IVF until we all get our bfp! 2012-present *13 w/twins & 1 w/triplets!*

[jchic]

I know what you mean...I am the queen of planning, haha

 

[Jenn76]

Hey Guys,

Glad to hear everyone's appointments have gone well. I had mine back in January and also attended an information session for IVF back in February. There is only one Clinic here so luckily they have great stats well above the nation averages. I hate the waiting game as well, as I too am a planner. I have calculated and recalculated due dates based on each month of delay. It kills me having to wait to start but I appreciate that my clinic is taking all the necessary precautions.

My province doesn't cover any infertility treatments nor does my insurance. It was hard deciding between IUI and IVF but from reading these forms there seems to be many that are resorting to IVF after multiple failed IUI's so I figured when it is all said and done doing IVF from the start might cost less. My clinc gave me a 15% sucess rate with IUI verses 60% with IVF. To me having a baby means more to me then anything else so it's worth it.

My clinic only does 5 day transfers and are very strict to the amount of embryo's max of two. I was hoping for three.... not that I want triplets but I want more chances to come out of this pregnant. I would be fine if twins came out of this as well. So I'm definitely going to go with two.

Jchic your dog is adorable, I have three of my own plus 2 cats one named Lexi. As you can see I have filled that empty void of no babies with fur babies.

 

[BlueStorm]

Hey girls...appointment went well but I now have a stomach bug so will post tomorrow when I can get on the computer. Hope everyonr is having a goo weekend

 

[MrsC8776]

Jenn I think spending the money on IVF rather than IUI is a good idea. IUI works for some but the chances of IVF working are so much higher. My clinic only does 5 day transfers and they are strict on only transferring 2 as well. I take that as a good sign!

Blue I'm glad everything went well! Sorry you are sick though. I hope you feel better soon.

No update on TTC for me but for a life update... Hubby left for work yesterday which is always sad. When his plane landed in Seattle he was told there was no seat for him on the next flight. Theres only one flight a day that goes to Dubai so I got in my car and drove the 4 hours so that I could spend one more evening with him. A sad day turned into a good day!

I hope everyone else is doing well

 

[honeycheeks]

first ivf consultation on 25th april. hoping to start ivf in may or june. could you add me to the first page.

 

[MrsC8776]

first ivf consultation on 25th april. hoping to start ivf in may or june. could you add me to the first page.

Welcome

I will go ahead and add you! It's always nice to have more people in the group so that we all get tons of support.

 

[azlissie]

MrsC, I'm glad you got to have one more night with your hubby! I hope the next 6 weeks go by really fast.

So I was talking the other day about how I'm trying to figure out when my cycle will start in July but my cycles have been all messed up since I took Clomid last year. So this month was 31 days, after having cycles of 21, 24, and 25. This is ridiculous! I used to be a 29 day girl every single month - AF even started at the same time of day! I can't possibly figure out when I might be looking to get started in July at this rate and it drives me crazy because I just want to have a plan.

Hope everyone's having a good week! Feel better soon, Blue.

 

[honeycheeks]

first ivf consultation on 25th april. hoping to start ivf in may or june. could you add me to the first page.

Welcome

I will go ahead and add you! It's always nice to have more people in the group so that we all get tons of support.

Thanks Mrs C, I am still reading the thread from start to end. The thread is wonderful. It helps me relieve my anxieties about IVF. when i first found out that I need IVF due to both fallopian tubes being blocked, I was petrified.

 

[honeycheeks]

Hi Ladies, I have read a lot of posts of women trying to lose weight before IVF. Is there an ideal weight for IVF. I am 161 cm tall, a tad less than 5'4" and weigh 48 kgs. Is my weight ok or do I need to gain some more. i have 6 weeks before my first appointment, I could use it to gain some weight if that is really necessary.

I could definitely use some advice from you ladies. I dont ever want to be denied IVF if the clinic thinks i weigh less.

 

[Jenn76]

Mrs C it must be so hard having your husband away so much. Have you determined if he will be around at the appropriate times for doing IVF? Does his job remain constant or are there points where he has to leave unplanned? I admire anyone that lives that kind of life especially those with kids as I know it can be especially hard on them.

Welcome Honeycheeks! My clinic feels that there isn't any concrete evidence that weight is a factor for IVF success. This is definitely a question to ask at your consultation. It sound like you are at the lower end or a bit below the ideal weight range for your height. I would think as long as you are healthy and eating healthy you should be fine. Here's what my clinic recommends for a daily intake of portions:

7-8 vegetables and fruit
6-7 grain products
2 milk and alternatives
2 meat and alternatives
30 - 45 mL (2 to 3 Tbsp) of unsaturated oils and fats

Azlissie have you discussed using BCP to regulate your cycle?

