~ Fall IVF Cyclers ~

[Seedlings]

Hi,

I am looking for others going thru ivf this fall. This will cycle #4 for me and not that that means anything. But I am looking for others to share this journey with. I will try with all my heart to be here for you and support you as we go thru this journey . This time the cycle is going by way too fast. I started bcp's on Saturday. I get to have another hsg tomorrow (yeahhhh I mean ugh). I had cd 3 labs done and I am clear of any cysts! I know you all love to hear this stuff so thanks for listening I am pretty sure everyone else would go huh?

I look forward to hearing from ya all and hope we all have sucess!!!!

[gemasita]

Hi! I just started BCPs for our 3rd fresh IVF cycle last week. I've had my baseline u/s and mock transfer and should be starting Lupron on 9/18.

We live in NC but are traveling up to Shady Grove in Maryland for this cycle. We haven't had any successes yet.

This cycle will be a little different for me, as we've done Antagon both times in the past. I was on Lupron for our FET and it made me crazy so we'll see what happens this time. I also tested positive for MTHFR so I'm on Folgard.

[Seedlings]

Wow, I can not believe I am so excited to hear from you (but I truly am)! I tested positive for MTHFR too. Is that crazy, but I guess not right it is kinda common from what I read but still who knew. I am a little tramatized by my last cycle but am ready to try this again. It has been almost a year since I cycled. I am doing this cycle with a new re too Dr. Coulam and I feel like I am cycling with one of the best for immune issues. In addition to the MTHFR I am also ANA positive (I have a family history of immune issues longer than a roll of tee pee). Shady Grove is a great place to cycle also (one of the best too). Can you do some monitoring in N.C.? Will you travel to Shady Grove for er and et? Looks like we are pulling out the big guns - Shady Grove and Dr Coulam!

We should be pretty close in our cycle, the nurse today said I'd start lupron on the 14th. It is crazy since a nurse told me I'd be cycling in November but as explained to me today November is in Oct since they do not cycle in December. Call me crazy but I did not know that and asked every which way possible "are you sure?". I will triple check tomorrow when I see Dr. Coulam.


Children mentioned
With your other cycles how did you respond to stims? Mine have been fresh cycles nothing ever made it to freeze. I think my ama was a factor in that, I am now 40. I also want you to know I do have 2 boys. I promise to offer you support, love and understanding while going thru this. I just did not want you blindsided by that. I have been reading on IVFC and would never want to mislead anyone about that.

[Julia'sMom]

I just wanted to say that I'm rootin' for both of you!

[gemasita]

Wow, this is great that we have so much in common - timing of our cycles, MTHFR, pulling out the "big guns." Ha ha! Oh, and thank you for mentioning that you have kids. I appreciate the concern.

My dx is tubal since my tubes were ruined when my appendix burst about, gosh, 7 years ago now. I wasn't married at the time and no one mentioned fertility issues so I didn't even imagine having problems TTC. Got married 5 years ago and started trying after about 2.5 years of marriage. Tried for 9 months and started getting concerned. Then, out of nowhere, I got an ovarian infection. They had to go in and remove that ovary and that's when they found my tubal issues. They've since been cauterized but were not working at all before they did that.

For having one ovary, I actually had a really good first cycle. My FSH was a little high and my AMH was VERY low so they put me on the antagonist protocol. My one ovary created 12 eggs, 10 of which were mature and 9 of which fertilized. We still had 4 on day 5 and they wanted to put 2 back and freeze 2 but we chose to put 1 back and freeze the other 3 since the blasts were excellent quality and I was only 31 at the time. That didn't work. We put 2 frozen embies back and that didn't work so we had to try another fresh cycle. We won a cycle from a local clinic but it wasn't a clinic we would have chosen. I hadn't heard good things about them and their stats are really terrible. But it was free so we did it. We did the antagonist protocol again and had 9 eggs but only 5 fertilized. We put back 2 excellent quality 8-cells on day 3 and had none to freeze. I think we were a little traumatized by that cycle too. It just didn't go that well and the doctor was terrible.

So, yes, we decided to try something a little bigger and better for the third cycle, even though the first clinic we went to was good. I LOVE Shady Grove so far. I'm so glad we picked them. The travel is a little complicated but it's worth it. So, yes, we will be monitored down here by my first clinic, then go up on the last few days of stims, stay for ER and ET and then come back. I think it will be nice to get away from some every day responsibilities during this cycle.

I'm a doula and childbirth educator (ironic, huh?) and I decided not to take clients during the cycle so I basically had to clear my calendar for about 2 months so that I am not on call or doing prenatal meetings during my cycle. It's hard to not have income for that long but I really wanted to try not working this time. The stress of being on call during the other cycles was ridiculous.

Congrats on the new doctor! Sorry to hear about your immune issues. It's hard to figure all this stuff out, isn't it? I didn't know anything about MTHFR before being diagnosed. Just had heard of it. Also have Hashimoto's Thyroiditis as of this time last year and am still trying to learn about that.

It will be so nice to have someone cycling along with me!

Julia's Mom - thanks for peeking in on us!

