IVF with PGD # 11

Cannot wait to see the back of this year. 6 cycles, 3 laparoscopies & 4 pregnancies & no viable baby. So so crap. Our new cycle will be pushed back a few months regardless, as with other chemicals/miscarriages I've had to wait a few periods to start. That's the crap thing about it & the emotional stress of being in limbo with retesting hcg levels every 2nd day. I didn't cope well with that last time. The false hope & constant disappointment.

Here's hoping to a lovely Christmas and our wishes and dreams come true in the new year x

Ladies I'm sorry I haven't posted in here in such a long time. I hate it that, Joe and Elarwood, you're both still here without a successful pg :( I bet we are all happy to see the back of sucky 2013!

Snazzy just a bit of info for you with my cycle - I have pco, we did PGD due to recurrent miscarriages, I stimmed for a very long 18 days on an antagonist protocol, FS put me on a low dose of gonal f thinking I would over-respond but it had the opposite effect. But we did good at egg retrieval and got 13 eggs, 8 went on to PGD testing but only 1 was normal. We trfd a 5 day blasty but it didn't take. The PGD is done on day 3 at my clinic but I have heard day 5 is better. After our poor embryo quality we won't be doing PGD testing again but Im lucky to have this luxury as there's no issues with us except for recurrent miscarriage.

So just an update from me - My FS thinks that the ICSI process wasn't beneficial to us and that it would be better to let the sperm do their thing next round, so just normal ivf.....this scares me A LOT! I would be so worried about poor fertilisation rates and everyone I speak to is telling me to do the ICSI again, just not my FS. We are going to cycle again as of my next af so in just over a week...that's if Mother Nature doesn't decide to bless us with a natural bfp again.

Wow Penny! Thought that with lower egg quality they would certainly do icsi. Did you ask your nurse her thoughts? I guess we do have to put a lot of faith in our FS's don't we!!! Good luck with this cycle xx

Thinking we are all just wanting to see the back of 2013. Bring on 2014 & bring some much wanted BFP's with you!!!

AFM currently on the pill waiting to start synarel next weekend. Have no idea what amount of gonal f they will have me on, just hoping for a better outcome than the last one! EPU booked for 10th Feb. Last try at this so hoping its going to be a good one FX !

Joe my FS thinks that when they selected the sperm for ICSI they didn't select the best ones, leading to poor quality, because my eggs looked fine. I know some clinics use PICSI which is supposed to correct human error but my clinic doesn't do that. So with ivf she says the sperm which are the best should be the ones that get to the egg and in first. I know it will probably lead to worse fertilisation rates but I hope it leads to more embryos in the end than last time.

Are you on a long agonist protocol Joe? Were you on the same one for your successful pg?

I'll be on a short antagonist protocol again but we will be starting off on 150iu gonal f this time, instead of 100iu. I'm absolutely dreading going on the clexane and prednisolone again! They made my face so round - total moon face! But it's all worth it in the end hey.

Good luck with your cycle Penny - I hope you end up with more embryos. You should hopefully get more eggs being on higher dose of gonal f. I know what you mean about the pred & clexane, I swear its made my face round too! I start back on it on Wednesday :-(

Joe - you would have started synarel by now! My egg pick up date is booked for 7 feb so we will be cycling together.

My hcg finally came down to below 3 on Thursday. We also did blood tests for the Sydney reproductive immunologist & get results on 23rd, 2 days before starting stims so I hope there is nothing wrong so we don't have to delay our cycle.

It's going to be a good year for us ladies!!!

Here's hoping we go three for three & kick 2014 off with a bang ladies!

Thanks for sharing Penny! Good luck for your next cycle. I have my first appointment with FN on Friday. Looking forward to starting the process, but very hesitant with the odds not being in our favour.
I wish everyone all the best for 2014 and really hope you all receive a positive, well deserving outcome!

Has anyone tried seeing a naturopath who specialises in fertility? This was recommended to me, but was wondering if anyone had success with it?

Elarwood goodluck with your results! Here's hoping they come back normal and you can start your cycle x

Snazzy I did see a naturopath who specialised in fertility for a few months. I was on Chinese herbs and acupuncture. Obviously it didn't have any effect on me and I have heard that they only help if you're not ovulating in the first place. I'd give it a shot though as you never know!

