January IVF - Page 5

[BellyBean]

Welcome Tara - Hope your stay here is short! Please keep us posted on your ER and ET. Since we are planning on doing IVF in January I am very curious about the whole process. Sounds like you found a great doctor.

[joyakshi]

how interesting. My RE offered me to do a non-Lupron cycle, and then do antagonists as my follies get big, but since I stimulate really fast and early and tend to ovulate early/get premature LH surges naturally (I had an 8mm follie on day 2 of my cycle and ovulate by day 10 on the same day as my LH surge sometimes), they decided to go with Lupron & BCP's to be sure I don't start stimulating on my own. I may have to use antagon before retrieval as well anyway, as I think I'll be off Lupron by then. I just hope I stimulate well on the Lupron.

The full moon is good energy to be growing follies. Women tend to ovulate with the full moon and menstruate during the new, dark moon (when our new antral follies are tiny

Glad you got new meds - no need to worry about the meds being okay on top of everything else.

Originally Posted by jazcat

I'm not on Lupron at all....must be a different protocol than you. I start Follistim and Menopur on the 31st. Full moon is good karma, right?

The pharmacy is sending a replacement PIO. They tried to assure me that the bottles I have would be fine, but I went a little ballistic on them and they agreed to send two more bottles. Hey, it clearly says DO NOT REFRIGERATE and it was in the outdoor fridge 5 days in a row! Besides, I don't need another thing to wonder and worry about. I hope they can recover their costs from Fed Ex. So glad they're not making it my headache to deal with....they could have. Excellent customer service I'd say.

[joyakshi]

Yes, please keep us posted, Tara. You will be the first retrieval in January so I know I'll be curious about the experience as I'm having my first retrieval the week after. Good luck!

Originally Posted by BellyBean

Welcome Tara - Hope your stay here is short! Please keep us posted on your ER and ET. Since we are planning on doing IVF in January I am very curious about the whole process. Sounds like you found a great doctor.

[jazcat]

Originally Posted by joyakshi

how interesting. My RE offered me to do a non-Lupron cycle, and then do antagonists as my follies get big, but since I stimulate really fast and early and tend to ovulate early/get premature LH surges naturally (I had an 8mm follie on day 2 of my cycle and ovulate by day 10 on the same day as my LH surge sometimes), they decided to go with Lupron & BCP's to be sure I don't start stimulating on my own. I may have to use antagon before retrieval as well anyway, as I think I'll be off Lupron by then. I just hope I stimulate well on the Lupron.

The full moon is good energy to be growing follies. Women tend to ovulate with the full moon and menstruate during the new, dark moon (when our new antral follies are tiny

Glad you got new meds - no need to worry about the meds being okay on top of everything else.

Wow, you really have a handle on this stuff. I barely know what stimulation is! Does the Lupron replace Follistim? My cycles are like clockwork, ovulation usually on CD14. Glad to hear about the full moon.

[jazcat]

Welcome Tara! I'm glad you found us too, and that is great that the MF was identified and you know how to move forward. I agree about the crazy stash of drugs we have! So they haven't been too bad? Please keep us updated on how you're feeling on them. I am so dreading the intramuscular shots

[snowbell]

Tara! That is great you found a Dr. you like. I look forward to "sharing" this experience with you!

BTW, I am a teacher too. I teach 1st grade...what about you? Originally, I had been hoping to do this over my Winter Break to minimize the amount of days I would miss from work. It didn't work out for several reasons to do IVF then, so instead everything will happen around Jan 18th.

[joyakshi]

Ok, one thing I do have to mention about Lupron side effects - puffy & pudgy! My tummy ( & bb's) is so puffy - makes it easy to give the shots b/c there's a lot of extra tissue
But I really feel like a pudge.
Maybe it's the BCP's, though.

[yoginimama127]

happy holidays!

thank you for all of the welcome notes...it made me so happy on this christmas eve...great to "meet you all"....
in light of keeping you posted on all the shots and such....today is my 5th day of menopur and bravelle...seems to be going okay...the sub Q shots are not that bad at all, although the menopur does sting a bit going in ...I AM nervous about the IM shots in a week or so, the progesterone in oil (or PIO) shots. My nurse said she liked me so she would give me a one inch needle instead of a one and a half...so I guess thats good! They are such big needles though...aghhh! anyone have experience? i heard standing up is best.

has anyone elses stomach been upset on these meds? i have a history of constipation but its really gotten so much better lately...until i started these shots...my tummy is kind of upset most of the time....nothing too drastic but it def hurts right now as i sip my xmas eve glass of wine!!

only one more week until the ER...cant wait! im so happy the holidays are here...but want them to fly by so I can hopefully have my xmas wish soon....

peace and blessings to you and yours tonight...

Tara

[snowbell]

joyakshi, yes - the lupron made me very pudgy!!! i feel like i still have about 8 lbs of lupron on me!

yoginimama127, the menopur stung me too when i used it during an injectables cycle. i haven't taken PIO yet but if you go back towards the beginning of this thread you will see several women gave great advice that i plan to use. also, i think crazyrunningmama warned us about the constipation issue. she recommended starting now to drink a lot of water and eat lots of fruit and veggies.

i hope everyone is doing well!

[christophersmom]

Tara the PIO is not too bad at all as long as I ice well. And I was sick and nauseous this entire last time on the meds, but not last year when I was doing it.

I am officially in the 2ww but am nervous, started spotting Tuesday. I don't go for BPT until the 31st.

