January IVF - Page 8

[poetgirl]

Can I ask how much Lupron you all are on for your ivfs?

I'm doing this follistim IUI and they have me on "micro-dose lupron."

I am taking 20 iu in the morning and at night. I don't have a reference point for how much that is so I'm just wondering what you all do. It will help when we see what kind of effect this is having on everything and we gear up for ivf.

Also, what are your side effects from Lupron?
Thanks. :

[Julia'sMom]

Originally Posted by poetgirl

Can I ask how much Lupron you all are on for your ivfs?

I'm doing this follistim IUI and they have me on "micro-dose lupron."

I am taking 20 iu in the morning and at night. I don't have a reference point for how much that is so I'm just wondering what you all do. It will help when we see what kind of effect this is having on everything and we gear up for ivf.

Also, what are your side effects from Lupron?
Thanks. :

I did 10 units of lupron each night until starting to stim. When stimming, it was 5 units in the morning. The main side effect I had was exhaustion. Do watch out for constipation, I found that bcp gave me the opposite problem, but once I started everything else, the constipation kicked in and lasted until well after transfer.

[Julia'sMom]

Originally Posted by yoginimama127

hi ladies....i hope you all had a peaceful new years eve. i had to cxl our plans to have friends come over because yesterday was rougher than I thought it would be...

On another note, they got 11 eggs and the RE said that that was really great, anything over 10 he is really happy with. I'm confused b/c I've heard of some woman retrieving 30 or more.

-Tara

Tara - I too had a painful retrieval the first time around. However, this seems to be the exception, both among the group here and among the patients at the clinic. So, all you other ladies, I don't think it's something to worry about much. I'm just planning on having a good talk with the anesthesiologist before next time.

11 eggs is fabulous! I think I had slightly over that last time and all but 2 fertilized. I think it varies by clinic and situation as to how many they want to see. 11 sounds good because I think it reduces your chances of ohss.

[MOMTOALEXIS]

Hi everyone. I'm new to this thread, been posting on IUI and Infertility thread for several months, but just found out today we will be doing IVF this month. Had 4 failed Clomid cycles, 3 with IUI. RE feels injectables wit IUI is very dangerous for us because I am young and have a large egg reserve and am producing 3-4 eggs with just Clomid. He said the risk for multiples is very high for me with the injectables. So he suggests moving to IVF. I'm still lost right now and not sure what to expect this month. We will be taking a IVF class on Tues offered by the clinic and hopefully I will feel better after that. BCP pills for 10 tens for now.

Happy New Year to everyone, hope this year brings lots of miracles.

[BellyBean]

Welcome Momtoalexis, there are several of us who are getting started with IVF this month, so we will all probably be pretty close cycle wise. It is so great having a group of women to talk to/relate with during this process. We are also very lucky to have several women who are a few weeks ahead of us that can provide guidance and perspective.

Here's to many BFPs in 2009!

[BellyBean]

Momtoalexis, just read one of your posts on another thread. Looks like you will be one of the earlier ER and ET! Can't wait to hear how everything goes!

[Pookietooth]

I think AF is on her way today, so I will probably start my meds soon. Any advice?

[jazcat]

Yogi ~ I'm sorry the retrieval was not easier for you. How are you feeling now? How long were you in bed? Did the clinic give you an update on your embryos?

Joy ~ Looks like you're on a little more Follistim than I am. How are you feeling? Yesterday I woke up with a mild headache that went away pretty quickly. Last night I slept 12 hours and could have gone on sleeping, and I still have a headache. I wonder if it's going to get worse?? Still have 8 more days of the stim drugs....ugh. And I get to split between 2 cartridges this AM. Why don't they just prescribe the 600 or 900?

Julia'sMom ~ What do you plan to say to your anaestesiologist? What do you think could make the difference between a good or bad retrieval experience? Thanks for your insights.

Momtoalexis ~ Welcome!

