Thank you @babydust2507 and @bkatp for your kind, supporting, and encouraging words. It’s so comforting to hear others understand what I’m going through and that it’s not “just me.” My hcg is raising appropriately and they are happy with it.... so I know I just need to relax and live in the moment.
@babydust2507 your ultrasound results sound fantastic!!! I think it’s pretty typical that they adjust doses up and down after each monitoring appt. at least you know they are doing it to get the best results for you!! Are you planning on doing a fresh transfer?
@babydust2507 sounds the like stims are going well thus far! The follicle sizes seem right on track being 4 days in from my understanding
@kbenner2 you are definitely not alone in feeling worried, losses can really mess with your head. If you decide to join your birth month club, I recommend joining the PGAL check-ins. Having the support of other women who have been where you are is helpful.
@bkatp I’m 21 dpo or 5 weeks today. I’m doing a little bit better at just taking it one day at a time. A week from Monday we have our 6 week viability scan.
@mackorori thanks so much for your kind words! I will definitely look into the birth club and PGAL check-ins. Thanks so much for suggesting that.
@mackorori congrats on your embryos that is great!
@bkatp have you received your FET calendar yet? My RE gave me two options, natural and medicated. I am not transferring until the fall but just curious about how others are going about FET.
I got my results right before going away, they retrieved 15 eggs, 10 mature and 10 fertilized. I ended up with 3 blasts. My PGS came back yesterday and I have only one normal embryo and two low level mosaics which they say they will not transfer at this time until they know more, but will keep them frozen. I am really happy that I have this one normal embryo, but feeling really defeated about the others. I think what makes it a little harder to swallow is two of my cousins, my age, gave birth in the time between my ER and now. My clinic is part of a large hospital so I was on the same campus as them. Walking from the fertility building to the maternity building is definitely an experience. But, I am hopeful with this little one and now trying to plan for FET.
When I had went for a check up with my RE just to see how I was healing, and I asked about the 7 embryos that didn't get to blast he flipped through the chart and said "Everything looked good on day 3, but day 5 weren't healthy and I don't know why." That is the extent of what I know about my embryos. My clinic doesn't give the embryo grading as some of you have gotten so I am not sure where this one stands and really do not have much information, and I think that is the most frustrating part, just not knowing. I signed an agreement the day of my ER that my doctor and the lab can use any material (immature eggs) that would be thrown out, for research instead. I figure if it can advance IVF and make it easier in the future why not? My DH is a doctor and said they will be more careful with me if we agree, so now I have all kinds of paranoia about my eggs/embryos but DH assures me that nothing suspicious happened to them.
@anared glad to hear from you again, and I totally understand that feeling with your cousins having a baby and you going to fertility treatment. My sister is pregnant and expecteind a girl finally after 2 having 2 boys so the whole family is really excited for but she's been thru a lot too, had a lot of M/c. She has fibroids and other complications. My coworker's wife is expecting too, and hearing him talking about their experience reminds me my struggle to conceive. I don't think that's something we can avoid, don't feel bad, but I want you to focus on the healthy blast that will be transferred soon! Your time is coming! How are you all doing @katie35, @kbenner2, @bkatp, @mackorori? Quick update with me. Had u/s & blood work with a different dr again because my dr is out this week. Lining was at 6.8 where the other said 7 last time. Over 20 follicles both ovaries with a group of 20 ranging from 11-15 mm and the rest 9-11mm. They reduced my follistim dose to 150 U and my estrogen level was 1743. They said they probably gonna see me every day now, so I have another appt today. Wish me luck, starting feeling tired and dizzy last night with palpitations. They also told me to stop working out and give my body some rest whil going thru stims. Did you all have side effects?
Hello everyone, I'm glad to see all the positive updates, congrats! Sorry I have not been keeping up, I had a lot going on between work and thinking next steps. After talking to RE for my follow up he encouraged me to keep going so I did round 2 and ER is tomorrow. I see a lot of you who have double digit # off follicles/eggs so in comparison it seems like the 5 follicles that I'm showing is not much but we will see, getting old is not fun:(
My AMH is .51 and FSH 17, has anyone have similar numbers?