Afm, started stims yesterday. Im not near as excited as I was last time for some reason?? I've been feeling pretty average the past few days so that might be the reason.

How are follicles going Penny? I hope your ovaries are working hard. It's hard to feel positive after such a let down last cycle.

I had Hysterscopy/biopsy/lipiodol flush on Thursday & AF arrived today. See FS day 6 to start stims but will make it Friday as ill get results from immune testing on Thursday & want to discuss it with FS. I really hope there isn't anything wrong!

How are you going Joe? You must be started soon.

Snazzy - how'd your appt go with FN?

Elarwood all going well sweets. Day 8 today of stims and having ewcm like crazy! Had my first scan yesterday and there were 4 follis on each side measuring over 10mm :) so that's hopeful! Am expecting epu to be mid or late next week yay.

Glad your af should up and didn't stuff you around!

Snazzy and Joe hope you ladies are well x

Hope you get some answers elarwood when you see your fs.

All sounding great for you penny! Grow follies, grow!!!

How'd you go snazzy with your fs?

AFM still just sniffing away. Don't start stims until next Saturday. The synarel has been giving me headaches & giddy spells. Oh the joys! Starting to slow down to give my body the opportunity to do what it needs to do (hopefully, fingers crossed). With this being our last chance, need everything to go smoothly. I have been running almost 5km every day (needing to loose some weight!) so will drop that back to just a few km's of walking most days if my body feels up to it. My accupuncturist has made me promise to take it easy 😊

Hi ladies,

Elarwood fingers crossed over the next few days for you!

Penny your last post sounded really positive, good luck for the next week I hope it goes well!

Wow joe, you've been working hard! 5km run is a fantastic effort and sure to burn the calories each day. Good idea for slowing down a little now, let your body do what it needs to do. Good luck for Saturday!

All went well with FN. It was a lot of information to take in for my first visit.
I started my first lot of stims on Sunday so I then move to morning and afternoon injections on Thursday. I have my first ultrasound on Saturday to see if I'm responding to the medication then we will see where to from there.
I've been feeling bloated and irritable over the last 2 days so I hope this passes shortly!

Ladies quick update - EPU tomorrow morning :)

Will update you all to see how I go x

Good luck for tomorrow Penny! Hoping you get some nice eggies xx

Good luck penny - how many follicles/eggs are you expecting? Hope it all goes well.

Snazzy - how are your follicles going?

Joe - the synarel is giving me headaches as well - cant wait to finish the stuff. Yay for starting on Sat. One day behind me :-)

I have an appt tomorrow to start our cgh cycle..however...got test results back from reproductive immunologist & long story short we finally have the answer to our issues! DH & I have 4 HLA genetic matches (very rare) which basically means my body doesn't recognize the embryos as being different & will reject them. Far out! Was not expecting that but certainly explains why the last 11 embryos & 8 cycles including the 6 CGH embryos haven't worked/chemicals. There is treatment for it thankfully - LIT done in Sydney twice before transfer 4 weeks apart. So our plan is to do the cycle as planned but freeze all & transfer after we've done the treatment. I also have high natural killer cells etc Will discuss with FS tomorrow to make sure he's on board. Good news is that I don't need clexane - will be giving that one a miss!

Good luck for the morning penny!

Elarwood I have my first ultrasound on Saturday morning, so fingers crossed. At the moment the puregon has made me bloated, achy and hot flushes and I started the orgalutran this morning and broke out with a itchy raised rash which went away after a few hours. Has anyone else had similar side effects?
Elarwood it must be such a relief to finally have some answers!! Good luck for your next round!

Holy crap elarwood! What are the chances of that? Good news is that at least there is a treatment that is tried & tested. Hoping it all goes well for you xx

Looks like everyone is almost in full swing here. Wishing every one best of luck xx

Snazzy hope everything goes well for you today wirh your scan!!

Joe that's awesome about your run! God I can barely run 100m without dying haha. Goodluck starting today!

Elarwood wow!!! I bet you are just so happy that the have finally found a possible answer!

Afm yesterday went well. We got 19 eggs!!! I couldn't believe it when I woke up. Now just waiting to hear back about the fertilisation results today x

👍Way to go Penny! I can only dream of those kinds of numbers. Fingers crossed for great fert rates xxx

How'd your scan go snazzy?

