IVF/ICSI in March...need support!

[brooke22]

Thanks MissP for the advice on fish. I'm not a big fish person, but I hope shrimp will do! I love shrimp!
Any advice on exercising? Not that I'm a big exerciser, but I do cardio, like the elliptical. I've just been drinking a ton of water and eating more fruits and veggies. I can kinda feel a twinge in my ovaries every now and again, but nothing bad. I'm on day 5 of stimming. Hopefully EC a week from today!!

Exercise is great up to a certain point..if it's something you've always done, you should keep doing it. But, on day 5 of my stims the Dr said I had to stop exercise and intercourse. You shouldn't do anything jarring on your body. She said I could walk on a treadmill on an incline, but to be careful...no jarring and no overheating. I guess your ovaries get so big and they are free-floating that there is a danger that they can flip and it will cut off all the blood supply...so you do need to be careful.

 

[brooke22]

So I had my first u/s today...oh my word I was a nervous wreck last night! I'll admit, I just broke down with my husband cause I'm in pain and I was just frustrated and upset that we have to be in the situation we are in and I was so worried that I wasn't going to have enough follicles growing.
Things went well today though..for the most part! I have a whopping 26 follicles! 6 of them are close to mature, 6-8 are right below that and then there are more under that. Because of a study I'm participating in for egg freezing, we have to have at least 15 mature eggs...so I'm still on the meds and I go back for another u/s and a blood draw tomorrow am and hopefully we can get some more of the follicles to grow bigger and become mature.

Things are uncomfortable still, but not unbearable yet. I had a friend who went through this and she said she couldn't sit on the last couple days because she was so uncomfortable and it hurt too much cause she could feel it squishing her ovaries so she either had to be standing or laying down. eeek! I told my husband, "Well, I don't care how bad it may hurt..I just want a freakin party going on in my ovaries! If that's what it takes, bring it on!"

Anyways...how's everyone doing so far?

Oh..and welcome to all the newbies...of course you're welcome..the more the merrier!

 

[ANGEL223]

Bebecake good luck with your cycle when it comes. It seems a great place to share info!

Thanks for the exercise advice - forgot to ask but found for myself that stretching and straining too much was not comfortable. I just go for a light jog or fast walk on the treadmill now.

Had a scan today (day 8 stims) with a new consultant (not much more chatty than the last one!!) but she was happy with progress - 13mm folicles with and about 10 on each side. She thought this was normal for this stage for EC on 9th.

How is everyone else doing - i know there were a few other apps at the same time

 

[brooke22]

Evening All
Its nice to have a bunch of us together down regging and stimming. Day 7 of DR for me , had a dream last night i had 8 eggs collected 4 fertilized and was deciding how many to put back God i hope this dream comes true! I have had a raging thirst today as well is anyone else getting this?

Now that would be a result. Here's hoping!
Thirsty and sorry to be descriptive but dry down below but with mucus (hate that word and it looks ever worse written down!!!)

Not got that problem yet! But clomid gave me thrush so i'm expecting that. AF arrived today which i suppose i should be glad about but my back is really aching and can't take ibuprofen. Also got an upset stomach don;t know if its the pregnacare not agreeing with me or the DRs. Just a question i'm trying to time when ec would be , how long to people stim for is it 10 or 14 days?

Oneday..I will probably be right around 10 days of stimming and then 1 or 2 days later will be EC..if that helps. Oh..and you can take Tylenol for your back if that helps. No ibuprofen....but Tylenol is definitely ok accroding to my Dr!

 

[ANGEL223]

So I had my first u/s today...oh my word I was a nervous wreck last night! I'll admit, I just broke down with my husband cause I'm in pain and I was just frustrated and upset that we have to be in the situation we are in and I was so worried that I wasn't going to have enough follicles growing.
Things went well today though..for the most part! I have a whopping 26 follicles! 6 of them are close to mature, 6-8 are right below that and then there are more under that. Because of a study I'm participating in for egg freezing, we have to have at least 15 mature eggs...so I'm still on the meds and I go back for another u/s and a blood draw tomorrow am and hopefully we can get some more of the follicles to grow bigger and become mature.

Things are uncomfortable still, but not unbearable yet. I had a friend who went through this and she said she couldn't sit on the last couple days because she was so uncomfortable and it hurt too much cause she could feel it squishing her ovaries so she either had to be standing or laying down. eeek! I told my husband, "Well, I don't care how bad it may hurt..I just want a freakin party going on in my ovaries! If that's what it takes, bring it on!"

Anyways...how's everyone doing so far?

