March/April cycle buddies??

milpagan · Post by **milpagan** » Mon Mar 02, 2009 5:33 pm

My name is Milly, I'm 37 and will be trying IVF for the very first time. I hope it's ok for me to join this threat. Hubby & me tried several rounds of IUI with no success. All together we have been trying for 5 years both naturally and with help. I had a m/c 3 yrs ago. I was tested and was told I'm not prone to m/c it just happened. Hubby has a low sperm count and the doctors say that's our problem. Here's my thing...I have a general idea of how IVF works after reading 100 sites (lol) I seem to be working a little backwards with this. I was suppose to have my IVF consultation last week but my doctor had an emergency surgery to do. Today I went to my injection class and I have to wait until the 9th to see my doctor. My first menstrual day should be around the 4th and she said I would start BCP for 2 weeks. That's all I know right now and I'm wondering what happens next. I know I will start injections but don't know when or when the egg retrieval is performed. Could someone please give me a general idea of what comes next. I know all cycles are different but could some of the ladies that are starting with BCP help me out please. Oh...and very new to the lingo also lol, I'm trying very hard to catch up and understand so forgive my many questions.
God Bless

Sari · Post by **Sari** » Mon Mar 02, 2009 6:03 pm

Welcome milpagan:

I'm in BCP right now and is my first IVF. I started the BCP the third day of my menstruation. The nurse call me last week and told me to order the meds and will call this week with more instructions. All I can tell you is that it is a lot of meds.

Welcome to this journey and hope to share a lot during this next month.

God Bless you too.

cymplicity27 · Post by **cymplicity27** » Mon Mar 02, 2009 6:13 pm

Hello ladies! At the advice of Sara30 and hjw I'm jumping in here

My name is Cynthia, TTC for over 2 years now and I'm beginning my 1st IVF cycle this month. I actually started my lupron shots this morning. To my surprise I hardly even felt the needle and my first thought was (as I'm sure most wive's would have been) "honey, did you do it right"??

Anyway, I've been lurking around the boards for some time now and figured it was time to jump in. The process has moved pretty quickly for us. I first met with my RE in November 2008. All tests checked out "normal" until they discovered my tubes were blocked during my HSG. Since my insurance covers IVF I opted for it instead of surgery. So here we are! Good luck to everyone and I look forward to chatting with you all.

hjw · Post by **hjw** » Mon Mar 02, 2009 6:21 pm

Just wanted to say welcome both Milly and Cynthia, you've come to a great thread and a group of wonderful ladies.

Look forward to cycling with you both!

Hazel

milpagan · Post by **milpagan** » Mon Mar 02, 2009 6:34 pm

Thanks for the warm welcome hjw & Sari. I am very excited to have joined the thread. I know this will be a blessing to me and I hope that one day I could have answers for others. Again Best of luck and many blessings to you all. Oh...and Cynthia *phew* I'm so glad to hear you say the injections weren't bad.

CT_Michele · Post by **CT_Michele** » Mon Mar 02, 2009 6:48 pm

Hey Everyone...and a happy snow day to you! (Well, to me anyway, but probably to a lot of others too) No tutoring today, yay! And we are at atleast 10 inches and still counting!

We have a lot of first time ivf'ers on this thread. Don't worry to everyone, some of us have been through this once or twice (or even more) times, so we will help you through it as much as we can. I will update our tracker later today with our newcomers.

cymplicity- Welcome. I am glad your ivf is covered, mine is too, but this will be the last time I am covered. So many ladies here are out of pocket and I honestly don't know how they do it. You said you started lupron today, so when are your other dates (starting stims, ER, ET?)

milpagan- Well, I have done, and am doing a cycle which starts with bcp and then goes straight to stimming (no lupron). Normally you start bcp's on day 2 or 3 of your cycle, you use them for 2-3 weeks, then you will start meds to make some follies and eggies, that happens for usually around 10 days and then you will have your Egg Retrieval (ER) and 3 or 5 days later they will put your fertilized embryos back in, egg transfer (ET). Of course everything is different for everyone, but if you expect AF (aunt flow, period) on the 4th, figure bcp's by the 7th, you said bcp's for 2 weeks which brings you to the 21st and that is when you should be starting stims, so maybe an ER for you in early April? I hope this helps and is not too confusing, just ask qwuestions if you have them. I am sure you will learn of all your dates at your consult coming up.

hjw- first let me address american idol. Norman gentle/nick is from CT, obviously my home state, and only a couple of snooty CT parents could raise quite a character! I found him entertaining, and if he had cut the act, he was actually a good singer. Just so you know, I started a reality thread in the general forum. It actually started as a thread for the bachelor, but spawned into any and all reality shows. We are discussing idols everyweek, along witha bunch of others like the biggest loser, amazing race and survivor. So feel free to come and analyze idols with us if you like.

