IF Testing and Treatment Week of 12/9-12/15/19

mvt2003

@kpearse99 This is the one MH takes. I literally brought the box with me to the RU to confirm it was ok. Crazy person, party of 1. 

inthewoods23

@kpearse99 I had DH taking FertilAid for a while but it had a strange taste to it so he hated taking it. He was last on the SmartyPants Gummys for men (berry flavored). For him none of it seemed to help his count go up but his motility was much better AND a lot more survived the sperm wash for the IUIs. Definitely give him the 3 months to see it work. Our 3rd IUI is where we ended up with 17mil post wash instead of 3-4mil like we had with the 1st 2.

kiki047

@shoogapoff *hugs* friend, I'm so sorry. .
@kpearse99 you are the sweetest. I'm anxious AF today. The call didn't come until late afternoon on Monday so I'm on pins and needles waiting for an update. As for your Q about supplements, MH is taking both FertilAid and CountBoost (both made by Fairhaven Health), plus additional CoQ10, VitC (for antioxidants), VitD, and Omega3s. It's a lot but the way he sees it, it's a minimally invasive, low-effort way of making sure he's doing what he can to 'do his part'. I can't say that his #s have had any huge dramatic improvements but they're certainly not going down anymore. 
@buffythevampireslayer I'm sorry you're finding yourself here, and on the brink of starting IVF next year. I also just finished my first retrieval and am currently waiting for an update today to see how many of our embryos made it to blast today. My RE recommends PGT even though I'm also only 33 and MH is 36. His reasoning is similar, that if they're going to put an embryo back in me, they might as well make sure it's a good one. It's really a personal choice though, I know a lot of people choose not to because PGT/PGS isn't proven to be conclusive for any/all defects/etc. We agreed that we would do the testing because I'm the kind of person who would rather have that information than not, but the argument could be made for both sides. 

bluetickgal

@buffythevampireslayer I’m sorry you find yourself here...but welcome, this is such a supportive community! I hope you enjoy your break over the holidays and everything works out to start IVF after the first of the year! 

@bows22 oh friend, I’m so sorry for the vague answers yet again!! I hope you are able to put this out of your mind for a bit and enjoy every minute of your vacation!! 

@pom9207 so sorry for the BFN!! Sending hugs your way! 💜

@NYTino24 I hope the slight temp drop is a good thing! Fingers still crossed so dang hard for you!! 

@kpearse99 I totally get that...I’d probably want to go all-in too instead of just halfway! Hope you feel good about whatever you decide to do!!
@kiki047 I hope you get great news today...and that you don’t have to wait so late in the day to hear again! 

buffythevampireslayer

@kiki047 Thank you. I hope you get really good news today (and soon!) and will be thinking about you. Thank you for sharing the info about testing. I'm really leaning toward getting the testing done because I also would rather have the information than not.

@bluetickgal Thank you! It's been so helpful already...and I've been here less than 24 hours!

kiki047

Finally heard back from the embryologist an hour ago. Two of our embies looked 'excellent' they said, so they were biopsied for PGT and frozen. They graded them 5AA0 and 5BB0 (I have yet to figure out what the 0 refers to, and according to Dr Google it seems like only my clinic uses this system? I was too flustered to ask). The other two are still in the morula stage they said, so they'll give them an extra day and see how they look tomorrow. We find out Friday what our final results are. We're very happy with those two blasts, and still hopeful the other two will make it. Interestingly enough, I thought it would be the 2 that had 10-12 cells on Day 3 that would develop the fastest but it was actually one of each of the 8-cell and 10/12-cell embies that went on to blast. It was also the two that we fertilized by IVF, and the ICSI embies are still growing. 

Breathing a small sigh of relief for now... and we go back to waiting some more. lol. MH also brought up the idea of maybe banking a few more embryos before we do a FET while we're still young. This was never part of the conversation before, granted I also thought we'd get more than 4. So we'll have that convo with my RE in January when we get the results of the PGT. 

inthewoods23

@kiki047 that's great that you have 2! Don't give up hope, I've seen lots of people get a few more in day 6 making it to blast.

emeraldduchess

I am sooo far behind with this thread! Work is nuts right now, and I am trying to get my shopping done in the next few days (haha). Going to try and chip away here. I am so sorry if I am not getting to everyone.

@shoogapoff I am so sorry that AF turned up so early. I don't blame you for taking a cycle off. I hope it helps! 
@kiki047 glad you got two great embryos! FX that you get more good news soon! 
@buffythevampireslayer welcome!
@bows22 that is beyond frustrating that you can't seem to get straight answers from your RE's office. Like, I am pissed FOR you. I have to play phone tag with my RE's office too, but that's more because I can't talk on the phone during the school day. 

