IF Testing & Treatment w/o 3.29

keikilove

This is a place for those of us who have already started TTC, but have started infertility testing and/or treatments. You can express your thoughts, feelings, and frustrations on infertility. TTC can be a long journey naturally, then add in the difficulties associated with infertility, and it becomes a whole new ball game. The road to infertility can be lonely, frustrating, and complicated, so let's make this a place where we can vent, ask questions, and support one another. Feel free to resurrect this thread at any point in the week if you have something to say. Treat this as an ongoing conversation.

Diagnosis (if you've been):  

Status (WTO/TWW/TTA):  

What are you doing this cycle? (Testing? Treatment?):  

How are things going?:  

Any questions?:

GTKY: One thing you’re glad you tried but would never do again? 

bumblebee0210

Diagnosis (if you've been):  RPL, DOR 

Status (WTO/TWW/TTA):  WFAF

What are you doing this cycle? (Testing? Treatment?):  Just finished ER #1, waiting to start ER #2

How are things going?:  Ok. I am definitely a little disappointed by the number of mature eggs we got, but I am hoping we can tweak things next cycle (and just take advantage of cycle-to-cycle variability) to get more next time. The ER went fine for me, as did most of the stim cycle (just some bloating/tiredness right at the end), which gives me confidence that I can do this many more times if necessary.

Any questions?:  Is there any reason I should call in for updates at day 3 if we are trying to get everything to day 5? I sort of hate the "trickle of information" and would rather they just tell me the news all at once. Is there any reason not to go this?

GTKY: One thing you’re glad you tried but would never do again? I have trouble with the finality of "never" but probably some drugs of my youth, also a very steep, narrow, and scary hiking trail.

[Deleted User]

@bumblebee0210 Glad it went well and was all tolerable for you.  My clinic did not give day 3 updates, so depending on how they do things, even if you call they may not have any information for you.  We got the initial egg retrieval amount, then the mature / fert report... And then we waited.  It was torturous.  But to answer your question no, there's no real reason you need to call on Day 3.  If anything, you can just try to wait and let them call you.

[Deleted User]

<div>Diagnosis (if you've been):  Azoospermia

</div><div>Status (WTO/TWW/TTA):  Probably just O'd yesterday, but it's only a testing cycle so... Almost TWW ish for WFAF so we can do the actual FET. Gulp!

</div><div>What are you doing this cycle? (Testing? Treatment?):  Testing. Plus PNVs, RRL tea, l-arginine, myo-inositol... I stopped the pom juice for now.  Need to start a little light exercise in the morning to increase bloodflow....

</div><div>How are things going?:  Okay!  Got a positive OPK and a temp spike, so now basically just waiting for AF.  Also waiting on my Prior Authorization to go through for the Ovidrel, so I sent out a note to bug the pharmacy team and my nurse real quick. 😉. [ETA Just got emailed that they did the Pre-auth, so just need to call CVS back and schedule my shipment! 🎉]

My WFH equipment arrived, but I'm taking a vacation week anyway for Holy Week, so I don't have to log in and start training till the following Monday.

</div><div>Any questions?: 

</div>GTKY: One thing you’re glad you tried but would never do again?  LOL well the first thing that comes to mind is IVF. 😬 It's something I still struggle with a bit though, just the acceptance that it's really over for us after this.  And hearing DH acknowledge that too, that that's going to be a hard day, meant a lot.

**IF backstory / MFI**
<div class="Spoiler">After his retrieval, we had two MESA samples frozen and two TESE samples.  The MESA samples were used first for our first two egg retrievals because they would have more of the preferrable, further developed sperm cells.  At some point I guess it was last year, we would have had to pay OOP to continue to store his remaining two samples (but embryo storage was covered.) So since we knew we weren't planning on another ivf, we let them thaw his samples and that was that. :/ Tough day.  It's just a struggle sometimes knowing that even if I wanted to change my mind, I wouldn't be able to do it without him going through another retrieval of his own, so... Probably a safe bet that's not going to happen.</div><p>
</p>

inthewoods23

@bumblebee0210 you could call and see if they could give you updates on day 3 if you want them but it varies from clinic to clinic. My clinic always provides a day 3 update. I have read that there can be some risk in looking at the embryos on day 3 as that messes with the environment (something to that effect).

