We were just concerned because the donor has made more embryos in the past and they were AA also. I was just trying to think of what may have went differently. But, all we can do now is hope for normal PGS results. The 7-10 business day wait is excruciating. 

akak23

I feel you on the wait @casey301 - except my clinic makes you wait two weeks, I’m dying! One week down, one to go.

@PoeMasque and @caitiemae how are y’all progressing? Feeling ok I hope?

PoeMasque

@akak23 I have my first beta tomorrow morning, but getting dark lines on all the tests at home now. Other than horrific bloating at night I feel fine. Part of me is kind of happy we didn’t do PGS because I don’t know how I would have made it through that wait! Glad to hear you are halfway there