IVF/ICSI in July

[ANGEL223]

Hi tinybutterfly, so sorry to hear of your problems! I cant offer any advice as its an area i know very little about but just to let you know, we are here to support you through your IVF.

Blue, you are just so excited, i can tell!! Im so impatient now myself although im a little more apprehensive this time around!

 

[Zoom]

Hi All

I am Zoe and have been TTC since October 09. I am 37 and have a daughter of 12, my OH has no children would love one, and be an amazing parent. So I am back home today after having endo cut out and there was loads everywhere, He did HSG at same time, as in Oct our consultant had done a full sterlisation reversal, open sygery. I only have one tube not much of it, and also the hsg was not positive. We are booked in for another HSG in 5 weeks, but looks more like IFV. I don't know where to start how much it will be, we have paid everything private so far, and this will be the same next stage. How much what does icis mean, and other stuff, would be thankful for any help ladies.

Cheers
Zoe x

 

[ANGEL223]

Hi Zoe and welcome, wow you really have been through the wars! Again, its all stuff i have no comprehension of but i wish you well with your cycle. I see you have a wedding to plan as well - you are going to be knackered!!

ICSI works the same as IFV until the final stage where a single sperm is injected into the egg and is generally used for male factor infertility (low count etc). Its slightly more expensive for that reason. An average cost seems to be about £5000 although mine was a bit less because my clinic accepted some test results through our NHS GP.

Its a long tough ride but i guess considering everything you have been through, it will seem like a walk in the park!!

 

[Chesca]

Chesca, how did the blood tests go today? Its only natural to feel like you do and im sure your sister understands how difficult this must be for you to deal with! IT WILL BE YOU! PMA!

Hope its the last holiday you all have as couples! More expensive with a few little ones!! You lucky things - i have resigned myself to no summer hols this year!

Well AF still hasnt arrived but has been leaving her calling card - hopefully tomorrow?!

Hi Angel

Everything went great at the hospital, I have a slightly low platelet count, which we already knew, but everything else came back fine so I can have FET when we get back from holiday. So relieved to be back in the driving seat!!

I hope AF arrives soon, I hate it when she takes ages! I'm very used to having long cycles, have never been regular, can be anything from 22 days - 59 days - she truely is as sometimes!!!

xxx

 

[Blue12]

Blue, you are just so excited, i can tell!! Im so impatient now myself although im a little more apprehensive this time around!

Angel I am so excited in some ways - and so terrified in others - and lately so emotional. I am trying my best to put on my happy face and be excited and hopeful. I know the reality is that the first round is a bit more experimental and people often get it the second try. I am honestly struggling to be positive so when I get a moment of it I feel the need to express it lol.

TTC is such a strange thing - full of so much hope - because you really feel your turn has to come - and so much fear/upset because you have been dissapointed so many times before.

As silly as it is I really thought that having an iui with letrozole and daily injections right after having my lap - that I would have great chances (silly due to the low odds of iui). So when it didn't work I was actually okay - but now I am starting to feel crushed and fear the outcome of ivf - considering it is costing me 11,000 not 2,000 like the iui.

I can only begin to imagine the mixed emotions of anyone who has gone through an ivf cycle before - 2nd round better odds, yet fear of the negative result that had been experienced before.

Phew..........that was a long winded way of saying I am excited and hopeful - but much more nervous and fearful.



How is everyone else doing?

 

[Zoom]

Hi Blue

So sorry to see you are feeling lonely, i hope that like me having the girls on this site you will feel alittle more supported. I don't even know if I should be on this thread as not sure we will be going down the IVF route yet, but hearing things like more chance second time and stuff is giving me some insight so hope you don't mind if I stick around.

Good luck and I hope you get the postive outsome you deserve.
Love Zoe x

 

[caline]

Hi everyone.

Sorry I haven't been on much. I'll have to have a read back and catch up on what stage everyone is at.

