Any Aussie ladies starting IVF?

[Take2]

Just hd my cd12 ultrasound, only one follicle, which is unusual for me as I normally have a few on clomid. But it was a nice size, 18mm, my lining was only 5 though. She said the follicle shouldn't release the egg before the lining has a chance to thicken up..but it might!

So we do want to trigger but she doesn't want to trigger before my lining has thickened up, its not that big of deal if I ovulate naturally as long as we pinpoint the time because need to put the embys in at the right time.

So I have to do a urine LH test this afternoon and possibly bloods over the weekend, depending on how that goes we can then determine best day to trigger, anyways its confusing but all seems to be pointing to the transfer happening next week, just have no idea what day. I was hoping it would be early in the week because we have planned to go to Canberra next Friday for a friends 40th..would be a shame to cancel.

No matter how much meds etc you have doesn't stop your body doing things in its own bloody time anyway lol!

 

[Take2]

Ok I am about to have a rant so brace yourselves!!

I did the LH test yesterday at 4pm after holding my urine for 4 hours as instructed and I got a negative. First time I have ever had a negative on these things. The nurse advises I test again this morning with first urine in the morning, which is the time I have always been told to do the test, it was positive. So I started to wonder if the time of day is influencing results, so I went to the Seratec website, which are the company that manufactures the tests and they say that you can use your first morning urine but they warned that doing it at this time can result in false positives.
So my clinic is misadvising me when to do the test. I decided to do one just a minute ago after holding my urine for 4 hours and moderating my fluid intake, as advised by Seratec, and guess what, negative!
So now we are wondering whether our IUI back in August was done at the right time and we think our test back then was a false positive, Im convinced the timing was too early and I hadn't ovulated yet, so no wonder it was unsuccessful! What a waste of our money!
She told me yesterday afternoon not to bother with doing the bloods today..well I am going to!
I am so PISSED OFF, pardon my language. I understand this is not an exact science but it would help if we were testing at the right time of day!

 

[Miss Redknob]

I was told to test with first morning urine, but the tests I had were designed for FMU!! You poor thing what a waste of time and money for you and DH!! I knew that mine were working correctly cause my bloods were detecting the rise as I was peeing on sticks!! You really have to wonder sometimes are these companies in it for helping people have babies or the money??

Sending you lots of positive vibes hun xx

 

[Kirs_t]

Hi everyone!

Take- that sound so frustrating!! I'm so sorry. They should defn be doing blood tests as it is the only way to be sure. Those lh tests are so ambiguous! Are you going in for bloods today? So exciting that transfer is nearly here though! Will they check your lining again? I think for my last fet my lining was not much more than that and I still got a bfp - so fingers crossed!

I had bloods done yesterday- but no movement at the station yet! I go back in on Tuesday for bloods and a scan, which will be day 12 and hopefully closer to trigger time! I'm hoping transfer will be around the 25th- but who knows with my cycles lately!

Also - we are home from our trip and has been great to catch up with friends and family again. Being back at work is defn helping to keep the ttc stress/obsessing at bay too

 

[Take2]

I ended up ringing the clinics after hours mobile number which the nurse sounded highly unimpressed to hear from me lol. I told her what I'd read, she said 'no this is the way we do it'..umm well its wrong!! I told her about my negative later in the morning and she did say it didn't sound right so go have bloods done, so I did and will again tomorrow. Sigh..feel like I'm doing half their job for them..why should I have to push for more..surely the lack of results in the past would encourage them to investigate further..sheesh!

So Kirsty..when you say you're having bloods at the moment, what are they looking for? Your LH levels?? Why don't my clinic routinely do bloods..I'm so frustrated!

 

[Miss Redknob]

What clinic are you with Take?

 

[Take2]

Albury reproductive medicine miss red, I'm in wagga so not many choices!

 

[Maddy40]

Take although I'm not sure what our IVF place will do, certainly for our IUIs here in Canberra I had frequent bloods (every 2nd day until day 11 and then daily)to track E2 and LH. As well as ultrasounds to check for follie growth.

 

[Kirs_t]

Hey take- yep I have having bloods to monitor e2 and lh surge. Ill have the trigger shot when lh starts to surge and then transfer 5 days later. I don't have to do the wee tests. Glad you are having bloods done today and tomorrow! Keep us posted!

Hi to everyone xxx hope you're all doing well!

