AUG/SEPT BUDDIES!

[valerie68]

Rinnie: I'm glad you were so persistent with RE ! We have to watch out for ourselves, that's for sure. I think you'll do great on this next go around.
I had to keep an eye on my nurse too, if not for me telling that I was running out of meds, I would have....and then what? just skip a day? I try to be on top of everything and know as much as possible but it's really their job!

Would you have gone to a different clinic? It's important to feel comfortable with your RE. I like mine a lot....my nurse is a bit cold and it bothers me but she's the only one there (the only ivf coordinator), but she's the one to give me all the results and the instructions. I just wish she was more personable.

I'll try that mixed pilaf, it sounds really good.
I love to cook, but trying to get pregnant has really made me search for even healthier and tasty foods. During my chemical, I could not stand sweets, even fruits were starting to bother me. So I'm eating tons of fruits right now. Our mangoes are ripe, organic, juicy, sweet and just incredibly delicious and right of the tree. it's a treat every morning

[JDC]

Hi everbody! I my clinic is approx 35 miles from my house, but because I live in northern New Jersey, my travel time can range from 30 min - 1hr plus depending on traffic. During morning monitoring I try to get there the earliest possible to avoid traffic (6am). Then, my job is 1hr back in the other direction, but traffic is not a problem going that way. There is a clinic closer, but I consulted with them, and there is NO way I would ever go there.

Thanks to everyone who gave me support regarding my egg quality. You guys are right, and DH said the same thing. I met with my AP yesterday, and she just said with such confidence "well, your eggs will be good quality this time we don't even have to worry about that". I am doing herbs also - to help with my liver.

What's with this magic wand? I haven't seen that, but when I entered the AP room yesterday, it did smell like weed!

JHarris Congrats on the financing! Your on your way now! I think I will still be a little ahead of everybody, because I won't be taking BCP. I didn't last cycle either...I don't know why, but they just work with my regular cycle. Also, it seems I will be taking pretty much the same meds as last time which surprised me because I thought we would try something new...RE said it will not make a difference.

I wish I coud address everybody today, but I'm off to work! Have a wonderful day!

[JDC]

I just realized i will by cycling July/Aug, but I want to stay on this thread because I like it here and you guys are great! ta ta......

[valerie68]

JDC: Your eggs will be good quality this time...it's great that your AP is so confident because it passes on to you, you'll feel confident too!
Ask him about that burning herb stick. I like it.

Most of us seem to be cycling July/August and I like it here too...great group, lots of PMA and support !!!

My RE's office is 20 miles away but with traffic, it can take me sometimes more than 1hr to get there. I'll be cycling when school is still out, so that will help a lot ! I did the same thing for the first cycle...part of the time, school was out !

I can't stay long, I've got to catch up on work as the sun decided to show its pretty face and I have a presentation tonight.
Have a wonderful day !!

Valerie

[jharris12]

Thanks everybody for the congrats. I feel so much better knowing that the money part is taken care of. And knowing that my RE IS going to change my protocol this cycle, too. I can't wait to get started again! My DH's 30th birthday is August 1. It would be a wonderful present to get him a BFP!

JDC: Sounds like your AP is positive she can get those eggs healthy! So stay positive!! Several of us are more July/August cyclers, but we are staying, too! I go back to my RE June 30 to get my next schedule going, so I THINK I will be on BCP July 6 (?) then move to stims around the end of July, with ER/ET being somewhere around the first of August? I'm not copletely sure. But it's good to cycle with familiar names!

valerie: Looks like we will be cycling close together. Didn't you say you did the flare protocol last time? What does the schedule look like for that? I can't find a sample one! My clinic has 2 RE's, and several nurses. Luckily they are all pretty pleasant to work with. It makes such a difference!

Rinnie: I am feeling very positive about us all this cycle!! I can't wait for us all to get started and for those BFP's to start rolling in!! Way to go keeping after that RE!! I can't believe he wasn't going to change anything! Once again the insanity of doing things the same way and expecting different results!!

cocos: Thanks!! I am going out tonight for my inlaws 30th anniversary, so I am going to get my last bit of alcohol drinking in before starting again!

