July 2019 IVF

ACAC25 · June 2019

I hadn't seen a July board yet. I just had my IVF pushed out so I will be straddling the June and July boards. Here is a bit about me.

DH and I are both 29, we have been TTC since 2015.
**TW** in 2017 I miscarried at 10 weeks. It was a blighted ovum. Had a D and C**
In 2018 diagnosed with MFI.
IVF 1 failed. Discovered I also have granular eggs
IVF 2 failed. We did get a weak implantation but low HCG but started bleeding 2 days later. Doctor thinks maybe genetic issue with DH causing low embryo quality and implantation. We are now doing a sperm donor.

I am currently on BCP. Next appointment is June 17 to check follicles and to start gonal daily. Expecting to start stims around 24-28th June.

mrsjones91716 · June 2019

@ACAC25 may I ask what led your doctor to think genetic issue with your husband? We are MFI also and so far that has been the only known issue so I really wonder if that's why our first round we had 7 retrieved all 7 mature and all 7 fertilized with ICSI but then only 2 made it to blast and one not even a very good blast. When neither transfer worked my doctor proceeded to call it 'unexplained' infertility but I just don't think he should say that with my husband's severely low numbers. Like less than a million sperm. Very frustrating.

ACAC25 · June 2019

@mrsjones91716 Tbh we had similar numbers to you.
IVF 1 with ICSI we had 13 retrieved, 11 mature, 7 fertilized (fertilization rate of 54%) and 2 made it to day 5 with only 1 looking good.
IVF 2 with ICSI 12 retrieved, 8 mature, 5 fertilized (42% fertilization rate), 2 made it to day 3 with 1 looking good.

Our doctor said low fertilization rate is usually attributed to poor egg quality but a rapid drop in the number of embryos is indicitive of a genetic/chromosonal issue in the sperm. DH also looked into other signs and symptoms online and he has some others too. Unfortunately there is nothing that can be done about genetic issues. We have decided to do donor sperm.

It is strange that your doctor is calling it unexplained fertility....

inthewoods23 · June 2019

@ACAC25 I'll be lurking this board in case you fall into July! GL!

ACAC25 · June 2019

@inthewoods23 thank you so much! GL to you for June!

ashleyhj29 · June 2019

Good morning all! We begin STIMs tomorrow after our baseline appt...so excited that this is finally happening! My meds are being delivered today...I know Follistim needs to be in the fridge, and the trigger shot (which we dont have delivered yet)....anything else need to be stored in the fridge? I've heard mixed things.

mrsjones91716 · June 2019

@ACAC25 ugh, that's what I was worried about- I had read something similar. We had 100% fertilization rate first go round so this makes me think sperm issue I don't know why my doctor doesn't. He said that is a normal expected number of blasts. My 2nd ER is probably Sunday, will be interesting to see what happens this time but I'm so worried about the sperm issues. I'm probably off to google now to see if I can find more info.

ACAC25 · June 2019

@mrsjones91716 urgh I'm sorry. To be honest my doctor didnt really start talking about genetic issues until my 2nd failed round of IVF. He said you can do genetic testing but quite often it comes back normal because of the way the testing is done. So not super helpful unfortunately. I hope everything goes well with your ER and I hope that you find success this round.

mrsjones91716 · June 2019

@ACAC25 that's interesting. My doctor had already mentioned after our first failed transfer maybe an egg quality issues which annoyed me because all my tests are normal and the fertilization rate and all. I'm only doing PGS testing for gender otherwise my doctor agrees it's not helpful. Thank you, I wish you success as well.

ACAC25 · June 2019

@mrsjones91716 thank you!
That's strange that they think it's an egg issue since you retrieved a good number of eggs and that your fertilization rate was 100%! Did they say anything about quality of the eggs? We discovered my eggs were granular and slightly abnormal after the first IVF. However, we are still retrieving 3-4 normal ideal eggs and some slightly abnormal but still good.
After my IVF 1 it was mentioned about donor sperm but we were not ready at the time. With more info now it seems like that is our only option. We arent doing PGS... our doctor said it wasnt worth it for us.

mrsjones91716 · June 2019

@acac25, they did not - I figured if there was a problem with the eggs they would have said? I'm getting so nervous for ER, I just don't want this to fail again. I don't even know where we would come up with the money to do another round. Ugh..