I think my anesthesia was also local with sedation as someone else stated, except when I have IV sedation, it knocks me out completely, so I am never awake for it. I guess I am highly affected by the stuff. I prefer it that way.

Melanie- your snow came our way, and I know for many places they are enjoying the snow b/c they haven't had any yet this year, but here in frigid CT, everyone is sick of it. We have had enough and just when we thought it was over, here comes the biggest one of the year. We have already had a couple 4-6 inch snowfalls this year, so now a 12 inch is just a nuisance. And btw, thanks for getting technical, it helps us all to understand what we are doing instead of just poking and praying!

Sari- Hope your pma is holding up. As sara said earlier- we all have our days, ups and downs, or the ivf roller coaster as I like to call it. You just have to take the good with the bad. I never thought ivf would be as emotional as it was for me. I do not show emotion very much, but I ended up going nutty my first time around. All I can say, is that when it does finally work for you (which we hope to be soon) it will all be worth it. I can only wish the joy my little Ella brings me on everyone else.

Speaking of my little miracle #1, You asked about her b-day party. I didn't really think of themes, but when you asked, I started thinking and since it is in the middle of the summer I think it might be nice to do a hawaiian Luau (sp?). I saw some really cute hula outfits online for babies, while I was searching for a bathing suit since I signed her up for swim lessons that start in a couple weeks. Honestly, I don;t want to go crazy since she will only be 1 and never remember it, but I want some good pics for the scrapbook and we will take any excuse to throw a big bbq!

Ok, I know I missed people, but this post became very long and baby is getting cranky, so I will update our list and post again later. I hope you all have a marvelous monday!

CT_Michele · Post by **CT_Michele** » Mon Mar 02, 2009 6:53 pm

melanie_100 - Started Stims Feb 21, ER 3/4, ET 3/9
kimbob - Stimming!

Trying for another angel – IVF early March

Sara30 - down-reg start - Feb 8, estradiol start - Feb 22, FET with DE Mar 10 or 11

Sisi1 - IVF start Mar 9

SunMoon&Stars – DE w/icsi, ET Mar 16

Latinosunshine – Last BCP Mar 16, ER around Mar 30

Wishing4Baby - Feb 24, start Lupron; March 6th, start Follistim;
March 18th, estimated ER

Sari - Start stims Mar 18, ER Mar 30? ET Apr 2?

Waiting For 4 - Consult w/ RE Mar 13

sprouthaus - ganirelix/antagonist cycle - Apr

milpagan - RE consult Mar 9, stims end of Mar? ER/ET early Apr?

cymplicity27 - Lupron start Mar 2

biancajb - Last bcp Mar 20, IVF early April

wishfull27 (carolyn) - ET around early April, ICSI/DE

Hjw – down-reg start Mar 5, baseline Apr 2, ER around Apr 13

CT_Michele – Polyp removal Mar 12, Start stims 4/10, ER/ET & fresh TESE week of 4/20

milpagan · Post by **milpagan** » Mon Mar 02, 2009 7:04 pm

Wow you ladies are truly amazing! I can't believe how you are all answering. Thank you CT Michelle, your answer was simple and I completely understood. I am so happy in this thread that I haven't stopped smiling all morning.

I'm even learning the lingo, yay! Look forward to meeting a lot more of you ladies. But of course I have another question lol. What is the average amount of embryos the transfer?
((hugs))

CT_Michele · Post by **CT_Michele** » Mon Mar 02, 2009 7:11 pm

Milly- again, it depends on the person, but average is 2. My RE will not transfer more than 2 in anyone under the age of 35 or 37 I can't remember. It also depends on quality of embryo. I asked me RE if they would put back 3 this time since it is our last chance will insurance covering the cost, and he said the only way he would do that is if on transfer day all of my embryos were poor quality, but he said if they were like they were last time, 2 is the max. I have read a lot on these threads of women over 35 having 3 put back in, but it is rare and anything more is even rarer.

Sari · Post by **Sari** » Mon Mar 02, 2009 7:14 pm

Hello Everyone:

Finally I got my schedule. I am very excited, and have many questions. Here it goes.
I have to continue with BCP until march 13

. So, 11 days to go. March 12 - orientation on how to inject the meds (ouch)
March 18, I have an appointment to BW and u/s. (And pay, of course)
March 30 Aspiration (ER ?)
April 2 Transfer (ET?) Sorry I'm not sure about the terms you use.

