Entering the world of Assisted Conception...like it or not...

[Hiker1]

Yes we transferred but sadly it only grew to a 10 cell. After the doc told me that I clammed up and didn't sat a word throughout the whole procedure. Just wanted to get out of there and go home to bed to get this day over with. I just don't understand what I did to deserve this.

 

[star_e]

Thanks for the support lemon tree and bronte! Hope you all are doing well.

 

[lemon_tree]

Aw, Hiker, I'm sorry to hear that, but hopefully it's growth will pick back up now that transfer is complete. I'm not losing hope yet.

 

[BronteForever]

Oh Hiker, I'm so sorry. Sending you hugs. This stuff sucks so much. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for you the embryo picks up and grows quicker in your body. And it's a success but I do know it's not anywhere near where you'd like for better success. So I'm so sorry about that.

I also seem to be dealing with low quality eggs and it's not fun at all because you don't know what to focus on the most to improve.

Most of the recommendations for supplements, acupuncture, etc. honestly don't have very good stats behind it because they haven't been tested very well yet. I honestly don't understand why they haven't devoted a lot of time to researching this since egg quality seems to be one of the biggest reasons for failure.

If this one doesn't take were you wanting to do another cycle? If so I'd keep at everything you are doing and make sure it's a minimum of 3 months.

I'm really pulling for you!!

 

[Hiker1]

Yes definitely will do another cycle. We aren't giving up any time soon!!

 

[Smille24]

Oh Hiker, I am so sorry it didn't grow the way you wanted it to 🙁. Maybe the outcome will be a positive one, you never know. Miracles happen when we least suspect it. When will you have a definite answer of whether it worked or not?

 

[star_e]

Hiker - I did some reading and have seen there are success stories with embies that had some slowed growth. so i am very much hoping you will be one of those stories. if not, on to the next cycle. i'm rooting for you as are so many others. fingers very tightly crossed for you!

 

[Hiker1]

Thank you all. Your support means more than I can express. I feel so alone sometimes! I had a dream last night that I poas and it was a BFP!! Like instantly two bright pink lines! I'm trying to not get my hopes up...seriously to protect my sanity...but my body and mind must really want this if I'm dreaming that way. I've read a couple success stories of 5 day multi-cell embryos too, but I do think that's the exception. I go for my beta one week from today, 8/10. Last time I started spotting the night before so I'll be on the lookout for that. Bronte, I hear you about the supplements. You hear so many different stories about their effectiveness, and my goodness I've been taking them a few months now - I would have hoped this round would have been at least slightly better than the one 2 months ago if they had done any good. Same with the acupuncture. Been going (and spending lots of money I might add) for regular treatments since March and I haven't seen any improvement, so I am going to stop that going forward. The one acupuncturist I went to on my transfer day, before and after the transfer, was a different one since mine was on vacation, and this lady was older and checked a lot more things on me, including my pulse and tsk tsked, saying I had "weak blood" and that I would never get pregnant without improving my blood with herbs. I'm willing to try anything at this point- maybe I will try some herbs next time.

 

[BronteForever]

The exception has to be someone though, correct. So why not you? You are do for some good news. Really hope the dream was a good omen.

There is just no way to know what will affect quality, I think. That's why it's so frustrating! They really need to study this stuff more. I made my husband pull several research articles about egg quality and I'm going to study up soon to see what out there actual exists and has been looked at somewhat. Even with that, ever body responds differently though. Wish it would be a simple fix.

There's so many things they suggest, but you can't do all of them. It's impossible.

And what the heck does "weak blood" mean?

 

[star_e]

i have not been taking any supplements b/c i'm just not sure if they will work and i don't want to spend so much. i was thinking of trying acupuncture, and maybe i will. does it calm you? i've never done it before. i too would like to know what weak blood is?

so here is my updated from today:

apparently still no significant growth. there was one at 12mm, but all the others were under 10. my estrogen level is crawling up. its at 81 now. so still very low. nurse said she only sees five that look like they might grow. she said all the others are too small. all of them are on the right ovary, nothing seems to be taking off on the left at all. so i went from one appointment thinking i had 20 (granted thats the total, they were very small at that time too) to thinking i have five. hopefully we get something this cycle. i hope i make it to transfer stage. i was also told that i have brittle pcos and that they did not want to give me a very high dose to start off with b/c they were afriad my estrogen level would get too high too quickly and that that would impact the quality of the eggs. nurse also said that if too many grow at once it does not give the other eggs the space to continue to grow and that impacts the cycle as well. i'm not sure what to think though. when we were trying for iui and they overstimmed me, i had like 20. then when they did long and slow for another iui, i had 1. so it seems like they know how to control it a bit more than they think. they upped my dose to 150 and my next appointment is friday.

i never know what to think after the appointments. i'm a bit tired of worrying. going to give myself tonight off and just eat some chocolate.

hiker - i'm rooting for you. my fx for 8/10. good luck!