 

[Take2]

Well ladies a small victory has been achieved, about 2 hours ago I got a phone call from the after hours number, the nurse tells me my results came in and I was right, the urine test this morning was a false positive and my LH levels were not rising.
She then told me to do the trigger this afternoon which means I will ovulate Monday and go in for the transfer on Wednesday. So I gave myself the ovridrel shot after I got off the phone.
Right from the start I said I didn't want to rely on the urine tests..I had no idea blood testing was even an option or something others do regularly..but now we've triggered at least we can be 99% confident on ovulation day. Just hope my lining thickens up!!
My fiancé is so cranky, he wants to write an email to our doctor addressing the issues we've had and questioning their methods.
We considered walking away completely but we invested physical, emotional and financial into our 6 frozen embryos so seems crazy to leave. What will it prove, better to stay and continue now we feel we've got some acknowledgement that our concerns were reasonable and maybe they will listen to us a bit more now!
Thank you girls for all the advice and a listening ear x

 

[Take2]

Maddy out of curiosity how much was your IUI and did you pay for blood tests or were they bulk billed, my fiancé has asked this actually, guess we're trying to evaluate whether more money is constituting more thorough care, will be interesting to see the diff x

 

[Kirs_t]

So glad you got some answers and have triggered! Things are on track and looking good! It sounds like it was very frustrating, but so good that you guys stood up for yourselves. You know your body better than anyone! Hopefully they will listen a lot more in the future! And hopefully you won't need them for a long time cos you will be up the duff in a few days! Xxx

 

[Maddy40]

Maddy out of curiosity how much was your IUI and did you pay for blood tests or were they bulk billed, my fiancé has asked this actually, guess we're trying to evaluate whether more money is constituting more thorough care, will be interesting to see the diff x

Take, here in Canberra it was $1808 all-inclusive ($529 back from Medicare). The only extra I had to pay was for progesterone pessaries and I could buy them from the clinic for $75 a pack (about $20 cheaper than the pharmacy). I generally had about 4-5 bloods and 2-3 scans before IUI and then 3 blood tests in the TWW.

 

[Miss Redknob]

So glad to hear you put your foot down Take!! Yay for triggering

 

[Take2]

Well ours was def cheaper Maddy. We paid about $1500 with the same amount back from Medicare so we just under $1000 out of pocket, mind you I'd have paid the extra $300 for a more thorough approach. Well I'll be ensuring they cross all their T's and dot all the I's from now on!

 

[aleja]

Hi Take I'm glad you got the cycle sorted out. Blood tests are the only reliable measure for the LH surge and it sounds like you had to teach the clinic a thing or two . It's great you have 6 embies left too. 1 good follicle is great. Even on clomid I never got more than 1.

(With the ring we bought the sapphire separately then got the ring designed by a local jeweller . I decided on the design -not that I don't trust my DH but he ain't got a clue about jewellery styles, precious stones etc!!)

Maddy that was an interesting read about cleavage vs blasts . I wonder why that is though?? Well the stats were on the mark with me and Miss Red

 

[danc1ingqueen]

Hi Girls,

Just been catching up on all that's been happening! Have been doing some extra hours at work.
Gosh Take2, you have been through the mill there, what a lot of faffing about from your clinic. Good on you for standing your ground. I hope all goes well for you. Sometimes i wonder do they have a clue what they are doing?

Aleja, your ring is beautiful. Your hubby did well there

Can't remember who asked sorry but I was on the pred ( just coming off it actually ) and i did have my NK cells tested. Strange outcome......my biopsy showed normal...however my bloods were one of the highest ever blood readings he said he had seen and in his words, he was "convinced" they had something to do with implanting. I know the biopsy is the true indicator but with him being "convinced" sure i was willing to try anything.
If he had have told me to wear my knickers over my head i would have done it....lol

Anyway been on 40mg per day of pred, clexane and the other ivf magical potions. Short cycle.
He suggested PGD testing to see if they could select a better embryo...last cycle we got 18 eggs ( i was delighted with such low amh) 14 fertilised...two only made it to blastocysts...( no frosties)but he said perhaps if they have had done PGD testing they may have picked the others that weren't blastocysts??!!!as they only go by sight for selection where as with PGD they can tell so much more.
He also said if there are genetic problems then at least we would know to go down the egg donor route, because at the minute we are a little lost! A little.....ahhh slight understatement!!!
Just got Sydneys child today which he recommended to start advertising in for a donor...depressing read!! so many other couples like us, (

Anyway must keep smiling.....Hope you are all okay and for those of who who aren't ..big hugs coming your way.

XXXXXX

 

[Miss Redknob]

DQ I would highly recommend having chromosome testing (blood test) prior to jumping into PGD as it is very expensive (it is a money maker for these clinics), cost DH and I almost $20,000 for 2 embryos!! I had 18 eggs collected.

I am also on Clexane 40mg

 

[aleja]

Hi gals
Dancing queen well at least there is some explanation about why they aren't implanting with the high NKC reading . It's a tough road to take and I wish I had more suggestions for you before donor egg and pgd .. Would you be willing to do the IVIG or intralipids ?
I would probably put my undies over my head too if the FS suggested it!

Ms Red have you started preparing any baby stuff? I finally bought a couple of onesies and am looking at some cots on eBay .. All those baby stores are so expensive

 

[Miss Redknob]

I am really bad Aleja I have on layby our cot, change table, bassinet,tallboy, pram and car seat. Baby Kingdom had a 15% off sale storewide about 6 weeks. It is due out the end of May but they said they can store it a bit longer if we need them to.

Are you looking at any type of cot?