My DH will be on antibiotics 10 days begining March 20.

My questions are: Why so many days of BCPs and then why only 4 Days to transfer, the Doctor told me it was going to be 5. Do you guys think is better this way? I think I want to tell him to wait until April 3. What do you think?

CT_Michele · Post by **CT_Michele** » Mon Mar 02, 2009 7:20 pm

Sari- So it looks like you will start stims on 3/18 when you have u/s and BW (sounds like your baseline). If you have ER on 3/30 and ET on 4/2, then that is a 3 day transfer. I am sure this was all an approximate schedule from your doctor. There is no way for sure to pinpoint your ER date until they see how many follicles you have and how big they are. Also, whether or not to do a 3 day transfer or 5 day is usually decided after ER. They like to see how many egges you get, how many fertilize and the quality. If you have a lower number of eggs, they may be more likely to do a 3 day (which is what they did with me), if you have a lot, they like to let them grow to see which ones make it to 5 day. I know a lot of people here say 5 day has better success rates, but I did a 3 day and it was successful. So you will probably need to wait and see what happens closer to the dates. I will update you with dates on our tracker. You must be excited though, it's coming close!

wishfull27 · Post by **wishfull27** » Mon Mar 02, 2009 8:57 pm

hiya - just a quick post from me to say welcome to Milly and Cynthia

am knackereed - had long day at work and then accupuncture so just going to crawl into bed - will do personals tomorrow !!

love

Carolyn xx

cymplicity27 · Post by **cymplicity27** » Tue Mar 03, 2009 1:43 pm

CT, I wish I had more of a schedule to share. I take my last BCP on Thursday and have to call my nurse once AF shows up so hopefully I'll get some sort of schedule. I know it's hard to pinpoint exact days though. My RE told me to expect the process (from 1st injection to pregnancy test) to take about 5 1/2 weeks so I'm thinking at least ER/ET during the week of 3/23. I am VERY lucky that my insurance covers it. But it's up to a max of $20,000 so we'll at least get 2 shots at this.

Sari, my clinic almost always performs a 3 day ET. They say until more research is done with the 5 day blastocyst they still feel more confident in getting the embryo to the uterus as soon as possible. They would only perform a 5 day under special circumstances. I guess it depends on your RE. I've read that both have their advantages and disadvantages. So I wouldn't freak out to much about it if I were you

By the way, yesterday morning I let DH do my first injection. Of course he just stuck me without hesitation

Since he's a firefighter and isn't going to be there every morning we decided I should do it myself this morning for practice. Oh my goodness...I was such a baby! It didn't hurt at all yesterday but there is just something about "stabbing" myself...

After we stopped laughing and on about the 5th attempt I finally did and felt like such a wuss

~cynthia

melanie_100 · Post by **melanie_100** » Tue Mar 03, 2009 4:02 pm

Hey Girls, Hope everyone is doing well.
My ER is tomorrow at 9:45 am

I had to do my HCG shot last night at midnight. I didn't want to wake my husband up, so I did the IM shot myself. The other shots are no biggy, but I was really nervous about this one (needle is 1.5 in. long!). Luckily, the nurse had recommended I numb the area with ice, since I told her there was a good chance I would do it myself in my leg. That helped a lot, it really didn't hurt much at all. I was really proud of myself for doing it, I never thought I could give myself a shot like this. My leg is sore today though, but what's a little pain in this process

I guess I'll know by tomorrow how many eggs I got. Hope my little hen house factory has been working overtime the last couple of nights and I get good eggs.
I'll give you guys an update next time that I can after procedure.
BTW, talked to a local friend who had multiple IVF's- said ER was a piece of cake, and a lot less traumatic then most people think it will be. She said she didn't have any pain that night, except some mild cramping.
Talk to you guys soon, Melanie

cymplicity27 · Post by **cymplicity27** » Tue Mar 03, 2009 4:22 pm

Melanie, that is so exciting! I'd be on pins and needles right about now if I were you

. I can't wait until my ER/ET. I'm proud of you for taking on that needle all alone the way you did...you're such a big girl

And here I am just getting over the teeny needles

Question, has anyone who's cycled before taken the progesterone shots after ER? I'm told that DH will HAVE to do this for me because of the injection site (the buttocks). I'm concerned because DH works 24 hr shifts and is not at home 3 nights out of the week. Is it possible to give it to yourself??

~cynthia

March/April cycle buddies??

March/April cycle buddies??

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