Here's to start jabbing 😃

I had my scan yesterday, it was cd7 and the biggest follicle measured at 10mm, so they still have quite a bit of growing to do. She said I had a good amount, but didn't say how many.
I go back Monday for another scan and they will then discuss where to from there!
I hope everyone else is traveling well!xo

Ladies clinic called yesterday and 10 eggs have fertilised normally and there's a few slow movers and a few that fertilised abnormally......so all looking good :) No update today but will have one tomorrow x

Congratulations Penny!!! That's so exciting!!

Snazzy how did you go today sweets?

Afm, clinic just called and 11 embys are going strong! She said that 4 out of the 11 are A grade and the best you can get and then the rest are B grade yaaaay so exciting. Feeling so blessed and lucky at the moment but I know a lot will probably drop off by Wednesday. Waiting on another call tomorrow to book in transfer x

That's great news Penny! Hoping they all keep growing well xx

AFM only had 2 days of gonal f and already feeling sore. They have put me on 350 this time which may have something to do with it! That has certainly put paid to any more running. My walk this morning was hard enough 😊

Quick question...how to tell your family you are doing a cycle? I have never had this problem before as my family live interstate but they are coming up on Friday to visit for a few days right in the middle of my cycle. Would prefer to not have to deal with it at all but I can't really hide it either. Any suggestions greatly appreciated xx

Fantastic news Penny!! So happy for you!

Joe we have decided not to tell family, so I can't really help you there. It is really tricky not telling them, but we felt it was going to be too much pressure and too many questions. We live far enough away to be able to do that though.

I had my second ultrasound today and my hormone levels are low and my follies haven't grown since Saturday. We are continuing injections for another 2 days more ultrasounds and bloods on Wednesday and the dr may readjust my medication after that appointment if we have no progress. A little disappointing today but I need to keep reminding myself that with pcos they can't go to hard too fast. On a positive note the nurse said and I quote that I have 'stacks' of follicles. Haha I believe there was 30 on left ovary and 27 on the right.

Any news Penny on how many made it to testing? And when is transfer?

Snazzy - hope more follicles were growing. I had the same thing first cycle that gave me DD I stimmed for a long time on a low dose & still got OHSS.

Joe - how's your injections going? We have been open with family about our IVF, not about particular dates etc but same thing happened last year DH's parents were up on day of transfer & we had to tell them & used them to look after DD. do they know you are on treatment? It's a tough one.

Had day 11 scan today - about 16 follicles growing but lead follicle is already 14mm so egg pick up could be brought forward to Monday 3rd instead of next Friday. I just hope we get a decent number to work with, as we all know its a reducing numbers game! See FS on Saturday. No side affects for me, but am on the damn Clexane (even though I don't need to be, FS says it helps blood flow etc) so loads of bruising.

Hey girls, well we ended up with 4! blasts!! So we froze 3 and transferred 1 :) so so happy!

Elarwood we didn't do the PGD testing this round so flying blind which is a bit scary! How's the follis going? I'm still on the clexane aswell :( and the Prednisolone which is making me nice and bloated!

Snazzy how's everything going? Did your folli pick up?

Joe how's the stimming going sweets?

Congratulations Penny! 4 blasts is fantastic. All cycles (but last one) we didn't have any to freeze. About 50:50 chance of chromosomally normal - so lets hope it's the right one! They pick the best so you're in with a fantastic chance.

How's stimming going Joe? Did DD go well on her first day?

Snazzy - how are your follies going?

Egg pick up Monday - lucky they have spots for CGH as we were booked for Friday 7th. FS said about 12-14 which we said 16 the other day so I'm not sure what we'll get but hoping for more! Now have to make the decision to transfer or not. We have a 50:50 chance of the embryo being a match so our chances drop to around 35%. Otherwise we'll do the LIT treatment.

Hi all,

On Wednesday they increased my dosage, but the follicles didn't get any bigger than 11mm and 12mm by Friday so they have cancelled this round for us!
Back to the FS in the next few weeks to see where to from here. Looks like we may need to have a break for a few months to let the ovaries recover.

Great news Penny!! Fingers crossed you have a positive result in the upcoming weeks!

All the best for Monday Elarwood!!