AFM, the results from my u/s last Wednesday were in the portal today. 2 follies that were around 24mm the day before the trigger. Hopefully we had good timing! The BSC should be setting in a week from today. 😬 

NYTino24

@emeraldduchess Great news!! Hope they’re lucky follicles!
@kiki047 Woohoo! Hope you’re feeling better and that you end up with 4 frozen!

I spoke with my nurse and she confirmed we should DTD the night before the SA and then have lower concentration so we can fail. I am also thinking about having him collect at home and not keeping the sample warm / bringing it after more than an hour. We had 11 mil on the second day of this IUI (which was DTD twice and 2 IUI in four days and I didn’t have the IUI until 3 hours after his sample). I still don’t think it will make enough of a difference and DH was too crabby to answer if he’s willing to do it.

emeraldduchess

@NYTino24 was he crabby about having to do a SA again? Mine dragged his feet before his SA. Then he saw what I was getting done (hycosy, tons of bloodwork) and he quit complaining. 

buffythevampireslayer

@kiki047 that's great to hear! and hopefully there is more good news to come.

@emeraldduchess thank you and good luck this round! it is awesome having two that size!

ellieemc26

been a super busy week and haven't been able to post, not even going to pretend like I'll be able to catch up all the tags!  definitely want to send good thoughts to everyone having a rough week!  Will try to stay caught up the rest of this week!

Diagnosis (if you've been): AMA and MFI

Status (WTO/TWW/TTA): WTO

What are you doing this cycle? (Testing? Treatment?): letrozole, trigger, iui, progesterone

How are things going?: ok.  had a bit of a rough weekend, I think the side effects of letrozole got to me a bit as I found myself feeling quite depressed (when I googled it, it said that was a side effect) but it seems to be passing now.  have my day 12 scan this sunday to find out when we do the iui.  Otherwise just hanging out this week.

Any questions?: nope

GTKY: Tell us about something you’ve broken.  I broke my leg when I was 14 playing soccer.  Another girl and I both kicked as hard as we could at the ball - I hit the ball, she hit my leg.  My dad said he heard it crack from the sideline.  3 weeks in a cast and 3 weeks in walking boot.

@kpearse99 to jump in on your vitamin question - my RE suggested MH take a brand called Therealogix.  There's a multivitamin mix called ConceptionsXR or something similar and also COQ10. She didn't really care what brand as long as we took all of the recomennded supplements, we just bought that one in the end because it was less pills to take! 

charmedlifex3

@Bows22 I can't stand when medical places don't give you a direct, comprehensive answer. It's like - it's my body, I'm paying you, don't play games with me!
@shoogapoff Your name took me way to long to figure out there are two oo. I am sorry for AF. It kinda adds insult to injury when it shows up early. That B. 
@pom9207 be kind to yourself *creepy internet stranger hugs*
@emeraldduchess Yay for good news!
@kiki047 I am so hoping one of those is your THB. 
@mvt2003 This journey makes us all a little crazy!
@inthewoods23 Does your DH like the smarty pants? DH was diagnosed with osteperosis with a vitamin D deficiency so I have been pushing all the vitamins. He says they make him sick.  
@NYTino24 The games you have to play to get medical care. 

And yes, my lupus anticoagulants are high. The doctors think that's why I was having "micro clots" which were causing what essentially amount to mini strokes.
I made the decision to go forward without heart surgery, and if I am able to carry to term then we'll do a gentle C section at 36 or 37 weeks - reduce the strain as much as possible. I am taking aspirin and on a pregnancy safe blood thinner in the meantime. Most of my crazy symptoms abated with this course of treatment, (which gave me the option to not have the surgery) and the thought was I can HAVE the surgery if I end up needing it. I can't undo it if I have issues. It would make me high risk either way - And the surgeon recommended I wait 18 months post closure before TTC. The MFM said the risks of being 38 with a closure, vs 35 without one, I was better off TTC first.
TW  MC / LC

I've lost two pregnancies this year, and four total, with one living child. That's not a ratio I am super happy with, so we're looking into whats going on.

My husband just got a new job, and they have coverage for infertility (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) so I can actually look into it. I was told I have adhesions, and have had physical therapy to break them up, but adhesions impacting fertility, or potential removal for fertility issues wouldn't have been covered. My prior obgyn said "well, when you get pregnant, they'll break up as your stomach grows..." 
I was able to move that client today, so I am headed north the UVM tomorrow. Wish me luck! 

inthewoods23

@the_road_to_oz DH hates multivitamins either way, but the gummies are nice because he can just chew and swallow them vs needing something to drink to get them down.