I don't know if getting my day 3 update was better in the long run or not. I had 15 fertilize and went from "12 are looking great/on track and the other 3 are hanging in there" for my day 3 update to "we were able to biopsy and freeze 3 embryos" on day 5. That was a really hard pill to swallow. I was very lucky to get another 3 embryos on day 6.

Lisa3379

@bumblebee0210 I probably wouldn't call for an update. I got updates a couple times between retrieval and day 5. The update around day 3 was that I had 4 eggs that were going slower than the others, but maybe they'd be ok by day 5. They were not. Even though I got a great amount at day 5, I was still a little bummed about the other 4. It didn't do me any good to hear that update, honestly, although I appreciated that the doctor was communicating that much. 

@BusinessWife yay for a vacation! Any fun plans? 

Diagnosis (if you've been):  unknown/old

Status (WTO/TWW/TTA):  Can I say a million week wait? Haha. 

What are you doing this cycle? (Testing? Treatment?):  Waiting for FET

How are things going?:  Alright. Nothing to report. I've been doing pretty well with my workouts and eating lately, so that's been good. *shrugs*

Any questions?: Nope

GTKY: One thing you’re glad you tried but would never do again? This is a great question! The first thing that comes to mind is riding on a helicopter. I did it on Hawaii about 10 years ago, and I had to take a Lorazepam to get on it. It was beautiful and I was glad I did it, but you couldn't pay me to do it again. 

kiwi2628

Diagnosis (if you've been):  unexplained 

Status (WTO/TWW/TTA):  Waiting, kind of TTA

What are you doing this cycle? (Testing? Treatment?):  testing. SSG is tomorrow afternoon

How are things going?:  well. I keep wanting to push up our timeline- hormones are real, but also knowing waiting until at least July for a FET is the right choice, but if it happens sooner, it happens

Any questions?:

GTKY: One thing you’re glad you tried but would never do again? 

Diving into a cenote. I am terrified of heights. I did it because once in a lifetime but WOOF, I don’t think I could again. 

@bumblebee0210 we got a day 1,2,3 and 5 update. I’m sorry your numbers weren’t what you hoped- hoping for this next cycle to give you some more embryos!

@businesswife ahhh I can’t believe your next cycle is it!!

@lisa3379 I could never to a helicopter! Nope nope nope nope

acleverusername

@bumblebee0210 I’m sorry that you only got the 5 mature eggs. I would echo what everyone else said and NOT call for a day 3 update; it might just get your hopes up unnecessarily. What’s the plan for next cycle? You should get your period within 7-10 days after retrieval. With your doctor away for Passover, do you know how they’re tweaking your protocol? Also, I totally agree with your assessment of the word “never”. Same goes for “forever”.

@BusinessWife enjoy the Holy Week celebrations! I’m Orthodox so our Easter isn’t until 1st weekend of May but I always really enjoy Holy Week services. Enjoy setting up your home office! Post photos if you’re comfortable once it’s all done. Also... I can only imagine how letting go of those sperm samples must have felt... 🐙

@Lisa3379 sorry that you’re still stuck in the waiting game! Have you communicated with your clinic at all? Any luck with OPKs to figure out where in your cycle you are?

@kiwi2628 good luck on your SSG tomorrow!!! As for cenotaph dive, was it scuba? 

Diagnosis (if you've been):  Oligospermia, age-related egg quality issues 

Status (WTO/TWW/TTA):  TWW

What are you doing this cycle? (Testing? Treatment?):  super ovulation and double hybrid IUI with Zymöt

How are things going?: pretty well... still early in the interminable 2WW and I have a feeling this one’s gonna be tough. Just feels like there’s a lot hanging on this. Already starting to think how well move forwards afterwards... MHs ASA test is booked on Apr 15 and I think I’d be hard pressed to do another IUI without getting that test done. So, I might opt to keep taking progesterone or ask for BCP to stall my next cycle until we know the answer. Any suggestions as to what might most sense?

Still having a mental struggle as to where we’d do IVF if it gets to that.🤷‍♀️

Any questions?: see above about how to stall next cycle if it comes to that.