I am going to the clinic today. We are taking part in a trial looking at medicated v's natural FET. I will be allocated one or the other, then have a 3D pelvic scan, and then sign some forms.

I am a bit nervous about the scan because AF is here and as heavy as always, and I am worried it is going to be a bit messy. I did tell them I have my period and it didn't seem a problem. Mmmm, we shall see.

Blue, I can totally empathise with you. I am feeling exactly the same. Its a weird old bunch of emotions to have all at once, isn't it?!? The first IVF I had, I wasn't really expecting it to work, and it did, so last time I had higher expectations of it working, and it didn't, so this time, well, I don't know how I'm feeling. I don't think I am really expecting it to work if I'm honest. When It worked for us the 1st time, I started spotting pretty soon after by BFP, so there was no excitement of celebration. In a way, even though of course I want a BFP, I am also dreading it as my experience before was sooo stressful.

Now you've got me writing an essay!!! I guess all these feelings we're getting are normal.

 

[ANGEL223]

Aw nice to have to back Caline. Wow a trial - thats exciting! Does one or other have better success rates? Good luck today - had an internal scan (not sure if thats what you will be having or more of an MRI?) with AF and it embarassing but they medics are as professional as always!

Blue just reading your post made me feel teary - guess all those emotions are inside us all! I think this site is so important to us all because while i share everything with DH he will never understand it all from a womans perspective!

Zoom stick around and i really hope you find your direction soon - its the waiting and not knowing thats the killer!!

Chesca, AF is a real minx - always there when you dont want her and then keeping you waiting when you do! Im stilll waiting too!!

 

[Zoom]

Hi again sorry

Caline was is fET, the trail sounds interesting.

I have been and done some info searching this morning, and am looking at the Northwest fertility center, and the Liverpool Ladies hospital, looks about 2800 per cycle with all the relevant tests. i assume we wont need all the tests due to already having the seaman results and we now knoe there is no endo and stuff, am I right in thinking this?

Cheers ladies for having me piggyback on this thread.

Zoe xx

 

[Starbright]

Blue I feel pretty much the same. It's getting closer for me now - I'll be starting down reg this month. I'm pretty terrified! But also excited, hopeful, nervous...
DH is just taking it all in his stride - I wish I knew how he does it! Nothing seems to phase him

 

[caline]

Thanks Angel. The scan was ok, not too messy.

Well, we got allocated the medicated group, which isn't what I was hoping for. This means I won't start down regging until 27th June, and am looking at transfer in August!!! I last had a transfer in April, so that will be 4 months it will have taken to get another one! Its just too long. I am feeling really fed up and frustrated!

Zoom, yeah, its FET. The trial is looking at success of medicated and natural FET's. I have done medicated before so was hoping to try something different.

Starbright, is that a fresh cycle you'll be having?

 

[Blue12]

Oh Caline so sorry to hear that you didn't get the group that you wanted. Would it be too crazy to opt out of it? I can only imagine how you are feeling. The worst thing in all of this is the wait for sure. It is just heart breaking to have to keep waiting.

I am a bit confused though - you are doing a FET - but you still need to DR? I thought that FET's you don't need to DR - not that I know enough about fet's.

 

[Blue12]

Just want to thank all of you for the support. It is so lucky to have a group of wonderful people who really understand all the emotions involved with this process.

Thanks a million!!!


and

 

[Zoom]

Oh Caline so sorry to hear that you didn't get the group that you wanted. Would it be too crazy to opt out of it? I can only imagine how you are feeling. The worst thing in all of this is the wait for sure. It is just heart breaking to have to keep waiting.

I am a bit confused though - you are doing a FET - but you still need to DR? I thought that FET's you don't need to DR - not that I know enough about fet's.

Hi Ladies just so I can keep up, what does FET and DR stand for, and what does a fresh cycle stand for?

Sorry just learning at the moment.