Oh..and welcome to all the newbies...of course you're welcome..the more the merrier!

You beat me to it - all sounds good!
I never realised how much of an emotional roller coaster this would be. Im normally so logical and in control but keep freaking out before apps and after unitl i check all the details out online! No real pain or discomfort just yet but it is starting to buiild up.

 

[MissAma]

Wow ladies, your ovaries are cooking them like pros! Those are great numbers!

15 mature can mean as many as 10-12 embryos so a very high chance of 2 or 3 blastos! That would be brilliant! What dose are you on?

 

[Oneday]

Evening All
Its nice to have a bunch of us together down regging and stimming. Day 7 of DR for me , had a dream last night i had 8 eggs collected 4 fertilized and was deciding how many to put back God i hope this dream comes true! I have had a raging thirst today as well is anyone else getting this?

Now that would be a result. Here's hoping!
Thirsty and sorry to be descriptive but dry down below but with mucus (hate that word and it looks ever worse written down!!!)

Not got that problem yet! But clomid gave me thrush so i'm expecting that. AF arrived today which i suppose i should be glad about but my back is really aching and can't take ibuprofen. Also got an upset stomach don;t know if its the pregnacare not agreeing with me or the DRs. Just a question i'm trying to time when ec would be , how long to people stim for is it 10 or 14 days?

Oneday..I will probably be right around 10 days of stimming and then 1 or 2 days later will be EC..if that helps. Oh..and you can take Tylenol for your back if that helps. No ibuprofen....but Tylenol is definitely ok accroding to my Dr!

Brooke we don't have Tylenol in the uk , wahts in it? was told i could take Paracetamol or co-codamol (codiene) just coping with a hot water bottle fpr now. I have enought stims for 8 days at 450 iu and 1 day at 225 i guess they vary the dose. Glad you ready to pop not sure i'm looking forwards to that just yet !

 

[brooke22]

Evening All
Its nice to have a bunch of us together down regging and stimming. Day 7 of DR for me , had a dream last night i had 8 eggs collected 4 fertilized and was deciding how many to put back God i hope this dream comes true! I have had a raging thirst today as well is anyone else getting this?

Now that would be a result. Here's hoping!
Thirsty and sorry to be descriptive but dry down below but with mucus (hate that word and it looks ever worse written down!!!)

Not got that problem yet! But clomid gave me thrush so i'm expecting that. AF arrived today which i suppose i should be glad about but my back is really aching and can't take ibuprofen. Also got an upset stomach don;t know if its the pregnacare not agreeing with me or the DRs. Just a question i'm trying to time when ec would be , how long to people stim for is it 10 or 14 days?

Oneday..I will probably be right around 10 days of stimming and then 1 or 2 days later will be EC..if that helps. Oh..and you can take Tylenol for your back if that helps. No ibuprofen....but Tylenol is definitely ok accroding to my Dr!

Brooke we don't have Tylenol in the uk , wahts in it? was told i could take Paracetamol or co-codamol (codiene) just coping with a hot water bottle fpr now. I have enought stims for 8 days at 450 iu and 1 day at 225 i guess they vary the dose. Glad you ready to pop not sure i'm looking forwards to that just yet !

Oneday...the main ingredient is acetaminophen.

 

[brooke22]

Wow ladies, your ovaries are cooking them like pros! Those are great numbers!

15 mature can mean as many as 10-12 embryos so a very high chance of 2 or 3 blastos! That would be brilliant! What dose are you on?

MissAma...I'm on 225 Iu of Gonal F and 1 amp (75 units) of Menopur. I've been on that for 8 days now.

10-12 embryos would be great, but the one thing that changes our situation and makes it hard is that we aren't going to fertilize all of the eggs. We will probably only fertilize 6-8 eggs and freeze the rest because we don't want to have to freeze any leftover embryos, for a variety of moral reasons. We are hoping that with 6-8 we will get about 4 or 5 fertlized and then 1-3 blastos. Our FS's numbers on average are 3/4's fertlize and 1/2 of that grow to blastos, so that's what we're hoping for. It has been such a hard, grueling decision for us to make, but we have decided that is what's best for us and we are just praying that God will work and we will end up with 2 blastos and not have to worry about leftover embyros, but also get pregnant from this try. My word it makes things nerve-wracking though!! Gotta keep having faith!

You had one failed IVF/ICSI treatment already? What was the story, numbers, etc? I'm sorry it failed...I really hope this one works for you!

 

[hopesforababy]

Brooke and Angel -- doing great with the follicules!! I had bloodwork this morning, and they said my numbers look good, so I go in for a scan Friday morning.