Hope you ladies have a FABULOUS FRIDAY!!

[cocosmomma]

Rinnie: GOOD JOB! I get so mad at myself when I leave my RE's office without asking the questions I want. I've starting taking lists in and just badgering until I get the answers. My RE is super sweet and I just adore him, but he can talk over my head sometimes and they don't explain alot. They just want you to trust them. I did the first 2 cycles, but at $10,000-$15,000 a pop, I'm a little more involved now. Plus, I know more now. I envy those who have a child on their first go around. It must be blissful oblivion.

JDC: That is awesome news about your AP. They are going to get you right, girl. Don't you worry! PMA is a huge part of this. Believe in yourself!

Jharris: Enjoy yourself tonight! I had a glass of wine at dinner with my girlfriends the other night. I sipped that thing for 3 hours! It was good.

I have AP today. So excited. I look so forward to going. Rachael, my AP, is awesome. Did I tell you guys that she isn't an infertility acupuncture specialist, but she has treated several women for infertility (I don't think any of them were quite to the IVF stage though)? So my implantation issues are new to her, but she is so into this now! She is researching and calling colleagues to get ideas and discuss different protocols. She says she's having a blast learning something new. I am a big team player, I work better when on a team, and she makes me feel like we are in this together. It more personal than my RE's office where there are hundreds of patients a day. I just love it!

I'll let y'all know how it goes. Have a great morning!!

[Rinnie]

Good afternoon everybody

Valerie Oohh...your mangos sound amazing.I love them...papayas too. No..I thought about changing doctors within the clinic though. If he had been stubborn yesterday I would have switched. Their Lab is amazing, and everything is done on site so that's the reason I'm staying.
A good lab can make a huge difference they say.

JHarris you know....woman's bodies do different things every cycle so they get away with keeping the same protocols and having different results. That's what's so frustrating about this process.
I think that has a lot to do with fluctuating hormones, stress etc etc. But what my RE doesn't understand is that with Chinese medicine the hormones stay pretty constant & even so the cycle should be pretty predictable.

JDC Did you not get a lot of eggs, or were they just not good quality? My RE said that down-regulating with BCPs or Lupron really quiets the ovaries in a way the natural cycle doesn't. So when it comes time to stimulate them they respond much better, with more eggs. That may be something to discuss if you didn't get a lot of eggs.

Cocosmomma I'm so glad you're loving your AP. That's very cool when the doctor gets excited & is doing research etc. You really feel cared about. Ap should really be able to help implantation issues...boosting the lining & calming everything in there.
I'm glad you had some wine....I did too the other night I figure we have a couple of months, so the odd one won't hurt. My TCM doc says you also have to enjoy life or things will be affected negatively.


Rin xo

[JDC]

Rinnie: I only had three eggs retrieved last cycle...I'm going to ask my nurse about the bcp....thanks for the input. Also, that's great you pushed with your RE - I'm almost regretting that I didn't do the same. I always think of things after the fact, then I call my nurse and drive her crazy.

cocosmomma: I look forward to going to AP too! Have you talked to your AP about sessions around transfer time? I've heard different things....like you should get ap immediately after transfer, etc.

Has anyone heard about when are the best times to get ap in cycle?

Valerie You are so right about my ap passing on those good vibes.

What exaclty is a flare protocol?

jharris: Have a wonderful night! I can't wait to start again either. I got that excitement back.

[MzTia]

JDC- I am on the may/june thread but thought I would share what my AP did around transfer time. I actually added a 2nd session the week of ER to get one closer to ER. Then I went in immediately before and after ET. I also went in 4 days after ET. My AP also re-stimulated my needle spots on both the treatments on ET day. That was not something she had done in prior session. It does seem that all AP's vary though.

[SueQiwi]

JHarris--Congrats on your financing! I am thrilled for you. I have a good feeling about this cycle.

Rinnie--Good going on setting your Doc straight. I remember how angry you were last time when they overstimulated you and clobbered your eggs that were growing just fine after TCM. Im glad they are curring your doses and daily monitoring will be super and defintiley help your peace of mind. Good on ya!

