Dealing with azoospermia?

[bubumaci]

How exciting, that you have been for the first monitoring! ... I think it is probably more likely to be 14mm - they like them to be around or over 20mm when doing the egg retrieval, I think 1,4mm sounds a bit small? - I think 18/19mm or so for trigger...
Fingers crossed for you xoxo

 

[melissaelaine]

How exciting, that you have been for the first monitoring! ... I think it is probably more likely to be 14mm - they like them to be around or over 20mm when doing the egg retrieval, I think 1,4mm sounds a bit small? - I think 18/19mm or so for trigger...
Fingers crossed for you xoxo

I was just thinking that! The paper said 1.4, but I am thinking that it was 1.4 cm, which would be 14mm. That makes a lot more sense!

 

[sharon99]

Yay Gem!!!! So exciting!!

Hugs and Hi to everyone else!

 

[bubumaci]

Hey Sharon - long time no see! You must be due soon?? How are you doing?

 

[gem10]

Beta camr back at 760!!! This could be it!!!!!!! Thank you everyone for your kind words, I am on cloud nine!

 

[rdleela]

Fabulous beta!!

 

[melissaelaine]

That's so exciting, gem!

 

[bubumaci]

that's perfect!!!

 

[Jacks10]

Mahoosive congrats gem, that is a lovely lovely result! Have a dance

It's so great to hear positive azoo news, and so nice to know that it IS possible to be happily pregnant even going through what we're all struggling with.

How is hubby doing? I know you said after your failed TESE he wasn't feeling too great about the donor embies. We now have to decide about donor back up for our upcoming TESE. I would be very happy to do that as I am now so ready for a bfp now, whether it's bio or donor I am just ready to nurture a little one. But DH is not at all on board yet. we haven't told anyone at all about azoo, not even family, so i can see we need the time to adjust ourselves before going straight into a donor cycle. But I'm just so ready to be a mum! Not very good at being patient, that's my problem

 

[Jacks10]

Also well done Melissa for growing good follies! Fingers crossed for you and DH next week xxx

 

[gem10]

Jacks10 dh is doing great! It honestly hasnt even come up. He was so nervous that the poas tests were false, but when the nurses called he was laughing and shouting! He is soo happy and excited. It hasnt even bothered me. I think this year has just been so hard we are just so happy to have good news. I did wonder if this would have worked if we had used progesterone shots with dh sperm. But he even said, I cant think like that, the doctors have to do the least invasive measures first.

So I know how you feel. I think my DH camr around after our second failed attempt. He hated giving me shots and seeing me disappointed. He said he just wanted to be a dad, and he will be no matter what. We havent told anyone about the donor, and I really dont feel the need. We will be a family and that's all that matters! I hope everything works out for you, and if you have to use donor I bet your dh will get on board. I wish you the very best of luck. Just know you WILL get there. I never thought I would, ever. And am still in shock!

 

[Jacks10]

Fabulous news, you must be over the moon! Enjoy sharing the happy news together, I can't imagine how lovely it must feel!
And it's funny, everyone says once you get the bfp then all thoughts of donor are all but gone ,and I guess it must be true as everyone says it!

I have a couple of questions for you ladies who've been through ICSI/IVF...
does anyone know whether the antral follicle count scan needs to be on a certain day in the cycle?
Also, I have my icsi planning appointment in a couple of weeks and I still need some blood tests done (my amh and fsh were last done last year and I've never had an E2 whatever that is). Is there any point having the appointment before the blood tests? Surely they'll need the results to decide which protocol/drugs I'll go on? I'm kicking myself I've not realised sooner and got these tests done beforehand but on cd7 at the moment so my cd1-3 will be way after the appointment. Argh!

 

[melissaelaine]

Jacks- I am not sure of the exact numbers, but my understanding of the BAF is that it helps the doctor determine what type of protocol to use with you. I know my RE told me that he would consider a different protocol if my number was higher/lower. My first BAF was around 16. At the beginning of my current IVF cycle, it was 13. This website has some interesting information: https://www.advancedfertility.com/antralfollicles.htm As for the blood tests, my understanding is that AMH can be tested at any time. Not sure about the others!