Thanks for the info on exercising. I went to the gym today, but took it easy on the elliptical. Maybe I'll just walk from now on. Or just sit on the couch and catch up on my TiVo! As far as intercourse........ Brooke, you were told no BD after day 5 of stims? My doctor didn't say anything about that. On one of my sheets that I was given, it says that we have to BD or DH masturbate the day I take my HCG trigger shot. Anyone else given any guidelines on this? I was kinda thinking that we would BD a couple of times before day of trigger shot to get his spermies ready for the big day. Maybe not?

 

[MissAma]

You had one failed IVF/ICSI treatment already? What was the story, numbers, etc? I'm sorry it failed...I really hope this one works for you!

We have NOA (NonObstructiveAzoospermia) so we had to have TESE - a procedure to surgically remove sperm and 5 straws were found with 40% of his testicular tissue producing mature sperm. It was frozen and then thawed (this counts as it lowers the chances). 11 eggs extracted, 8 of them were mature, 6 embryos, 2 transfered, one grade A of 10 cells, one grade B of 8 cells with some fragmentation on day 3. 4 left to hopefully get a blast. They all arrested on day 5 which is likely what the ones we got in did as well.

I hope it works for all of us!

hopesforababy - I would say that it would be good if he masturbates 48 hours before your EC and his sample leaving but I would personally not risk anything by actually BDing.... you never know.

 

[brooke22]

Hopesforababy- yeah my fs said it is too risky to bd because. of how big my ovaries will get and they are so heavy that they don't want anything to disrupt them. But as far as your dh masturbating I would just follow what your fs says. Our fs's protocol is to not bd or masturbate within 5 days of any sample collection. Good luck with your first scan...let us know how it goes.
I'm heading back to the dr for my second scan now...hopefully I've got some more mature follicles. there better be cause I was in terrible pain last night..couldn't sit cause it hurt too bad..wow,it was bad.
Hope everyones doing well!

 

[MummyIwanabe]

Hi girls, I'm hoping to start ICSI in April. This thread is really useful for me to see whats going to happen.

I'm going out of my mind waiting for things to start. Waiting to get my bloods back on Monday, got a consultation on 18th then hoping to start beginning of April when AF arrives.

I had no idea that it can get really painful stim ovaries I'm a bit worried as I'm awful with pain and my job means that I have to be active sometimes and I can't afford to be ill. Has everyone experienced terrible pains etc?

Good luck to all of your girlies. It's horrible we have to endure this but I know it will be worth it xxx

 

[MissAma]

Mummylwanabe - re pain look at the post right above you. In my experience it's dreadful but survivable in terms of pain.

Brooke22 - good luck at the scan hon! Are you sure you're not heading towards a spot of OHSS? Would they lower your dose a bit, maybe to 175 or are they keeping you on the verge of hyperstimulation on purpose?

 

[MummyIwanabe]

I had no idea it would be awful, It hadn't really crossed my mind. For some reason I thought the removal of the eggs would probably be the uncomfortable bit but I didn't even think about stim the eggs! I guess it makes sense now I think about it!

 

[peartree]

Hi girls... wow...we've really got a group going here.

Eek, didn't realise that stimming made you hurt! I only thought that it would be bloatedness and uncomfortable.

I had my baseline scan today, went well - thin lining, no cysts, and the consultant has agreed for us to put two embies back, with no further consultation as he reckons that we are well aware of the risks.

Stimming starts tomorrow morning!

 

[Feebee]

Yay Peartree that is so exciting!!!!

Am I right in thinking you need to drink lots in the next few weeks?

Lots of positive thoughts to you xxx

 

[brooke22]

Hey all...as far as the pain goes with the stims my fs said that it just depends. Some people experience a lot of pain and uncomfortableness and some people don't feel anything...so there's hope that you might not be in a lot of pain! I feel most of my pain in the afternoon/evenings. Mornings are really good.

So I had another scan again today and thankfully things are still looking good and everything is still growing. The doctor wants to wait one more day before I trigger so I've got one more morning of shots and another scan tomorrow and everything should be ready to go. I will probably trigger tomorrow night and be ready for the retrieval on Sunday...big prayers!!

 

[vineyard]

Hi brooke! So glad you found some support here! This is going to be your month!!!!

Sending twin girl vibes your way!

Text me tomorrow after your scan!

 

[hopesforababy]

Good luck Peartree!! Keep us posted on how the stimming goes!
Brooke, good luck to you as well for a good scan tomorrow. I'll be keeping fingers crossed for you!