Can I join and 1st FS app advice please? x

[lulu79]

Hi ladies,

I am not sure if I am posting in the right place but I could really do with some advice.

I am feeling today as the witch arrived last night. I am only on cycle 13 of ttc which I know is nothiig compared to some of you lovely ladies so not sure if I am eligible to join LTTC yet...I have my first FS appointment tomo. By way of background I lost my first pregnancy at 22 weeks last year and since then my cycles have been on the shorter side of normal with only an LP of 9 days. I have tried everything to lengthen (Bvits, acupuncture, TCM, agnus castus, relaxing, not opk-ing, opk-ing, etc etc). I am thinking of giving soy a go this month but sorry I am getting off course.

Can anyone give me some advice with what I should expect from my first appointment and how I should approach it? ( I have had day 3 and day 21 bloods - all normal). I am feeling more and more desperate by the day - I can't believe I lose my 1st pregnancy and then have to go through the torture of secondary infertility. Life seems so unfair! Then it is for all of us on this forum who do not have our BFPs and babies

Sorry for the garbled message - my mind is a bit today as the witch has frustrated me. I guess on the bright side at least I have my FS appointment tomo.
xxx

 

[FBbaby]

hi lulu, sorry for your m/c at such a stage. It must have been absolutely horrible. Do you know what went wrong?

In regards to your appt, you can expect the fs to go over your tests results and background. Did your OH have a SA done? If not, he will request that. My OH wasn't keen on doing it, especially as we were sure the problem was with me (I fell pg first month ttc, 13 months ago) but I was worried that otherwise, the fs wouldn't say anything until it was done. I'm glad I encouraged OH as it turned out that his results were not good which change the course of the investigation. Since then, his second results were much better so we are back on track ttc naturally!

Normally, if your blood tests and his SA results were fine, he will suggest an hsg to check for blockage, if that is clear, he might suggest a lap to check for endometriosis, although because you did get pregnant once, they might not be as forthcoming with the suggestion of these tests, you might need to ask to have them done. He might do an ultrasound of your womb and ovaries tomorrow but might not. Mine didn't, didn't even have the facility in the room!

good luck with the appointment tomorrow, it is stressful, but at the same time a relief to get things going.

 

[teapot]

Just wanted to wish you luck for your appointment. I don't feel like I can advise anything useful, as by the time I had my first FS appt, I was on a waiting list for a lap & dye for suspected endo, so mine wanted to wait for the results of that before doing anything. DH was sent for sperm analysis, I had blood tests & was weighed & we were just asked lots of questions about our lifestyle/drinking/smoking etc..

At our 2nd appointment, he discussed the results of the lap & dye (blocked/scarred tubes from endo), told me my FSH & LH levels werre good (yay), referred us for IVF & sent me for a pelvic & internal scan, which thankfully was also normal.

I would definitely ask about the LP, ...How long are your cycles? just thinking if your day 21 test was normal, you must be ov'ing at around CD14. (I had my day21 done on day24 as I don't ov until day 17/18).

Short cycles aren't necessarily bad, a good friend of mine has always had regular as clockwork 21 day cycles & she has two boys.

They will recommend a sperm analysis as one of the first things, as there's no point doing anything invasive to you until they know your partners swimmers are ok. FS may recommend HSG to make sure your tubes are ok. May even do the blood tests again depending on how long ago you had them done.

Some people are prescribed clomid, but I don't know anything about that. ...Sorry, not much help am i?

best of luck to you & hope you come away a bit less frustrated. x

 

[lulu79]

Thank you so much both of you. That is really helpful.

Funnily enought we conceived quickly with my first pg (2nd month of ttc) so have assumed that the problems are with me rather than my DH. GP did suggest DH getting SA done but he was not up for it at all - i suppose most men arent are they?! We did discuss that the FS may insist so I think he will then. DH is getting just as frustrated as I am.

I lost Gabriel as he had a condition which was 'incompatible with life' (an expression I hate) called potters syndrome. It is so cruel that life can be created inside the womb which cannot exist outside of it. I have been told it is 'one of those things' though am scared of it happening again. Maybe the stress is stopping me from conceiving but there is not much I can do about that.

