Long-term TTC & Assisted Conception April - May 2010

Welcome to the Long Term TTC & Assisted Conception Thread!

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Just a reminder to all: all LTers love seeing a fellow LTer achieve that longed-for BFP, and we all find hope in one of our own having success in this difficult journey. But please remember that there are those who cycled with you who may not have received good news at the end of their cycle. Please do not post baby/child/pg tickers or pg related signatures (eg blinking BFP icons) etc in this forum out of respect for them.

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The old thread is here

wow I think I am the first one to post in the new thread...
am feeling a bit better today my cramping is not as bad, headaches are not as bad and am feeling better just a little tired I did have last night off from milking and slept for two hours then had a great nights sleep with no hot flushes. I started back on my herbs yesterday after loosing faith in them I think I am a convert again lol I think they are helping. no more pill now either woohooall in all feeling much better today.
thanks for all the suggestions guys so many bfp's hopefully those who have just had their precious emby's transferred are very sticky ones and I hope that you also have a few to make snow babies if need be.
I hope this good feeling lasts am feeling great for the first time in weeks.

Hi Ladies,

Chekigal: I had a hard time convincing my FS to prescribe Prednisolone, took me a good 2 months of arguing over it before she finally gave in.
With the 5mg tablets it costs $13.45 for 60 tables in the bottle.
For all my cycles now I am on Clexane 20mg, Cartia 100mg and Prednisolone.
Clexane and Cartia from Ovulation. Prednisolone 10mg from day 1 of cycle then at Ovulation increased to 20mg. I take them 1st thing in the morning with FOOD otherwise I get severe heart burn.

With regards to limits, DH has said this is our limits, there are no more Fresh IVF cycles, he is of the opinion that with his Sperm DNA Fragmentation being so high, I am just wasting my money (and when I say my money, I am paying for all of this not him :o). Note: we did do TESA for our last cycle which is supose to reduce DNA Fragmentation.
I have 8 Embryo's left so once their gone that's it for us.
Unless I win Power Ball on Thursday night then I can do IVF till the cows come home. :D

Ladies just a little reminder about NK Cells. Please ask your FS if you can get tested, its just a blood test and can save years of heartache in TTC.

AFM: Feeling very miserable and dishearted with the whole IVF cramp right now.
Well I did it, I rang and book myself into acp for the first time ever, I am very very nervous, the only problem is that I couldn't get in till 29th April.

Hello to everyone else out there, good luck to you all.

Hi everyone,

Glad to hear you are feeling better trueblue. It's amazing how more positive you can feel when your body is feeling nearer to normal.

Danyelle, coincidently I booked my first acp yeterday for next Tues. Where abouts in Syd are you? If you want to pm me I can let you know where my acp (recomended by my FS) is.

K78 - Congrats on your ET. Personally, I think that the fact you already have 2 blasties is fantastic. Fingers crossed you won't be needing your little frostie for quite some time.

chekigal - GL for this cycle. Have you heard back yet? As for how much is too much. I just don't know. Sometimes I just feel so emotionally tired of it all and other days I feel extremely positive. All the meds and cycling for so long just feels like you are wishing your life away to get to a point. Feels like you're constantly waiting. Other times I feel really strong and confident.

Juniper - hope your sniffing has started well and you can keep those nasty headaches at bay. Did you POAS?

JBM - I hope you are feeling a little better

KMM - Congratulations on your wonderful surprise and thank you so much for your kind words of encouragement.

Loops - Hey there, did you end up POASing? FX for a surpriseHow far away is your trip?

Hi to Lairdoz, Melissal, Truebabe and anyone else I may have missed (i'm sorry)

AFM - Am 1/2 way thru my 3 month wait. Tick tock. tick tock but am cheering everyone who is cycling on from the sideline.:cheer:

Hi Ladies

Kmm ~ Big Congratulations! :dance: All the best for a H&H pregnancy.

JBM ~ Hope you're feeling better soon and you can hav another go!

