# New to Fertility Friends



## Laura200012001 (Jun 1, 2010)

Hi Everyone,

As you can guess I'm new to this site and thought I would give you all a bit of background info about me, my darling husband Liam and our journey so far.  So here goes.

My name is Laura and I'm 27 and my husbands name is Liam he is 30.  We have been trying to conceive for two and a half years.  After allot of problems with our GP not taking us seriously, we moved to another surgery.  The Doctor here was fantastic and got to ball rolling with us right away.  

After a number of different tests it was found that I had PCOS (Polysystic ovary syndrome) which was causing my cycles to be irregular.  We also found that DH had a low sperm count of only 6 million on the first test and 18 million on the second test..  We were referred by Southend hospital to St. Bart's London centre of reproductive medicine.  We received our initial appointment to attend in October 2009.  Upon attending this appointment we were told that DH count was not only extremely low (4 million this time) but also had 94% abnormalities.  we were told that the chance of us falling pregnant naturally was around 4%, so this made us candidates for ICSI (Intra-cytoplasmic sperm injection ), and so we were put on the waiting list, which at the time was about 6 months.  

We got our call to attend our introduction day, which was on 17th Feb 2010.  We were given all our information and collected our drugs and was also given our schedule of treatment, which we started the day after.  I found the treatment cycle fairly easy compared to how I expected it to be.  Before we started I was terrified of needles and was dreading having to inject myself, its different when your actually doing it, and amazing how you do just get on with it.  I guess you just see the end result which helps.  Anyway the treatment cycle was progressing fantastic and they were extremely happy with how I was reacting to the drugs.  Although they were a little concerned that I had so many follicles, so were taking bloods at every appointment to keep an eye on my hormone levels.  When we had our egg collection we had done fantastic and they were able to collect 15 eggs! We were chuffed.  The next day we received our call from the embryologist who confirmed that out of the 15 eggs collected, 13 were mature enough to inject and out of the 13, 10 had fertilised and were showing good signs to make it to blasts (day 5 transfers).  Unfortunately we didn't make it to transfer stage as I fell extremely poorly with OHSS (ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome) and was rushed into hospital where I stayed for a week.  luckily the embryologist's were able to freeze our embies and we now have 8 grade one embies waiting to be thawed.  

At the moment we are just getting me ready to have our two best embies put back.  I have had the provers to get my cycle underway and am now injecting again with Buserelin.  I will be going for my scan on 8th June to check that the down regulation has worked properly.  Once its confirmed that it has I then need to start the HRT Tablets to thicken my womb lining, then its scans the following week to check it.  Once its reached 8mm thick, we will be given a date to have two of our embies transferred.

I'm really excited to have got this far and to know that we have 8 really goof embryos there waiting for us is great.  I'm just trying not to get my hopes up too high.  Any tips and advice from anyone who has been through this would be great, as I think you can never have too much information.

Lots of Love and Baby dust to you all.
Laura XxX


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## Ceri. (Sep 6, 2004)

Laura and welcome to Fertility Friends 
Please have a good look around the site and feel free to post in any area, and make yourself at home. Fertility Friends is such a huge support. There are many who are on their TTC journey, and others who have been fortunate to have little ones with assistance. You will soon discover that our members are very encouraging of one another and offering advice or just simple hugs. There's a vast amount of information here for everyone, so start reading, posting and getting to know others. You will make some great friends too (add them to your buddy list in your profile!), lots of members often have meet ups locally too, for chats, coffee, shopping or even nights out! You can share conversations with one another freely, simply because we all understand each other. It's hard when family and friends don't fully comprehend what this journey entails and the emotions that go with it. That's where we come in!

Here are some links which you should find really useful at the moment&#8230;&#8230;

*What Every New Member Needs To Know (includes a list of common abbreviations) ~ *   CLICK HERE

*Peer Support (for asking fertility and treatment related questions of your fellow FFers) ~ * CLICK HERE

*Complimentary, Holistic and Spiritual Approaches ~ *CLICK HERE 

*PCOS ~ *CLICK HERE

*Male factors ~ *CLICK HERE

*Frozen Embryo Transfer ~ *CLICK HERE

*Links For Info In OHSS ~ * CLICK HERE 

While undergoing treatment, you might find it useful to join other ladies having treatment at the same time. The Cycle Buddies threads are just for that. You will find a thread, usually with a funny/inspiring name for this year's buddies. Just pop along to the appropriate month and say "Hi" when you are ready to start treatment.

