TTC #1 AL Buddies 2016 Newcomers Welcome

[Aayla]

Thanks! Just 13 more sleeps!

 

[mrs unicorn]

Aayla that's amazing! Well done! Have a wonderful trip! X

 

[Gagrlinpitt]

Well ladies.. First AF since my mc... Cramps have been insane. Dh told me last night he was disappointed AF showed up which made my heart sink... Hopefully temping, opks, and charting will do the job this month.

 

[BronteForever]

Gag - sorry AF got you. This process is definetly not easy on anyone. Try not to get too discouraged. Really hope you have luck this next month.

 

[Gagrlinpitt]

Bronte thanks.. I'm actually ok with it as I know my body is back on track

 

[lesondemavie]

Line is barely there today 😞 Back to ttc we go.

 

[Gagrlinpitt]

Leson I was just there.. I completely understand, I'm so sorry.

 

[Aayla]

Oh Leson... I am so sorry

 

[Aayla]

Talked to the doc today. He said that is very likely that I am becoming resistant to the letrozole. So we had two options.

1) Do the shots, monitoring and IUI and that has no bmi limit although they like it to be under 42 and it only has a success rate of 10-12%. Cost: $1700-$2000

2) IVF. 50% success rate, frozen embryos for siblings. But an imposed bmi limit of 38. Which would require me to lose at min 90 lbs but preferably about 100. cost $10,000

After talking it over with hubby we have chosen the IVF route. We can always choose the other option down the road but this our goal.

The good news is that the doc said my day 3 levels were normal so my egg count etc is all fine.

 

[beccabonny]

Aayla, great job on the WL - amazing! I'm glad to hear your egg count is fine, and IVF does have a good success rate compared to IUI

Gag, sorry you had to hear that. At least you know you're on the right track with AF around, so you'll be able to chart it all out.

Les, again, I am so so sorry. I was there last month and my heart is broken for you.

 

[BronteForever]

Aayla - so sorry to hear that you are likely becoming resistant to the letrozole. I know it's hard to handle, especially because IVF is starting to become more of a reality.

I'm going to give you my experience with weight and IVF for you to do with as you please. I know everyone is very different, but I did find it helpful to hear how others responded to get a good idea of what I wanted to do. Anyway, my BMI was around 36 at the start of my last round and one of my doctors still blamed my failed cycle almost solely on my weight - saying my egg quality was so horrible that none of the embryos divided correctly because of my weight (despite none of my doctors expressing any concern what so ever before the cycle began). Now there's no way they actually know that's the reason and I have a lot of other concerns about how my cycle was handled that in my opinion could have affected stuff more.

Regardless, it wasn't a good feeling to have that thrown in my face after a failed cycle and spending so much money. It made me feel like an idiot for proceeding without losing even more weight first, despite me thinking my age was more important (now to be honest I don't know what to think - because I wish I would have waited a few months to get down just a bit more weight). Now, it's a fine balance between age (which in my opinion is more important) and weight (which is really only a decent indicator of issues you might face - such as egg quality and implantation issues that aren't exactly measurable). So you can't wait forever to lose the weight; it's just not realistic. But you do need to be prepared that even hitting the 38 BMI that the cycle can fail because of weight issues or really any unknown issues. My doctors said under 33 is ideal and in the UK they like it under 30 (again it varies so much by person and you never know until you go through your cycle).

I also wish I would have been more realistic when I approached IVF and realized that you are looking more at 2-5 cycles of IVF. Ladies do get pregnant on the first cycle, but it's not hugely common given our age. So be prepared to spend closer to $20,000-$30,000 if it's $10,000 per cycle. We bought a 2 cycle plan and I regret it even now. I wish we would have bought a 3 cycle plan that came with a reimbursement if I wasn't pregnant. It was about $15,000 more and I think would have been worth the reassurance. I went back and forth on it when decided what we wanted to pay upfront. I know they do everything very different in Canada though and it's great that yours are cheaper per cycle to begin with!

Anyway, I think it's awesome you are going to proceed with IVF and know you can reach your goals. You have already been so motivated and have been doing great. I'm really excited for you. Just be prepared for it to potentially take some time even with IVF. It's so hard not to get discouraged along the way, but just keep pushing forward!

 

[crazy4baby1]

hey ladies, this is my first time on this forum.! :HUGS: and i just wanted to know is it normal to get a BFP and then test the next morning and get a BFN ? my faint line still remains on the test so i'm guessing this is positive ? blood test tomorrow i just need reassurance.!

