IVF Buddies 2012 - all got our BFPs now awaiting the bubbas. Sticking together x

[mrsmax]

Erg just lost my post. GL Babydrms!! Hope bleed stays away until 12th March kelly9.

I'm just waiting for my drugs to arrive this morning

 

[marie44]

GL with your drugs mrsmax! I started Menapur and Gonal F last night. What are you taking? I thought the Gonal F was pretty easy but I had a hard time figuring out how to mix the menapur. I ended up watching the youtube video and figured it out. I was never told how much dilutant to mix or what size needle to use so I had to google it. Tonight should be easy now.

Kelly, I wouldn't worry so much about your cycle and when you bleed. I was a mess this month getting AF 6 days early and getting postive OPKs and my last AF came 2 days early of my "hormonal period" and I was spotting in the middle of the month. It seemed so crazy but my dr says the bloodwork tells its own story about where you really are. He could care less about any of the symptoms I told him about. He said my body is ready for IVF. I'm not a dr but I wouldn't worry until he gives you a reason to. I hope AF stays away for a little longer just to give you peace of mind but if she doesn't, you'll be fine too. Hang in there!

 

[Springy]

GOOD luck babydrmrs!!!! Can't wait to hear the reports from your retrieval, fertilization and then transfer!!!

Kelly - I'll keep everything crossed that you get a "normal" cycle this time so you can do your FET in April with us

Marie - the gonal F is super easy ... I'm surprised they didn't tell you how to mix the menopur, did you not have an injection training?? I know with the menopur if you're on more than 1 vial a day you can mix the one vial then draw it up and use it to reconstitute the second etc. then you have to swap the needle out for the smaller one as you don't want to inject with the gigantic one!!! LOL

MrsMax - its getting SO close for us! We are now less than a month away from stim start

I have to go tomorrow for my sonohysterogram .... hopefully this is just like the first time I had it done as that one was easy peasy!

 

[marie44]

Springy,
GL with the sonohysterogram, I never had one before.

We did have injection training but it was over a month ago and they rushed through it since dh passed out after drawing his blood and took nearly a half hour to get any color in his face. The problem was they never told me which needle to use and I tried with the 1" first and quickly realized it looked way too big and I switched over to the 1/2". I only used 1/2 ml of dilutant but I have to ask if I was supposed to use 1ml. Yes Gonal F was super easy! I wish menopur came in a pen! I'm taking 1 vial of menopur in the am and 150 gonal f in the pm. It will be 100x easier tonight now that I know what I am doing! The injections were pretty painless...I'm just dreading the POI shots with the long think needles...ouch!

 

[Springy]

Springy,
GL with the sonohysterogram, I never had one before.

We did have injection training but it was over a month ago and they rushed through it since dh passed out after drawing his blood and took nearly a half hour to get any color in his face. The problem was they never told me which needle to use and I tried with the 1" first and quickly realized it looked way too big and I switched over to the 1/2". I only used 1/2 ml of dilutant but I have to ask if I was supposed to use 1ml. Yes Gonal F was super easy! I wish menopur came in a pen! I'm taking 1 vial of menopur in the am and 150 gonal f in the pm. It will be 100x easier tonight now that I know what I am doing! The injections were pretty painless...I'm just dreading the POI shots with the long think needles...ouch!

People who do the PIO now say that its easy and you won't feel it. Our clinic uses creams and suppositories so no PIO for me I get one PIO but that's on the day of transfer and they give it to me at the clinic!

The Gonal F pen is SO easy! I too wish everything came in a handy pen like that but sadly a lot of drugs aren't stable in the liquid form for long periods of time (I work for a large biotechnology / pharmaceutical company so know all the ins and outs of this stuff pretty well!).

I'm sure tonight will be a breeze! I am on 150IU Gonal F and 75IU Luveris (so similar to menopur but made by the same company who makes Gonal F). Are you adding in certrotide / orgalutron?

 

[marie44]

I have Ganirelix and Ovidrel. I'm not sure when I start taking the Ganirelix or what that entails (I hope a small needle.) That's good you have experience in the pharmaceutical company. I'm sure that comes in handy now

Are you planning on going on any type of "fertility diet" closer to IVF time? I've been trying to eat extra healthy and avoid caffiene and alcohol but the stress makes me want to eat all bad stuff. I have no problem with BMI but I'm sure a healthy diet will be good for egg development and implantation.

 

[babydrms]

lol, I have tried to eat healthy but the stess is winning. Sitting here eating Doritos...not even the baked kind. My BMI has gotten much worse during all this TTC...it was normal to start..."was" normal.

 

[Springy]

Last year I cut back my coffee to 2/3 decaf - I go to starbucks every morning and I get a 2/3 decaf grande americano And I also have pretty much cut out all soda (pop as we call it in Canada). Beyond that no I won't be having any strict diet .... once I start stimming I will cut out all alcohol - as it is both my DH and I are at about 1 to 2 drinks a week max so pretty much nothing.

Babydr - yummm Doritos .... I had more mini eggs today

 

[vivs1127]

Hiiiiii...

I was just referred to IVF last Tuesday and I am going to my first appt on the 21st of March... Can anyone tell me what will they tell me in my first appt and what I should expect after that...

Wishing everyone lots of baby dust!!!

Thanks in Advance!!!

