Gonal Girls

[alicatt]

Alicatt, crazy that you woke up in the middle of the procedure- I bet you freaked your doctor out! Wow, 15- what a great number. How many embryos will you have them transfer in? It"s all so exciting. I hope you can get some rest soon.

Amber, whoop whoop! 5 follicles- thats great! Are you getting an IUI?

Unfortunately only 7 of the 15 fertilized, but I guess I should be happy that I have 7! They even used ICSI which was supposed to help improve the chances of fertilization. So I'm not sure what is going on here. The Dr said he would call me tomorrow with a decision as to whether we will implant on Monday or wait for a 5 day transfer on Wednesday. I would prefer to get it done on Monday as I have already cleared it with work for having Mon/Tues off, if they move it, I'll have to re-arrange my schedule and my co-workers (we trade off tasks) schedules. UGH. It can be done, but its a pain. But if waiting until Wednesday will up the chances of this working, then I will do it.

 

[Turkey16]

Hey Everybody! Long time, no posts...trying to truly "take a break" while I'm "taking a break" but I can't resist checking in to wish everybody luck!! All the best to everybody!!!

 

[Kmae]

Alicatt, 7 is a great number to be fertilized! So Monday or Wednesday huh? Guess you will find out tomorrow... I agree which ever gives you the best chance! I can't wait to read your next status update!

Turkey, Hi! I hope you are able to relax and have some fun during your break. Thanks for the good luck thoughts!

 

[alicatt]

Alicatt, 7 is a great number to be fertilized! So Monday or Wednesday huh? Guess you will find out tomorrow... I agree which ever gives you the best chance! I can't wait to read your next status update!

Turkey, Hi! I hope you are able to relax and have some fun during your break. Thanks for the good luck thoughts!

Dr called this morning to tell me that all 7 embryos made it through the night and are now 4 cells each! Because they are all healthy and I have 7 of them he wants to wait until the blastocyst stage or day 5, this will show us which of the 7 look the best and we'll transfer the 2 best ones and if I have any others we'll freeze them. So now I wait until Wednesday! UGH. It's great news, I'm just so impatient!

 

[drsquid]

ali- but think of all the time it takes off your tww =)

 

[Cridge]

FX'd for you Ali!!! How exciting!

 

[Kmae]

Woohoo Ali!!!

 

[Chiles]

GoodLuck Everyone

 

[scerena]

TNK thanks good luck with your result next week

Amber glad it wasn't too bad I am so hoping you don't have to do it again

Alicatt that is great news! Fx'd tightly for you

Turkey I hope your break is going okay

afm my scan is on Thursday until then I am Stimming with nothing new to report as of yet

 

[mizuno]

Dr called this morning to tell me that all 7 embryos made it through the night and are now 4 cells each! Because they are all healthy and I have 7 of them he wants to wait until the blastocyst stage or day 5, this will show us which of the 7 look the best and we'll transfer the 2 best ones and if I have any others we'll freeze them. So now I wait until Wednesday! UGH. It's great news, I'm just so impatient!

Good luck Ali!!! Keep us updated!
Glad to hear that everyone's doing well!

I've been gone for a little while - work's been crazy busy, which is good, as I didn't have too much time to obsess over TTC
Anyway, just a quick update - this month I was on Gonal-f (25 IU) and menopur (37.5 IU) and then later on on orgalutran to prevent ovulation and give my lining a chance to get thicker. Except that it didn't prevent ovulation and it happened anyway. So, again this month, we missed the perfect timing for IUI and only did it after I ovulated - fortunately this time only about 8 hrs post-O, so I hope it's still good. I did have 2 follies this time as well, so I hope that helps.
If I don't get a BFP this month, I don't know what my RE will do next month - it seems impossible to time the IUIs because as soon as I get the LH surge, I ovulate and there is just no time to plan the IUI. Ugh... Anyway, enough with complaining. I'll keep you posted on the results later next week.

to all

 

[Kmae]

Mizuno, sorry about all the timing troubles with the IUI- but hopefully the caught up to the egg anyhow! I see that you are only taking 37.5 IU of Menopur. I know the vials come in 75IU so how do you take less than 75IU? I'm asking because my RE will be cutting my dose in half since I overstmmed on the 75IU and I was wondering if Menopur actually came in smaller vials or if I would have to use half the dose one day and half the next?