[yoginimama127]

updates....

c'mom...thanks for the idea of icing the PIO shots...the nurses had mentioned that but I had forgot...

went in again today for an u/s and blood work...they said theres atleast 5 cookin in my small ovary and 10 or more in the other one...doc is out of town til monday but I go back in then. as of now still set for a 12/31 (I cant believe its next wednesday!) retrieval. I hope they get lots of good eggs.

on another note...i dont feel bad at all on the lupron, not even really pudgy...the meds are making me a bit dizzy though at times, nothing too bad.

looking forward to the new year....good luck to all....t

ps...someone asked...i teach 6th grade special ed, its crazy hard!
i also teach vinyasa yoga two nights a week and wish i did more often and it paid the bills...

[Pookietooth]

I'm doing IVF probably in January, depending on when AF arrives. I hope it works, I've done several IUI cycles (with two pregnancies, only one live birth, my ds) but never an IVF. It's a whole lot more expensive, but the chances are supposedly double. Anyone else doing acupuncture too?

[joyakshi]

I had my suppression check this morning. Everything looks good except I haven't had a period yet. Stopped BCP's on 12/25. My lining is a little thicker than they like, so I need to have a period before starting stims. They say it takes on average of 3 days to start bleeding after stopping the pill. But when I did a month of BCP suppression in July before my hysteroscopy, it took me a full week to get a period after I stopped the pill.
I hope I bleed in time to start stims on Wed!

I'm still waiting for my meds too. I ordered them from www.ivfmeds.com and I probably wouldn't do that again, even though they are cheaper. They can't even give me a tracking number for my order which supposedly shipped last Sat. 12/20. I paid for 3-5 day delivery. They say they are guaranteeing delivery by tomorrow, so we'll see.

I need meds and a period!

[stel]

Thanks for the welcome and Happy Holidays all. I will have to ask my doctor about the PIO. Last time they gave me only suppositories. My doctor said that it is possible that I'm not responding because my ovaries just don't have a lot of eggs left but there were several small follicles by the time we got to ET, they just weren't big enough for retrieval so I'm hoping that is not the case (I'm just shy of 35.) This time again we will not be using Lupron and instead will use Gonal-f but a higher dose. I go on the pill next week so ET is roughly going to be first week of February. Good luck to everyone who is going sooner!

[yoginimama127]

retrieval...almost

went in for last u/s before retrival this am...Doc says everything looks really good, my uterine lining and everything...I have one small ovary so theres only 4 follies cookin in that one but there is "more than double" that in the "big" one. no more lupron and bravelle and menopur...i do HCG trigger shot tonight though....and then start PIO on Thursday.

retrieval still set for Wednesday am @ 7:30...so excited! and then transfer is jan 5. my doc does 5 day blastocyst transfers.

so my big question...how long after the transfer can I find out im preg? I know its going to be soo long whatever it is!

good luck to all...and happy new year...

[Pearl1]

yogi - to figure out when you can get an accurate hpt during ivf, date 2 weeks from retrieval (as if it were ovulation). so, 9 days past a 5 day transfer would be the equivalent of a regular 14 dpi and you should get a very accurate hpt.

if your retrieval is weds 12/31, you can test on weds 01/14. (earlier if you are brave!)

good luck!

~s.

[jazcat]

Originally Posted by joyakshi

I had my suppression check this morning. Everything looks good except I haven't had a period yet. Stopped BCP's on 12/25. My lining is a little thicker than they like, so I need to have a period before starting stims. They say it takes on average of 3 days to start bleeding after stopping the pill. But when I did a month of BCP suppression in July before my hysteroscopy, it took me a full week to get a period after I stopped the pill.
I hope I bleed in time to start stims on Wed!

I'm still waiting for my meds too. I ordered them from www.ivfmeds.com and I probably wouldn't do that again, even though they are cheaper. They can't even give me a tracking number for my order which supposedly shipped last Sat. 12/20. I paid for 3-5 day delivery. They say they are guaranteeing delivery by tomorrow, so we'll see.

I need meds and a period!

Do you need your period before you can start your meds? I don't think that's the case with me....she didn't mention it this morning. Strange, you stopped your pills on the 25th, and my last pill was today. I had my check this morning. Everything looks good. I start Follistim and Menopur on Wednesday....HOLY COW!!!!

Hope everyone had a nice holiday :

[Pookietooth]

Anyone else have any suggestions for less expensive sources for IVF meds? The pharmacy my RE's office uses is definitely not a discount one. I got my tentative calendar, by the way, last Friday (things have been delayed due to an extended very unusual snowstorm, which left many snowed in), and it looks like my retreival date is tentatively 1/28. That was assuming my CD1 was going to be today, which it may be, as I am spotting lightly.

[KristinaMarie]

Pookie- I got all my meds from Freedom Fertility Pharmacy. They had quoted me about $2200. I was in 150 gonal-f, 75 repronex,lupron doxycycline, asprin, all the fun stuff. When I go it, I found out that the insurance comapny paid for alot of it. They have a website which has prices on it. Hope you find one that works for you.

[christophersmom]

Originally Posted by yoginimama127

so my big question...how long after the transfer can I find out im preg? I know its going to be soo long whatever it is!

good luck to all...and happy new year...

I had retrieval on the 12th, 5 day transfer on the 17th and a positive pregnancy test on the 27th, so 10 days past transfer in the afternon so not FMU. I have my BPT on the 31st, 2nd, and 4th.

Best of luck!