Is anyone ready to start a new IVF cycle?
551 Replies
florke88 - November 29

Thanks Gina....no frozen the first time only 3 were mature and only one fertilized, the second time 6 mature but only 2 fertilized. So, now I am just lost.
You will remain in my prayers also and I will be checking in to see everyone's progress.

Baby dust to all....................

 

Grace - December 1

Hi,
Gina, flork, jmr; I know there has been a break in our link. But guys I just want to let you know that you are in my thoughts and a little bit of encouragement that there is a God who hears and answers our prayers, he will definately make our dreams come true.
jmr, I hope your cramping is gotten better, do try and stay positive, we are still hopeful.
Gina, I hope all went well with your appointment today.
florke, how are you doing. its hard to find my words, please just know I am praying for you. Do keep intouch, and know that we will be there for you. best regards to your DH too ok. grace

 

GINAMARIE - December 2

Hello everyone

Grace, How are you feeling? Your test is soon right? Keep me posted, I'll be praying.

Florke, How are you doing? You are in my thoughts.

Jmr, How are you feeling? Did you get your first pg scan yet?

Today my appt went well, I go a BFP, I'm really excited, but I don't want to get to excited because I have a long road ahead of me. I really hope I keep this one!!!!

Gina

 

Grace - December 2

Hi Gina;
I am glad to hear from you, I worred about you so much on friday, very happy to hear the good news. Yes my as usual is Monday. I am very very nervousm Its almost too hard to do anything for the house, though I still have to go to work, am hunging in till monday. Please keep positive.....Grace

 

jmr67 - December 2

Congratulations Ginamarie! I am so happy for you! I know you still have a ways to go as I do, but you've made it over another very important hurdle! I hope we both get to keep this one. Do they do another test Monday to see if your level doubles?

Grace I know you must be so anxious this weekend. My mother came to stay with me the weekend before my test and it helped because she tried to keep me occupied but there was only so much she could do. You are in my prayers.

Florke I hope are doing ok. I'm thinking about you.

Well my cramping finally stopped. It lasted a total of 36hours. The first 6 were the most intense then it came in waves after that. My nurse said it was not normal but not abnormal. (ha I think I could have told myself that). Dr. Jacobs on this board said there could be many reasons. All I can wait for is the scan and that's still 2 weeks away. sigh....I spend my life waiting it seems! My symptoms are still very minor (slightly sore breasts) but I do notice feeling just a teeny tiny bit more sleepy than usual. Oh what I would give for a mirror inside my belly :)

 

GINAMARIE - December 3

Jmr67, Thanks, I don't have to go back to the doctor till thursday. Thursday I'll get a blood test and my first sono. I don't understand why there not checking my levels sooner. Last time when I was pg they check it every 3-4 days in the begining, and I had to wait longer for a sono. I hope everthing is okay. When I asked the doctor how my levels were he said it was excellent, and didn't give me the number and I was to excited to ask what they were. Maybe because last time it was a fresh IVF cycle and this transfer was frozen embryos so things are done different. I dont know but again I wait till Thursday. Talk about cramps, I have cramps too, they seem to come & go. My nurse says the same thing, normal but not. I feel the same way, I wish I had a camera, so I can see whats going on for the next 9mths. It will keep me so much more calmer. The anticipation alone of each docotor visit is stressful enough. Anyway, please keep me posted on how your doing. I'll be praying for you!!!!!!!!!!

Grace, I'll will be thinking of you tommorow, Good luck and keep me posted.

Gina

 

Grace - December 4

Hi Gina, Flork and Jmr, I don't have good news, I had a BFP just about 2 min ago, I could'nt wait to let you know since that was the plan. I am still staying strong and watching what next step the lord has for me. I feel disappointed but what to do, I will hung in this is my second try. All the best grace.

 

jmr67 - December 5

Grace I'm so very sorry ... I know you are so disappointed.....you seem to have very strong faith and I hope that is what will carry you through. Please don't give up and know that we are here for you.