Also the SmartyPants do have CoQ10 in them which I know is a big plus for sperm.

NYTino24

@emeraldduchess Yeah he’s been a real prize lately. It would be his fourth SA. Poor guy has to orgasm.😡  I got really pissed considering all of the BW, US, and pills I’ve been dealing with. Our small house is compounding tensions right now. 
@the_road_to_oz I think that sounds like a good plan. I hope the adhesions break up fast. 

emeraldduchess

@NYTino24 DH was horrified watching my hycosy because I had my legs spead with two people all up in my lady bits and multiple things inserted in me (catheter, speculum, balloon, etc). He knows very well that his part is a piece of cake compared to mine. It would be different if he had fertility challenges, but his SA showed that he is a-OK. 

kpearse99

@emeraldduchess those are great sized follies!!! FX for you, my friend!!

@the_road_to_oz my head is spinning reading all of your updates, my goodness, my friend!!! You are one strong woman!!! It seems like you have doctors that are very good and giving you all of your options and also letting you know their recommendations, so that's great. I think you have the right plan for you and that's amazing that YH's new job covered infertility!!! 

mvt2003

@NYTino24 I'm sorry he's being such a pain right now. Hopefully he'll come around soon.  

@emeraldduchess Wheeeee for great follies!!!!!! FX!!!!! 

@the_road_to_oz YAY for new insurance with IF coverage!!!! Also, I'm so glad you're cleared to proceed with TTC! 

AFM, MH still hasn't told his family about IVF, which is totally fine, but I'm going to have to do some dodging in the next few weeks I think. I run most of my races with my BiL and SiL, BiL is much faster and runs longer races, SiL is slower than I am and typically stays in the 5k range. Well, SiL just signed up for a half marathon yesterday at the beginning of March, and I KNOW BiL is going to start asking if I'm going to do it too. I can't train for a half marathon that happens immediately after when we're aiming to do an ER and fresh transfer, gonna have to practice saying "I'm thinking about it, will make my decision after the holidays."  

kpearse99

@mvt2003 You got this!!! Maybe you could also tell him you have a couple big projects coming up at work and you need to make sure you have time to juggle everything?

mvt2003

@kpearse99 Thanks, friend! That excuse would work for most other people, but unfortunately, he worked for the same company until like 2 months ago, so he knows my schedule!  

kpearse99

@mvt2003 ahhh damn!!!! 

ramzlau

@shoogapoff That is a crazy short cycle! It is a hate/awe attitude I have that even with all the medications and monitoring that happens with IF, the body still does what the body wants. Sorry for the failed IUI and that you are at the point of needing a break for multiple reasons. Hope this cycle you get a chance to breath and hit the reset button. 

@NYTino Crazy that it was normal! Hope you figure out a game plan for failing! 

@pom9207 Sorry for the BFN

@kpearse99 H’s SA came back with 8% morph and our RE prescribed him profertil. We ended up not getting it in time before we traveled for Thanksgiving, so the nurse said for him to just take a daily multivitamin supplement. He has also taken Zinc to improve his numbers before. Also for another item to talk with your RE about, have you had an endo biopsy done? It was how I got my chronic endo diagnosis, before that was unexplained. 

@kiki047 yay for 2! FX for a few more! 

@emeraldduchess Those are some good follies! Fx! 

@ellieemc26 I had side effects from the letrozole as well! Hope the 12 check goes well! 

@the_road_to_oz yay for coverage and the go to move ahead with TTC. Hope you get some answers about the losses! 

@mvt2003 Yeah I had a similar problem with questions right after my half and my friends wanted to do the full in March. I think I just said I had some commitments already and wasn’t sure if I could commit to the time required for training. 

AFM: had an ultrasound at CD15 to check on follie growth. I have a 15, 16 and 10 on my left, lining is 9.5. So trigger on Sat and IUI is scheduled for Monday!

pom9207

@ellieemc26 sorry about the side effect of letrozole. Hope you have some good size follicles on the upcoming scan!

@the_road_to_oz it’s awesome that the new  insurance covers IF!

@ramzlau good luck with the IUI! Yay for multiple follicles growing!

I have a question for you ladies: beta is tomorrow, but I took a home pregnancy test this morning and got a negative. Do I still need to get my blood drawn? Have you guys just skipped beta and WFAF before?

edit: also I didn’t take progesterone supplement; AF is expected to show up today with my regular luteal phase length.

kpearse99

@pom9207 my RE's office always asks me, when I arrive for my beta, if I've taken any home pregnancy tests... so I believe they would want still do the beta even if I said "yes and they were negative".  You can always call them and ask.

pom9207

 @kpearse99 Thanks! I did messaged my RE to tell him about my negative HPT. He said I can skip it. I am kinda happy about their flexibility.

inthewoods23

@pom9207 that's great that you don't need to go in. I'm pretty sure my clinic doesn't care if you test early, they want the blood test done for their records.

pom9207

@inthewoods23 Awwww I love your new profile picture!!

nitnat007

@kiki047 That is truly wonderful news on your embabies! How long will the testing take? Everything crossed for great results. I will be thinking of you. 

