Fall IVF: beautiful fall leaves bringing beautiful summer babies!! - Page 20

[shesaidboom]

silverbird - That's a good way to get through the jealousy. I'll have to try that. I understand the funny feelings, it's so hard, isn't it? Thanks for the good thoughts!

bucketofrain - No ideas for you, but hopefully it isn't a big deal. I hate all the monitoring too. Hopefully it'll end in a nice BFP for you though!

Shell - welcome! We are doing ICSI with assisted hatching if needed, but different meds. I hope everything works out well for you!

vireoes - Oh, the waiting! I'm sending lots of good vibes your way.
 

We're at a clinic with about 7 or 8 REs and about half are female. Our previous RE was female too, but she was older and had actually gone through treatments herself to have her sons. What you said about modesty is absolutely true. I think there is only one doctor left in that clinic who hasn't seen my vagina! For IUIs we don't necessarily get our own RE and we've done 5 with two treatments all but one cycle. I used to be horribly shy, like I was one of those teenagers who put off having a pelvic exam because I was horrified at the thought of a doctor seeing me naked. After all of this? I just don't even care anymore. I guess the one positive for all of us is that by the time we have our babies we won't care about baring it all.

What I am worried about now..this cycle not working and our RE going on mat leave. In Canada mat leave is a YEAR, which is awesome, but I don't want to have to get used to a new RE again. Both DH and I have trust issues after our awful experience with our first and it took us a while to trust this one. DH still has problems trusting her even months later. Selfish, I know, but I really don't want to deal with that again.

[rcr]

Bucket - I don't think that the changing menipur dose is anything to worry about. It is a good thing that your RE is keeping close track of things, and an personalapproach is really good too.

Shesaid - glad you are feeling positive.  My RE was a female before she switched. She has one child with her own eggs through IVF, and twins through donor eggs. She was very open about her feelings about it all - especially donor eggs. I liked that a lot about her. But i would be a little weirded out if she were pregnant the natural way.  But I hope this works out so that you won't have to deal with another RE when she leaves.

Welcome Shell - do you want a blurb on the first page? What should it say? We are doing ICSI and maybe assisted hatching, and I have been on some of those meds, but not exactly that protocol.

AFM - Thanks for the nice thoughts about my mom. She is back in the hospital, but doing better. I think that the nursing home is going to keep her. When the called me freaking out about her, it turns out she had not even had her meds in 12 hours because their pharmacy hadn't come yet... so.... she was pretty crazy. She is on some pretty hefty antipsychotics. She calmed down, and so did they. I thought that they should have appologized, but they didn't. But whatever. Hopefully she will be out of the hospital and will be back in the nursing home and relitively stable soon.

[nievesstevens]

Shesaid: it's funny, I was just commenting to my husband that after all these treatments, procedures and u/s, it's going to be a Pavlovian response to pass a table with stirrups and undress from the waist down and hop on those bad boys! All while whistling "back in the saddle again..." yeah, modesty pretty much flies out the window.
It's great reading so many great progress reports, successful ER's and ET's.
AFM: we were thankfully spared the brunt of Sandy in central CT but the coast was slammed hard. And as a native NY'er my heart is torn to bits with all the wreckage. I and to do a news intervention on myself.
We had our iui Wednesday after triggering Monday and they wanted me on Crinone instead of the PIO we had for the IVF so they ordered it from Freedom Pharmacy for delivery Thursday by noon to start It Friday morning. 12:30, no package, tracking has it having left Newark. Now mind you. We live 2.5 hours north of Fredoom's facility in Peabody, MA. I call FedEx. I expressed my understanding of how hard a time it is and after much back and forth and my stressing this was medication, not a pair of shoes, they opened a case number. I get a call. My package is still in Newark, it will be there by the morning. It is 3:30 by now so I scramble to call the clinic office which closes at 4. It's basically went like this: ZOMG! My package is lost!!! What do I DO?? HALP! Use the PIO you already have, just a 1/2 cc. Ok, whew. One butt shot the next morning, we were good to go and my delivery arrived at 10 am or so. Also! My phlebotomist (who has done IVF) recommended having DH sitting in a chair and me standing so that the injection site is at eye level. She also recommended firm massaging after to distribute the PIO and avoid welts or sore spots. Worked like a charm.

[Sourire]

indie - I'm glad you appreciated the article... yep I'm on estrogen pills, Estrace to be exact.

toothfairy - wow that is insane about all the cysts and the endometriomas. I'm so sorry you have to go through this and deal with more delays! I was really looking forward to cycling at the same time as you! Were you taking any medications in your last cycle that could explain that crazy number of cysts?

Silver - I think that is a WONDERFUL reason to cancel a treatment!!! I hope this new adventure has a very happy ending for you!

blue - how did you go about telling people about the infertility stuff when you announced your pregnancy? I would like to do something similar. My injection training went great and the nurse really made all the mixing seem easier than I thought it would be! My husband is also very confident with this type of stuff since he's a pharmacist and is used to mixing meds, so that helps. He was very impressed by the Q-caps though, he says they are much more user friendly than the way he has to do stuff. Now I'm excited for the injections to start!