GTKY: One thing you’re glad you tried but would never do again? This is an After Hours type of info, but I would have to say some sexual experimentation I did with my first boyfriend. He was way more experienced than me and I was young and open minded and up for trying anything. I’ll happily not go there again. 

bumblebee0210

@BusinessWife. Glad things are progressing! You'll be ready for FET before you know it.
@Lisa3379 OMG I can't believe you are still waiting. Come on AF!
@acleverusername. Oh man, I can imagine this feels like a major 2WW. Sending you good distraction vibes!

Thanks all for the input re: embryology updates. Basically the way my clinic works is that you call in at certain hours on day 1, 3, 5 etc to get a report on what is happening. I am normally a "more is more" person when it comes to information, but this is a case in which the day 3 report is basically meaningless, except as a signal about what will happen on day 5. I have learned slowly over time that this type of information is generally pretty anxiety-provoking for me and often not actually very helpful in my life. They actually told me to call in today (day 2) to check on whether the other 2 mature eggs had fertilized, but again-- I'm just looking for embryos, so I think it's best just to wait for day 5/6 and get all of the news at once. 

keikilove

@bumblebee0210 Hey there, just jumping in to add another perspective. I had results very similar to yours with my 3 egg retrievals. My clinic called me daily to give updates. They especially wanted patients to have the Day 1, 3, and 5 updates because that info could inform decisions going forward. For example, we tried to push my good-looking Day3 embryos to Day 5, and then they got pushed to Day 6...& arrested. After that, in the next DuoStim retrieval, they decided to freeze the best-quality looking Day3s and push the others to Day 5. Those Day5s arrested. I will use this info if I do another IVF round and never push to Day 5 for testing again unless I get a good number of embryos. Some clinics will transfer Day2 or Day3 embryos with results like ours, other clinics have a strict policy of transferring Day5s only no matter what. 

Also, when doing back-to-back retrievals, sometimes the meds get tweaked for the next round but often they don’t. Very often, there are only 5 days of rest before starting stims again. Many people get their period and have their retrieval during that period, but many don’t get period until after the second retrieval. For many the period comes way late after doing back-to-back retrievals, but for some of us it comes as soon as just 10 days later (despite having a bleed during the second retrieval).  It all depends on how your particular body responds to DuoStim and how your clinic times things out. **ETA: The retrieval on the second round of DuoStim often yields better results than the first collection. Best of luck! 

bumblebee0210

@keikilove Thanks! That's a helpful perspective. I think I would want the info on how they progressed over time, but we are committed to trying for day-5's for testing this round at least, so I don't think I would act on any info. Also-- I'm not doing duostim technically-- I am waiting for CD1 and then starting a new cycle without BCP. But I am wondering why more clinics seem obsessed with starting things on "CD1" when from what I've read random start and duostim procedures get similar results with a lot less wait time. 

Lisa3379

@acleverusername I haven't contacted my doctor yet, because I don't really know what they would do about the situation. It would be kinda like "hey, still here, no period yet!" It's fine. I mean, it will come eventually, right? And 2 weeks of progesterone really wouldn't throw me off my cycle by weeks, right? RIGHT? Haha. Whatever. Regarding OPKs, they've been all negative, and now we're out of town for a week and I left them at home. Whoops. I hate this phrase, but it is what it is, I guess.  

[Deleted User]

@Lisa3379. Lol it's Holy Week so.... Not much!  Hanging out around the house, (waiting for a couple more last minute Easter dress options to arrive), cleaning and trying to get better set up I guess for WFH, baking all the Easter things for Sunday, and Church!  I don't think we will make it every day unfortunately, but for sure Thursday and Friday.  Your helicopter ride description sounds accurate!  I have never done it, but I think if I did, Hawaii would be the place to do it!  Sounds amazing.

