What to Expect???

[Porsche]

Hi Ladies

I'm having my first IVF appointment on the 22nd of June.

We had our initial consultation back in Feb (didn't know I was pregnant at that time) and have decided that IVF is the way to go for us now.

What is likely to happen at that appointment? Will I be given a schedule and drugs to start once Af has arrived?

We had initially discussed IUI at the first appointment but we will skip that stage. Dr De didn't elaborate in what steps we need to take for IVF all though he said we can go straight to IVF if we wanted to.

Thanks in advance for your replies.

[milly's mummy]

Hi again Porsche,

I'm not a complete IVF expert yet. But for my cycle I started daily synarel nasal spray on day 2 of my cycle and puregon injections on day 3. They barely hurt at all but I hate needles and it took me until my 4th round to be able to give them to myself. After about a week of injections I would go for an ultrasound (internal) so the follicles could be measured. From then your FS will tell you when to get another ultrasound, whether or not to change your injection amounts and things like that. At my clinic I never had to go for daily blood tests or anything like that so am not sure if you will have to or not. 36hours before egg collection I got one HCG trigger injection to make sure the eggs are released at the right time hopefully.

I've had 3 egg collections with light sedation and the only time it was very painful was when I had OHSS - I was in agony for about 5 days and my stomach swelled up with 4-5kg of fluid! After egg collection they will let you know how many eggs they retrieved and then the waiting begins. Waiting to see if they fertilise, waiting to see if they grow, waiting to see if you have made it to transfer. Then the two week wait! Some clinics transfer different day embryos depending on circumstances. My clinic prefers to do day 5 blast transfers.

I wish you all the best and hope everything goes well!

[Porsche]

Hi Milly's Mummy

Thank you for your reply. What FS were you seeing? I figured we'd do some sort of injections. It makes sense to me thank you. I just wasn't sure when we would start.

Are they needle injections? Like a vaccine? Sorry probly a dumb question. What is the synarel for?

[milly's mummy]

Hi Porsche,

I'll private message you my FS if you like, don't want to get into trouble for mentioning anything here. The injections we have come in a pen they have a super fine needle kind of like the pens some people use to give themselves insulin, I can barely feel them at all, unless you keep the needle part in the fridge then its a bit cold.

My FS told me the synarel is for blocking your pituitary gland so that they can better control your egg production and release times, I've heard it can give you some menopausal symptoms (hot flushes, head aches) but I'm not sure if its the same for everyone.

[Porsche]

Oh wow. All the technicalities of it all. I was bit worried about having to use needles lol. I'm not sure I'll be able to do it myself.

I'm used to hot flushes from being on clomid so that I can handle lol.

[Aurian]

Hi porsche, DH and I are going through this at the moment with our first IVF cycle - we were prescribed the BCP in our appointment with the FS (for down-regulation; in Melbourne), after undergoing the mandatory counselling session and blood tests. Have you had your bloods taken? Now I need to make an appointment with our IVF nurse who will show us how to use the medications (Synarel, injections etc).

Good luck.

[Porsche]

Hi porsche, DH and I are going through this at the moment with our first IVF cycle - we were prescribed the BCP in our appointment with the FS (for down-regulation; in Melbourne), after undergoing the mandatory counselling session and blood tests. Have you had your bloods taken? Now I need to make an appointment with our IVF nurse who will show us how to use the medications (Synarel, injections etc).

Good luck.

Hi Aurian

We had all of our initial BT done. To test for Ovarian reserve etc... I'm not sure what kind of cycle he'll put me on. I guess he will take bloods on Tuesday when we go. What are the BT for?

[kelz41]

Hi all,
I am on my first cycle of IVF, injected my trigger last night. (OVIDREL)
So, will be going in for my first harvest tomorrow at 9:15am
My doctor put me on the pill from the first day of my period. Then on day 23 I started lucerin injections. Then 3 days later went off the pill, and that brought on my period. I continued with daily lucerin injections, and started injecting (well... my husband did the injecting, as I have a bit of a needle phobia..) FSH as well as the lucerin, up until the night before last. Last night I had only my trigger.
During the last 2 weeks I have had 4 pelvic U/S and 6 bloodtests, nearly every second day... to see where my hormone levels were at, and how the follicles were growing...
I think it must be different from person to person? Basically the same thing... but some differences... I didn't have a nasal spray either...
I am glad to see some people in the same boat as me.. on around the same timing, as I haven't really shared much with friends and family, as I don't want to get their hopes up

[Porsche]

Hi Kelz41

Thanks for your information. It helps to know what others have done and I can be prepared for what is thrown my way. I'm just sitting tight untill Tuesday when we see the Dr.

[kimmi]

I think it also depends on what they find when they do initial investigations.

I thought id go straight in and do it, but as it turned out I needed a laparoscopy, which ended up adding a few more months to my process. Finally in three weeks we start injections... and I'm pretty happy we are going to be at least in the process.

[Porsche]

HI Kimmi

I've had all the investigations done. I have PCOS. DH is fine. I had a lap in Feb so I shouldn't need another one. And when we had our intitial consult he never mentioned any other investigations tests etc... He said to come back on CD9 to have a FSH shot. I was to start Letrozol on CD1 -5 as well but that was for IUI which we are skipping.

FX for you starting your injections. It seems like a lifetime.

[Aurian]

Hi porsche, wow that was fast to start - congratulations!

(still waiting to start my stim cycle, which should be in about another two weeks). PCOS hey? Now you know, the specialists deal with PCOS lots, so you won't be in a minority.

[Porsche]

Hi Ladies

Well we had our appointment yesterday and we started sniffing last night lol. So off we go all guns blazing now.

Hi Aurian well there's no time like the present it's taken 16 very long months to get here and I'm so over mucking around now IYKWIM. I don't know how those ladies who have been TTC for 2+ years keep going. It's torture.