TTC #1- Looking for buddies!

[tbfromlv]

Dream sorry for the bfn

Steph- I hope you get to transfer soon! Can’t wait to hear about your appointment.

Sunny I hope it’s AF. So sorry this has drug on at all.

Afm- no clue what’s up with my cycle. I haven’t been getting any positives on opk and my temp is still down. I guess I’ll start progesterone for a few days soon and just reset. I only get potentially 2 more cycles to try before the doctor would want me on BCP. But I’m not doing anymore medicated or monitored cycles so who knows how much cycle I’ll actually get out of that.

 

[AmberR]

So sorry dream!

Steph- really hope everything is going well and you get a timeline!

Sunny- hope your body sorts stuff out quickly! I know how hard it is waiting.

Afm, DH will be able to go get off work early next Tuesday so we moved the ultrasound appointment to that day at 3pm. That was the earliest available appointment and I will hopefully be 8w6d by then. I just realized that last time I had to wait even longer, I was supposed to be 9w4d!

 

[steph1607]

Tuesday will be here before you know it, Amber.

TB, I feel your pain. It's incredibly frustrating when you just don't know what is going on with your body.

Dream, I hope you're doing okay.

Sunny, any update today?

Had my appointment this morning, lining looks good, so funny to see my body doing what it's supposed to for once

So, my car is now full of cyclogest, lubion, progynova blah blah blah. I need to carry on with my suprecur injections for the next few days and then start progesterone on Sunday ready for TRANSFER NEXT WEEK!! Provisionally booked for a day 5 transfer on Friday, but could be day 2 or 3 depending on how the embryos get on.

 

[SunnyBe]

Amber, glad to hear you got your appointment moved!

Steph, ahhh so excited for your transfer! How thick was your lining? So you're taking Lubion and Cyclogest? Can you believe it... you'll be PUPO in a little over a week from now! Will they update you early next week and tell you how the embryos are doing or will they just call you when they want you to come in for the transfer?

 

[steph1607]

My lining was 7.1 and will continue to thicken between now and next Friday of course. Yep, taking both - they said the cyclogest by itself is usually fine, but they like to chuck in the lubion too, just in case not enough gets absorbed. With 2 pessaries morning, 2 pessaries evening and an injection at lunchtime, I can see why the PIO injection is a little easier! The embryologist will phone the day they start thawing them I think, and then a couple of times throughout the week to let us know how they're doing. Hubby will be excited when I update him tonight.

 

[tbfromlv]

Omg Steph how exciting!! It’s nice to see your body following orders this time. I’m so excited for your transfer! Wow one week from today

 

[steph1607]

Thanks TB! One week from tomorrow - you and Sunny seem to be in funny time zones recently!!

 

[AmberR]

So excited for you steph!!! Glad to hear things are going as planned!

 

[tbfromlv]

Lol ok so we got to wear jeans at work today and normally only get to on Friday so all day I’ve felt like it was Friday haha! One week from tomorrow!

 

[steph1607]

Haha well Friday is finally here now anyway! And I'm so glad to that January is over. Longest month ever.

Sunny, I have a question! I know on your blog you wrote a post (I think it was Mr Sunny actually) about IVF success rates. Do you happen to know anything about FET success rates? I'm not trying to torture myself, just merely curious. When I look online, I find it really hard to find any decent information about it, but could find quite a lot of IVF success rates in general.

 

[SunnyBe]

Lol I guess we're just longing for the weekend to be here soon!

Steph, yeah we should really do a post about FETs vs Fresh success rates. According to CDC's latest numbers, there were 30,806 FET cycles in 2015 among women < 35 years of age. Out of those, 58.3% got pregnant (17,960)
and 48.7% (15,002) had a live birth.

So if you compare those numbers to the live birth rates per Fresh transfer (53.8% pregnant, 46.5% live birth), the success rates are slightly in favor of FETs

The only caveat... the US is still big on transferring >1 embryos even in younger women. So the mean number of embryos transferred was 1.5 in FETs (and 1.6 in Fresh). There's about a 7% increase in success rates by transferring 2 instead of 1 (so not worth the risk of pregnancy complications if you ask me).

So things are looking pretty good

 

[Dream143r]

temp nose dive right on time. Expecting AF tomorrow.

 

[SunnyBe]

So sorry Dream This sucks.

 

[tbfromlv]

Dream I am sorry That just plain stinks.

