Follistim question?

[BronteForever]

I don't have good news. None of my eggs made it to blastocyst stage (well one did, but it didn't have the inner cells needed to form a child). It's been a bit devastating and I do wonder if it has a lot to do with the fact I stimmed too long and my follicles got too overlarge, which meant my eggs were too mature. I don't get a follow up appointment with a doctor until next Wednesday. So hoping to have a lot of my questions answered. I don't have a follow up with my current doctor to talk about my next cycle until August 10. So hopefully we can move forward and it will work much better. I feel like this cycle didn't tell me much of anything though, which is frustrating.

Looks like you have some good news from your IUI though. Huge congrats. How exciting!!!

 

[Sophie2015]

Ugh!! I'm so sorry and surprised actually. I had such a good feeling. You are younger than I am so this might not apply but with both my Follistim IUI cycles my RE said E2 levels were just as important in gauging egg maturity as follicle size was because E2 "cooks" the eggs faster so smaller follicles with high E2 levels usually indicates there's a mature egg ready. I was told this is the case in "older" moms to be. Might not apply in your case but maybe worth mentioning.

I do have good news. I'll be 5 weeks Friday and have had 3 good betas but honestly getting pregnant isn't usually my issue. Miscarrying is. I'm 43 so praying this one is genetically healthy. I'm not sure I can handle a 5th loss.

My heart breaks for you. Sending loads of baby dust your way!!!

 

[BronteForever]

Really? That's super interesting and I hadn't heard that. I definitely think I stimmed too long regardless. My lead follicle was 26.6 mm two days before transfer. That's way too high. I have lots of questions for the doctor that oversaw my care and then my actual doctor. I think I got lost in the shuffle a bit and they made some poor decisions.

We paid upfront for a second cycle, so I really hope this time works!

Congrats on the pregnancy. I really hope it sticks for you as well. I'm sure having that many miscarriages you are probably cautiously optomistic each time. The fact you have been able to get pregnant that many times though does suggest your egg quality isn't horrible yet. So really hoping that somehow that's a good sign and this one will be your rainbow baby. Good luck!

 

[Sophie2015]

I'm so hopeful for you!! I agree 26 sounds a bit large. My RE has never let me grow beyond 18 or 19 before the trigger (again ivf might be different). On a positive note I've always heard the first ivf cycle is the learning cycle and it's often the 2nd cycle that works. FX'd this happens for you!

 

[BronteForever]

I'm really hopeful that it is as well. But I don't feel we learned as much during this cycle as we could have, which has me worried. So I'm really hoping it's not meant to be no. 3 before they figure it out, because I'm not sure I could keep paying for more cycles if this next one fails.

My husband keeps telling me we need to just do it one cycle at a time and if unfortunately it doesn't work then we are going to have to talk about it then. It's hard to focus on one at a time though!

 

[Sophie2015]

Just focus on cycle #2. Push for answers and go with your gut. Make sure they know your concerns about your follies being too large and don't let that happen again.

And please keep in touch. I will be thinking about you!!!

 

[BronteForever]

Thanks Sophie. Best wishes to you on a healthy pregnancy as well! I'd love to stay updated as well.

 

[Sophie2015]

Hey there Bronte. Just thinking about you. Hope all is well and you got some answers from your doctor.

 

[BronteForever]

Thanks Sophie. I don't meet with my doctor until next week. I did meet with my substitute doctor that oversaw my cycle. He did not think my follicles were too large and just said my egg quality was probably bad because I'm overweight. He wasn't terribly helpful so I'm anxious to meet with my doctor.

Hope you and baby are doing well!

 

[Sophie2015]

Have you tried DHEA for egg quality? I took it with my last 3 pregnancies. (If you have pcos don't take). Just a thought. I really hope something works for you soon. I know all too well the longing for a baby.

 

[BronteForever]

My substitute doctor advised against DHEA for me. He gave me a list of supplements to try and I'm on those now. I'm probably going to try acupuncture too. It's so hard to know what exactly to use.

 

[Sophie2015]

I hope something works! I also used acupuncture. It can't hurt.

