# Anyone starting tx early sep



## Smike

Hello ladies

I`m reasonably new on here, but an old pro at IVF/ICSI, I`m starting my 4th ICSI on the SP early september and wondered if anyone else is having tx similar time, who`d like to chat to me and keep me company?

look forward to hearing from any of you 

H x


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## Dawne

Hi Smike.

I'm starting d'regging for my 3rd ICSI this coming Friday (having had no success so far) with EC around 23rd September. I am starting to remember how difficult and emotional all this is so hopefully all of us who are in the same boat can support each other.

Good luck to us all!

Dawne


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## Smike

Hi Dawne

thanks for the message.  I take it you`re on the LP, as i remember doing all that horrible sniffing business my last 3 attempts, I`m glad to say i don`t have to down reg this time on the SP which is new to me.  I`ve got my 1st scan on 7th sep, with EC hopefully on 18th Sep. I`m keeping my fingers crossed that this protocol will produce better quality eggs, i know the quality is difficult to alter at my ripe old age, but i`m forever hopeful.

mmm the rollercoaster ride is about to start, I truly hope things work out for you, keep me posted how it goes

all the best  

Heidi


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## Dawne

Hi Heidi.

I sniffed the last two times, but this time I'm injecting. I'm also not far behind you in age as I turned 40 in May.  Good luck for the 7th. My first scan is the 10th so we will be going though this together!

Dawne


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## Dawne

I just read your profile, I'm in West Sussex and at the Agora too!! Small world.

Dawne


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## Smike

wow it is a small world, i didn`t expect you to be that local (i live in Shoreham), let alone at the same clinic. I`m there 7th, 11th, 14th and 16th for scans and then EC hopefully on fri 18th. Was your previous tx at the Agora too? I feel like it`s my second home , as have had 3 attempts there since last oct, god only knows how we`ve found the money, but have to admit we`re struggling a bit to find the funds for Sep, hey if there`s a will there`s a way,  I`m thinking of sending my DH out on the streets this weekend in a short skirt and high heels  lol
As I`m approaching 42 in January, gosh that sounds old and hard to believe (no disrepect to anyone 42) i don`t feel i have time to wait much longer as my egg quality is no doubt getting worse the older i get.

It`s good to know there`s someone i can share this roller coaster ride with, and a bonus you`re at the Agora too

Heidi x

ps have you bought all your drugs yet? i`m not going to use the place they suggested as i can save £100 going elsewhere


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## Dawne

Morning Heidi.

I've been at the Agora all the way through. I know what you mean about the money, we budgeted for one (got a chemical pregnancy with that one), went for a second and started bleeding at day 10 (different drugs) so now back again for a third attempt. We have decided that this will be it though as it's too hard financially and plays havoc with your emotions. I feel the need to get back to some kind of life that doesn't involve blood tests and scans. 
I have my drugs sitting in the fridge. I went with the place they use as to be honest I just wanted to give myself one less thing to get stressed about. 

My sister will be 42 in January and I know she feels old. I do tease her about it but she gets her own back!

I thought about my husband renting himself out too but we decided that we needed more than enough money to buy a pint of milk!

I'm in Worthing so not too far away from you. 

Do you work? I have a short term contract for the council working for families in crisis. Some of the stories you hear are heartbreaking.

Enjoy your Thursday!

Dawne


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## Smike

Hi Dawne 

you`re an early bird, I`m too busy getting ready in the mornings with my usual morning routine to have time to get on here.  I hope you`re day was less stressful than mine,althugh you sound like your job is pretty tough. I work in an office which luckily is a 5min walk from the clinic, I can even see their building out of my office window.  I went for yet another accupuncture treatment straight after work, have you tried it ?? on my last tx I paid £37 a time but money being very very tight this time round, I`m going to the drop in clinc which is just £15.

We got married last July and received money as our wedding pressie, which helped pay towards our 1st ICSI, the 2nd and 3rd goes we put it on a credit card, which I don`t like doing, we`ve just about cleared it, and now the 4th attempt will be partly on c/card too. I always said I`d only want to try 3 times, but someone at the clinic said it usually takes about 4 goes, plus I  found out  recently that I have elevated nk cells, so hopefully with the help of steriods I might finally get a BFP as never had one yet. I always manage to get them to fertilise but it`s the implanting that I struggle with. It`s suprising how addictive this all becomes, I know what you mean about getting back to normal life without the scans, drugs and emotions, i think it will feel like a bit weight has been lifted.  I`ve considered DE and adoption but I just need to give this another try with the steriods, if it doesn`t work again not too sure what i`ll do other than cry for ages but i`ll cross the bridge if it comes to it.
I`m really sorry to hear about your past attempts, you must of felt so elated one minute and then cheated the next, i hope they`ve given you some sort of explanation with a way of hopefully getting over this , this time round.
I was really down last time i got the BFN and that`s how i came to join this site as i really needed support and understanding that friends and family just didn`t really give, I`ve also been to the Lewes support group which is good, ever been?

sorry I`m waffling on and on now, it`s just nice to be able to share things with ladies in the same boat  who actually understand

ooh you start injecting tomorrow, good luck with it

bye for now 

Heidi x


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## jo8

Hi 

Hope you don't mind me joining in. I'm starting on 2nd ICSI in Sept on SP. Had 1st attempt in June but only go as far as e/c as found polyp so have got 2 frozen embryos. Was due to go on FET but saw consultant last week & he agreed that because of my age that should try fresh cycle first which is quite unusual. I'm still in shock a bit as had letter yesterday that will be having day 21 on 4th Sept - not long to get my head around it!

Its good to know that I'm not alone going into it!

Hope it turns out to be a  Sept for us all!
Jo


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## Dawne

Hi Jo8. Welcome to the thread! Not too much longer for you to wait until you start, fingers crossed for you.

Heidi, I've been having acupuncture this time round and seen a homeopath who is a friend of mine. I've never been told that is usually takes four goes, that was a bit of a surprise to read that. 
I don't produce many eggs as I only have one working ovary, the other one has an endometrioma attached to it. So I usually only produce around 7 eggs. On my last go, only 2 of those went on to fertilize, the rest were abnormal. They have upped my dose of Gonal-F this time to hopefully produce more, plus this time I can have 3 embryos put back. Just getting 3 to fertilize will be a result! 
I was chatting to a woman at work about all this and it made me realise how quickly you become an expert at all this, use all the technical words and phrases and expect people to know what you mean!

Looking forward to my first jab tonight. I'm on the way!

Have a good day everyone. Got any plans for the bank holiday?

Dawne


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## Smike

Hello Ladies  

Welcome Jo, it`s good to see Dawne and I aren`t the only over 40`s hoping our dreams come true these next few weeks, glad you joined us. Good luck on the 4th, I`m on the SP too and injecting on the 7th.

Dawne - I haven`t tried homeopathy, not too sure what it involves really , but would you reccommend it? i`ll give anything ago, we`ve even gone over recently to buying organic food, and i`ve also got shampoo/conditioner and deoderant which i don`t really get on with, yes it`s taking it to the extreme, but hey when you`re spending this kind of money you`ll try all sorts if it helps
it was one of the nurses that said it usually takes 4 attempts but maybe she was just saying that to make me feel better as it was my 3rd attempt. I`m guessing it`s because they try something different each time, i was told by the consultant last time that it could be a long road for me, i blooming well hope not  
Now you`re over 40 you can have 3 embies put back like the rest of us oldies, welcome to the club   

had a busy long weekend away in Germany last weekend, so taking it easy this weekend, so what exciting things are you 2 ladies up to?  whatever it is enjoy 

Heidi x

ps happy jabbing tonight Dawne


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## Dawne

Hi all.

Homeopathy is something worth thinking about. I have to admit, I'm only doing it as I have a friend who is a homeopath and she doesn't charge me for the remedies! 

This weekend is a bit of an unknown as I start jabbing tonight and it's a drug I haven't used before for d'regging so I will have to wait ane see how I react. It might get me out of a family bbq on Sunday as it's a brother-in-law who is the most arrogant a***hole I know and I really don't don't want to go! We might go to an Antiques & Collectors fair on Goodwood Racecourse on Monday, but again we will just have to see.

What ever you do, I hope you enjoy it!

Dawne


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## jo8

Hi Ladies

I'm having acupuncture too - been going since June and last cycle. Wasn't sure at first but missed it when my lady was on holiday - it helps my mind switch off & feel sleepy afterwards. I also have reflexology once every 5/6 weeks which I've had for years - obviuosly doesn't help with my fertility but again very relaxing 
I'm hoping to have really easy weekend of it - been busy & long week at work - I'm doing 10-11  hour days so I'm definietely going to have to try to cut back in next few weeks. Will try to get some rest before it all starts in a couple of weeks.Just bought the Zita West book so will try to read more of that.

Good luck with the injections tonight Dawne - which bit of your body is going to be the pincushion??  
Have a good weekend 
Jo


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## Dawne

Hi all. 

Jo, I always use my tummy for the injections. It's just easier for me really. I started them last night and so far so good.

Enjoy the rest of the weekend.

Dawne


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## Smike

Hi Ladies

hope you`re well and enjoying the weekend so far  

Jo - I have a copy of the Zita WEst fertility and conception, found it quite informative, and a good reference book. What kind of work do you do for 10-11 hours a day ??  it must be very tiring especially when you start tx as well. Accupuncture is lovely and relaxing, a lady was snoring her head off at the drop in clinic i went to this week, very amusing  

Dawne - glad to hear you`re ok so far on the new d/regging drug. I must be a bit of a wimp as my DH always injects me, even though he hates needles, I tried but kept automatically pulling it back out again. So are you gonna brave the dreaded BIL tomorrow or pull a sickie??

TTFN

Heidi x


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## Dawne

Hi all.

I'm avoiding the bbq at my hubby's insistance. We have a family wedding to go to in october which we have both agreed is more important. My only concern then  is that it is right in the middle of my 2ww and it will be more stressfull as it's the whole set of in-laws who are all loud and rude. 
I know I sound awful about my in-laws, but they are awful!

I've never had a problem with needles, my hubby is the squeamish one, he can't even go into the theatre with me when we are having ET. I have no idea how he will be should we have a successful pregnancy and it come to the bit where there is blood and yuck at the birth. He will probably faint!

Bye for now,

Dawne


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## Smike

Evening all  ( no i didn`t do a policeman impression and bend my knees   )

hope you`re enjoying the weekend so far, mmm it hasn`t rained yet so not the usual bank holoiday weather,  hope i haven`t spoken too soon  

Dawne - how are you feeling after 3 days of d/regging ? glad you listened to your DH today and didn`t go, the less stressed the better. As they say you can`t choose your family unfortunately, the positive side is you married into it, not born into it    (oooh i`m getting carried away with the smileys tonight ) I really don`t mind the needles at all, i just tell him to stab it in quick, but he doesn`t like hurting me, but i grin and bear it as i know no pain no gain, i even quite like watching when i have a blood test, the speed it comes out,  gosh i hope that doesn`t make me sound too weird.  RE birth and your DH he`ll no doubt be up the head end, yours that is  lol  As i say to my DH he has the easy part, as he only has to do one thing throughtout the whole tx, while we have the scans, needles, all the undignified side of it etc etc, thery got it easy.

Jo - hope you`re ok, and not too anxious about starting soon.  When`s your EC, have you heard ?

We spent the day yesterday food shopping, gardening, and housework, today visiting our parents, so tomorrow we`re spending quality time just the 2 of us chilling in some field somewhere with a picnic and a good book hopefully.

Enjoy your bank holiday monday at Goodwood Dawne and whatever you get up to Jo

Heidi x


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## vicks67

Hi All, hope you don't mind me joining you! I'm 41 and on some sort of hybrid IVF protocol where you don't really down reg, just take primulut for 2 weeks and then stop and wait for AF and start stimming on Day 3. Have just finished the primulut and so am waiting for AF. Have no idea about timings as yet as who knows when AF will arrive. Have to have dilapan and scan on day 3. This is our first IVF attempt having had 3 IUI failures, so fingers crossed. I've just bought the Zita West book, its quite interesting but she is quite extreme in some of her views eg not drinking water out of plastic bottles! I've decided to take on elements of the dietary advice, high protein, organic where possible and lots of water. I'm also planning on doing acupuncture during this cycle, i find it quite relaxing which can't hurt. The finances are definitely a worry, I'm casting a blind eye at present and will worry when we know the outcome of this cycle, you never know! 
Anyway hope you've all enjoyed the weekend, I'm trying to do some work with very noisey neighbours having a BBQ next door, keep finding myself people watching or on FF instead of reviewing papers!
Vicks


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## jo8

Hi Everyone

Vicks - welcome - I haven't heard of you protocol -where are you being treated at - where abouts are you in the protocol - at the beginning?

Dawne - good on you for missing the BBQ - don't add to the stress at the mo.Hope injections are ok - when hae you got your first scan? 

Heidi - my DH does the injections for me too - first night took ages so hope he remebers how to do it  I'm a manager in the food industry so used to long hours but as it gets into Oct we start getting manically busy for Xmas so hoping the T/X has all happened by then. I don't have a sympathetic boss so only my deputy knows I'm going through this at work.

Was having nice weekend - relaxing, met with friend for coffee, some DIY and an 8k run, and then started to read the Zita West book in depth last night and its got me all panicing - woke up at 4am this morning and couldn't get back to sleep   I've only had ICSI once  - it was more about coming to terms with our situation with our own eggs and getting closure but then I responded better than they thought, we got as far as e/c and 2 frozen embies and then it was suspended because of polyp. At the time I was quite chilled about the whole thing and I was in a show to so had a really good distraction but this time around its on my mind the whole time - what if I don't respond or if eggs don't fertilise? Don't know why I'm feeling so negative as I know so much of it is about PMA. Has anyone else gone through similar feelings - is it normal? 

Sorry for my long ramblings not normally like me

bfn Jo x


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## Smike

Hello everyone

hope you`ve all had a good weekend and are feeling nice and relaxed. I`ve had a lovely day having a picnic in the sunshine

Vicks - welcome, good to see someone else joining us.  I too haven`t heard of your protocol, but hey horses for courses (and no I`m not calling you a horse     lol)  as you`ve probably read I`m on the SP as well, it all kicks off next monday 

Jo - glad to see you back, i was beginning to think you`d left us. I thought you may well be in the catering industry, my dad is a retired chef so i can understand the long hours. I didn`t sleep very well last night either, all this plays on my mind and my brain is too active to get back to sleep if ever i wake up- believe me it`s very normal to worry about it, and your`re right you need PMA. Just think last time you responded better than expected, so there`s no reason why you won`t again. Why don`t you try and make a few social arrangements while you`re having tx, nothing too heavy/late, but it might help you relax a bit more and take your mind of it. Please don`t worry about rambling , you didn`t BTW, I ramble on all the time, hey that`s what this site if for, to get it off your chest to people who understand  

Dawne - hope you`re still feeling ok, and had a good day at Goodwood, get any bargains ?

can any of you help me out on this -  i usually pay the extra and have an anaesthetist to knock me out at E/C, but to save a bit of money, i`m going for the cheaper option of the nurse doing it or sedating me or whatever she does, gosh I don`t really know, how daft is that   . Has anyone else gone for this option ?? is it ok ?  or should i just pay the extra? 

bye for now

Heidi x


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## vicks67

Hi All, I'm at CRGH at UCL. I think they are pretty inventive with their protocols as the plan is to take clomiphene as well as menopur and gonal F for stims. God knows how this is going to make me feel!
With regards to PMA, i need to get a bit more of that! I'm pretty convinced I'll respond poorly and need to use donor eggs, so much so i've spent quite a lot of time visiting those threads on FF. I think its my way of coping, always needing a new plan if this fails. Anyway am hoping once i start injections will be able to concentrate more on the job in hand. If you listen to Zita West you need to utter a few positive phrases everyday and de-stress/relax-don't think she meant for her book to send people into a spin! Have to say had similar reaction last night as well when i started reading through my protocol!
Anyway srill no sign of AF,
Vicks


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## jo8

Hi Ladies 

Thank you so much for your messages - its made me feel normal again and so much better. Why is it at 4am your mind goes into overdrive  Decided reading the Zita West book before bedtime isn't good idea - She mag will be much better . However thinking of getting her CDs - read on another thread they are v relaxing - has anyone tried them?? Hope its not lots of whale music for £15 a go  

Heidi - not sure about your question on sedation -at my clinic you just got charged a set amount for whole IVF/ICSI and paid for drugs on top - it was all included - the doc doing the e/c gave me the injection. Last time I wasn't given a choice - just had the tablet in the morning before left home and then  the injection in the theatre so don't remember a thing!

Vicks - know what you mean about planning for the next thing - I thought about it in hurdles last time - will we get through this one,etc.Remember sitting in the evening talk at the hospital beforehand & thinking when they got on to t/x, 'well we won't be getting that far'. I'm sure its normal to be like that as its our way of protecting ourselves.


Dawne - hope injections going ok & not too many bruises yet! 

Got my acupuncture tomorrow -so looking forward to it  
bye for now 
Jo x


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## Dawne

Morning all.

Heidi - I've always paid extra for a deeper sedation, I was advised by one of the nurses that because of my history of endo, they need to do a bit more pushing and pulling with the medical instruments and a light sedation may no provide adequate lack of sensation. Anyway, I think for my own peace of mind the less I know about what's going on, the better!
I'm having quite a bad reaction to my d'regging. Lots of period type pains and feeling sick. I've had to take a sick day today as I didn't get any sleep last night. 
Had a very good day at Goodwood. Saw one of the chaps from Bargin Hunt. I had a look at the stuff on his stall, but he was sooooo expensive! I collect miniture tea sets and I found one for £5 in my fav colour (purple) so I had to buy it! Hubby found a couple of small vases which we both liked so it was a successful day.

Vicks - welcome! Fingers crossed for us all!

Buy for now.

Dawne


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## Smike

Afternoon All

Having a pants day, very stressed at work, and now worrying as think AF is arriving early which is very unusual for me, you can normally set your calendar by me. Had stomach ache when i got out of bed this morning and tiny bit of spotting, andI`1m a bit crabby if I`m honest, that will totally muck up my scans and E/c plus i`ve booked the week off, fingers crossed she`ll stay away till the weekend.

Dawne - really sorry to hear you`re feeling crap and had to take a sickie  , hope you`re watching a good chick flick or something to make you feel better. Glad you found a bargain at Goodwood. Thanks for the response ref sedation, I`m gonna talk to Mel on Monday when I have my scan, they have a job flushing my eggs out, so perhaps i should forget the money and think of myself  

Jo- Glad to hear you`re feeling more normal but sorry to hear you`re still having a problem sleeping  , i know the feeling as i too haven`t slept much the last 3 nights. I`ve decided to try and avoid going on FF too late in the evenings as it always gets me thinking too much. Enjoy your accupuncture tonight.

Vicks -hope AF has arrived by now, and you`re feeling less stressed. Hope you`ve been saying positive things to yourself as per good old Zita, oh and not drunk out of a plastic bottle today, that`s pretty impossible as most water is sold in pastic bottles, even our dispenser here at work has a big plastic bottle, Zita`s good but she does need to get in the real world a bit more 

sending us all lots          

Heidi x


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## jo8

Evening ladies 

Smike - hope your pants day didn't get any worse - hope A/F has stayed away.Maybe just feeling crabby if not slept well 

Dawne - hope you're feeling a bit better today - any news on scan dates.Purple is my fav colour too 

Vicks - feeling any calmer- the thought is worse tHan the doing!Has A/f arrived yet?