Had my appt this morning and going back tomorrow again. Lead follicles were at 17 and estrogen 2318. Estimated ER Tuesday. Showing sign of OHSS my RE said so he wanna monitor me closely. I pray that everything goes well and don't get canceled. GL @lemondrop1976 and I'm glad you decided to try again! My numbers of AMH and FSH were higher don't remember the exact number sorry..., but my RE said it was above average.
@babydust2507 thank you! It is hard to always be reminded of the struggle, but I am hoping the universe aligns. Sorry to hear you are having symptoms. I was told no exercise, heavy lifting, and to limit bending (like picking things up from the floor). Aside from the cramping and feeling tired, towards the second half of stims I would wake up with terrible back pains, I couldn't lay flat, so I slept sitting up in one of the living rooms chair with my feet up and it was such a relief- I continued that post ER until I got my period. The bloating and constipation was another side effect, my stomach was so distended but I read that eating easily digestible foods can help, and it did, I ate soup almost every night, avoided carbs, raw salads, and broke up my meals into snacks. Your follicles are almost there! I have my fingers crossed for you that you get to ER and all goes well. I am assuming they would probably have you trigger tomorrow? I don't know what my estrogen was at the time but I was told to only take 5,000 iu of HCG trigger, which was half of my original dose. The nurse told me to get ahead of OHSS and drink lots of gatorade, coconut water and eat salty foods.
thank you @anared! yes the nurse told me today about the Gatorade and the salty food! and I stopped exercising and I have been constipated too, I was wondering why, lol. they will confirm tomorrow if they want me to trigger after the appt, but my RE said my ER will be most likely tomorrow if everything goes well. i hope that my estrogen won't increase too much. how big were your follicles on trigger day?
@babydust2507 from what I can tell it sounds like you are doing great! I don’t know about other clinics, but mine monitors you daily the last 4-5 days, seems pretty normal. Excited for you that Tuesday is the tentative day!
@anared welcome back from your trip and thanks for the update on how things went. I completely understand how it feels to see the numbers dwindle. My first ER I had similar numbers to yours: 13 mature, 9 fertilize and 3 to blast with one PGS normal. As I understand, losing a lot between fertilization and blast is pretty common, I don’t know if it was becase I’m older or just the way it happens, but it’s definitely normal. You have one beauty though and positive thoughts this is your golden one! When are you planning FET?
@lemondrop1976 good to hear from you and happy to see you tried another round! In my reading these boards, I see a number of other women with lower follicle counts and then they end up with the same number of blasts, so I wouldn’t worry. My AMH was around 1.00 back in November, but I don’t really know how that translates into how IVF goes. I’ve been told any one month could be great and others you don’t respond. Good luck with your ER tomorrow!
thank you @mackorori for your nice word. Do you think my E2 is too high and I am in risk of OHSS? how big were your follicles on trigger day? I'm kinda concerned they're to trigger me soon because they think I'm moderate/high risk of OHSS and they don't want me to stim for too long...
@babydust2507 I am by no means an ER veteran, but it seems like you are in really good shape from everything they’ve told me through this process. If you were around 17-18 today that is where my lead follies were on a Saturday and then they had me go one more day and the leads were 21-22 then a number in the 17-19 range and triggered Sunday night for Tuesday ER.. The one thing I don’t know about is Estrogen levels and how that impacts it all. Mine got really high (I was over 5000 the same point where you are now), but I was also not doing a fresh transfer, and the nurse said they were more likely to push me more to the limit to let the others grow a bit longer because of that.
@lemondrop1976 thinking about you today for your ER! I hope everything goes smoothly and you get great results!
@anared so glad you’re back! That’s so great you have that one perfect little embryo! Are you thinking of doing a FET in September or October? I bet you can’t wait! This will be the one!!! That’s so frustrating about not getting detailed information from your Dr. Office. That would drive me crazy!
@babydust2507 ER is almost here!! Your follicle sizes/count look great!! I think an E2 of 3,000 and over is where they say the big risk of OHSS comes in (although it can happen at much smaller numbers too). Mine was right at 3,000 and was still able to transfer but think they would’ve made me a freeze all of I had been much over 3,000. Can’t wait to hear another update from you!! Hoping it all keeps going perfectly!
