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

[AnnetteCali]

good morning ladies....

anyone ever break out from the progesterone oil shots? I did fine through treatment.. but a week after i stopped taking it.. the injection sites are so itchy.. and red... and inflamed?

maybe i'm allergic?

 

[michelle01]

Haj - she just said I had MTHFR, never said anything more other then they would put me on folic acid and baby asprin, which I did last time, if I do another cycle. I did not even realize there were diffent kinds

I had another blood draw this morning to repeat the natural killer cells work-up, but I have a feeling I will get the same results. And then I will probably go have a consult with the specialist to see if doing some other treatment along with another IVF cycle is worth it. I have to weigh the risks involved and see what she says before any decisions are made.

 

[AndreaFlorida]

Update from me....I'm a bit ahead of where they wanted me to be....so only 2 follistim shots one today an one tomorrow morning...then Friday will be the Trigger shot PRAYING we catch our miracle!!!

Right side dominant 18 mm follicle I have tons I think 10 now on the right an they are all small really cept the one big one...but maybe the follistim with make the smaller ones grow larger who knows can't wait to see my follies on Friday!!

I'm TERRIFIED of the trigger shot though thats gonna be PAINFUL from what I can tell!

Wishing you ladies all the best I have been so busy I haven't been on as much as I'd like to be.....sorry I feel like I've let a lot of you down.....

Lots of to us all!

 

[MoBaby]

mrs stu you have will power! i want to know right away! good luck fx for you!

daisy83: hope you can transfer this cycle do you have pcos? any reason for so many?

andrea: i hope you catch eggie this cycle and dont need ivf!

 

[drsquid]

andrea- the trigger isnt that bad. it doesnt hurt when you do it ive just found it gets kinda bruised feeling for a day or so after.

 

[jchic]

Mrs. Stru - I am praying this is your BFP!

Daisy - Holy ovaries! Your lady parts are cranking away on making those follies! I am certain it will be fine, they will probably grow together and you will have the perfect number of ripe eggies

Haj - how are you feeling?

Blue - any word on if you can move forward with FET this coming cycle?

MJ - WOOHOO! Oh I certainly hope so! Crossing my fingers for ya!

Squid - those are good numbers

 

[DaisyQ]

Daisy83, wow squillions! I'm jealous! It's a good problem to have, I think. Better too many than not enough. I've heard of women having as many as 40 follicles. Hopefully you'll have right around 20, and will be able to proceed with the fresh transfer. Good luck!

 

[WantingAChild]

Hey ladies! Here is my information"

Me- 37 yr. old, never been pregnant, stage 2 endometriosis, AMH 0.3, FSH 10.3
Hubby- 40 Yr. old, no children, SA normal

Our RE has given us little hope (5% chance) of conceiving due to my AMH being so low. He has agreed to go ahead with our first IVF (we have had 4 failed IUI's). For the IUI's, I used Clomid and Follistim. I ovulated 4-5 eggs each time which he says makes me a poor responder??? I thought that was a good number of eggs?! Anyway...on to this cycle.

I have had a cyst since our last IUI in January. So every month since we have been told we have to put off the IVF until the cyst cleared. This month (yesterday) we found that the cyst was still there, but now only measured 14mm. Nurse drew blood and called yesterday afternoon saying we were cleared to start stims. My estrogen level was 33 (on cycle day 2), so they determined the cyst was not producing estrogen. Here is my protocol for IVF:

Morning:
20 units of microdose Lupron (apparently bc of my low amh?)
150 units of Menopur
1 mg. Doxycycline
1 baby aspirin

Evening:
300 units Follistim
100 mg. Doxycyline
1 prenatal vitamin
0.5 mg Dexamethasone


Does this seem like a good protocol for low AMH? I am so nervous about the whole process. I am not sure what to expect...we have waited so long to finally get the go ahead for IVF. I am trying not to get my hopes us given the poor prognosis from my RE. I am just confused as to why I might not respond well to these meds when I thought I had responded well for the IUI's.

Anyway....any advice you ladies could give me would be SO appreciated! Also, if there are any other Low AMH ladies out there I would love to hear about your experience and/or protocol.