Well can finally sleep again - had a session with my coach for work (long story - we are having lots of changes so some of us have been given coaches we go to see once every 6weeks) so told her about my first attempt at IVF - how I had fallen out with my boss over her insensitive attitude and was feeling stressed about workload.It was for 2 hours but felt such a weight had been lifted off my shoulders and realised workwise can't take any more work on in Oct, then had my acupuncture last night so had best night's sleep in 2 weeks! Feeling like I  have a much more PMA now so hopefully I can spread a bit around  We can do it!!Got day 21 appointment tomorrow and the handing over of large sums of cash. Had to laugh DP last night came out with classic - don't you get discount the more goes you have?  A bit like a loyalty scheme 

Anyway lots of     to us all

jO X


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## vicks67

A loyalty scheme -fab idea! we could all get a little card and get it stamped!1 free cycle every 3!
Af arrived and had scan and Dilapan today. That was pretty unpleasnant and came close to passing out  so ended up lying on the clinic room floor with my legs in the air! Not very glam but never mind. Start stims tonight and egg collection should be on 13/14th. So here goes!
Hope your all ok, Jo glad you've been able to sort things out at work, you don't need any additional stress. Have to say I've been pretty open with everyone at work about what we're going through, has made it easier to explain why i keep having to disappear for scans etc, not very good at making up different excuses!
Anyway hope you all enjoy your weekend, Vicky


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## Smike

Hi Ladies 

hope you`re all enjoying your weekend so far, and trying to take things a bit easy, saving that all important energy as i keep reading.

I did ask my clinic a while back, if  they did a BOGOF offer or even buy 2 get third free, but unfortunately not, hey no harm in asking i thought 

Dawne- you`ve been quiet, hope you`re ok and feeling better ??

Vicky - hope your stims are going ok. Sorry but the thought of your legs in the air lying on the floor made me smile, but I`m sure it wasn`t very funny at the time, gosh the unlady like things us women have to go through. I used to wear bright stripey socks just to make me and the nurses laugh,and break the ice a bit, and  it helped with my initial awkwardness that i`ve now got over after soooooo many scans.

Jo - glad to hear you`re sleeping better, and your PMA is improving.  Bet it was painful handing over all that cash yesterday. How did your appointment go ?  when do you start stimming?

Rose- thanks for the message, wish all clinics did offers like that.  I have my fingers,toes etc crossed for you .

Well i`ve stopped worrying that AF will arrive early, now I`m wondering where the hell she`s got to, as normally started by this time of day, now worried if she doesn`t arrive today my day 2 scan can`t happen on monday, things never turn out the way you want them. Had all my drugs delivered thursday, am well impressed as they sent me a sharps box full of needles and syringes that i don`t really need, plus an auto self injecting thingy and a bag to put it all in, never got all that from the other companies I`ve used before, plus they were a lot cheaper and we got a coutesy call from their office, that`s service for you  

Off out to friends for a meal tonight, think they feel sorry for us as i said we couldn`t afford to eat out at the mo, and a family (in-laws    ) BBQ tomorrow

wish us all well and lots a    

take care

Heidi x


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## Dawne

Hi all.

Sorry I've not posted much. One of my cats has developed an auto-immune disease and all the fur on her ears and the top of her head has fallen out and she has developed scabs around her nose and under her chin. It means that she will be on steroids for the rest of her life and she isn't even 3 yet. My hubby has been away since Friday afternoon and I've found this really difficult to cope with on top of having to do my injection and then to top it all off, this morning I fell down the stairs! Didn't hurt myseld too badly, just a big bruise on my left leg and slightly dented pride.
I have my first scan and set of blood tests on Thursday, so on the homeward stretch now!

Heidi - I also do the stripey sock thing! Hope everything works out for you for tomorrow. Hope you enjoyed your meal out. Did you go anywhere nice?

Enjoy whats left of the weekend.

Dawne


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## jo_11

Hey people,

Hope you don't mind me joining in too... 

I've just started my very first cycle (and fingers crossed, last) of IVF with ICSI.  It's all such a new world to me, wotj a whole new language, so all a bit confusing at the mo!  

I'm on the short protocol, using Gonal-F, and I get my first scan tomorrow.  I'm on 375 dose of Gonal-F and was supposed to have a 900 dose syringe to use but they ran out, so I've got 300 ones; so two injections a day for me.  Start the orgalutran tomorrow morning, so expect the first scan will at least establish that I'm beginning to look like a pin cushion  

Wishing you all lots and lots of luck.

Jo (another one, just to confuse!)
xx


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## jo_11

P.S.  I know it's very early days yet, but I'm already agonising over how many embryos to transfer... thoughts/views??  I'm thinking three on the basis that it gives a better chance, but what if all three take, and then what if one or more split... it'll be like having kittens!  Plus I think I'm too little to be able to carry them.  Cuh, listen to me, I haven't even had the eggs collected yet, lol!  xx


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## Smike

Hello Ladies

hope you all had a tops weekend, mine was busy but enjoyable, although had a couple of bad nights sleep yet again.

Jo - welcome, I`m at exactly the same place as you, had my 1st scan this morning and also on SP.  Don`t fret too much about the number of eggs going back in, i`m sure the embriologist will advise you depending on the quality at the time. I always have 3 put back as they say the likelyhood of me having triplets is very very doubtful, as they quality of mine is not great  

Dawne - well you have been in the wars, I hope you`re ok, and not too bruised.  Poor cat, i can sympathise with him on steroids, I`ve been on them for 23 years, and will be for life. Good luck on thursday, i`m there again friday.

Jo & Vicky - hope you`re both doing well

I had my first scan this morning, all looking ok. Also had a blood test which the price hurt a lot more than the needle, just found out i have to have another 3 , so an extra unexpected £300 ooch    just now waiting for the call to say my blood test is ok, then start injecting tonight, I`m on my way (hopefully).

I`m off to my support group tonight, looking forward to that. Dawne - it`s in Lewes at 8pm if you fancy it, i can give you the address.

Enjoy the week, happy cycling to all

Heidi x


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## vicks67

Evening All,

Dawne, I'm sory about your cat, I would be mortified if one of our two got poorly. I wonder if cats get the same side effects as humans? may end up with a greedy kitty!

I started stimming on Friday after the dreadful Dilapan. Its been OK apart from this feeling of anxiety all the time, I wonder if its the drugs? anyone experienced anything like it? I had first scan today  post injections, not a brilliant response so far but apparently i may recruit a few more follicles yet, so maybe better.

jo, i agree with smike, re embryos, the clinic will lead you in that decision. In our clinic unless you're over 40yrs they will only put back 2 anyway.

Wishing everyone else a good week, Vicks


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## jo8

Hi Girls

Sorry haven't posted for a few days - couldn't get logged on so changed my password now 

Jo - welcome - it will get confusing with 2 of us but will be fun - I'll start signing mty messages with jo8

Vicks - felt exactly the same as you for first couple of days of injecti ons -so sure its to be expected. Its a bit early to be expecting any follies anyway isn't it so I'd just chill as much as poss and try not to think about it.When are you next back for a scan? 

Heidi - hope you've had a good weekend - has the A/F arrived??How come you have to pay for bloods - at our clinic its included? Mine you the cost of the treatment is dear enough so maybe yours is cheaper treatment with various add-ons? I wonder how they set the prices? Do you think its cheaper up North ?

Dawne - poor you  Hope you are not feeling too sore and bruised this morning.

Day 21 scan & paperwork went ok - in and out within 30 mins and then some nbloods to do. At least drugs were a bit less this time as had some left from last time but still £700! We got a bag too this time - must be something new. Asked at pharmacy how much some of the drugs cost as I was sure we were overcharged last time - apparently menopur costs £11.50 per vial !!! So ready to start when A/f turns up. Had a lovely day off today (worked the weekend) so nice and sunny - we went for walk on Ilkley Moor and then lunch at Bettys, followed by facial and manicure. I'm coming down to London tomorrow for awards dinner with work so hope I don't chip the nails before then 
Also hope A/f doesn't start tomorrow - since I only recently had polyp op not to sure when it will arrive!

bfn
Jo8 x


----------



## jo_11

Oh it's nice to know others are in the same boat as me... gotta keep paddling together girls 

Heidi - I'll bear in mind re three embryos; I think I was getting carried away thinking I'd have the Waltons or something!  

My first scan showed there were six follicles, and the clinic said it was unlikely there would be any more - not sure what basis he said that as it was only my first scan; will more grow in the meantime?  It was the first scan after four days of injecting.  Anyway, the next scan is Thursday, so I guess I'll just have to see what's happening.  They were aiming for 10 follicles, so I feel a bit disappointed to be honest.  I've tried to do a Google on how many follicles are expected after each scan, and have found nada.

Vicky - sorry to hear you're feeling anxious, have you tried acupuncture?  I've been doing it for a couple of months; I'm usually a bit of a stress bunny, but I've been so relaxed I'm practically asleep.  I think the injections have made me relax too as I'm sleeping silly amounts.

Jo8 - ah yes, we can differentiate between us now, thanks for adding the number.  Fingers crossed the polyp removal was all fine and that all will go ahead now.  Going anywhere nice for the awards do in London?

Dawne - you and your cat sound a right pair   Hopefully you're no longer black and blue, and I hope your cat's carrying off the no fur look, poor thing.  Will it grow back?

Thanks for the support all 

Jo 
x


----------



## Dawne

Hi all.

Thanks for all the kind words about my cat. She won't come out of the bedroom at the moment, I think she's embarressed because she has no fur! She always looks beautiful to me though.

Jo - I don't get many follies either, usually 7 or 8 so don't get too hung up on the amount as it's not quantity that counts, it's quality.

I have a hugh bruise on my left thigh. It's a really lovely crimson colour and I'm thinking of going to B&Q and getting them to match it in a pot of paint! 

Have my 1st scan on Thursday morning so at least I will see how things are progressing.

Enjoy your day everyone!

Dawne


----------



## Smike

Hi Everyone

hope you`re all doing well, and not stressing too much. This will be my 3rd day of stimms, and tomorrow i have to start injecting cetrotide in the mornings as well as menopur in the eves, can`t wait  , then friday i have my 2nd scan to see how my follies are doing, fingers crossed.

Dawne- hope your cat has come out of the bedroom, maybe he/she needs a little coat or jumper to save it getting cold, maybe it`s shy now with no fur    Good luck with your scan tomorrow, hope it goes well.

Jo - you will possibly get more follies, as i think they`ll still be recruiting as the nurses say, good luck with tomorrows scan

Jo8 - how did the eve in london go ? sounds fab, hope your nails were ok, good to hear you`re pampering yourself. Any sign of AF ?

Vicky - hope you`re feeling less anxious, i guess it is pretty normal considering what we`re all going through. This is my 4th attempt , so well experienced but i still get anxious, as there`s so much at stake, my sleep is not good at the mo, i get up about 3 or 4 times to go to wee, and I`m really tired all day I`m guessing it`s because all this plays on my mind, they say relax etc but it`s quite a difficult thing to do, don`t you agree ?

Wishing us all lots of luck for our next scans and a   for those of us who need it 

TTFN

Heidi xx


----------



## jo8

Hi Ladies

Had a great time in London - it was at the Park lane Hilton!  We were up for an award - one of the finalists but didn't win - all seemed a bit political but we couldn't have done any more for our entry  Still had great time though & didn't get to bed until 2.30am. Even had a couple of glasses of bubbly - first drink in about a month - I'm sure it goes against the Zita West bible!!

Smike - hope the scan goes well Fri - let us know  Hope you can start to sleep a bit better. Can't remember are doing acupuncture - would that help with sleeping? Maybe you will feel more relaxed after the scan 

Jo - think 6 sounds good - when I asked at my clinic they said it would depend on FSH/AMH - I got 5 which they said was v good considering my levels. As someone else has said it is about the quality not quantity & it only takes one. God luck for tomorrow  

Dawne - all the best for tomorrow   

Vicky - hope you're getting lots of follies growing - when is the next scan?   

Think my A/F might be imminent then I'll be starting the injections too! 
Night & sweet dreams to all 

Jo8 x


----------



## vicks67

hi ladies, hope you are all doing well.
Jo 8, Hilton sounds fab!
Smike, I'm on Cetrotide as well, find it a bugger to draw up and get a local reaction for half an hour or so after. I'm injecting mine at night with the gonal F and menopur, so 3 injections-lovely! Were you told to inject the cetrotide in the morning for a reason? I started to worry that maybe I should be injecting then as well!
Dawne-hope you and Kitty are baring up!

AFM I only got 4 follicles on my scan now day 6 stims, bit gutted, would have liked maybe 1 or 2 more. Hoping they let me proceed with IVF rather than GIFT, but will know more tomorrow. trying to remain positive-but failing a little!

lots of luck to everyone else, Vicks


----------



## jo_11

Hey everyone,

Heidi – sorry you’re not sleeping well.  I don’t know if it’s the drugs I’m on (Gonal-F and Orgalutran) but I’m sleeping loads, and am kind of walking around in a fuzzy haze; it’s quite nice actually!  All the very best of luck for your scan tomorrow.

Dawne – Fingers crossed that all went well at your scan today?  And how’s that cat of yours; managed to coax her out of the bedroom yet, the drama queen!  

Vicks – Re injections, I inject my Gonal-F in the evening, and then the Orgalutran in the morning.  I don’t know if there’s any science behind this, other than it just means you don’t do them all at once (otherwise I’d end up with three injections at a time too).  My friend Ruth’s doing IVF at UCL at the moment too!  I have looked at this clinic, and they’re on my list (with The Lister) if the LFC doesn’t work out for us this time.  She’s told me lots of good things about them.  Are you due your second scan yet?  As everyone said to me, you could end up with more follicles (I got an extra one!), and it’s better than being overstimulated.  What's GIFT btw?

Jo8 – Glad you enjoyed the Hilton do; were you in Galvin’s, and what work d'you do?  A couple of glasses of bubbly can’t harm too much, especially if it's free   The Zita West book is fab, although I seem to be taking every vitamin/supplement under the sun because of her, lol!  Oh and on the alcohol thing, Zita even says you should have a glass of wine when Liverpool are playing at home.

As for me, I had my second scan today, and a blood test.  They’ll ring me with the blood test results later, but all seems in order they think.  I was worried that I have my fertile mucus in (the egg white stringy stuff), but apparently this is a good sign.  An extra follicle’s been recruited, so I now have seven… ranging in size from 10-15.  And the endo's 12 which they're happy with - as I have quite a low BMI they were worried about this.  I’ve got another scan on Saturday, and all being well, they expect EC probably on Monday.  Exciting!  

Re injections, I don’t know if I’m weird or not but I actually quite enjoy them… I won’t be becoming a junkie after all of this you understand, but I do kind of feel like it’s taking me closer to the ultimate goal.  And I guess I like to know that I’m in control of at least SOMETHING in this whole process!  

Well, lots of luck to everyone.  I look forward to hearing how you’re all doing.  Just remember, none of you are alone  

Sorry for the long note; seem to have verbal (finger?) diarrhoea!

Jo
xxx


----------



## Smike

Hi Ladies

just a quick message, hope you`re all ok.

Vicky - i got a reaction that was like a mozzy bite, and boy did it itch and go all red for about half hour too, and did i want to scratch it   one nurse told me to take it pm and then when i had my first scan another nurse told me to take in AM, i`ll double check tomorrow when  i go back and let you know.

Jo8- glad you hada fab eve, lucky you, slept better ta, only got up once at 5am 

happy cycling to one and all, keep smiling  

Heidi x


----------



## Dawne

Afternoon all.

Just a quick catch up from me. Had my scan this morning. Everything is looking good at the moment. 

Jo 1105. Good luck for Monday. It sounds strange but I always get excited at EC stage. I think for me, it means that you are almost there and the end is in sight!

Vicks - I always inject in the evenings. No reason, I just think If I'm already going to be doing one, I may as well do them all at the same time!

Heidi - If I can't sleep, I find a small cup of warm milk and a good book works wonders!

Cat update - She is now out of the bedroom and behaving much like her old self. We don't have the results of the biopsy yet - probably tomorrow now but she has responded really well to the antibiotic and steroid jab so I think we can assume that it is this auto-immune condition. Now we just need her fur to grow back. At the moment where it has fallen out in clumps she looks like she has a mohican!

Dawne


----------



## jo_11

Quickie,

Dawne - your cat may well be a trend setter; before you know it all the cats in the neighbourhood will be mohicats 

All - re Dawne's comment on milk, has anyone else heard that drinking milk while injecting is supposed to help?  I've been doing it but am not sure why!

Jo
x


----------



## Smike

Morning ladies

well had my 2nd scan, day 6 now, and all look great according to the nurse, i have 5 follies on left and another 5 slightly bigger on the right, and possibly some more recruiting, lining is thickening nicely too. I have to say i feel a bit relieved now as new protocol, I was worried it may not work too well, fingers crossed i have at least one good grade in there.

Jo - sorry can`t answer your milk query, i don`t really like drinking it anyway. good luck for EC on monday  

Dawne - glad your scan went well, hope the bruise has gone

Vicky -  yes you should be taking cetrotide in the evening, the other nurse gave me wrong info  ,  as it`s best in eves as will help when you take the trigger ie with timings for ovulation. i may have a prob now and need to switch to eve somehow!! -  keep your chin up and stay positive, it only takes one remember    

Jo8- yes having accupuncture, had one last night, sleep a bit better, only woke once yippee.  Any sign of AF yet ?? 


wishing us all a fab weekend, anyone doing anything nice ??

I have a christening to go to on sunday, so will be looking a bit green that day 

Happy cycling ladies and stay positive, we can all do this    

Heidi xx


----------



## jo8

Evening ladies 

Lots of posts to catch up on 

Heidi - thats fantastic news     - you must be so chuffed with the scan - know I would be. Is that better than you have had before? When are you next back? Sounds like you will be going for E/C quite soon Enjoy the christening 

Dawne - glad you scan went well & cat is feeling better

Vicky - hope it went well for results today following scan. Have you tried rubbing area for injection with ice cubes - when I had treatment last time someone else had reaction & their nurse told her to use them - it might be worth asking yours 

Jo - great news on your scan - hope it goes well tomorrow - fingers crossed for Mon   

In shock still on a totally non IVF issue. When I was in London this week had some money taken out of my purse, in my bag, in my hotel room   Spoke to hotel on Wed evening - guy was bit snotty & said was I sure - Anyway to cut a long story short - head of security called yesterday to say they had got someone for it!! Someone in housekeeping had admitted to going into room just after I left to go to breakfast & taking money (apparently they can track movements with the hotel key cards!). Anyway glad they caught them so let it be a warning to us all if staying in hotels to take bag/purse to breakfast!

Still no A/f - where can it be Had acupuncture tonight so feeling v relaxed and sleepy 

Meeting up with my B/F and god daughter on Sun - she's having her 4th b'day party tomorrow but lots of toddlers, babies an v pregnant ladies so don't think I can cope with that at mo  so shoping to get her nice pressie instead 

Hope you all have lovely weekends and enjoy the sunshine

Bye
Jo8

P.S . I keep drinking lots of pineapple juice - should I be doing that now or just at E/T stage??


----------



## vicks67

Evening-hope you're all enjoying your weekend!
Heidi-10 follies is brilliant, well done and fingers crossed! Thanks for finding out about the cetrotide, was a little worried for a minute there!

Jo 8-hope AF arrives soon! I enjoy my acupuncture at the time, b ut can't say it has a longer lasting effect. My mum and Dad have sent me a Paul Mackenna article on how to relax! It was a nice thought, will try and see if it works!

Jo-the whole milk thing I think comes from Zita West-its supposed to be about increasing protein intake and helping follicle growth, no idea if it works but had a very nice banana milk shake in the sun today, guilt free because its good for the follies!

Dawne-glad about the kitty and scan, whens D Day for you?

AFM- scanned again yesterday, 4 follies plus very small one, all pretty small though so they think I'll need another day or 2 of stims. Another scan on sunday, trying to be positive! EC will probably be Wednesday.

Anyway enjoy rest of weekend, 

Vicky


----------



## Smike

Morning ladies

Vicky- sunday scan, that`s impressive, my clinic is usually mon-fri. good luck for EC on wed  

Jo 8 -  where`s AF , mmm not pg are you ?? wow wouldn`t that be fantastic  .  good news on the money issue, hope you get it all back.  Funny it was my goddaughter`s 3rd birthday on saturday, i went to see her friday night, bought her a space hopper which she took to bed with her and gave her some money as she has everything !

Dawne and Jo - hope you`re both well and doing ok  

AFM - scan this morning, all looking great, 11 follies over 10mm, ranging from 17 to 10mm, and a couple below 10mm, lining thick too, on track for EC friday me thinks, have had inj dose reduced to 75 and 150iu alternate days, back again wed for another scan.  I get quantity no prob it`s just quality i don`t get  , but holding out hope that they`ll be at least one good one, roughly same amount as previous 3 attempts, please let there be a grade 1   

all the best   
Heidi x


----------



## vicks67

heidi, thats a brilliant response given our age! fingers crossed for you!
My 4 follies have had a growth spurt, so now am for EC tomorrow-eek! Gave myself pregnyl at midnight and have to piitch up tomorrow at 12oo. Feel ever so slightly excited although my gut feeling is I'll end up with GIFT rather than IVF, still its in the lap of the Gods!


