Hi MinnieMouse - thank you for that info I might mention that to my Fs tomorrow, when you say multiple cycles you mean just keep doing it until you get a good egg? The fact you got so many eggs is interesting, my FS reckons I'd be lucky to get 2 or 3, what was your AMH level?
Hi LionsandBears - we sound in the same boat also, my AMH was 1.3, but retested at 2.6 most recently, still not great however. I'm in Perth so my eggs have to be sent to Sydney I believe for testing. I was told it's an added $5000 and it's not covered by medicare or private cover. Wow I am still coming to grips with the fact that I have to even consider IVF let alone go through with it. I'm so scared, I so badly want another child but what if it doesn't work!!!!
alison: sorry to confuse you, i meant my fs has agreed to me doing 2 or 3 ivf cycle and freezing everything to get it all tested at once (so only paying the extra pgd fee once). so all injections, scans, blood tests etc and egg collection then freezing straight away after fertilisation and doing that for 2 or 3 cycles then pgd testing the lot. My clinic charges about $8500 for an ivf cycle of which i get back about $5000
having said that some girls here have stricter rules at their clinics about how many they are allowed to have before testing. I have done 3 ivf cycles, the first time i got 7 eggs, second time i got 6 and the third i got 18 so its all over the place. My amh is 15.
lionsandbears: i can't really help you much as we aren't doing pgd for a known genetic problem but i will say that my clinic biopsies the embryos on day 3 and has the results back for a transfer on day 5 (i haven't managed to get a good one yet to transfer).
The figures my clinic quotes is that when doing pgd there is a 60-70% chance the embryos will be abnormal, so technically if you test 10 you should get 3 good ones (i had 4 bad from 4 tested which surprised them) and those numbers don't seem to be affected by age. Do you want to try with your eggs ?
ah I see thanks for that. Your AMH is 15, or 1.5? 15 is awesome!! Will let you know how I get on tomorrow, my FS wasn't overly optimistic about egg retrieval and quality given my age and AMH level of 2.6.
Think it was just below 15 (like 14.7), which I think fell into a normal level or just below ? Some women take dhea as its meant to improve egg quality (it's best taken for 3 months prior to epu), some fs believe in it & others don't. Good luck at your appointment
Oh I'm so jealous of your AMH number hee hee. Lucky you! I think it's the main thing causing me problems! What is your issue getting pregnant then? I've been on DHEA for a year on and off (had breaks when going through miscarriages etc as it's expensive stuff), it hasn't really appeared to work for me.
alison: my amh level isn't doing me any good, i can get pregnant fairly easily but i have had 5 miscarriages in 3 years presumably due to poor egg quality (i have pcos, insulin resistance, high prolactin levels, all of which affect egg quality)
Whoo new members to our thread welcome Alison and LionsandBears
Sorry to hear about all your losses. It is a hard choice to go ahead with ivf and pgd but it really is the best option if you want a bub using your own eggs. I went down the donor egg route but managed to find a 23 year old donor (with 2 kids) who was pre menopausal!!! (See my CRAZY NEWS below!) So now I am back to trying with my own eggs for the last time. I'm doing 24Sure my embies will be tested day 3 with a day 5/6 transfer if any are good. It cost me $3500 with no rebate but they only had to go to Brisbane.
Andie - So excited to hear your great news. I hope everything continues just as smoothly.
Babymama - Yes unfortunately since turning 40 my AF has all but disappeared for no explainable reason. I always have a nice thick lining when scanned mid cycle and I've had scans after a 24 hour af and all looked as it should so no idea where it goes . FS does not seem phased by it though I'd be more reassured by a good one I hope your results come back quick and clear.
JBear - I'm so glad the tests came back mostly positive and congratulations on a healthy baby boy I hope the rest of the pregnancy flies by with ease.
Jessir - Thanks for dropping in it is so nice to hear from girls that PGD has worked for, it gives us hope.
Hi Joe and Minnie
AFM - I'm back now from my trip up north to Mum and Dad, had a lovely relaxing time. I don't go back to work till the 14th so making the most of a nice rest before all the pgd stress kicks in. I am trying to shift a few kg and working hard on my diet in the hope it will make some difference, who knows.
CRAZY NEWS!!! - The friend who was going to be an egg donor for me back in August, who on 450iu of gonalf grew ONE egg and was later discovered to be pre menopausal with an AMH of less than 0.5 is again pregnant, without trying!!! She must be the most fertile girl ever! I am happy for her (probably happier than she is ) and I really hope she gets her little girl this time. So not sure if AMH means nothing or if being 23 years old solves everything but there your go!
Hi Sunbeam - wow are you kidding re that egg donor friend!! How on earth did she manage to get pregnant....just goes to show it's just a number. Gives me hope with an AMH of 2.6 at best, at worst 1.3!!! Good luck with your next cycle, I'm VERY new to the IVF lingo so excuse me if I ask lots of questions. I'm all up on tracking cycles but that's about it!