[joyakshi]

I was on 20 IU's in the AM during my suppression, and now am on 5 IU's in the AM while I'm stimming.

Originally Posted by poetgirl

Can I ask how much Lupron you all are on for your ivfs?

I'm doing this follistim IUI and they have me on "micro-dose lupron."

I am taking 20 iu in the morning and at night. I don't have a reference point for how much that is so I'm just wondering what you all do. It will help when we see what kind of effect this is having on everything and we gear up for ivf.

Also, what are your side effects from Lupron?
Thanks. :

[poetgirl]

Thanks Joy and Julia'sMom for answering about the Lupron dose. I wonder if I'm on too much? I guess I'll find out Monday when I have my follie scan.

Also, about the issue of injections when you're slim...this morning I tried it while sitting down and I could gather a much better belly inch that way. Don't know why I didn't think of that before. I also get a little light-headed doing this and sitting down helped that too.

Yogi, I'm sorry your ER was so painful. : for the ET.

[yoginimama127]

8 embryos growing

Hi ladies...good news today! 8 of our 11 embryos that they retrieved are growing! The nurse that I love called me and left me a message about it. I called her back and talked to her and asked her how many she thought would make it to monday, which will be 5 days after the transfer. She said probably atleast half. So I'm hoping they get atleast 2 really strong little embryos/blastocysts to put in me on monday.

were really excited....i hope all of you are doing well and are getting good news too!

update on the post retrieval...feeling muuuccchhh better. even had a small dinner party with friends last night at our house. i hope i didnt scare anyone about the retrieval....it was wayyy worth it to know that our little babies are growing and will be inside me soon...luck to all...

[jazcat]

Great news on the embryos Yogi! Monday will be here before you know it.


Ok, I am Follistim pen challenged!!! Apparently I did not get the right dosage yesterday, but I don't know where I went wrong.

Day 1: 225 of cartridge #1
Day 2: rest of #1 and part of #2, cartridge #1 went down to 50
Day 3: 225 from cartridge #2

SHOULD BE:
Day 1: 225 from #1
Day 2: 75 from #1, 150 from #2
Day 3: 150 from #2, 75 from #3

I can't believe I screwed this up. I wonder if I dialed to 125 instead of 225. That would explain the numbers. At any rate, I'm under-dosed at this point, I think by 100 iu. What should I do? I hate to call the nurses but I think I'm going to have to.

[yoginimama127]

jazcat...

I would call the nurses and they will prob tell you its not that big of a deal. I've found in my experience that any time I was freaking out about messing something up with this whole IVF process...they were usually really calm...worse comes to worse you will just inject a little more one day and/or stim for one day longer...but I bet it'll be fine the way it is...

[MOMTOALEXIS]

BELLYBEAN- Hey how are you. So the nurse called to give me my instructions. BCP for 12 days then starting injections on January 19th. I thought they were taking the eggs out on the 19th because they said u will be ready around the 19th. lol. So, so, so confused. Sorry for the mix up, looks like I won't be one of the first.

[jazcat]

Originally Posted by yoginimama127

jazcat...

I would call the nurses and they will prob tell you its not that big of a deal. I've found in my experience that any time I was freaking out about messing something up with this whole IVF process...they were usually really calm...worse comes to worse you will just inject a little more one day and/or stim for one day longer...but I bet it'll be fine the way it is...

Thanks Yogi. Well, I did call them and I'm glad I did because it turns out I didn't mess up - the 300 iu cartridges are actually 400 iu's!!! There's an extra 100 iu's in every cartridge. Isn't that weird? Honestly I think they should label it as it actually is so people like me don't freak out when they do the math.

[poetgirl]

Originally Posted by jazcat

Thanks Yogi. Well, I did call them and I'm glad I did because it turns out I didn't mess up - the 300 iu cartridges are actually 400 iu's!!! There's an extra 100 iu's in every cartridge. Isn't that weird? Honestly I think they should label it as it actually is so people like me don't freak out when they do the math.

