First time IVF - Started Lupron last Thurs - Would Love some Buddies

[beaglemom]

Moni - def try to relax. I know it must be so emotional for you right now. I will be thinking about you.

Terri - I also foster. I have beagles (3) & foster for a beagle rescue. I am on a break right now with all the TTC stuff. The rescue is like an hour away. I usually take my pup to at least 1 adoptathon. But with all the dr appointments, I had to take a break. Too mentally exhausting...but so rewarding.

As far as BD - I read a book that said it was not a good idea to after transfer because the muscle contractions are not good for your embie...but I am not 100% on that...just what I read.

You guys are making me more anxious about IVF...anxious to start. Did I mention to you guys about the grant deadline? End of Sept with an Oct 1 decision. I emailed them to ask them to confirm that because the application says 6-8 weeks. I hope I don't have to wait that long. But they are a volunteer based organization, so that may be the timeline.

I am excited for everybody here...I know you guys are all so close to your bfp!

 

[ERosePW]

Moni and Terri.... please do not stress over the embies... I know it's WAY easier said than done, but I really feel like you're going to be successful this time anyway. It seems like the stories I've read, so many of them who only ended up with 2-3 embies, were the ones who got PG during their fresh cycle! Look back on the first IVF ever done in England... I'm pretty sure back in the day before they had all the meds they have now, they only retrieved the ONE EGG.... And they also didn't even do 5-day transfers back then. They got them back in the body as quick as they could, because they didnt have the technology they have now. And yet... look how it worked out for her... SUCCESS! You two will be feeling the same.

 

[ERosePW]

beagle, I've read the same thing, and that's apparently the same outlook my clinic takes. They don't like to risk the uterine contractions that an orgasm can cause. They don't put that rule in place after an IUI, but I guess with all the crap we go through (and money) for an IVF, they figure every precaution is good.

Terri, you cracked me UP with your comment about DH being all up in there tomorrow! LOLOLOL

 

[terripeachy]

You know he's on the countdown, but I'll try to convince him that it wouldn't be fair to our embies...hee hee. We have to give them every chance. Don't you just love their name? HA!!HA!! I like calling them that. I guess if we have three, it will Kembie 1, Kembie 2 and Kembie 3 since hubs likes K names. I'm losing it!

I am remaining positive and doing the best I can for them!

beaglemom-You can't rush the system. Like you said, a break will be nice, and October 01 isn't really that far away in the grand scheme of things. It'll be here before you know it. My foster shelter usually has us keep the dogs/cats for 1-2 weeks unless something is wrong and they need longer term care. Then we return them and write a story about them, and the people that come through the shelter usually adopt them right away. We are not responsible for finding parents, unless we want to. My coworker adopted one of my yorkie poos. His name is Skip (he had a broken leg and a cast when I fostered him). He is doing great with my coworker. I wish I could see him more often!

 

[beaglemom]

I am more worried if I have to wait 6-8 weeks after the application deadline. Not sure if Oct 1 is for the Sept apps. Seems like not enough time to decide. But they just got a new director...my husband said maybe they review the applications as they come in. But I will just have to wait to see if they respond to my email.

We do long term fostering. The rescue I work with does not have a shelter. All the pups are fostered. I love when someone adopts who is on Facebook...then we can watch all the doggy pics coming in.

This may sound stupid, but I really think we are in the process of pushing a snowball up a mountain. Then when someone gets a positive, the snowball will go over the end & start to gain momentum as we all start getting positives. Maybe that isn't the best analogy...but I hope you get what I mean.

 

[TTCinNewYork]

Hi Everyone!
I see I am a bit late but hope it is ok to chime in . I am currently going through my first IVF cycle. I am a bit later in the stages as I am going for my egg retrieval this Wednesday :O!! I just wanted to post. (this is my first thread) I am anxious nervous excited and just full of all kinds of emotions. !!

 

[JCM]

Welcome!! Good luck on Wednesday! Hope everything goes smoothly for you!

 

[JCM]

Hey Moni and Terri, I meant to ask...did you both do ICSI? Erin I think if my memory is right you did half and half?