----------



## Smike

Vicky- good luck tomorrow, i`ll be thinking of you.  not sure what GIFT is ,and why do they use that instead of IVF or ICSI ??

all the best  

Heidi xx


----------



## vicks67

GIFT is when after collecting the eggs they mix them with the sperm and put them straight back into the fallopian tubes rather than culturing them in the lab. The feeling at CRGH is that older eggs are more fragile and sensitive to the external world and so if you only have a few, 2-3 then they might actually fertilise better like that. We haven't discussed ICSI as an option, although hope to have a chance to do that tomorrow. It seems logical that if only a few eggs you would get better fertilisation with ICSI but i guess that doesn't get over the whole fragility thing, sadly its not an exact science!
vicks


----------



## jo8

Hi Ladies

Vicks - very best of luck for tomorrow   - we had to wait 36 hrs after pregnyl injection before e/c - isn't  it odd how dif clinics use same drugs in diff ways?

Heidi - fabby news on the follies - it will soon be Friday  Had a lovely day with my god-daughter yesterday - got her some Pepper pig and Dora the Explorer so hope she'll like them when she opens them tomorrow. Had a great chat with my B/F as haven't seen her to talk face to face since started this IVF thing. She just looked at me and said how are things like she knew - we both ended up in the park crying and giving each other a hug Thats what friends are for but must have loked a bit of a sight 

Jo - don't know if you had e/c today - if you did     - if not   for when it happens.

Dawne - hope everything is ok with you 

A/f arrived yesterday & feeling very worn out! Started injections last night - took ages as DP had forgotten what to do  Anyway very stressed as my scan appointment is Fri at 7.40 am in Leeds but away with work people on Thurs in Whitby (100 miles away and bad roads) so how am I going to explain not drinking, disappearing to inject myself (will have to practice on Wed), and getting up at 4.30am No-one that I am away with knows  nor do I want to tell them as its group I used to work with and its our old boss's leaving do so can't even get out of it. Any ideas?

Lots of hugs
Jo8 x


----------



## jo_11

Hiya,

Jo 8 – Sorry AF came; she’s my least favourite Aunt!  Don’t be stressed about your appointment… you can always tell your work people you’re driving, or that you’re detoxing (which is kind of true).  Hopefully the injections don’t take you long so won’t have to be explained away.  

Dawne – Hope you’re OK?

Vicks – I’d not heard of GIFT either; guess it was never an option for me as we have to have ICSI.  Sounds painful to put them back in your fallopians though.  Fingers crossed for you today.

Heidi – Good luck for the scan on Friday.

As for me, I had my first egg collection yesterday and boy was it painful!  I think I woke up before the painkillers kicked in… 09:15 collection, woke at 10:00.  Was feeling normal by about midday though.  And feel fine now.  They got five, which is less than I was hoping for    Got a call this morning saying that three had fertilised normally, and how many did I want to put back?  I don’t know!  They were saying they’d put them back tomorrow, which seems way early when I still feel bruised from having them taken out!  Have decided to go for two back, although still not sure it’s the right decision, but it may give them an extra day – they’ve said they’d put them back tomorrow or Thursday, depending how they’re doing.  Ideally I wanted to go for blastocyst   What I’ve found throughout this whole process is that the clinic assumes you know the whole process, which is all so new to me, I’m still left somewhat bewildered by it all.  And the whole looking at the eggs, etc. goes against what they said in their ‘helpful’ (not) information sheet.  Ho hum   It's all left me not feeling very confident at all.

Good luck everyone  

Jo
x


----------



## jo_11

Further thoughts... I'm going to have all three put back; fcuk it.  So, transfer tomorrow at midday... I've bought myself into the idea that the sooner they're back in their natural environment, the better.

  

Jo
xxx


----------



## jo_11

And another thing...

Sorry, seem to have all sorts of thoughts today...

Horrid subject I know, but did any of you have to have progesterone suppositories?  I'm just a bit worried mine aren't staying in for long enough   

Jo
xxx


----------



## Smike

Evening ladies

just a quickie as my parents are due round to see me before they dissappear to florida for 3 weeks, lucky sods.

Jo- you seem a bit stressed, good idea putting all 3 embyos back in, gives you a better chance. good luck with it tomorrow, keep you`re chin up you`re nearly there.  . RE the dreaded pessaries, here`s a few tips as i`ve used them on all  3 tx`s before (excuse me if it`s too much info)
1/ use back door in mornings, and front door at night before bed as it`s less messy that way
2/ never try when you`re really hot, as slip out too easily
3/ much easier to use a plastic tampax applicator with front door
4/ wear panty liner as stain pants
5/ they take about 20 mins to dissolve, so don`t worry it`s only the casing that you`ll see
6/ they give you wind, and you may shoot the casing  
hope the above helps, and best of luck to all users 

Jo8- sorry AF arrived, but guess you can get going now. Tell you old colleagues you`ve had a bug and not quite 100% and are laying of booze for a while till you feel a bit better. Nice to hear you`ve got a good friend who sounds like she understands.

Vicks - good luck with EC tomorrow, let us know how it goes  

Dawne - hope your scans are  going well,and you`re feeling ok

back for my final scan tomorrow, and EC friday , bring it on 

TTFN

Heidi xx


----------



## vicks67

Hi All, 
Smike, lovely advice on the pessaries! have to say this is the first time i've used 'the back door' still pretty messy! I would agree with all your advice and add if its possible, lie down for 10mins after you have put them in and allow most of it to absorb-agree very strongly with flatulence!

Jo, i hope tranfer went well, i would have gone for all 3 back too

Dawne-hope you and kitty are doing well

Jo8-sorry you're feeling a bit worn out, sure you'll fall back into the injection routine again, good luck with scan

AFM-had EC yesterday, it went well and they found some extra eggs! managed 7 in the end so fine for IVF, 4 have fertilised so now waiting for tomorrows report on how they are growing. Actually allowing myself to be a bit positive but hope embies are growing well, out of my hands!

take care,
Vicks


----------



## jo_11

Hey everyone,

Sorry about my angsting the other day.  I have to say that the thing that really p*sses me off with this whole process is that I've been massively under (and sometimes ill-) informed.  I know it's every day stuff to the people in the clinic but it's new to me and I don't know what I don't know... still, learning as I go  

Vicks:  Excellent that you've ended up with four, and not through GIFT, yey!  What was different this time?  And how are you finding CRGH?  My friend says they're really good but she ends up having massive waits for appointments.  Did you get an update on the embies today?

Heidi:  Thanks for the pessary advice    I think my body was trying to reject them the first couple of days but everything seems to have calmed down now... I was worried I'd blow in the consultant's face when she was doing ET... luckily I didn't!    Are you still on for EC tomorrow?

Jo8:  How was your work's do; did you manage to get by without having to explain??  Hope the injections are going OK.

Dawne:  How's you and that cat of yours??

So, yes ET is all done now.  It all went really smoothly… we got to see the three embies on the TV screen… they’re stars already   So I’ve got two grade 2s and one grade 2-3.  DH is worried they’re going to ‘fall out’ lol.  Just going to take it easy for the next few days; back to work on Tuesday – can’t face battling up to London on the train before then.

Best of luck to all  

Jo
xxx


----------



## vicks67

Hi All, 
Jo-I really like CRGH. You do end up waiting around, not for the scans so much but for the nurses. They're just really busy.Its a 7 day service which is really good. Where are you being treated?I hope those little embies are snuggling in nicely!

Heidi-good luck for tomorrow!  
Dawne/Jo8-hows things?

AFM-all 4 embies growing, 2/4 cell stage today. They want to keep them growing to see if 2 do better then the others so they know which to implant. Its possible that will have transfer tomorrow, but will get a call about 11ish-heres hoping they keep going 
Vicks


----------



## jo_11

Hey,

Vicks:  Good news about the embies; what's the story today, transfer, or (presumably) wait to day 5 and blastocyst?  I'm at the London Fertility Centre, which is at the Regent's Park end of Harley St.  They're open 7 days too, which was one of the reasons I went with them.  CRGH is definitely on my list (should things not go to plan), along with the Lister.

Heidi:  Hope all goes well with EC today  

Jo8 and Dawne:  How's things?

So, I'm still relaxing at home... I could get used to this!  I've just finished series 2 and am about to start series 3 of Ghost Whisperer; fabulous!  Haven't even glanced at the BlackBerry... work seems a million miles away at the moment; bliss!  I'm also spending my time focussing on the embies and willing them to grow and implant.  I may try and leave the house tomorrow, lest I start developing agoraphobia!

Jo
xxx


----------



## Smike

Afternoon Ladies

hope you`re all doing well  

Vicks - did you have ET today ? if so hope it went well  

Jo -glad to hear your ET went ok, and you`re taking it easy, don`t rush back to work, think of yourself first and those embies snuggling in there

Jo8 -how was your night out in Whitby ??  how you doing on the stimms?  nearly there, whens your EC ? 

Dawne - hopoe you doing ok, all set for EC next week ?

AFM- had EC this morning , got 8 follies, and hopefuly back monday for ET, feeling a bit tired and queazy but ok, will let you know what grade etc soon, . 
Have a fab weekend evereyone, sorry it`s a quickie but my DH has my dinner ready and i`m starving thanks to the pred 

take care     

Heidi xxx


----------



## jo8

Hi Ladies

Well I've been away for couple of days and its all been happening

Vicks - wow thats great to get 7 follies & 4 fertilise - have you heard anything today??  

Heidi - loved the description on the front door/back door - I justthought they were all front dorr so I'm going to read the instructions now Fabby on the 8 follies - how many did you have put back in? Take it easy and hope dinner was good 

Jo - more great news - enjoy the dvds   

Does this mean you will all be testing on the same day?? 

Dawne - hope its going ok with you

Well - survived Whitby trip - excuse of DH hosp appointment worked so excuse for leaving early this morning & no alcohol. Injectins were fun - had to leg it up 4 flights of stairs to my room in the attic and use a bedside lamp with v poor lighting but managed It was a very kitsch place - check it out if you want a laugh -www.larosa.co.uk
Got to hospital nice & early after driving 80 miles to be kept waiting for ages - no consultant so NHS doc had  to cover private appointments at end. Not great news - not responding too well at mo but he did say early days - only 4 follies so far & one of them is really tiny. Back there on Mon so need lots of follie growing vibes from you all - whats your secrets??

Have a great weekend and rest up!

Jo 8 x


----------



## Dawne

Hi all.

Jo_1105, I too am a fellow Ghost Whisperer fan, but doesn't she wear some strange things!

EC is now going to be Monday, not Wednesday so I do my trigger jab at 10.30 tomorrow night. That has come round really fast!

Enjoy your weekend. I'm a happy person as I have Casualty back and now Strictly Come Dancing. Doesn't get any better!

Dawne


----------



## vicks67

Hi All,
Dawne/Jo-we must have sat through 3 or 4 episodes of Ghost Whisperer yesterday and the odd episode of charmed! Dawne-good luck for Monday!

Jo8-glad Whitby went ok, don't give up on follies, I only had 4 on ultrasound right up until EC and they still managed to get 7 eggs.

Smike, hope you're feeling a bit better after EC and fingers crossed for lots of good quality embies  

Jo-keep relaxing, gonna join you now!
AFM-had ET today, 3 little beans put back, not sure how they don't just fall out but apparently they don't! All I can do now is keep fingers and legs crossed!

Enjoy the weekend!
Vicks


----------



## Dawne

Hi all.

Vicks67 - Take things easy now. Everything crossed for you!

Smike - How was EC. Any update?

Dawne


----------



## Smike

Hi Ladies

just  a quick update, had the call this morning to say 6 have fertilised and are looking good at the mo. Not sure if i`m pleased, sorry to sound greedy but it`s the fewest i`ve had, but i`m telling myself it`s the quality not the quantity that matters.  Back for ET at 12 on monday, unless they can`t choose and decide to take them another day  to blastercysts. 

Dawne- good luck for EC on monday    i may bump into you 

Jo8- 4 isn`t too bad, they could still be recruiting, as he said it`s early days but sending you lots of   

Vicks - take it easy , try and enjoy the 2ww, of being pampered etc, have my fingers crossed for you    

Jo- glad to hear you`re enjoying you`re 2ww so far, mmm Haven`t ever seen Ghost Whisperer but may have to look out for it now

enjoy the rest of the weekend
lots of     

Heidi xx


----------



## Dawne

Hi Smike.

I'm there at 9 so it's possible we may meet. If you see a shout woman next to a tall man (hubby 6ft  4" me 5ft 1") that will be me!

Good luck with the ET.

Dawne


----------



## jo8

Hi

Just a quicky - best of luck tomorrow Heidi and Dawne for e/c - hope it goes well   

Vicks and Jo - hope you are both resting up and enjoying being pampered. Have you got time off work or are you back there tomorrow?

What did you think of Strictly this week - new format seems odd! Don't know if I mentioned it but Darren and Lilia were the after dinner entertainment at the dinner last week in London - they are amazing live!

Back to hospital for another scan tomorrow so wish me luck

Bye Jo8 x


----------



## jo_11

Hi all,

Dawne:  Yes, Melinda wears the oddest outfits; she certainly wears more ballgowns to work than I do... and HOW many nighties can a girl own?  Fingers crossed for EC tomorrow  

Vicks:  Hope you’re enjoying some R&R, and crossing those legs so the little embies don’t fall out... not quite sure how they don’t either but guess Mother Nature’s a wonderous thing (let's just hope she's on our side).

Heidi:  Any more news on the embies, or d’you have to ring tomorrow morning to see if it’s ET day?

Jo8:  La Rosa looks interesting (!)... I take it you stayed in the hotel rather than the campsite... how nice they apparently have in-house Wombles!  Bit of a trek for you to your clinic it seems; hope they find some more follies tomorrow; have been sending follie-growing vibes to you  

So, yes, I’m massively relaxing although managed to venture out to do some shopping yesterday.  I’ve obviously spent too much time indoors though and way too much time watching Ghost Whisperer as I was peering at people wondering if they were earth-bound spirits, doh!  

DH has been spoiling me rotten; I knew there was a reason I was with a fine dining chef!    I've also got tomorrow at home (bliss) before back to the grindstone on Tuesday  

Re Strictly; I’m not a fan I’m afraid so don’t have a view, but I can empathise as I'm still reeling from the change in format for X-Factor; it’s rubbish, bring back the old!

Well, best go – lots of luck to you all.



Jo
x


----------



## Smike

Morning ladies

glad to hear you`re all relaxing and taking it easy.

just had the call to say ET at 12 o`clock today, just had a few tears as told that 3 of them are only grade 2.5 which they`ll be putting back, and the other 3 aren`t doing very well  bit slow. I had grade 2`s before and was hoping for a better result this time, so i`m feeling rather deflated at the mo, but the embriologist said there is still hope , but guess she would say that. Just off for my 1st accupuncture of the day and then another post ET.
sorry to sound off but feel rather let down already  

keep relaxing and good luck to you all

Heidi xx


----------



## jane39

Hi ladies 

Any advice please, i have been advised to try antagonist protocol with gonal f and Cetrotide..and ivf without icsi, previously used buserlin and menopur and icsi.. I dont know if this is a good thing ?

please advise?

thanks j


----------



## jo8

Hi

Heidi - hope its gone ok - you never know & it does only take 1 -just try to think lots of positive thoughts & there are 3 being put back in   

Dawne - hope its gone ok for you 

Jane - welcome - sorry can't answer your question -maybe some of the other ladies can help or you could post to the embryologist

Jo - thankfully the caravans were fully booked so I was staying in the crow's nest.Hope work goes ok tomorrow 

Vicks- thanks for your encouragement - hope you are doing well

Had scan this morning but lost 1 follie so down to 3  but they have had growth spurt and lining looking good so now having e/c early on Wed (thought it would be Thurs/Fri).Stomach feels like football now - I'd forgotten how great this felt  Having to do Menopure,Orgalutran and fridge injection tonight - last time I only had to do Orgalutran and fridge one 36 hours before so hope he hasn't got it wrong  but did double check.

Because I didn't get as far as t/x last time I don't know about the grades & when you should have acupuncture so any advise would be great

Thanks
Jo8 x


----------



## vicks67

Evening all,
Heidi-I hope everything went ok today, maybe the embies left in culture will catch up. I had one slow coach that was left in culture after having the 3 best ones transferred on Friday. Got call today to say its reached blastocyst stage and can be frozen, so it aint over!   

Jane- I had GonalF/menopur and cetrotide which my clinic use for older ladies and those who respond less well. I'm not sure whether thats the same protocol as you. I only had primulut as a gentle downreg.

Jo8-sending lots of follie vibes. From an acupuncture point of view, the evidence that acupuncture helps with IVF comes from a particular study which had one session before transfer and another after using specific points. The earlier sessions are all about well being etc. If you go to a good place that specialises in fertility they should know about this.

Jo,gkad you're relaxing, i have to say not sure i'm relaxing enough. doing lots of tele watching and sleeping for 12 hours but have been out and about most days. Yes Melinda has a great array of old ladies night dresses, and some fairly od hair styles as well! Do you watch Medium? Its a similar vein, but better! Also not been watching strictly or X factor!
Dawne-hope everything is good with you!
All the best Vicky


----------



## Dawne

Evening all.

Vicks - I do watch Medium although her voice is quite annoying! My news, 9 eggs collected which is the most I have ever managed. Now just waiting for the phone call to let me know if any of them have done what they are supposed to do.

Heidi - Hope everything went well for you today.

Take care all.

Dawne


----------



## vicks67

Dawne-well done, thats fab!      that they fertilise well, Vicks


----------



## Smike

Hi Ladies

sorry not been on here for a couple of days , as DH works on computer and i have to push him off to use it.

Dawne- 9 follies that`s very impressive, do you know how they are doing ?  was ET today or you going to blasts?

Vicks - well done with the frostie, mine weren`t good enough for that unfortunately, keep taking it eay

Jo8- hope your EC went well today , how you feeling after it. Acupuncture is advisable before ET in the morning and again after ET,and then a week after to help implantation i think .

Jo- how`s it back at work ?  hope you`re still trying to take it easy and not get stressed if you can help it, mmm easier said than done i know, really not looking forward to going back to work myself next week, as will have a weeks worth of catching up to do plus my colleague is off for the week. 

Jane - re SP or antagonistic as they call it too, i was on this , this time round, it`s usually used for poor responders, but i`ve had 3 tx on LP and my consultant thought the change might help. I actually preferred it to LP as there`s no down regging, and EC seems to be here in no time. I used menopur and cetrotide, the cetrotide gave me a real itchy feeling that wore off, but only 10% of ladies get that so nothing to worry about. I hope it goes well for you.

AFM - been laying on bed all week, very bored, watching daytime tv, already finished a book, Zita`s relaxation CD arrived today so been listening to her too. trying very hard to stay positive, keep telling myself "I am pregnant", "i can do this",

well ladies, keep relaxing and staying stressfree

wishing us all            

Heidi x


----------



## Dawne

Hi all.

Had ET yesterday. Of the 9 follies, only 5 fertilized and by the time we got to the clinic, only 4 were still viable. That's the usual pattern for me. I've had 3 put back and they are going to see how the other one gets on and if it continues we have the option to freeze. So now on the 2WW with test date of 7th October.

Dawne


----------



## jo_11

Hey everyone,

Hope you’re all doing well… lots of us now on the 2WW   

Vicky:  I’ve not seen Medium but I think I’ll give it a whirl, particularly as GW’s going to finish soon   I like your story about your slow coach that went to blastocyst… I wish I’d had some left over to freeze but never mind.

Heidi:  Grade 2.5’s good, no?  And just because they’re that grade now, they may improve.  The more I read about this whole IVF thing, the more I think a lot of it’s guess work, e.g. you read stories about people who’ve got grade 1’s that don’t implant or grade 4’s that go on to produce a fabulously gorgeous little person.  

