Winter IVF Thread : Bring on the BFPs! - Page 2

[rcr]

Silver - I will pm you about the circle bloom audio. No, it doensn't say anything about a partner, from what I remember. I like it a lot, actually. It is all about the egg, baby, and you. It is basically a relixation CD more than anything.

[deborahbgkelly]

Blue- I sure hope you're right! I've had some major mood swings today too, but that could happen either way :-).

[deborahbgkelly]

In terms of another RE, yes, there are two other doctors in the clinic and we have CCRM.

[BellyBean]

Deborah, that is a difficult situation.  I can imagine that really freaked your RE out.  I still think you have a great chance with this cycle working so there is no need to worry about it yet!!!  Sending lots of sticky vibes your way!   Can't wait for your beta Friday!

Silver, sorry you are still feeling a little down.  I know sometimes I get in a funk and it's hard to shake.   I hope you start feeling better soon.

Aura, I think you have a great chance this month!!!  A 7mm lining is a common measurement with lots of BFPs!! 

AFM, my clinic called extra early today!!!  Maybe because I asked if the equipment was being serviced again this week :)  Well, my beta was 4713, a doubling time of 49 hours (at this stage with DD it was 52) so that was fantastic news!!!  My numbers are still a little higher than with DD so I don't know if it is a single that implanted a little earlier or maybe twins a little later?!?  I am still thinking just one, but maybe that's wishful thinking :)  I go back in ONE week for my ultrasound and more blood work...if I don't die from anxiousness first!!!! 

[julieven]

Blue - The crystal ball would sure be nice!

Belly - Since I have no experience with beta comparing, is it usually similar between singleton pregnancies? Like whatever numbers you had with your successful cycle with your daughter would be similar to this BFP?

Laggie - I had a hard time feeling involved in the FET too. I thought it was because compared to IVF it was really not much to schedule/do, KWIM?

Rena, Silver, Blue, and whoever else asked, AFM - nothing. We are done with treatments and leaving another child up to fate. I just can't do it anymore and I need to move on and focus on the family I have. If we get lucky on our own I will be thrilled, but I can't intentionally choose to repeat the last two years. I don't regret doing it, but I need to stop.

[Vegan Princess]

I forgot who asked me about the wheatgrass. I buy pallets of wheatgrass at the grocery store and put it in my juice (I have a method that doesn't require a juicer). I also go to jamba a lot. I got $50 worth of gift cards for jamba for $40 (20% off) at costco. And when I don't manage either, I take capsules with it in it. 

Deborah: Do you mind me asking why your RE is anti retreival for you? I am open to donor eggs if the one cycle with OE doesn't work. I'm picking donors and getting on lists now, just in case. Hoping you're prego right now!!!

Silver: I don't know you or your story but I want to offer hugs. I can only guess what you've been through. I'm sorry you had a panic attack. They are truly awful!!

Well yesterday I had a melt down bc my clinic called and told me they mistakenly cancelled my consult for tomorrow! And I made the appt 2 months ago! I was thinking they woulnd't be able to get me in again until after my cycle is supposed to start. Thankfully they called this morning and said my doc agreed to stay late tomorrow. I have my consult with a clinic 2 hours away in about 2 hours (phone). They are a cheaper and have a high success rate. They also have a great donor egg program. And I also just want a 2nd opinion about protocols, etc. 

Ugh, the whole appt thing made me totally bawl and cry to DH about the stress of all this and how I'm just sick of arranging all this stuff and going through all this crap. I finally just went to bed at 8. I felt so much better this morning, even before my clinic called to tell me they fit me in.

Cindy

[blueyezz4]

Belly - for another awesome beta!!!!!!!  Can't wait until your u/s.  Can you tell me more about what your protocol was that they had you on for this last FET that worked. Sorry if you already told us but i need a re-cap.

Julie - I hope all goes well with your plans and that you will be surprised with a free baby one of these days!!!  Make sure you stick around and pop your head in now and then too. 

Vegan princess - it was me asking about the wheat germ.  Thanks.  Do you know if you can still take it even when you are pregnant?  I can't believe they cancelled your appt and then got you in on the same day.  Sounds kinda odd.  I had a Dr. call once and cancel a appt like a month in advance saying that the dr had an emergency.  That sounded even more fishy to me that he knew he was going to have an emergency a month later. (unless it was like a family member scheduled for surgery or something, then I could understand.)