Thanks ladies! Baby dust to all of you!

 

[DaisyQ]

Welcome Wanting.

While your AMH is low, the fact that you produced 4-5 follicles for your IUIs is encouraging. Maybe you won't produce 10+ eggs for IVF, but 4-5 could absolutely get you your baby... I think the best thing to remember through this is that it's a process and some of us aren't first (or second) time lucky. Especially when there are fewer eggs to work with, some of us may have to go through this a few times. Also the first cycle is often a bit of a experiment, as they don't know yet how you'll respond to the protocol, or what your egg quality may be.

From the sounds of your protocol, it sounds like you are doing microdose lupron flare? Some people have great success with this. If it doesn't go as well as you'd hope, you can also try the estrogen priming/antagonist protocol, which is considering a very aggressive protocol, and it seems like a lot of poor responders do better on it.

Lastly, it's a shame your RE is so pessimistic based on your AMH level (which can change by they way). Would you consider a second opinion? Where are you based? Are there a few clinics in your area? Have you researched success rates on SART?

Good luck!

 

[MoBaby]

Hey wanting! Welcome. I'm doing the microdose flare in sept now.... Due to 2 failed cycles. Same cycle as you. Meds are very similar wihout the aspirin or dexa. I think if you can get 5 eggies with a low amh your chances are great! I wouldnt let your re get you down; your ovaries may respond better than they think. The microdose is supposed to recruit more follicles by working with your natural release of fsh. I make plenty of follicles but for some reason it hasn't worked so this is the next step and taking out my fibroid!

Have you had a second opinion?

 

[WantingAChild]

welcome wanting.

While your amh is low, the fact that you produced 4-5 follicles for your iuis is encouraging. Maybe you won't produce 10+ eggs for ivf, but 4-5 could absolutely get you your baby... I think the best thing to remember through this is that it's a process and some of us aren't first (or second) time lucky. Especially when there are fewer eggs to work with, some of us may have to go through this a few times. Also the first cycle is often a bit of a experiment, as they don't know yet how you'll respond to the protocol, or what your egg quality may be.

From the sounds of your protocol, it sounds like you are doing microdose lupron flare? Some people have great success with this. If it doesn't go as well as you'd hope, you can also try the estrogen priming/antagonist protocol, which is considering a very aggressive protocol, and it seems like a lot of poor responders do better on it.

Lastly, it's a shame your re is so pessimistic based on your amh level (which can change by they way). Would you consider a second opinion? Where are you based? Are there a few clinics in your area? Have you researched success rates on sart?

Good luck!

thank you so much for your reply! I am doing the microdose lupron flare. My re changed it at the last minute when the results of my amh came back. My re is a really good doctor...my obgyn actually recommended him...he is one of the best in the state. I am in georgia btw. He is from france, so i think sometimes the language barrier makes him seem a little less empathetic....he is very clinical....it was actually his assistant that gave me the 5% chance based on my amh....she said, "do you want me to sugar coat it or just give you the facts?" i, of course, said don't sugar coat it! She recommended using an egg donor. She while they have seen women with low amh conceive using their own eggs, we would only have about a 5% chance. She really is a wonderful lady and i was thankful for the honesty. I only hope we are in that lucky 5%.

there is only one other re clinic here and their sart stats are a little lower than my re's.

 

[WantingAChild]

Hey wanting! Welcome. I'm doing the microdose flare in sept now.... Due to 2 failed cycles. Same cycle as you. Meds are very similar wihout the aspirin or dexa. I think if you can get 5 eggies with a low amh your chances are great! I wouldnt let your re get you down; your ovaries may respond better than they think. The microdose is supposed to recruit more follicles by working with your natural release of fsh. I make plenty of follicles but for some reason it hasn't worked so this is the next step and taking out my fibroid!

Have you had a second opinion?

MoBaby: Thanks for responding! Do you have a low AMH also? Or is this just a new protocol due to the 2 failed cycles? We worked with my primary OBGYN for over a year...he did lots of testing (HSG, Laparoscopy, Hysteroscopy, etc..). He determined that I had stage 2 endo. We also did 2 IUI's with him before he referred us to an RE. We have been with this RE for about a year now. I have also taken some of my results to my primary OBGYN and he seems to agree with my RE's findings.