Dawne:  Fingers crossed for your newly transferred embies!  Did you and Heidi meet in the end?

Jo8:  How’s things with you; hopefully all OK after EC yesterday?  Re acupuncture, like Heidi I had it both before and after ET – on the same day.  You can have it as well just before EC but I think that’s more for calming you for the procedure; I didn’t bother as I wasn’t angst about it.  I’ve been having acupuncture for about three months now; I’m too yin and need to be more yang apparently… and I haven’t got enough blood!  Anyway, hopefully that’s all been corrected; I’ve certainly noticed a difference and I’m not always cold now.  DH had acupuncture for his little men too, which improved significantly.  

So, as for me, I’m trying to be patient (not one of my virtues) through the 2WW and I’m not doing too badly.  I feel totally different to this point in my ‘normal’ cycle but then again I have been pumped full of drugs this month!  How do you girls feel after IVF?  For me, the massive differences are really strong nails (they’re usually like paper), I feel bloated (but that could be the bloomin’ pessaries) and my boobs are trying to make a bid for page 3; they’ve never been so ma-hoo-sive!  DH is liking this   I’m wondering if these symptoms are due to the pessaries; I looked at the side effects on the leaflet but that says really helpful (not) things like “May delay your period, or may make it come early” - ??!!  Brilliant.

Back to work’s not too bad, although had a horrendous morning today… I had to go to our Southampton office but have ended up working from home because I got my heel caught getting onto the train, which resulted in me yanking my leg out and my shoe flying off and onto the track.    And there it’s going to stay ‘til about 11am when the line’s not so busy and they can turn off the electricity on the line and retrieve my gorgeous purple suede LK Bennett shoe!  I was mortified hobbling round Reading station in one stiletto… people were giving me looks like I was a mad woman who goes to work in one shoe!  

Well, best go; I really should log onto my system and actually do some work.

Fingers crossed for everyone.

Jo
xxx


----------



## jo8

Hi Ladies

Sorry no personals - although your story of the shoe did make me smile Jo

My news - not great I'm afraid. Only had 3 follies in the end and 2 eggs collected. So discussed with us yesterday re defrosting our frozen ones and using at the same time. They were only frozen as had to suspend last treatment due to polyp so weren't sure of quality.

Anyway 2 phonecalls today - 1st to tell us both eggs had fertilised and 2nd to tell us both frozen had not survived the defrost. At least we didn't go thro' a whole FET cycle which is what they suggested in first place but we weren't happy with. So due to go back tomorrow for t/x so hoping and praying they both divide.
My emotions feel on a knive edge but trying to stay positive.
Spoke to acupuncturist - she normally just treats after t/x but is going to do session today for me in in her lunch hour as she thinks I should benefit from it (still aching quite a bit in stomach - morethan last time but think they are bigger eggs)

Sorry for such a me post but finding it hard to deal with all of this

Jo8 x


----------



## jo_11

Oh Jo8,   

I can empathise with you.  For me, the worst bit was when I was away from the embies, and they were in the hands of the laboratory... I just wanted them back inside me, in their natural environment asap.  Fingers, arms, legs and everything crossed that things will be fine.  I'm sure it will be.    You have two and I hope they'll both be OK but remember it only takes one.

As for the frostie; it's a real shame... I always wonder how such a delicate organism can withstand being frozen and unfrozen.

I often find that talking to (or should that be 'at') the acupuncturist about things helps... sometimes it's easier when you talk to an associated third party... and the needles certainly should help  

Put your feet up and watch a film to take your mind of things.

Jo
xxx


----------



## Smike

Evening Ladies

hope you`re all doing ok today  

Jo8- wishing you the very best for ET tomorrow, keeping everything crossed  

Jo - just wanted to say a very big thankyou for really making me laugh this morning, and sorry it`s at your misfortune , i really hope you`ve seen the funny side by now, oh and retrieved your shoe     I`d just watched the Wounded programme from last night, which upset me in places, perhaps not a wise choice of things to watch, but your post really made me chuckle just when i needed a lift. I hope your legs ok too.

Dawne - welcome to the 2WW, i`m gonna test on 4th , day early maybe but can`t face it monday morning before work. Shame i didn`t bump into you, but it was empty when we got there at 12.

Vicks - hope all ok with you

I went downstairs for the first time in 2 days, and actually ventured out the front door to another acupuncture session. Will  attempt my zita cd for the 4th time tonight, everytime so far i`ve tried listening to it the phone has rung, i think i`m jinxed. Well apart from feeling a bit light headed if i get up too quick, from laying about for a couple of days, i feel pretty much back to normal, boobs no bigger  , stomach a bit bloated but i think that`s just down to the amount of food i`m eating as the pred is making me constantly hungry, oh and i`m still pretty windy unfortunately (sorry tmi ), anyone suffering with wind ?

anyway off to listen to my mate zita  

keep positive ladies, we`re almost there        

ttfn

Heidi xx


----------



## jane39

Hi ladies

Thanks for the advice, I am keeping up with your progress. I have agreed to the sp... and had my bloods back amh 14.9 .FSH 5.4  good for my age?

Looking for some good responses from you as my inspiration.  Hope you all do well  

Jane x


----------



## vicks67

Hi All,
Jo-your poor shoe! a purple suded LK Bennet shoe no less, I have seen them and they are gorgeous, I hope you have been repatriated! My boobs aren't particularly big but are achey, sometimes I think thats a hangover from the pregnyl, but this has got a bit worse so I think is probably either the cyclogest or the oestrogen. Wind, definitely cyclogest but better in the front door than the back! (TMI!) 

Jo8 -I hope your transfer goes well today and you timed the full bladder well! lots of  

Dawne-welcome to the 2ww, fingers crossed for your little embies, may they be snuggling up tight! Hows the kitty?

Smike-looks like we'll be testing about the same time, 4th is my OTD, not sure whether I will last until then but I guess it depends what symptoms I have by then that are driving me mad! Well done you for managing 2 days in your room, have to say I saw that Zita recommended it but wasn't really viable, have taken it easy and had long lies in etc, hopefully that will be enough!

Jane-I peresume your 39?! AMH of 14.9 is pretty good generally, in our lab 15 is the lower end of normal fertility and FSH is plumb normal-so excellent! Theres loads of other info on this board about AMH and its meaning etc

AFM-having this lower abdominal heaviness, been about 3 days now, not really a cramp just a heavy feeling, am struggling to stay positive today, need to try and get hold of those Zita CDs and see if they help! Anyone else had cramping or heavy feeling at this stage?
Vicks


----------



## jo8

Hi All

Just to let you know t/x happened today - we have 2 3cell embies on board - feeling soo relieved. Thanks for all your positive wishes - its really helped.

Jo - hope you got the shoe back - sound too nice to loose. Thanks for kind words yesterday 

Vicks - I got the natal hypnotherapy CD which I'm listening to before going to sleep - got it on Amazon & was delivered within 2 days. Hope you are feeling better soon 

Heidi - would you recommend the bedrest thing - tempted this weekend to try it  Anything I 've read so far says there could be symptoms which could be related to drugs or being pregnant or no symptoms at all - doersn't really help does it  

Jane - they sound like really good results, particularly AMH, good luck.At least with SP its all over with quickly - I started stimming on 13th and have just had t/x today.

Hi Dawne - hope you are ok

Bit confused that you all had T/X ages before me but your OTD is 4th Oct - mine is 7th Oct which is less than 2weeks from today 

Have a great wekend
Jo8 x


----------



## vicks67

Jo8-well done and good luck with those embies!
My clinic makes you wait 16days post transfer to check!
so even longer 2ww!


----------



## Smike

Morning ladies

just a quickie before i venture out the house, ooh exciting stuff going shopping as have not done much all week, fear not i`ll just be supervising hubby and telling him what to put in the trolly.

Vicky - I`ve not had any signs of anything happening yet, how about you ?? how`s the heavy feeling still there?  i read implantation is about 7 days post ET so should be any day now hopefully    

J08- welcome to the 2WW, would recommend the bedrest if you can, i`m still trying to take it easy, good ol zita says you should do it for a minimum 3 days to get the blood going to the uterus rather than the rest of you, not everyone bothers, but i wanted to try everything i could to help things along.


Dawne and Jo- hope all going well with you both

have a good, relaxing weekend taking things easy and being pampered hopefully

lots of     

Heidi xx


----------



## jo8

Hi Ladies

Well tried to rest up and lie down as much as poss over weekend, hence no posts. Thanks for the advice on the pellets - much better with a tampon applicator. Can I ask does it affect anyone elses stomach - mine has been feeling a bit dodgy & a few pains but no wind thank goodness. Also is it normal to get white soapy stuff when you first go to loo in the morning - sorry if TMI just wondered? No other symptoms though  

Heidi - Very impressed you managed torest up for so long - its driving me a bit crazy just lying there, although have manage to do it for all but 3-4 hours since Fri so hopefully that's enough .Are you back in work this week or are you taking the whole 2 weeks off?

Jo - Hope you are doing ok  Did you get the shoe back?

Vicks - gosh 16 days post transfer seems ages - thats cruel  When is your OTD?

Dawne - snap, we've got the same OTD, hope you are doing ok

Off to cottage in Northumbria for a few days this afternoon so hopefully nice and relaxing. We're taking MIL but she doesn't know anything about all this - she's good fun and very active for her age so at least having  her with us will mean we just do gentle strolls 

Take care and lots of  

Jo8 x


----------



## jo_11

Hi all,

I hope you're all doing well - fingers crossed for you all.

Just a quick one from me.  Was due to have my blood test today (two weeks after EC), although there's no bloomin' point... I've been charting my BBT which dropped yesterday, so I did a pee-on-a-stick test; negative.  Aunt Flo's arrived today (the cow), and my temperature is still low.  I rang the clinic and they've suggested carrying on with the pessaries in case Aunt Flo leaves - yeah, right.  Anyway, I'll carry on and then test on Thursday, but I know it's a BFN.

Ah well, there's next time.  I didn't like this clinic anyway, go have got an appointment with CRGH next Wednesday.  Having looked at their website in-depth they do sooo much more than LFC in terms of looking at the shell, your endometrium.  In hindsight, LFC was just a factory production line, plus they lied about their results.  Ho hum, you live and learn.

Oh, but on a positive note, I did get my shoe back; completely unscathed luckily... only thing damaged was my pride 

Best of luck everyone.  

Jo
x


----------



## jo8

Hi Jo

So sorry  - it might be worth carrying on with the pessaries though - is not over till its over. Glad you've already got an appointment sorted out somewhere else.Let us know how you get on on Thurs

Take care
Jo 8 x


----------



## Smike

Hi Ladies

Jo-sorry if it is a BFN, but I`m a bit confused with your situation,as AF has never arrived all the time i took the pessaries,and my clinic always said she would be kept at bay until i stopped using them, and the way to double check was to stop using them and see if she arrived, which if different to what your clinic has advised.  Who`s to say your not just spotting which is quite normal if you are pg. anyway hope you`re alright all things considered, i still have my fingers crossed for you   

vicks & Dawne - hope you`re doing ok and staying positive and calm

Jo8 - enjoy your break, the white soapy stuff is the pessary , nothing to worry about just the waxy coating 

AFM- back at work unfortunately, and a bit stressed and busy with catching up from last week  
had tummy ache from 3pm onwards on sunday that carried on for most of the evening, woke at 1.30am with pains and couldn`t get back to sleep , and yesterday morning, woke up this morning at 2.30am again with tummy ache, didn`t experience so much pain on my last tx`s ,so hopefuly it`s a good thing   

thinking of us all

ttfn

Heidi  x


----------



## vicks67

Evening all!

Heidi-hope abdo pains are positive, i saw a thread on here which asked everyone whether or not they got AF type pains during 2ww and what the outcome was, something like 80% of the BFPs reported cramps! fingers crossed. I'm just getting occasional cramps, seems better now i'm back at work but that could be that i'm just better distracted. Certainly nothing obvious!
Jo-Sorry about the BFN, Its so C**P isn't it? I would recommend CRGH definitely, who are you seeing on Wed? They're all pretty good.
Jo8-hope 2ww ok, and that Northumbria was enjoyable!
Dawne-how you doing?

Love and good luck to all!
Vicky


----------



## Smike

Hi Ladies

just thought i`d say a quick hello and hope you`re all staying positive. Thanks for the info Vicks re pains, I`m    it`s a good sign,although they`ve eased right off now, so hopefully they were implantation pains   , although i woke at 3.30am this morning with a few twinges. Anyone else suffering with pains ?  I`m testing on saturday,  oooh 2 days to go   

have everything crossed for us all

lots love and luck

Heidi xx


----------



## vicks67

Hi, have to say I'm struggling with the PMA! swinging between being positive and being gloomy about prospects of success. I guess its harder towards the end of 2ww. Positive because it went so much better than I thought, then negative when i remind myself the odds are against us at my age. keep stopping what I'm doing and saying a little plea to anyone that may be listening above, to let it work!! I'll probably test a day early, ie Sat, if DH will let me! Symptom wise, nothing much, still this heavy feeling, breasts not very sore, but atleast no AF, so thats one good thing although i do keep checking!

Hows everyone else doing?

Vicks


----------



## jo_11

Hey everyone,

Hope you're all bearing up through the dreaded 2WW... I know it's difficult and, as girls, 'patience' is hardly our middle name, but try and keep sane  

AFM, Aunt Flo is definitely here... she's been doing a lot of decorating   Ah well, TBH I should've gone with my gut instinct and not gone with LFC.  But, no, I ignored my instincts and instead of waiting to see another clinic, I went ahead; impatient moo that I am.  Thing is, they did mislead us with their success rates - a whole host of other things about them I didn't like but I'm letting that go now.  No point seething about it; it was just an expensive mistake.  So, I've grieved, and now moved on; I'm not one to do a whole 'poor me' thing.  And another thing I've learnt is not to tell people I'm doing this... I feel so much like I've let people down, let alone myself!

Vicky, we're seeing Dr Ranieri at CRGH next Wednesday; I've pored over all their literature and everything seems totally tailored to the individual which is exactly what I'm after; I'm feeling rather hopeful.  On another positive note, DH has been to see a consultant and has a varicocele, so is going to have an op... not so positive for him    But it should help  count, motility and morphology... who knows, next time we may just need IVF and not the ICSI part.  

Do any of you know how long you should leave it between cycles?  DH wants to start again immediately (yikes) but I'm feeling I may need a break.  On another positive note, it's good to not to be tip-toeing around myself, and am back down the gym, yey!

All the best for everyone; I look forward to hearing how you're getting on

Jo
xxx

P.S.  New HFEA success rates published today if any of you are interested... it's re-inforced my decision to go to CRGH )
P.P.S.  lots of       for you all.


----------



## vicks67

Jo, sorry about AF-what a witch! Ranieri is lovely and am sure will do the best for you. Not sure about the time between cycles, but by the time you see them and DH has his op it will probably be time to start again! Come and join on the CRGH thread, all good gils. We met last week for coffee which was fun actually, could have been very weird!
No news for me as yet, still not tested!

Hows everyone else?
Vicks


----------



## Smike

Morning Ladies

I`m feeling rather fed up today, as very stupidly did a test last night with was BFN, I`m hoping that it will appear positive tomorrow when i`ll test again, i keep trying to tell myself it`s because i tested too early and my wee wasn`t strong enough as i should of left it till first thing in the morning. Perhaps I`m  being too hopefully , i was starting to get quite sure that this was the time as the steroids would of sorted out my problem    , this could turn out to be either a great weekend or the weekend from hell.

Jo - sorry also that you have nasty AF, what a *****  .  Some clinics are happy to just go on to another cycle, but my accupuncturist always said it was best to leave it 3 months to give your body a chance to recover, which is what i`ve done over this past 12 months, 4 attempts with a 3 month gap between cycles, also helped to save a bit of money in between, but not a lot .

Vicks- good luck to you tomorrow, you`ve done well waiting, obviously more patient than me.


Dawne & Jo8- hope you both ok

Bye for now

Heidi xx


----------



## jo8

Hi Ladies

Back from my few days away - nice & relaxing if a bit wet. Think its done me good to be away for a bit & try to forget about it all. Not much longer to go now for you Heidi and Vicky - hope you stayed away from the sticks today.

I had bad cramps and bloating Mon-Wed (transfer was last Fri) and tonight really suffering with cramps and bad bloating - just like period is about to start. No other symptoms apart from headache and feeling a bit sick and v tired. Vicky know exactly what you mean about PMA - pretty convinced over the last couple of days its not worked then keep thinking well maybe it is. Is it normal to feel like this Didn't have my relaxing CD with me all about PMA so will defintely play it tonight.

Well     for you Heidi and Vicky for tomorrow.

Jo - glad to see you are feeling quite positve about everything & that you've found a different clinic

Hope it turns out to be a great weekend

Jo8 x


----------



## Smike

Hi Ladies

had a bad night, woke at 3am sweating, then needed a wee every hour virtually so didn`t get anymore sleep. Tested at 6am   . Have to say i was a bit shocked as had all the right symptoms, bloated tum, cramps, bit of blood yesterday, backache last couple of days, and constantly needing a wee, only didn`t get sore boobs, never had much symptoms before so was pretty hopeful.  Feel gutted now, will stop pessaries and wait for AF to arrive, if nothing tomorrow will test again monday, but i think it`s game over again.    

Vicky - hope you had better luck than me this morning    

hope the rest of you are staying positive, one of us has to get lucky 

off to cry all day

Heidi xxx


----------



## jo8

Heidi

So sorry - it must be hard when you've had all the symptoms that you haven't had before.Take it easy on yourself. I don't know what else to say but thinking of you    

I woke at 2.30 with cramps and sweats so we could have been talking to each other on here - think its those damn bullets so I'm preparing for worst too

Vicky - any news yet   

Jo8 xxx


----------



## vicks67

I haven't tested yet, was going to test this morning although tomorrow is my OTD. Woke at 7am with a full bladder and couldn't decide what to do! I really don't know whether this has worked or not, my gut feeling is not but I haven't got anything to support that. Got some cramps again this morning but no AF, ut on pessaries so thats probably why. ANyway I thought I would spend one more day PUPO, and test tomorrow. Heidi sorry about BFN, sure I'll be joining you soon,

Hi to eveyone else, just a quick post as am on my way out,
Vicks


----------



## Dawne

Hi ladies.

No good news for me either. My OTD is Wednesday, but AF already started. Will test anyway, but think it's over. That was my last try too so now we have to decide where we go from here. Possibly adoption.

Stay strong.

Dawne


----------



## vicks67

Hi Guys,
Dawne, so sorry, it must be so hard making the decision to stop. My sisters friend has just adopted a 1 year old boy and as his biological mum has just had a second child there is a sib on the way, 2 within the same school year! She's absolutely made up as they had been waiting a while, definitely a worthwhile thing to do and very rewarding.
heidi, how you doing?

it was a BFN for me as well, seemed to be fine but when finally left to my own devices had a minor melt down, DH very sweet. Appointment with paul Serhal on 14th to discuss the way forward.

Hi to the Jo's!
Vicky


----------



## Smike

Morning Everyone

Jo, Vicks and Dawne- really sorry to hear you didn`t strike lucky either. You must be feeling pretty pants too, i`ve had a lot of tears yesterday and a few this morning. Decided to take a sickie today as knew AF would be heavy and painful    I wrote a message to my parents yesterday who are in florida till thursday, I tried to get them to understand this/me a bit better, as i think it`s difficult for others who haven`t been through it, don`t know about you but i tend to feel i`ve failed everyone, or am i just being too hard on myself maybe ? my mum then called me in tears, but i hope she gets me more, as her usual line was "if it`s meant to be , it`ll be", which drove me mad, but i know she always means well, even though it doesn`t always come across that way.

I`ve decided to leave our next attempt till 2010, not sure if it`ll be donor eggs or if i  can get to the root of my implantation prob a bit more give it another go with own eggs. There`s lots to consider, and money to find yet again.

Dawne - adoption is a good idea, we`ve considered it many times, i wish you all the best with it

Jo8- cramps is good it means there`s movement down there, you stay positive, one of us has to be lucky, wishing you loads and loads of   , have everything crossed for you

lots of     to you all

Heidi xx


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## jo8

Hi Ladies 

Big hugs to you all   

Only 2 more days before I test - argh...