Update on me: I had another monitoring appointment today. I was up to 9 measurable follicles (over 10mm). My biggest one from yesterday's appointment was 17mm, but didn't grow any today. I had one that jumped from 14mm to 19mm, but the nurse said that might just be a smaller follicle next to it, obscuring it. I had 2 others that were 14mm or more, plus 5 that were between 10mm and 14mm. The nurse still thinks I will trigger on Saturday or Sunday with an ER on Monday or Tuesday!

 

[bubumaci]

E2 is oestrogen. I think it is OK to have the appointment - not quite sure how the cycles are monitored in other countries, but here for each of my cycles, they not only did the vaginal u/s to check how I was responding to the stims, but also took blood each time, checked the oestrogen, progesterone and LH levels, to make sure that everything was responding as it should.
The E2 early in the cycle and then the progesterone in the second half of the cycle is usually what they test to make sure that your cycle / hormone levels are as they should be (i.e. could it also be lack of progesterone resulting in no pregnancy) - if you have to do IVF / ICSI anyway, then I think the monitoring during the cycle at the clinic should be enough ...

I can't remember when the antral follicle scan needed to be - once we knew that we were going ahead with a stimming cycle, I would have my protocol and would start injecting on day 3 of the cycle, first u/s on day 5 ... xoxo

 

[bubumaci]

melissaelaine - that is sounding very good!

 

[Deb111]

Gem - massive congrats!!!

 

[Deb111]

Girls ... I need some advice please ...

As you know, we are going for another ICSI cycle. I had wanted it at the end of Oct but that meant EC 'could' have clashed with Aimee's birthday and I'm not prepared for that to happen, or with Mr Ramsay being on annual leave. So then we are faced with other choices and I really can't get my head round what would be best and most sensible - so I am hoping some of you will give me your opinions and maybe even suggest an option I have overlooked!

So - my protocol is
- BCP for anything between 12 and 42 days
- Nasal spray for 7 days
- Injecting for approx 10 - 16 days
- Trigger

Now I would have liked to aim for November, BUT Mr Ramsay is away 4th - 9th Nov and 18th - 22nd Nov.
I can't figure out whether a window of 9 days is enough for us to aim for. Can I absolutely guarantee to be able to aim EC within that window? I guess it's the number of days of injecting that is hard to predict. I think I'm likely to need more rather than less, but could it be more than 16??

Then I think would we be better aiming for December? but I organise the Nativity play at school and appts could clash with that and I don't want it ruining Christmas if the cycle doesn't work. Then again, I'm sure Christmas with a 2 year old wouldn't leave much time for being sad! lol

Sorry for rambling on girls, but dh can't seem to stay awake long enough after work to discuss this properly with me and I really just don't know what to do for the best

Oh and I really don't want to wait until after Christmas - time is not on our side and I don't want to added stress of the possibility of bad weather when we're having to travel to London.

Oh yeah - and I started AF this evening so I need to make a decision asap so I know if I should be starting BCP!

 

[Deb111]

Jacks - I'm sure they use AFC as a pretty good indicator for your meds - but you can discuss likely protocol etc at your appt and things can always be tweeked once James has your results. AMH can be done at any point in your cycle xx

 

[MoBaby]

Deb I would go for December. 9 days typically isn't long enough. You won't be stressed out as much with the time crunch.

 

[arzoo]

Jacks: If you are undergoing treatment at Lister, they do both u/s and also blood at every appointment to keep track how you are responding to medicines. They could call me within few hours of the blood test to let me know if I had to change the dosage of any medicines.

Jacks dont know what antral follicle count scan is, but the scans during the cycle have to be at specific dates.

About having blood test before the appointment - James is very good on emails , he was more than happy for us to continue with our protocol without meeting him again, despite there being 3-4 months gap between the appointment and the actual cycle. Maybe you can request him to review the results and send you prescription later ? Prescription is only one part of the appointment, I found the conversations and finding answers to my 100000 questions the most important part.


Deb: Sorry, I re-read your post couple of times, I dont know what to suggest. I know you said post december is not an option for you, but I think I personally would go for that. Else , I dont know how things work at your school but can you ask a friend at work to step in to organise the play?