Chinese Accupuncture

[Vonn]

Don't feel too badly, Briss; it's a generous offer to be sure, but it's next week! They can't be too shocked that someone would have obligations that would be difficult to get out of in less than a week's notice.

 

[Briss]

it's the City, you are expected to be chained to your blackberry and work 24/7 literally and I did for years actually, I had no life and was always available for work. a few years ago i would not even think for a second, I'd say yes and cancelled my plans as a matter of course. funny how things changed. I obviously feel guilty for not being available but I did not hesitate in refusing. I wish it was a different week though

counting days until my first scan

 

[Blythe]

Briss - how are you? Have you had first scan yet?

Vonn - i looked at your chart and saw some spotting. i know this does not mean you are out though...how are you feeling?

Alison - how is your friend's IVF going? i used cetrotide on my last cycle - it is a very common down reg drug. I wonder if it was that that affected the end result. anyhow, i hope they fertilised.

 

[Vonn]

Thanks for asking, Blythe. AF came yesterday evening. Boo! Good thing is that I had zero days of spotting, just several hours. I used to have up to 4 days of spotting before AF.

Bad thing is that my luteal phase was only 10 days long. Pregnancy not possible with that. It had gone up to 12 days for a few months so I thought the acupuncture & herbs & supplements & progesterone & increased thyroid meds were improving that. Dang it!

I've got some ideas about what's going on and look forward to our first visit to a new RE this Friday. It's also the first visit that DH will be a part of. That will be really interesting!

 

[Blythe]

Vonn - I am sorry to see that AF arrived I always spot for a day - some months 3 or 4 days. It does not bother me anymore because i have seen so many women get BFPs with that issue but i have to say it is always quite reassuring when i only spot a little! I used to get it mid way through luteal phase - now that did bother me.

Pregnancy is possible with shorter luteal phases so please do not write yourself off.

Its good that your DH is coming with you to your first appt with new RE. Anytime mine has he has been mute and dumbfounded by it all - just a lot of nodding. Please report back - i would be interested to know what tests he/she is interested in running.

 

[Briss]

it's my fasting day made a decision to sacrifice all chocolate and instead had porridge with a tiny drop of milk for dinner. my today's portions are minuscule and yet I'm a little over 500 calories. so hungry... have not lost much weight yet despite being below 1000 on my non fasting days except for weekend where I got to 1200, i guess it will take some time before my body decides to give up and get energy from my reserves. unfortunately could not get myself to exercise over the weekend.

got a high on CBFM on day 7 which is early so it's possible i will be ovulating early despite taking EPO religiously. maybe due to taking progesterone last cycle, it probably messed it up a bit for me. my scan is tomorrow so we will see where I stand.

my partner went to Egypt without me and is now not talking to me I hope I will still have my job after this cycle ...

 

[Briss]

Vonn, so sorry about AF. what's the plan for this cycle? are you going to do IUI?

 

[Blythe]

Briss. Well done for sticking to it. It will work.

I'm so sorry your partner is being off with you.....I hate that sort of stuff. You sound so incredibly contiensious and he must know your background, I mean in terms of going to extra mile at work. So things have changed.... Only a bufoon would think that is due to not caring anymore.

They will come round and you will no doubt be in a position where you pull them out of a hole. It will be fine so just focus on what is important...gearing up for pregnancy.

 

[Briss]

Blythe, thanks! I surely hope he sees it that way. we have ladies at work who are pregnant and yet travel on business and work long hours and if I got pregnant quickly I will be the same but after TTC for so many painful years and also considering my age/egg reserve every month counts. i just can't afford to waste a single month. Obviously i can't offer this explanation to him. I blamed it on unidentified health issues but I think he did not think it was sufficient. it's getting harder to make excuses to travel every month on short notice and come late for work because I have scans/bloods.

 

[nobump]

Briss, I think it is good that you turned the trip down, if he had offered for you to take you other half and get pampered then it may have been worth it!