 

[MrsC8776]

MrsC, I'm glad you got to have one more night with your hubby! I hope the next 6 weeks go by really fast.

So I was talking the other day about how I'm trying to figure out when my cycle will start in July but my cycles have been all messed up since I took Clomid last year. So this month was 31 days, after having cycles of 21, 24, and 25. This is ridiculous! I used to be a 29 day girl every single month - AF even started at the same time of day! I can't possibly figure out when I might be looking to get started in July at this rate and it drives me crazy because I just want to have a plan.

Hope everyone's having a good week! Feel better soon, Blue.

I really think you should look into BCP just to get your cycle on track. I know it's weird since we are all trying to get pregnant but I think it will help you in the long run.

Hi Ladies, I have read a lot of posts of women trying to lose weight before IVF. Is there an ideal weight for IVF. I am 161 cm tall, a tad less than 5'4" and weigh 48 kgs. Is my weight ok or do I need to gain some more. i have 6 weeks before my first appointment, I could use it to gain some weight if that is really necessary.

I could definitely use some advice from you ladies. I dont ever want to be denied IVF if the clinic thinks i weigh less.

You should be ok with your weight. If you are on the lower end they might ask you to gain some but I think it all depends on the clinic. Like mine said my weight was fine but I don't think they look at weight as a big issue. Would you be able to call and ask them about it?

Mrs C it must be so hard having your husband away so much. Have you determined if he will be around at the appropriate times for doing IVF? Does his job remain constant or are there points where he has to leave unplanned? I admire anyone that lives that kind of life especially those with kids as I know it can be especially hard on them.

Welcome Honeycheeks! My clinic feels that there isn't any concrete evidence that weight is a factor for IVF success. This is definitely a question to ask at your consultation. It sound like you are at the lower end or a bit below the ideal weight range for your height. I would think as long as you are healthy and eating healthy you should be fine. Here's what my clinic recommends for a daily intake of portions:

7-8 vegetables and fruit
6-7 grain products
2 milk and alternatives
2 meat and alternatives
30 - 45 mL (2 to 3 Tbsp) of unsaturated oils and fats

Azlissie have you discussed using BCP to regulate your cycle?

Thank you Jenn! It is pretty hard especially the first week he is gone. His schedule is pretty regular. He works 6 weeks there and then 5-6 weeks home. We have planned around his schedule and everything should fall into place just right (fingers crossed). Sometimes they will ask him to go work somewhere else on his time off but he can say he can't if we have something going on. Although he doesn't like to do that. They pretty much could send him where ever they have a contract. So far I think it's only be Haiti, Alaska, Texas, almost Hawaii (last minute change), and Canada. I'm usually able to go with him when he gets sent to work on his off time so it works out. The only place I'm not allowed is in Afghanistan of course.

 

[asali]

Azlissie - I also used to have a 30 day cycle but after doing 3 cycles of Clomid it has completely messed it up. FS mentioned that he will put me on bcp before i start IVF.

Honeycheeks - the Dr didnt suggest I should lose weight however i personally want to lose weight as Ive put on quite a bit 13lbs to be exact (6kgs) in the past year. If IVF works i dont want 9 months later to have to lose baby weight and the extra weight i gained during TTC

 

[BlueStorm]

Feeling much better today and can finally tell you how my appointment went!

So it went very well and we spoke for about an hour about the whole process and most of my questions were answered without me having to ask. My insurance will take affect 5/1/12 so I will be starting bcp's with my April cycle and then we are doing long protocol so I will be on Lupron as well. I am still a little confused about that whole thing but will have to email my nurse and get a better handle on the whole lupron thing. I think it's just in conjuction with the gonal f so that I don't ovulate early. He also told me we will be doing gonal f along with a very small amount of ovidrel every night. Apparently it helps the eggs. I never heard that before. Ok so if everything works out we should be starting meds around the second or third week of May. That is if my cycle's don't go crazy. Currently I am on cd 24 and I don't think I O'd yet maybe just messed up from last IUI cycle..who knows. Anyway here are the questions I had written down and the answers I got...