Bucket - wow IVF with no power sounds like quite the adventure. Mixing shots by candlelight sounds so weird! If they are upping your Menopur I'm guessing it's to make more follicles grow... from what I hear they are always fine tuning the doses based on your response so I wouldn't worry about it!

shesaidboom - I'm expecting AF on the 6th or 7th too so it sounds like we will be following each other pretty closely. I'm glad! And yes, it sure feels good to get started. I will be even more excited when I start the injections. I'm really happy the Lupron is tolerable for you after that horrible BCP experience you had! I hear you on the pregnant RE... one of the RE's at my clinic is pregnant too and I've had her a few times for u/s or IUI. Luckily she is super nice which makes it a bit easier.

shell - welcome! Your protocol sounds almost identical to mine! I'm also on Estrace 2mg twice a day, and as soon as AF comes I'll be starting Follistim and Menopur. I'm also taking Ganirelix starting on day 6 of stims, are you doing that as well? I'm on 150iu Follistim and 75iu Menopur which are super low doses because I am a very high responder, I'm guessing your doses are probably a bit higher than mine! I'm not doing ICSI or assisted hatching though.

vireoes - I hope this one snuggles up really tight inside you! Did you find out if the other embryos made it to freeze?

rcr - I hope everything works out with your mom.

nieves - lol about the Pavlovian response! Those are some good tips about the PIO, I will try to remember them for when I get there in a few weeks.

AFM - I've been taking the Estrace since last Tuesday. I wasn't expecting any side effects but I've been having some mood swings, especially when I'm hungry (which is all the time). Thursday I felt like crying almost the whole day. I guess I'll just have to eat more often! Tomorrow I'm starting at my new job and I will have to have the IVF talk with my new boss, I hope he will be flexible with time off and stuff. AF should be here sometime in the next few days and then I should be starting the injections a day or two later. I can't wait!

[vireoes]

nievesstevens-wow I am glad your package arrived and only a little late.  Not the kind of last minute surprise you want during a  cycle.

sourire-good luck with the new job.  Pack lots of snacks. :) Hopefully the moods swings will abate, it seems this process makes you moody even when the medication doesn't.  No nothing to freeze so hoping for the best.

[Kewpie80]

Shell - I was on a somewhat similar protocol with my 2 cycles.  I was on an antagonist protocol with ICSI, follistim, but we used ganirelix as the antagonist. From what I've been told, it produces fewer eggs, but they are very high quality.  First cycle we got 4 eggs and 3 fertilized and I got a BFP.  We transferred 2.  The 3rd blast didn't make it to freezing and we miscarried the one that took.

Second cycle we got 4 eggs, 4 fertilized and we got our twins with 2 frozen.

Good luck!

[rcr]

Hi All:

Just popping in to say hi. Not a lot of activity here lately.

AND!! I start Lupron tomorrow!!! Yay!!!

[auraleigh]

rcr, yay for lupron!!!  isn't it funny to be excited over something like that?  i am getting antsy for your trip, so exciting! will you be staying in the same hotel as last time? any adventures planned this time?

[rcr]

Aura - yea, we will be staying at the same hotel. We are staying at the extended stay hotel. It is a little more expensive than hotels on the strop (which are really cheap), but it has a full kitchen, and since we will be there for 2 weeks, we can't afford to eat out for every meal, so it will save us money. I still have to find a few fin things to do - last time we went on the grand canyon railroad, which DS loved! I have the whole week of Thanksgiving off, so I plan to plan a few things that week. I am also staying a little longer. DS and DH are leaving about three days before me, so I can stay laying down in the hotel. Also, DS has a music performance the day that he returns, so I sent them back early so that he wouldn't miss it.

[Sourire]

AF showed up yesterday for me so I start stimming tomorrow! I told my new boss about the IVF on Monday and he was super nice about it, he says his brother and SIL did IVF a few times so he was kind of familiar with the process.

[TenzinsMama]

Just popping on here to say YAY for Lupron for RCR, and AF for Sourire!  Exciting!

[toothfairy2be]

Yay for AF Sourire! Only a month to go now, right? So exciting!

RCR- Sounds like things are happening fast for you too! 

AFM- not much going on here. just hoping for a good ultrasound and no cysts in 2 weeks.

[BucketOfRain]

Vireoes: thinking of you and hope you are Feeling good after ET!

Shesaid: jeez I hope you don't have to switch re again. I am in a totally different boat in that my re's office consists of exactly 1 doctor. If she goes out of town or whatever there is no one else...i go back on forth on liking the personal approach there and wishing there was someone to fill in for her...

Rcr: glad to hear your mom is on a path to recovery(whatever that may be) and that you are Starting your lupron!!

Nieve: Yikes, that's a crazy med story!

Sourie: Yay for starting stims!! I am really excited for you!

Afm: 10 days of menopour/bravelle shots, 5 days of garinellix are done...tonight 1 more round of menopour/bravelle and then at 12:30 I trigger!!! ER is scheduled for Saturday at 11:30:) as of yesterday my RE thinks there should be around 8-10 good eggs...I'm so excited and yet absolutely petrified that this won't work either...trying to find/keep some
faith:)

[rcr]

Sourire - YAY for AF! Glad to have a cycle buddy!

toothfairy -  I am keeping my fingers crossed for you that you won't have any cysts.

