MARCH/APRIL BUDDIES

[daly]

Hello everyone!!

Hope everyone is doing really well with happy ovaries and uterus and whatever else we need for happy babies!

Kelly - great job putting up with dh kids. Sounds like a awful lot of training you have this week. I do agree that work can be a great distracter from all of this infertility craze. I've got a jig below for your inconsiderate AF! I'm sure she'll show any moment now!

Niccy your post was hilarious! I completely identify with you. My dh cannot understand why I can't simply wait a couple days until official testing day. I also bought a bushel of tests over the internet and now won't use them because they don't test a low enough hcg level! I buy the ones that have level of 15 hcg detected and start testing about 5 days early! UGh. I feel like a junky! What do you work the night shift for? I hope you're getting plenty of rest. Hope your clinic visit goes great

Jackie - I'm doing all those supplements too. I think I'm on supplement overload. My dh is shocked when he catches taking my fistful of vitamins twice daily. I take baby aspirin, prenatal, fish oil, primrose oil, carnitine, arginine, Co Q 10. I'm sure there're some I'm forgetting. Good luck with your Lupron starting!

Sammylou - I'm going to try to remember your post when I come to the end of my 2ww. I'm a HPT addict. You poor dear going through all that with your HPT. We can hellp eachother just say no to the pee stick. Except ofcourse day of preg test. I think it's just cruel to wait all day for the lab test. And why not warm up the day before for a practise run....oh wait, this is my addiction talking!!

Jen- I'm doing acupuncture as well. The needles can really hurt sometimes! How is your schedule set up? I go in 1x week and right before ER and ET. She only does the front points and not the back. I used to go to one who did both sides each appt. I really hope it's doing something as well. Ends up costing quite a bit!!

Allison - I think you have a good plan for the HPT. I sit around obsessed and constantly checking my phone for messages. The problem is that I'm an pee stick addict and I don't know if I could stop at just one!

Lisa - Glad you're getting some nice weather. It's been very cold over here! (LA people are very wimpy when it comes to weather variations away from 70') I tried to garden the other day and my hands kept going numb, so I finally gave up and went inside by the fire.

Big hello to everyone I missed. Hope everyone is feeling really positive.

I'm set for ER on Wed and ET on Sat. Looks like my 5 follies held up. Hoping they're full eggs. Here's a follie fairy for everyone stimming and here's a jig for those who are waiting for the ever stubborn AF

[Jen1d]

Hi Daly

I am having the acup at the same time as you, 1 per week then up to ET but not after that. I haven't found it painful YET but still get a little tense before they are inserted.
Hope this works after all the effort. I'm lucky and don't need to pay for it. I have a stressful job and am getting 6 sessions free.
I don't take any of the vitamins though, only folic acid, do you thnk i should start now or is it too late.

Catch up tomorrow as i'm in work at 2.30pm today

Love Jen x

[fulloffaith]

Daly,

Good luck with the upcoming ER and ET! I remember being so emotional the morning of my ER. I guess it hit me I was going to have real babies being created soon and it blew me away. I am praying that out of those little 5 embies is your miracle baby!!

JackieG, good luck with your Lupron! I just started a couple days ago too for my FET. This cycle is so much less stressful than my 1st IVF. I really don't even feel like I am doing anything really. Seems so simple. I bet that will all change when its time to transfer though!

My DH is getting mad at me b/c lately I have been consumed with thinking, "What if this doesn't work? What do we do then?" Financially we wouldn't be able to do another cycle, only have a couple frozen embies left after this FET. And that would be it. He reminded me the Bible said Don't worry about tomorrow, today has enough problems of its own! I said well that's easy for you to say - you are not a woman full of hormones!! I just don't think they can grasp all the thoughts that go thru our heads every day! I guess it's good that we are so different...we'd both go crazy if we were both laying in bed at night thinking of "What Ifs"!!

Really I do feel really good about this cycle and am really trying to be positive. But I guess after you get a -ive you are so guarded. You remember that pain and don't want to experience it again.

Ok enough gloom and doom! Just had to vent!

Y'all have a super week ladies!
HUGS,
Allison

[LisaB75]

Hi all! Well so much for the good Ohio weather. It is now 36 degrees and snowing! Go figure!