@kiwi2628. GL tomorrow!  Hopefully it is completely uneventful. ❤️

@acleverusername oh!  That's so cool you are Orthodox! Which one? We were both raised NO (Novus Ordo - the "new" Mass said in whichever coloquial language i.e. English, in our case), Catholic, but we have since rediscovered the TLM (Traditional Latin Mass).  It's been amazing.  It's crazy that there are elements in the Church who continue to want to suppress it, though.  We have friends in our parish who were raised legit underground, or else attending Ukrainian Orthodox because it was more ...orthodox lol / traditional.  But most Catholics of my generation just didn't even have access to the old Mass.  We love it!  Just don't tell DHS 😬 lol / laugh-cry emojjii<div>
@bumblebee0210 Hoping and praying for your little starts and a good report on day 5/6! 🙏🙏🙏 That's so great that your doctor was thinking of you over the holiday.
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acleverusername

@Lisa3379 depending where you’re in your cycle, your doctor can induce a period with Provera. So if you’re anxious to get the show on the road, might be worth reaching out to them. But waiting is also an option. 🙃

@BusinessWife ha, I didn’t even know about TLM; that’s my “today I learned”. I attend church(es) that are part of the Orthodox Church of America denomination. I was baptized Russian Orthodox but didn’t attend church as a child; I went back on my own volition in my late 20’a and didn’t want o attend a service that wasn’t in the language “of the people.” So going to a Russian Orthodox Church was out of question since services are conducted in Slavonic, which is the equivalent of Old English. So I found myself a church that served a mixture of English and French (this was back in Canada) with a bit of Slavonic thrown in there. As a result, the church attracted many who didn’t want to belong to an ethnic Orthodox Church which is usually what happens. 

Lisa3379

@acleverusername Interesting. Yeah, I think I'm a bit more keen on not messing with my cycle anymore than I have to at this point, hahaha. But thanks for the heads up with that  

keikilove

@bumblebee0210 The first thing I should have said was congratulations on your first retrieval! Hoping along with you that you get some good healthy blasts on Day 5. I see what you mean now that you are truly doing back-to-back cycles and not DuoStim (done in the same cycle). In that case, it will be interesting to see if your doctor is able to change your protocol to yield more eggs.🤞🏽Your response to the GTKY & the scary hiking trail helped me remember my own.😬 Glad we survived the risks of youth! 

@businesswife Getting closer everyday to your transfer! And re: your GTKY: maybe that’s a good one to say “never say never”... I can imagine how hard it must be to face the finality of those decisions.❤️

@lisa3379 Ha! “Million week wait” sounds exactly accurate when dealing with IF! Sounds like you are preparing very well for FET. PS: Wow, you really did the helicopter tour?! I have seen footage of all those beautiful helicopter rides and “it’s a no for me, dawg”. 

@kiwi2628 Best of luck with the SSG! Ooooh, cenotes look so breathtaking. Did you dive from quite a height? That is scary. Hope you could enjoy the swimming at least.🙂

@acleverusername The wondering & planning for next cycle sounds so familiar. Hang in there and try to channel those thoughts into positivity for this current cycle. (But I’m right there with you, so easier said than done.) Re: Progesterone or BCP, I think the BCP would be more reliable to stall things till YH’s test results are back. Progesterone will delay your start but maybe not as many days as you need it to. 

Diagnosis (if you've been):  RPL, partial DQ Alpha & DQ Beta match (leading to increased natural killer cells & activity which attack my embryos), blood-clotting disorders, AMA, DOR

Status (WTO/TWW/TTA): TWW

What are you doing this cycle? (Testing? Treatment?):  We did our first medicated IUI last week. **TW: I have done 4 unmedicated IUIs with initial success before loss. End TW** So I thought we had a good chance at this IUI working--particularly with meds added for more follicles. Well, everything looked excellent on my end: lining was 9.5, I had 3 large follies just about to ovulate, and all my bloodwork was in perfect range. Unfortunately, for the first time, MH's sperm was way below par. My RE saw the notes on his sample and said, "This is bad. Like, IVF bad. Find out what he's been doing differently since his sperm count is usually fine." She asked if he's been taking testosterone, drinking lots of protein shakes, drinking Monster drinks or taking 5-hour Energy shots, etc. I spoke to him right after and it turns out he's been doing a lot of these things lately--inspired by the guys in his workout group. He had no idea they could impact his sperm quality or count. He's feeling terrible, as he should. I have calmed down now, but was fuming over the weekend.

How are things going?:  Trying to hold out hope and stay positive for this cycle. But we do have a consult with our RE this week to talk about next steps: I am going to let her do a lot of the talking to MH. I have been harping on him to eat better and at least take a nutrition class online for the last 2 years, as he has no familiarity with what constitutes a healthy diet or nutrition whatsoever. I think the IUI incident is finally the tipping point for him to realize how important it is for him to inform himself about what he puts in his body.

