Sorry to jump in here. I'm usually just lurking in this thread these days, but I thought I should add my two cents on a few issues you guys have been talking about:
1) not to put a damper on things, but my FS and the nurses at my clinic all advised me not to drink alcohol at all while TTC. They said it could lower the chance of the cycle being successful. During my cycle, I also took a few fertility books out of the library and all of them mentioned studies showing that fertility rates are higher among women who are not drinking at all while TTC than among women who are having even the occasional glass of wine. I'm not sure exactly why that is but imagine that the wine must indeed have the potential to affect egg quality. Trust me, I love to have a glass (or a bottle -eek!) of wine as much as the next person, so I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but wanted to share since I know most of you are trying to do everything possible to maximize your chances of success, and if this helps any of you get your BFP quicker, then it's worth my taking the time to post this.
2)littlemissmoo - just wanted to warn you that as you progress in the stimming, be careful about the step aerobics b/c as your ovaries get bigger, if you bounce around too much you run the risk of ovarian torsion, where the fallopian tubes twist. It's apparently rare but potentially very serious, and could cause you to lose the fallopian tube. (That's why, ladies, if you have serious pain "down there" after vigorous exercise while stimming, you should get checked by your FS or emergency room immediately.) Apparently (according to what I've read) the theory is that our ovaries are suspended in our bodies similar to the way a man's testicles are suspended in their balls (sorry for the graphic image!), and when they get larger and heavier than normal, that delicate suspension can be affected. Normally, the ovaries only contain one or occasionally 2 large follicles, so lots of jumping movement is not likely to cause any harm. But when we're stimming and having multiple large follies inside our ovaries, the ovaries get much larger and heavier and can move around in ways they're not supposed too, which can lead to the twisted tubes. So my FS and clinic warned me to cut back on exercise involving lots of bouncing (aerobics, running, etc) as we got closer to EPU. Also, the ovaries can stay swollen for 1-2 weeks after EPU (this sounds like it's related to same reason why OHSS can take that long to develop), so I was warned that that was another reason to be careful after EPU, although after ET you need to be careful anyway since you are not supposed to overheat the embie that has been transferred.
Hope this info is useful to some of you and good luck with your cycles!
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