*Cycle buddies ~ *CLICK HERE

*2WW, Ladies in Waiting ~ *CLICK HERE

*Keep a diary of your treatment ~ * 
CLICK HERE

You can also chat live in our chat room. We have a newbie day in the chat room every Wednesday where you can meet one of our mods for support, meet other new members and get technical support with navigating the site and using all the functions available here.  CLICK HERE FOR INFO ON NEWBIE CHAT 

You can also "meet" and chat with people in your local area through the *Location boards*. This is especially useful to find people who may be using the same clinic and or in the same PCT area. It's a small world!

Wishing you lots of luck    and 
Keep in touch
Ceri xx

PS I have also sent you a pm (private message)


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## Shooting star (Apr 12, 2007)

Hi Laura

Just wanted to say hi, as I too started my jouney at Southend Hospital. My DH also had an extremely high percentage of abnormal sperm which was improved significantly by vitamin e and c tablets would you beleive. I know this is not very relevant for you at the moment as you are past this stage but also wanted to wish you all the best in your treatment.

SS


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## Laura200012001 (Jun 1, 2010)

Hi SS,

Thanks for the reply.  I have heard that about vit E, improving counts although we never really got to try these things, we will bear that in mind for future.  My DH is a knightmare, he has a memory like a goldfish and for him to remember to take them would be a miracle in itself! Bless him! 
Are you currently having treatment at the moment? 

Laura XxX


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## Shooting star (Apr 12, 2007)

Hi Laura

I know what you mean. I have to remind DH!

I am about to start ovulation induction using menopur injections. Just waiting for period after finishing a short course of norterhisterone to induce a bleed.

SS


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## becksmk76 (Jun 3, 2010)

Hello and welsone

I am also new to FF. I am finally allowing myself to star to think about TTc again. after years of shutting down and thinknig this will never happen, we have been referred for IVF. Our 1st consutation was today.

Good luck with everything and hope to chat in the future


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## Laura200012001 (Jun 1, 2010)

*becksmk76* - welcome!!!!  How was your first consultation? where abouts are you being treated?? Its all so exciting!

*Shooting star* - I was on the norterhisterone first of all, is is it your first time on that? it made me feel really awful. I can't remember if Ive asked you before but is this your first cycle? where are you being treated?? Glad to hear that its not just me with a DH that has a goldfish memory!

XxX


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## becksmk76 (Jun 3, 2010)

Went well 
We are being seen at Care Northampton.
Next stage is to wait for AF in July before having Scan and trial ET. the I will get my protocol details and IT session.. 
Once I have down regulated next AF in August it is stimming time.
So excited!
Although the process will be hard it is nice to finally feel like i am in control of what is going on rather than the wait and see of the last 12 years... 

Happy thoughts to you all.... we can fly!


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## MissE (Feb 19, 2010)

Hi laura just wanted to say hi.
I'm sorry your tx was delayed by ohss. I'm in a similar position, had 28 eggs, 17 fertilised but took ohss and all frozen. I'm currently doing medicated fet. Started hrt on monday and have lining scan on 11th June, if all ok then et planned for 15th June.

I hope everything goes well for you hun from this point on. I'm sure you feel it has been a long road to get to this point because i do. Make sure you drink plenty of water, eat brazil nuts and drink pineapple juice (100% pure pressed not from concentrate). I'm taking a prenatal multivitamin and folic acid and i'm also doing acupuncture once a week which i feel is helping me relax.

I'm keeping everything crossed for you and if you want to talk you can pm me. Sending loads of         your way.

Emma xx


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## Shooting star (Apr 12, 2007)

Hi Laura

Yes I have taken the norterhisterone before. It makes me really emotional but appart from that I found it ok. Period arrived this morning so will be starting menopur injections tomorrow. This is my first cycle this time round. Trying for baby number 2.

How are you?

SS


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