1st time IVF in Jan12 and looking for sme +ve experiences & advice on what to expect

[Maruschke]

I didn't need any time off work except for the egg pick up because all of my appointments were between 6 and 8 am. I'd get an idea of your appointment times before you tell the boss . I had very few side effects with the meds. Best of luck

xoxo
M

[Mia01]

Thanks Marushcke and congrats

[liseyt]

Hi everyone,

Like you Mia and probably a few others, I am new to this world of IVF too.

I started officially in dec, but my cycle got cancelled before our harvest due to low oestrogen levels.
So I had to take provera for 10days to induce and breakthrough bleed and then started taking the oral contraceptive pill, which seems so dumb!!!!

Anyway, I am so glad to hear about success with any IVF, but especially first go ones! congratulatuons Pholi xx

I was weighed at first appointment and height and had a "couples photo taken", so they can identify us easily. I had done all the injections last time (except trigger), didnt have any trouble with them... But I am a nurse. I didnt use synarel- mine were both injections- Orgalutran and Puregon. But am changing to long cycle now.

Have next apppointment on the 10/1- to get meds and have bloods. If all goes according to plan, I will be scheduled for a harvest late jan/early feb... wish me luck.

good luck everyone else..
Mia I posted on your WFC question too (not stalking you, but seem to be in similar situation )

Lise xx

[Miss.B]

Hi Mia! GL in your treatment hun. I've done two IFV cycles, one fresh transfer 3 years ago which worked and one frozen embryo transfer (embryo from the same cycle) in 2009 which also worked. So I am very lucky the treatment worked so well for me so far. I'm about to start another fresh cycle soon, so am feeling excited but a bit scared too as I'm older now and I don't really know what to expect. I also got weighed both times. I ovulate on my own so I'm doing a short antagonist cycle again. All the best hunni, hopefully we'll see a nice pg ticker from you soon! xox

[Pholi]

Thanks, Mia and liseyt.

Mia, Synarel is a nasal spray... I got mild headaches from that for the first week or two. Then from Gonal F injections I was a bit emotional, but who knows how much of that is directly due to the drug and how much is because I was going through a hig stress/high emotion process. For me the real side effects didn't start until a few days after transfer - then I got bloating, nausea, gassy, tired, etc, all of which can be put down to the hcg boosters and progesterone support (but can also be pg symptoms!)

I had 2 t/f'd on day3. I fully intended to have one 5day embryo transferred, but we only got three eggs, and although they all fertilised, one looked a bit dodgy from the start. At day three, there was still one looking good, and the second best was a bit behind, too, and so they strongly recommended a three day transfer of the better 2 embryos, which would give me the best chance of a pg. The whole point of waiting til day 5 is to be able to choose the strongest of a bunch, and if there's only 2, there's no advantage in that. There are no guarentees in these choices, and we decided to go with the FS's and embryologist's combined gut feeling.

Re telling your boss, keep it minimal! I'd just say at most that you've got a short series of medical investigations and procedures that 'they' want you to have, and there might not be much warning for time off becuse the timing depends on test results. It adds a lot of pressure if people know it's IVF/fertility related, and like Maruschke said, many clinics do very early BT/scan appointments, and even transfers, so you may just need a couple of days off for the EPU anyway.

Re ICSI, in our case our problem was purely MFI (DP has almost blocked ducts, so very few swimmers make it through) so were were told ICSI was the only option right from the start. It seems that for non-MFI problems, most people have IVF, and on future cycles they sometimes try ICSI if the fertilisation rate wasn't very good with IVF. Good luck for your appointment today.

liseyt, how frustrating to have the cycle cancelled! At least they know what needs correcting this time. I found the injections surprisingly easy to give myself, and relatively painless most of the time, too. Best of luck with cycle #2.

[Amy_jellybean]

Hi girls,

Just subbing so I can come back tonight and do a bigger post in here. We had our appointment with the FS yesterday and picked up meds for another stim cycle. We only had one embie in storage and it isnt very good quality so they didnt want us going through everything and then being disappointed if the embie didnt survive the thaw

This time I will be on puregon and Orgalutran.....no more synarel for me!!!! yay!!!! I got really bad headaches on it last time. A lot of people talk about how much they hate the taste of it in their throat but to be honest it didnt bother me at all. The puregon however was really hard. I got bloating so bad, I honestly looked like I was about 5 months pregnant and they still only got 11 eggs. I was on a very low dose of 125 last time because of my age, this time they are starting me on 250 and will monitor it from there.

AF is due around 22 Jan and I will start jabbing on day 3. Egg pick up will be early Feb so I think DH will be away at work when I have it done Yay looks like we will all be in the TWW together lovelies

xxx

[Mia01]

Thanks Pholi, Miss B and Amy
It really helps to have you ladies who have been through it or are going through it now to chat too and ease my stress LOL

Lisey and Amy I will prob be up for egg collection late Feb so I'm a little behind both of you but All the BEST of luck! Please keep incontact to let me know how you ladies fair xox

AFM - I went to my appointment today and like Lisey advised got weighed and a pic taken just to make sure we're both identifiable LOL
The appointment went REAL well, the nurse was REALLY nice and patient. We were with her for about 2 hours and she discussed the whole process.
My heads spinning a little with EVERYTHING I have to do but I'm sure I'll be guided by them each step of the way.
Now I just have to wait for AF which should be here around 12-14Jan and start on the pill, 2 weeks after starting that I need to get onto that synorel spray. The nurse was super nice and said I can take panadol or in worse case panedein forte if I get migranes (I usually get migranes) and not to "put up with it" and not take anything cos I'm thinking about conceiving LOL This is something I do (put up with them) normally so she made sure DH was also aware that if I get them I CAN and SHOULD take pain relief
Feels like I'm about to undertake a marathon but all going well it will be SO worth it! She told me at this clinic they ONLY put 1 emby back so I have NO choice about that. But I'm happy with that. I'm not in it to get multiples I just want 1 healthy baby, thanks no fries with that! hahaha
Anyways thanks for the support, as always and will keep updating as I go and will follow you ladies who are going through it so please update or let me know where I can stalk you LOL