Valerie--I have such lovely visions of your Florida home with tons of orchids and mangoes! paradise.

Even though there is only one clinic in NZ--I am lucky as it is very close! It is only a 15 miute busride away. I do feel a bit frustrated at not having a choice--but I think they are doing a good job so far. My Doc is more a mad scientist type who really understands the science/laboratry piece of things. His bedside manner is terrible! But my husband (who is a biologist himslef) thinks this is better than some smooth talking Doc without a lot of smarts. I have read that the embriologist is actually the most important person in this whole process. I loved our embriologist last time--a woman Sarah--who was so concerned about taking care of my eggs and embryos. I only had 4 eggs--but we got 100% fertilization--I was so thrilled.

I truly love my AP--she is so therapuetic--it's almost like going to therapy at the same time! It's also nice to go to appointment where you dont have to drop your pants upon entering the room! I am so over being wanded! After listening to you all--I think I will ask her about adding TMC herbs to my treatment. I too have high FSH. Rinnie--you have made me a believer!

[valerie68]

Good evening ladies...getting late here in Miami but I thought I'd leave a little note anyways. Got back from giving this program on growing orchids at one of the clubs here and I always enjoy sharing tips and good tricks on growing better orchids. I love what I do and I hope to pass that on too.

SueQiwi, you're right that we have our little piece of paradise right in our own back yard, very fortunate to have this !!
It's great that you are so close to your RE when he's the only one in the country ! I understand your feeling about his bedside manners. I switched RE because my first one had such bad bedside manners. I felt so uncomfortable with him that I did not want to go back. I have to feel good with my doctor, feel like we're on the same page otherwise I get kind of rattled.
you're talking about the embryologist being the most important person and I agree. Mine is a doll...I call her my magician as I only had 2 eggs and she did ICSI and both made it to blast. I have utmost confidence in her and I know she will help me get my BFP. On the last cycle, right after transfer, she so kindly said to me on my way out that I had a good chance of getting pregnant, her face was all lit up, she had a huge smile on her face and it gave me great confidence...

Coco...that is wonderful that your AP is doing research and is enjoying the learning process. As I said above, very important to love the people that take care of us. I like when people feel eager to learn more.

As I'm going through IVF, I see how much I would enjoy being an IVF nurse, make the patients feel great, confident, happy to be doing something so life changing.

Rinnie: I like your outlook and the confidence you have in TCM and your persistence with RE. I'd love to send you some mangoes...I must say we have one of the best variety ...no fiber, they're very sweet and has the texture of a peach. I look forward to mango season every year...I even have 'Mango Night' ...a party for friends and we all cook a dish with mangoes, from mango Daiquiri all the way to mango cheesecake and lots of inventive dishes as appetizers and entrees. It's a lot of fun.

JDC, jharris, hoping...hope all is well for all of you...day by day we're getting closer to our goal and that a BFP for each and everyone of us !!

Have a good night, I have talked enough as is.

Valerie

[karenvancouverisland]

hi all, my name is karen and i'll be doing a 3rd ivf in sept.

i'm feeling pretty sad and angry tonight. saw my friend's u/s pic's today of her baby. i finally got pregnant and was exactly 12 weeks on june 3 when i m/c. it was beyond awful. had a d&c, they are testing the fetal remains to determine why it happened, we're praying for the 'typical m/c- unlikely to happen again' result.

i'm a 'low responder' to follicle stim. our 1st cycle was cancelled early, 2nd cycle only produced 2 large follies on the largest dose of meds (gonal f). so it was indeed a MIRACLE that i got pregnant. even the doc's were impressed. had u/s at 7 weeks, heartbeat was there, but slow (94). i felt like something was wrong the few weeks before m/c, but i didn't want to believe it. i finally started feeling more 'normal' this week...except tonight, very sad. and feeling less 'like a woman'- does that make sense to anyone else??

anyways, i'm getting my health back up too. back to the gym, massage, chiropracter, detoxing in the infared sauna..and making acupuncture appt's. if not for a pregnancy, at least it may help me stay sane.

