MARCH-CYCLE BUDDIES

[jstrandlund]

Hi everyone, Not much going on with me today. Just waiting for my scan in the morning. Hopefully there are lots of follies growing and my estrogen levels are back to normal. I am trying to stay positive and send lots of happy vibes to my follies.

Natalie, Good luck in the morning with your scan. I will be having mine a couple of hours behind you as mine is at 9:30am.

Riles,
So glad you found this group. Everyone here is soo helpful and positive! We are here for you at any time!! Good luck with your cycle.

Kandice, Your numbers are doubling as we speak I just know it! Please try not to worry and instead focus on your little blessing! I know how hard it is not to worry but just think you are pregnant


Nerms, I will have you know that I have been drinking Pom juice since I read your post. I don't really care for it but then again I don' t really care for poking myself with four needles per day either. Boy that makes the Pom juice look better by the minute

BJ, ((((((((((((((((((HUGS)))))))))))))))))))))) I am so sorry to hear your sad news. I know it is so hard to be let down and it feels like you can never do this again, but time will heal the hurt honestly.

Katt(((((((((((((((((((HUGS))))))))))))))))))))to you also. I am so sorry to hear that the evil little witch showed up! I hope you and dh can find comfort in each other!

Rae, I can only imagine how scary it is to be approaching the time when you last miscarried. I know that after my miscarriage my biggest fear of this IVF is having another miscarriage. But I know that we have to remain positive and believe that our dreams will come true. I will say an extra prayer for you and your little angel!

Nimble, Good luck with your scan tomorrow! I will be waiting to hear how it goes! Hey your follies are partying too! Grow follies Grow!

Shantala, How are you holding up with your 2ww. It is almost time now and you will be getting your BFP!!

Sonya, Good golly girl, you have had a heck of a time lately. How did dh respond? Just remind him that emotionally you are a wreck already and you can not be held responsible for your actions if he gets angry. That should slow him down a bit!

[MamaCardenas]

Ok sorry about the last posts RILES I was trying to welcome you but as you can see I am new to this also!!!

NIMES- if you could please help me one last time with these smilies, I found the website but how do I post them onto a message?? Sorry to be such a pain!!

[MamaCardenas]

NIMBLE- didn't mean nimbes meant nimble sorry Im really loosing it today!! Or anyone else for that matter if you can help with the smilies I'd appreciate it thanks!!!

[MarciaL-OurHope4Baby]

Hi ladies


Thankfully the PC isn't acting up yesterday, I tried leaving messages last night as well, but it kept freezing up so LONG POST ALERT FOR YESTERDAY AND TODAY. I luckily managed to save the list I'd started to MS Word and saved it. So I'll try again, and then leave todays update below.

Kandice - Sorry it's been a bit of a scare for you over the weekend , nice to see your numbers are doubling nicely and that there's been no more bleeding , fantastic news hun, and I'm happy for the both of you http://tickers.tickerfactory.com/smiles ... foryou.gif.

Chvonne - Hi there, hope you're doing ok on your 2ww, glad your transfer went OK .

Stephanie - How you doing? Do you think you'll be feeling like a pin cushion when your stimmimg starts? I know I am already, have some horrific bruises and I don't really know why one is still hurting so much. I've been in pain for nearly 4 days now with this one area . Running out of legg space that hasn't been jmmed or bruises right now lol. Oh well, I'll be adding to it come tomorrow. I hope everything goes well for your baseline if you have't had it already.

Vicky - Good luck with the BCP, I hope they reduce your lining nice and thin for stage two of your treatment.

Jill - Hi there, how's everything been with the stims, hope you're doing well today, sounds like your down regging worked a little too well and your follies are that small your E" is really low. If anything lowering the meds on one thing will help them grow nicely for the stims meds to to what it needs to do. The smaller the follies the lower the E2, the higher that is the bigger the follies and the more likely you are to have nice big eggs growing. If they lower the meds you won't be stimming for too long is what they are trying to achieve. Nice to hear your follies are jigging now and you can feel something happening. I'm sure they'll get your cocktail worked out for you hun .



Melly - We're not that far away in our cycle, I had my scan today, stimming tomorrow and I'm 33 with PCOS as well funny enough lol. I have a meeting with the Andrology lab next week after our first Follicle scan, as I want to talk to him about the success rate for PCOS women and see what they say the best procedure is. I've seen women have a 3 and 5 day transfer so I might see if I can have that done. Good luck with your IVF hun.