Cheers Zxx

 

[Blue12]

FET = frozen embryo transfer - so when you do ivf/icsi - if you have any extra left over - they can be frozen and then used for another attempt.

DR = is down regging - you start this on cycle day 21 - you take meds/injections to shut down your ovaries so that they will not ovulate

Fresh Cycle = is regular ivf as oppossed to the embryos being frozen

 

[caline]

Oh Caline so sorry to hear that you didn't get the group that you wanted. Would it be too crazy to opt out of it? I can only imagine how you are feeling. The worst thing in all of this is the wait for sure. It is just heart breaking to have to keep waiting.

I am a bit confused though - you are doing a FET - but you still need to DR? I thought that FET's you don't need to DR - not that I know enough about fet's.

My clinic only really do medicated FET. So, I down reg, then take oestrogen to thicken my lining, then have the transfer and use progesterone pessaries. It does seem that most clinics do natural FETs more. My clinic won't do weekend transfers so if you opt for natural and then your transfer day is at the weekend then they cancel your cycle! Which I thinks outrageous!

If I opted out of the medicated, then paid £680 for a natural cycle, theres a slight chance I'd just get cancelled. I think if this medicated one fails we may try the natural way, as my accupuncturist says theres some evidence that down regging before results in a thinner lining than with a natural.

My clinic say theres no strong evidence either way, hence their study which I am now a guinea pig of!

 

[Zoom]

Hi

Caline sorry to hear, now I understand, that you didn't get the study you were after. That is terrible about them canceling if you full on a weekend, can they really just do that to people that is awful!!

Am I right in assuming that a fresh cycle will have more positive outcomes, and that FET would be a good way to save good embryos, but could be damaged in the defrosting them?

Blue also thanks so much for helping me out with some of the wording. As it looks more and more likely that we will be going down the IVF route, we are trying to find out as much as possible, so that we choose the best clinic and people for us.

So again many thanks ladies and gosh I really hope you get some good results soon.

Love Zoe x

 

[Starbright]

Caline I agree that is awful that they just cancel the cycle. I have heard that other places do weekend appointments. How rubbish. I hope the trial works out in your favour.
Hiya Zoom! It's really confusing isn't it when you're first starting out and there are all these abbreviations that you don't understand! I've noticed that at work people have started talking about a CRM - something to do with Resource Management? But to me it's the Centre for Reproductive Medicine. I keep getting confused lol

Yeah I'm having a fresh cycle. Have been for swabs this morning and have confirmed date of down reg and also booked baseline scan!

Hugs to all xxx

 

[Blue12]

Starbright - when are all your dates then - what day do you start dr, baseline scan etc. I am going for my appt today - so I will find all of this out too!!! Do you feel more excited now that you have this information. I am hoping I feel that way after today.

Zoom - I know that it is quite hard to follow all the lingo - I lurked in the ivf sections for a long time knowing that I was eventually going to go through it and you do really start to learn everything (as confusing as it is). Also I bought a good book called the couples guide to ivf - it is very helpful too! And Fresh cycle is supposedly about twice as successful as frozen - to my understanding.

Caline - That is so frustrating that your clinic does not do weekends. You are right to risk it being cancelled is probably just better that you go with this medicated cycle. Fingers are crossed for you!!!

Angel - Any sign of af? fxd.

Oh and I just have to share - my crazy dreams have started already. I had a dream last night that I was at the clinic for EC and I had forgotten to take the trigger - ugh. *Tru Story. My clinic told me a story of a woman with 50 follicles(eggs) and she did the trigger wrong - so they lost them all. Even with all the injections with my iui - dh and I would talk through the whole injections process to make sure I had the right dosage and steps - except he had to look away while I injected lol.

 

[Starbright]

Down reg starts on 21st June. Baseline on 5th July. I'm kind of excited, yeah. It is starting to seem so real now! I'm a bit scared. Panicking about doing something wrong, messing up my drugs or something!! Good luck for your appt today