Any questions?: If your partner ever had a low sperm count and then improved it, how long did it take to see the improvement? I know men make new sperm every 3 months, but I'm wondering if we can do another IUI before a full 3 months...

GTKY: One thing you're glad you tried but would never do again? Like Bumblebee, I went on a crazy scary hike that I would never want to do again. Longer details in spoiler.

My sister woke me up one morning and asked if I wanted to go on an adventure hike. I didn't ask any questions and off we went.  She'd never been either but was curious. It's a secret hike where you walk through fields to get to a cliff above the ocean, then scale about 100 feet down the sheer cliff face using just a rope in order to get to amazing salt-water pools below. We did it and it was terrifying, but the views were beyond breathtaking. After swimming in the most beautiful pools we started to climb back up: I tried to avoid the sheer cliff face by finding my own new route back up to the fields. I almost put my foot on a big outcropping of dirt and rock to hoist myself up a different side of the cliff, but something told me to bang on the outcropping first. I could hear that it was hollow. If I had hoisted myself up it would have crumbled under my weight and I would have tumbled to certain injury or death on the rocks below.
I just looked up this hike online and it turns out several people have died over the last few years on this 'adventure'. Never again. 

Edited to fix TB's annoying spacing issues. 

acleverusername

@keikilove oh no! YH!!! 🤬😡🤬😡🤬 I would be so mad! You were totally justified in your fuming! I can’t believe he was taking all of those substances without consulting with you. To answer your question about spermatogenesis, it can actually take a lot less than 3 months. Take a look at this paper: https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0404/6631/7474/t/1/assets/SpermatogKinetics.pdf Just read the abstract, but TL; DR. It takes 3 months for ALL of the sperm to be replaced, but new sperm starts to be produced in as little as 42 days, which is encouraging. I first came across those stats when looking at the AlphaSperm supplement. Hope it helps! Just get YH off that sh*t he’s been taking and on to some good supplements. Good luck! And of course, 🤞🏻🤞🏻🤞🏻 For this cycle. It CAN still work for you, especially given previous successes!

Oh that that hike sounds SCARY as balls! Totally something I would have tried though. 

[Deleted User]

@keikilove oh no!  How could he not know all that stuff was going to have an effect!!!???  I am so sorry.  Luckily it sounds like it should be something he can improve pretty dramatically by making different choices.  Sheesh!  I'm not sure how long to wait.  In our case it was pretty make or break, so DH took Clomid for a full 90 days prior to our retrieval attempt.  I know nobody's really got time for that, tho! 😂

laura-kay

@acleverusername Same here!  OCA of the Eastern Pennsylvania Archdiocese under Bishop Mark.    I became Orthodox when I was 24 - and was not familiar with other Slavonic or Greek, so I chose one that had services in English.  My husband’s family is Carpatho-Russian, but he is third generation, so he only knows a handful of the language as well.

@BusinessWife TLM is beautiful!  We have a Tridentine mass at a Western Orthodox Church about an hour from us - I enjoy going there occasionally.  I believe it is the same liturgy as TLM. I don’t know of any Catholic TLM around here though.

laura-kay

Diagnosis (if you've been):  unexplained infertility

Status (WTO/TWW/TTA):  wto

What are you doing this cycle? (Testing? Treatment?): Another round of superovulation IUI + Ganarelix

How are things going?:  just got a BFN.  I had some spotting for days but haven’t gotten AF - and I’m late.  Very frustrating.  I honestly just don’t understand why.

Any questions?:  NATM

GTKY: One thing you’re glad you tried but would never do again?  Honestly, I’ve been trying to think of an answer for awhile but couldn’t come up with one. I have to get to work though so if I think of one, I’ll answer that later!