 

[BlueStorm]

So I got the call this morning that none of my embies are at blast yet. They are letting them grow one more day and freezing them. I am so bummed out. 10 are still growing so I dont' understand why they won't do the transfer with 2 and let the other 8 grow and freeze them. The worst part is the lab is closing so I am most likely going to have to wait until August to do the FET.

I know how frustrated you are. Jan, 2010 I started my mini IVF in NYC. BC and clomid, etc.) They were only able to collect 1 emby. Doc decided not to transfer due to my lining not thickening. It was frozen at 5day blast. It was such a let down knowing how eager I have been for years to have a baby, now he's delaying it for another month. Feb. 2010, another cycle, same procedure, and I got a . The one they froze over 2 years ago is now the one I am carrying right now.

Things happen for a reason. Have faith. Hugs and babydust to you.

This is a great story, thanks so much for sharing!

I just got my blood results and not such great news.....my natural killer cells were elevated; the high end is 14 and mine were 29, not to mention something called MTHFR which is clotting in pg, mine was high, but said that was something they could control with other meds in my next cycle. Right now they want me to go in tomorrow morning for another blood test to repeat it and make sure it is still that high; if it is, then they refer me to another specialist. So basically starting with my next cycle next week...a NO GO I am so frustrated!!! And starting to actually think its not worth it anymore. Sorry to rant on, I am so upset! I know most of you are trying to concieve your first child and I should be blessed that I have one already, but I wanted more then anything to give him a sibling. I think at times maybe I should just be happy I have him and move on!![/QUOTE]

So frustrating...don't feel that way you have every right to feel the same as anyone without a child, it is painful no matter waht.

Hi ladies--I am 6dp3dt today and got a very, very faint bfp on a FRER test. I did it this afternoon, on a whim. So it wasn't even fmu. Not sure yet if this is residual hcg from the trigger or if this is a true bfp. Anyone heard of someone getting a faint positive 6dp3dt? I plan to test again tomorrow morning with FMU.

Fingers crossed this is great news!!

PS - just a rant here - got the following email from my cousin who is about 7 months pregnant. She has 2 sisters, one whom I am VERY VERY close to....well her sister must have told her what was going on (which I am not upset about) BUT this email is just, I cant even right now. I want to scream. WTF. So insensitive.
Hey Jess!
Wow! I spoke with Ley, and just wanted to tell you that I give you guys so much credit for pulling through all of this with such good spirits.... Mood and disposition play such an important role in getting pregnant and throughout the pregnancy and its probably so hard since you and Mike are infertile and cant have any children naturally. That is what IVF is for at least! I will pray that its in your plan to have children. I hope it is and that you dont just have your dogs to spoil!
Are you going to Davids graduation or graduation party this weekend? If so, I will see you Saturday. Love you!

WTF?! Some people have no clue!

jchic, some people are so completely oblivious and insensitive. i hope you don't let her comments stress you out.

To update, I had my Day 3 transfer today of 5 embryos, Yes, you read that right, 5!! I'm of 'advanced maternal age' and it is my clinic's practice to transfer up to 5 embryos for ladies my age. Now the wait begins. Wonder if I should take some time off or go back to work tomorrow.

Holy cow! Good luck and I hope your wait goes fast, you are one brave lady!

Update from me....I'm a bit ahead of where they wanted me to be....so only 2 follistim shots one today an one tomorrow morning...then Friday will be the Trigger shot PRAYING we catch our miracle!!!

Right side dominant 18 mm follicle I have tons I think 10 now on the right an they are all small really cept the one big one...but maybe the follistim with make the smaller ones grow larger who knows can't wait to see my follies on Friday!!

I'm TERRIFIED of the trigger shot though thats gonna be PAINFUL from what I can tell!

Wishing you ladies all the best I have been so busy I haven't been on as much as I'd like to be.....sorry I feel like I've let a lot of you down.....

Lots of to us all!

Good luck, don't worry trigger shot is not bad at all.

Welcome to all the new ladies out there

Sorry if I missed anyone this thread moved like crazy since yesterday!