 

GINAMARIE - December 6

Grace, I'm so sorry. My heart goes out to you. Please know that I'm hear if you need to talk. Don't give up and keep the faith. I'll be praying!!!

 

airframeangel - December 22

how is everyone doing? I am doing alright. Getting ready to go on leave tomorrow up to Michigan to see mine and my husbands folks. Hope everyone's BFP's are going well and tons of baby dust to everyone!!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!

 

jmr67 - December 22

hello Grace, Ginamarie, Florke (havent seen you in a while) and armyangel. Wanted to give you an update. Sadly my first u/s showed twins again but no heartbeats. One twin arrested around 6weeks and the other was the correct size(8weeks) but no heartbeat indicating there may have been one but it stopped in the last few days. I can't even describe my grief. I'm thankful I had the foresight to get my Christmas stuff done before the u/s. I will wait one week and hope I miscarry on my own w/out the need for pills or surgery. If not, I will decide on one or the other. Grace and Florke I hope you have started regaining your hope. Ginamarie I hope your u/s shows a strong healthy heartbeat. Armyangel are you in Afghanistan? Merry Christmas to all of you....

 

lotsofhope - January 6

Hi,I'm just starting out. We've been planning ivf for years. I've seen more doc, more tests, and knew it all. I learned so much, but now when I need it I'm blank!

I'm trying to explain to my DH (40) what happens-But while doing this I'm managed to totally confuse myself. My memory is shot, I'm excited, scared &I don't know what else! My LMP was on 12/30/06 I go for u/s & b/w on 1/10/07. Thats when they check for cysts and levels . Is that right? Doc- "cd-21 start meds".
Can anyone explain this process to me. I've heard so many meds I don't know what they are for. I know the round about phase of this but the details gets cloudy. What drugs are usually given in the begining? Gonal-f or is that taken once the fsh levels are taken.

OOOHHH please someone clear this big mess in my head.

Thank you, I can't talk to anyone anymore about this, I need to see it in print to understand it. I think my doc thinks i've lost it- and I haven't even started with the meds yet! This should be fun

 

airframeangel - January 18

Hey all, been a while. Just wanted to let yall know that I fly out to Afghan tomorrow! I hope everyone is doing fine and I can't wait to get back!

Baby dust to all!

 

destinybaby - February 15

Hi ladies,

I am new to this board any information would help.

I was told on Tuesday that IVF is my only option for me and my DH to have a baby. I had been trying for over a year so I decided to go to the doctor and she scheduled an HSG which showed that I had hydrosalpinx in my left tube and some in my right tube. So the RE confirmed that and suggested IVF. So,...my journey on IVF is about to start or should I say have begun, I am nervous about the whole process.

They told me to come back on the 2,3, or 4 day of my cycle to give blood and my DH has to give his share.

I just want to know the process and how long before they do the ER and ET.

Thank you in advance. Baby Dust To All.

Tia

 

BekyVice - February 15

Hey, Destiny! I am copying and pasting a post I shared with another person who had the same nervous questions about IVF that you have. Please read!

Absolutely NOT painful. For about 2 weeks, the moment you get your first (regular) period, you take birth control pills. Then you go for ultrasound and blood test to see if your levels are all good and if your ovaries are all in the sleep mode. Then they start you on lupron, a teeny shot with a teeny amount of fluid in the thigh each morning. This goes on for a week. This teeny shot gives you zero symptoms (believe me, I've done this -- having been a donor 4 times in my life and doing 2 IVFs myself -- a hundred times, never with any drug side effects at all.)

Then you go back for another ultrasound so they can check that you're on track (count your resting follicles) and they start you on follistim and menopur, one in morning, one in pm. These are also tiny shots each, no pain, it's really no big deal at all. The Lupron is also continuing. This goes on for about a week. You go in for another ultrasound to see how many follicles are waking up and they change or keep your meds the same based on ultrasound and blood test results.