[Deleted User]

YGPM @laura-kay

laura-kay

YGPM as well

bumblebee0210

@keikilove. Thanks! Yeah I have no idea if they are going to change something up or not-- it's all a bit complicated by my doctor being away this week. If my period holds off until my appointment with her next Tuesday (which would be ~10 days from retrieval), then I think I can just work it out with her there unless it requires some meds i don't already have. I don't thin there is time for estrace priming, though I may discuss it with her to start immediately after this coming retrieval. I think, realistically there are some tweaks that may help but given my low AMH (and very good insurance), it's mostly just a numbers game for me. If we don't get any viable blasts (or definitely from both) from this round I may ask about changing things, but she expected 1 or maybe 2 blasts from each round, so I don't think we are off-track really. Obviously I was hoping to be a special snowflake, but I think this was always what was in the cards. Still-- even if we could get 7 or 8 mature eggs instead of 5, that ups the chances a lot, so who knows...

Also, on YH-- eek! I would be livid. I feel like we go through *so much* research, supplements, acupuncture, nutrition (don't eat cold foods! don't  eat meat! wait, don't eat carbs!), not to mention the visits, hormones, etc, and they have one job! Like, get it together!

@laura-kay Sorry about the BFN. Are you sure you're out?

optimistgardener

Diagnosis (if you've been):  DOR, only 1 overworked old ovary, who knows what else

Status (WTO/TWW/TTA):  I just got my negative pregnancy test so WFAF, I guess

What are you doing this cycle? (Testing? Treatment?):  I have to call the clinic once they open this morning, but I'm guessing they'll put me on birth control in preparation for IVF stuff the month after.

How are things going?:  I knew I would get a BFN this cycle, and this month honestly feel kinda like "of course I can't get pregnant, why am I even trying with all this?" Which I suppose is maybe a sign it's time to let modern science totally take the wheel.

Any questions?: I have so many questions about the IVF process and what my clinic will recommend for me, but those are all for the clinic, not you lovely folks on the board.

GTKY: One thing you’re glad you tried but would never do again? much like @bumblebee0210 there are some late teen/early 20s drug experiments that i'd definitely never repeat, but they're less fun than the extremely sketch travel adventures from my youth. In sketch adventure 1, I took a 9-hour journey into the Indian himalayas on a rusty windowless bus with an (as it turned out) drunk bus driver on a one-lane road with unprotected dropoffs down to the distant valley floor below. Along the way we encountered (and I am not joking about any of this) feral pigs, wildfires burning to either side of the road, leaky gas tanks, spiders the size of my hand, and other hazards. In sketch adventure 2, I joined several friends in a taxi in Tajikistan driving out of the capital of Doshanbe in the direction of Khojand. Along the way we traveled through the 3-mile long Anzob tunnel, colloquially known as the tunel-i marg or "tunnel of death." Constructed by the Iranian government, every kind of thing was wrong with it, including no lighting, no ventilation, water leaking everywhere, and car-sized holes in the  pavement. The goal was to get through quickly because it was possible to die of carbon monoxide poisoning if you got stuck in the middle anywhere. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anzob_Tunnel)

I've been reading everyone's posts this week with great interest but don't have anything coherent to contribute right now. Maybe later!

laura-kay

@bumblebee0210 I am 99% sure...but o still haven’t seen AF come fully.  It’s been weird - the spotting is gone again.  I’m wondering if I am missing this period due to stress.

[Deleted User]

@laura-kay weird.  do you have a chart?  When were your LMP / IUI dates?

laura-kay

Nevermind....it’s back lol.

I had to skip the IUI this time around since my husband was diagnosed with COVID (thankfully he is better).  I’m hoping that I can go for the next round even with this strange cycle.

bumblebee0210

@laura-kay Sorry man. The weird period uncertainty is the worst. Hopefully you can get back on track with treatment now. 

Lisa3379

I GOT MY PERIOD FINALLY!! Yay, CD 1! I have an ultrasound appointment tomorrow morning... and I'm 4 hours away from home, lol. So I have to drive home from my in laws today, stay at home tonight, and then go to my appt tomorrow and drive back to the in laws' after.

I'm SO STOKED to have 8 hours of silence or total control of the car audio.  

[Deleted User]

🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉 @Lisa3379 Congratulations on CD1!!!  Enjoy that long car ride! 😊

acleverusername

@laura-kay hey fellow OCA member! I actually don't attend a Church currently because since moving to the Bay Area, I've had 4 different addresses so I didn't want to start going to a church before I had a more permanent base. And then, Covid. I'm sorry that you got that BFN, but glad that your hubby is doing better. Did he get really sick? Did you get sick at all? Did you get tested for Covid antibodies? Any update on your research of foreign IVF clinics? Btw, you've been mentioning stress for a few months now, are you doing anything for self-care? 