ACAC25 · June 2019

@mrsjones91716 I'm sorry you are feeling so nervous! I hope your ER goes well this weekend!
I am mostly still just feeling frustrated by the delay and wishing my life away to get to starting meds. But I'm planning a few weekend getaways and a proper vacation so I'm hoping that will help.

mrsjones91716 · June 2019

@ACAC25 I totally get that feeling, so much of this is so much waiting. I hope you enjoy your time away!

nancinator · June 2019

Hi! Just popping in to introduce myself. I'm expecting my period in about a week and will start IVF medication on Day 3. I've had 2 failed IUI cycles. Was hoping I wouldn't have to go this route since I have to pay OOP but here I am! Curious - how many of you are doing ICSI + chromosome testing? It seems standard these days...

ACAC25 · June 2019

@nancinator welcome! Sorry that you find yourself here. Our 3 rounds if IVF have all been oop so I totally understand how you feel. I'm on IVF 3 starting in about a week. Sounds like we wont be far apart in terms of cycles. I'm expecting AF sometime between 23-25th June and start stims day 2.
We will be doing ICSI. We did on our last two cycles due to MFI. This time we will be using donor sperm and ICSI to heighten the fertilization rate (hopefully). However, we will not be doing PGS or chromosomal testing on the embryos, it has not been recommended to us by our doctor.

ladyp0tter · June 2019

@nancinator - Welcome! Good luck on your first IVF round!! I will be doing ER on Friday and am hoping and praying that I get some good quantity and quality eggs!! We are also OOP on this (no insurance coverage for it) and we are doing the PGS testing because of my age. The Dr. says they do ICSI if necessary, but it comes in our package, so luckily I don't necessarily have to ask for it. My tubes are tied, so I have no natural way to conceive.

andreamm31 · June 2019

I should be joining this board after I go tomorrow to sign all my consents and get my protocol. I was told she was going to be pulling out all the stops for my first round so all I know is I will be on HGH. There will be an estrogen priming as well I believe. I am 38 with DOR. AMH 0.27. AFC 5. Husbands sperm is good! Ive been doing acupuncture twice a week since late April after my miscarriage and taking Chinese herbs. Im hoping all this preparation will help me with better egg quality and quantity! We shall see! Im sending you all baby dust and hoping you all find success as well! Oh...and this will be my first of 3 egg retrievals. Our heart is set on having 3 children, so she thinks our only option besides donor eggs would be to do 3 egg retrievals. My intention and hope is for us to achieve that in the first and second retrieval. Id love to be pregnant by the end of this year. Cant wait for my rainbow baby!

ACAC25 · June 2019

Hi Ladies,
Just an update. I had a US today to check on my lining and follicles. Dr saw at least 20 small follicles and my lining is nice and thin which is exactly what we hoped for. He said this is the best reserve he has seen at this point in my cycle which is awesome! I'm super happy. Just got to wait for AF to show which should be about early next week. I start gonal daily tomorrow. 😀

rebeccac0724 · June 2019

Hi all! Happy to finally see a July IVF group! My wife (34) and I (27) will be doing our first IVF/ICSI cycle in July - I’ll be using my own eggs and carrying. We have ttc with 1 home insemination and 6 medicated IUIs with frozen sperm. I am CD3 today. I start BCP tomorrow, stop BCP 7/1, and baseline US and labs 7/2. My calendar says I start gonal-f and menopur on 7/5. Is it normal to start stims 4 days after stopping bcp? I had thought I would start stims the day after stopping bcp. Any thoughts? I’m excited to follow your journeys! Will you guys be planning for fresh transfers or FETs?

ACA congrats! That’s a great follicle count! Fx for a very successful cycle!

Good luck to everyone gearing up for ER already!

ACAC25 · June 2019

@rebeccac0724 welcome to the board! For the stims starting... I'm not 100% sure. This will be my third IVF and also about 4 months of baseline US but cancelled cycles and each time we have done 20 or 21 days of BCP then waited for AF to start which has been approximately 2-4 days later. Stims have always started day 2 of my period.

Thank you, I'm super happy. My doctor was like... what did you do different because this is good. And I was like I dont know... I think less stress and really pushing my workout regime. So I'm hoping that this cycle works for us!

Good luck to you too!

rebeccac0724 · June 2019

ACA - that actually makes sense. Maybe they’re saying I’ll start stims 4 days after stopping bcp because they are assuming that will be around CD2 for me. I’ll have to ask them! I just realized you guys are using a sperm donor! Do you mind me asking what sperm bank you chose? We are using Xytex but have used Seattle sperm bank, north west sperm bank, and Midwest sperm bank in the past.

inthewoods23 · June 2019

*lurker*
@rebeccac0724 stims start around a week after the last BCP (at least for my protocol last month).

For me, my last pill was taken on a Saturday, got my period Wednesday and had my baseline the next day on Thursday (this was a pre-scheduled date as I think they assume you will be somewhere around CD2-4 when you have the last baseline before stims). Stims started on Friday so for me, stims started on CD3.