Nimble - Hiya how was your scan today? Bet you were excited ? I hope you're feeling ok and not to hurty or bloated with all those follies you have growing in there

Anie - I hope all goes well with your meds and good luck hun .

Mrs B - on your news, I hope you have sticky eggies, good luck with everything .

BJ - Sorry to hear your news sweetie for the both of you . Take care hun.

Katt - Sorry came and for your loss . It's heartbreaking I know, best wishes to you and your hubby.

Sonya - Man you're not having a good time right now. Did you seek medical attention for your hand, or was it just a visit to your first aid box? Sorry to hear about your car, I bet you just couldn've cried couldn't you , lets just say the pole shouldn't have been sticking out like that if you ask me. Men and they're garage stuff, always have them all over the place and in an awkard way . I hope you'll get better soon, and speak to your doc about your shakes, see if it's just a side effect to the meds. Good luck.

Riles - Nice to have you joining the ride, hold on tight, have a good cycle .


So anyway,

We went for the Baseline scan for 8.15am yesterday morning and everything was great, the head nurse did the scan and she said everything was lovely, my lining was nice and thin, and no activity in the ovaries as the follies were sleeping as there was no activity in there yet so we're right on track woo hoo! We also had the results of hubby's SA and he's got super sperm apparently lol. They actually said that and I kept calling him superman lol. His Morphology came back as 12%, and they said that men only ever get a 10%, and hadn't every seen a 12% before and said he had super sperm, so we were chuffed with that. His Motility was 52% out of 50%, volume was 1.4% out of 2% - also great. Overall count was 32Mil and they're looking or 20Mil for IVF, so that was the 2nd good bit of news.

Had a bit of a crying session last night though, after we were happy with the glimmer of hope that this might work for us, I felt like such a fool. When we had our initial consult back in August I asked loads of questions and hubby asked questions about his concerns. I'd asked about all sorts of stats on this and that, and about the research I'd done, and the RE was shocked with some of the things I'd asked, like how did she now about that sort of look in his face lol...gotcha! I thought at the time. Then on the Info session in Jan we asked more just to clarify a few things, and get it fresh in our minds and again I asked about the PCOS side of things and how the meds would affect me and my cycsts, and not once did I ask about the success rate for PCOS women, and the article I found last night made me feel like a bag of sh!te to be honest. Of all things I'd gone into, it didn't occurr to me that PCOS women have a harder time getting trigger time timed right by their hospitals or that the whole procedure would be anymore harder than PCOS women.

Well the bad news is that it is according to one Infertility clinics report that deals with PCOS IVF patients. Accordingly we have a rapid growth of follicles and respond crazily to the stims, and people think great 30-50 follies, but there's hardly any 'big' maturing eggs in there, and by the time you take the HCG trig, which is just a massive boost for the follies so that they grow in a quicker time frame, makes you OHSS because of how much more quickly the follies grow. As a result you hardly have enough eggies mature enoug if at all for the fertilisation, or you have a few but not enough if any to use for embryo freezing, or that you OHSS and the whole things cancelled which a combination or all of the above is the likelyhood for PCOS cases.

This clinic had devised a way to make you stim at a slower rate on slightly diff meds regime than the norm, giving you the chance to not go into such a big super Ov as in normal IVF cases, and not to trigger when the follies were big enough. Instead they do the egg collection when you're about to Ov on your own, do the egg retrieval but at the same time do another procedure when they retract the hormones that are released from the fallopean tubes that casues OHSS when HCG is added to the mix. That way they you have enough to use for IVF and a much better chance of having a decent amount to freeze, and a much better chance of not having the cycle cancel on you. So after hubby and I being absolutely bummed last night .

It's crazy, we're in one catagory saying we have great stats for our age and situation for a successful ET and birth at the end of it, but we're in the crap league for the beginning of it. On my charting site, girls there have said they've had to freeze what embries they had due to OHSS and start again when they came out of hospital,bed-rest or whatever, or not had the cycle work and changed to IUI as they hardly had this or that right, or just plain had the thing cancelled and stratergy changed and this one lady got pg on the second go. But the thing is, this is a one off funded treatment from our hospital as we fall into that criteria where we can have one cycle paid for, and we have to pay for the next if it doesn't work.