Hi ladies and thank you for your support and kind words! @mackorori sorry for stressing you out and I know you're not a RE just needed someone to remove that thought of OHSS of my head and I apologize for putting that on you, I appreciate everyone of you. I didn't even sleep last, I was freaking out that they will cancel my IVF cycle after the result of my blood work. Thanks God, my cycle is not cancel, but I'm still high risk. My estrogen was at 3754, lining 8.5, follicles lead from 17-21mm, other from 14-17 and last group from 9-17mm. They put me on cabergoline to prevent OHSS and I'm supposed to take half dose of pregnyl trigger shot tonight and last shot of lupron 5U. ER is on Tuesday morning. Again, thanks everyone for your support still need prayers! @lemondrop0726 how did it go ? And thank @kbenner2 for sharing your numbers too!
This morning my RE retrieved 6 eggs, I find out tomorrow if any fertilized. I guess not so bad for an almost 42yr old, last month it was 5 so hopefully that one extra does the trick this round.
@babydust2507 Don’t even worry about it, you are going through it all and looking for advice, I was happy to offer my thoughts. I just know every woman, cycle, etc is so different...my making caveats must be the consultant in me
@babydust2507 On trigger day the nurse told me I had some lead follicles at 22 and 23, but the rest were around 19. Although the day of ER some grew a little bigger I don't know the size for all of them but I had a 27, a few 24, 23, 21, 19... the cyst was 43, which I think affected the follicles in that ovary because they were smaller. I'm so happy you get to trigger tonight! Good luck and hopefully the OHSS doesn't progress.
@mackorori thank you! For FET, probably in September. I was hoping for this cycle because I am a teacher but its fine, I have seniority so taking a day in September shouldn't be a big deal. Any updates from PGS?
@kbenner2 How are you feeling? and thank you! I really hope this is the one! the lack of details is really frustrating. I didn't want to be annoying so I didn't bother anyone too much during stims, but for FET I am going to be way more proactive. We are thinking September for FET, there are a bunch of school holidays so having some extra days off will hopefully work out.
@lemondrop1976 that is great you have better numbers this round! Sending good vibes your way!
Well this time around was not as good as last time at this stage. Out of the 6 eggs retrieved only 1 fertilized. This morning they injected one more because the egg was too immature yesterday so I find out if that one was able to get fertilized tomorrow morning.
@lemondrop1976 I'm praying that this other egg gets fertilized as well and both of them gets to blast stage! So yesterday DH helped me with the trigger shot but I was so sick of getting poked with needles in my tummy that I moved DH hands by reflex and some of the solution was wasted, a little bit tho. I wasn't sure how much was wasted and didn't wanna add some more and now be overstimulated so I left it alone. But now I'm worried that it won't be enough to have enough mature eggs, especially because I was told to take half of the dose already I worry over little things now and I'm tired of it! I know this TWW will be the worst!
@anared I recirece my FET calendar today and I am tentative transfer of 12th. I am on BCP now will start lupron on 14th and then on estrace tablets so definitely on medicated cycle. I was not even given an option of natural cycle. I hope the one little embies that's perfect will work out well for you. And yes it is hard to see other people around you just concieve doing nothing even they don't even want it.
@babydust2507 I am doing good thanks for asking. Haven't started my injections yet but have to start PIO s from September 6th ( 1 month from now). That was a difficult injections I saw so bit worried on self adminstration. Ohss kicks in with estrogen levels of 3500 and up. For me both estrogen and progesterone were high on the day of trigger. I think e of about 5000 so had to convert to FET.
@lemondrop1976 good to see you back and I hope both embies ( 1 future one) will make it to blast stage. I LL pray for the same.
No I did not @bkatp, I thought it will be too late to ask or trying to adjust the dosage, since it has to be done at a certain time and the dr office was closed, by the time they would have listened to my voicemail it would have been to close ER so I didn't wanna ask and the answer would have stressed me more or disappointed me, maybe I was wrong to think that way and I should have asked... oh well... wish me luck for tomorrow and hopefully I didn't ruin the whole process
Thank you @babydust2507@bkatp! @bkatp my RE has me do a blood test day after trigger to see if it was effective. My results have to be over 100. Last month I was 495 and this month 130, idk why so much lower this cycle. You should be ok.