@optimistgardener regarding your "so many questions, but for IVF clinic", we've got quite the informed audience here so Try Us! Speaking for myself, I'd love to help answer any questions you might have about IVF. But also, yay for deciding that IVF is the right next step for you! Hopefully MH and I will get there at some point. Btw, your "youthful adventures" sound downright scary! 

@Lisa3379 Hooray for your period!!! Let's get this show on the road! Enjoy the long drive (I personally would; I find driving therapeutic. Thought maybe not 16 hours of it in a 36hr period.) 

laura-kay

@acleverusername Thankfully my hubby didn’t get very sick - it was pretty mild all things considered.  I didn’t get sick thankfully.  I also got a negative test.  Since I didn’t get sick I also was able to get my first shot for the vaccine!  Regarding stress - I still need to work on that self care though I have been trying to get outside more and do some more reading!

bumblebee0210

@Lisa3379 Yay!!!  I was so impatient for you. Hopefully all goes smoothly from here.
@optimistgardener. OMG I totally forgot about crazy travel things. I never did anything as insane/dangerous as you but I did a lot of seriously low-budget travel (3-week cross-country road trip mostly sleeping in a dodge stratus and cooking on the side of the road, 6 weeks in Southeast Asia during the hottest part of the year not being willing to pay the extra $2 a night for a/c, having a rat fall onto my bed while I was sleeping in a hostel in Vietnam). Mostly just like things I would not put up with as a grown-*ss adult, but I'm glad I got to see so many interesting places. 
@laura-kay Glad you guys seemed to mostly dodge the COVID bullet. 

AFM: I got cleared from the clinic to start cycle 2! My lovely doctor submitted a plan for me even though she was away for passover. They aren't really changing anything-- I did respond to stims fairly well, and actually fairly evenly apart from the one monster lead, so maybe they want to see if that's a fluke or not. Also we don't know yet how many embryos we got from the cycle, and it genuinely could be like a grand success (3 healthy blasts) or an epic failure (no embryos even made it to day 3).

Speaking of which--I'm going to call the lab today (it's day 5) to find out. I debated waiting til tomorrow, because then we would know for sure how many blasts we had, but my FIL is coming tomorrow evening to stay the weekend, and if we don't have any blasts, I want to have some time to be sad before I have to face him. I do think being ready to start cycle 2 as soon as I get my period is helping me think more long-term and not be so focused on this one cycle. 

[Deleted User]

@bumblebee0210 GL!  I'm looking forward to hearing your report!  Even if they have to give you a follow up tomorrow, that's okay too.  I've said it before and I can't say it enough, it helps SO. MUCH. To have something to look forward to. ❤️❤️❤️ You got this.

acleverusername

@bumblebee0210 🤞🏻For you!

bumblebee0210

OK-- I waited all this time and the answer is still "maybe"!  All three fertilized eggs are still alive and dividing. Two have reached blastocyst stage, but they aren't *quite* big enough to be biopsied yet. The third has not yet reached blastocyst, but still might tomorrow. The lab is going to call me with an update tomorrow. I will just be over here on the edge of my seat. 

ETA: Does anyone have experience with this Day 5/Day 6 thing? Today the two blasts were 3BC, which I know isn't great, but I'm wondering if it's typical for them do develop more in the next day, and then be fine. 

kiwi2628

@bumblebee0210 on day 5 I had one embryo that was a blast and 4 others that were slower growing and they weren’t anything spectacular. By day 6 all 4 had caught up and were able to be biopsied PGS (and all 4 were genetically normal, the good one from day 5 was a fresh day 5 transfer)

optimistgardener

Hey y'all.

@bumblebee0210 you say it well re: what we put up with as youths vs. our decision-making as mature adults (oh, all the gross hostels and hotel rooms I've slept in to save a dollar or two... but ewwwww about the the fat rat in Vietnam)!

@acleverusername thanks for reminding me that there is lots of expertise on the board. I think I am still far too hazy on the  details of the process (but that's sort of a thing I just need to spend a little time with google for). I also need to start making some cost/benefit type decisions, since this, like pretty much everything else I've done, will be OOP. 