[Vegan Princess]

Blue: They realized yesterday that the front desk lady cancelled it during my last IUI cycle. I know when it happened - I specifically told her not to and she did anyway. My coordinator just realized it yesterday - and they had already given away my appt time a couple weeks ago. So glad they fixxed it!! As for wheat grass while prego. Absolutely! It is so healthy for you! That said, I tried to drink it while I was pregnant with my daughter and it made me feel ill and like I was going to puke. So it was a nice thought but I couldn't stomach much of it. Perhaps the pills would sit better on a pregnant belly (and I didn't have morning sickness - but your stomach gets sensitive and digestion slows and you get indigestion easily). 

[BellyBean]

Vegan, that's great they were able to get you in since it was their mistake.  We got our first appt with the new RE because someone cancelled otherwise if we hadn't got in right away, I wouldn't have been able to start my drugs at the beginning of my cycle and it would have cost me a whole extra 30+ days!  Yay for getting started!

Blue, here was my protocol this time:

Baby Asprin started during AF and haven't stopped

BCP start 9/8 end 9/23

Lupron start while on BCP 9/19 end 10/21

Doxycycline start 9/19 end 9/28

Delestrogen start 10/3, still taking every Monday and Friday

PIO start 10/22, (still taking but changed to oral progesterone after positive beta since I was having a slight reaction)

Medrol and Doxycycline start 10/23 end 10/28

Edometrin start 11/8 (after positive beta)

My old FET's were just estrace and a progesterone suppository (not endometrim), so this was a HUGE difference for me :)

Julie,  I really really really hope you get a surprise BFP!!  I know what you mean about moving on, after this year of constant treatments I felt like I had missed "enjoying" my life because I was always looking towards the next cycle, then so disappointed when it was a BFN. 

I am not sure if betas can be compared with each pregnancy.  I tried to find information online but couldn't find anything.  I did see a story about a lady that had beta's like mine and it was twins, then she did a FET and her beta's were half of her fresh cycle so she assumed it was a singleton, but it was twins too!  Here are all of my numbers with DD and this one...it seems like they are just a hair higher.  But since there is no way to tell the exact day/time of implantation, I think I'll have to wait to find out for sure next week.

DD

7dp5dt: 44

9dp5dt: 164

17dp5dt: 2158

This time:

10dp5dt: 208

12dp5dt: 454

19dp5dt: 4713

AFM, still feeling pretty good about my beta today.  I know it will wear off soon and I'll start worrying about the u/s next week, but for now I am trying to enjoy the moment and how far we have made it this time.

[Vegan Princess]

Belly: Awesome betas! 

AFM: Had my phone consult with the doctor 2 hours away. We would do estrogen priming before I get my period, then a combo of letrozole (femara) followed by gonal-f injections and an antagonist. Probably also vaginal suppositories of estrogen to thicken the lining after I finish taking the femara. He said the drug cost is a lot lower doing the mix. He thinks it would work well bc I respond so well to letrozole alone. I would also need less monitoring visits - which keeps the cost down as well if I need to pay for that to be done here instead of driving 2 hours each way. I'll get all the financial info for my specific case tomorrow (I hope). But I think it's 3k cheaper and they have a high success rate. I meet with my own doc tomorrow and then I'll have to decide which clinic to use. Tough to decide. Did any of of you have to choose between multiple clinics? If so, how did you decide??

Cindy

[blueyezz4]

Vegan P. -  We did some research online to find our best options for our IVF.  We were looking for a place that had good stats and a decent price.  We ended up finding a place that was 4 1/2 -5 hrs away from, but thankfully we have an Aunt that lives in that area so that helps a ton.  I did all of my monitoring in my city and then they would just fax the info to my RE and then I just had to go there for the ER and the ET so it wasn't too bad.  Also, my RE does a 2 day transfer so that helped our cause too.  On the fall thread there is a link to a lot of different RE's practices that you can look at.  I forget if Belly posted it or who it was but it was towards the end of the thread i think.  I think we looked at 2 IVF places here in town and then looked into 2 places out of state.  We found that if you go with a place that is located in a hospital it will be much more expensive than a private facility that only does ART procedures.  That is my 2 cents.  B/c we were paying out of pocket cost was a big issues for us.

 Belly -  thanks for sharing your protocol!!!  I have some questions, so bear with me.  When was your transfer date? I also thought it was interesting that they had you on BCP and antibiotic twice throughout this cycle.  Do they have you on both Progesterone and Edometrin right now?  Can I ask what kind of reaction you had to the PIO?  I'm actually thinking of going back to it instead of the Crinone vag. gel this next time.  I'm really kinda bummed about it b/c I loved the gel and it was so much easier than the PIO and so much less painful, but we did get pregnant that first time with it so I think since this is my "Go Big and Go Home Transfer" (I've name this cycle already since it is our last) I'm going to go back to it for good luck.  Wonder why they only had you taking the estrogen on monday and friday and not all week?  Do you know why?  Okay, hope i didn't annoy you with all my questions.  Thanks again for sharing.