On BBC 2 Scotland there is a program on -> What's the right diet for you? not sure if you can get it on iplayer, I have only just switched through the channels, think they are asking different groups to try different diets, including the 5:2 diet or intermittent fasting diet as they are calling it. May be worth looking at.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/28kV5mpZvcDtJ2hyDbZ5h1p/what-s-the-right-diet-for-you

 

[Briss]

nobump, it's funny that you should mention this programme, I took a test on BBC's website today just for fun and I think it was from this programme. basically apparently I am an emotional eater (I do not believe this because i do not care about food unless it's a cake!) and my perfect diet turned out to be intermittent fasting diet i.e. 2:5!! how funny is this!

 

[Briss]

Just had my day 8 scan and not sure what to make of it. I do not have a dominant follicle. The largest is only 7.5 mm. Usually by day 9 I have at least 16 mm dominant follicle. Does this mean I am going to ovulate later than usual and the follicle is just taking its time to grow or something is not right about this cycle? My lining is 8.7 which is as it should be so it's basically ready for ovulation. My CBFM has been giving my HIGH readings last two days so I guess my estrogen must be high and I thought I will be ovulating soon. Now I am just puzzled. Still waiting for my blood test results of this morning and a response from the clinic.

 

[Blythe]

Briss. Didn't you stop the epo earlier last cycle? I think it is that delaying it....

 

[Briss]

just got my blood test results and they are even more disappointing and confusing. my LH is quite high at 12 so looks like my body wants to ovulate soon but estrogen is lower than usual at below 600 (while on previous cycles when I had a dominant follicle it was 1,400-1,800 on day 9). I really do not know what to make of it. my largest follicle needs at least 5 days to grow to 18 mm but high LH means there wont be time for it to grow/mature. what is my body doing?

I did not stop EPO this cycle (but I will from today), I know it's supposed to delay my ovulation but had no idea it could be messing up with my follicle growth?? could this really be EPO doing? maybe fasting does not help my follicles to grow properly?

 

[Briss]

also got a response from Munich which is yet another disappointment. Apparently my doctor is not in today so I should contact him tomorrow! what if I was supposed to be triggered tonight? anyway, whoever responded thought that I already ovulated because my progesterone was elevated at 1.8 ng/ml. I am now beyond confused. How is this possible it's only day 8, my temp is still low and I thought 1.8 is rather low for ovulation? There only way this could possible happen if urtogestan really mess up my cycle by delaying my period so that there was a mismatch between the start of the next cycle (i.e. AF) and follicle development which started a few days earlier. This could logically explain abnormally early ovulation if follicles started growing 3-4 days before I got my AF but is this really possible?

I think there only way to find out is to do another scan and bloods on Thursday or even Friday.

 

[alison29]

Wow that is so confusing Briss I am sorry about this cycle so disappointing..AFM I am just cheering on my friend at work going through her cycle. She learned today that 3 made it to 3 days, and they are hoping for one or two to implant Friday. I sure hope they have one or two. It's so scary going through IVF.

 

[Vonn]

Whoa, massive confusion, Briss! Sorry to hear about it. And not impressive about the dr just being out. They should totally have another dr step in for the time being, maybe they would if you did need triggering & the nurse thought this could wait a day. Even though of course you are distressed and want to understand exactly what's going on & why. People who work in the profession can get so desensitized to how personal and emotional all this is. I'll be really curious to see what the next scan reveals.

 

[Briss]

Thank you, ladies!

What a disappointing day on top of my scan/blood situation I have to work very late tonight and it's also my second fasting day this week! total misery

Ladies who have gone through many natural IVFs say that things like this happen every 3rd or 4th cycle. I have to say it's all new to me, I was sure I was ovulating every month.

 

[nobump]

Briss not sure I understand all that is going on with your cycle. Is there a risk that you won't be asked to triffer this cycle?

Xxx

 

[Briss]

nobump, I am not entirely sure myself what's going on but I think there are two options: (i) I ovulated super early like CD 7 which means too late for the trigger (still puzzled why sonographer did not notice any signs of ovulation on today's scan), (ii) my follicles are taking their time to grow so i may still ovulate later. There is obviously a third one that this is a complete mess and no ovulation. they can only trigger me if there is a dominant follicle of preferable over 18 mm and ready for ovulation.