IVF with PGD # 9

Yay! I am feeling good about January so fingers crossed we all have a run of luck :pray: Unfortunately the nasal spray trigger (synarel) is very real (yuk!) but better than another bloody jab :) My FS seems to love the stuff, but I can't really remember why...must be something to do with being full of needles at the time :)
I was pretty unhappy on ER day, still not 100% and I can feel the meds still screwing me up (very cranky lady). But the FET will be on a completely natural cycle which I like the sound of...it also gives us time to do the CGH testing just in case.
I just had my day 3 call and I have 13x8 cell, 3x 6 cell and 2x2-3 cell embies. the scientist said I can expect 50% to make it to day 5 biopsy, which seems like a massive drop off :( Has anyone ever had a 2-3 cell day 3er make it to biopsy? Eeek bring on friday!
Sunbeam, I am starting to appreciate what a massive month you had getting 17 in the freezer! You must have had some huge positive karma owed to you :)
Andy, thanks for sharing your experience. How long did it take for you're chromasome testing (CGH?) to come back? I heard anything from 3 to 10 weeks!!

hi babymama :hello: and welcome, what a great number you got from your epu ! have you heard how the embryos went today, was biopsy today or were they waiting until day 5 ?

sunbeam: i hope you are feeling ok :)

andie: how are you going ?

Thanks Minnie! They are biopsying on day 5 (friday) or 6 and will freeze whichever ones look good after that I think. So nerve racking :S

Hi babymama - Welcome to the forum! I would be super happy with that number. (I had my first cycle in Oct and have only 3 embies frozen from that one, so the next one has to be it for me. My DH and I both carry faulty genes for a recessive condition so we have 25% chance of affected babes). My fingers are crossed those little embies of yours behave themselves and you get some really good results. Best of luck to you! And I hope things are settling down for you now. It's awful to feel so uncomfortable in your own skin, isn't it?!

There definitely looks to be lots of Jan/Feb cycles/transfers happening! Here's to 2013 being our year, ladies!!:)

Finished work till Jan 14th :dance: yay yay yay!!

Babymama - I hope your hormones are settling down for you. Any update on your embies? I hope there a decent few good ones. 13-16 at day 3 is great. My 17 are not yet tested, 13 are only day 1 and 4 are day 3 so there's a long way for them all to go yet! The ones that were frozen on day 3 were from a batch of 8 but when they biopsy they are very fussy and won't test any stragglers, only those that have exactly the right number of cells for that day's expected growth. It's a bit harsh and heart breaking but that is the rules where mine are.
Donor Daddy's CGH test took about 4 or 5 weeks from what I can recall.

Hi elle, minnie and Andie. I hope everyone is feeling ready for Christmas. I'm packing today off to mum and dad's in Airlie tomorrow. Bring on the floating in the pool with a glass of wine in my hand whooooooooo!

Hi babymamma23, 20 is a good number to start with. Like Andie said I can't offer any advice on ur situation but in the three cycles I've done I have ended up with one balanced embryo for transfer each time. Our first two cycles we had about 20 collected 13 fert & 11 suitable for biopsy. Our third cycle we had 15 collected & again ended up with one to trf (can't recall how many fert ect) but our issue is my chromosome translocation so I would think my drop off rate would be different to urs. Also we had problems with the dyes used for our testing which effected our numbers on the first cycle. Good luck & I hope that u have a nice big batch to freeze.

Sunbeam enjoy ur break, that pool & wine sounds like a good combo!

babymamma23, Sunbeam, Elle, Andie, Joe, Minnie, BF & all the lovely ladies who are a part if this thread , have a wonder full Christmas with ur loved ones & a happy new year. Thinking of u all always : )

Hi guys. So we have 7 little miracles all biopsies and safely tucked away in the freezer! Not that they didn't have us worried, on day 5 there were NONE suitable for biopsy. But they came good over night, little champions :) What a Christmas present! Now we can breathe a little bit and come back to find out the test results in the new year.

Ellie, so sorry to hear about your last attempt. Do you know when your next will be yet?