 

[MMW430]

Hiker, you really have had such a good attitude through all this. I haven't been on so much, but I was really hoping to see that everything had worked out in your favor. I know it might not look good, but maybe it will still work out okay this cycle. Fingers crossed for you!

 

[Smille24]

I just read your post on another journal and want to say I'm so sorry. I hope the dr can give you some advice on what to do next and not push donor eggs. Keeping you in my thoughts .

 

[lemon_tree]

Awww boo. Hugs, Hiker.

 

[lemon_tree]

And more hugs. Hope you're ok.

 

[Hiker1]

Hi guys, sorry I thought I updated this page with my BFN result. I'm totally over it and just trying to have a break before I go back to school next week (I'm a teacher). We meet with my doctor on Tuesday for what someone called our "wtf" appointment (love that!). I want to talk about the cycle, what went wrong and why, and then come up with a plan for next time. I assume they won't be giving me any meds this month and just do a natural cycle, so we will definitely dtd and try naturally...which when I think of it, we haven't had a chance to do so since last December. Literally every month has been an IUI or IVF attempt. I know it won't work, but we can still try. Also I'm going to the Chinese acupuncturist on Monday to get some herbs. I really don't think it can hurt, and obviously the Western approach isn't going so well so far, so I'm going to give this a go to try to hopefully even out some imbalances that might be going on. So that's me in a nutshell...how are you all? I've been out of the loop since going on a little vacation with my husband since we are free from the grasps of fertility treatments for a little while. A few days in wine country was pure bliss...

 

[BronteForever]

Stranger things have happened. Good luck trying natural this cycle and hope you get a good plan going forward. So glad you got to enjoy a wine vacation!!

 

[FPD]

Hi there everyone,

Sorry for jumping on here but I was wondering if someone could advise
me on NHS protocol for IVF, specifically regarding when treatment begins prior to stims. I just want to see if I get another shot at a cycle before it all starts.

I have an appointment to get bloods in early September, then an appointment to plan treatment two weeks later. Do they start giving you medication straight away to quiet my cycle or does this all happen in the main appointment?

I would appreciate any advice. I have been on this ttc journey for nearly five years, 1 early miscarriage and 1 chemical. I have very low amh so the dr was a bit reluctant to let me try IVF on the NHS. I have been with Napro for a while prior to this too.

 

[BronteForever]

Hey FPD, as far as I know, I think most of us on this thread are in the U.S. so can't advise you on NHS stuff, especially because they tend to do stuff quite a bit differently.

However, it honestly depends on what protocol you are put on to determine when you start treatment in relation to stims. Long protocols usually do downrigging as they call it where you are put on BCPs or other meds for up to a month to help "quiet the ovaries" before stims. While short protocols usually go straight to stims on around CD3 (your egg retrieval is often around 8-12 days after you start stimming), but there are so many variables in there.

Your best bet is to ask on the main Assisted Conception board about NHS stuff specifically. But like I said, even that seems to vary a bit by clinic, so you might not know what your clinic does specifically until your meeting.

I'd wager it's going to take a bit of time from bloods to actual treatment time though. The appointment 2 weeks after your bloods are drawn is like to only start talking about what you are going to be doing, so it could take a bit of time before they actually start you on anything.

Good luck!

 

[FPD]

Hi Bronte Forever,

Thanks so much for getting back to me and for the
Advice. I'm such a novice when it come to IVF.

I have since noticed there is a a recently added
Thread for the uk so I'll check that out.

Thanks again

 

[Hiker1]

Hi all! Had our wtf appointment with the doc yesterday. I must say she is very doom and gloom. Said after our 2 IVF attempts that showed that we've done all we can do and that any more attempts are likely to have the same, negative, results. Of course the donor egg talk again. But since doing my research, I know that DOR is not a death sentence. I wish she was more encouraging like, well let's try something else, but she isn't.

That said she said if I want to keep trying we can - just don't get my hopes up. SO, I asked about Estrogen priming, and she said we can try that. Although I'm technically not a low responder (or am I? They got 4 eggs at both my retrievals) But I find it strange that it's me suggesting the protocols. She doesn't seem very gung-ho about trying to work with my DOR - just keeps saying the likelihood is low, and that anything I do/take/eat/change in protocols isn't going to help anything.

That said, we are finishing off this month as a natural cycle, then next month's cycle starting estrogen priming after I ovulate. (I secretly so want to get pregnant naturally this month just to show her! But I know it won't happen.) I've also started taking Chinese herbs, and by delaying things a bit, I am giving my body a month break from all the meds, while giving me more time to have been on good quality DHEA and CoQ10.

Anyone know anything about estrogen priming?