What to expect

[Emma09]

Pholi- congratulations on twins! Wow!

Hope you don't mind me asking- what drugs did you have for ICSI?
What was the worst/most painful part?

Thanks for your response jacklicky and congrats to you too

[~TT40~]

for me the most ...well wasnt painful, but physically hardest part was when they make you have a month of menopause (the down reg cycle) basically they suppress all your hormones so the next cycle they put them in over drive.. the hot flushes were killing me...

[Emma09]

for me the most ...well wasnt painful, but physically hardest part was when they make you have a month of menopause (the down reg cycle) basically they suppress all your hormones so the next cycle they put them in over drive.. the hot flushes were killing me...

Oh no!
Is that for ICSI as well?
That doesn't sound fun

[nothing2lose]

Emma, ICSI is exactly the same as IVF except after egg harvest a sperm is injected directly into each harvested egg. With regular IVF the sperm and egg are left alone in a petri dish to do their thing.

Also, there are different IVF protocols. Not all require down regulation. All mine, for instance, have been antagonist cycle which doesn't require a month on birth control pills to start.

Hope this helps!

[Emma09]

Thanks so much N2L.
That makes great sense.

I'm nervous and excited and I still have 4 weeks to wait!

[myturn]

My FS was happy with all the tests the GP had organised already, so all he wanted to do was the Laparoscopy for me , surgery to check everything internally. In our case it's my PCOS that's the problem - but as yours is pretty clearly a male issue, he/she may just go to the next step.
I think it's hard to have questions at the beginning sometimes, but if you can write things down, and feel comfortable to ask - even if you think they are silly, you will feel much better for asking.

unfortunately, you will have to have lots of drugs and stuff to make sure they have control of your cycle to know when you are ovulating, so that they can get his 'sample' right to the eggies and make sure they fertilise. There's lots of information on some of the fertility clinic websites (Melbourne IVF, City Fertility, Monash IVF) that explain some of the processes, which won't make a lot of sense to start, but if you become a little familiar with it, and then be willing to 'go with the flow' it will just happen and be okay. It helped me, and meant I didn't put too much pressure on myself for the first one to work (even though I hoped) it was nice just to let it happen and in the end, know how it works.

some people have lots of side effects and others have very few - personally (and I've done two different types of IVF cycles now), for me the down reg cycle (which i did most recently) wasn't too bad side effects wise - it was the waiting that was a pain - I had a few headaches on the syneral (nasal spray) I was on, and then when they pump you full of drugs to make the follicles grow, that can mean your ovaries get very tender... but I've kinda of had the attitude that - well... I am going to experience these symptoms when I'm pregnant, so I better get used to it!!

it's not as scary the 2nd time, for sure... just as much pressure/desire for it to succeed, but certainly less scary! the unknown is always scary!! There is a lot of paperwork that you have to get when they do send you down the IVF etc path, so just keep that in mind. I saw my specialist on 24th august last year, and didn't get to start my first IVF antagonist cycle until 12th october - and that happened pretty quickly, as we were quite organised.

sorry you have to wait until march for your FS appointment! it's a shame you can't get in any sooner. Good luck! keep your chin up and best wishes xxx

[Malyna]

the other thing they can do, is to cut open DH's testies and see if there are any mobile sperm in there - Not a nice option at all (can't remember the technical term for this).

Get copies of all the tests you've had to date. The FS is likely to want to run some bloods on you to make sure everything is okay at your end (unless you have some recent copies of blood tests).

The FS will ask questions like "When did your mother have you or when was her last pregnancy and what were her pregnancies/births like." - so he can get a picture of what your fertility will be like. - In my case, my mum had me naturally when she was 43. I told him that two of my sisters had fallen pg at 38 so he pretty much said "Well you seem okay" but he still sent me off to have routine bloods taken. But then my brief to him was "Not getting any younger here doc, want to get a move on with this."

The other thing you need to think about is a rubella booster - but your GP can organise that - i think, from memory that there is a waiting period attached to that.

Also start to think about things like what is going to happen if DH's sperm isn't able to fertilizer an egg - will you use donor sperm? How does DH feel about that. I say this last part because for DH and me, this was the hardest part of the whole IVF process - getting used to the idea that donor sperm would be involved. Plus this took the longest for DH to get past.

The nuking of my hormones on IVF was terrible for me. I had a huge reaction to the drugs. My nickname was goldfish - I couldn't even remember my name. Had to take time off work because I'd get out of the car and then think "wow I don't even remember driving here".

Everyone said it was great because I was responding to the drugs. Only got 5 eggs picked up, 4 fertlized but it only takes one. I hit the jackpot the first time, but because of the nuking of my hormones had to take crinone for the first 10-12 weeks of pregnancy until the placenta took over.

All the best for your FS/IVF journey.