I'm actually curious if it really matters what CD you start stims.

ACAC25 · June 2019

@inthewoods23 I have always done my last baseline and started stims CD 1-3 depending on what time of day AF comes and if my clinic is open the next day. Tbh it hasn't affected my stims at all in terms of length.

@rebeccac0724 i agree, it is probably because they are assuming where you will be in your cycle... but let us know what they say. Yeah we are doing a sperm donor this time.. we did 2 rounds normal and the doctor thinks the issue we are having is from a genetic issue on DH side. We are actually living in Mexico right now so our clinic is looking at Mexican sperm banks first within their network and then outside. but we are now looking at an international bank coming from the US so we can find particular characteristics that match my DH. It's hard finding his characteristics in Mexico.

mrsjones91716 · June 2019

@rebeccac0724, my clinic said I had to be off bc for a minimum of 4 days before starting stims, I asked because of timing with my husband being out of town and I'd need him around to fertilize my eggs! So I took my last pill (was only on pill for 10 days - their other minimum) 5/22 and then started stims 5/26. I did get a withdrawal bleed - one of the worst 'periods' I'd ever had but only because mine are normally very light but not everyone does so don't worry if you don't! Although since you will be on pill longer I'd think it'd be more likely that you would. I'm planning a FET earliest July 9 due to a clinic closure and PGS, although something else I learned this cycle is if I would have wanted a fresh transfer it probably would have been cancelled anyway because my progesterone was high at the end of stims (like 1.2 day before trigger) and if it gets to 1.5 lowers chance of implantation.

nancinator · June 2019

Thanks for the welcome xo

@ACAC25 - that's a great number of follicles! yay!
@ladyp0tter how did your ER go?

I just bought all my IVF meds today... can't believe this is happening!!!

The pharmacist was super friendly and we did a mock Follistim injection. I go in Thursday morning for bloodwork & ultrasound and start the injections.

ladyp0tter · June 2019

@nancinator - It went great, thanks for asking!

I ended up with 24 retrieved and 20 fertilized (they didn't tell me mature/immature). I am expecting a call tomorrow to tell me how many made it past day 3 (which is today). So nervous to see how many blasts end up making it!!

rebeccac0724 · June 2019

inthewoods and mrsjones - thank you so much for the input! It makes me feel better that you guys all waited a few days at least before starting stims! My last bcp will be 7/1, baseline 7/2, and stims 7/5 if everything goes as planned! I’m 27 y/o and have an AMH if 2.93. My calendar, as of now, has egg retrieval marked off for any time between 11-15 days after starting stims - does that seem like a lot of days of stimming? I was supposed to work the weekend when I’d be 9-10 days from starting stims, but I think I’ll try to change it. I feel like I’ve heard people being ready for retrieval that soon! How many days have you guys stimmed in the past? I’m so new to this - I don’t know what to expect!

ACA - wow! That’s cool! I never would’ve thought about their being sperm banks in Mexico. If you end up using one in America let me know! I have a coupon code for access to extended information on donors at California cryobank!

Ladypotter - those are some great numbers from your ER! Keep us posted - fx for lots of healthy embryos tomorrow and blasts in a few days!

nancinator - I’m getting ready to buy my meds soon too! So nerve wracking and exciting all at the same time. When do you start meds?

inthewoods23 · June 2019

@rebeccac0724 my calendar was set up for 11 days of stims but I actually only needed 10.

rebeccac0724 · June 2019

Thank you! I’ll definitely have to switch that weekend then. Luckily my coworker has agreed to swap, so I’ll work July 6/7 (day 2 and 3 of stims) rather than July 13/14 (days 9 and 10 of stims). There are so many moving parts when planning an IVF cycle! Stresses me out, haha.

ACAC25 · June 2019

@ladyp0tter wow great numbers for retrieval! Keeping everything crossed for many embabies!

@rebeccac0724 thank you I will definitely keep that in mind. I think we only have access to one international bank but I will definitely inquire just in case! Also I was told approximately 10-12 days of stims before a retrieval. For my first IVF I only did 9 days of stims and had my ER 2 days later. This was because my follicles responded too well to the meds. IVF 2 I did 12 full days of stims and ER 2 days later. This was because we used Gonal daily to control my own hormone release, slow down my response to the meds and keep my follicles an even size. I'm expecting the same this time.

mrsjones91716 · June 2019

@rebeccac0724, I had to stim the full 12 days (my clinic likes to do 9-12) but I think my body is a slow responder. I would keep your schedule open for any timeline of 9-12 days plus then the 36 hours after trigger so sounds like a good plan to switch weekends!