I didn't realize this community was here! It's been a rough journey to get here but here I am...
Married for 5+ years. A year ago urologist diagnosed extremely low counts and minimal motility and told us to go straight to IVF and skip IUI since the figures weren't high enough for IUI.
Started my cycle in May, had 35+ follicles, retrieved 20 mature eggs, 18 fertilized, all made it to day 3, then only 10 made it to day 5/6. Sent them in for PGS testing and we got 4 normal results, with 5 mosaics and 1 that was missing a bunch of genes...
Took a break to recover from OHSS, did a bit of traveling and then transferred in two on 7/26... going in for my beta tomorrow. Fingers crossed!
@lemondrop1976 Good luck on your retrieval! I've done two cycles and had OHSS for both; definitely not fun! Take it easy and don't walk or move around unless you really have to!
My doctor also gave me the choice of a medicated cycle or natural cycle. After much discussion, we went down the medicated route. BCPS, then estrogen patches and these gigantic progesterone shots (which surprisingly enough if you put on a fresh needle after drawing the medicine, they go in pretty painlessly!) Hubby and I chose the medicated route because it was completely predictable and completely backed by the hormones; I have some thoughts and worries with natural in regards to if I ate more soy or had random variables that might affect the FET. (Totally unwarranted though...) Ultimately I felt that they did a great job controlling my cycle for retrieval, going the medicated route felt more reassuring for my anxiety.
@lemondrop1976 my first ER we had eggs mature and fertilize the second day, so it can happen! Fx for good news. Are you planning on doing a fresh transfer with these?
@babydust2507 Good luck with your ER today, you will do great!
@mackorori Thank you for the hope! Yes, this will be a fresh transfer which is scheduled for tomorrow, although I'm confused because if one is fertilized a day behind wouldn't that be considered a 2 day transfer?
@lemondrop1976 I have my fingers crossed for you! Keep us updated!
@bkatp thank you! and good luck with this FET cycle! They didn't tell me much about it yet, except that there are two options of doing it. RE said they will go over it when I'm ready with my next period. So it seems that it takes roughly one month to complete with everything?
@thebabyshoes Welcome! We have a similar situation, except it is severe morphology. I went the IUI route and did 6 thinking I had to, but when I talked to insurance about IVF authorization they had said I could have gone straight to IVF, since IUI was never going to work for us. Thanks for the FET information, it is comforting that it is more controlled. If I had more embryos I may have tried the natural route, but only having one I will probably go for medicated. Also, I go back to work in September so I have to be very conservative about missing days at the beginning of the school year- with natural I know you have to be at the clinic every day. I will know more when I go for the FET consultation. About how long did your FET cycle take? Good luck with your beta!!
@lemondrop1976 interesting question...ours were all being grown to blast and PGS test so I don’t know how that gets measured just how my numbers were at end.
Re: July 2018 IVF
@babydust2507 your ultrasound results sound fantastic!!! I think it’s pretty typical that they adjust doses up and down after each monitoring appt. at least you know they are doing it to get the best results for you!! Are you planning on doing a fresh transfer?
Married: 06/21/2008
TTC #1:
IUI #1-bfp DS born 07/06/2010
TTC #2:
IUI #1: Sept. 2017 - cancelled (ovulated too soon)
IUI #2: Oct. 2017 - bfn
switched clinics
IUI#3: Nov. 2017 - bfn
IUI#4: Dec. 2017 - bfn
Hysteroscopy w/ ovarian diathermy: Feb. 2018
IUI#5: April 2018 - bfp (chem. preg)
IUI#6: May 2018 - bfp (chem. preg)
IVF #1: July 2018
@kbenner2 how many days dpo are you at
@kbenner2 you are definitely not alone in feeling worried, losses can really mess with your head. If you decide to join your birth month club, I recommend joining the PGAL check-ins. Having the support of other women who have been where you are is helpful.
@mackorori thanks so much for your kind words! I will definitely look into the birth club and PGAL check-ins. Thanks so much for suggesting that.
