First IVF with PGD soon. Anyone else?

[eabwhab]

Hello ladies,

Sophie, what a scare. Glad to hear it is not a clot. You should be starting your cycle soon. Best of luck with that. Please keep us updated. I will keep you in my thoughts. You will have to give yourself a lot of shots, that is not fun but you will make it!

Bronte, the waiting is always hard. BTW I read you are talking supplements. I was taking Ubiquinol, Inositol and royal jelly, max dosage for all of them for a month prior my cycle and also during stimulation. I had the best response compared to my two previous cycles which were 1.5 and 2 years ago (I am 41 at the moment so that is a long time).

Wishing all of you the best

 

[Sophie2015]

Hi eab. Good to hear from you. My cycle will tentatively start November 19. I've had a day with ordering my drugs though. Apparently I've met my fertility drug benefit for the year and no one told me. Drugs were due to arrive tomorrow and I received a phone call today telling me I owed $16000 for drugs alone. Yep 16k. It's taken me all day but I think I've finally found a place to get them for about 4k. I'm ready to quit and I haven't even started yet.

That's awesome you had a great response!! Did you decide to do PGS? When will you know something?

 

[eabwhab]

Sophie, 16K??? That is absurd....
Are you in the US? I have read some people buy them in Europe as they are cheaper.

Fortunately I live in MA and the insurance has covered my medications and the IVF. We had to pay ICSI, biopsy and PGS out of pocket though and that alone was over 7K.... My cycle went well and I did not need as much medications. It was a new protocol which is supposed to work better with older women.
I got 2 PGS normal embryos. A boy and a girl. I am happy and relived, but the hard part is yet to start. I am terrified of geting pregnant just to miscarry. I am sure you can relate.

You will be starting this week. I wish you all the best. I will be checking for your updates.

 

[Sophie2015]

eab-that is awesome news!!! Can I ask what protocol they used for you? I just turned 44 and this is my one and only IVF attempt.

 

[eabwhab]

eab-that is awesome news!!! Can I ask what protocol they used for you? I just turned 44 and this is my one and only IVF attempt.

Sophie, actually I do not not the name of the protocol, but there was basically no suppression other than birth control for about ten days. After my baseline I started stimulating in the evenings and in the mornings. Then, after a few days they added ganirelix in the mornings. In my previous cycles I took ganirelix or lupron before starting stimulating. The first time, lupron for three days, after a month of birth control, then I started stimulation. The second time, I took birth control for a month, then ganirelix for at least a week, then I started stimulation. I had to be on really high dosage of hormones. This time around I was surprised they had to lower the dosage quite a bit after the first three days.

I can inquire about the name of the protocol. I know it is 'short'

Do you know which protocol they have you on?

 

[Sophie2015]

Ok. No I don't have a name either. But I spoke with the geneticist in charge of PGS testing Tuesday and she gave me some advice that my RE is letting me follow. No suppression. No birth control pills. On CD2 I start Follistim AM & PM. Around CD 6 or 7 I start Ganirelix at night (she said if they are unsure if to start it on CD6 make them wait til CD7). When I start Ganirelix I will add Menopur AM & PM. (So Follistim & Menopur AM & PM with Ganirelix at night). Apparently starting Ganirelix or Menopur too early is bad. On Dexamethasone the whole time.
They have 3 sister clinics who started using this protocol and all those clinics have a 70% pregnancy rate for IVF regardless of age it seems. Hope it works. I'm so afraid it won't.

 

[Sophie2015]

Oh and I'm doing 1 shot of Lupron to trigger prior to ER

 

[eabwhab]

Hello Sophie,

my protocol was antagonist. I also did lupron trigger shot.
Our protocols look quite similar. You are starting very soon. Best of luck!
Keep me posted.

I assume you will have to freeze right?

I should be starting FET. I am quite nervous....

 

[Sophie2015]

Eab- I'm doing Lupron because I did 2 Follistim/Ovidrel/IUI cycles (babies #4 & 5) and with the 2nd one developed mild OHSS. Using Lupron instead of Ovidrel to reduce that chance.