 

[alicatt]

Mizuno, sorry about all the timing troubles with the IUI- but hopefully the caught up to the egg anyhow! I see that you are only taking 37.5 IU of Menopur. I know the vials come in 75IU so how do you take less than 75IU? I'm asking because my RE will be cutting my dose in half since I overstmmed on the 75IU and I was wondering if Menopur actually came in smaller vials or if I would have to use half the dose one day and half the next?

Good question! I was actually wondering the same thing.

I wonder if there are other options for holding back ovulation? I had to take ganirelix this past month for my IVF, and it stopped me from ovulating. So maybe there is another type of drug they can give you?

 

[mizuno]

Mizuno, sorry about all the timing troubles with the IUI- but hopefully the caught up to the egg anyhow! I see that you are only taking 37.5 IU of Menopur. I know the vials come in 75IU so how do you take less than 75IU? I'm asking because my RE will be cutting my dose in half since I overstmmed on the 75IU and I was wondering if Menopur actually came in smaller vials or if I would have to use half the dose one day and half the next?

basically, I reconstitute the whole vial of 75 IU in 1 ml, then only inject 0.5 mL. The rest can be kept in the fridge for the next day.

As far as other options to prevent ovulation - I really hope that there are some, as I would be more than happy never to take orgalutran again. It comes in a prefilled syringe with the dullest needle you have ever seen. I practically have to stab myself as hard as I can to get it in. And then once you start injecting it hurts like a mofo and continues to hurt for about 20-30 min afterwards. Ali, at which point in the cycle did you start taking ganirelix?

To be honest, I don't even think I need it - if only she would just give me some estrogen to thicken the lining, I think it would work. But she's fighting it and won't do it. To be fair, she did give it to me now in the 2ww, though I'm not sure what it does at this point.

 

[alicatt]

Mizuno, sorry about all the timing troubles with the IUI- but hopefully the caught up to the egg anyhow! I see that you are only taking 37.5 IU of Menopur. I know the vials come in 75IU so how do you take less than 75IU? I'm asking because my RE will be cutting my dose in half since I overstmmed on the 75IU and I was wondering if Menopur actually came in smaller vials or if I would have to use half the dose one day and half the next?

basically, I reconstitute the whole vial of 75 IU in 1 ml, then only inject 0.5 mL. The rest can be kept in the fridge for the next day.

As far as other options to prevent ovulation - I really hope that there are some, as I would be more than happy never to take orgalutran again. It comes in a prefilled syringe with the dullest needle you have ever seen. I practically have to stab myself as hard as I can to get it in. And then once you start injecting it hurts like a mofo and continues to hurt for about 20-30 min afterwards. Ali, at which point in the cycle did you start taking ganirelix?

To be honest, I don't even think I need it - if only she would just give me some estrogen to thicken the lining, I think it would work. But she's fighting it and won't do it. To be fair, she did give it to me now in the 2ww, though I'm not sure what it does at this point.

I started taking ganirelix around CD 12 for 6 days. But I guess it would be different for you, I don't usually ovulate until CD16, and my follicles didn't grow that quickly this month I didn't even do the egg retrieval until CD 18 I think. It worked for me to use the ganirelix!

As for the lining, I have been taking a baby aspirin daily, and this has made my lining really nice and thick and even triple layered. I'm surprised that your estrogen is so low with all the FSH they are giving you. With all the gonal f and menopur my estrogen was over the moon!

 

[mizuno]

As for the lining, I have been taking a baby aspirin daily, and this has made my lining really nice and thick and even triple layered. I'm surprised that your estrogen is so low with all the FSH they are giving you. With all the gonal f and menopur my estrogen was over the moon!

what can I say, I'm a medical oddity I had 2 follicles at 1.8 and my estrogen was still only 900 pml/l (which is 245 ng/ml).

We'll be taking a break from hormone therapy next month, so I think I'll try baby aspirin to thicken my lining. It is triple layered, but just thin (0.6 without drugs and 0.8 with). I suspect that 16 years of BCP is responsible, but no point in assigning blame now...

