December IVF - Page 3

[gemasita]

marlee - I am glad you are settled. Let us know how retrieval went! I am doing acupuncture too.

ann - supeoned? Did I miss something? How are the stims going?

Perdita - thanks for the info on the stims!

As for me, stims are going well. DH is really good at the injections but we did have quite a bit of air in the Menopur last night, I think, because it stung SOOO bad when he injected it. The Follistim ALWAYS stings for like 5 minutes after he does the shot. We've got to figure out how to mix this Menopur without getting air in it.

I feel like I have had a permanent headache since the first day of stims and I am also very tired!

[ann109]

HI Jamie: I had problems with menopur and air, too. I only had to take it for two days, tho, so I didn't really find a solution. I have mild headaches as well.

Had first u/s today. RE said 6 or 7 on each ovary, but it is just the initial u/s to verify there are no dominant follicles.

This really isn't as bad as I thought it would be

Hope all is well~

[devilish_fetish]

Originally Posted by gemasita

As for me, stims are going well. DH is really good at the injections but we did have quite a bit of air in the Menopur last night, I think, because it stung SOOO bad when he injected it. The Follistim ALWAYS stings for like 5 minutes after he does the shot. We've got to figure out how to mix this Menopur without getting air in it.

I did ivf in oct and am 6weeks 6days pregnant with our 1st and 2nd baby. This is what I did to help. I put the water vial of menopur in the fridge for about 5 min and that took care of the sting for me. Also, to avoid getting that air bubble, pull the solution into the syringe slowly. The vacuum in the jar has a tendency to push liquid in first, but if you let it do that you'll have a huge air bubble you can't get out. You may have to push all the solution back into the jar and do it over a few times, but its worth it. I had the gonal-f pen, not follistim so I'm no help there. HTH!

Congrats on your ultrasound Ann! Any idea of ER/ET dates yet?

[gemasita]

devilish - thanks for the advice. So we should just pull slowly and keep doing it over if we get that huge air bubble? We always have the one big one and can't get it out. Last night was good but we had the air bubble again tonight and it hurt!

I had my first follie check today. I had a 15, 14, and 3 12's. They had me start Antagon tonight so now I have THREE shots a night! Ugh!

[ann109]

Hi all, hope everyone is doing well....

Jamie~you must be close to ER. How are you feeling?

Marlee: are you resting comfortably?

Not much new with me. Just stimming away! I am on 300(?) gonal-f and .05(?) Lupron. My belly is sore and puffy. I cannot go to the chiropractor anymore~the adjustments are too rough and I feel like I'm going to blow any ovary! Have decided not to do acupuncture~it would be a lot of extra work for me to coordinate, so I'm sticking with my crystals and energy healing and getting a few massages soon.

Anyone else have massive amounts of CM while stimming? I just have tons! Where was this when I needed it?

I have y second u/s and blood work tomorrow a.m. More to update then, I'm sure!

Have a great night!

[gemasita]

Ann - funny you should mention the CM. I wiped and had a huge GLOB today! I have always had lots of EWCM though so I am waiting to see if it turns to EW or stays thick and globby. I guess it should turn to EW?

I am stimming away too with the Follistim, Menopur, and now Antagon. Three shots per night. My ESTIMATED date of ER is Monday but who knows what it will actually end up being.

I do go to acupuncture today and have been listening to my anjionline.com relaxation CD. LOVE IT!

I have my second monitoring visit tomorrow morning too.

I am so tired but the headaches sort of went away.

[gemasita]

Went for my monitoring visit this morning. I had:

1 @ 18
1 @ 16.5
2 @ 16

And then a couple of smaller ones. Maybe 6-8 total.

So they are going to have me come in again tomorrow and they might have me trigger tomorrow night or possibly Saturday.

[ann109]

OMG!!! How exciting! Your little ovary is just working up a storm for you!!! Congrats!!!

