Fall IVF Support Thread - Page 32

[songtothemoon]

MAURINE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wow! What a miracle! What a rollercoaster ride (there should be  a smiley for that)! Your news just brought tears to my eyes.

Congratulations!!!

Here's to the next 32 weeks being smooth sailing!

Grow, bean, grow!

[SimplyRochelle]

Oh Maurine!!! I'm sitting here crying the happiest tears for you and your family! What a wonderful gift to be given right before Christmas!!

[Maurine]

Oh, ladies, thank you so much!  I do love MDC, and you all.    I am crying too (but different tears than this past week).  I just can't believe we have a little bean!  Blue, oh hon, I wanted both of us to have Christmas miracles... 

[Kewpie80]

I am SO glad to read this!  Congrats!!!!
 

Originally Posted by Maurine 

Oh, ladies, we're in shock (as are the doctors).  We have a fetus, and a heartbeat, and it's measuring perfect to the day....7w2d.  I am so overwhelmed.  I just can't believe it.  They said in a very rare few cases, like 5%, do they see this happen.  The nurse was like "you had an ultrasound only six days ago and there was nothing!?"  Anyway, we're so, so shocked!  And happy!  My emotions are just in a whirl right now (I had basically gone through a grieving period over the past week).  It's really a miracle.  Thank you, ladies, for being there with me through it.

Keria - ((hugs))  I am so sorry you're dealing with a yucky doctor.  I hope the clinic brings you success very, very soon!

Song - Wow, 7-10 embies!  :)

[ratgrl]

MAURINE! Could NOT have heard better news today. This is just wonderful, congratulations on your beautiful little bean.

Hello! I am not going through IVF personally, but I am wondering if anyone can tell me what is involved. (Someone close to me is going through it). How long does it take? Do you take hormones? What is the sucess rate? Thank you.

 

 

IVF is pretty involved. It depends on the type of cycle your friend is going through - there are fresh cycles, frozen cycles, donor cycles. The experience is a bit different depending.  The general outline is that first, they'll go through some diagnostics to determine the cause for the infertility. Then there's some baseline testing, followed by the cycle itself. For a fresh cycle (most likely if this is your friend's first time) she would take injectable hormones every day and go in for an ultrasound and bloodwork every other day. In the middle of the stimulation (called stim or stimming) a secondary drug to precent her from ovulating prematurely is added. This is also injectable, so she's up to two shots a day.

When the doctors determine that the follicles developing in her ovaries are as developed as they need to be they will have her do a trigger shot, this is a big bolus of HCG that causes her to ovulate. About 36 hours after that shot she'll go in for egg retrieval. This is a surgical procedure done under general anesthetic. They use a long needle to pierce the vaginal wall and suck out the eggs from their burst follicles. Your friend will have to be on modified bedrest for a day or two following this and may be sore or have a small amount of bleeding. The doctors will tell her at egg retrieval how many eggs were collected.

The following day she'll receive a fertilization report to let her know how many of the eggs fertilized and became embryos. Depending on her procotol, two or four days after this she'll have her embryo transfer done, putting back however many they have chosen to. In the meantime, the day after retrieval she'll start progesterone in oil injections. Those suckers hurt. After the embryo transfer she will again be on modified bedrest for a couple of days. About eleven days after the transfer she'll go in for a blood test to determine if the cycle was successful.

It's a lot to take in... if you have any other questions feel free to ask them here or send me a private message, I'd be happy to discuss it with you. It's sweet that you are trying to understand what she's going through... it's a LOT to take in.

[Kewpie80]

I have my 7 weeks u/s on monday.  I'm excited, but sooooo nervous.  I feel like it's all going to get taken away from me at any moment.  

[Maurine]

Originally Posted by Kewpie80 

I have my 7 weeks u/s on monday.  I'm excited, but sooooo nervous.  I feel like it's all going to get taken away from me at any moment.  

I know how you feel!  But you should be excited.  You have every reason to be!!

[blueyezz4]

Originally Posted by Kewpie80 

I have my 7 weeks u/s on monday.  I'm excited, but sooooo nervous.  I feel like it's all going to get taken away from me at any moment.  

Kewpie!!!!  Don't even say that.... your baby can hear you!!!  Everything will be fine... the power of positive thinking my friend!!  I haven't been on this journey nearly as long as you have, but I can understand why you would feel a little guarded.  Fingers crossed for you!!  Keep us posted.

[slylives]

Maurine

Miracles do happen!!!! I am so incredibly thrilled for you, I can't even say. Just know that your little one wants to be here!

[blueyezz4]

Well, I have one more U/S scheduled for Monday and then I have to figure out when to start taking the drug cytotec, that is, if there isn't a little miracle in there... it would totally be a miracle if there were. My RE's office likes you to have one last U/S before doing anything drastic, so I guess I'll torture myself again.   I've been feeling really nauseous lately... did you ladies go through that with your miscarriages?  Seems like the only thing that helps is if I eat.  My body can be so mean!! 

[songtothemoon]

Update:

We got bad news at our transfer today. PGD came back at the last minute and of 11 embryos, 0 were genetically sound. For what it's worth, our RE was absolutely shocked. In his words, he said he was blindsided and did not expect this at all.  

I've had one miscarriage and one chemical (and a few other suspected chemicals), so this may have been going on for longer than we ever suspected.