 

[terripeachy]

Welcome TTC. Good luck to you on Wednesday! How many follies do you think you have raring to go?

Jen-yes, we did ICSI on all and assisted hatching as well. Is that what you are planning?

 

[JCM]

Yes! That's the plan! Although I'm learning more and more to be flexible and be prepared for anything life has to throw at me! Lol

 

[terripeachy]

HA! Jen..yeah, especially with this process. Keep the calendar open!

Nothing new to report here....

 

[ERosePW]

Hey Moni and Terri, I meant to ask...did you both do ICSI? Erin I think if my memory is right you did half and half?

Yep, I decided to do half and half, so that we could determine if DH's sperm and my eggs just weren't getting along on a molecular level (hehe!), but at the same time, be guaranteed that at least half of my eggs would be fertilized via ICSI. It turned out they all fertilized, so DH's sperm and my eggs do get along! LOL

 

[ERosePW]

Hi Everyone!
I see I am a bit late but hope it is ok to chime in . I am currently going through my first IVF cycle. I am a bit later in the stages as I am going for my egg retrieval this Wednesday :O!! I just wanted to post. (this is my first thread) I am anxious nervous excited and just full of all kinds of emotions. !!

Welcome to the thread TTCinNY! Everyone here is at a different stage in the process... some are in the thick of it, some are just beginning, and I'll be doing my second transfer in a few weeks. So welcome to the board, and GL on Wednesday! Keep us posted!

 

[moni77]

Welcome TTCinNY - I am also in NY! My transfer is Friday.

Yes we did ICSI on all - not sure about the assisted hatching at this point. I'll let you all know on Friday.

 

[booger76]

Good morning ladies!

Moni - I hope you are feeling better today and have taken what your doctor said to heart. I wish that there was a time in this process that we felt like we could actually take a deep breath and feel confident. I know that it will happen eventually, but I think until we have our children in our arms, we'll always be a little anxious. That's why we are all here though, to offer support to each other. Sending positive vibes your way!!!!

Beagle - Your vacation sounds fantastic. Those cabins sound awesome - especially the doggie door and fenced in yard. We have two dogs and it can be such a pain to travel with them because it is so very rare to find a place that is fenced (or even takes pets, for that matter). I think it's great that both you and Terri foster! I would love to do so as well, but our dogs are old and grumpy so I don't think it would be fair to bring in a new dog at this point - but maybe in the future. I love the idea of it.

Terri - Glad to see you are hanging in there. Hopefully you can continue to fight off DH manly needs. They act like it's the end of the world or something. Cracks me up.

TTCinNY - Welcome! Good luck tomorrow. How very exciting. Let us know how it goes. What protocol are you using?

JCM - Haha! Running certainly does make you sore. We'll see how long my break lasts. I always say I'm going to take a break and then I get on the scale one day - then the running shoes go back on immediately. I have a love/hate relationship with running for sure. I love how it makes me feel but I pretty much hate it while I'm doing it. But I think a few weeks off will serve me well. Hope your cysts are shrinking and you can come off the BCP. I have only been on it a week and I can already tell it's affecting me emotionally. Ugh.

ERose - I doubt that you are wimpy with the P shots - I haven't read one good thing about them. There is a thread on Fertility Friend I follow and this girl was posting about how she was uncomfortable standing, sitting, lying down, walking - basically all the time. They just sound horrendous. Seems like they could find a better way to inject them rather than to have to use oil. Oh well - I guess we do what we gotta do! Nice temp jump, by the way - any sign of AF??? I hope not.

 

[ERosePW]

Hi booger! Well thanks for justifying my wussiness. Hehe! Yes, my butt was pretty sore after two or three days of those, and occasionally my leg would hurt when I walked. I really could've handled that easily enough though, if say, it was something else causing the achiness... but it was the IDEA of the long needle deep down in a muscle. That's why I think I'm a wuss... when just the idea of something bothers me! LOL

Um, as for AF, I did have brown spotting yesterday morning that I typically get in the few days leading up to AF... But there was no more after yesterday morning, and not today either. I've had some LIGHT cramping that usually means AF is a couple days away. But very sporadic, and definitely dull and light, like I may not have even noticed if I had been busy enough in that moment. I didn't test again today because I have one test left, and I figured I should probably just do it on the 14dpo mark. Yesterday was BFN though. I bought the kind beagle mentioned because it was such a good deal for three tests... the CB digi that say how many weeks. I would think even that would be accurate at 14dpo. But i'm not expecting too much... just focusing on the FET, so that I'm not disappointed when I have another BFN tomorrow, ha!