ACAC25 · June 2019

Guys I just need to vent and have someone understand. I feel a whole mess of emotions but mostly anger. My cousin just announced she is pregnant with her second baby (her first is 18 months). I feel so angry at the unjustness of it. She pawns her current kid off on other people more times than she takes care of him. And it's even worse because I miscarried at 10 weeks (blighted ovum) 3 weeks before she gave birth to her boy around the time we were going to announce our pregnancy.
It's just so f***ing unfair. I feel like I cant even be happy for her.

ladyp0tter · June 2019

@ACAC25 - I am so sorry...That is awful. It's hard to be happy for others when we are in misery. My friend and I were pg together the first time and I ended up losing TWO babies before my third time finally stuck while she ended up carrying to term hers just fine. Now our girls are several months apart, but during the time she was pg and I wasn't anymore, she even told me to stop complaining about myself because it was scary for her!! I was like, gee...thanks for the sympathy. My first was a Blighted Ovum too! those are so bad since your body has no idea it isn't pregnant for so long...mine went on until like 10-11 weeks too! :-(

inthewoods23 · June 2019

@ACAC25 I don't blame you and I think you are justified in not feeling happy for her right now. My cousin's wife has no problem getting KU and they want a lot of kids so I'm like, I swear to God I will not be happy for them if they end up PG later this year cuz dammit they already have 2! And I just want a PG by myself with my first!

ACAC25 · June 2019

@inthewoods23 and @ladyp0tter thank you for your comments. I just needed affirmation that my feelings are valid and justified. I'm sorry about your own experiences with this, I know we all have them. I just hate it. It's so hard.

rebeccac0724 · June 2019

Having others announce pregnancy is SO TOUGH. A friend of ours just got KU by her husband when they had “divorce sex” one last time before they finalized everything 😑 they can barely take care of or afford their current child. I was like, seriously....wtf.
Also my step sister is 23, just got married last month, and is going to start trying right away, despite having just returned from their honeymoon where there is Zika. If she is pregnant before me, idk how I’ll get through it. Not to mention she’s already claiming baby names 🙄

ACAC25 · June 2019

@rebeccac0724 I feel you. My SIL is not in a good relationship and doesnt have the best emotional or mental stability and she is trying to get pregnant. Unfortunately she has been diagnosed with PCOS and is having a hard time getting pregnant. But she is very judgy about things she doesnt understand and things she hasn't had to face. If she gets pregnant before we do I'll lose it.
And about baby names. Urgh. My cousin who is PG with her second named her son Bobby after my grandad who died when she was very young. She doesnt even remember him. It kills me because we wanted, and still will if we are blessed with a boy, to call our son Robert and I wanted his nickname to be Bobby. I find I cant even remotely relate to her at all.

Why is this process so hard!

rebeccac0724 · June 2019

I say you still can name your baby Robert and call him Bobby! Especially if you aren’t very close to your cousin.

Its so frustrating to watch every one else get pregnant so easily. Hopefully we will all have our babies soon.

jamieswan88 · June 2019

I am so sorry to hear about your long journey. I have to say that if you haven't read It Starts with the Egg yet, you absolutely must. It has tremendous research-based insight into in/fertility. The author touches on IVF and what could go wrong, what you can do to right the wrongs - and what you can do in general to increase egg quality + quantity as well as sperm motility, quality, quantity and morphology. Since the egg cycle is only three months, you can really get very far in a short amount of time. I hope you will get as much out of reading the book as I did. So, for anyone with a failed IVF or recurrent miscarriage, you can find some answers and ways to address it. Baby dust

ACAC25 · June 2019

@rebeccac0724 thanks. We have decided that if we get pregnant and have a boy we are still naming him Robert but will probably go with Robbie as a nickname instead. I'm not super close with my cousin now but I am with the rest of my family. Here's hoping that this cycle gives me that chance.

@jamieswan88 thank you for the recommendation. I have done a lot over the last few months to try to improve egg quality... I started diabetic meds (to improve metabolism and change the proteins on my egg) and I've been work out a lot (with doctor's orders and specific direction) starting in March and now it seems like it has at least helped my quantity. I guess we will find out about quality in a few weeks. My hope is that if we get more follicles and eggs that there will be more of good quality.

lucyb1954 · June 2019

Hi everyone. I was on the June board but my cycle got canceled because I had absolutely zero response to the stims. I’m a Fragile X carrier, hoping to get some embryos for PGD testing. Adding in HGH to this cycle and going with a higher dose of meds. My best friend had a baby a year ago and just told me they’re trying for another. I love her to pieces but feeling rather low that it only took them one try to conceive for they’re first and I can’t even get one. What are everyone else’s protocols? ❤️❤️❤️

July 2019 IVF

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