If we're unlucky that it doesn't work, but we we're lucky enough to have some frosty babies, we just pay for the FET, and that and the meds is costly enough, we're have to save for that and pay for the fee for keeping them frozen. If we're really unlucky and don't have any to freeze and the IVF is cancelled, then we're really stuffed as we can't afford to pay for the whole thing and would have to save which could be a while. We're not taking out a loan as I've only just got the dept that hubby got himself into sorted out, and he's had probs with money which is anothe mess I've sorted out. Don't want to go down that road again, as I left him last year over the crap he'd got himself into and cancelled this first IVF last year because I was trying to sort my life out. Now we're at a stong place as a couple, the odds don't seem so good 'sigh'.

*********************************************

Anyway....The injections are getting a bit much now 'ouch' ontop of everything else. I've got big BLACK bruises all over my thighs, and lovely red purpley ones around them in various areas . If you do a dot-2-dot on my leg it would look like a flower actually lol.
Last night was the first night I was in agony trying to get some sleep , as the past few days I've had 2 big bruises coming out at the top of my thighs as well. I've been limping about today because of it, as I've been having the 2 injections a day since the 5th which was my cd21. And now tonight I've started phase 2 - taking my Menopur stims as well, so I'm onto 3 :needleani: a day. I really don't mind all this pain if there's something to look forward to in the end of it.

I have my 4th Acu & CranioSacral+ Relaxation therapy session on Saturday, I'm hoping this will carry on doing wonders as I'm her first PCOS lady out of all the women she's helped get pregnant from her IVF ladies. I've got to do these stims until next week Tuesday 27th on my Follicle tracking scan day. I'll have another Acu session on Wed 28th and then hopefully trigger on Fri 30th depending on what's said on the 27th. after my not this weekend. I'll hopefully be having another Acu on Sat 31st or April 2nd which is proposed ER day. And then ET would be April 5th and another Acu session an hour after that with any luck. So that's the proposed timeline all being well.

To top off the day, I called my cousin to say happy birthday as she was 33 yesterday (same age as me), and she annouced that she's 12weeks pg, so that'll make 4 for her. She's got a 9yr old, 7yr old and a 5yr old but I'm not jealous or anything, never have been, just makes me wish my body would hurry up and get things right for once.

As for work, that's just got crazy, I've been doing an investigation this week and it's the first one I've done, and I've not had alot of training on it but I've done my best; and I've run it by my boss and she thinks it's fine. I certainly hope so, I want to post it out by Friday as the end of next week I'll be off for the IVF. And then I have 18 days off work, so I really need to get it sent off as the deadline is when I'm having the IVF. If I get it out 4 days earlier, it'll compensate for postage delay and get it there office with 3 days left before the cut off period . Plus there's a woman off on holiday and I'm covering her work at the moment .

Thanks for all your messages, and I hope you've all been ok and those are aren't right now, it'll be ok girls .

Hello to those I haven't spoken to yet as they were MIA when I arrived to the group a few weeks ago, I hope you're well.

I hope to be here sometime in the week, but if not take care and good luck everyone and I'll catch up over the weekend or next week

[rae76]

Welcome Anie and Riles!

Marcia, sounds like you have a lot to think about right now. Just try to stay positive - PCOs brings its own little quirks into the game but sooo many women with PCOs have successful IVF tmts. So hang in there and hopefully your bruising doesn't get any worse!

Nerms, Nimble, Sha and Jill, thank you so much for your kind words and understanding! Just letting those fears out helps and the great support system here really works. Hugs to all of you, you're so sweet!

[Anie2007]

Hey ladies ...Thank you all for the warm welcome!!! wow this is really busy and great group, 66 pages already I guess I have lots of reading to do to catch up to our group.

[shantala]

Hey ladies

Oohhh, looks like its gonna be a busy day today!!!

Kandice – fair enough…you got a BFP and if you don’t want anymore then that makes sense!!! The best of luck for your beta number tomorrow!!!!

Nerms – the best of luck for EC Today!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Come on follies, have some lovely mature eggs in there!! Cant wait to hear!! Make sure you don’t let us wait too long!!!!!!!!! Thinking of you!

Pep – yes, it seems we keep missing each other between the feb and march thread! Lol…anyway, how you feeling today?? Glad you had a better day yesterday. Your post about your dh using our lingo made me laugh as a similar thing happened to me the other night. We were in bed and I was just drifting off when dh said “I really hope we get a BFP and not a BFN”….hahahahaha….thanks for asking, ive been holding up fairly well. These last 2 days were a killer and I’m trying not to think about stuff too much today but its impossible…ah well, not long now till I know!

