littleangel
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Jun 23, 2009
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Thanks everyone for the warm welcome.
My history is very similar to yours, tobefruitful (great name!). All investigations showed no problems with me. DHs SA showed lower morphology than I would have liked but still above the WHO guidelines, so they did not see this as a problem.
To me, IUI didn't really seem to offer any added value. I was fairly confident from temping, clear CM signs and ov pains that I was ovulating and we were timing intercourse correctly every month. I had stimulated cycles of IUI and getting the levels right seemed very tricky. In the UK they are only allowed to do IUI with a maximum of 3 mature follicles: the governing body forbids fertility specialists to go for more than this because of the risk of multiples. It is severely frowned upon for fertility treatment to result in triplets and the FS will end up having to explain himself to the governing body.
In my first IUI, I had slightly more stimulation than ideal, because we had no idea how well I would react. Very quickly I had 3 mature follicles and the FS wanted to abort the cycle. I was comfortable with the idea of twins and keen to gamble and persuaded him to go ahead. I was very optimistic that this would be it, because of the increased odds of 3 eggs. It failed.
The second cycle was a disaster. Because the previous cycle nearly had to be cancelled, the stimulation drugs were reduced and I ended up going to IUI with one 'maybe mature' follicle. For someone who is confident she ovulates monthly this was a disaster and probably lower odds than a natural cycle.
Because of this experience I wasn't keen to go again. I was also fairly convinced that the only reason for our problems was my age (38 at this point). I was keen to move on quickly before our time ran out completely. I felt that IVF would be diagnostic for us: there was no point in continuing to have IUI if our eggs just wouldn't fertilise. I wanted them to be looked at in a lab! I discussed it with the FS and he felt it was a sensible way forward.
My IVF cycle went like a dream. Because I have regular periods I didn't have to down reg, so started with Gonal F to stimulate on day 3. By now, we knew my AMH levels had dropped significantly from last year, so a large stim dose was requires. I got little in the way of side effects and actually felt really good (energetic, confident, great sex drive) on the stims. I started cetrotide as antagonist a few days later and scans showed everything was progressing according to plan. I had Ovitrelle as my trigger. I didn't really have any side effects to any of these and felt good in the first half of the cycle.
We went to egg retrieval on day 15 and 7 mature eggs were removed. This was done under sedation with pethidine for pain relief. I vomited once afterwards and was a little sore on moving and stretching, but nothing that some codeine didn't sort and only for a couple of days.
The following morning the lab rang and told us that 4 eggs had fertilised. DH and I were ecstatic! We had managed to make embryos. Never before had we had any confirmation that this was happening. We were given the choice of putting in the best 2 (again the max allowed here for my age group) or waiting to see if they made blastocyst. I did some reading and felt the research showed the odds were significantly better at blastocyst stage, so we decided to gamble on waiting.
On day 5, 3 of the 4 eggs had made it to blastocyst. We had decided that if they were good, we would put one back and freeze any others. On discussion with the embryologist though, he explained we had one top grade blast, one middle of the range, and one not worth considering. Obviously, we wanted the top one put back, but the second one wasn't worth freezing, so they advised we might as well put it in. At this point, my reading suggested that our odds of success were around 50/50.
The 2ww was the most difficult part of the cycle. Who knows what were pregnancy symptoms and what were side effects of the progesterone (I had Crinone gel to use vaginally daily). I had mood swings, headaches, was extremely tired, cramps. Luckily I had taken most of this 2 weeks off (FS signed me sick for a week from egg retrieval, then I took some leave). I swung from being optimistic to despair that it hadn't worked. The day before testing I had the first symptom I was confident wasn't the progesterone - my bladder seemed smaller.
Obviously on the morning of our BFP we were elated. But this quickly turned to anxiety that something would go wrong. I knew that I was high risk for mc with my age and the progesterone can mask mc, so you don't know until the scan. As I left the 6.5w scan after seeing the heartbeat I cried with relief. The FS gave us 9/10 odds of a successful pregnancy at that stage, which seemed wonderful compared to the 1 in 4 chance of success at the beginning of the cycle.
I'm still waiting for my 12w scan, but I have strong pregnancy symptoms now, so I've relaxed a little.
Here are some things that I strongly believe helped me:
- I got myself fit (running in my case). I don't think this necessarily caused the success but I think it helped me cope with the physical side of the cycle. I didn't run after the first week of the cycle though.
- having time off work during the 2ww. If I ever have to do it again, I'm going to have as much time off as possible. I don't think I could have done my job effectively while I was ill and emotional and I think the rest contributed to the success.
- The IVF FS recommended pregnacare conception (a supplement) which I had never taken before and I took it religiously from before the cycle started. Who knows if it made a difference, but I'm now taking pregnacare plus for pregnancy, because if it helps I want to do it.
- I cut down on caffeine before cycle (one cup of tea per day and no coffee) and didn't drink alcohol after the first week.
Wow, that's an essay! I hope it's not too much. Let me know if you're still awake and have any questions!
hi & welcome to our group. i am so happy that you decided to offer up your servicesi think i am speaking for the whole group when i say how nice it is to see some success w/ IVF. i saw that you did a couple unsuccessful IUI's. me 2... what was the deciding factor that made you not try #3 and head straight into IVF? i have had every test known to man thus far and things are in tip top shape with me. DH is fine other than some morphology & minor mobility issues. we tried 3xs with IUI....obviously unsuccessful we are starting IVF april 24th and we are really excited/nervous. i am really trying to stay positive and not let my mind think about the "what ifs" DH & i are open to adoption but we wanted to see if IVF would work for us first. plus we all know how much IVF is these days and have fears about not having enough $$ to adopt. ughhh such is life. any advice you'd like to offer would be great? any nasty side affects? i hope not. i am not nervous about any of the saline shots but i get chills when i think of the progesterone shots...yikes! once again, thanks for joining and many congrats on your BFP!!