 

[BronteForever]

Crazy4baby - really hope your blood test/beta reveals you are still pregnant. Good luck.

Chemical pregnancies do seem pretty common (at least on here), so it is normal unfortunately. I don't know a lot about CPs but some of these other women do. Hugs to you in the meantime while you wait. I do know unfortunately there are defective tests too, but I'm assuming you tested at multiple times throughout the day and with multiple different brands to confirm the BFP and then the BFN. The blood test will reveal a lot though, so that's great they can get you in.

So sorry you are having to go through this.

 

[crazy4baby1]

What could cause a chemical pregnancy? And why is it relevant to my tests? is that what normally happens when you have a chemical pregnancy?

 

[Starlight288]

Crazy,
I'm no expert but believe I had a chemical last month. This means an egg implanted which causes the positive hpt but then for whatever reason the egg is defective/ the pregnancy doesn't take and you then go on to have AF. Typically causing your period to be a few days late. I'm sure others can chime in as I'm not positive on this.

I actually had another late period this month so really not sure if this one was chemical or my body just adjusting still. I didn't test at all so I'll never know what happened this month.

Hope that helps some and your blood test clears up any other confusion. Good Luck!

 

[BronteForever]

Chemical pregnancies are early miscarriages. Basically you conceive and the embryo implants which triggers your body to create the HCG hormone which is what gives you the positive tests. However after that you'd have a miscarriage - dropping the HCG hormone and you get negative tests again. Sometimes you will get your period at the same time and wouldn't have known if you weren't testing or it might be delayed slightly. Miscarriages happen for lots of reasons. Too many to list, however a common one is chromosomal abnormalities of the embryo.

These are different then false positive or false negative tests because those are just faulty tests usually or could be giving you the incorrect response so early on because there's not enough HCG to detect if you were pregnant. That's why you usually test multiple times of day and with different brands to rule that out. Since its using your urine the HCG amount can fluctuate so much this early on and change your tests - depending on how diluted your urine is, etc.

Anyway the blood test tells you your HCG level exactly so it gives you much more info on if you are pregnant or if you might have miscarried early.

Anyway, best wishes and good luck!

 

[Aayla]

Bronte: thank you so much for the realistic advice. Knowing we will likely have to do multiple rounds is something to think about. When they call me back tomorrow I will ask the assistant how the pricing works for subsequent rounds. If we don't get pregnant the first time then we would be doing a FET (assuming we had a bunch of embryos to freeze) and that may change the price significantly if we don't have to do egg extraction again.

As for the weight, it is going to be a long road. Ideally they want the bmi under 30 as well but the limit of 38 is set by the College of Surgeons. Basically, no woman can do IVF with a bmi over 38 outside of a hospital setting and since hospitals don't do IVF here that is where the limit sits. So that is the bare min I have to get down to which is a 90 lb loss. Under 35 is a 110 lb loss, under 30 is a 140lb loss and to be right in the middle of the healthy weight range is a 190 lb loss.

I just have to take it one day at a time.

 

[BronteForever]

Aayla - that's all you can do is take it one day at a time. I wish you success. I'd like to be down 30 pounds by January for my next cycle, though I'm not sure it's totally doable but I'm trying. I'm afraid to wait past that again because of age and I'm scared of making the wrong decision of when to proceed with the cycle because I'm not sure we can afford a third one, especially if I didn't see any improvement. I'd feel bad spending the money without any evidence that a third time might work.

Also FETs (frozen cycles) are much cheaper. We got unlimited FETs in our package but none of ours made it to freezing quality in the first cycle - again one of my doctors said because of my weight. Though age was up there too. I see so many other women with several frozen embryos though so I know those are common. I might just be unlucky. You have PCOS though too, correct? If so you might get more eggs regardless so you very well could have lots extras.

I wish there weren't so many financial decisions needed upfront and maybe that is something that's better in Canada because that did add to the stress trying to figure out how many cycles you think you need and want to pay upfront for. Totally felt like gambling with precious cargo and our lives.

Anyway, glad you are getting started on the process and good luck on the weight loss!

 

[Aayla]

The doc said my day 3 numbers came back good so I do believe I have lots of eggs. I will find out the cost of the FET tomorrow. So we can plan accordingly. You are right, best to be as prepared as possible. What's an extra couple of month if it means we can do more than round if necessary.

 

[BronteForever]

That's great your Day 3 levels are good. That means you have a bit of time to play with and will likely get a decent amount of eggs once you get to IVF - which definetly helps in trying to get to quality embryos that make it through the process.