Now we pick up the pieces.

Our RE said we had a 15% chance of success at best with my eggs. It seems that my chromosomes are very sticky. 

I think we will do a second cycle at the end of January with my eggs, then go to donor eggs.

Our RE suggested donor eggs almost immediately today. He is not optimistic about our chances (without donor eggs).

DH and I are stunned and disappointed. I don't know what to do with myself right now--this was not in our plans.

We feel like we haven't even gotten the chance to play ball.

The silver lining is that my DH's brother has been through the donor egg process and can help show us the way, if need be. We have the same RE.

[blueyezz4]

Song- So sorry to hear about your bad news!  Here's hoping that it won't matter and  you will get a sticky one anyways!!!!  Fingers crossed for you.  I'm not too familiar with the PGD... is that the technical term for genetic testing.  How many did you end up transferring??

[songtothemoon]

Hi Blue -  Yes, PGD is Pre-Genetic Diagnosis. We didn't transfer any. There were none that were genetically sound. 

[Kewpie80]

Song: I'm so, so sorry. 

[blueyezz4]

Originally Posted by songtothemoon 

Hi Blue -  Yes, PGD is Pre-Genetic Diagnosis. We didn't transfer any. There were none that were genetically sound. 

Oh, I'm sorry!! I guess when I read your initial post I thought you did transfer some b/c you said something about doing a 2nd one in Jan.  I guess the only thing to come out of this is that you have more information, but that doesn't make the matter any easier.  Thinking of you!!  Take care!!

[Tear78]

song, I'm so sorry!    My thoughts are with you and your DH while you process this news. 

kewpie, good luck on Monday!

ratgrl, thank you for reaching out and explaining the IVF process. I was planning on doing that, but hadn't yet found the time.

blueyezz, sending you love and support today.  I hope that your nausea means that you have your little Christmas miracle inside.  I will hope for your little one!  Keep us posted on Monday! 

[Maurine]

Song - I am so, so sorry.  What terrible news for you and DH.  Well, 15% isn't zero, and that's something to work with, right?  I am sending you my thoughts and hopes at this tough time...

Kewpie - Good luck tomorrow!

Blue - thinking of you...miracles do happen!

[MOMTOALEXIS]

Song-So sorry to hear the disappointing news. Not sure if my story will help but figured I'd tell you. Our last cycle before this successful one ended up with no embryos to transfer. That had been our second failed cycle. Our problem was our embryos made multiple nuclei and wouldn't even make it to PGD.  Each cycle I would make over 20 eggs & all the embryos were deformed. This last cycle where we got our twins I had 26 eggs & only 3 were normal, we transferred all 3 and thank god got our twins.  Our Re suggested donor eggs immediatly after 2 failed IVF's & said my eggs looked bad, fragmented & dark whatever and dh would not pursue donor eggs. Embryologist actually told us she hadn't seen anything like our case in over 10 years & when I looked it up on line it was like 2% chance of that ever happening during IVF. So I took a couple months break & decided to switch to another Re & our first cycle with him worked. Our new Re was also shocked at what happened to all the other embryos. He said for our age & health we should of had like a 75% fertilization.  I'm only telling you all this to offer you hope, If you physically, emotionally, & financially can continue try  & do so, a lot of Re's love to throw out the donor egg thing & don't really offer much support but believe me I never ever thought it could happen with my eggs.  Just wanted to offer some of my story  & some hope.

[lesliesara63]

Originally Posted by blueyezz4 

Well, I have one more U/S scheduled for Monday and then I have to figure out when to start taking the drug cytotec, that is, if there isn't a little miracle in there... it would totally be a miracle if there were. My RE's office likes you to have one last U/S before doing anything drastic, so I guess I'll torture myself again.   I've been feeling really nauseous lately... did you ladies go through that with your miscarriages?  Seems like the only thing that helps is if I eat.  My body can be so mean!! 

I did continue to feel nauseous and tired, even as I was activley miscarrying. Its such a mean trick of mother nature. But the HCG hasn't gone down all the way so it continues to make you feel like crap until its gone. When I was pg in Sept and my HCG never went over 32 I still felt lousy. I hope things resolve for you soon. 

Originally Posted by songtothemoon 

Update:

We got bad news at our transfer today. PGD came back at the last minute and of 11 embryos, 0 were genetically sound. For what it's worth, our RE was absolutely shocked. In his words, he said he was blindsided and did not expect this at all.  

I've had one miscarriage and one chemical (and a few other suspected chemicals), so this may have been going on for longer than we ever suspected.

Now we pick up the pieces.

Our RE said we had a 15% chance of success at best with my eggs. It seems that my chromosomes are very sticky. 

I think we will do a second cycle at the end of January with my eggs, then go to donor eggs.

Our RE suggested donor eggs almost immediately today. He is not optimistic about our chances (without donor eggs).

DH and I are stunned and disappointed. I don't know what to do with myself right now--this was not in our plans.

We feel like we haven't even gotten the chance to play ball.

The silver lining is that my DH's brother has been through the donor egg process and can help show us the way, if need be. We have the same RE.

I am so sorry. I can't imagine how disappointed you both must be right now.

[Carlyle]

Just posting to say I'm thinking of you Song and Blue.