AFM - still wondering where AF ran away to? Sure hope it was some tropical island and I sure wish I could have gone with her.  Anyone remember how long after your BFN and being on progesterone that AF showed up for you?  It was never this long for me (all of these last 4 times), but I've never been on a double dose of it either.  Normally it doesn't affect me at al,l so this is really weird.  In some ways it is good b/c the longer she stays away then I won't have to start Lupron until CD 21 which i think is better and it doesn't change my transfer date at all.  Initially the nurse said if she showed up yesterday or today (wed) that i'd start lupron this week, but if she was later then I'd probably start on CD 21 which sounds better to me, but I'm not the dr so i'll do whatever they say.  Who knows?!?!?!?!

[Montessortof]

Hi all,

I was lurking for a while last month and posted once or twice, but then life got insanely busy and I was out for a while. But now I'm ready to jump in for real! I am doing my first IVF cycle this month, and am very hopeful for beginner's luck. I started Lupron a bit over a week ago, and my baseline ultrasound is tomorrow so I'll be on stims within a day or two. Retrieval and transfer should be the week after Thanksgiving.

Good luck everyone!

Tess

[BellyBean]

Vegan, we had 3 clinics to choose between when we did our IVF in 2009.  We looked at the IVF stats (sart.org), and 2 were pretty close so we went with the less expensive option.  And lucky us, it worked on our first try.  However, the part I didn't pay enough attention to was their FET success rates.  There was a HUGE difference I wish I would have noticed since I spent the whole last year doing transfers and then finally switching to the more expensive clinic with higher FET rates.  Vitrification was still "new" in 2009 and I didn't even know about it or what to ask, but the original clinic we went with slow froze our embryos instead of vitrified them (the clinic we are at now started vitrification in late 2007 which explains their high rates for so long).  

Welcome back montessortof!!!!  You are well on your way!  How exciting!!!

Blue, I love that it's a "go big or go home" cycle!!!   I transferred on 10/28.  Sorry I should have included that :)  Right now I am on oral progesterone 200mg 2xday and endometrim 3x day.  If I had stayed on the PEO, it would have been 1ml of that plus the endometrim 3xday.  My clinic uses progesterone in ethyl oleate instead of "in oil".  It is thinner, so easier to inject.  I only had problems on my right cheek.  It would burn really bad going in and then immediately cramp and hurt really bad (felt like I got kicked by a horse) and stayed like that for several hours.  We moved my shot location several times but nothing helped.  They weren't sure if it was hitting a nerve or if it was an allergic reaction and they didn't want me to get a fever.  I would have kept doing it, no matter how painful, if there was any risk of switching to oral, but they insisted on changing because of the fever risk.  Delestrogen (IM injections) are normally only twice per week.  I was always concerned it would make the levels inconsistent throughout the week, but that's the way it's always done I guess.  I started out at .2ml the first day, .25ml the second day, and then .3ml ever since.  It's absolutely amazing the difference it made for my lining!  For me, I think the thicker lining and hatching made a huge difference this cycle.  The embryo (with my thick zona) has to be able to get out, and it needs a receptive place to implant!  Also, doxy and medrol probably helped too, so my body didn't attack it.  Even the PEO before and after transfer until my beta might have helped.  I am just really happy with the protocol they put together for me.  It was so different from the past and it seemed to be extra aggressive with every aspect. 

[BellyBean]

Blue, I just re-read your questions.  I thought it was strange about being on the antibotics twice too!!  Also, I was only on BCP for the first 16 days (not twice), it just overlaped with the Lupron.  I might have misread that part of your post, but I wanted to clarify.

[blueyezz4]

Montessortof - good to see you back again and I'm glad things are getting started for you!!!  Let us know how your baseline goes.

Belly - thanks for the info.  Actually it's my "Go Big AND Go Home" cycle. I think we are going to go big (3 egg transfer if they all make it and then we will go home).  Wow, that doesn't sound very fun at all with that reaction from the shots.  Glad they were able to change that for you.

[deborahbgkelly]

Vegan Princess- I ended up in the emergency room when I had my ER done. I vomited in the middle of the procedure and aspirated (choked on it). I would also be freaked out, but I think not being willing to do an ER is a bit drastic. There was a possibility of her being willing to do it in a hospital, but she wasn't even real comfortable with that. Hopefully we won't even have to think about it. Still no sign of AF, not even spotting and I am definitely forgetful, so I'm hoping those are good signs.