Then -- at only about 3 weeks after you started your period, or less -- they tell you exactly what night to give yourself a (long) HcG shot in the butt (DH must do this), and then 36 hours later you go in for retrieval. This is the longest needle you'll have to contend with, and it's only about an inch long. It's just a little prick, nothing comared to child birth! I mean, we wouldn't stop having children because of the pain of childbirth, would we? So no need to stop because of a smallish shot that will cause you 1 second of sharp pain.

Retrieval day -- the day after you took the HcG trigger shot -- must be a day off because you're just groggy and tired. It's surgery without the pain. You go in, they wash you up, they give you IV to knock you out, and in 1 hour you are awake (groggy) and DH drives you home to pamper you the rest of the day. You are tired but feel NO pain whatsoever. Oh, forgot to say that the moment they start giving you the groggy juice, they politely take your DH away so he can give a sperm sample. The moment they retrieve the eggs, they wash them and then either put them in the cultivating dish with the sperm OR they do ICSI on each egg (like we did), which is where they inject each egg with a single sperm to make sure they get in there. They tell you before you go how many eggs they retrieved from you.

Then, the next day the doctors call you to tell you how many eggs fertilized overnight. That and how mature (or immature) each egg was is basically all they can tell you at this point. The eggs are safely in the lab getting cultivated and on day 3 they look at the eggs again and give you a call. The reason they check again on day 3 is that that's the day when finally the DNA of the sperm kicks in. Eggs can be fine on day 1 and 2 but if they halt in growth or never make it past day 3, there's probably something seriously wrong with the sperm. Or... if your eggs are too old, the combo of sperm DNA and egg DNA has caused the fritz. Expect to have at least 65% of the eggs make it nicely to day 3.

So, on Day 3, they call you and let you know the grading of the embryos, and let you know how many (if any) they can culture to blast.... which is day 5. Some ladies get called in at day 3 because you have to have at least 6 good embryos to try to cultivate to blast because of the high rate of attrition during this process. (Turns out embies really want to be inside mommie and all this test-tube stuff isn't really for them.)

So, hopefully the embies can go to day 5 when they are called a blastocyst (blast) which is when the lab can see the set of cells which have made their way to make the placenta, and the set of cells which have made it to become the inner mass (which is the baby and the umbillical cord). And so they grade each embryo with a 1-5 and an ABCD. So, an example rating of a good blast would be 5AA or 4AA, etc. (We put in three 4AAs.) [See Dr. Smith's forum on all the good reasons to culture to blast. Basically, most things wrong with the embryos will show themselves in the light of Day 5.]

So, then, on day 5 you go in in the morning, they put your feet up, wash you up, show you the lab photos of the blasts that they are transferrring (they talk to you about it over the phone so you are well informed), and then the doctor comes in with his long turkey baster and inserts the eggs all at once. Zero pain, you're wide awake. You feel absolutely nothing. It takes like 10 mins. (If it's your first time, you will have gone through a trial transfer like 2 weeks ago just so the doctor can tell how long of a tube he needs to put in you to hit the back of your uterus.)

Ater that, put your legs down, you shake hands, and they give you a valium (DH says its to make you sleep all day because 48 hours bedrest is what they demand at this point so eggs can implant), and you go home and start your 2WW.

It's very simple, the time does NOT fly, it's the longest 2 weeks in your life, but in fact the whole thing takes about 3 fast weeks. If you'd like to email me about it please do! [email protected]

 

destinybaby - February 15

Hi ZoeCalifornia,

Thank you so much for explaining this to me. There is so much to know. I feel really blessed to have come upon this site. I was scared and lost before. I feel ok about this. You are right having a baby i heard the pain is really bad. I don't care about the pain I just want to be a mommy. It will all be worth it. So the entire process is about 2 months before ER? I can't wait.

My RE wants me to come in for blood work on the 2, 3, or 4th day of my AF. What's that about? and my husband has to give them his sperm as well.

How far along with ttc process are you?

Thank you so much again.

Tia
Baby Dust To All

 

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