 

[BronteForever]

Sophie - I see in your signature you had another loss. I'm so sorry to hear that. Hugs. I hope you are doing alright. Have they done any tests to try determine the cause of recurrent miscarriages? So sorry you are having to go through this.

 

[Sophie2015]

Hey there Bronte. It's just awful. We are stunned. My 3 betas looked great. My first ultrasound at 6+3 was perfect. At my 8+2 ultrasound there was no HB. Baby measured 8 weeks exactly and my RE feels like HB had just stopped. He said the yolk sac was large at the 8+2 ultrasound and that it indicated a chromosomal issue. Had my D&C Thursday and we sent the remains off for genetics. Hopefully we'll have answers but I feel defeated like I'm just too old. At this point, despite the fact we are 43 and can still conceive fairly easily RE feels my eggs are bad and to prevent more mc's we need to try ivf with pgd to test the embryos prior to transfer. It's a 30k shot in the dark but we're just not ready to quit.
My D&C was brutal. I've never bled with any of my losses but for some reason Thursday I lost at least a pint of blood. I'm an RN and have a sketchy memory of the aftermath of my recovery. I got lucky. My concern is why did I hemorrhage. And was there damage done that will prevent us from moving forward TTC. I see my RE in 3 weeks. I'll know more then I guess.

How are you? Have you started your next ivf?
Thanks for checking on me. I think of you often and am wishing you so much luck. ❤️

 

[BronteForever]

I'm so sorry to hear this. Hugs again. Really hope they can give you some answers from the genetic tests.

I'm so sorry you hemorrhaged too. That had to be incredibly scary. Glad you pulled through.

If you are willing to do IVF it really sounds like it might help. We were set to do PGS testing as well because of my age but sadly didn't make it there since the embryos stopped growing. However the fact you have gotten pregnant fairly easily several times suggests you have some decent eggs in there and genetic testing on them to determine which are chromosomally normal before transfer can do amazing things.

Where are you located? $30 K seems like a high estimate for IVF with PGS or PGD. Would that be for multiple rounds?

I'm waiting until January to do my next cycle. I'm trying to improve my egg quality through acupuncture, supplements, and weight loss. My acupuncturist recommended a minimum of 6 months to improve quality though most things I've read are 3 months but longer is better.

 

[Sophie2015]

I'm in TN. We've been quoted 20k but that doesn't include drugs, surgery fees, or PGD. It's for one round. Crazy right?!

What are you taking to improve egg quality? I'm back on DHEA because it increases my follicle count but after 5 consecutive losses I've lost all hope we'll ever have a biological child of our own.

 

[BronteForever]

I don't blame you for losing hope at all. I've struggled with that several times myself and honestly don't have much right now myself. But I'm trying to get through the next cycle before potentially moving onto adoption. I'm on CoQ10 and normal vitamins. I'm focusing on losing weight as well and I just started weekly acupuncture. She might give me some herbs eventually as well.

That seems crazy high for one round in TN. Goodness. Though I'll be close to $27,000 after two rounds with everything. It's just so much it's unfair sometimes.

Also I lived in Knoxville for three years when both my husband and I were getting grad degrees. Loved the area and miss the mountains sometimes.

 

[Sophie2015]

Sadly I've already tried CoQ10, acupuncture, and Chinese herbs. Maybe it worked for me, maybe it didn't. That was my pregnancy that was T21. But I'm much older than you. I really feel like you have at least 5 good years left.

I'm in Hendersonville just north of Nashville. Where are you now? My husband went to UT so was also in Knoxville for 4 years.

 

[BronteForever]

I'd thought I'd have a few decent years left, which is why I was kind of shocked none of my embryos developed. I know there's not a lot of hope to improve egg quality at all, but I'd feel worse doing nothing. I'm definitely not counting on it for sure, but we'll see what happens. Most of my RE's research stuff has been in age and infertility. He said there's some super cool things being tested now like switching out the nucleus of your egg and putting it into the a younger egg shell so it retains all your DNA then and will hopefully have energy to develop, but sadly can't be put into practice in a clinical setting yet. He thinks based on when my embryos stopped that most of it's age related. It's too hard for me to accept yet.

We are in IN now.