I have way more follicles than I expected, 11 on each ovary all between 9-11 mm each. The re does not expect er to be until next Thursday or Friday. I go back in on Saturday for another u/s and blood work.

Can you believe we are here? I know you had to wait because of surgery....does it seem like it is going fast anyway?

Have a great day!!!

[gemasita]

It seems like it's going VERY fast. When they mentioned triggering tomorrow, I was like, "already??" I thought I was only half-way through stims at this point!

Yes, I am proud of my "little ovary that could!" The RE feels like he did the right thing by lowering my stims a little from his initial thought. He said that my low AMH was OBVIOUSLY just because I have one ovary, not because it's not working well. Yea!

Wow, your ovaries are working up quite a storm too! That is exciting!

[Perdita_in_Ontario]

How exciting for you guys... I like being able to follow others' processes before mine starts... even though I've done it before it's still nerve-wracking!

We had our scheduling appointment today and it looks like we're going to ER not before January 3, so I suppose I really should be in "January IVF" LOL. However, I'm here now...

Suprefact starts on the 9th... only a few more days of semi-sanity!

ann - you asked where I'm living - I'm near Ottawa :-)

[ann109]

Glad you're here, Perdita! Boy, you're barely in Ontario, aren't you?

Suprefact, is that a suppression medication? Well, at least you know what to expect!!!

Any other bits of advice or info you want to share with us? I am getting curious, now that we have eggs and a light at the end of the tunnel......

[devilish_fetish]

Gemasita- yeah, I don't miss the three a day shots! . WOOHOO for your ovary!

Nicole- You've got a great number of follies growing! You'll probably end up with 17 or so full sized ones like I had. *:*

I can't believe we're coming up on your ER date so quickly! It seems like only yesterday that it was October and we were waiting for your AF. Cycles are crazy things. You wait and wait and wait for them, and then they go by so quickly! Some days it seems like our cycle was a lifetime ago, even though it was just October and the the beginning of November. Hopefully before you guys know it, you'll be waiting for your BFP's!

[Perdita_in_Ontario]

Originally Posted by ann109

Glad you're here, Perdita! Boy, you're barely in Ontario, aren't you?

Suprefact, is that a suppression medication? Well, at least you know what to expect!!!

Any other bits of advice or info you want to share with us? I am getting curious, now that we have eggs and a light at the end of the tunnel......

Well, geographically I guess I'm close to the border with Quebec - but politically we're almost a mini country to ourselves LOL.

Suprefact - yep that's the supression med. Actually I think other than a few hot flashes last time, it was pretty easy.

Advice or info? Umm... other than take it easy? Well, there can be a bit of discomfort during the retrieval (that's the medical stance anyway - I found it on the painful side personally but I realize now I don't respond well to pain meds), the transfer is usually relatively easy except for the full bladder, and the two week wait is absolute hell (and if you're lucky enough to find out you're pg, the wait after the beta for the heartbeat u/s is worse!) LOL

Take OHSS seriously - I've had a couple of friends hospitalized over it. I suspect no one on MDC is a huge fan of drinks like Gatorade, but sometimes our standards must be lowered for the greater good...

It's a roller coaster. I think we all have our own way to deal with it, but ignoring it and powering through if you feel crappy is probably not a good thing to do. I took the week post-transfer off work and watched movies and read books. At that point I was going stir-crazy and went back to work, but I think the rest was worthwhile. I told everyone at work I was having 'surgery' and no one made a peep!

If the result is disappointing, mourn. It's all well and good to say "oh, well, the odds were still better than in nature" but in nature you haven't just gone through 4-6 weeks of intensity.

Plainly put - it's exciting and terrifying all at once.

And good luck to everyone - we all deserve this!

[gemasita]

I just wanted to quickly say that I'll be triggering tomorrow night and having my ER Monday morning. ET will be either Thursday or Saturday.

I feel like my ovary is about to explode so I am ready to get these eggies fertilized.