My bloods have been done 3 times over the last year, most recently 2 cycles ago so hopefully wont have to have that done again.

My cycles are about 26 days now though I ovulate day 16-17. I had my last blood done about 6 days after ov and my progesterone was very high (I think about 53, the last time I had it done it was 44 which I am also told was high)

Thanks again for all your help - I really appreciate it

xxxx

 

[niusia]

Good luck with your visit. I think the way to approach it is asked lots of questions, my experience is that doctors here don't like telling us what's going on so i make sure i understand. also ask for his/hers plans towards you ans possible scenarios of treatment.let us know how it went. can i ask where are you being treated?

 

[lulu79]

Good luck with your visit. I think the way to approach it is asked lots of questions, my experience is that doctors here don't like telling us what's going on so i make sure i understand. also ask for his/hers plans towards you ans possible scenarios of treatment.let us know how it went. can i ask where are you being treated?

Thanks! I want tomo to get here now. I am seeing a zara nadim at gatwick spire who is a gynae / consultant / fertility specialist in endo. Gp thinks I may have endo. Are gynae and fs the same thing? I'm not sure how it all works.

App isn't til 6.15pm so will prob post on wed how things went

thanks

xxxx

 

[slinky]

Hi hun, sorry to hear what you went through last year, that really is heartbreaking.

Good luck with your appointment - I felt so positive after my first FS appointment, just felt really good to be doing something about it. As niusia said, make sure you ask loads of questions.

xx

 

[lulu79]

Hi hun, sorry to hear what you went through last year, that really is heartbreaking.

Good luck with your appointment - I felt so positive after my first FS appointment, just felt really good to be doing something about it. As niusia said, make sure you ask loads of questions.

xx

Thanks so much. I am hoping I will feel more positive after my app as I woke up this morning worrying I will never have a healthy baby. I want to be a mummy so much.

Thank you all for making me feel welcome an offering me good advice

Xxx

 

[slinky]

Hey lulu, how did your appointment go? xx

 

[lulu79]

Hiya! Thanks for thinking of me and asking. Well unfortunately it didn't go as well as I'd hoped. She wasn't very sympathetic or reassuring. She said that all my hormones are fine and she is sure it is stress causing me to not get pg so I need to relax. How do I do that exactly?! She is giving me a scan nxt week to reassure me (she couldn't do it on tue as I had af). It's good that there is nothing wrong but it doesn't give me the answers I was looking for. If hormones are normal then why is lp so short? She wasn't very good at reassuring - she just said that opks aren't that reliable and I was pg last year so I can't suddenly be infertile. I suppose she has a point but I just can't help but worry. Hopefully the scan next week will help put my mind at rest a little more xxxxx ps sorry if typos doing this on iPhone! Xxx

 

[slinky]

Argh don't you hate the 'just relax' line.

I have short LP too - sometimes around 8 days. Although this month was longer at 13 days. Sometimes you just never know what's going on down there!

At least you have the scan next week, keep us posted how you get on.

Keep your chin up hun

 

[lulu79]

Hi lovely ladies – well I will make this very quick post as at work but wanted to update you all.
The scan went ok – I have two ovaries which was a good start as when I had a scan when I was pg last year they could only see one (my left)! She saw a few follicles on the right ovary – the dominant one is about 14mm and I was on CD8. I have no idea whether this is good or bad – I was just so relieved she could see both ovaries and no cysts that I forgot to ask! Whoops. She is a bit concerned that each month (including right now) I always get ovulation type pains on my left side so she has done some blood tests to check for inflammation. I will get those results in 2 weeks. She said that assuming that comes back ok (if it does not it could indicate endo) then she wants to leave me for 3-4 months to get pg naturally and if I am not then she will do a lap & dye. I am lucky in some ways that it is so quick as this is covered by my bupa (as they are investigating my pelvic pain – the ttc part is really just a symptom).

I feel a bit more positive today though will feel more relaxed when I get blood tests results. Am trying to steer clear from googling pelvic pain and scary stuff comes up.

Oh I also need to get my DH's SA done which he is not best pleased about - tough !

Hope you are all doing ok and thanks again for all your advice.

Love lulu xxx