First day back at work which was pretty awful and very stressful so stomach has been churning all day and twinges tonight, feeling really grumpy & irritable too so think A/F might be on its way. Went for a cup of tea at my neighbours tonight which helped (she did IVF 5 yrs ago and has twin boys as a result) so that has calmed me down a bit. 

bye
Jo8 x


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## jo8

Hi Ladies

If any of you are still reading our thread - it was a BFN for me too. Had tried not to be too hopeful but had done everything right & had got as far as t/x this time and both embryos had divided. Feel so gutted & can't stop crying as this was our proper attempt (even though 2nd time) to come to terms with our situation.Its the end of the road for us now   I know we've given it our best shot but so desparately sad and sitting crying as typing this. How did you get through the first 24 hours

Jo8 x


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## Smike

Hi Jo8

I`m sooooooo so sorry.  It`s a very painful time, and today and possibly the next few days will be hard. The best advise i can offer really is not to make any decisions right now, once you get over your grief, you`ll start to see things more clearly and may even consider giving it another go. I never really expected it to work the first time, or even the second, as i was told by my clinic it usually takes about 3-4 attempts, which is quite hard to take in, especially as you want it to work so much, and like most people funds are limited. I really hit rock bottom after my third attempt if i`m honest ,as that was when i had banked on it working, and again it was a BFN, it took me a while to pick myself up especially as a cousin of mine got lucky first time with a freebie off the NHS, and announced it 2 weeks after i`d failed. 
My dh and I don`t earn a fortune, but this past 12 months we have somehow (God only knows) managed to fund 4 cycles, and now only owe £3000 which to us is a major miracle, we shopped in Lidls, drive old bangers, and don`t go out as much as we used to, i believe if there`s a will there`s a way. I`m not sure why you say it`s the end of the road, obviouisly that`s private, but we thought that and gave ourselves 3 attempts, unfortunately we`ve become a bit addicted to this,  unfortunately i`m like a dog with a bone, even though it is a truly horriific rollcoaster ride.My friend just called to see how i am, and she can`t believe the courage we and all of us ladies have to put ourselves through this, and she`s right we all must have courage, and should be proud of ourselves for doing it. You will feel crap for a while, but as they say , time is a heeler, i`ve already picked myself up, as life still has to go on, and i can`t let this take over my life completely, or it`ll just ruin my life, and possibly my marriage in the process, but that doesn`t mean i don`t still feel  fed up, i just hide it a bit better. 
I joined this site after tx no.3, and also a local support group which i find really helpful, might be an idea for you to find ladies you can talk to face to face that have been through similar experiences. I hope some of what i`ve said helps, but i`m sorry if it hasn`t, as i know probably nothing anyone can say right now will help you to feel better, but i still check this thread daily , so please carry on using it, we`ve not disappeared, i`m certainly still happy to chat on.

give yourself time to heal, get plenty of TLC from your partner, take time off work if you need to (i had monday off), eat all the things you`ve been missing like chocolate, and maybe a few glasses of wine if it`ll help, spoil yourself,as you jolly well deserve it.

you take care and take it easy

i`m hear if you need a shoulder/ear

Heidi xx


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## vicks67

Jo8, I'm so so sorry, it is so crap isn't it? The first 24hours or so are always the worse because you have to deal with the disappointment and grieve for a lost chance. It must be worse iff you've decided its the end of the line, because for me its all about the next step or plan. We're not planning on having multiple goes because of the funds, but think would go with donor eggs if it fails the next time, atleast then you can have time to save as its me thats aging not the donor. I'll be thinking of you and obviously as heidi says we're here to support you so if you feel like writing to offload, do so and we'll respond!
take care, vicky


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## jo8

Hi Heidi and Vicky

Thanks for your lovely messages - it helps knowing you are out there.  Don't think clinic would advise trying again as when started they told us no PG with AMH <2 so I'm thinking whats the point of false hope and pretending - the other thing playing on my mind is that 1st time I got 4 eggs and this time only 2 so chances of me responding a 3rd time are even slimmer - particularlly as I'd been on supplements and no alcohol for even longer on 2nd go. At least for the rest of you your prospects look at bit better on the egg front so I can really understand why you would keep giving it a go - I would if I was in your shoes. How do you go about doing immune tests to see if thats why they failed to implant?? Someone else from my clinic who is also in sim situation is thinking of moving clinics and having these tests. Hope you don't mind me asking but have either of you considered DE and if you have where do you start?
I think the thing that is making it worse is that I met someone else at same clinic, same age, we had everything same days, she had meltdown last week as she bled so drank & smoked and has got BFP. I am please for her but can't help thinkning why not me - it makes it worse as we have been emailing/texting each other encouragement & support so its awkward for both of us.

Thank you for being there - it is helping and I feel awkward posting on my clinic sight because of the above but they have all been really supportive too. This thing is such a rollercoaster - was really unemotional and calm about it till yesterday afternoon - I suppose its the disappointment, all the drugs and the A /f so natural to feel low. DP is being a star but he doesn't know what to do other than hug me - sat next to me last night as I was on FF 

Thank you for being around   

Jo8 x


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## Smike

Hi Jo8

just a quickie as at work.

hope you`re feeling better today, believe me it does get easier as the days pass. 

i had an NK cell assay done at my clinic ,after asking is there anymore we can do, it cost £480 but worth it i think as i have elevated NK cells, that`s why i took pred, but yer it didn`t help in the end, so i`m going to try and have more tests done. A lady i`ve been pm ing from my clinc recommended a Dr Gorgy from Fertilty Acedemy in london, and she had all sorts of immune tests , but paid £1800 , which is too much for me.

i am considering DE next, my clinc will scan etc, and have been told i can go anywhere and they will help this end. Nurse said we would have to go once to give DH sample and then 2nd visit for ET. i think it`s approx £7000 ooch, so we are saving already. I think like vicky it`s a bit easier to get over the failed attempt when you already start thinking of the next, i`m not one to stand still for long, if i have my heart/mind set there`s not much i let get in the way, that`s why this is soo frustrating as it not working is out of my hands.

a lady i was pm ing has also strck lucky , i still message her, she is 41 too and also has immune probs so it has given me some hope. 

please feel free to keep posting, i think it`s nice we can still be there for each other, and continue to support through whatever we decide to do next.

i know it`s hard, but keep your chin up

take care one and all

Heidi


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## jo_11

Hi all,

Jo8 - do not fear there are enough of us on here to support you as best we can   Out of interest, my acupuncturist believes it's possible to raise the AMH levels... Western doctors believe this isn't possible but I think Chinese medicine is beginning to challenge this.  Sorry, I don't have much more detail other than that, but I'm going to see my acupuncturist on Saturday so will ask.  

Donor eggs; given that I've only just had my first go, the thought of that, or the thought of adoption is out of the question for me at the moment... it makes me feel incredibly selfish tbh and I can't quite get my head around it.

I've been completely fine up until yesterday... went to a new clinic (CRGH, as Vicky knows) and I've been in a complete head spin ever since.  Old clinic, LFC, believed everything with me was 'normal' and 'fine', although CRGH thinks that I've got a diminished egg reserve and that the eggs may be v fragile; possibly too fragile for IVF, let alone ICSI.  So I've got to have some more tests.  As for DH, whereas LFC did nothing and just plumped for ICSI, CRGH wants him to have a blood test for chromosome abnormalities, plus a DNA fragmentation (takes 4 weeks for results!), to see if there's anything else wrong.  I'm sure I'll get better about this, but I'm just in constant tears at the moment and feel like I've failed at being a woman.  

I think it's great that CRGH is doing some much for us, and on an individual basis, but it scares the fcuk out of me!

   - all round.

Jo
x


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## vicks67

Hi,
Jo8-I've thought a lot about donor eggs and will definitely go down that route if this fails again or i'm advised against. Have to say not exactly sure where you start but i've been reading the DE threads and seeing peoples views about the various clinics. Most people seem to go abroad becasue waiting times are shorter. There are UK clinics which share care with specific overseas clinics. At the moment i still feel that i want another go but equally I don't want to keep trying when there is little chance and be nearly 50 by the time i get pregnant! Its a fine line. A colleague of mine is going to madrid next week for a first interview, shes 44ish, I think. Theres obviously a time to grieve for the loss of a chance to have your own biological child but from what I can see once your pregnant, most of that washes away and the excitment is the same.

Jo-I've definitely got a diminshed egg reserve and the drop in quality associated with that. Sadly its a fact of life that although we feel and look in our early 30's our ovaries are in their 40's. No failure involved. What was your AMH and stuff? Although its over whelming at the moment, atleadt you will be going into your next cycle armed with a lot of important  information that  may increase your chances.
lots of   to all of us!
Vicky


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## jo_11

Vicky,

AMH is 6.81 and FSH is 5.5.  I had 5 eggs from my last go; 3 fertilised and were put back, at 2 x grade two, and one grade 2-3.  Ranieri wants to re-test though and do the OST (ovarian stress test) on me next month.  He was talking about GIFT and IUI but if DH's sperm are useless, what's the point?  Four weeks for DH's results; well five actually, as he's not going in 'til next week to deliver samples.

I don't know that I'd like to have a DE; carry someone else's child and know that it won't have any of your traits?  Hmm, not sure.  I hear the waiting list is much shorter in Spain though for DEs, and DH is Spanish so maybe I should plant that seed with myself now, just in case.  BIG SIGH.

I've even thought about going to see a psychic/medium to see if they could tell me whether I'll have my own.  What am I like??!!

x


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## vicks67

Hi Jo's, The truth is if someone told us wearing purple knickers on our heads everyday would work, we would do it!
I know what you mean about the DE, because i also think that is difficult but i equally want to carry DHs child and with DE it would be your blood flowing through the placenta and your womb and environment influencing how the child developed, you giving birth and you and DH bringing the child up. All of which probably influence how the child turns out much more than the genetics. Anyway, its always a thought!

Jo 1105, I agree about the GIFT, I would have thought that a near normal sperm count was a prerequisite for that, but they are quite keen on that if the egg number is low. I asked about DNA fragmentation for my DH, told that the advice would be to take antioxidants and to w**k frequently-hard life! I'm in the same boat with AMH and FSH, must be a chance if they're letting us carry on. CRGH have a reputatuion for being quite up front when they think chances are low.

Vicks


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## jo8

Hi

Thanks for your posts - it has really helped reading them & I do hope we still post on here and help each other through whatever turns out to be our next stages.

Sorry short post as feeling very roughly physically with horrendous A/f so had to stay off work but starting to feel stronger emotionally than I did 24 hours ago and crying has lessened

Will pop on at weekend when a bit more with it

Lots of hugs   
Jo8 x


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## Smike

Morning Ladies

hope you`re all feeling much better physically and emotionally.   

I feel better in myself, and am looking forward to my follow up appointment this coming friday to hopefully see where we go next, but i think we`ve virtually decided to go for DE next time, as 4 attempts with own eggs is probably enough, if it was going to happen it would have by now.

In case any of you weren`t aware there is a fertility show on at Olympia in London on friday 6th and saturday 7th november, it looks very interesting and i`ve already booked tickets, plus a couple of seminars, the web site is www.fertilityshow.co.uk, if you put in I N UK in the promo code, you can save £4.

hope you`re managing to enjoy your weekends

take care

TTFN

Heidi xx


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## jo8

Hi Girls

Just typed long post and lost it 

Feeling better & didn't cry yesterday at all.Got a bit upset at work today when I told colleague (who knew something was up) but thought that I was about to resign! Got date set for follow-up with hospital but in meantime trying to find different clinic for 2nd opinion. Just heard of friend's sister who is my age (actually went to uni with her but lost touch) who is 20 odd weeks PG after 5 attempts so gives us a bit of hope.

Been thinking about the whole DE thing. Have read about the fact that although baby is not our genetic material, in the womb we would influence which genes are switched on/off so do have a huge influence. My personal fear is what happens if it works and during the 9 months you suddenly felt disconnected from the baby and like it was a stranger?

Heidi - good luck for Fri   

Vicky - loved the comment about pruple knickers - if only it was that simple 

Jo - haven't heard about the OST - is it new? At least this clinic seem really thorough before you start again which is reassurinng as well as nerve racking.

Have a confession - bought 2 for 1 on the offer in Boots on ovulation kits - still hoping for a miracle or can't break bad habits??

Hope don't loose this post


Jo8 x


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## jo_11

Hey everyone,

Yes, don’t worry, I’ll still post on here, so no worries about losing the thread… or the plot 

Heidi:  I’ve had a look at the site for the Fertility Show and it looks good.  I see there’s a talk on donor eggs which may make you finally make up your mind?  Good luck with the follow-up appointment on Friday… Not sure if this helps or not but a friend of mine had ICSI seven times but got lucky… the only thing she did different with the last go was to go to a different clinic.  She didn’t give up because the doctors kept saying there was nothing wrong with her egg quality, so she persevered.  

I’ll be going on my own to the Fertility Show as DH will be working (and would probably be a bit bored within about an hour).  So, if any of you are going and fancy hooking up for a coffee or something, let me know.  

Vicks:  Love your ‘purple knickers on head’ comment… they’ll go with my purple shoes that I keep leaving on train tracks… nice look   Re our low AMH levels; my acupuncturist says it’s a result of jing deficiency, so I’m going to try and stock up on jing foods to see if that makes a difference.  Am I right in thinking you tried GIFT?  I think Ranieri was talking about ZIFT for us (so an ICSI GIFT I guess)… don’t like the idea of another laparoscopy tbh   

Jo8:  I hope you’re feeling better… I can certainly empathise with you.  I thought I was fine with our failed attempt at ICSI, and I was for about a week, and then it just completely floored me.  I so wasn’t expecting that.  Have just about picked myself back off the floor now.  Being at work helps tbh as I won’t cry at work!  Which other clinic are you trying; are there many up t’north or will you travel for treatment?  Re OST, this is something that CRGH use… they take a blood sample on day 3, then give you a fertility injection (Gonal F I think), then they take a further sample on day 4.  This gives them the basis for setting a personalised drug regime for your treatment.  All makes good sense to me, and I’m glad I’ll finally be treated like an individual rather than a factory production line.  

Well, think that’s it from me.  No news my end really; just waiting for AF next time… just had my fertile time so DH and I tried just in case; now wouldn’t THAT be a miracle   DH is going for his tests next week… in a way I’m more worried about those, don’t know why.  Ho hum.  

Hope you’re all having good weeks… I’m not impressed by the dark mornings now, boo for Winter!

Jo
x


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## vicks67

Hi All, Heidi they were talking about GIFT for us but because we got some more eggs, by some miracle, we went with IVF. I might go to fertility show, need to see what the on call rota is. Would be interested in donor egg talk, as it might come to that. Good luck with your app on friday.

Jo- I had an OST as well, which they did on the back of my 3rd IUI, results were a bit borderline and they ended up using max doses anyway. I suspect you'll be give a similar protocol. I had very few side effects.

Jo8-Glad you're feeling a bit better, hopefully your follow up appointment will  give you some closure.

AFM-got followup tomorrow so will see what they say. Have decided to try and lose weight and see if that helps!
Take care, Vicky


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## Smike

Evening Ladies

it`s funny how you learn so much reading these posts, GIFT, ZIFT, and OST was all foreign to me this morning  , but having read your posts, I`m more in the know now  , I guess you get to understand more when it relates to you. All these letters gets confusing, funny as my mum kept telling people i was having HIV instead of IVF  , doh and she`s not even dyslexic, hence i quickly corrected her. 

I`ve booked the DE talk and also the one about clinikcs abroad, as thought they would be worth listening to.

Vicky- good luck with your follow up tomorrow, let us know how it goes

Jo -not heard of ZIFT until you mentioned it, why are they suggesting that to you ? what`s the advantages of it ?  don`t blame you for trying au natural, it`s my time too any day, you never know miracles may still happen   

Jo8- sorry you`re still finding it tough, but hey don`t give up hope, good news on your uni friend, see that`s inspiring for all of us.Hearing news like that still puts me in 2 minds about DE or my own, and found what you said about DE in the womb very interesting, gosh it gets very confusing as to know what to do for the best, if only my age and funds weren`t such an issue.

I`m hoping to get a few more answers on friday, and will be asking about using DHEA, and also prednisolone to continue trying naturally till our next tx in 2010. 

well i`m off for an early night. You ladies keep strong and positive

TTFN

Heidi xx


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## jo_11

Hi everyone,

Well, I’ve booked my ticket for the fertility show and am going to three of the talks (‘it takes two’ - about what DH can do about his little men, maximising chances, and why I should give it another go)… I’m hoping for inspiration!  I’m not going to go to the DE talk; that’s not really in my thoughts yet and something I’m not able to get my head round just yet.  

Vicky:  How did your follow-up appointment go; fingers crossed you’ll be able to start again before the year end.  Just out of interest, what drugs and what levels did CRGH put you on?

Heidi:  Yes, there’s so many different acronyms… this whole fertility thing is a completely alien language but I’m getting a bit more fluent.  I think I’m at that stage they call ‘a little bit of knowledge is dangerous’.  Re the ZIFT, I haven’t been recommended that as yet, it’s just been thrown in there as a possibility.  We need to some tests first.  But the consultant was saying that if I only have a few eggs, they may be delicate (not sure how if they were grade 2s??), and it’s best to get them back in the body asap, into their natural environment, rather than risking them in the lab.  All sounds good in principle, except for having a laparoscopy, yuk.  There is a slightly paranoid part of me that thinks they want us to go down that route so they don’t have to include us in the IVF/ICSI stats, but I’ll try not to focus on that just yet.  See what they say after the test results are in.  

Jo8:  How are you holding up?  Let us know how your appointment goes.

Dawne:  How’s things with you?  Did you decide whether the adoption route’s for you or not?  Hoping the moggie’s OK  

AFM, I’ve been pretty much holed up the past couple of months… I haven’t really wanted to see friends as I don’t want to tell them about this whole rollercoaster ride, and it’s really the only thing that’s been on my mind.  But I held a dinner party on Saturday night which was really good fun.  Having not had a drink in two months I was pretty battered after my first glass of champers; unfortunately the food suffered slightly (rice pudding style risotto anyone?) but I had a really good night, most of which was spent belting out numbers on SingStar… next stop X Factor, lol!

Well, best get on.

Jo
x


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## vicks67

Jo, hopefully I won't start repeating myself too much between these threads!

I was on GonalF 225iu, menopur 225iu, clomid 100mg and cetrotide. I got the same talk today from Ranieri about the GIFT, I don't think they would be swayed by the stats arguement and what he said was quite logical. The dinner party sounds fab, I have to say I'm the opposite of you and have told everyone what we're going through, its made it easier in some respects but more difficult around the testing time when everyone is rooting for you!

heidi-hope you're ok and everything goes ok on Friday. I'm going to do a FET in November and if that fails a fresh cycle in January. They have suggested using growth hormone to help response to the stimming drugs for the fresh cycle, read somewhere it will help me lose weight so thats a plus!

Dawne, Jo8-how are?

Vicksx


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## jo_11

Hey all,

Hope you're well and looking forward to the weekend  

Vicky:  Yes, the threads may get confusing... I can't keep up with the CRGH one!  Good news about the FET in Nov; here's hoping it'll be 'the one'.  Interesting you say about having growth hormone injections to increase egg number if you need to stim again in Jan (hopefully not though)... there seem to be so many different ways of doing this thing; it's a complete minefield.  Re your drug regime, d'you know the difference between Gonal-F and Menopur?  I was just put on Gonal-F before, at 375; so I guess I wasn't quite at max dose; plus there's the clomid that CRGH added in as well.  I was put on just that back in the summer (by a consultant out of town), which made me produce three follicles just on it's own... hope for me yet, yey!  As for telling friends about IVF, *big sigh*.  It's a really difficult one for me... DH doesn't want ANYONE to know, although I'm rubbish at keeping my big mouth shut, so I've been having to avoid people as much as possible.  It's so difficult.  But, I've still managed to tell quite a few people (oops).  Having to tell these people I failed though has been horrid, so next time I'm just going to try and keep schtum.  Well, I'm going to limit it to just two people.  That's why these threads help me... it's not in my nature to be quiet!

