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November IVF buddies

Hi,

I'm doing my first IVF this November. I don't normally post on here but if there was ever a time to reach out it is now.

Anybody else?

Mrs. Fridley

952 Replies • 10 years ago


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I just finished my 2nd ivf cycle and will be doing my 3rd sometime in mid-december. I would be more than happy to chat with you during the process :-)

10 years ago


I just teared up. Thank you.

I'm just so nervous. It has to work. It just has too.

Would you be able to share with me your experience? What should I expect?

I start my Follistim and Menopur two weeks from today (09Nov). I'm headed to my sonohystogram right now.

10 years ago • Post starter


First, dh and I have lots of fertility issues lol. So it didn't work on the first try...or second. We tried for about 3 years on our own, then had 7 failed clomid and 4 failed iui cycles. Because we had so many failures we opted for an ivf refund program where we paid up front and got 6 attempts. So we went into the whole ivf process figuring we would have to try a couple times. Biggest advice I can give is try to stay caustiously optimistic. However, I sincerely hope it works for you on the first try!

Have you used follistim and menopur before? I have also used gonal-f, lupron, progesterone suppositories, crinone, progesterone in oil, estradiol valerate, ovidrel, and pregnyl. If you have any medication questions I have probably been there and injected that :-)

Get ready for a ton of u/s appts and bloodwork. I think I had 7 u/s in like 9 days leading up to my first retrieval. You will probably start to feel bloated and quite a bit of pressure on your ovaries as you get close to retrieval. The retrieval itself was easier than I thought but not easy enough that I am looking forward to doing it again if that makes any sense! I was completely knocked out but some clinics do it while you are awake but numb and groggy. You should definitely ask which it will be. I like being knocked out myself. I found out how many eggs were retrieved before I went home (13) and was called the next day with how many fertilized (8). They gave me a prescription for pain meds...get them. I needed them the first 2 days, the 3rd day I was sore but ok and I was back to work the 4th day after. Also I was told by friends to have a hot pack for the car ride home and the first day or 2 and that helped a lot.

Transfers were super easy. Easier than an iui or hsg if you have done either. The catheter is really thin and flexible. Usually you can see them place the embryos on the u/s screen which is fun to watch. I took the day of the transfers off just to relax but no down time is really needed.

As far as results go, my first fresh transfer was a 3 day transfer of 2 embryos and a bfn. My second round was a frozen transfer, so no retrieval process, of 6 day old embryos. I got a bfp but had really low beta numbers and was told it may not continue and it didn't. I ended up miscarrying naturally at exactely 6 weeks. This 3rd round my doctor is going to try to stimulate me more to get more mature eggs and will probably do a 5 day transfer since that seemed to work best. I am in the process of trying to decide if I want to transfer 2 embryos again or get a little crazy and try 3 this time :-)

Little on the long side...sorry! But I hope I gave you some insight on the whole process and if you have anymore specific questions let me know!

10 years ago


Wow. That is a lot! I feel for you and your crazy journey.

I often think to myself 'how on earth are we here???' It seems so easy that people get pregnant, yet once you learn all about what needs to happen to actually get pregnant, I feel it's a miracle that there is anybody on this planet at all. The window and precision of events is so tiny!!!!

I start my Follistim and Menopur next Saturday, Nov. 9th. Right now I'm just on birth control. Would you be able to explain the BC???? I'm perplexed as to why it's needed, and then why I stop it 5 days before the Follistim and Menopur. In that interim I'm on an aspirin and Z-pack regimen.

I am also using Ganirelix, crione, Delestrogen, methylprednisolone, and Ovidrel. For my IUI regimen I had used just Letrozole and an trigger shot.

My sonohystogram came back completely normal, and they indicated that they saw 5 follicles in my left ovary and 3 in my right. I thought this was great news. They also said I could still be growing more...

I appreciate this site and the communication!!! Now it's just waiting until the next milestone of this journey occurs.

I'm not sure if I mentioned this, but I'm traveling from Ohio to Southern California to do this. The national average success rate for IVF for my age bracket (38 yrs) is 27% and my current clinic's rate is only 22%. I found the following website http://fertilitysuccessrates.com/report/United-States/women-38-40/data.html and found my new clinic. For only a couple of grand more for travel expenses our success rate almost doubles (47%). It seemed worth it to us and with my aunt living 11 miles from the clinic it just made sense. I am excited and nervous, as I'm sure you can understand.

HUGS!!!!

10 years ago • Post starter


Definitely a crazy journey! Hopefully the end is near!