AFM - Update today was much better. We have 5 frozen blasts. She told me two are good one is ok and the other two are not the best. Here are the grades, I don't know a whole lot about the grading:

5AA
5BA
6BB
4BC
6BC

Also turns out that we will be able to do the transfer before the lab closes so I am very happy about that. I have to call on cd1 and then I will be starting estrace and later one progesterone shots

 

[jchic]

Wanting - what do they want your AMH to be ideally?

 

[DaisyQ]

Jchic, AMH over "1" is considered good, or so I was told.

Blue, don't worry your pretty little head about those embryos. More and more research is finding that inspecting the embryos visually had little to do with whether or not they can become a sticky, healthy baby in utero. So don't stress. You have 5 frosties, and that's GREAT! SO glad you'll be able to get your transfer done before the lab closes.

Wanting, it sounds like you are on your game, which is half the battle! Are you taking any supplements like DHEA, CoQ10, myoinistol, melatonin, etc?

If this doesn't work out for you, and I have every hope that it will, would you consider trying CCRM before going to donor eggs? They seem to do well with difficult cases especially in the case of older women, or women with high FSH, low AMH.

 

[Kelly9]

Started injections today! First one was easy but hey I've had lots of practice stabbing myself and others. I'm happy to be in step two of ICSI #2 out of 5 steps total. We're getting there.

 

[MoBaby]

Blue: that's great!

Wanting: my amh is perfect as well as all my other labs. Just a new protocol b/c of the failed cycles.

 

[MrsC8776]

AFM > I have definitely Od on Saturday Im sooooo happy, will be using more Lucrin now but that is fine. Will be on it for 16 days so will be properly down regulated.

Just need to call the FS office and make sure it will be fine. Edit: Just confirmed it is fine, will use it till AF arrives

AF due on the 17th

Af is due for me on the 17th as well. It will be here before you know it.

I'd like to join this thread too! Starting Lupron on the 18th, retrieval on 7/9 and approximate proceedure date of 7/11.

Welcome

(7dp3dt) Took a test this morning with FMU and it was BFN; after yesterday afternoon's faint BFP. Can only think yesterday's was residual from the HCG trigger. Haven't decided yet if I'll test tomorrow or wait until Friday morning. Don't have a whole lot of hope, but I'm trying.

Don't give up hope. Sometimes it just takes a little longer.

Hey ladies, I think I may have posted in this thread a while back and I have to say it is a fast moving thread.

At the moment I am waiting on my schedule. I know it is due to arrive this week as I phoned on Friday and they told me it has been done and they were just waiting on the doctor to sign off my script. And with the holidays they may not even post it until today. I am into my 5th week on the BCP and I have just found out that my recent AMH test result is 7.6 pmol/L which is lower than the one I got done this time last year which was 10 pmol/L. However, my consultant said that 10 were normal so I am not sure what they will say about the 7.6. But when I google online they say anything below 15 is low. I am gutted!!!

jchic – I just read the email that your cousin sent you and I have to truly say that people who find it easy to get pregnant seriously don’t know what we go through. I think sometimes they are better off saying nothing. I can see that she is trying to be nice but seriously choose the wrong words.

Mrs Stru, could it be an implantation bleed?

L8bloomer, congrats on the 5 transfers and being PUPO, do what you feel is right. If you can take some time off to rest then do it.

MJ73, good luck for Sunday xx

Hello to everyone else. xx

This is a very fast moving thread! Fx everything is ok and you can continue.

Welcome Miss Annabelle!

Irish - On my AMH leaflet it says 5-15 is normal, <5 is low, >15 is high. So yours looks pretty normal to me!

jchic - OMG!!!! I cringed reading that letter, how can someone be so utterly insensitive?! Don't worry, us infertile folks will just be content with our dogs! I also hate the "just relax and it'll happen"!!!.

blue - Sorry about your delay, that sucks but I'm sure they know what they're doing and it's only to give you the best possible chance of success x


AFM - Had my follicle check today. Good news and bad news - I've got squillions! Got 13 on the right and she couldn't count them all on the left! Lining is 4.5cm (don't know if that's good or bad). She said right now I'm at high risk of OHSS and they wouldn't lower my gonal cos it's already very low! So just need to wait and see. Have scans again on Fri and Mon. If more than 20 follicles at egg collection I have to wait a few months then have a FET .