Sunbeam, they are pretty mean in the culling process! I get that they like to keep their success rates up but sheesh! I had 1 extra that by the sounds of it was really close but not quite to their standards...give the poor little guy a chance

J.Bear oh noooo, that's such a huge affected rate! Sometimes these number make me wonder how anyone gets pregnant naturally!


Have a wonderful Christmas every body, and thank you all for making me feel so welcome and keeping me sane :)

babymama: thats great news, will they let you know in the next few days what you have or will it take them longer to get the results ?

jbear: i was interested to read your post, do you mind me asking about your results,, were they mostly affected by your chromosome issues or other problems as well ?

sunbeam: i hope you are enjoying your time off work !

elle: when are you starting your cycle ?

joe: are you going to be starting fresh again soon ?

andie: are you having another scan soon ? how are you feeling ?

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babymama: thats great news, will they let you know in the next few days what you have or will it take them longer to get the results ?

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Hi Minnie. It'll be 3 weeks for them to do the CGH (which they are doing for no specific reason, just to make sure none slip through with chromosome probs that might self abort anyway) so they said they'd come back to us with the PCR results then too. So I'll miss this cycle by like 2 days and come back for implantation (hopefully :pray:) in jan. Does anyone have any suggestions on what I can do in the mean time to get nice and sticky???

babymama - I get put on estrogen tablets for my FET cycles to build up a nice sticky lining (also means they don't have to wiat for me to O which often doesn't happen). 5 dyas before they will also start me on progesterone (so my body thinks I just O'ed). have they said they will do any of this or is it going to be a natural cycle?

AFM- Hasn't stopped raining since I got to Airleie Beach which everyone is very grateful for since they have not had much rain for 4 months, bit miserable for me though (only one swim in the pool so far!!) Supposed to clear out tomorrow though. I hope everyone is having a lovely Christmas time and that Santa is working on bringing us bubs by next year.

I hope everyone enjoyed their Christmas with their loved ones.

Minnie - About 50% were not suitable due to my chromosome abnormality and the rest either were not suitable to from an embryology point of view. Big drop off rate for me and I think my FS was surprised too.

J Bear -How far along are you now? When is your next scan?

AFM - Well af started on Christmas day (thanks universe!) unfortunately even though that makes boxing day cd1 it was pretty much all done by lunchtime! Not really the af I was hoping for but what can I do :dunno:! On the upside the sun is now back and I can float in the pool with my wine which was my Christmas plan :lol:. I hope everyone else is having a lovely break.

Hey Sunbeam wow that's a short AF but like u said now u can enjoy that pool & nice weather that's come ur way. I'm 17 weeks now, had the amnio almost 2 weeks ago & just waiting on our results. By everything is going well so far.

What's everyone's plans for NYE? Any resolutions?

jbear: wow i can't believe you are 17 weeks already ! how did the amnio go ? when will you get the results ? hopefully all is good with them :)

babymama: how are you feeling now ?

sunbeam: floating in the pool sounds great :)

elle: when do you start everything ? 5 more days until i start injections, can't come quick enough, i want to get it over & done with !

hi to everyone else

Hey Minnie, yeah 17 weeks now...eeek! Amnio was ok the time leading up to it was worse than the procedure itself. I had no problems during or after it and the results should be in on Monday, we are trying to remain positive so only two more days and we will know once and for all.

(oops pressed send prematurely) How are you going Minnie?

Hi Ladies,

I am so sorry it has been so long since I popped in. Things have been insane.

Jbear and BF - congratulations, I am so happy to see some fabulous news inherent.

Congrats also to the ladies with fabulous numbers in collection. I hope Chrissy has treated you all well.

I'm 29 weeks now with PGD baby number one. It's a boy and most likely to be named J ames L uke. A lot of stuff has been happening personally with my more in law diagnosed with terminal cancer and general work life being in sane but enough about the bad news.

I hope to be in more regularly with things settling down. I hope everyone is getting a little time off work at this time of year and hope this is also helping with current cycles. Sorry I have not read more detail, I am very far behind. Sending healthy warm vibes to you all.

Jess
xo

Hi guys, sorry have been AWOL camping sans technology :)

Jbear: all my fingers and toes crossed for you for tomorrow's results!
Sunbeam: so does that af count? Can you cycle on now? Hope you're enjoying the pool btw.