we should get the m/c results in another month, then i need a hysteroscopy to ensure their's no internal infection/damage from d/c, and then we'll be ready to cycle for sept. deep down i'm excited, but also scared. not only scared of it not working, but also of running out of $..cause then it really can't work.

anyways, i'm looking forward to getting to know you ladies better and i've enjoyed reading your posts, all the best, karen

[JDC]

karen: Welcome! I'm so sorry to hear about your loss. Life is so unfair at times, and it can be so especially difficult when our friends/family are moving along and having families. I personally feel like I've been stuck at one point, while others move forward. My much younger sister had a baby in April and although I was thrilled and happy, I was also terribly jealous and full of self pity. I think it's okay to feel those kind of things for a little while, but then we must move on. HOPE is a beautiful thing.

I've only been through one ivf, but I am also a low responder - only had three follies and had to push for retrieval. They did retrieve 3 mature eggs, but the fertilized abnormally. This time we will do icsi.

For now we can concentrate on getting our health back like you said. I need to get back to the gym myself! I'm having a hard time fitting it in lately.

Hang in there!

Everybody have a wonderful weekend!

[hopinginpa]

Karen-Welcome sorry for your loss. It is so hard. I too had a m/c at 12 weeks. I was a low responder this past cycle. I only had 3 eggs retrieved. My first cycle I had 15 with 11 that fertilized. We are using the flare protocol this cycle.

JDC- I feel that same way...suck in one spot. My much younger brother is having a baby is October. His fiance is 23. I am jealous and have distanced myself from them, subconsciously....well he is upset with me about it. I feel terrible.

Jharris- So happy you got the loan!

Valerie-My Re is great. There are 4 doctors in the practice and about 8 nurses. They are very passionate. My first RE was a solo practice and wasn't very nice. When I first asked about IVF....he didn't even want to do it. He said I was TOO YOUNG! I was 33!
My clinic now is 35 miles from home and about 20 miles from work. It works for us.

Rinnie- Glad you saw your RE and got them to listen! What meds will you be using?
I used follistim the first time and had a good response. This time they used menopur and bravelle. It wasn't a good response. My sil had the same poor response to bravelle. Her cycle was cancelled and the next month she used follistim and now has 1 year old twins!
I am going to us follistim and low dose lupron this cycle.
I start BCPs Monday!

Cocos, SueQuwi- hope you are having a good weekend.

I just got AF this am....cramps aren't fun I will start BCP on Monday and stims in 2 weeks! Hopefully you don't mind if I stay on this thread....I will doing ER mid July.
My mil and sil are in town so I have been MIA! We were at the gymnastics olympic trials last night. fun!
Have a good weekend.

[valerie68]

Karen: Welcome to our group!!! I'm very sorry to hear about your loss. It will take some more time for you to heal, your body is still recuperating from the trauma, physically and mentally.

I hope you get good results from the D&C testing ! I understand you're scared about the next cycle...I'm a little scared too but mostly I stay very optimistic that it will work. I feel the best thing to do is to feel good, feel centered, feel at peace inside and the rest should follow...one step at a time !
A lot of us on this thread are doing AP with Rinnie being our AP cheerleader and we all feel that we are greatly benefiting from it.
We're here to listen and help you through this difficult time in your life and we'll be here to celebrate your next BFP !!

hoping: Yes !! please stay right here with us !! Even if you're starting ahead of us, it doesn't matter one bit. We're here for you !
Cramps are no fun, but boy do I look forward to AF now ! It's one step closer to my next BFP ! One step closer to yours !!
I used Bravelle and Menopur the first cycle and had 3 follies. Perhaps I should ask RE to use Follistim ? They won't use Lupron at all, RE says I probably won't respond at all if using that.
I wish I could have been there at the gymnastics Olympics trials...must have been loads of fun.

JDC: What did you use as far as meds? You were a low responder as well. That's 4 of us already ... I only have one ovary so really I would be happy with 6 great quality follies. I just wonder if we all have Bravelle in common. Let me know.

jharris, Coco, Rinnie Wishing you and all a great Saturday...our longest day of the year. !
I'm having a few friends over this afternoon and dinner and I will be in touch later.

Much love,

Valerie