Heidi:  Forgot to mention before, it did make me laugh with your Mum and HIV not IVF; how embarrassing!  Mums eh?  My Mum was going round telling people I'd had a facelift; I had to correct her by explaining the difference between a facelift and a facial, lol!  Let us know how your appointment goes today; best of luck.  

Dawne and Jo8:  Let us know how you are if you get a mo.

AFM, not much going on.  Two friends have had babies this week (very happy for them but...).  I'm meeting a friend tomorrow who had a baby two weeks ago, and another friend on Sunday who's over from NYC and has got a little 'un I haven't met yet.  I guess there's one school of thought that says you should surround yourself with what you want, so I'm going to go with that this weekend.  DH is working, so won't be seeing much of him.

Take care all.

Jo
x


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## jo8

Hi Ladies

Sorry not been on - been a busy week at work. We're going through a 'change process' and everyone seems to be in meltdown & its all been put on hold this week. I'm really relieved as it means no more navel gazing for a couple of months and also the whole day session I was due to go to tomorrow has been cancelled 

Been doing research so think I will get in touch with CARE Manchester for 2nd opinion - have any of you been to the CARE clinics down south?? Been thinkning this week maybe should give it one more go and also try DHEA. A friend on another thread who has AMH<1,and was told it was highly unlikely she would respond by our clinic has just announced this morning that she has BFP so maybe they do get it wrong sometimes.

Jo - re telling people - we told more on the 1st attempt which was suspended & less this time so it has been easier. We haven't told parents just DP's sister so at least that helped. Personally I only wanted those to know who really understood and had gone thro' it themselves or were close to someone that had. I just think people don't really understand how much of a rollercoaster it is! Hope it doesn't get too much for you this weekend with all the babies

Heidi - how did you get on yesterday?? Hope it was useful and got lots of questions answered. Mother's eeh 

Vicky - how did your follow-up go

We're seeing close friends tomorrow who knew about last IVF but not this one - she is 34 weeks pg & started trying just as we started on the IVF rollercoaster in Jan - in 2 minds whether to say anything. They are really good friends and they have asked when our next go is & were so supportive last time but feel a bit awkward with them now - hope it goes ok. Suppose it will depend on how much wine I have or whether DP blurts anything out -which he did with another friend this week!!

Has anyone got a fertility monitor - saw them in Boots the other day & didn't know whether it was worth it. Tried the sticks this week and they don't seem to be doing anything. My cycles are quite short - usually around 24 days so sometimes it difficult to predict. When we first started ttc used the sticks and after 3 months still hadn't had blue line so that's when I went to doc and they said that I was ovulating so not that convinced about sticks. Any ideas??

Hope you all have a lovely weekend 

Jo8 x


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## Smike

Hello Ladies

hope you`re all enjoying the weekend . Have to say I`ve had a really good weekend so far, i guess all the stress of the past few weeks has eased a  bit now and i`m actually managing to live a bit .  I had my hair all chopped off last weekend, gone from long and straight to shortish and choppy, which is a big change but i feel it`s done me good, plus people mention my different look before the ivf which is quite nice. Went out friday night with 2 of my closest friends, has a good old chin wag and filled them in on my lastest news and decisions, they are both vbery supportive, did 4 hours of retail therapy yesterday  . 

Jo8- sorry haven`t heard of CARE  guess there`s none down this way, heard good things about DHEA, I asked my consultant if it would be good for my quality but she said no, only really helps with quantitiy , so sounds good for you to use. Hope you had a nice time with you pg mate, i know it`s tough as i went out with my cousin last week who`s 4.5 months pg after her 1st ivf.

Vicky- good luck with FET, you`re lucky to have some left to freeze, that means the quality is there

Jo- hope it wasn`t too painful for you seeing all your friends with their babies, you can`t help asking "why not me" ,as much as you`re happy for them, don`t know about you but i do get rather green, i guess it`s only natural. 

my follow up appointment went ok, but if i`m honest i came home feeling really deflated. She told me that she didn`t think my problem was immune related but that the bottom line was my eggs are just not the best quality, they`ve gone from being grade 2 to now being 2.5 to 3 plus this time they were slow to develope. I have the quantity as i only take 150 and 75 ml on alternate days and get approx 12 follies which i know you ladies would love to get on such a small dose, but the quality is just not up to the job. I asked whether taking DHEA would help and the answer was no, also whether staying on pred and trying naturally would help and it was again a no. She said my chances were now about 5% after 4 failed cycles, and that i could try another 4 tx, and mybe it would work there was no telling, but realistically the next step would be DE where we would have a 60% chance. I knew this was our next step, but the realisation of not being able to have my very own child was a bit hard to actually swallow, we`re going to now investigate the DE route as she said the waiting list in Spain is between 3-6 months after your initial consultation, so after the Fertility show we shall have more info on where we want to go, and then we`ll try and go abroad this year to a clinic with a view to hopefully finding a donor early next year fingers crossed.

we`re just off out, so that`s it from me for now. Hope you`re all staying positive and having a good weekend

bye for now

heidi xx


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## vicks67

Heidi-It sounds like you had quite an honest consult from your consultant. I asked on Wednesday when I would know when to stop with my own wgga and was told after 3 failed cycles chances would be very slim. So It sounds like we're getting similar advice. I'm trying to prepare myself for that conversation and decision by doing lots of reading now, but I know it must be hard to hear it and make the final decision to go with DE. I'm hoping to get to the fertility show, but am on call that weekend. When is the DE talk?

Jo- I think Gonal F and menopur are often used interchangeably but one is pure FSH and the other a mix of FSH and LH, I think. Our last 2 weekends were full of babies! my 3 new nephews and nieces all under 1 and then yesterday a friends bday with 3 new babies to meet. We told them all what was going on, in the end, DH even got the embie pictures out from the last cycle! Its quite an interesting process if you can remove yourself from the emotional side of things.

Jo8-I looked at fertility monitors when we first started out, but decided to stay with the sticks. THey are quite a lot of money as I remember, not sure they add much to the sticks and bb temp. Sorry I can't help on the Care, units, sure someone on these threads here could though.

AFM- trying to diet and wondering what to do for exercise, found a leaflet on the hot yoga and so might do that, need to do something to get rid of these extra pounds!
vicky


----------



## jo8

Hi Ladies

Sorry not posted - been on lates at work and also had kidney infection this week, now followed by thrush after the antibiotics   Think it must have something to do with all the drugs for IVF affecting immune system but starting to feel better now.

Heidi - had a look at the Fertilty show - thinking of coming down for it but don't think I'll manage to get DP along as he asked our consultant about it who was very dismissive and had declined to speak at it. Sounds like your consultant was being very honest but hopefully in a compassionate way. I suppose we all will get to the stage of thinking its a lost cause with our own eggs - think I'm pretty much there after our consultation this week in my head anyway but not in my heart. I'm a scientist by training so think the logical/practical part of my brain takes over. Hope you are starting to get your head around it all  Sounds like the new hairdo has done you good!

Vicky - any word yet on when you are starting again? I'd recommend running and doing the DR.Joshi detox if you want to kick start loosing a few pounds.

Jo - hope you are doing ok and it wasn't too difficult with your friends

Had follow-up on Fri - he was lovely and went thro' all treatment. Basically very slim 1-2% chance it will work (although his colleague had originally said <1% when we first started) next time based on the frozen ones not surviving thaw and the quality of the fresh ones when they were t/x - so looks like we are all in the same boat - the quality ain't great. He said we could try again if we wanted but I said didn't really see the point which think he was surprised about. I asked about DHEA but he said no point trying it. We discussed DE - he said people advertise for donors but when pressed said that there is egg sharing at CARE clinics but did make the point that it is people with fertility problems donating eggs  He said that he knows of clinics in Cyprus and Spain as they have helped previous patients but to be careful as less reputable ones out there so sounds like a bit of a minefield. Is there any reports/inspections on the overseas clinics like there is in UK I wonder? Felt very sad on Fri night despite preparing myself for it.

Some days are just easier than others. Most of the time I'm ok but have my moments - trying to keeep busy but feeling like I'm avoiding socialising - not in very outgoing mood at mo but work is full on so maybe just haven't got the energy. Anyway highlight of the week is I got a positive line on the ovulation sticks - its never worked for me before. But then that bubble was burst when asked consultant if any chance whatsoever of getting PG naturally and he said less chance than with IVF - I suppose I knew that though although don't think we were so fertility aware before started reading Zita West 

Bye for now

Jo8 x


----------



## s1165

Hi 

Sorry to butt in - but would consider buying Fertility Monitor as I also think sticks are rubbish. I know they are expensive but in scheme of things ( compared to IVF) a snip. Sticks have never worked for me and I know I ovulate as had progesterone done etc.

Read somewhere on US website a consultant said dont mess about with sticks and get good monitor. Makes sense as at our age we need to make full use of any natural ttc.

Hope that helps

Good luck to us all 

sally


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## Smike

Hello ladies

sorry  not bothered posting for a while as didn`t really have much news.

hope you`re all ok, and Sally please feel free to join in, we oldies need all the help/advise we can get  

Jo8 - it`s a bit of a blow when someone actually slaps you round the face with the low % and that ttc naturally isn`t really worth getting undressed for, we`ll just have to forget the BMS and try and get  the romance back of actually making lurv and not just a baby, my hubby and I are still trying to find our libidos after all the stresses of the past couple of months  .
Vicks - i don`t remember seeing a talk on DE at the show, i`m going to a couple about tx abroad,so hopefully they may say something in those. I had a bit of a shock yesterday when i put myself on the scales, mmm i`ve put a quarter of a stone on, thats now a full stone since i got married last July    i`ve been fortunate enough not ever having to diet really as i`m fairly slim, but i`m now really struggling to do my clothes up, so i`ll also now be watching my weight.

I`m seriously considering DE  at Serum in Athens, as have been reading some very good reviews from ladies who`ve had tx there, and they say the consultant there really is an angel and particularly helps women who`ve had numerous failed tx and are past 40, also i spent an hour friday night talking to Ruth who is a moderator on FF but also a fertility nurse, she called me from spain ,and she puts you in touch with the clinic and helps organise things for you. She suggested a clamydia ~(sorry can`t spell it ) test that they don`t do in the UK, it actually tests your AF flow itself as picks up from your uterus, yuk, which could be a reason why i`m not getting implantation, and also an aquascan to look inside the uterus for polyps etc,  i think it`s worth doing more tests like these before any future tx. I may go for a consultation in Dec with a view to tx in Feb. It`s a bit daunting how many clinics abroad there are and which to choose, not sure i can be bothered to keep reading so much about them all, i may just go to Serum and be done with it.

on a lighter note, what on earth happened in X Factor saturday, why oh why are those awful twins still there?  I went to see Steven K Amos last night, coloured comedian, sometimes is on the One Show etc, if his tour comes to your neck of the woods,it`s well worth a visit, made my face hurt from laughing soooo much

anyway I truly hope you`ve all manage to pick your chins off the floor by now, or are doing a good job of put a brave face on, stay positive, we WILL get there one day i`m sure 

Jo & Dawne hope you`re both ok

big hugs to you all

Heidi x


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## vicks67

Helloo!

Heidi-I have to agree that the whole orgaqnising treatment abroad is really daunting-It would be very nice to have someone just take control! I haven't read much about serum in Athens but I know there are threads about it on here. I was thinking along the lines of Spain if we go that way, either allicante or barcelona. I think there was a talk on donation at the show, sperm and eggs. Did you read the article in the observer about the chinese herbalist/acupuncturist? Sounded very sucessful and I think she is talking at the fertility show. Absolutely agree about having as much info as possible, not sure about the AF flow thing-yuk! CRGH do an acquascan routinely before each IVF cycle, relatively painless! I watched X factor this weekend for the first time, those twins are such tossers!

Jo8-I'm sorry things were negative, I suspect that once you have got used to the inevitability of it all, the idea of going into treatment with good odds will become more exciting. I think you have to have a grieving period.

I'm just tootling through this cycle waiting for AF so I can figure out timingd for the FET. I didn't ovulate until day 17 this cycle, so could be late in November. 

Hope everyone else if ok, lots of love Vicky


----------



## jo_11

Hey everyone,

And welcome Sally 

Perhaps an obvious question but what is 'DHEA' that a couple of you have posted about - I'm lost on that one  

Jo 8:  Sorry it's not all been good news... I do wonder where some of these doctors get figures like '1-2% chance' from though.  My sister was told she'd absolutely never have kids (really bad PCOS) yet she's got a boy, naturally.  If you want a fertility monitor, you can have mine if you want.  TBH I don't find it massively useful... I know exactly when I ovulate each month as I feel it; plus I get really obvious tell-tale CM, so I've not used it in months.

Heidi:  You're brave going from long to short hair - I don't think I could!  Re your egg grades; I know you say they've gone from 2 to 2.5 - 3 but could this change again?  A friend of mine went through 7 rounds of ICSI and the grades varied the whole time... she ended up with a little boy from a grade 3.

Vicky:  Re diet things; my sister has had problems with weight and she's been seeing a nutritionist for the past year and has lost 3 stone.  She puts it down to eating the right things (clearly!) but also food combining; so this is never having complex carbs (potato, pasta, rice) with protein.  So veg/salad and protein's fine, and veg/salad with complex carbs also fine.  She said you have to think of things carefully (e.g. mayo's a protein, as is butter/milk, etc.) but she swears by it.  

General:  I have a couple of recent good stories.  My friend's next door neighbour (tenuous link!), aged 42 with an AMH between 1-2 has had a baby (through the Lister)... may have mentioned this before. Another friend of a friend donated eggs to the Lister to get a free IVF go... she didn't produce enough eggs first go to donate and have a go herself, so had to go for a second round for herself.  By the time she'd done that she heard the news that one of her eggs had embedded with a donor (that must've been weird to hear!), and she got pregnant herself on her first go - she's now 3 months.  So I wouldn't just think that it's ladies with fertility problems who donate the eggs.  Not sure what their problem was - can find out if of interest??  Interestingly the Lister has been advertising a lot for egg donors (tube, Metro, etc.).  I like the idea that they'll let ladies perhaps with low hormone levels carry on with IVF/ICSI, and they have good results too, so it doesn't seem they're trying to take money under false pretences.  

AFM, I’m going to have my day three blood test (and a bit of a nosey at my follicles I think) tomorrow morning.  I’m hoping they don’t take too long as I need to get back to work PDQ for a meeting… DH was kept waiting for over an hour and fell asleep at his appointment!  

If anyone’s going to the Fertility Show and wants to hook up for a coffee, or to look around, let me know, as I’m going on my own.  

Jo
x


----------



## Smike

Hi Ladies

hope you`re all ok

Jo - DHEA is a natural steriod that slows the aging process, we all have it in our bodies but it decreases past the age of 30 i think   but it supposedly can help with stimming and producing more eggs, but please don`t take my word for it. You can`t get from the GP only online, it`s worth reading up about it, but be warned it can have some nasty side affects. Re my eggs they may change again but the quality isn`t too good supposedly , too much fragmentation plus chromosomally defective, so i`d rather play safe and go for 60% with DE, or 70% if i go with my natural cycle, bring it on.

Vicks good luck with FET whenever that is

we have decided to defo go with Serum, just trying to sort the yuk test out as AF is due Fri. I`m probably going for 1st consultation on friday 4th Dec, with a view to tx feb/march

We are really busy on sat 7th nov, DH`s belated 40th party at ours , plus as we have made our minds up now,and i don`t want to confuse myself anymore , i have 2 spare tickets for the fertility show on the saturday 7th nov, plus 2 tickets for a couple of seminars, on tx abroad if anyone wants them pm me your address details and i`ll send them on , that goes for anyone who may be reading this thread, but 1st come 1st served, they`ll be FOC.

TTFN 

Heidi x


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## vicks67

Hi, Jo hope scan is quick and painless! I'm hoping to go to the show, but will probably only make it to the afternoon sessions on the friday and the saturday as am oncall and will have to go into work first. Would like to meet though if your around. Are you going on just the sat or both?

Heidi- a friend of mine has just been seen by IVI in Madrid for DE, she was also impressed, quoted about 9000euros. She has to do some sort of dummy run, with the oestrogen to check she tolerates it, she didn't mention the yukky test! Do you know roughly how much serum charge?

I asked about DHEA, I think its an androgen and so need to make sure levels don't get too high. CRGH weren't too keen on it when I asked, but who knows! I don't feel that comfortable buying drugs over the internet, you never know what you're going to get and would have no way of checking.
Vicks


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## jo_11

Hey all,

Heidi:  Sounds like it's all go for you on the DE front; congrats on making the decision.  I'd be interested to here how it all goes and will, of course, be   for you.  Hope your DH has a good birthday do; I had a big party earlier in the year for my 40th, I LOVED it (despite saying I didn't want to be the centre of attention for it, which I now know is clearly untrue!).

Not sure about this DHEA thing... I'm like Vicky; I'd be too uncomfortable buying/using something I'd bought online.  I will still Google it and see what it's all about though.  

Vicky:  Yey, I've now got a (fertility) friend to go to the show with!  I'll PM you with my mobile number... I'm going on the Saturday only; in the afternoon I've got tickets for two talks: 'Maximise your changes of conception through IVF - without the risk of a multiple birth at 12:30-13:15 (although now not sure I'll go to that now seeing as I think I'd always have three put back); the other talk is 'It takes two to tango.  What men need to know about their fertility and its treatment which is at 15:30-16:15 (better do that for DH).  Apart from that I'm free.

AFM, well, I had my day three test earlier this week.  I have to say, the more I get into this whole malarkey, it seems the less I know.  So, they had a look at my ovaries as well to see how many follies are growing there.  I've got 12, plus a tiny little cyst which apparently can just come and go of its own accord (?).  Because of the cyst they didn't give me a stim injection, as they said the greedy little cyst would just drink it all in.  Apparently though they can work out my protocol just based on the day three bloods (shame, as I quite liked the idea of stim then checking on day four).  Question for you though... when I did ICSI in Sept, I was on the short protocol and started stimming on day three... when I had EC there were eight follicles.  So how come by doing nothing, I've got 12 follicles, yet with drugs I only got eight??  I don't get it or am I being     I've checked the ICSI records and they noted down ALL my follicles, not just the good sized ones.  We're going to wait for the results of DH's karyotype and DNA fragmentation tests before seeing the Dr again... another couple of weeks I think.

TTFN.

Jo
x


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## vicks67

Jo, was that the antral follicle count as part of OST?
If so they are something different, the follicles you see after stims have been recruited to grow and will ovulate. They use the antral follicle count as a measure of reserve, 12 sounds pretty good to me I ony had 2 on right ovary and noone could see the left!
Vicks


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## jo_11

Hi Vicks,

Yes, it was part of the whole OST thing... the French lady with the neat bump did the count.  The number sounds (potentially) promising, seeing as you've gone on to even get frosties   

I find all this fertility thing so very confusing; just when I think I've 'got it', something new (and usually contradictory) comes along!

Jo
x


----------



## Smike

Hi Ladies

i`ll keep this short , as i just wrote a long message and then it said a new post had been written while i was writing and it lost my post, and i need to do my online food shopping as i`ve recently decided while i was taking things easy on my 2ww that  spending saturdays in a supermarket a waste of time  

anyway just to say  Serum charge 5000 euros for DE , and just 3000 for ivf with OE, oh and 200 eurois for the yuk test which having read lots about it on the greece thread sounmds well worth having , as it could be the reason why we`re no implanting and also why some m/c.

antral follicle , OST sorry lost me       i need to google them,  i`m guessing it`s something that hasn`t affected me so far on this journey, blimey it`s soooo confusing, it makes me feel a bit daft at times nt know all this jargon ,but talk to anyone to anyone who luckily hasnb`t gad ivf and well i could be talking a forei8gn language.

hope you both enjoy the show next saturday, mmm hope i don`t regret not going, you`ll have to fill me in on what you`ve learnt

TTFN

Heidi x


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## jo_11

Heidi,

Yes, I've been caught by the new post thing before; mostly I now write my messages in Word and then copy/paste them into FF.

What's the 'yuk test'?  More terminology (or presumably that's slang?!) I don't know.

Re antral follicle/OST; this is something CRGH do as a matter of course for everyone... it's yet another statistic they can throw in the "how good are your chances" melting pot along with AMH, FSH, blah, blah.  