For folks who have done IVF, are there things you wish you'd known or considered before you started the process? Questions you'd for sure ask in advance?

I wonder whether my clinic would recommend that I do back-to-back retrievals like @bumblebee0210? I wonder as well if they'll try to push my ovary extra hard to try to max out the retrieval, since there's only one to harvest from, and what kinds of risks that might entail.

I could probably dream up questions all afternoon but they all feel a little hypothetical until the doc gets on the phone with me and draws up an actual plan for me to bounce my questions against.

I'm waiting for my next cycle to start. Last month during my first injectable cycle my luteal phase was painfully long, so I'm expecting another 17-18 luteal phase this time, too. Day 16, here I am! I'm ready to get this show on the road (which of course will mean hurry up and get on bcps for a cycle).

Lisa3379

I had my ultrasound today, and it turns out I'm doing a natural transfer cycle, which is great! No shots in the butt, haha! So next step is an appointment next Thursday to see how things are progressing. It feels so good to know that the ball is finally rolling! And the drive was AMAZING. Played loud music while singing along, beautiful scenery, great weather.  

@bumblebee0210 keeping my fingers crossed for your report tomorrow! 

@optimistgardener I think the biggest thing for us was figuring out the insurance and cost stuff. For instance, our insurance covers a certain amount lifetime for fertility treatment, and that includes all meds and procedures. We found out that paying for drugs out of pocket was a better deal, because the pharmacy bills the insurance company more than someone paying out of pocket, so therefore, we put more of the procedure cost on insurance. We knew that we'd max out our fertility cap, so might as well keep the total cost as low as possible. Does that make sense? 

optimistgardener

thanks @Lisa3379! That does make sense. I unfortunately have no fertility coverage at all through my insurance, but occasionally my provider has been able to convince them to cover little stuff like bloodwork.

acleverusername

@optimistgardener given that we'd be doing IVF OOP as well (if this and one other IUI doesn't work), I can probably share a few tips. I've done A LOT of research on the topic, and MH and I are still considering going out of state for IVF. Putting everything in spoiler because it's long. 

First of all, are you looking to stay with you current clinic or are you open to traveling for lower cost? If you're willing to travel, I would say that "you get what you pay for." There are low-cost clinics in US (CNY Fertility) but they do not take a very individualized approach. They basically put you on the "it works for 90% of people" plan for the first round, and then I guess adjust as needed. I have heard both success stories and non-success stories with them. I've personally experienced this myself (not CNY Fertility), but a local area clinic that's billed themselves as "cheaper alternative". Well, MH and I had to fire them because of the mistakes they were making after we wasted 4 months we them, and we also demanded they give us our money back (they refunded 2 cycles; but how do you put a $ on those 4 months + meds? You can't.) We're now with the most expensive doctor in our area, but I know exactly where that money is going. You just can't put a price on being able to email your doctor and have her respond to you personally within the hour. That said, IVF in some states is just plain cheaper than others. Arizona for example. It would cost us $5-8K less to do IVF in Arizona than in the Bay area. If we could go to Mexico, we would, as an IVF round there costs between $4-6K including medications. @keikilove can provide more details on MX clinics though. 

However, it sounds like you might be wanting to stay with your current clinic. I also believe that you get a decent amount of follicles to grow each cycle, in which case, they'll probably have you do the standard (antagonist) protocol cycle. The med doses will depend on your starting AMH and FSH levels, your AFC; adjustments will be made based on bloodwork results throughout your stim cycle. The back-to-back retrieval cycles is generally a good idea if you have DOR; I don't think you do. It's possible your clinic will allow you to do back-to-back cycles, but I don't think it would make a big difference in your case. In fact, I would say that giving your ovaries a rest might be better if you have that option. 

Then, there's the medication. You should definitely submit an application for EMD Serono's Compassionate Care program (Google it and it'll be the first search result). It may qualify you for discounts of 25-75%, depending on household income. If you don't qualify for discount, you may qualify for rebates. You should also SHOP AROUND! You'd be surprised the difference in cost between various pharmacies, and there are a lot of specialty/fertility pharmacies. I can hook you up with some lists of pharmacies if you're further interested. 

I think this is enough info to get you started. Happy to answer any targeted question you might have as a result of my diatribe.