Yes I'll freeze. If we even get anything. So so worried we won't. Plus I'm likely gonna start Saturday which complicates things and next week is Thanksgiving week and my IVF nurse is on vacay. Not happy about any of it. I want someone holding my hand thru this! Winging it terrifies me.

Good luck to you!!! It's gonna work out. Are you transferring both? I'd give anything to be in your shoes with a healthy girl and boy embie. Just keep telling yourself you're pregnant. Never think otherwise. FX'd soooooo tight for you!!!!!

 

[Sophie2015]

Well it has begun. Suppression check was today. I have an antral follicle count of 12. Not bad for an old woman I'm told. Start my Follistim and Dexamethasone tomorrow. Just ready for it to be over. One way or another. Sigh.

 

[mara16jade]

Just wishing you the best. I'm on day 2 of waiting for my embies to grow. We're also doing pgs testing...if we have embies by day 5. I'm terrified. This is our one and only attempt.

I had an unusual outcome that they weren't expecting. I'm 33, have a 2 y.o. son who was conceived naturally without problems. My initial follicle count was 27, then grew to 29. They got 26 eggs out, but only 13 were mature! Of those 13, 7 fertilized via ICSI. Two more are in limbo since they're not sure they fertilized correctly. During fertilization there's a 4 hour window at some point to see 2 pronuclei and 2 polar bodies. If you miss that 4 hour window, or the fertilization went faster, they might miss the 2 pronuclei, and only see 2 polar bodies. So they now need to wait to see if they grow normally (apparently 30% of the time they're normal). Then I had 4 immature eggs mature over night, so they did ICSI on them yesterday....so I'm waiting very impatiently to hear how they did over night. I really hope they fertilized. Fx

Wishing you the best. This is such a long and emotional journey. I hope you have a great outcome.

 

[Sophie2015]

Mara- good luck to you too! I'm 44 and while we don't have trouble conceiving usually the little hearts stop beating around week 8. I'm not terribly optimistic. This is also our only IVF attempt.

 

[eabwhab]

Hello Sophie,

thanks for your words!
12 follicles is pretty good for your age! I know it is really hard knowing this is your only shot. With my daughter we had also decided that this was going to be our last time trying for a baby as we could not take another loss. I was terrified. Take one day at the time. Do not concentrate on numbers too much. You will probably need somebody to talk to, to let out your anxiety, fears and stress. Hang in there, you will make it.

Mara, best of luck to you. The wait after egg retrieval is so stressful and terrifying. I will look out for your updates.

I had my baseline today for my FET. Everything looks good. I have not yet decided whether I will take prednisone.

 

[BronteForever]

Sophie - hope everything is going well. Any updates. Keeping my fingers crossed for you. I know it's hard to keep optimistic, but 12 as an AFC is pretty good. Really hope they get some good eggs!

 

[Sophie2015]

No new updates. Started my Follistim Sunday. Next ultrasound and E2 is Wednesday. I'm on 450 a day of Follistim. My E2 went sky high on 225 a day for my IUI in July. A little worried my E2 is gonna be too high Wednesday and they'll cancel the whole cycle. Just trying to think about what I need to do today and not worry about tomorrow.

 

[eabwhab]

Sophie,

I know it is really really hard, try to take one day at the time. Try not to overthink it. If this is of any help, we are here to listen.

Best

 

[BronteForever]

Good luck. Hope everything stays in range.

 

[Sophie2015]

I have 13 follies growing. E2 level not back yet. FX'd it's not too high. Any updates from any of you ladies?

 

[eabwhab]

I have 13 follies growing. E2 level not back yet. FX'd it's not too high. Any updates from any of you ladies?

13 follies is really good! How many days have you stimmed so far?
How was your E2?

Not much going on here. My baseline was fine. So was my E2 on day 4, I will go back next Saturday to have my lining checked. If everything looks good we will schedule the transfer.

Looking forward to hear more good news!

 

[Sophie2015]

eabwhab- that's great news!! I really have a good feeling about this cycle for you.

I have bad news. My 13 follies were after 3.5 days of stim. My E2 was only 185 though so it appears I'm not responding nearly like I did in June and July. With both those cycles I had fewer follies this early but my E2 was already pushing 1000 on MUCH less medication. I go today for another check but I'm prepared to hear it's over. I didn't respond well enough.