I was talking to someone the other day about the jargon and she didn't even know where her uterus was... and she's got a kid - FFS!!!!  I wish I didn't know what any of this was and that it all happened naturally with me being completely ignorant; ah well, c'est la vie.  

Will try and pick up some useful snippets at the show for you.

Jo
x


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## Smike

Morning Jo

yuk test(yes slang) is actually a PCR test (hope i got those letters round the right way) they do it in the US and now at Serum, it tests for chlamydia. It seems than many women who have the swab test in the UK and test negative here, then have this yuk test which tests your AF blood can then test positive,as it gives a truer reading of what`s going on inside, as the infection is often higher up than the swab test reaches. In one respect i hope i have it, weird i know,but at least it may explain my `unexplained infertility`, and also it can dissappear with antibiotics, mmmm then i`ll be wondering where the hell i got it from as never really put it about and have always tried to be careful.  AF is here on time as usual so now have the tricky job of getting a sample in a small pot, mmmmm  lovely  

hope you`re all ok, have a good weekend one and all

Heidi x


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## jo8

Hi ladies

Gosh all the tests sound more confusing  

Heidi - didn't realise that you could get a negative in UK and then this other test a positive, does sound pretty yukky though - good luck with the pot  Glad you got to the place of deciding what to do next - were you thinking about it for a while? I'm still mulling everything over in my head, leaning towards DE but know my DP is not for it. Think men often take longer to come round to the idea though - did you find this? 
Jo - sounds like the follicle count was a good result - think anything in double figures sounds positive!!  What other tests do you have to have - remember you saying there was quite a few for you and DH. What are the next ones?? Can't believe they can look at it so many ways and still its a game of chance when you do finally have a go at IVF!
Vicky - have you got a date for your FET yet - seems to have come round really quickly?Know what you mean about buying the drugs over the internet & cos my consultant was so anti the DHEA its kind of put me off.

Might try to get to the Fertility show if I can sort out train ticket & house isn't too chaotic, have you still got the ticket Heidi ?The plasterer arrives next week, followed by electrician & carpenter - makeover for the halls, stairs , landing so think its not going to be pretty in our house for a while!! Got all the paperwork from CARE this week - can't remember all the tests we have had & I'm sure they ask for the results of even more.
Well going to a charity ball tomorrow night - decided to dye my hair tonight. Last had highlights in the summer as being trying to avoid hair dye (read bad things about it affecting fertility) but thought what the hell I'll just have a go (usually go to the hairdressers) but now I'm thinkning what the HELL as its come out rather dark even though I went for light brown - it must be cos it hasn't been dyed since March  

Have a good weekend 

Jo8 x


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## jo_11

Hey all,

Heidi:  Oh my, more tests!  No, I’d not heard of PCR before… Do lots of ladies test positive after this test?  I’d always thought of Chlamydia as a teenager’s infection.  Do they test for anything else?  I don’t envy you with filling up your pot, eww! 

Jo:  I’m hoping the follicle count is good; will have to wait and see when we go back to the clinic.  I only ended up having the day three blood test, so that’s it for me.  They were going to inject me with some stims then take a day four blood test but I had a little cyst so they didn’t bother.  Just waiting on DH’s test results now (DNA fragmentation and karyotype); they take a few weeks apparently – boring!  Sounds like you’ve got a lot going on with the house; hope it all goes well… you may want to escape to the Fertility Show to get away from the mess.  Hope you’re feeling all positive about going to another clinic; always good to get another opinion.  Enjoy your ball tonight.

Vicky and others still reading this post:  Hope you’re all well and happy.

I’ve done a little reading about DHEA and this is the sex hormone, right?  According to some of my results (I’ve got two massive folders relating to fertility now!), I’ve got a high reading, so am hoping that’s OK.  But who knows in this game?!  

Although I initially decided not to bother going back to LFC to find out more about our negative result; as I was thinking “what can they tell us other than it was a 'no'?”, I went along yesterday.  I’m quite glad I did.  I’ve found out that they were really happy with the quality of my eggs, they just want me to produce more, which they think is doable seeing as I wasn’t on maximum drugs.  They said there wasn’t much resistance from the zona, so I don’t have to worry about hard eggs, and all the ones they collected they were able to use.  At least I can take this info CRGH to add it to the mix of things they’ll consider for us.  LFC weren't (and still aren't) interested in doing anything re DH's sperm, so I'm glad we're at CRGH and being treated like individuals, yey!

Well, best get on, I have to go to my acupuncturist now.

Have good weekends one and all.

Jo
xxx


----------



## vicks67

Jo-1105, that sounds really reassuring, the egg quality is something they can do bugger all about, so its nice to hear yours are fine. DHEA is supposed to help with quality so it sounds like you probably wouldn't need it anyway.

Jo-8 very brave of you to dye your own hair! I hope you have a fab time at the ball and if you fancy trying to catch up on Saturday  that would be brill.

Heidi-serum sound quite reasonable in the general scheme of things! Good Luck with that pot, not sure how you are going to do that!
PCR-stands for polymerase chain reaction and is a way of amplifying DNA, so presumably they are looking for a particular bit of the chlamydia genome, and it will allow them to detect even the tiniest amount of infection.
AFm-have been to the gym so feel quite pleased with myself, am supposed to be working now but appear to be on FF instead!
vicky


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## Smike

Well ladies, we are a busy lot, tests here and there, mmm there`s no stopping us    

Vicks - well done for going to the gym,  i`ve always found it sooo boring. Thanks for the PCR explanation, you`ve no doubt googled it, mmm something i must do. 

Jo- I`ve read a few posts on the Greece site where a couple of ladies have tested neg over here with the usual swab test and then tested positive with this particular test, one lady had been with the same partner for 20 years and had regular checks here. There are no signs so i guess you can have it for years without knowing. I`ll know my result hopefully by the end of the week. Glad to hear your egg quality is ok, as that`s one thing you can`t change, fingers crossed that CRGH stim you more and then bob`s your uncle  

Jo8- yes have still got 2 tickets for the show which can be used either day, plus tickets for seminars Going abroad  at 13.45 sat, and planning treatment abroad at 15.30 sat if you`re interested  ? you`re very welcome to them, or just one !  
My DH wasn`t initially keen on using DE, but soon changed his mind, as realised we didn`t have a lot of choice, other than adopt, at least this way we will be it`s real parents (ok me not biologically) , but once you`ve carried it for 9 months, given birth, held it for the first time, you would soon forget the  rest. Adoption was an idea, but we decided against it as it`s an even bigger emotional rollercoaster than  the one we`re on at the mo, and no guarantees of being accepted at the end of it. I think if you explain to your DP that at hopefully you`ll reach your goal this way, having a higher success rate and it will be partly his, it`s then down to the nature versus nuture. After 4 failed tx we just wanted to go with whatever gave us a better chance of having a healthy baby at the end of the day, plus we can`t afford to keep banging our heads against the wall with my eggs, we realised it was time to try something else. I think we all have to decide for ourselves when to give up with your own eggs. There`s nothing to say any of you won`t get lucky next time, but i know i`ve now given it my best shot.

I`ve now booked our flights and hotel for Athens, for the first weekend in December, as seeing the consultant on Fri 4th, all i have to do now is aim in the pot  either today or tomorrow as a courier is collecting it monday. I don`t stand still for long, I can`t afford to as don`t want to be giving birth at 50   

anyway off for chinese tonight

Enjoy the rest of your weekends, and Jo enjoy the ball

take care

Heidi  xx


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## vicks67

Heidi, I agree with all those sentiments and its absolutely going to be my thought process as well. i probably won't be able to afford 4 attempts, but would like to try 3, and then have some time to save up! I also wouldn't mind a ticket for Sat and even the planning treatment abroad, If thats ok. How would we get hold of the tickets?
Vicky


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## Smike

Morning

just to say Vicky and Jo8 if you PM me your addresses i`ll post you the tickets, I`ll send you both 1 ticket to get in plus 1 of each of the seminars i`ve got and then you can do what you like

TTFN

Heidi x


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## jo8

Hi Ladies

Well busy weekend - ball was fun - dress code was weird though! Tickets said black/white or fancy dress but some people didn't read the 'or' & didn't realise it was Halloween so finished up with Princess Leila and 2 Henry 8th  

Got my train tickets booked for the fertility show and will be going myself so if you are still going Jo and Vicky and fancy meeting for a coffee that would be great? I'm planning on getting there around 11.30-12.00 and hope to book on to few talks in the afternoon on the treatment abroad and donor eggs but think there is a gap at 2.30-3.30 if that works for anyone else? Don't know how we will recognise each other though  

Heidi - like Vicky said I can really  identify with your comments - my head feels in quite a good place with it at the mo - even though A/f started early & I was convinced after a positive on ovulation sticks it might actually work this month au naturel until consultant said no chance!! Your appointment has happened really quickly. Sure I've mentioned it before but one of the ladies I keep in touch with from another thread has just had treatment at Serum and came back with 3 embies on board last Thurs - she'ds been really impressed with the whole experience there.

Wonder what has happened to Dawne - has anyone heard from her??

Hope we all had a nice Monday 
Jo8 x


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## jo_11

Hey girls,

Jo8:  Vicky and I have swapped mobile numbers and are going to meet up on Saturday.... no 'red carnation with a copy of The Times' and hanging about on street corners    I'll PM my number to you.  I think my first talk is at 10:30 which seems a bit bloomin' early for a Saturday (I don't usually get up 'til about 11am on the weekend).  But I'll be there.

Vicky:  On the affordability front, my acupuncturist was telling me about one of his clients who's just bought a pack of five IVF goes in Denmark... buying more is apparently cheaper.  And I don't know if you get some money back if you don't use them, but it's £12k for the five.  Bit of a bargain if you can get yourself over to Denmark for the EC and ET, all the other stuff can be done in the UK.  Not something I'd do I don't think (wouldn't want to set myself that it might take five goes for starters), but worth knowing possibly.

Heidi:  Sorry you won't be joining us at the show, but we'll make sure we get any gems of information/leaflets re DE and let you know.

AFM, I've got a follow-up appointment with the consultant next week... fingers crossed that DH's results come back for then.  We're hoping to go again towards the end of this month... I know he said three months break but that'll be Christmas time, and we're away in Spain, which means it would be January... not sure I want to (or can!) wait that long!  Oh and - how sad am I - I found a post on FF about a lady who wants information to chart whether astrology has an impact on fertility treatment... she believes it does (positioning of some of the planets apparently)... in return she'll let you know your good times for treatment over the next two years.  Reminds me of Vicky's "we'd wear purple knickers on our heads if it helped" comments  

Jo
x


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## PKM

Hello ladies

I was just browsing this sub forum and I thought I'd just say hi.

I'm a bit of an oldie too (43) and DH is 50 (51 in 2 weeks).....

This comment below made me laugh...... (only cos I'm off to cook up special magic soup). 



jo_1105 said:


> - I found a post on FF about a lady who wants information to chart whether astrology has an impact on fertility treatment... she believes it does (positioning of some of the planets apparently)... in return she'll let you know your good times for treatment over the next two years. Reminds me of Vicky's "we'd wear purple knickers on our heads if it helped" comments
> 
> Jo
> x


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## jo_11

Hi PKM  

I think we've bumped into each other on the 'stupid things people say' thread.  

Oooo, 'special magic soup', what's that??

Yes, astrology, purple knickers on head; whatever it takes, lol!

I forgot to add that I've sent all my tx details to the astrology lady... she's promised me my star chart thingymajig by next Wednesday.  She's said if any other ladies wanted to send her their details to add to her studies, she'd do the same for them, so let me know if you're interested.

Hope everyone's having a good week.

Jo
x


----------



## PKM

Hi Jo - ahhh I thought your name was familiar - I'm still getting to know my way around here....

Well, if all else fails you can always buy a magic spell from *ebay*.

I especially love the bit about "choose online spells from someone with a reputation".... yep, that'll do the trick!


----------



## Smike

Hi ladies

Jo, Vicky, and Jo8- glad you got tickets ok, have fun tomorrow, kinda wish i was joining you now , as would of been nice to put a face to the name, anyway hope you find out lots of intersting stuff and you come back feeling all positive. 

have a good weekend everyone

Heidi xx


----------



## vicks67

Hi All,
Heidi, thanks the tickets arrived despite the postal system! How did you get on with that pot!

Jo8, I also tried to delude myself that we might be able to conceive au naturel-was proved wrong yesterday! Not surprsingly! Look forward to seeing you tomorrow.

Jo 1105-ditto! I have to go into work tomorrow am and do a ward round, hopefully the punters will be behaving themselves and i'll get away at a reasonable time. I'll text you when I arrive and we can try and find each other!

Hi to PKM! Enjoy your respective weekends!
Vicky


----------



## jo8

Hi 

Heidi - shame you aren't joining us - it would be good to meet up - but maybe sometime!

Jo & Vicky - thanks for your messages - looking forward to meeting you tomorrow. Vicky I'll text you my number in the morning - thanks for yours. I'm booked on the 12.45 talk on egg donation  - just had a thought hope its not about giving eggs as there is no chance of that  

PKM  - hi & welcome to the thread - where are you up to in treatment - obviously at a crucial stage if you are trying special soup??

See you tomorrow
Jo8 x


----------



## Smike

Hi Ladies

so how was the show on saturday ??  useful ?    hope you all enjoyed it and had a proper face to face natter.

I spent saturday night with a friend of my DH who is due in 5 weeks , and she went on and on and on about her pregnancy etc, hence i didn`t enjoy the evening too much 

I got my chlamydia result back from Athens, and thankfully it`s negative. I`m kinda pleased but a bit deflated at the same time, as at least it may of explained why it`s not happening. Anyway looking forward to meeting Dr Penny on 4th Dec, hopefully all going well, i could be doing ET very early Feb, bring it on   

so how`s things with all of you, what`s occuring ?  hope you are all well

TTFN 

Heidi x


----------



## jo_11

Hey Heidi,

It was really good to meet up with Vicky and Jo on Saturday; and yes, we managed to get an inordinate amount of gossiping in 

The show was OK... if I hadn't met up with Vicky and Jo I may have thought it was a waste of time.  I did some learning about the whole egg donor route, should I need to go down this at any point, so that was useful.  Nothing else much of note, other than some of the people at the stalls talking 'at you' about their product, without even needing to draw breath, or find out if you were interested in their wares.

AFM, all good pretty much... had a follow-up appointment at the clinic yesterday and we can 'cycle' again Jan/Feb.  Still waiting for follow-up on one of DH's tests, so fingers crossed all good.

Meeting your doctor on 4 Dec; does that mean you're over to Athens??

Jo
x


----------



## jo_11

P.S. I've heard back from astrology lady and apparently the best times for me to have ET over the next two years are:

6 - 8 July 2010 
5 - 7 August 2010 
5 - 7 February 2011

They don't quite fit in with my plans!!

Jo

P.S.  Sorry, forgot to say hi to everyone else, so a big


----------



## jo8

Hi Ladies

Sorry for no posts - away with work & then internet connection went down.

Jo & Vicky - great to meet up at the weekend. Glad we did as think it would have been a bit dull and hreavy going if you were by yourself. Thought the talks were worth it though

Jo - good news about the next go - at least you can get Xmas out of the way - just a shame about the astrology but from what your docs said last time - it all does sound quite positive 

Heidi - thanks again for the tickets - it would have been good to meet with you too. Sorry about the night out - its the last thing you need really. We're out with our friends tomorrow - she is due in just over 2 weeks but thankfully its not all about baby talk usually when we meet up. On a very positive note - the lady who has been to SERUM has just PM'd to say she got a BFP this morning - she is just waiting to find out if its twins!

Hi to Vicky - how are you doing?

I need to get round to contacting other clinics and filling in paperwork for CARE but won't get chance till weekend now which is no good for phonecalls  

Bye for now
Jo8 x


----------



## vicks67

Hello All!

Heidi-thanks for the tickets. I echo what the Jos say re usefulness. But the donor egg bits were useful and have stored that info away for later. The 4th of Dec will come so quicky, its really exciting, look forward to hearing how it goes!

Jo-8, Fab to meet you too! Hope you get round to that paper work soon!

Jo 1105-I agree about show, would have been a bit tedious without you! At leat I managed to avoid my mad ex-secretary! Bit limiting those times really, hope you have a bun in the oven by July next year!!

Hi to everyone else!
Enjoy the weekend!

Vicky


----------



## jo8

Hi Ladies

Just checking in to see how we are all doing

Heidi - must be soon for the date to Athens - hope it goes well

Vicky - have you started on your FET yet - fingers crossed it works 

Jo - have you got a date yet for the next cycle? just statrted to use the fertility monitor - thanks again for bringing it

Haven't much to report - manically busy with work, been to Good Food show (on the stand for 2 days solid so now understand how they felt at the Fertility show stands), been to Exmouth for weekend and now working 12 hour days.Haven't heard back from CARE so will be chasing this week - doesn't sound very professional really !

Take care
Jo8


----------



## vicks67

Hi, hope you are al k-just a quick up date from mw-we amazingly got a BFP after th FET. Not surprisingly tht just opens up another world of anxiety because you sudenly have so much to lose. nywa-we have a scan booked on monday when we will hoefully see a little heart beat-I'll kep you posted!
Hope all your christmas prepartions are coming along nicely!
Vicky


----------



## handy1

Hi all

I am a new member, read your treads here. It is really impressive how you support each other and that gave me a will and hope to look forward to.

I'm 41 DH 41 together for 2years and ttc. I had fibriods treated with myomectomy. unfortunately my AMH is low (1pmole/ml) which indicates severely reduced ovarian reserve. My FSH is 5 and PG 15.8.

I didn't intend to have kids at later age at all. My first marriage was a disaster and ended 4yrs ago and then met my my lovelyDH and married last May.

I feel the same like Heidi and crying day and night.....so my heart goes out to you and i will be    and wishing you   .

Vicky- thats good news and I'm so happy for you.

Best wishes to all of you

Handy


----------



## Smike

Hi Ladies

Handy - welcome to our thread, you sound in a similar boat to the rest of us , so glad you`ve joined us.

Vicks - well a massive congrats to you, you must be over the moon, but understandably nervous and anxious at the early stage.

Hope all the rest of you are doing well

AFM - well i went to Athens for my initial consultation, which was on the friday, had my aquascan, all ok. I was a bit worried before i went as AF arrived early which never happens to me, and thought it would spoil me doing a natural ET in Feb, WELL as it happens it did me a massive favour. The Dr was impressed with my womb lining and said it was perfect for ET there and then, they were doing an EC from a donor on the monday, and would do an ET with me on the Thurs if i wanted to wait and do it. We decided it was fate and went for it, the Dr gave me a 90% chance, woo hoo. I`m not counting my  chickens and am a bit worried as have had no symptoms. I can do a blood test monday or a HPT wed, i`ve decided to do a HPT tues. It will either be a fantastic xmas or a really really bad one, but i have my fingers crossed. I also very much reccommend the Serum clinic, they were fab,quite different to over here, and were happy for me to transfer the 6000 euro when we got home, how trusting is that !! Also i now have 5 frosties, which to go back, hopefully i won`t need to , but the FET is included in the 6000,but before i do a FET i`ll have to have a hysteroscopy to do a proper check, as the aquascan only shows 85%. This was all very unexpected as you can imagine, but exciting all the same.

well merry xmas to you all, and congratulations again Vicky

love 

Heidi xx


----------



## jo_11

Hey all,

I did mean to reply to Jo8's note a couple of weeks ago and then forgot, so apologies!

Handy - I can certainly empathise with your situation.  No, I didn't intend to have kids later either but with various disasterous relationships I'm now there.  Funny, as a teenager I always felt sure I'd be married with kids at 25 as that was SO OLD.  Look as us now, lol.  Which clinic are you at, and how far down the road with things?

Vicky - Again big, BIG congratulations... we knew Blasto Boy was special in some way and he was... or 'she', who knows?!  Fingers, arms, legs and everything crossed for Monday.  I am continually having my faith built in CRGH with all the BFPs recently.  

Jo8 - Glad the fertility monitor's being put to good use.  How are you getting on with CARE?

Heidi - Just tried to post and seen there was an update and it was from you!  Oh my, how fortuitous for you... I will certainly be keeping all my limbs and anything else crossed for you too for Tuesday.  I sounds like it could be a very happy Christmas in your household too   Out of interest, how did Serum pick the donor for the eggs; what details were you given?  