Mrsb – good luck with your official test today!! Cant wait to hear your numbers!!

Katt – I am so so sorry hun!! Look after yourself and we’ll all be thinking of you and dh!!! Xx

Sonya – hey hun, aaawww bless you!! Sounds like it was one of those days where you should have just stayed in bed and not bothered!! Sorry to hear you’re feeling shaky…you feeling a bit better now??

Anna – how you doing hun?? Not long till your test now. As for your pains….how long ago was your EC??

Nimble – good luck for your scan today!!! Think you’ll be fine if you’ve been feeling stuff going on down there….let us know as soon as you get back!!! Fingers crossed!!

Jill – I’m good thanks. Just trying to stay positive and not get too nervous about tomorrow!! good luck with your scan today!!! Let us know how you get on!!

Smattison – you starting stimms today?? If so, good luck!!!

Sha – hope your scan is showing that your follies have grown nicely!!! Good luck!!

Rae – hey hun, thanks for asking. I’m ok, just trying to stay calm today. No, I’m gonna wait till tomorrow…various reasons…ive mentally prepared myself for Thursday no matter what the outcome and dh has also booked tomorrow off. So we’re gonna wait. Not long now till you reach your milestone!! Keeping everything crossed for you!!

Riles – welcome!!!!!!!!!! Yes, this forum is definitely supportive, humorous and compassionate!! Not long and you’ll feel like you’ve been here forever!!

Marcia – great news about your scan and your superman!! Lol…I understand why you’re worrying and we all do it (thanks to the internet) but try and trust your clinic…I found that the most difficult in this process. I read up on everything and anything about our situation and IVF and then was constantly questioning my clinic in my head…having said that I don’t think its always a bad thing…could you maybe phone your clinic and voice your concerns and ask what the success rate is for PCOS women?? The other thing to remember is that statistics are such a funny thing. So don’t go by them too much. They may give you a success rate for PCOS women that you’re not happy with but then you could go into what is the success rate for women with PCOS who are 33 (the stats will include all ages) or even more, what is the success rate for women with PCOS who are 33 and have superman sperm (I should think not many of those)….so, see, your chances may be higher as the stats (most probably)…does that make sense?? Anyway, wow, your first investigation…you must be pleased!!

Mamacardenas – I really hope they let you freeze your dh’s sperm. Although we didn’t need it I do think it’s a really good idea. Let me know what your clinic say about that. Oh, yes, I have a myspace…mine is

www.myspace.com/shantala100

will be looking at yours in a mo…think its great to put faces to names!! Anyone else??

xxxxxxx

[kandice]

Nimble/Nerms- that's right- 14 days post transfer, 5 day transfer... i learned that on "the other side"

rae- best of luck to get through those 5 days without too much stress and worrying!

mama- OHSS is overhyperstimulation- somehting like that. can happen when you're stimming. my dr kept monitoring me for it- that's why blood test every day I went in. can cause LOTS of problems!

shantala- are you going to wait it out till tomorrow or take a HPT? anxious for your news!

riles- welcome to the group!

jstrand- good luck at scan tomorrow- hope your follies have grown!
at the not liking pom juice but not liking 4 needles a day either! the things we're doing for these little guys!

marcia- had to take a pee break to read your book! about bruises- you should see my bum! all the PIO shots- I worry if I ever get in a serious car accident that when they'll undress me they'll be like "what the???" I switch sides every night but that doesn't give it enough time to heal! be careful about calling dh superman- it'll go to his head you know!

sonya- sorry about your troubles- an excuse just to lie in bed and sleep and watch tv right?

not much going on for me today- AF was scheduled to arrive today and I'm pretty much always right on time, so just that little worry. then back for beta #3 tomorrow. dh has been great- talking to the baby(s?) and calling me his babies' momma! lol! I changed my ticker for more PMA, 2 weeks and 4 days?! is that all?! lol I know it'll go by fast though!

hi to everyone else- talk to you later today!

[HOLLY SANDERSON]

Thanks Nimble, yes I think so I am injecting gonal f every night.My first scan is on friday.

[Sher8]

Anna and to whoever else receives aches after the transfer,

Your achiness is quite common, could be from the meds and/or the transfer procedure. You will definitely feel uncomfortable still. The drugs worked so well on me that I stayed bloated and got a bit dehydrated - had to be hospitalized for a few days.