Married: 06/21/2008
TTC #1:
IUI #1-bfp DS born 07/06/2010
TTC #2:
IUI #1: Sept. 2017 - cancelled (ovulated too soon)
IUI #2: Oct. 2017 - bfn
switched clinics
IUI#3: Nov. 2017 - bfn
IUI#4: Dec. 2017 - bfn
Hysteroscopy w/ ovarian diathermy: Feb. 2018
IUI#5: April 2018 - bfp (chem. preg)
IUI#6: May 2018 - bfp (chem. preg)
IVF #1: July 2018
@katie35 I will be transferring in the fall as well. Have you received your PGS results yet?
@kbenner2 how have you been feeling?
@mackorori congrats on your embryos that is great!
@bkatp have you received your FET calendar yet? My RE gave me two options, natural and medicated. I am not transferring until the fall but just curious about how others are going about FET.
I got my results right before going away, they retrieved 15 eggs, 10 mature and 10 fertilized. I ended up with 3 blasts. My PGS came back yesterday and I have only one normal embryo and two low level mosaics which they say they will not transfer at this time until they know more, but will keep them frozen. I am really happy that I have this one normal embryo, but feeling really defeated about the others. I think what makes it a little harder to swallow is two of my cousins, my age, gave birth in the time between my ER and now. My clinic is part of a large hospital so I was on the same campus as them. Walking from the fertility building to the maternity building is definitely an experience. But, I am hopeful with this little one and now trying to plan for FET.
When I had went for a check up with my RE just to see how I was healing, and I asked about the 7 embryos that didn't get to blast he flipped through the chart and said "Everything looked good on day 3, but day 5 weren't healthy and I don't know why." That is the extent of what I know about my embryos. My clinic doesn't give the embryo grading as some of you have gotten so I am not sure where this one stands and really do not have much information, and I think that is the most frustrating part, just not knowing. I signed an agreement the day of my ER that my doctor and the lab can use any material (immature eggs) that would be thrown out, for research instead. I figure if it can advance IVF and make it easier in the future why not? My DH is a doctor and said they will be more careful with me if we agree, so now I have all kinds of paranoia about my eggs/embryos but DH assures me that nothing suspicious happened to them.
Sorry this was a long update.
How are you all doing @katie35, @kbenner2, @bkatp, @mackorori?
Quick update with me. Had u/s & blood work with a different dr again because my dr is out this week. Lining was at 6.8 where the other said 7 last time. Over 20 follicles both ovaries with a group of 20 ranging from 11-15 mm and the rest 9-11mm. They reduced my follistim dose to 150 U and my estrogen level was 1743. They said they probably gonna see me every day now, so I have another appt today. Wish me luck, starting feeling tired and dizzy last night with palpitations. They also told me to stop working out and give my body some rest whil going thru stims. Did you all have side effects?
Sorry I have not been keeping up, I had a lot going on between work and thinking next steps. After talking to RE for my follow up he encouraged me to keep going so I did round 2 and ER is tomorrow. I see a lot of you who have double digit # off follicles/eggs so in comparison it seems like the 5 follicles that I'm showing is not much but we will see, getting old is not fun:(
My AMH is .51 and FSH 17, has anyone have similar numbers?
GL @lemondrop1976 and I'm glad you decided to try again! My numbers of AMH and FSH were higher don't remember the exact number sorry..., but my RE said it was above average.
@anared welcome back from your trip and thanks for the update on how things went. I completely understand how it feels to see the numbers dwindle. My first ER I had similar numbers to yours: 13 mature, 9 fertilize and 3 to blast with one PGS normal. As I understand, losing a lot between fertilization and blast is pretty common, I don’t know if it was becase I’m older or just the way it happens, but it’s definitely normal. You have one beauty though and positive thoughts this is your golden one! When are you planning FET?
@lemondrop1976 good to hear from you and happy to see you tried another round! In my reading these boards, I see a number of other women with lower follicle counts and then they end up with the same number of blasts, so I wouldn’t worry. My AMH was around 1.00 back in November, but I don’t really know how that translates into how IVF goes. I’ve been told any one month could be great and others you don’t respond. Good luck with your ER tomorrow!