AFM, not a lot to report.  Went up to Edinburgh for a long weekend which was over fertile period.  Bless DH he's still keen to do it naturally (and putting in a sterling effort) but with his number of swimmers it seems unlikely.  Still, stranger things have happened I guess.  We had DH's results, karyotype shows no chromosomal abnormalities (phew) but his DNA fragmentation is pretty high, so I'm pumping him full of antioxidants to try and reduce that, which will decrease likelihood of embryos arresting/miscarriage.  So, just waiting for AF so I can have my dummy ET/hycosi at CRGH, and then on for tx in Jan.  

Wishing you all a lovely Christmas   

Jo
x


----------



## vicks67

Heidi-thats sounds amazing! Fingers crossed for Tuesday, what it is to have such great odds!
Welcome handy-I echo yours and Jos thoughts onthe ttc late in life, certainly not something i would have planned!
Hi Jo-Edinburgh sounds lovely-bles DH and his stirling efforts, that in its self is good for sperm quality ...and fun!
Hi Jo 8-hows it going?
AFM-scan Monday-keep trying to convince myself i have morning sickness, so desperate for symptoms! felt a bit sick yesterday and day before, but feel fine today-so who knows!

Vicky


----------



## jo_11

Oh Vicks, it sounds like getting preggers means swapping one set of worries for a whole new batch!  If it's any consolation, my friend who's also at CRGH, having the triplets (12 week scan showing all OK ) hasn't had any morning (or any time of day) sickness at all, and her hormones must be through the roof!  So hopefully this is good news.  Try and get through the weekend lovey.

Jo
x


----------



## Smike

Hi Ladies

sorry for not posting last week, but soo busy, and i guess a biut in shock

i got a      last monday, couldn`t wait till wednesday, done a few more HPT since and thankfully it`s still      (sorry too many i know, but i`ve waited ages to be able to put those in ) woo hoo , it`s still hard to believe , we`re trying no to get too excited until we`ve had the first scan w/c 11th jan, but hey it made our christmas and new year, and my birthday due early jan. Other than weeing for england day and night not too much else happening, apart from backache.

Vicky- how did your scan go ?? all well i hope  

Jo- re eggs, you have to complete a form saying what you and you DH look like, ie hair colour/texture, eyes, height , etc etc, they try and match, and you also say what you want in a donor, they also take your photo when you`re there. I went through Ruth whose a FF nurse on here , i can give you more info i you want . 

This just proved to me that we were wasting our time/money on my own eggs, i`m glad i took this route and never gave up hope.

lots of luck and love to you all

happy New Year  

Heidi xx


----------



## vicks67

Heidi-thats fnatastic news! well done and a lovely Christmas pressie! how are you finding the wait for the scan? I found it more difficult than the 2ww, certainly and had to keep reminding myself that the odds were still in favour of the pregnancy continuuing even if with my age etc the miscarriage risk was high. Anyway we had a scan in manchester at 6+4 and all was well, a little heart beat and good trophoblastic reaction. Hopefully everything will continue to be ok, but trying to keep my feet on the ground. Feeling a bit sick but not actually being sick, its weird, hunger pangs that make you feel sick but food doesn't completely take them away and instead makesyou feel slightly sicker! Anyway sort of reassuring!
How many embies did you have back? chance of twins?

Love and lots of luck for the New year to everyone else!
Vicky


----------



## jo_11

Yey Heidi, that's fanastic news!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I'm so pleased for you   Please keep us updated with your news and progress.  I don't need any more info re donor eggs at the mo, but thanks I'll definitely bear it in mind... as long as they're telling me mine are good, I'm going to have as many goes as I can.  I think 2010 has a good ring to it though   

Vicks - so glad all's going well.  Again, please keep us updated with all the details of sickness, symptoms, etc.  Exciting times!

Well, I'm all set to cycle again towards the end of Jan, on my ma-hoo-sive medication regime... bit worried I won't remember to take everything, and thinking I'm going to have to do some injection at work which I'm not sure how I'll deal with - we have nowhere private at all.  Ah well, I'm sure I'll work it out.

 to anyone else still checking this thread - hope you're well and let us know what's happening.

Jo
x


----------



## Smike

Hi Ladies

glad to hear you`re doing well

Vicks :Glad to hear the scan went well, gosh it must be sooooo exciting, yes i`m struggling with the wait for the scan.  Did your tummy get quite big in a short space of time? , i already need to wear a size bigger , which is very early i know but my tum seems quite bloated already, i think it`s probably more to do with my digestive system slowing up than anything else, talk about who ate all the pies   . I had 3 embies put back, the chance of triplets is 5%, twins i think is 50%, twins would be lovely, but the thought of triplets scares the hell out of me   .

Jo- Good luck with your jan cycle, and i totally agree with you trying your own eggs, hey i did 4 times, i`m sure you will remember all your meds, i still take a cocktail of drugs every evening, plus a clexane injection, knowing how important they are and what they are for somehow makes you remember, i`m sure you can do it in the loo at work if really necessary, as long as you don`t get caught and someone gets the complete wrong idea and thinks you`re a junkie    , why don`t you set your mobile to go off as a reminder each day. 

AFM - i`ve stopped doing the HPTs now, i think i did 6 in total, but just for added peace of mind i`ve booked a blood test tomorrow, ooh is it 7 weeks yet, mmm just another week and a bit to go, yes this wait is worse as things can still come crashing down, but i`m trying to stay positive. I`m still getting up all through the night, what i wouldn`t give for a good nights sleep, Vicks were you like that ??

Anyway here`s hoping that 2010 is the year all our dreams come true, and we all get our bundles of joy   

Happy New Year to you all

love

Heidi xx


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## vicks67

Hi, I had a beta done the day after i tested so didn't actually do another HT after the initial one. I'm not too bad with the peeing, maybe once during the night but thats all. (.)(.) tender, although don't seem partcularly big and do now feel sick-its sort of reassuring but not how i imagined. I think i expected to feel rough in the morning, vomit a few times and then be ok. I just feel nauseated for most of the day. Am currently sipping ginger beer! I've definitely put on wieight but with christmas and the fact had alreeady put on quite  lot during treatment its difficult to know whats what. I had another scan yesterday at CRGH, baby now 14.7mm! but could see and hear the heart beat which is quite amazing. Next scan in 2 weeks when wil be nearly 10 weeks.
Anyay-let us know hw the blood test goes, whens your scan boked?
Vicky


----------



## jo8

Hi ladies

Heidi & Vicky - what great news      - who would have thought it - that after we all went through all those negatives in Sept that only 3 months later we've got 2 positives on our thread 
I'm so pleased forthe both of you & hope all goes well over the next few weeks and months   It must have been quite a shock at first & I can't begin to imagine how much worse the waiting around for scans must be. Please keep us posted as to how you are getting on.

Heidi - hope you don't mind me asking but how did you make your mind up on DE? Did you go through lots of months of wondering & how was your DP about it? Can't believe how quick it all was from your first appointment - do they have lots of donors just waiting?

Jo - gosh doesn't the next cycle come around quickly again!You will remember the injection thing prettty quickly though 

Handy - welcome to the thread - where are you up to in treatment?

We've got our appointment at CARE next Fri - finally - waiting since mid Nov so either v busy or v inefficient. Went back to docs for FSH last week -phoned for results today and receptionist said they were all fine & normal - ha! if only !! Have to phone back Mon to speak to doc. Anyway anyone got any ideas of tests that they should be doing at CARE - my old clinic only did FSH/AMH - what else have you all had??

Hope 2010 turns out to be THE year for all of us  
Jo8 x


----------



## Smike

Hi Ladies
Happy New Year to you all

Jo8- glad to see you back on here, hope it goes well for you on Friday.  I had an NK cell assay done, and also antiobody/anticoagulant tests done last year, might be worth getting those checked but it`s not cheap.
It didn`t take us long to decide on DE, after having had 4 failed ICSI`s and being given only 5% with my own eggs. We decided against adoption as it was another long road and possibly might get refused at the end of it, so it was DE or nothing. We were given a 60-70% chance of success, but when we went for our initial consultation because i was at day 12 of my own cycle and womb lining perfect they offered me to stay and do ET as they were doing an EC from a donor in a day or so and gave me a 90% chance as i was going with my natural cycle, it was fate we thought and had to go with it, so yes it was all very quick. Serum has 147 donors so i`m sure they can find good matches.  RE our decision to use DE my DH was ok, as he realised it was nuture against nature , plus i would be carry the baby and giving birth etc, it was our best chance.

I had a blood test last week, which they tell me i could be having a multiple pregnacy    as my beta level was fairly high.  I`ve been getting morning sickness all day and night, and can`t seem to find anything to ease it, and i`m starting to feel miserable with it now, sorry don`t want to sound ungrateful as i`m not but boy do i feel sick all the time, how am i supposed to disguise it for another 6 weeks or more. 

Vicks does ginger beer help ??  glad to hear your scan went well, how come you`re having another one at 10 weeks, i thought they`d wait till 12 weeks?  i haven`t booked mine yet as was trying to tie it in with booking a day off for a neighbours funeral which is imminent.

anyway off to get ready for bed as not sleeping too well at the mo

take care all of you

Heidi xx


----------



## jo8

Hi 

Heidi - thanks for the info . It definitely does sound like fate though & not even any drugs to take so even better - I'm so pleased for you . Don't want to panic you but the lady I know from my first cycle who also went to Serum has finished up expecting triplets - she had high beta levels too. How many did you have put back in ? Sorry you're not feeling great with the sickness thing - did you go to an acupuncturist before - maybe they could suggest something? When will you have your first scan - would they do it early if they suspect multiple pg??

Vicky - hope the sick feeling is starting to wear off at bit

Hi to Jo if you're still reading!

Lots of snow up here so hope I can get across the Pennines on Fri for appointment as loads more snow forecast! Its really pretty as we have woods at the back of our house and the snow looks great in the trees but driving in it is a different matter!

Jo 8 x


----------



## handy1

Happy new year to all of you and wish all your dreams comes true this year.

I have my perliminary investigation only which were not realy promising (very low AMH).

The other worrying thing is that my period started to become irregular for the last 2 months. Last months it took 40 days instead of 24-28 days i.e. 2 weeks late  and   HT were negative. This month as well, AF is 7 days late.  I am really scared is this early menopause . I haven't done HT because I am really scared of more negatives and I don't feel I'm pregnant.

I am waiting for my period to come to do hysterosalpingram to check the patency of my tubes after my last year myomectomy op. 

I feel so down this new year and I don't think I am really optmistic..I know it is early to say that....

Jo8 , smike and Heidi I am really pleased for you.

Have a nice day 

HandyH


----------



## jo8

Hi ladies

How are we all doing??

Handy - hope you're feeling a bit brighter now. It might be worth asking the docs about your periods - it really might not mean anything serious just that your hormones are a bit irregular at the mo. BTW an AMH of 1 doesn't mean you can't get PG - my docs have said to me that there have not been any Pgs below 1 but I have heard about people on here that have - obviously not loads but it is possible. Have they said if they will start you on a cycle? It is natural to feel really low one week and better the next  as I'm sure the other ladies on here will tell you.

Heidi - hope you're doing ok - any news yet on whether its twins?

Jo - any news on start dates?

Vicky - how are you feeling - has the sickness got less yet?When is your next scan?

We should have gone to CARE on Fri but because of snow couldn't get there so hoping to get over tomrrow if it doesn't snow tonight. Had my FSH repeated in preparation - its now dropped to 11.2 - was totally stunned  if only my AMH would go up too & I'd found the miracle of reversing ageing  

Jo 8 x


----------



## vicks67

Hi All,
Jo 8-how frustrating-this snow is a real bind! trying desperately not to fall over most of the time so wearing walking boots-not very glam at all. I hope your appointment tomorrow goes well.

Heidi-how are you going? ms got any better? Do you know how many you're cooking?

Handy-hope you're feeling better and that you've been able to get underway with your HSG.

AFM-9+5 -another scan tomorrow-if all well will book nuchal translucency scan in a couple of weeks. Have a good week!
Vicky


----------



## Smike

Hi Ladies

sorry this will be a quickie, as feeling pretty sick and need to go and try and eat, yet again. 

had my scan this morning      can you bloody believe it, it`s triplets, yes triplets , i know i should sound grateful but boy it`s a scarey situation to be in, twins would be lovely but triplets scars the hell out of me, well i suppose we`re now getting our monies worth   

hope you`re all doing well,  sorry this is just about me but need to get past my super sick feeling just at this mo

Heidi xx


----------



## vicks67

OMG Heidi, thats fantastic and very very scaey! no wonder you feel sick!
You'll definitely need to take things easy with those 3 on board.

AFM-scan fine today-10weeks tomorrow and now signed off from clinic! Scarey stuff!
Vicky


----------



## jo_11

Hey all,

Heidi:  Wow, triplets!!!!!  Like buses, eh; none for ages, then three come along at once    If it's any consolation, my friend Ruth is having triplets... she's tiny weeny but they're all holding and she's about 4 months now (two identical girls and a fraternal boy).  She was referred to a hospital near London Bridge for scans and I think has to go every other week.  Initially she was scared (who wouldn't be?!) as the three little darlings come with their own array of problems, but all's well, fingers crossed.  My next door neighbours have triplet grandchildren and I spoke to them on Ruth's behalf - these triplets are just over a year old.  Apparently they've been an absolute dream; they're hungry together, tired together, and because Mum and Dad are stretched, it's like they know and look after each other... they wake in the morning and chat amongst themselves before Mum and Dad get up 

Vicky:  So pleased to hear the scan was all good; who'd have thought it from a frostie.  Wow, am so pleased.  I'm looking forward to seeing you for the CRGH catch-up soon 

Jo8:  Excellent news about the FSH... who knows, maybe your AMH has improved too... I know they say that AMH only declines but mine improved, so let's hope.  Any sniff of an appointment with CARE?  Don't know about up t'north but we've got another 5cm of snow this morning; still can't distinguish the pavement from the road where I live but I made it into Canary Whard today.  Just hope I can make it home!  

Handy:  As Jo8 says, a low AMH doesn't necessarily mean there's no chance, and there are some amazing success stories on here.  I'm not sure where you're going for treatment, or what route you're taking but I do wish you all the very best of luck.  If we can help at all, let us know 

AFM, I'm currently taking Primolut, in the run-up to my shiny new cycle which should start next week.  All very exciting!  

Jo
x


----------



## jo8

Hi Ladies


OMG Heidi - your head must be spinning - that is so spooky - only know of 2 of you going to Serum and bbothof you have finished up with triplets! Here's to a healthy & happy 8 months ahead   

Vicky - great news about the scan - just shows you things can happen against the odds

Jo - fingers crossed on round 2    Will it be the right dates according to your astrology chart??

Handy - hope you're ok if you are still reading

Got to the CARE appointment - bit weird really. Kind of enlightening but confusing at same time. Basically they would do same protocol but would also give me steroids (said no point testing for NK as should have steroids anyway cos of age and blood condition) So bit annoying as old clinic only gave me baby aspirin. Then went on to talk about taking supplements particularly for DP - could have knocked me down with a feather as he said could make a real difference to sperm problems particularly the abnormal levels and DNA fragmentation. This is after our other clinic were so dismissive of them   He also said there wasn't any point in doing DNA fragmentation test as if it told you there was a problem the solution would be taking antioxidants i.e. garlic capsules so might as well take solution anyway and save ourselves £600!! I know one of you had DNA fragmentation tests done - think it might be you Jo - did you get similar advice?

Anyway bottom line is it there still only about 3-4% chance of it working so still don't know whether to give it another or just try to persuade DP on the DE route in the UK. Any ideas??

Hope you've all managed to get around in the snow today - just been talking to a friend who lives in Surbiton and she said it wasn't good down there!

Take care
Jo8 x


----------



## handy1

Heidi ..OMG  CONGRATULATIONS.. Take care of yourself very well .and hope you will have asmooth pregnancy ..

Jo8..I am sure you will make the right decision .. but give yourself the chance with your OE and then if it didn't work you will not regret it and it will give time to your DH to accept the route of DE.

Vicky ... I am glad your scan is all ok

Jo ... good luck

As of me ..I haven't have my  period yet and my consultant decided to forget about the HSG as if other investigations are ok we will definitely go throuoh the route of IVF.  
I am very stressed and crying all the time... I got my cervical smear results 2 weeks ago telling me I have severe abnormality. I had a LLetz ( a large cone biopsy of cervix) last friday and got the results yesterday and it was negative. They had made a mistake on my smear and it was ok. 
How come they do make a mistake ? they have put me throuogh hell and I had to go throuogh the colposcopy and the LLetz for this mistake. 
I know its good news that my cervix is fine... but the stress and worry is too much for me . 
My consultant said this will be reviewed and discussed in their meeting.  He assured me that the LLettz should not affect my fertility treatment.

I am so angry with my body and my fate. This morning I was crying my guts out for my DH before he left to work and poor him ..he felt helpless that he can't make me happy. 


I have to go to work now... take care 

Handy


----------



## jo_11

Hiya,

Jo8 - Re your DP, yes, that was one of the things I didn't like about my last clinic - that they didn't do anything about C when they knew he had problems with count, motility and morphology.  New clinic couldn't be more different.  C had the DNA fragmentation test and his level's about 30% when it should be below 15%.  The only thing they know to do about this, because they believe it's caused by free radicals is to take lots of antioxidants.  C's been on massive doses of vitamins C and E for the past three months -as we know, it takes three months for the effects to show through in the little men.  He's also taking maca - you might want to Google this.  I've got him taking this as a daily shake with wheatgrass, spirulina, chlorella, goji berries, barleygrass and bee pollen.  Poor boy!  I guess it's up to you whether you feel it's worth another try - I do find the doctors a bit annoying when they give you such low odds... as we know from success stories on here, it CAN happen, but with someone telling you 3-4% you must almost feel like giving up before you've started.  Perhaps the steroids will make a difference?  If you decide to go down the DE route, I suppose you need to ensure you're happy to close the door on using your own eggs.  Are you willing to do that yet?  The DNA fragmentation for DP is a bit of a staller anyway, as I suspect you'll need to give it three months, whether you use your own eggs or DEs.  As for the astrology chart, no, that was meant to be Feb 2011, so I'm ignoring it!  However, I went to a psychic medium on Monday, with no agenda, but it came up that maybe there's some good news on the cards soon 

Handy - Oh my, doctors eh?  Well, now that you've picked yourself up and dusted yourself down after what you've been through, I guess you just have to be thankful that you're all clear.  How good is that??!  I agree, the whole ttc thing is massively stressful but sometimes you just need to compartmentalise your fears and just take it one very small step at a time, heading towards that ultimate goal.  Best of luck.

Jo


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## handy1

Hi 

Jo .. Thank you ..I will try to take things easy and in small steps as you said.

Heidi ... Do you mind giving me more information about Serum (Dr Penny)? Did you contact her yourself or through some agency? Were your investigation done here or in Athens? You can PM me if you like.

Have a nice day all of you


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## jo8

Hi Ladies

Jo - any news on when you are starting - must be soon? Really hope it works this time for you    Thanks for all the info and useful advice - not sure if I could get DP to take the daily shake but hasn't missed a day yet on high strength garlic and vit C since we got back from CARE. Is your DH taking garlic as well - the consultant said for DP to take 1000 mg per day (thankfully they are low odour  )Still waiting to get SA back from GP to see if all those months of Foresight and Zita West supplements did any good!

Handy -    feel for you - I had to have same procedure done a few years ago and its not nice - can't believe they got it wrong - how annoying  It will take you a little while to adjust emotionally to it all as I remember feeling quite drained with it (though did get an infection with it despite going private as waiting lists too long here) so take it easy on yourself. It really shouldn't affect your fertility chances but might mess up your A/F next month. Hope you are feeling a bit better now from when you wrote the post

Heidi - any more updates - hope you are feeling bit less sick?

Vicky - you must be getting near the 12 weeks now - how are you feeling?

I'm visiting CRM this week to have a look round (the were the ones who did the good talk at the Fertility show about egg sharing in the UK. I'm down for a reunion so thought its worth popping in to look around for reference. Still haven't decided what to do next..

Take care
Jo 8 x


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