Hi MinnieMouse - appointment went well, no mucking around, we are booked in for IVF and it starts this month!!!! Eeeek. Excuse my lack of terminology as I'm just learning the IVF wording but we are going to do like you are doing - a batch for testing.....so 2 egg retrieval cycles with a month break in between so my body cn apparently get over all the drugs etc (looking forward to the sound of that not) and then do the pre genetic testing and hopefully get a good one or two out of it ready for transfer around March/April! Going to be a long few months but nothing I can do. He said there is a waitlist so even if I wasn't doing the testing I'd still have to wait till then to do the transfer. I'm dreading the extra drugs I'll be on and I know it's going to be gruelling but I'm at the end of my tether and this is our last ditch effort. I'm just about over it all! I'm also adding in acupuncture which I started today and taking DHEA again for my egg quality, juries still out for me if that will actually work. This is going to be a crappy ride and I'm scared but also excited! Tell me what to expect from someone who's actually been there. He freaked me out a bit giving me worst case scenarios etc but that's ok. I'm hoping even though it will be harder than the tracking cycles I've been through a fair bit emotionally with 5 miscarriages so I think I'll be ok. Wll be opting for the counselling regardless though so I don't turn into a complete basket case if I'm not already! DH recons he's moving away while I do this though ha ha. So just waiting for AF to show and we'll get started. So, any advice is more than welcome!!!! I just have to hope I get myself a few good eggs, he said he just did a batch cycle for someone, got 17 eggs and not one were viable, I will just die if that happens to me!!!
Lionsandbears, my embryos were tested as I have a balanced translocation of chromosomes 3 & 5, so the they had to develop a specific prob, that alone cost us about $2000 (we r in melb). It also took about 6 weeks from memory. Our emby's were tested on day 3 & trf was on day 5, as I understand it, it really depends on what ur FS wants u to do. We were given a 90% accuracy rate for our emby being balanced. We then chose to do Amnio testing.
Alison, good luck with the jabbing, hope u get lots of good eggs. Look after urself & try to drink plenty of water. Are u on a certain diet with acupuncture?
Thank u Sunbeam, we r starting to relax more now & enjoy the experience. Look after urself, I've read a healthy BMI can help & I think exercise helps relieve stress so def can't hurt. Will be checking in to see how u & everyone is traveling. *hugs*
Thanks JBear, no certain diet, I'm wheat intolerant anyway so am on a gluten free diet which is recommended by FS's when trying to conceive anyhow. AF arrived today eek! Was hoping for a week's grace.....not sure what happens now because I am away for 3 days next Thursday, my info sheet says I have to go in for scans and bloods on Day 8 but I'm away typical! How does it work anyway, apparently I have to make an appointment to see the nurse between day 16-20 to get meds and book in for collection but I usually ovulate between day 12 and 14 so it would be too late. Man I'm so confused!!!!
OK update - I'm so stupid ha ha.....so I don't do anything until my day 21 nurses appointment where I get all the drugs and info and then next AF is the start. So that gives me a little break, but pushes everything back to next month really, grrr!
I hope you have all had a really nice holiday break and everyone is feeling happy, healthy and rested. Welcome to LionsandBears and Alison! Sorry for you to have to be here but it's nice to have you all the same...
joespratt - Just wanted to quickly tell you a sample of DD's DNA was requested during Feasibility studies, so yes to your question. Thankfully (or not, depending on how you look at it), DD was already in hospital and had the blood drawn while under GA. They took about 4 months(ish) to come back with a reliable test (using my, my DH's and my DD's DNA samples).
AFM - I have a few days left of the pill, then will wait for AF and call clinic to see if the timing will work out for me to start my cycle (fingers crossed!). Have to run now but just wanted to say a quick hi and tell you I've been thinking of you all.
Just thought I'd pop in to see how you are all going & to wish you all a happy new year!
Sunbeam, Minnie, JBear, Jess, others I have missed, I've caught up on your news and wishing you all the best. Sunbeam best of luck in your testing!
All the new ladies, looks like it is going to be a busy year for the PGD scientists! Wishing you quick success & healthy pregnancies.
AFM, I am 22 weeks now, we have a little boy on board, and everything is going great. I'll be finishing work in mid April which I am very excited about, and I'm hoping these next few months go quickly, I just can't wait to meet my little bubby!!
Jess I saw you are having a boy too - I think PGD babies are more commonly boys, just something I have noticed around the place, but I'm going to do some more research on that now!!
Best wishes, love, and a wonderful 2013 to all. xx
hi ladies - how is everyone? its getting quite busy in here now... i have been reading but not posting much atm... laying low until my next hurdle - the 12 week scan. feeling fine though and been taking it easy over the christmas/new year period. hope you all managed to squeeze in some relaxation over the festive season.
minnie, , sunbeam, babymama - how are you going, where are you up to in your cycles?!
elle - you are nearly ready to go, not long now. looking fwd to hearing how you go. xx
allison - best of luck for your upcoming cycle.
lions & bears - not sure i can help you with your questions, like a couple of the ladies in here i am not doing pgd for a known genetic problem. after 5 stims & 10 transfers with no success, we wanted to know what was going on with our embryos (they had always looked great), and out of 7 biopsied only 2 were normal. i was told that this drop off rate was what you would expect to see from any batch of eggs. i had success with one of those embryos, and froze the other. i wish you all the very best with it all.
jbear, jessir & brightfuture - good to hear things are going well for you all, keep us updated. : )
bf: wow you are racing along now, im pleased everything is going well for you
andie: i understand the laying low, i hope all is fine at the next scan and you can relax a bit
sunbeam: you are next up with your pgd date, not long to go ! fingers crossed for you
elle: are you on the nasal spray now ?
alison: how are you feeling about it all now, hopefully the time goes quick and you will be starting your cycle
hi to everyone else
afm: im off to the clinic tomorrow to check my levels are all low and ready to start gonal f monday, things seemed to be taking ages to happen but it all is going quickly now !
Can't win can we. xx
. FS does not seem phased by it though I'd be more reassured by a good one 
I hope your results come back quick and clear.
) and I really hope she gets her little girl this time. So not sure if AMH means nothing or if being 23 years old solves everything but there your go!
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