 

[alicatt]

As for the lining, I have been taking a baby aspirin daily, and this has made my lining really nice and thick and even triple layered. I'm surprised that your estrogen is so low with all the FSH they are giving you. With all the gonal f and menopur my estrogen was over the moon!

what can I say, I'm a medical oddity I had 2 follicles at 1.8 and my estrogen was still only 900 pml/l (which is 245 ng/ml).

We'll be taking a break from hormone therapy next month, so I think I'll try baby aspirin to thicken my lining. It is triple layered, but just thin (0.6 without drugs and 0.8 with). I suspect that 16 years of BCP is responsible, but no point in assigning blame now...

Interesting, I was on BCP for 17 years, and mine is nice and thick, i think it was 12cm and triple. I have heard that a triple layer beats a thicker lining. So even though it is a tad thin, it sounds like it is thick enough since it is a triple.

My other FS said to drink faspberry leaf tea to thicken the lining. Have you ever heard of that?

 

[mizuno]

Interesting, I was on BCP for 17 years, and mine is nice and thick, i think it was 12cm and triple. I have heard that a triple layer beats a thicker lining. So even though it is a tad thin, it sounds like it is thick enough since it is a triple.

My other FS said to drink faspberry leaf tea to thicken the lining. Have you ever heard of that?

I'm glad you said that about teh BCP and lining thickness - I've been beating myself up about it, thinking I somehow caused this. It is possible that it masked the problem though - I would have probably noticed that my periods went from 7 days when I was 15 to 1-2 days now.

I have been drinking RRLT and pomegranate juice, but I haven't seen any results. I'm thinking of trying wheat germ oil or evening primrose oil next, but I need to look into it a bit more.

When you were taking baby aspirin, how often did you take it and at which points in the cycle?

 

[alicatt]

Interesting, I was on BCP for 17 years, and mine is nice and thick, i think it was 12cm and triple. I have heard that a triple layer beats a thicker lining. So even though it is a tad thin, it sounds like it is thick enough since it is a triple.

My other FS said to drink faspberry leaf tea to thicken the lining. Have you ever heard of that?

I'm glad you said that about teh BCP and lining thickness - I've been beating myself up about it, thinking I somehow caused this. It is possible that it masked the problem though - I would have probably noticed that my periods went from 7 days when I was 15 to 1-2 days now.

I have been drinking RRLT and pomegranate juice, but I haven't seen any results. I'm thinking of trying wheat germ oil or evening primrose oil next, but I need to look into it a bit more.

When you were taking baby aspirin, how often did you take it and at which points in the cycle?

I think evening primrose oil helps with CM? Not sure if it does anything for your lining. I can't remember what other things you can try. I'd try google, it my have some other options!! As for the aspirin, I started taking it from CD1 last month, and stopped when I did the IUIs, but this month my FS forgot to tell me to take it from CD1 so I didn't, but then they were like, oops, please take it from now until we tell you otherwise. So I am taking it through ovulation and I don't know when I will stop taking it?

Taking baby aspirin is 2-fold from what I hear. It increases blood flow to your uterus and ovaries, which help make your follicles grow and your uterus lining thick. Then after ovulation they want you to keep taking it so help lessen the chance of clots forming and causing a MC. At least that is what they told me when I asked if I needed to keep taking it.

Baby aspirin only comes in 1 dose it is 81mg, and that is what you take once a day. They didn't seem to care when I took it.

I would discuss taking it with your FS though, I wouldn't want them to get all angry that you are taking something you shouldn't!

 

[ambernov20]

And now the dreaded 2WW !! Definitely felt the ovulation last night!! What a difference 5 eggies compared to one makes! Hoping and praying that at least one of them will be the one!!

 

[llampie]

My TWW is officially over today. . I had my beta blood test done this morning for my second cycle of injectables+IUI. Now I wait until tomorrow for that dreaded phone call from their office. I convince myself not to POAS this cycle because I didn't want to go in for my beta test already convinced that this cycle was a bust as well.

I am super nervous! I have had no symptoms that AF is going to start or that I am preggo. I do however seem to have be getting a cold.
I am on progesterone suppositories so that is most likely why AF is no where to be seen yet. I don't usually get my period until 2-3 days after stopping the progesterone. And if I am not on progesterone I usually get my period 9-10dpo. Ugh, I hate all this waiting!!!