 

[marie44]

Yes, the healthy diet hasn't gotten off to a great start for me as I had pizza & cake last night and nothing healthy today yet. I'm going to try to get on track tonight. The stress makes you want comfort food though and I'm dying here with no caffeine
I think I'll be a lot more strict after ET (but then I'll be on the 2WW and who can resist the junk food then???) Doritos & Chocolate chip cookies are my downfall

Vivs - This is my first IVF so I can't give you as much info as the other girls. If your DH has MFI, they may do IVF with ICSI like I am doing where they pick the best sperm and actually inject them into the eggs so they don't have to work that hard and have a better chance of fertilizing. If he has no issues, they will give you a lot of meds so you produce a lot of eggs, they will retrieve them and put them in a "dish" with the sperm and let you know how many fertilized. From there, they will let you know how many become embryos and put back anywhere from 1-4 embryos depending on the clinic. I think 1-2 is the norm. Then you will test in 2 weeks to see if any stuck. Hope this helps! They will fill you in on all the details.

 

[mrsmax]

Wow - exciting times on this thread.

Cant wait for your news Babydrms!!

Marie - gosh that all sounds complicated! My drugs turned up today and I danced around teh kitchen very excited and then burst in to tears! My nurse friend is helping with first injection, so should be ok. When I start stimming next month, it is just gonal f so should be straight forward!

Springy - I know, I cant wait!!!!! Trying to keep busy until then.

I think I mentioned before that I am on a pretty strick fertlity diet - called The Fertility Diet. Basically no dairy (I have a splash of skimmed milk), no meat, organic everything and lots of nuts and seeds. No caffeine and no alcohol. I have been doing it since Jan 2nd and doing Ok - although we are eating fish and I have 3 cups of coffee a week roughly. So far, only had alcohol one weekend and that was on hols. have also switched to organic make up remover, creams etc, It is supposed to help egg quality as you stop putting chemicals in body. I dont normally do extreme things but with low AMH, being 35years and self funded I want to do everything I can.

What vitamins are you guys taking?

 

[marie44]

mrsmax - My clinic has a strict rule about no make-up, fragrance of any kind (including soap, shampoo, deodorant) during ER and ET on the entire floor of the clinic. He insists eggs do not like fragrance. Chemicals going into your skin cannot be good. I've heard about going organic is good for fertlity also. I tried it for about a week but it got to be too expensive to keep up.
I am just taking folic acid and this calcium suppliment called "bone strength." I can't seem to hold down anything else as multivitamins make me nauseous. Oh & I drink red rasberry tea which is supposed to be good for your uterine lining.
I commend you on your fertility diet, maybe you will inspire me to get my act together.

 

[vivs1127]

Marie44

Thank you so much for all the info... When do you start your ivf?

Good luck to all you girls!!!

 

[babydrms]

I take an organic prenatal - I like this one because it has DHA in it (a lot of kinds the DHA is seperate). I also take 600 mg calcium, 5000 IU vit D3 and 4 mg Folic.

I was reading about vitamin A in pregnancy (the kind they put in vitamins) is really bad. It's not in my prenatal. My doctor also tells people to not take vitamin A. Weird huh?

 

[Kelly9]

welcome vivi, my clinic just filled us in on the procedures gave us forms for blood work and some genetic testing, told me I had to have an u/s and HSG on my tubes done and thats it till we started.

Marie I get that but it will give me peace of mind knowing that my body is doing what it should. I won't get my hormone levels back till next week but I am pretty sure I o'd. Am getting progesterone checked in 6 days to be sure. Basically if this lp is at least 10 days long I will know my body is roughly back to how it should be, I usually have a long 15/16 day lp but after my son it took 2-3 cycles to get back up to that length. Heck I'd be happy if it was 12 days long from now on. I could use a shorter cycle.

Springy you're starting stimm around april 7? If you do and things work out for me I'll only be a few days behind you for transfer. We could end up being very close. I may need to DR longer though depending if I sort out on time or not. We'll see. I hate that I don't know my schedule till I'm offered treatment, makes things so much harder.

 

[Kelly9]

I take pregvit cause I have issues with nausea and constipation on regular prenatals and these ones work wonders. We also have a very strict no scents etc during ER and transfer for the same reasons marie mentioned.

Vivi, I am hoping to start frozen embryo transfer march/april. Will know a few days after my period comes if I will be. I am keeping my fingers crossed.

 

[Ratmagirl]

Hi all,

Is it okay to join in? Have skimmed this thread quickly as I am starting ICSI in 2 weeks

Im 31 DH 33 me, PCOS only slightly but 3 AFs per year, DH has low count, morf etc so we have been referred straight to ICSI following 3 rounds of clomid.

We have 2 NHS funded cycles at Bath Fert Clinic.

I think Im doing long protocol as I have to sniff starting 23 March as well as take some pills to bring on AF?

Also, what does AMH stand for and what is natural IVF? Sorry for the dafty questions - I've been thrown into this so quickly and not had time to really read up or prepare *eek*

Any advice would be gratefully received xxx

 

[marie44]

Kelly - I may try pregvit bc I have issues with nausea on just about any vitamins (even flintstones) so maybe this one will stay down.

Ratma - AMH is a type of hormone women produce that decreases usually with age. They can test the level of it with bloodwork. If the number is really low, it may affect fertility. I don't think I was ever told mine but no news is good news. Natural IVF I think is just when ICSI is not used to help fertilize. GL, you should start stimming soon, right?

Vivs,
I have started stimming Monday and am currently on CD4. ER may be around March 15th or so. I just had my 2nd scan this morning & I have 15 follies on each side with the lead follie 12mm on the left & 9mm on the right. I got a call today from the dr after my bw results to cut my meds in half because I am responding a litttle too quickly to them and they need to slow them down. This process is exciting but so overwhelming!

GL to everyone!!!

 

[babydrms]

Hi everyone and welcome new people...

Just got home from ER - we got 20!!

Now time to rest, fertilization report tomorrow...

 

[marie44]

Wow! 20 eggs is great! Hope you get a good report tomorrow!