@the_road_to_oz Congrats to YH! Truly awesome that you get IVF coverage too. Big score! 

@inthewoods23 Loving the new picture. Hope those spiky boys are being super cuddly and have settled into their new home well. 

@kpearse99 MH also took FH Pro from Fairhaven Health. I honestly am not sure if it worked as his numbers didn't change. But maybe it helped prevent it from getting any worse?!

Guise, I know that I am missing so many people today and so much has happened, so I apologize for that. Work has been so busy with trying to get ready for vacation (which starts today!!) and then IT decided to push us over to a new system this week as well. Sigh..... I truly strive to be better next week. Sending you all love and support. Even though I am not responding and tagging, please know that I am thinking of every one of you special ladies! 

kiki047

@the_road_to_oz oh my goodness, what a rollercoaster! That's great news about YH's IF coverage though. Tiny bit of silver lining in all of this. Hope your appt went well. 
@nitnat007 have been thinking about you. Hope you get some good rest after the crazy week you've had. Are you off until Christmas? 

Thank you everyone else for all your luck and best wishes. It paid off, as we got one more frozen embie graded 6BB0 so we're extremely happy with a total of 3 frosties. I did finally ask the embryologist what the 0 stands for in their grading, apparently it's an in-house pass/fail grade where 0 = no signs of degeneration and anything above a 1 is a fail. Since the clinic closes over the holidays to clean the lab, the results from CooperGenomics won't be sent to our RE until the new year, so we won't find out anything about the PGT results until our follow up on Jan 9th. 

Question for those of you who have done your ERs without doing a fresh transfer right after, should I expect my LP to be the same as normal? I was warned AF might be heavier than usual but they didn't say anything else about it. 

inthewoods23

@nitnat007 the boys are good but they are quilling so they're very fussy and spikey when we try to pick them up. They'll go through another quilling at around 10 months so hopefully this one ends soon so they can be a bit calmer.

@kiki047 yay for 3 embryos! My LP was actually shorter than usual. Only 10 days vs my usual 13. And I found my period to not be that bad and didn't seem heavier than normal.

charmedlifex3

@kiki047 Thats awesome!!!!
@nitnat007 Life has been crazy here too! I hope you enjoy the time off. 

So I had my appointment Thursday, and my inflammation rates are off the charts again. Apparently high inflammation levels can cause RPL, so we are doing a steriod shot in the area of the adhesions to bring it back down.  If this doesn't work I'll go back on celebrex, and stop once I conceive. (It's category D)
From what I understood, the goal here is to knock down the inflamation, and hope it holds through the first tri.  So FX I get pregnant quickly - these shots last 4-6 months. 
From the way the dr explained it, if you are dealing with a lot of inflammation, your immune system is hyped up, and will attack an embryo - leading to loss. Especially since we know I have some weirdness in my immune system between the lupus anticolagulant antibodies and the hole in my heart, that seems like the lowest level intervention to get me a THB. 

thankfullyamama

posting and ghosting because work is crazy but I shall come back! Just wondering if anyone has ever taken any natural or OTC progesterone supplements? 

nitnat007

@kiki047 We are actually off until Jan 6th. Thanks to my company who has a 'use it or lose it' policy on vacation days. Apparently I wasn't really paying attention this year.....only slightly distracted I guess. But we could honestly use the break too. So thrilled that you have three frosties now.I am so hoping for some amazing results for you guys in the new year!!

@inthewoods23 So many things about those little guys that I had no idea about! I totally fell down  rabbit hole watching videos on them the other day. Someone bathing theirs using a toothbrush. Do they normally like water? Hoping that quilling is over soon so you can start handling them some more. 

@the_road_to_oz FX that the shots work and you are able to get the inflammation under control for that THB to happe!

NYTino24

BFN on 14 dpo. Trigger was in my system as of yesterday. Beta tomorrow doesn’t matter. Onto IUI #4

emeraldduchess

@NYTino24 I am so sorry, friend. 

nitnat007

@NYTino24 so sorry. Thinking of you. 

ramzlau

@NYTino24 Ugh! That makes me sad and angry for you. I hope you find hope and encouragement for the next cycle or new plan.