Kelly - you were right about the baseline. My doc checked my uterus to make sure the lining was thin, and he checked my ovaries to make sure there were no cysts. Also, since I have history with hydrosalpinx, he saw that my fallopian tubes have no fluid in them which is wonderful news b/c, as most of you probably already know, that fluid can be toxic to embryos. All in all, everything looks good and I got the go ahead to start stimms on Saturday.

Thanks Sammylou, Allison,and Niccy for the advice/info on the HPTs. I can say now that I probably won't test - but I know myself well enough to know I could change my mind at any given time. I am a very impatient person so I guess I will just wait and see how I feel when the time comes.

Daly - I am jealous of that southern CA weather right now!! I want to wish you good luck with your ER tomorrow!

Allison, I know exactly how you feel about the "what ifs", etc. This is my first cycle, but infertility in general is so discouraging to deal with and it is so hard to keep a PMA after years and years of negative HPTs. I was very negative all last week, especially since 4 friends and relatives announced they are expecting. I am happy for them, they are so lucky it comes so easily to them - but it is hard to stomach when we are going thru so much. I am trying to look at it as a good omen. Maybe my turn is coming! I am feeling good for all of us - it is going to happen! I always feel positive again after seeing my doc - he is truly wonderful and very encouraging. He doesn't talk in "ifs", he talks in "whens". So keep your chin up - keep visualizing holding that beautiful little bundle in your arms b/c it is going to happen for you. And next time I am feeling down, I will try to take my own advice - lol!

PMA PMA PMA!!!

[melliot7]

Well I went like a good patient early this morning for my u/s and labs. I still have not O yet. They called me back and I have to go in on Sunday to check again. I am already on day 17 of my cycle. I guess that I am a late Ovulator. Then I guess I will start my Lupron. The waiting is so hard. DH is at work a lot this week. So it is just me, my work, and the three babies (our 3 Beagles). The time seems to be standing still right now. I know that it is only my first time for IVF I just want to be doing something besides nothing (waiting). DH is really not talking much. I guess he will the closer we get to retrievel

Melissa

[wendywoo]

Hello to all my little march april buddies!!!!!
Thanks for welcoming me on board. Haven't got any news for u all yet as i'm still waiting to see the doc to start my 1st ever cycle. Don't want to get too excited about the appoitment though cos if i'm right in thinking i'll still have to wait for my af before he can start anything. My periods are up the wall. Do they ever give u a drug to bring af on?
Love this thread by the way, just sitting back and reading all of your posts and trying to get to know you all.
GOOD LUCK EVERYONE
love wendywoo xxxxx

[LisaB75]

Hi Wendy and Melissa! Like you, I am going thru my first cycle of IVF. My dh and i decided to do this in October which was when we both started with our lab work, etc. Then we had the holidays - which our lab here shuts down for the holidays. Then, after the first of the year I had to wait on AF and it seems like this whole process has taken so long!! My nurse said that once the stimms start, time just flies right by until, of course, the 2ww (which will probably last an eternity!) My dh really doesn't say a whole lot either - just tries to rub my back and hang in there when I have one of my hormonal outbursts. He is complaining about having to go in to the dreaded "red room" the day of my ER to give his sample. Not real sure why he named it the red room but the name sort of stuck. Anyway - i was like "why are you complaining? don't you know what I am going thru?" GEEZ!!

Anyway - don't know how I got on that tangent but I just wanted to say hi do you guys and "i feel your pain"!

[angelamw]

Hi Lisa

I can sympathise with you. For our first round of IUI my husband made a big fuss about having to give his sample. Also he was complaining because he was having a drink with his mates the night before and I said he couldnt' have a drink. We run a club and he tried every non alcoholic drink we have before complaining that he didn't like any of them.

I mean, look at what us women have to go through. Maybe men just aren't as strong as we are. My DH also doesn't say alot, mainly because he claims he doesn't want to upset me by talking about it all. Also he is a wimp and has to go in the other room when it is time for me to inject.

Still never mind.

Hope you are all well.
Angela

[fulloffaith]

Hey girls...that's nothing.
When my DH was in his little room giving his sample, he had his cell phone in his pocket. Well right in the middle, my mom calls him because she was on her way up there to see me before I went in for the retrieval and she was lost! So he had to stop and get his phone out and there on his phone was my moms face as she is calling!! He told me later, yeah thats just what you want to see while you are doing that - your mother-in-law!!!
HAHAHA
But it all turned out good, he had a good sample and we still laugh about that to this day.