The birth control is to basically shut down your system. It stops you from producing the hormones necessary to produce follicles in your ovaries. This gives you a clean slate to start from when you start the stimulation medications and so the follicles with start to grow around the same time and at the same rate. Also, they don't want you to accidentally become pregnant because all the procedures and meds would be very harmful to a baby. After that, the aspirin increases blood flow to the uterine lining to prepare for embryos to be transferred. Ganirelix is only taken if you have mature follicles that are ready to release before the smaller ones are ready and it will help keep them in there until you trigger with the Ovidrel. The crinone and delestrogen are to support your lining and keep it cushy for the little embryos after the retrieval, through the transfer and up until your blood pregnancy test. Warning: My delestrogen was an intramuscular injection in the hip every 3 days and it hurts! But at least it is only every 3 instead of the progesterone in oil which is an intramuscular every day (the crinone replaces that in your case). My DH had to do them for me and I iced the injection site for about 10 minutes before hand which helps a lot.

All the way to Southern Cali is quite the hike! Just when I thought my hour long drive to the clinic was a lot. Are you doing all your bloodwork and ultrasounds at a local lab? I wonder how they achieve such high success rates!

10 years ago


You seem to be a pro at this!

Thank you for the full explanation of the drugs; it was quite helpful.

I think one of the reasons for the high success rate is a quality lab and staff, and they encourage PGD testing. We will be doing it as well. I've been explaining it to people as something like an amniocentesis but way earlier in the whole line of events. The clinic indicated that it helps to eliminate situations where they end up self-destructing due to chromosomal abnormalities and therefore causing a chemical pregnancy or miscarriage. We are also able to select the sex of the eggs that get transferred. If we have enough viable eggs to be able to choose, we will transfer one boy and one girl.

Does it bring you comfort to share your stories and knowledge? I feel a greater sense of peace when talking it all out. I've had every question asked of me by my friends and coworkers, and I've done my best to explain, and then go one step further and fill them in on the bigger picture. It amazes me how people are curious, and have stories of their own. The number of people with fertility issues is way beyond anything I would have guessed! Once people know about someone having issues, I've noticed they immediately disclose very personal and painful journeys.

Once again, thank you.

Mrs. Fridley

10 years ago • Post starter


And yes, tons of local ultrasounds and lab draws here in Ohio in the interim.

10 years ago • Post starter


Wish I wasn't a pro at this! Been through the whole process more times than I wanted to. It helps to share experiences with others and try to support other women going through the same process. It's difficult because I don't really have anyone I know personally that has gone through as long of a struggle with infertility as I have. There are some who took a year or 2 but conceived naturally, or experienced a miscarriage before having a couple kids, or had to do minimally invasive procedures like iui but no one even comes close to our almost 6 year struggle and had to go through ivf. I have trouble even talking to my own mom about all of it because she never had trouble so I have had to look to online support communities. I have talked with so many great women on here that have been fighting this infertility battle for years as well and it has helped me feel not so alone.

If we have another ivf failure I am definitely going to look into the pgd testing. It just is not included in our ivf package and it would suck having to sink more money into what we have already paid up front. Is it fairly expensive? I feel like we have paid a lower price than most at $15,000 for 3 fresh and 3 frozen cycles. It was the more expensive clinic in our area with higher success rates though. However we are just a normal lower middle class couple working regular jobs (dh does heating and ac and I am a teacher assistant) and 15,000 was already a major stretch. Kind of would like to be able to send our kid to college instead of spending it all just conceiving!

10 years ago


I'm sorry to hear of your struggle without anyone in your personal circle with any positive stories or insight. I can imagine that would be very challenging. I'm glad to hear forums like this one bring you some comfort.

Our PGD testing is costing us $4,500 for up to 12, then $250 each after that. Our IVF is $7,200 and our ICSI is $1,500. Our drugs were about $3,000, but I was happy to hear my insurance picked up $2,200 of that!!! We will also have $400 for the anesthesiologist, and $700 per year to freeze any remaining.

When are you starting your next cycle? And how different are the frozen cycles? I realize none of the drugs, etc. for retrieval, but there are still things they do, right? I've read up on a lot of things, but I'm learning to pace myself on Googling too much; it can turn me into a psycho woman. I give myself about an hour every two weeks to really do some hard-core research, but other than that I need to spend my time with my beloved husband, dog, and friends. I am trying to keep my obsession at bay as I think a calmer state of mind is probably better, but I truly want to hole up in the office for days and just pour over it all.

Long distance hugs!

10 years ago • Post starter


Dh and I just got back from a couple nights away for our 5 year anniversary. It was very relaxing and it was nice to go on a radio silence of sorts for a bit.

I had to cry on the phone to my doctor but I am finally starting my next round. Lol. She wanted me to sit around and wait for my next period post miscarriage bleed, which with pcos could be in 2 weeks or 10 months. I am losing patience and hate just waiting especially when I have never had normal cycles and I really want an er before christmas. So in order to make that happen my doctor finally agreed to short cycle me after like 5 phone calls and lots of tears. I am only cd14 or 15 from my miscarriage bleeding but started provera pills yesterday to start my period next week sometime and then I can start lupron and bcp. So it looks like a possible er the week of dec 16th give or take.

Are you still starting to stim today? You won't have to do that if you need to do a fet cycle. The fet was much more relaxed, just progesterone and estrogen support and only 1 u/s for a lining check.

10 years ago


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