CK77 ~ Dont feel guilty hun - you're one of the lucky ones and we are happy for you! xo. Cattle farming is not so bad lol, as long as you have a break after transfer. Exercise and staying fit is good.

True ~ I had all those symptoms too hun, it'll pass. Very excited for you guys and :pray: you get BFP first go 2.

Juniper ~ :crossfingers: and GL hun.

Chekigal ~ 5 is great! Rest up and FX for you. Thanks for your wishes feeling ok. Weird tummy jabs lately though.

K78 ~ They do say Blastocycts are supposed to be more successful. 2 is good, ive never had any to freeze. I reckon the non expanded one will be fine too. Mine obviously didnt even make it to that stage so you're lucky. GL hun and FX

Danyelle ~ GL hun, hope you dont ever need to do another stim cycle again anyway! Stay positive xo

AFM ~ Still getting weird tummy jabs and so wondering and hoping again for a miracle. Highly doubtful but you can only hope. Also have had the odd feeling of nausea. Could all be AF coming very soon though, which will be good anyway.

Love and :bluedust::pink-babydust: to all!!

Tantee ~ Hi hun, sorry we must have posted at the same time. I havent POAS'd yet. Think I'm gunna wait until Monday because normally I would start to get AF on a Sunday. So If I havent by then I'll test. We leave for Tassie on the 9th May - not long to go and I can't wait - very excited.
I hope your wait for June goes quick. Im sure it will, we are nearly at May already LOL!
Wont be long until the cycle starts for you. GL xo

CK77 - We are about to have our 9th try (our 4th FET) in a couple of weeks and I always try and stay really healthy, exercising, eating well etc. I rest up a lot too after ET and just pretty much put my feet up. I stopped work later last year as we ran our own business and after so many years of TTC it all became too much and I really needed to just de-stress and I have to say I am very relaxed. My husband also does hypnotherapy so he has done some really great work with me to relax. We had a fresh cycle in Dec 09 and I remember just crying and crying from the moment we walked into the hospital because I was sooooo anxious about it working. After doing some work with hypno we did another fresh cycle with our new FS and I was so relaxed and calm about the whole thing.

Re prednisolone I am taking it for elevated NK cells and I firmly believe it made the difference as after 8 years and loads of transfers we got our first ever BFP. Sadly I miscarried a couple days later but my HCG was decent and it showed on when I POAS which has never happened before. I am taking 20mg daily and although I had some bad insomnia and have put on weight I don't care if it gets me a take home bubba.

Congrats KMM and good luck to all the others in the TWW or upcoming ET's.

Cheers

Chekigal, DH & I were talking about limits on the way home yesterday. He thinks we can only afford either 1 or 2 more after this one, so I guess we're almost at our limit. Of course, what Danyelle said about lotto would apply for us too. ;)

Danyelle, it took me over a year to talk myself into trying acu. I took a break from it after my last IVF because I need a break from all things TTC. I never realised how much I was missing it until I started back a few weeks ago! Even with my fear of needles I love it!

tantee, yes I POAS and it was BFN. I could just about convince myself there was a hint of a line there if I squinted a little and got the light right (and spun around 3 times on one foot while reciting the alphabet backwards and doing a vodka shot :shakehead:), so I'll test again in a couple of days. It's probably just wishful thinking though...

So, I started the synarel this morning. Now I just have to work out how/when to tell my managers... I'm tempted to wait until AF is here and there's no going back, but we have an agreement that I tell them ASAP and in exchange they accept me taking the required leave on short notice. Hopefully I won't have too many s/e this time and that will work out okay.