I am just over a week into the dreaded 3 week wait (the one to find out our pcr and cgh results). At least the effects of the hormones are all gone now and I had a normal af. Next cycle we should be implanting (viable emby permitting) on a natural cycle with just a bit of progesterone support for good measure.

Hope everyone is having a lovely break and was spoiled for Christmas :) personally, I am using the time to take lots of blood flow enhancing walks and yoga classes ;)

hi ladies, sorry ive been mia for a while. i have been reading & keeping up with you all though. thankyou to those asking about me. : )

my 9 week scan went well friday, saw an upside down blob, nice heartbeat & good growth - so we are relived to say the least.

i hope everyone has a great new years, and im looking fwd to hearing about everyone's new cycles in the new year - minnie, sunbeam, elle & babymama - anyone else?!

jessir: good to hear things are going well with you :)

jbear: how were your results ? hope you are feeling reassured tonight :)

andie: great news about your upside down little one & that everything is fine :)

babymama: how crap you have to wait so long for results !

afm: i start lucrin again tomorrow, its taken ages to come around !

I want to wish everyone in here a wonderful new year, I hope 2013 is an amazing year for us all :partysmiley::crossfingers::grouphug:

Happy new year! Hope everyone had a great night.

Andie that's great news it's always very reassuring to see ur lil one in there! Sounds like everything is moving along nicely.

Our results came back yesterday which meant I could relax last night. Our little boy has the same balanced translocation as I do. Which means he can be healthy but he may have the same problems conceiving children as I do (long way away, I know). I would have liked it of I didn't pass this translocation on but we are happy that he is healthy & can otherwise live a normal life.

Wow 2013 ladies I feel is going to be a great year for this thread, lots of cycles going on & I am crossing everything I can & praying for lots of BFP's!

Happy New Year everyone.....may 2013 bring much joy & happiness!!!

Just a quick Q...has anyone doing PGD that already have kids been asked for their kids to give a sample to help in the feasibility testing?

Hey Ldies,

So happy for you Andie, wonderful news.

Fingers crossed for your latest cycle minnie and for all the other ladies due to start again with the new year.

Happy New Year and may you all have amazing news soon.

Jess xo

Hi Girls, can I join in please? I have been TTC #2 for 18 months, 12 months of fertility support, ovulation tracking and luteal phase support for a luteal phase defect, I have 3 chemicals (one which has just occurred this week on our last natural cycle) and 2 8 week miscarriages under my belt in that time. We are off to the FS for our follow up appointment tomorrow to discuss IVF with the pre genetic testing option as I also have a low egg count. I am so scared, I am 40 this year so if this doesn't work my dream of having another bub is gone. The specialist told us at our last appointment a couple of months ago that IVF wasn't the greatest option for someone with my egg reserve as generally we don't respond so well to the drugs and the chances are we'll only get 2 or 3 eggs and they may all be of no use. I'm so scared so am hoping to hear some success stories in here. Wishing everyone all the best on their TTC journey, I personally am so exhausted from all the bad luck I want something good to happen for once!

jbear: that's good you can relax, can i ask why it didn't show up in the pgd testing though ? (obviously thats the reason for the amnio because it can still happen ?) yay for finding out you are having a little boy :babyboy:

alison: welcome to our thread :hug: you have had a rough ride. I am also 40 this year, what level is your AMH ? we decided to go to ivf with pgd because we are fast running out of time and i think it gives us our best chance of success and it is literally the end of the line as far as ivf treatment goes at the moment so we can know we did all we could.
So are you going to push your FS to do ivf ?
our success rate in here has been pretty good since i have been in here :)

joespratt: we have never had anything mentioned to us about using the kids to test for anything but we are doing pgd for multiple losses probably due to chromosome problems rather than a known genetic problem