How many embryos are put back? 2

Do we need more testing? No

Difference between long and short protocol? Short is just when you wait for your cycle to start and then start meds on cd 3. Long is when you are put on bcp's and Lupron ( I think this is correct, but still a bit confused about it)

Any idea of what our meds will be like? most likely 350 units of gonal f per night plus a small dose of ovidrel and lupron. Then trigger with ovidrel when ready

How long will meds most likely take? I usually respond quickly so most likely 5-10 days. during IUI I was only on meds about 5 days.

Chances of OHSS? 1 % chance

Average scans per week/cycle? every other day and then every day last couple of days

Views on bed rest after transfer? no bed rest recommended just light activity. I will probably take a few days off work though.

Will I be put on BCP before we start? Yes, BCP's in April and Lupron

Is there anything I should start to do to get my body prepared for IVF? (diet changes, supplements, ect) just pre-natal vitamins which I've been taking for 2 years
ICIS vs. Natural fertilization? ICIS because of DH's morphology. It wasn't even a question for him, he said it is by far our best option.

3 day vs 5 day transfer? they only do 5 day transfers ( actually transferred back on day 6

Medication / sedation used for retrieval? Anesthesia

Type of freezing used on embryo's (i.e. fast freeze vitrification vs. slow freeze) Fast freeze vitrification.

How many eggs do they typically look for? around 12.

What is the current success rate for your clinic? 60%

Does Endo affect IVF? No he said IVF is by passing that whole region so it does not affect it at all.

So that is it in a nutshell. Can't wait for May to get here

Welcome Honey

 

[jchic]

YAY Blue! Glad you are going to RMA too Alot of the jersey girls on here are!

 

[MrsC8776]

Blue I'm glad you are feeling better today. Sounds like everything went great with your appointment. It is all a bit confusing but I'm sure once we all get started we will fully understand. Thank you for sharing your answers, it looks like our clinics pretty much work in the same way. I still have to find out if I will be on the long or short protocol.

Ugh finances are really stressing me out! Saving up $16,000 for this is a huge deal. I need to try and relax about it but it is so hard. I'm calling the lady about acupuncture today and figuring out when I can start. Hopefully that will help!

 

[BlueStorm]

Blue I'm glad you are feeling better today. Sounds like everything went great with your appointment. It is all a bit confusing but I'm sure once we all get started we will fully understand. Thank you for sharing your answers, it looks like our clinics pretty much work in the same way. I still have to find out if I will be on the long or short protocol.

Ugh finances are really stressing me out! Saving up $16,000 for this is a huge deal. I need to try and relax about it but it is so hard. I'm calling the lady about acupuncture today and figuring out when I can start. Hopefully that will help!

Thanks Mrs C - Yes it sounds like they do run the same, Yeah still confused about long and short protocol but I emailed my nurse so I will see if she can explain it better for me.

I know how stressful the money part of it can get, and can only imagine how stressful it would be to save up that much. It was hard for us with paying for the IUI's and trying to explain why we couldn't go out much and all during that time because we were saving every penny. I am so happy you can start accupunture. I think it will help with the stress a lot

 

[smiledreamer]

hi ladies
well the consents are all signed,, i did get abit teary at a few points,, when asked what we would want to happen of we had frozen embies and hubby died!!! wot a aweful situation to be in
she is going to call me tomorrow to tell me when we can strt, cos she isnt sure if we have been put on the waiting list,, if not the wait is now 6 months,,,,, great!! so she is gunna find out and let me no

she told me my cd 3 bloods

fsh ,,, 4,2
lh,,,,,,3,7
amh....22
e2,,,, cnt rembember,, could be 92? or 72?? who knows,, lol i wasnt listening properly xx

 

[MrsC8776]

Yay for getting the papers signed! What a horrible thing to think about though. Hubby and I have discussed what we would do if there are left overs. We didn't come up with an answer yet though. We will be doing 100% ICSI and we only want one LO (unless we happen to be one of those couples who get twins). So for us it's hard because if we donated them to a couple someone would be raising a child with both our DNA. It's something to think about but when the time comes we will talk about it more. I don't think I would have been able to handle the question about what I would do if hubby passed away though.

Blue I will be starting acupuncture the first week of April

 

[smiledreamer]

its just such a horrible question,, i hated it and was welling up,, especially when he said hed love the thought of me carrying his bby after his death !!
but its def a horrible thing to think about xxx

we got a call from clinic tis mornig,, we wil def be strtin end of july begn of august xx

 

[MrsC8776]

Smile that is great that you will be getting started around the time you planned. I'll go update the first page with that wonderful news.

Does anyone else have anything they would like me to add?