I think I have just come to the (not-so) startling conclusion (as I was writing) that I really hate doing IVF... :wall: I think I might go do this for a while: :hide:

Hi Ladies

Firstly congratulations to both Brunette & CK77 on their BFP's and CK don't feel bad that you got lucky on your first go

Loops12 I so hope that what you are feeling is a little miracle if not I'm sure its not to far away

trueblue glad your having a better day. Its amazing how differntly our bodies can react each day hope that you continue feeling good

Danyelle I truly beleive that your not to far away now that you have changed your meds and that you wont have to do another fresh cycle. You'll be surprised how good you'll feel with acp and that the stress levels will be reduced

tantee you haven't got long to wait now I know when I took a break I thought it seemed so far but its really not. Having a normal life for a while really helps

To those I've missed really sorry but hope your travelling well. I totally agree with Danyelle if you have had succesive attempts at IVF and have been told there is nothing wrong with you get more blood tests. After much persitance on my part I had testing done and now they know I have elevated white blood cells so they'll treat that with my next transfer

AFM well I'm finally back on the wagon. Booked in today for a natural thaw cylce. Got my scan next Friday and with a little med's change up after the transfer hoping that this one will be my month

Just wanted to say "hi" and introduce myself. I'm halfway through my first-ever stim cycle after TTC for 6 years (on and off) naturally. When DH finally consented to get tested this year (typical guy -- had his head in the sand for years about our having a problem), we learned he has 99% poor morphology (nothing else wrong, though), so we'll be doing ICSI. As for me, I had an exploratory lap/hyst/dye last month and the FS said everything was perfect, plus I've had no other issues ever with my cycle, so I thought DH's poor morphology was our only problem other than the fact that I've obviously aged over the past 6 years and am now 38! ;) But now I've just found out that my AMH is only 6.9, which apparently is going to create problems, so I'm kicking myself for not making more of stink with DH about getting started on the AC journey a couple of years ago. Live and learn, right?

Anyway, I just had my first scan today. (See my other threat in the IVF subforum asking how many follies it is normal to see at the first scan.) I had 7 follies that were big enough to count, and some smaller ones. It sounded low to me, but the doc seemed quite happy with that considering that we didn't know how well I'd respond to the Puregon (I'm on 275). I have another scan in 2 days, and he thinks we'll probably end up doing the EPU on Tuesday. I hope Tuesday works out b/c one of my parents is flying in for a visit on Wednesday morning and I'm not sure who would pick them up from the airport if DH is busy producing his swimmers and I'm doing my EPU then! (Plus, it would be awkward having to explain what was going on considering that my parents don't know I'm doing IVF.)

So, that's my story. Nice to meet all of you. I've been lurking in this thread for a week or two now so I feel like I "know" you girls to some extent although I haven't posted here until now.

Good luck to everyone with your cycles this month!

KitKat72

Hello All,!
Im just jumping on the IVF rollercoaster..couldnt find which forum was best suited to me but I thought Id jump in here.
Anyhow me so far:

TTC #1
Off OCP 18months but formally TTC since Dec 2009
Irregular cycles since off OCP with main problem being spotting (spot/bleed from 5dpo)
Hubby has had 2 x varicocele ops - found out today has a lowish sperm count 9000 and low motility
Have had 2 US and numerous blood tests.
Saw FS today and had US who said I have 3 follicles at 10mm at cd11, thought I was going to ovulate friday but not the case!! FS thinks I may not be ovulating, hence the spotting. So both male and female infertility factors!
Plan for repeat US Monday cd16 which will hopefully show me about to ovulate, if not will start treatment to cause that. Will also be having some hormonal support post ovulation to hopefully stop spotting.
Trying to decide how long we give this ago as FS has given us options of IUI or IVF.
How long have other people waited before going IUI?
Thanks!

Hi guys,

Wow a lot has happened in such a short space of time.

Hi to all those ladies who are joining us for the first time, FX your visit will be short.

Gongrats to those ladies who have achieved their BFP's :dance:That is great news!!!

Hello to everyone else, sorry i don't have time to catch up with everyone at the moment, bell is about to ring (I'm a school teacher).

AFM - i am still waiting for AF to arrive i am getting a bit nervous. I am now on day 51 of my cycle and according to POAS ovulation kit i ovulated the Wed after easter so that is now 16 days ago!!!! I am to scared to do a preg test, but really don't feel that AF is on its way. I will cave on the weekend if still nothing. So i am now just praying we have a little miracle on the way!!! Will catch up better when have some spare time.