The RE saw some follies that he thinks might catch up if we waited one more day so that why I'm not triggering tonight.

Oh and he said my lining was "Beautiful!"

[ann109]

Oh, Jamie! Are you so excited?!? Please, please please post an update when you get a chance! How are you feeling? Have you survived your shots? I forgot, are you doing progesterone IM? How is DH doing?

Marlee? Are you back yet? How did everything go?

Perdita, one more day of sanity...hope you are enjoying it Three words: Red Wings Hockey. I don't know, can you live in Ottawa and not be a Senators fan? And thanks for the advice, info....

Went for u/s and blood work today. Lost a few follies, but still have 19 going strong. RE said he thinks he'll be able to get maybe 15 of those and seemed very happy and said I may be triggering on Monday! Holy wah! I have follies from 11-15 and lining is at 12. I CANNOT BELIEVE how fast this has gone. I have been so blessed with no serious issues or pain. It has been such a learning experience for DH and I. What I thought would totally stress us out, brought us so much closer together. I cry Gonal-F tears of joy!

So, off tonight to hang with friends and eat and be merry. I hope everyone else is peace filled and hopeful......

[ann109]

Originally Posted by devilish_fetish

Nicole- You've got a great number of follies growing! You'll probably end up with 17 or so full sized ones like I had. *:*

Thank for your the kind words! I remember thinking WOW when you told us your number retrieved! I hope I follow in your footsteps! We are excited and trying to be oblivious to reality right now. Too much reality for us the past year...

Any new baby news? Did you say you had to change you plans about birthing due to multiples? Twins, wow! Can you believe it?

[marlee]

Nicole: I am so glad everything has gone smoothly for you and so fast. Yeah!!

Jamie: Wow it sounds as if you are ready to burst! All the best with retrival. I take arnica (homeopathy) and it works wonders for me. I took it before and a couple of times after. I use it in replacement of tylenol. My advice is to rest afterwards so all your swelling is gone by transfer day.

I'm home!!! We are a little jet lagged and yesterday was a VERY long day. A lot of sitting down. Resting again today.

Retrival was last Monday. I did natural cycle IVF with IVM. I had two mature follies and 5 immature. ICSI was used (mf). Thursday was transfer day and we transfered 2. Then more rest. I could have used another rest day before travelling home. I loved seeing the embies on the screen. They are perfect Well it will be a long two week wait that is for sure.

Gotta go back to bed now. Keep me posted ladies.

[Perdita_in_Ontario]

Originally Posted by ann109

Perdita, one more day of sanity...hope you are enjoying it Three words: Red Wings Hockey. I don't know, can you live in Ottawa and not be a Senators fan?

Well, it's possible but not advisable. I don't actually enjoy hockey (most sports) very much but my heart is still with the Oilers. DH is a Leafs fan. We stay pretty quiet

15 eggs - that will be marvelous! Great news!

Jamie - good luck with the ER - how exciting!

Marlee - that's great that the IVM worked well - hope you can rest now you're home and fingers firmly crossed!

The bcps are taking their toll here - as well as nausea, I've got stomach cramping, headaches, dizziness, and spotting. FUN! All normal, all nothing to worry about, but pretty crappy and I just hope that adding the Suprefact tonight doesn't make things worse. Blech.

Luck to everyone - we're rolling right along here and hopefully we'll be hearing the best of news really soon!

[gemasita]

I'm off to my ER. Wish me luck!

[gemasita]

The egg retreival was very quick and easy and they retreived 12 eggs which is a GREAT number for one ovary! My doc was VERY pleased and I am THRILLED! They'll call tomorrow and tell us how they are doing. I am just glad that I am feeling comfortable right now although I am going to go ahead and rest the rest of the day.

I've been so worried about my clinic pressuring me to put back more than one but they haven't so far. I mentioned it to my doc after the procedure and he responded in such a supportive way. They have been so great about everything and were so nice to me today. I am so pleased with my clinic.