I'll let you know how tomorrow goes.
Good Luck tomorrow @babydust2507!
@anared so glad you’re back! That’s so great you have that one perfect little embryo! Are you thinking of doing a FET in September or October? I bet you can’t wait! This will be the one!!! That’s so frustrating about not getting detailed information from your Dr. Office. That would drive me crazy!
@babydust2507 ER is almost here!! Your follicle sizes/count look great!! I think an E2 of 3,000 and over is where they say the big risk of OHSS comes in (although it can happen at much smaller numbers too). Mine was right at 3,000 and was still able to transfer but think they would’ve made me a freeze all of I had been much over 3,000. Can’t wait to hear another update from you!! Hoping it all keeps going perfectly!
Married: 06/21/2008
TTC #1:
IUI #1-bfp DS born 07/06/2010
TTC #2:
IUI #1: Sept. 2017 - cancelled (ovulated too soon)
IUI #2: Oct. 2017 - bfn
switched clinics
IUI#3: Nov. 2017 - bfn
IUI#4: Dec. 2017 - bfn
Hysteroscopy w/ ovarian diathermy: Feb. 2018
IUI#5: April 2018 - bfp (chem. preg)
IUI#6: May 2018 - bfp (chem. preg)
IVF #1: July 2018
@lemondrop0726 how did it go ? And thank @kbenner2 for sharing your numbers too!
GL on your trigger today @babydust2205!
@mackorori thank you! For FET, probably in September. I was hoping for this cycle because I am a teacher but its fine, I have seniority so taking a day in September shouldn't be a big deal. Any updates from PGS?
@kbenner2 How are you feeling? and thank you! I really hope this is the one! the lack of details is really frustrating. I didn't want to be annoying so I didn't bother anyone too much during stims, but for FET I am going to be way more proactive. We are thinking September for FET, there are a bunch of school holidays so having some extra days off will hopefully work out.
@lemondrop1976 that is great you have better numbers this round! Sending good vibes your way!
@lemondrop1976 fx for a good fertilization report today.
So yesterday DH helped me with the trigger shot but I was so sick of getting poked with needles in my tummy that I moved DH hands by reflex and some of the solution was wasted, a little bit tho. I wasn't sure how much was wasted and didn't wanna add some more and now be overstimulated so I left it alone. But now I'm worried that it won't be enough to have enough mature eggs, especially because I was told to take half of the dose already
@babydust2507 I am doing good thanks for asking. Haven't started my injections yet but have to start PIO s from September 6th ( 1 month from now). That was a difficult injections I saw so bit worried on self adminstration. Ohss kicks in with estrogen levels of 3500 and up. For me both estrogen and progesterone were high on the day of trigger. I think e of about 5000 so had to convert to FET.
@lemondrop1976 good to see you back and I hope both embies ( 1 future one) will make it to blast stage. I LL pray for the same.
@kbenner2 and @katie35 how are you guys doing.
@bkatp my RE has me do a blood test day after trigger to see if it was effective. My results have to be over 100. Last month I was 495 and this month 130, idk why so much lower this cycle. You should be ok.
@lemondrop1976 what do they test for day after the trigger ?
Thank you @thebabyshoes! GL with your beta, when is it?
@babydust2507 Good luck with your ER today, you will do great!
@bkatp thank you! and good luck with this FET cycle! They didn't tell me much about it yet, except that there are two options of doing it. RE said they will go over it when I'm ready with my next period. So it seems that it takes roughly one month to complete with everything?
@thebabyshoes Welcome! We have a similar situation, except it is severe morphology. I went the IUI route and did 6 thinking I had to, but when I talked to insurance about IVF authorization they had said I could have gone straight to IVF, since IUI was never going to work for us. Thanks for the FET information, it is comforting that it is more controlled. If I had more embryos I may have tried the natural route, but only having one I will probably go for medicated. Also, I go back to work in September so I have to be very conservative about missing days at the beginning of the school year- with natural I know you have to be at the clinic every day. I will know more when I go for the FET consultation. About how long did your FET cycle take? Good luck with your beta!!
@babydust2507 Good luck today with your ER!!!