Loops: do u have any headaches chick I have my fx'd so tight for you that a little miracle has happened and that this one is even stronger than the last one and very very super sticky

Thanks guys I think I spoke too soon though I woke up this morning and I have the shortest temper this morning poor dh has copped it a bit. I don't mean to take it out on him but unfortunately he's always there when I am cranky.
I was so hoping to have lots of good days no headache though so at least that's one thing might had a mid day nap maybe that's why I felt so good yesterday cause the day before I had a nap in the day time. AH well it's a beautiful day and I shouldn't be feeling like this so I best be off to feed some baby calves and puppies we are now down to 8 but after the weekend we'll only have 6 puppies and maybe even just 5
Hello everyone who has just joined may your stay in here be a super short one.
Renee: fx'd that when you finally do cave in and poas it comes up with a big neon sign saying bfp
hello to everyone else will be back later for more persies

Hi all you lovely ladies

After lurking for a couple of months, I've decided to come out from under my chair and join you all again. My goodness, so much has been happening, its hard to catch up!

Renee - :crossfingers: for you, I sooo am hoping that its good news... good luck with the POAS on the weekend.

Terry - so pleased to see you're back on the wagon! Hope you've enjoyed your break from this madness. :crossfingers: for you too, that it is a resounding success!

Loops - hope you're recovering nicely, sweetie, you went through so much, :pray: that there's some wonderful news this month! Enjoy your trip to Tassie.

HI :hello: to all the newcomers!

AFM - I'm in the thick of my first IVF cycle, and a bit nervy. I had my egg collection yesterday, feeling OK today, even though they got 36 eggs (I had a heart attack when I saw the number on my hand, the joys of PCOS I guess). Am on OHSS watch at the moment, on Monday my E2 level was 29000. Off to acupuncture again this arvo, which I think is helping. We're planning for a day 5 transfer on Monday, if I don't go downhill in the meantime.

I'd love to pick your brains about the embies if I could - of the ones that fertilised (they did ICSI on the viable eggs), I was wondering if we should freeze a couple on day 3, or go for broke with them and go for just blasties? We have to decide by tomorrow, and I have no idea what to do...

Thanks in advance for your help. Hope you're all having a great day!

Hi Leabie, If it's any help, most FSs prefer to use day 3 embies on frozen cycles. Debate rages about day 3 and day 5 for fresh cycles. On my last stim cycle I kept more out from the deep freeze as I hadn't seen a blasty on my two previous stims - and this was against my FS advice. Some were frozen at day 3. I got a good number of blasties, which was great at the time, but when we started doing the frozen cycles they don't want to use the blasties - only as a back-up if the day 3s don't thaw well. Still, having said that, they will use blasties in frozen cycles if there are no day 3s. Hope this helps, hun!

Welcome to the newcomers!

Hi to all the other lovely ladies!

Thanks so much for that Brunette! I think I'll stick a few day 3's in the freezer.

CONGRATULATIONS to you!! So excited to see your news. Hope you have a happy & healthy pregnancy!

For the people who are doing acupuncture...at what stage in your cycle do you go? Im thinking of starting (It cant hurt, right?!) just trying to work out when I should make an appointment, dont want to go and they say they cant do anything until next month etc. Also, has anyones DH had acupuncture? Just wondering if there is anything to say it can help if he has it to?

Yeah Leabie, I think freezing a few just in case is a good idea. For the cycle we got DS we put 4 in the freezer at day 3 and ended up with 3 blasties.
This time the embryologist recommended thawing the 4 day-3s and seeing if we could get any blasties - only one made it. So we still have our 2 'backups'

It's interesting (in a way) and I'm not sure why, but some people seem to do much better with blasties and some with day-3 embies. Blasts seem to work better for us.

Albi - I guess it can be helpful at any stage, but I know it's often recommended before and after transfer.

:goodluck: Renee.

Hi everyone else - Hope you're all travelling well. I'm mostly just back to lurking these days