[poetgirl]

Good Luck GemaSita and Seedlings! I'm peeking in on you too.
I'm about five days away from my beta for ivf#2...
All the details around this cycle, place, doctor, time cleared off schedule, sound really spot on, Gema. All the Best

[gemasita]

Hey poetgirl! Hope you have great news on Beta Day!

I have a book recommendation for you. I'll PM you.

Glad you think I am doing the right things for this cycle! That helps my confidence! It's all been so crazy.

[gemasita]

CircleBloom - thanks for checking in and thanks for the advice. I hope that being out of town for part of this cycle will really allow me to relax and enjoy each day.

AFM - I got my bill in the mail today - not bad - $6900 vs. my first cycle which was about $13,000. We got a discount based on our income. Then I got a call about my meds - only about $1700! I have paid $5,000 for meds the other two times! I couldn't be happier! They'll come in tomorrow.

The only one that won't come in is the progesterone. I'm trying to decide between $250 for the progesterone suppositories or $90 for the PIO. We've never had a problem with the PIO but not having to do shots would be nice too. But that's a big price difference....I don't know what to do!

[megincl]

DW and I are here! She started BCP yesterday. We are doing our first round of IVF after four pregnancy losses (unexplained). We are doing PGD (checking chromosomes on the embryos for a few of the ones where abnormalities lead, most frequently, to pregnancy loss).

We have a 6yo DS and it's been 3 years since we've been TTC #2. I can't believe my excitement at starting IVF, even though I know this, too, could be a long road.

Nice to be on this journey with others...

megin (and DW katie)

[Seedlings]

Poetgirl ~ I have been checking in on you in the summer ivf group and I am praying for you as you have been enduring a lot. I hope your feeling better and your progesterone # is great. Enjoy your accupuncture.

Gemasita ~ Has your re thought that with your good embies that your bfn might of been caused by implation failure (from the mthfr)? Did Shady Grove test you for immune issues? I am just wondering if they found your mthfr. Congrats on clearing your schedule and making more time for you during this cycle. Being on call as a doula and childbrith educator while cycling would be stressful. I find that I need a lot of time to clear my head and get in a "free zone". The less distractions the better and I can focus on keeping positive and thanking/appreciating myelf for doing this. As far as the pio shot or suppository well I don't know. I've done em both. The suppositories for only about 2 weeks. The pio shots I have done for as long as 10 weeks. I was pretty much hiding when it came time for the shot after a few weeks. But I think if I had to do the suppositories for that long I'd be hiding from that too.

Circlebloom ~ thanks for the well wishes!

Julia'sMom ~ It is so great to hear from you! Thanks for checking in and rootin' for us. I really appreciate your support.

megincl ~ Hi Megin and Katie. I am so sorry to hear about your losses. I hear you about the long road and I just never imagined there would be so many pot holes and detours a long the way! But the company here is wonderful and they really get what your going thru.

afm, my hsg was uneventful and everything looks great. I checked about my confusing "November cycle". It looks like I'll actually be doing the er and et in November which makes way more sense to me. So I have a little more time to get ready for this cycle which is totally fine by me. I go in on Tuesday for my cycle consult and will get my timeline then. All is good

[crazyrunningmama]

Oh my gosh, I can't believe this thread got so big before I had time to burst in!! It is officially my job to tell you all that it is really important to avoid constipation!!! They never tell you until it's too late that constipation is very common during IVF cycles and if it happens to you (even if you think it won't, it might!), it is really really awful. I speak from experience and I never ever had issues before. Now that my duty is done....

Good luck to everyone!!! I have experienced some success this past summer and I think it is partly due to the huge amount of time I took off work for this cycle (I don't like my job, so the stress level is high, it would be different if I was happier there). : all!!!

[5terre]

I would love to join!


Seedlings I am so sorry you are going through this. I really hope this is it for you, I will be hoping for 'little seedlings'.

Gema Wow, how devastating about your tubes. Glad you were able to take time off. That line of work must be difficult right now.

Poet Sending 'positive' thoughts your way!

Megin Sorry to hear about your losses.

Crazy Thanks for the advice! I never have issues with that, so it's good to get the reminder to be vigilant about fiber, exercise, etc.


I'm starting Lupron tomorrow for IVF #1 with ICSI and PGD. DH has MFI and also a Robertsonian translocation (2/3 of our embryos will have the wrong number of chromosomes), so I don't know how great our odds are. But I am trying to be optimistic!

Any tips for me about the Lupron (or other meds)? I'm an RN so not worried about giving the SC injections, just wondering about icing, massaging, etc, what people found helpful for the different meds. Although it sounds like it's just the PIO that is painful. I also read something about Gatorade - can someone tell me what that was all about? Is it for a certain med?

Child mentioned
We are blessed with a healthy 5-year-old DD that was by some miracle conceived naturally, so we were shocked to learned 4 years later of our major fertility issues. We are beyond complete with her, but so badly want a sibling for her (she is the only person in her generation on both sides of our families, won't have any cousins).