[LisaB75]

That is a great story! If my mom were to call my dh at that time, there is no way he would be able to finish. Just no way. He has a difficult time as it is just being under pressure and all that.

He is wimpy too when it comes to the injections. He turned green when I took the needles out of the box they were shipped in - no joke! I give my lupron injection first thing in the AM and he won't even get out of bed until he knows I am done. It's funny.

We are stronger than the guys - that is why we are the ones that get to carry the babies and deliver them. They could never handle it - lol!!

[angelamw]

I must mention the above post to my DH. we have not spoken to my mum for over 4 years following a massive family falling out so if she rang while he was on the job there is no way he would be able to finish.

I do think that if men were the ones to get pregnant the human race would stop. What do you think girls?

[fulloffaith]

Please...my DH can't even handle being sick for a couple of days let alone being pregnant for 9 months!!!
I hope they appreciate us and realize all that we are going thru!!
I gotta say for the most part - my DH is pretty great about everything. He even gives me my Progesterone shots and I never thought he could ever do that! He hates blood so I always tell him he'll be one of those dads who passes out in the delivery room!! He says he can do it - but we'll see!
Lisa, hopefully your DH will come around to the needles in time! Guys are so funny!

[KellyL]

Hi girls,

Just popped in to say Hi & as yet no AF - but there's still time for her to show today!

Sammylou and Daly thanks for the jig, please keep jigging x

Wendywoo - there is a drug that they can give you that will bring AF on, I'm not sure what it is, but I think there might be thread about it.

Allison - I love your sample story - I know DH wouldn't be able to carry on if my mum had called - I must say though, he was good last time and did all my shots (it's me that don't like needles) - I don't know what's gonna happen this time as I'll have to go for some of the blood tests etc on my own, I know he'll come with me for ET.

Sorry if I rabble on, but have been at work since 6am this morning and already had enough - had a meeting at 6.15 (called by the MD) with all the boys that work on our customers sites - could really have done without it, but hey never mind.

There are loads of threads that mention HPT and the best advice is NO - the only time they should be used is if that is the clinics method of testing and then only on the date given by the clinic - girls please chant: ~ "I WILL NOT USE HPT, I WILL NOT USE HPT"

Daly - good luck for ER today - try to relax

Deirdre - how did ER go yesterday?

Niccy - good luck with your appointment today.

Good luck and baby dust to everyone.

- Sharon - start DR March 03rd
- Sgeiger16 - BCP March 08th
- Sammylou - DR March 14th
- Deirdre - egg retrieval March 14th
- Daly - ER March 15th
- Kelly - waiting for AF March 15th
- Niccy - Appointment March 15th
- Diane C - DE March 15th - 18th
- Tapim - waiting for down reg AF
- Lola - FET, oestrogen patches, next scan March 16th
- Angelamw - IUI scan March 17th
- Jen - Scan March 17th
- LisaB75 - start stimms March 18th
- Melissa - Appointment to see if ovulated March 19th
- JackieG - start DR March 21st
- Allison - scan March 24th
- Wendywoo - Consultation March 27th
- Wendy - End March / Early April
- Kerri - jigging for AF - starting again in April
- Sky - Mid April

Take care - Happy Wednesday

Kelly x

[sammylou]

Hi Ladies,

Hope all is well (and hope the AF's come soon - my legs ache from all the jigging)!

Kelly - Hope you get to finish early today with such an early start!

Just wondered if anyone has had any experience of changing the doses of their stimulation injections - last time I almost over stimmed and had 40+ follicles - sounds great - the not so good news was that from the 23 or so eggs, only 5 fertilised and only 2 were good enough to put back.

There is some question about the fact that if I had produced less follicles the egg quality may have been better and therefore the embryo's may have been better. To cut a long story, the clinic will reduce the amount of stimulating drug this time but now I am frightened that I'll get less eggs, less that fertilise and none to put back.......anyone had the same?

Sorry to be sharing a less than PMA....

Sammyloux

[fulloffaith]

Sammy,

Your clinic will probably just lower the stimms and drag it out over a longer period of time. They had me coming in everyday checking my E2 and scans b/c after 3 days of being on 300IU's my E2 was at 450 and then they backed me off and for over a week they had me at 200 then lowered to 150 once they had enough and they were just trying to mature them more. I bet you will have no problems responding this time with a lower dose. If you don't they will prolly just up it.
Good luck sweetie!