Wishing you all the best ladies!!

Hi ladies-
I popped my head in a few pages ago, but find it hard to keep up with this thread and the LTTTC thread.
I've just had EPU today, 17 eggs :-)
Tomorrow I find out how many have fertilized, those will have PGD.
I'm HOPING to have a transfer on Thursday and also some to freeze.
What a ride this cycle was!

Well ladies - here starts my 4th rollercoaster - and let's hope it's much smoother than the past 3 - :bfp:

I tested this morning with fmu and it was a stark white BFN. I thought oh well, only 4dp5dt, so there's plenty of time for a bfp. I had burning, tingling, fullness type cramping all day and thought hey what the hell and did another test this afternoon and to my disbelief it's a faint BFP ahhh!

It's ridiculous to get excited at this stage I know and I'm trying to contain myself but gosh it's so hard!

Sorry ladies total selfish post tonight but I'll be back tomorrow xx

Congrats Penny!!!

Emma...congrats on the great numbers. Hoping they all make it to testing :)

Snazzy...sorry your cycle got cancelled. Hope your FS has some answers/suggestions for you xx

Elarwood...good luck with your epu tomorrow FX for great numbers xx

Penny...CONGRATS!!! Seems to be very encouraging :)

AFM...first scan tomorrow! Just hoping for better than last time. DD's first day of school as well so it is all happening!!!

Snazzy - that's really disappointing. Im sorry to hear they have cancelled your cycle. Usually they make you sit out a month. Hopefully they can get your dosage right next time.

Penny - fantastic news! Hope it's a sticky one! Did you have trigger or pregnyl? If not sounds promising!

Emma - 17 eggs well done! Hope they make it to testing :-)

Joe - hope DD's first day went well & you weren't too teary (the parents are usually the worst - LOL. I'm a teacher so I see it all the time!) good luck with scan tomorrow!

I had pick up today - 22 eggs!! Can't believe it. FS said 12-14 on Sat but I always seem to get 10 or so more. Just hoping for good quality - we did Growth Hormone & Luveris this time so hope that's helps. My main problem is implantation now though so hoping for a few to make it through testing so we have some to play with with the new immune meds.

That's awesome elarwood! Are you getting the fert rates today? Wishing you all the best xx

My scan revealed 8-10 follies which was super for me & such a relief after only getting 3 last cycle! DD's first day at school went well too, she has even agreed to go back today :)

Penny when is Beta? Are you testing daily?

Joe - that sounds like a much better egg haul. Hopefully all your hard work has paid off. Very cute about DD - always a good sign when they want to go back!

18 eggs were mature & 15 fertilized. Happy with that so far :-) grow embies grow!! Testing on thurs & hopefully transfer on Sat. Feeling pretty well considering. FS has put me on Dostinex to help prevent OHSS.

Hey ladies!! Sorry I didn't get on here yesterday. My mind has just been in a whirl! Thank you all for your congrats!

Elarwood that is awesome!! A huge congrats! Surely you're going to have some winners out of the bunch!

Joe wow that sounds great about your follis! I bet it's such a relief for you that DD actually wants to go back to school instead of not! Gosh I remember I used to hate school as a kid!

Emma that's an awesome number! Congrats! Did you find out about your fertilisation results?

Afm, yes I have been testing every day, sometimes twice and even 3 times haha yes I'm a POAS addict! Girls if you want to see pics just go to the babycenter Australia assisted conception forum and I go under the name of Rubybleu on there :) the tests have been getting nicely darker so definitely not the trigger now which is exciting! I've been thirsty like crazy and off and on uterus cramps and weird feelings! Now just a wait till Monday for my Beta!

Elarwood they are awesome numbers! Hope they all continue to grow so you have a good number to test :)

Penny...betcha Monday can't come soon enough hey?!! All sounds very encouraging though :)

Wow that's fantastic Penny! Congratulations.

Got a call from the lab saying 9 or 10 out of the 10 would be suitable for testing & whether we wanted to go ahead or freeze for another cycle. A little disappointed that 5 have already died off!! We got 40% normals last time so that should give us 3 or 4 as long as no more die off :-(

So, I had 17 eggs collected, 14 fertilized, but only 9 were suitable for testing.
I can't help but be a little disappointed :-(