I was just going to write and tell you that! I've been able to stretch out these 300 cartridges for a long time with my inject. cycles. Glad everything is okay.

[christophersmom]

Originally Posted by Julia'sMom

Tara - I too had a painful retrieval the first time around. However, this seems to be the exception, both among the group here and among the patients at the clinic. So, all you other ladies, I don't think it's something to worry about much. I'm just planning on having a good talk with the anesthesiologist before next time.

11 eggs is fabulous! I think I had slightly over that last time and all but 2 fertilized. I think it varies by clinic and situation as to how many they want to see. 11 sounds good because I think it reduces your chances of ohss.

That is really is good. My first go round, they retrieved 7, but only 5 were viable. This go round we got 21, 18 were viable, 16 fertilized, but I got at risk for OHSS and got a little scare my cycle woudl be cancelled. My estrogen level got to almost 9000. It gave me a lot of symptoms and my ovaries still hurt. I have a friend who did two donor cycles and both times hers were in the high 20's, but she didn't have to worry about them putting any back in.

[christophersmom]

Originally Posted by jazcat

Thanks Yogi. Well, I did call them and I'm glad I did because it turns out I didn't mess up - the 300 iu cartridges are actually 400 iu's!!! There's an extra 100 iu's in every cartridge. Isn't that weird? Honestly I think they should label it as it actually is so people like me don't freak out when they do the math.

Everyone is on different doses. I know that sometimes I used 300 iu vials, sometimes 400, sometimes 900. The instructions they gave was to give as much of your dose and then if you have some left in vial, use it for next dose. There were many times that I had to do more than one shot of Follistim.

[joyakshi]

Yogini- This is so exciting. How does it feel to know you've got fertilized embies waiting for you?
I can't wait to get to this point! Just to know we can fertilize and grow an embie will be a huge accomplishment.

We had an unexpected pregnancy using condoms almost 4 years ago, and then we lost it. And now we have been TTC for 1.5 years - including 3 failed IUI's. It doesn't make sense why you can get pregnant using birth control and then you can't when you are trying and doing fertility treatments. So, it will be exciting to know we can make the magic happen again, and then to hope it will stick.

jazzact - I am using the 600 IU vials, but the same issue still comes up every third dose since I'm on 375 per day plus 75 menopur. The 600 IU vial seems to have 50-75 IU's extra in it. My nurse warned me about how to manage that. Basically - you dial up your full dose even though you know there''s not enough in the remaining vial. You inject. the pen will stop when it's out and the number left in the window is the amount you have left to inject. So put a new cartridge in and dial up the number that remained after your partial dose.

Good luck and positive thoughts everyone! Early good wishes on the return of your embryos to your womb, Yogini!

Originally Posted by yoginimama127

Hi ladies...good news today! 8 of our 11 embryos that they retrieved are growing! The nurse that I love called me and left me a message about it. I called her back and talked to her and asked her how many she thought would make it to monday, which will be 5 days after the transfer. She said probably atleast half. So I'm hoping they get atleast 2 really strong little embryos/blastocysts to put in me on monday.

were really excited....i hope all of you are doing well and are getting good news too!

update on the post retrieval...feeling muuuccchhh better. even had a small dinner party with friends last night at our house. i hope i didnt scare anyone about the retrieval....it was wayyy worth it to know that our little babies are growing and will be inside me soon...luck to all...

[yoginimama127]

thanks for the well wishes everyone....Monday cant get here soon enough!

Did anyone out there have more success with IVF taking a lot of time off work? I'm taking Monday and Tuesday off, wasn't planning to take Wednesday off, but now I'm thinking I might. I can work a bit from home on my computer doing some paperwork stuff I have to have done for two meetings on Thursday. any thoughts? Oh...and I did get my yoga classes covered which I teach at night so after work I can really come home and get back in bed.

Maybe I'm thinking about it too much!