Bucket - I think Sat. will be a lucky day for you.

[rcr]

Well I finally started. just a tiny bit of lupron today (10 units). Plus dexam. and a BCP. I do that until tuesday, when I stop BCP and start gannirelix.  I am super sleepy because DS peed the bed at 4 am and I couldn't get to sleep afterward.

[DaisyMae08]

Sounds like a few people are on their way!

Good luck with your retrieval, bucketsofrain. And tooth fairy, fingers crossed for no cysts!

AFM, I had my ultrasound today. Strong heartbeat and baby is measuring right on (7 weeks, 1 day). They gave me a due date of June 27. I'm feeling better after our appointment, so I guess I can be moved to graduates now.

[vireoes]

Good luck tomorrow buckets.  Sounds like you have a decent number of eggs cooking.  Fingers crossed for you.

Sourire-so nice when AF arriving is a good thing for a change.  I hope the stims go great.

Daisy-Glad to hear things are going well, enjoy the ride as best you can.

Not much new for me.  One more week to wait for my beta.

[shesaidboom]

rcr - thanks, I hope so too!
I'm glad your mom is doing better after that awful situation!

nievesstevens - What a mess! I'm glad everything worked out okay in the end. It seems after all we go through something like delivery of a medication should be easy.

sourire - I'm glad we're both following each other around the same time. We've done that a few times now! Now let's hope this is the one for both of us and we can follow each other through pregnancy. I'm glad your Boss was cool about everything.

Cait - I'm crossing my fingers for a good ultrasound for you.

Bucketofrain - I definitely see the positives and negatives of both. I liked being able to stay in the same clinic while switching doctors.
Good luck with your ER tomorrow! I'll be thinking of you.

DaisyMae - congrats to moving to graduates!

AFM, had my "day 0" bloodwork/ultrasound done on Tuesday morning and everything was looking good. 13 follicles on each side. I started 250 units of Gonal-F on Wednesday night. So far so good. Not many side effects, but I just noticed a burst blood vessel in my eye. Has anyone ever had something like that from fertility meds? I have no idea how it happened. Probably completely unrelated. Other than that I'm just feeling kind of blah and headachey. I go in tomorrow morning for monitoring and will see how everything is going. I was told the Lupron would bring on a period, but I haven't had a real period, just heavy-ish spotting. I'm going to talk to the nurse tomorrow to see if that's normal. I really hope everything is progressing well because I do not want this cycle cancelled. Sending good thoughts to everyone! How are my cycle buddies doing? 

[Sourire]

Daisy - I'm so happy for you! Yay for another IVF grad!

Bucket - thinking of you this morning. I hope everything goes smoothly and you end up with more eggs than egg-spected! (I know that was lame).

Rcr - Yay to starting!

vireoes - sounds like you are in the hardest phase! Are you planning on testing at home sometime?

Shesaidboom - I hear you on feeling blah and headachey. I've also had some mild nausea mixed in with that too but maybe my side effects will change now that I've switched from Estrace to Follistim + Menopur. Keep us posted on how the first monitoring appointment goes! Mine isn't until Wednesday.

AFM - Did my first two injections of stims last night. The Follistim was a piece of cake because it's so easy to dial the dose on the pen and I'm used to all that from my IUIs. The Menopur was another story. I didn't take any notes when I had the training session because I figured there would be detailed step-by-step instructions in the box like there are for Follistim. Well the instructions in the box were not detailed at all and didn't say anything about the Q-caps. DH and I kind of panicked because we didn't remember everything the nurse said and there were some things we remembered differently! Well we kind of muddled our way through the process, and then afterward I realized there are super detailed instruction videos on the website of the company that makes the Menopur so we watched those and hopefully we will get everything right tonight! Also I found that the Menopur injection hurt a little more than Follistim but I don't have bruises on either of the injection sites this morning so that's good. I have a feeling I'm going to run out of injection sites before I'm done, I'm doing 2 injections a day now, 3 starting next Wednesday when I add the Ganirelix, and 4 on the day of my trigger! If I stim for 10 days that is a total of 26 separate injections!

[BucketOfRain]

Vieroes: what are you doing to stay sane while you wait? Are you testing early or waiting for beta?

Daisy: So exciting!!

Shesaid: I have no clue about the blood vessel, I hope it goes away and you have no other weird side effects. Was monitoring today, Saturday, or is it Sunday?

Sourie: The first night we were in a bit of a tizzy with the meds as well and couldn't remember all of the exact instructions, it gets a lot easier with each night that passes

ER done!! They got 14 eggs...I have no idea of size etc. and I expect some were not all that great in size because I was only eggspecting (thanks for that one sourie, haha!) 7 or 8 based on my last us. I don tknow where those extras came from:) the procedure was pretty standard, but I was super cold when I woke up...a tip for you ladies with this ahead of you, bring a comfy sweatshirt or something because I just wanted to cozy up in something warm and I had nothing but a light jacket. W expect the fertilization report tomorrow, not sure yet when et will happen!