Hope everyone is doing well xx

Fx the everything goes well and you can have a fresh transfer but if not FET has a high success. Stay positive!

Update from me....I'm a bit ahead of where they wanted me to be....so only 2 follistim shots one today an one tomorrow morning...then Friday will be the Trigger shot PRAYING we catch our miracle!!!

Right side dominant 18 mm follicle I have tons I think 10 now on the right an they are all small really cept the one big one...but maybe the follistim with make the smaller ones grow larger who knows can't wait to see my follies on Friday!!

I'm TERRIFIED of the trigger shot though thats gonna be PAINFUL from what I can tell!

Wishing you ladies all the best I have been so busy I haven't been on as much as I'd like to be.....sorry I feel like I've let a lot of you down.....

Lots of to us all!

Thats exciting that you are ahead of schedule. The trigger shot is very easy. I have done one and I was told to bring it to room temp. before using it. It's suppose to sting less if you do that. I didn't have any pain from it at all. Good luck!

Hey ladies! Here is my information"

Me- 37 yr. old, never been pregnant, stage 2 endometriosis, AMH 0.3, FSH 10.3
Hubby- 40 Yr. old, no children, SA normal

Our RE has given us little hope (5% chance) of conceiving due to my AMH being so low. He has agreed to go ahead with our first IVF (we have had 4 failed IUI's). For the IUI's, I used Clomid and Follistim. I ovulated 4-5 eggs each time which he says makes me a poor responder??? I thought that was a good number of eggs?! Anyway...on to this cycle.

I have had a cyst since our last IUI in January. So every month since we have been told we have to put off the IVF until the cyst cleared. This month (yesterday) we found that the cyst was still there, but now only measured 14mm. Nurse drew blood and called yesterday afternoon saying we were cleared to start stims. My estrogen level was 33 (on cycle day 2), so they determined the cyst was not producing estrogen. Here is my protocol for IVF:

Morning:
20 units of microdose Lupron (apparently bc of my low amh?)
150 units of Menopur
1 mg. Doxycycline
1 baby aspirin

Evening:
300 units Follistim
100 mg. Doxycyline
1 prenatal vitamin
0.5 mg Dexamethasone


Does this seem like a good protocol for low AMH? I am so nervous about the whole process. I am not sure what to expect...we have waited so long to finally get the go ahead for IVF. I am trying not to get my hopes us given the poor prognosis from my RE. I am just confused as to why I might not respond well to these meds when I thought I had responded well for the IUI's.

Anyway....any advice you ladies could give me would be SO appreciated! Also, if there are any other Low AMH ladies out there I would love to hear about your experience and/or protocol.

Thanks ladies! Baby dust to all of you!

Welcome! Sorry I don't know much about protocols. Sounds like the ladies are doing a great job with helping you.

AFM - Update today was much better. We have 5 frozen blasts. She told me two are good one is ok and the other two are not the best. Here are the grades, I don't know a whole lot about the grading:

5AA
5BA
6BB
4BC
6BC

Also turns out that we will be able to do the transfer before the lab closes so I am very happy about that. I have to call on cd1 and then I will be starting estrace and later one progesterone shots

Yay!! I'm so excited for you that you get to do the FET before they close!

Started injections today! First one was easy but hey I've had lots of practice stabbing myself and others. I'm happy to be in step two of ICSI #2 out of 5 steps total. We're getting there.

Yay for getting started!!

 

[AndreaFlorida]

SO the docs just called me back from my blood work this morning they think I'm already about to Ovulate?!?!?! At CD 8 though really? She told me go get some OPK's I haven't used them in a few cycles...an call with my positive so they might have me go in tomorrow for my trigger?!?!?! I duno...she said if I ovulate on my own its too late really for the trigger....but I wanted to trigger so I dropped more than one eggy to up my chances I'm really bummed right now really badly bummed!

 

[MoBaby]

sorry why would you go early? did they have an explaination?