Be sure to drink plenty of water and you can be somewhat active. My doctor said I could ride a roller coaster after my transfer. Of course I didn't, but I guess he meant that I did not have to stay off my feet.

Also, may I suggest that you do not test early. I waited until my doctor took my test and I think that might be the best way to go with this. I guess everyone has their own opinion on this, just like raising children!

Sher8

[nellyA]

I hope you don't mind me gate crashing at this stage I only just found out about the website. I have just had an embryo transfer yesterday and am on my 2ww.

I am really worried about something...I had been using a heated pad on my tummy for the last 24 hours until I read something today that said not to.

Does anyone know whether I have done something wrong that might affect my embryos? I am really worried that I might have already destroyed my chances.

Anyone out there used a hot water bottle of heated pad?

And if you don't mind can I gate crash the March buddies....not sure how to do his though?

[smattison]

Marcia-Keep you chin up. Every time I mention the internet to my doc he cringes…LOL You can’t always believe everything you read. Trust your doc, he will only do what he thinks is best for you. You are my cycle buddy and we are both getting BFP!!! You hear me!!!

Shantala-Wow just looked at your myspace and you are beautiful…hubby is handsome also. You made a gorgeous bride. When did you get married?

Well I am officially on the Crazy Train….I just got back from my Doc’s office. We did my baseline and U/S. My lining is nice and thin. It was 5; right on track and my ovaries are doing great. #1 has 7.3 volume and #2 has 14.2. They say one is usually bigger than the other. All my resting follies are resting nicely and no cyst. I start stimming tonight. They will call me later today and tell me how much of what to take.

Marcia-Our Due date will be 12/23…LOL What a great Christmas present!!!

http://www.myspace.com/smattison829

[nerms]

Hi ladies...

Got back from clinic about an hour ago...feel a little tender but much to our surprise we got 16 eggs!!! Of course all won't be mature, but i'm really pleased...last night i dreamt i had only two, then later i was telling my friends that it's ok as i have 14...strange the two add up to 16!!

Mrs B...any news on your official test result? Hoping for string bfp!

Nimble...how about darling follies...how are they growing?

Marcia...you know i had a scare about being diagnosed as pcos at the start of my treatment, this is largely the reason why they started me on a low dose, i read so much, sometimes you seek out information that confirms your anxieties, fuelling them further...i know that's what i did, for so long we've all been ttc that in many respects it feels unreal that it will ever happen for us. Have faith, and trust your doc, voice your concerns perhaps, but don't rely on one study to draw all your conclusions....i on the contrary have read that pcos women very successfully have babies. infact my cousin has a mod severe form and concieved naturally accidently twice!!! So please don't stress and stay positive!

Jill glad to hear you're drinking the pom juice...how was your scan today? How thick is the lining??

Mama...how did your scan go...any news about size of follies yet?

Rae...glad it feels better to vent here. Keep smiling!

Shantala...Thankyou my ivf buddy! Can't wait for your result tmw!! I'll be giving you guys my fert report tmw...big day tmw!

Riles and Nelly....WELCOME!!! This site is fab! You'll find lots of support here...esp the very warm and friendly March thread!

Sher8..good advice about waiting for enough time before testing...i sooooo hope i can follow this advise!

Steph..how you doing today...still feeling positive i hope!

Ok feeling quite tired now...so signing off..praying my egg's and dh's sperm are behaving themselves!

Nerms
x

[rae76]

Nerms, that wonderful news! 16 is a great number. When will you know about the maturity and then fert?

Stephanie, congrats on getting started with your stims!! You're almost there!!

Kandice, lots of PMa and the best of luck with your third beta tomorrow. I had a slowly rising HCG in the beginning but the first ultrasounds showed we were right on track. Not everyone's hormones go at the same pace, and the reminders of HCG "having to double every 48 hours" (whereas in truth 72 hours is OK) are everywhere. But of course I'm wishing you a strong high numbers so that you wouldn't have to worry (I did, terribly, and actually ended up getting an early sono because of that). And funny about the sleep - when I got my BFP I hardly slept a wink for almost a week

Shantala, that's sounds like a sound decision. Early testing can cause needless worry and heartache. So glad that DH has taken the day off so that you can do the whole thing together, that' going to make it so much better. Good luck sweetie!!

[Mrs B]

Hi ladies its offical im a with child, my beta came back as 168 i have to go back on fri for another and then i have my first scan in 20 days!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The nurse reckons im 4 weeks not sure how that works.