 

[terripeachy]

ERose-Hmm...I noticed the jump this morning too...I'll definitely be tomorrow morning. So what are the next steps for FET. You continue on Lupron until.?.and then.?..and then the transfer!

booger-So what is next for you? Get started once AF gets here?

 

[beaglemom]

Erin I am so excited for you to start your next cycle. I just got a few books at the library on IVF (like I need more knowledge at this point...lol). But it makes me feel proactive reading that stuff. I am now getting so anxious about moving forward. I wish I could just go ahead & START! But I know I should wait for the grant info. It does say in the info that people with no children & have already put out money on fertility treatments will have priority. So that puts us ahead on everything. Plus we have been married 10+ years, my husband has almost 20 years at his job. I think we have a lot going for us. So I hope we can get SOMETHING. We put all the receipts on a spreadsheet. We have spent over $5K...that includes any work ups to diagnose as well as IUIs. I am trying not to look back on that saying I wish I had gone straight to IVF. Nothing indicated IUI wouldn't work. And if I had done IVF first, I would have always been thinking I could have saved money by trying other things first. No point in looking at the past.

 

[booger76]

ERose - I'll be checking tomorrow morning to see what that test says! Good luck. I don't blame you for focusing on the FET though - it's easier to swallow the BFN when you already have a solid plan in place moving forward. I totally get the IDEA of the shot freaking you out more than the shot itself. I have watched some videos of the shots and they are difficult to view. I am hoping I can do most of them myself but who knows what's going to happen once the time comes.

Beagle - What books did you get? I have read "IVF: A Patient's Guide" by Rebecca Matthews, "In Vitro Fertilization: The A.R.T. of Making Babies" by Geoffrey Sher, and "It Starts with the Egg" by Rebecca Fett. I have found them all to be very good reads. The ART of Making Babies is very technical at times but the information is good. I also keep reading scientific journal articles online. I'm a bit of an information junkie though. I'm really hoping the grant works out for you - even if you have to wait a bit longer. The costs add up quickly (as you know) and any help would be amazing. When I found out at our RE appointment that my insurance might cover a good bit of the bloodwork and ultrasounds I about cried. It's not a ton of the cost, but anything we aren't paying out of pocket is a good thing.

Terri - I'm on birth control until they tell me to stop taking it. Then I will stop, wait for AF and then get moving on stims. My clinic cycles their patients together so that everyone will be doing their stimming and monitoring at the same time. We had to make a down payment of half the cost to reserve our spot in the September cycle. That was a sobering moment having to fork over that huge of chunk of change. Oh well, I keep telling myself that for less than the price of a car we can hopefully have a baby! How are you feeling???

So, the running team I do my running relays with (not a competitive team, more like a group of fun people who just like to run. Also not the people I ran with this past weekend. I filled in on another team who needed a runner.) received some tragic news on Sunday. One of the guys we run with was killed in a boating accident over the weekend. He fell out of the pontoon boat he was riding in on Saturday night and they still haven't found him. There was alcohol involved (he did like to party) but it's still kind of a mystery as to how/why he just fell out of the boat. It's still doesn't seem real. He had just gone through treatment for leukemia and survived and was getting ready to retire. So awful. Sorry to be such a downer but I can't get him off my mind.

 

[terripeachy]

Oh, I'm so sorry to hear about your running buddy. That is just terrible. I'm assuming he was with other people, right? Life is SOOO precious. One minute you're running with someone, and the next day you're not. So sad...My heart goes out to all of you and his family. Especially since they can't locate him. I'm with you on the game plan now..so September sometime is when you're ready to start stimming. Gotcha!

I feel 100% normal. Nothing twitching, aching, my tatas are a little sore, but that's the progesterone. Soo....seriously nothing. I hope this is a good thing.