Hi Minniemouse, love your name! Thank you for the welcome, yes it's been a crappy rough ride alright, to think it only took 4 months to fall with my daughter! My AMH was first tested at my original clinic in November 2011 at 1.3, I switched clinics after going in circles and 2 more failed pregnancies and had them re-checked in August 2012 and they were up to 2.6. So pretty darn low. My FS told us at our last appointment IVF wasn't a great option but like you said it's the end of the road and it's all we've got left to try. Getting pregnant isn't the problem, it's staying pregnant and/or catching a good egg! Have you done a cycle with the pgd yet? I'm scared to spend the extra but I think it's worth it do you? We are off to the specialist tomorrow and yes I will be telling him not asking him to do IVF!!!!! I have been through enough I will not take any more crap from anyone ha ha. It sounds like you and I have the same issue with our eggs. xx

alison: i did a pgd cycle in september, only got 7 eggs & 4 were tested with pgd and unfortunately there were all abnormal so while it was devastating we had nothing to transfer they all looked perfect so for us it was worth doing because the fs said just to look at them he would have put 1 in and frozen 2 but they all would have ended in loss.
so our current plan is doing multiple ivf cycles to hopefully increase the amount we have to pgd test to hopefully get that one good one, i did my first cycle for that in november and have 11 day 1 embryos frozen and i have just started my next cycle for epu at the end of the month, my fresh ones will be put with the ones from the freezer and all tested together
sunbeam who is in here has also done the same and she is gearing up for a FET in a few weeks

Hi ladies. We may be doing IVF with PGD this year. Do you mind if I ask some questions of those who have been there, done that? We have an appointment with a new FS next week and will be asking her advice as well. The main choice for us is whether or not to try IVF with my own eggs first or go straight to donor eggs. Either way, we'll be doing PGD, as we've had enough late losses for our lifetimes. Our current FS advised us not to waste money on PGD and just have an amnio, which is one reason for changing FS. We're going through Monash IVF.

DS1 had ARPKD, which usually has a 1 in 4 chance of occurrence, but his version was a bit strange. It may be they cannot test for that either, or if they do, they wouldn't be able to give us a definite answer as to whether or not an embryo was affected. If they can develop a test, I understand they'd have to do a feasibility study first, then develop a specific probe, which could take months. Any idea how much that costs? We'll need to discuss that with a genetic counsellor at Monash IVF. Unfortunately for us, we cannot test for DS2's condition as we don't know what it was. Therefore, we don't know if it could occur again.

My AMH was tested in July and was 1. I will have it tested again this month. It may be the result determines whether or not we try with my eggs. If we're only likely to get 2 or 3 eggs from a cycle, then the drop off using PGD would be high. That's a decision we'll make based on what the new FS advises. Is it right that with such a low AMH, that IVF may not work for us?

My understanding is that with Monash IVF, assuming eggs are collected and fertilised, they grow them to 5 days, take a cell to test and freeze the embies. The cells are sent to the USA for SNP testing, which looks at all 24 chromosomes and a bunch of other stuff. This can take 3+ weeks. If there is an unaffected emby, then it is tansferred in an FET cycle and fingers crossed. I assume my early losses are due to chromosome abnormalities, probably relating to my age. I'd like to rule that out if possible. I have some VARTA data, and it looks like Monash has a higher success with FETs than stim cycles. Is this generally true?

We have friends who recently got pregnant on a ED cycle in Spain. They used PGD. A cell was tested from a day 3 embryo and transfer was day 5 or 6 I think. Their donor was 22 years old. Out of 9 eggs collected, 8 fertilised. Of them, 6 made it to day 3 testing. 3 of the 6 had chromosome problems. 2 embryos were transferred and the 3rd wasn't considered good enough to freeze. They are pregnant with a singleton. I find the drop off interesting, even in eggs from a much younger woman. With my age and AMH level, I don't have great expectations using my own eggs.

I understand Melbourne IVF does day 3 PGD testing, but that it's not as accurate as testing a day 5 blast. Does anyone have any experience with both?

I'm yet to make an appointment with the PGD counsellor, so a lot of this we may cover with her, but any other information will help. Thanks.

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 :hug:

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)

Argh MinnieMouse we're all falling apart:doh: Can't win can we. xx

Hi girls,

Whoo new members to our thread welcome Alison and LionsandBears :hello:
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. :dance:

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 :dunno:. FS does not seem phased by it though I'd be more reassured by a good one :shakehead: 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. :hug:

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 :lol:) 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!

Alison: how did you fs appointment 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!