[deborahbgkelly]

I should say, even more forgetful than usual.

[Vegan Princess]

Deborah: How scary! Was it the twilight sleep? Could they do it at a hospital and put you all the way under and intubate you? Eeck. I do agree - praying you don't have to think about that again!!!

Belly: Interesting idea to look at FET rates. Though I do know both clinics use vitrification now and the guy today even said their FET success rates have gone up lately bc of it. I guess my only uncertaintly is about having to do monitoring here and pay extra. If it's a decent amount of monitoring, it sort of eats up half the savings. But if I do this protocol that doesn't require as much monitoring, then it seems more worthwhile to do the out of town one. Since 2 hours isn't a horrid drive. I guess I'll see how tomorrow goes and see what the actual cost savings is. 

Montessortof: I love your name! LOL. Good luck this month! I'll be watching you closesly. I'm not cycling until January. Hope your ultrasound goes well tomorrow!

I counted up all the meds I'll be on. I'm already taking my antibiotic now (as is DH). But I'll take at least 6 meds during my actual cycle. This stuff is insane!

Cindy

[renavoo]

Vegan, I did the same thing as Blue in that I went to an out of town clinic. I'm based in NYC so I guess it was odd for me to do that since there are such great clinics in NY but we went on the recommendation of a friend and really, the clinic I went to had a guarantee program so that I had to pay a little more but I would have been able to do 6 IVFs if I needed to, in order to bring home a baby. obviously, i'm ecstatic about how it turned out but I wouldn't do it again if I was going to go through IVF again. The cost of the travel and hotel rooms was pretty high (lucky Blue!) and being stuck in a hotel room for about 12 days really made me crazy!! I also did the monitoring in NYC but luckily my insurance, for some reason, covered the monitoring so I didn't have to pay extra. However, if I did, I would have definitely stayed in NYC! My clinic was 5 hours away too so it was a trek. However, as you said, 2 hours doesn't seem that far away. I think you should try to see if your doctor here will do the protocol too though for a competitive price (as long as him stats are competitive too!) so you forgo the extra stress of the travel. However, whatever you choose, I'm sure hopeful that it brings you success!!! (By the way, ugh about the drama at your clinic...I'm glad they fixed it or I would be steaming mad for you!!)

Deborah, One more day!! Good luck!!

Blue, Go Big And Go Home, huh? Well, this is the cycle because your baby wants to come home!! I definitely think that Belly's regimen sounds amazing (difficult but amazing...I think her RE covered ALL the bases- TWICE.) so I'm glad that you got a regimen that is similar. It sucks that you have to go back on the shots though :o( ugh. But i do have friends that very much preferred the shots to the suppositories so I'm hoping that if you get the PEO like Belly and it is easier to inject that you will be better about it. Let us know what your doctor does! And, AF stay away (until right before the 21st, that is!) haha. I usually bled around 5-6 days after the drug withdrawal after the 3rd time I started using progesterone suppositories. It freaked me out because the first two times, i bled like clockwork 3 days after. I had no idea why I wasn't bleeding! But it eventually came! By the way, I, like Belly, am a huge proponent of the assisted hatching. One of the little embies they transferred looked a little "young" to me for a 5 day blast and I wasn't sure that it would have been able to do well on its own, without the hatching.

Monte, Yah for getting started! Good luck and we're looking forward to supporting you through your process!!

RCR hope all your traveling is going well!

And hi to other ladies...I hope everyone is doing well! The weekend is almost here so hopefully, people will be relaxing soon. :o)

Belly, YAH for an excellent beta!! haha maybe you have twins in there too! What day post transfer was it? I mean, my hcg levels were around 4800 or so around 14 days post transfer so what 19 days into it?

Julie, it's a great choice because sometimes you just need to know when to move on. I'm happy you're at peace and I hope that you check in (Especially when you get your BFP!!!) :o)

[deborahbgkelly]

It was twilight sleep- Versed. I think going all the way under and intubating may be worse. Last time I was intubated, I woke up in an asthma attack. No idea what to do. I think, really, all they would have to do to prevent the vomiting and, therefore, the aspirating, is give me a glucose drip. My blood sugar was low. On a separate note, really annoyed with a colleague/friend. I'm sure she doesn't mean to be a know-it-all or whatever, but it comes out that way. She told me to "try not to think about the cramping and other symptoms ". Seriously? How the hell can I not. It hurts and stops me in my tracks. I do think I figured out why it's so bad, though. I'm on both progesterone and estrogen and I have Endometriosis. The combination is not so good.