[crazyrunningmama]

Originally Posted by 5terre

Crazy Thanks for the advice! I never have issues with that, so it's good to get the reminder to be vigilant about fiber, exercise, etc.
........I also read something about Gatorade - can someone tell me what that was all about? Is it for a certain med?

Hey, I was never constipated in my LIFE until I started fertility treatments, and then it got so bad I couldn't even believe what was happening to me. And then the nurses said "oh ya, that's common". Which is why it's my goal in life to warn y'all.

The Gatorade is to help prevent OHSS, so lots of women start drinking on or before ER (egg retrieval). OHSS is nasty (more nasty than Gatorade, so it's worth it!)

[5terre]

Crazy Gatorade is made with corn syrup, is there another option? Is it the electrolytes you need?

Day 1 of Lupron, not looking forward to feeling crabby and gaining weight for no good reason.

[gemasita]

5terre - I think the electrolytes are what help so you should be able to do anything with electrolytes. I think Recharge can be found at natural food stores and is a little more healthy. I also have some Emergen-C but it's hard for me to tell how many electrolytes it has in in.

Good luck with the Lupron. The injections have always been pretty easy for us (actually, the PIO shots are less painful than that SC shots to me). I don't ice the area or do anything special. The main thing is that the Lupron made me feel CRAZY. It got worse as the days went on but at least I knew why I was feeling crazy and that it would end soon. I didn't have that problem on any of the other meds - just Lupron.

Crazy - thanks for the tip. I also haven't had issues in the past, even during prior IVFs but I will keep watch and do all the stuff to prevent it anyway!

Seedlings - yes, I guess that is the big question - was the MTHFR the reason for the embryos not implanting or was it just chance? I was tested by another doctor for all immune issues that can be treated. I do have anti-thyroid antibodies (that's what Hashimoto's is) and last time, was treated by steriods (which SUCKED) but this time, my cycle doesn't include steriods. I may check with my current dr on why. I don't know if steriods are actually a good treatment - I've heard some other doctors say they are not (I've had a LOT of consults!).

Megin and Katie - welcome! Have they done a recurrend pregnancy loss workup on you guys?

AFM - got my meds int he mail yesterday morning. Except the PIO because I'm checking with the dr on which is better - the shots or suppositories. I still don't start Lupron for another week...

[crazyrunningmama]

Originally Posted by 5terre

Crazy Gatorade is made with corn syrup, is there another option? Is it the electrolytes you need?

Day 1 of Lupron, not looking forward to feeling crabby and gaining weight for no good reason.

Yes, it's for electrolyte replacement. As your ER nears, talk to your clinic about what they recommend and maybe research some more natural remedies (ie. when I was in labour with dd, I had homemade "labourade" made out of purified water, unpasteurized honey, fresh lemon juice and crushed calcuim/magnesium tablets). Something like honey, salt and lemon might be just as good. I used Synarel, which has the same effects as Lupron the best way to describe how it made me feel was "un-grounded". Like totally not myself, out there, with no anchor. And super bitchy, poor dh. I didn't gain weight, though. Take it easy on yourself.

[5terre]

Question, if anyone knows: I started Lupron yesterday, already had spotting, now it's more than spotting but not full flow yet (short cycles have been typical for me lately). If I end up being CD1 today or tomorrow, will I be starting the stims soon, or will they keep me on Lupron for a while to be sure I am suppressed? Thanks!

[Seedlings]

I just looked at one of my cycles so maybe this will help. I started with 10 units of Lupron, 6 days later I stopped bcp's (re has everyone on to do er and et in a set time frame). Then I started stims 5 days after stopping bcp's.

Are you not taking bcp's? I did find this about "The most commonly used ovarian stimulation protocols for IVF are" Protocols

Hth's

[5terre]

Thanks, seedlings, I'm familiar with that site and just looked at it again. No, I'm not on BCP. I'm on 10U of Lupron. So maybe it's something like 10 days, then start stims. Since Lupron actually increases FSH/LH at first, I guess I can answer my own question that obviously they won't have me start stimming right away, until the levels are down.

So far so good, only 2 days but I don't have any hot flashes yet. Although yesterday I felt a little spacey, more calm/lazy than my usual high energy. I do have little bruises at the injection sites, I was surprised by that.

[poetgirl]

Originally Posted by Seedlings

Poetgirl ~ I have been checking in on you in the summer ivf group and I am praying for you as you have been enduring a lot. I hope your feeling better and your progesterone # is great. Enjoy your accupuncture.

Thanks Seedlings. This was so kind. I am feeling much better now.
I hope the best for you this cycle, abundance, ease, stickiness. You so deserve it.

I am hoping have some good news soon. I have had a lot of really positive signs and upon caving, yesterday got a faint line on an internet cheapie (11dp ER, 13 dp trig shot) and today the line was faint still but darker than yesterday. Both showed within 5 min. Still, I know you need the beta, then the doubling of the second beta, then the heartbeat. But...cautiously encouraged.

Gema, I decided the PIO shots just pushed us over the edge last time, so we went for the supp. My progesterone is normally low but so far so good. I use 3 supp, each 8 hrs apart, and it truly is nice to be done with shots after ER.