My history is very similar to yours, tobefruitful (great name!). All investigations showed no problems with me. DHs SA showed lower morphology than I would have liked but still above the WHO guidelines, so they did not see this as a problem.
To me, IUI didn't really seem to offer any added value. I was fairly confident from temping, clear CM signs and ov pains that I was ovulating and we were timing intercourse correctly every month. I had stimulated cycles of IUI and getting the levels right seemed very tricky. In the UK they are only allowed to do IUI with a maximum of 3 mature follicles: the governing body forbids fertility specialists to go for more than this because of the risk of multiples. It is severely frowned upon for fertility treatment to result in triplets and the FS will end up having to explain himself to the governing body.
In my first IUI, I had slightly more stimulation than ideal, because we had no idea how well I would react. Very quickly I had 3 mature follicles and the FS wanted to abort the cycle. I was comfortable with the idea of twins and keen to gamble and persuaded him to go ahead. I was very optimistic that this would be it, because of the increased odds of 3 eggs. It failed.
The second cycle was a disaster. Because the previous cycle nearly had to be cancelled, the stimulation drugs were reduced and I ended up going to IUI with one 'maybe mature' follicle. For someone who is confident she ovulates monthly this was a disaster and probably lower odds than a natural cycle.
Because of this experience I wasn't keen to go again. I was also fairly convinced that the only reason for our problems was my age (38 at this point). I was keen to move on quickly before our time ran out completely. I felt that IVF would be diagnostic for us: there was no point in continuing to have IUI if our eggs just wouldn't fertilise. I wanted them to be looked at in a lab! I discussed it with the FS and he felt it was a sensible way forward.
My IVF cycle went like a dream. Because I have regular periods I didn't have to down reg, so started with Gonal F to stimulate on day 3. By now, we knew my AMH levels had dropped significantly from last year, so a large stim dose was requires. I got little in the way of side effects and actually felt really good (energetic, confident, great sex drive) on the stims. I started cetrotide as antagonist a few days later and scans showed everything was progressing according to plan. I had Ovitrelle as my trigger. I didn't really have any side effects to any of these and felt good in the first half of the cycle.
We went to egg retrieval on day 15 and 7 mature eggs were removed. This was done under sedation with pethidine for pain relief. I vomited once afterwards and was a little sore on moving and stretching, but nothing that some codeine didn't sort and only for a couple of days.
The following morning the lab rang and told us that 4 eggs had fertilised. DH and I were ecstatic! We had managed to make embryos. Never before had we had any confirmation that this was happening. We were given the choice of putting in the best 2 (again the max allowed here for my age group) or waiting to see if they made blastocyst. I did some reading and felt the research showed the odds were significantly better at blastocyst stage, so we decided to gamble on waiting.
On day 5, 3 of the 4 eggs had made it to blastocyst. We had decided that if they were good, we would put one back and freeze any others. On discussion with the embryologist though, he explained we had one top grade blast, one middle of the range, and one not worth considering. Obviously, we wanted the top one put back, but the second one wasn't worth freezing, so they advised we might as well put it in. At this point, my reading suggested that our odds of success were around 50/50.
The 2ww was the most difficult part of the cycle. Who knows what were pregnancy symptoms and what were side effects of the progesterone (I had Crinone gel to use vaginally daily). I had mood swings, headaches, was extremely tired, cramps. Luckily I had taken most of this 2 weeks off (FS signed me sick for a week from egg retrieval, then I took some leave). I swung from being optimistic to despair that it hadn't worked. The day before testing I had the first symptom I was confident wasn't the progesterone - my bladder seemed smaller.
Obviously on the morning of our BFP we were elated. But this quickly turned to anxiety that something would go wrong. I knew that I was high risk for mc with my age and the progesterone can mask mc, so you don't know until the scan. As I left the 6.5w scan after seeing the heartbeat I cried with relief. The FS gave us 9/10 odds of a successful pregnancy at that stage, which seemed wonderful compared to the 1 in 4 chance of success at the beginning of the cycle.
I'm still waiting for my 12w scan, but I have strong pregnancy symptoms now, so I've relaxed a little.
Here are some things that I strongly believe helped me:
- I got myself fit (running in my case). I don't think this necessarily caused the success but I think it helped me cope with the physical side of the cycle. I didn't run after the first week of the cycle though.
- having time off work during the 2ww. If I ever have to do it again, I'm going to have as much time off as possible. I don't think I could have done my job effectively while I was ill and emotional and I think the rest contributed to the success.
- The IVF FS recommended pregnacare conception (a supplement) which I had never taken before and I took it religiously from before the cycle started. Who knows if it made a difference, but I'm now taking pregnacare plus for pregnancy, because if it helps I want to do it.
- I cut down on caffeine before cycle (one cup of tea per day and no coffee) and didn't drink alcohol after the first week.
Wow, that's an essay! I hope it's not too much. Let me know if you're still awake and have any questions!
and congratulations on your little bean . Your cycle seemed so straight forward and stress free I can only hope all of us have similar experiences. 
. We love to have you here.