Sunny- I think it is pretty awesome that you always have this wealth of knowledge ready. BTW, are you going back to Prague anytime soon?

So after seeing a few more posts that talked about TSH levels and REs not even doing IVF on patients if their TSH was above 2.5, I reached out to my OB. I asked her about her thoughts on the optimal fertility levels vs the clinically "normal" levels and she agreed with me that it needed to be lower for conception. So she put me on some meds and is having me re-test TSH in 6 weeks. Yay.

If I haven't learned anything else in this past year, it is that I have to have to have to be my own advocate and push. I'm grateful that I have this personality that makes me want to learn about EVERYTHING and I research like crazy on whatever it is I want to learn about.

I think tonight I will be starting progesterone for a few days to bring on my cycle. Maybe I'll have one more shot before BCP come in to play.

 

[steph1607]

I am sorry Dream

Aww, Sunny I knew I could count on you and your science brain! Thank you &#128522;

TB, well done you! I am terrible at being my own advocate. Excellent news that you should be able to lower your TSH now. I so hope that you will get lucky on your final shot before BCP, but if not how quickly is June going to come around now that we’ve got rid of awful January!

Husband surprised me when I got in from work yesterday with a night away tonight at a spa hotel, very excited! Although tomorrow morning I start progesterone suppositories, the height of romance

 

[SunnyBe]

Hi girls!

Sorry AF came Dream

Amber, how are you feeling about your appointment tomorrow? Nervous?

Tb, you are so absolutely right! I can't even begin to imagine how different everything would have been if I wasn't my own advocate. Not just for infertility stuff but for pretty much everything. I hate it, but it's something that needs to be done. Have you started progesterone? What brand are you taking btw? I want to ask my doctor for luteal phase progesterone support.

Steph, how sweet is that hubby of yours!! How was it? And did you get any updates from the embryologist today?

About our Prague FET: Yes we will, but probably in late April/May. Because of what happened last cycle, I kinda don't feel ready yet. The stress that comes with an IVF TWW is just the worst.

 

[steph1607]

I don't blame you for needing a bit more time, Sunny. I think the trauma of going through IVF can't be underestimated. And at least Prague won't be quite so freezing cold in April/May!

The embryologists called this morning to say they were going to start thawing eight of our embryos today, and then called again about midday to say that it looked like seven out of the eight were looking good. She said the eighth was quite dark which usually means it didn't survive the thaw. They'll call tomorrow morning with another update as they should have started dividing by then. Started my progesterone yesterday and had to do my first Lubion injection at lunch today - the injection site is soooo painful to touch now. Going to be a fun couple of weeks with those!

 

[SunnyBe]

If I'd never gotten that positive pregnancy test last cycle I think I'd totally be okay with starting next month. But after this, I just need a bit more time to make sure I can handle another disappointment (yay positive thinking lol )

Steph, I'm so excited for you!!! I hope the little dark one will join the rest of the gang and starts dividing overnight anyway. It's so weird to think about those tiny little dots that may end up being an actual baby in 9-ish months.

Edit, you guys! We watched a really cool infertility documentary/movie the other night. So honest and real. It's called One More Shot and it's now also on Netflix. Watch the first minute or so of the trailer here (after that, only watch if you don't mind spoilers).

 

[tbfromlv]

Steph- that sounds wonderful (the getaway!) I&#8217;m excited to hear the progress of your little embabies. I hope they all divide and grow like they should.

Sunny- I can understand that. I haven&#8217;t done all the IVF stuff yet but having the positive and then having it ripped away is something I know, and it is hard.

Afm I didn&#8217;t start the progesterone yet because I thought, well one time I Od on Cd 28 so I&#8217;ll give my body until then. That day is today and I think I was having some ewcm today so if I don&#8217;t get a positive tonight I will start them tonight. I initially had prometrium but they were insanely more expensive and so now I have a generic one. The only difference is the generic one is a rusty red color and the prometrium were white.. who would make suppositories RED?!

Omg that trailer! I started crying and had to stop. I&#8217;m going to watch it.. and I&#8217;m sure cry watching it.

 

[AmberR]

So sorry AF showed up dream

Sunny- totally makes sense that you would want to wait.

Steph- that is so exciting that they are starting to thaw your embryos! Excited to hear your update tomorrow!

Tb- hope you O'd today!

Afm, I'm so nervous for tomorrow. I hope I can sleep tonight! My DH is home sick from work today and he never calls in sick, so I really hope he is feeling better tomorrow. He says he will go no matter what though!