FEB / MARCH 2011 Cycle Buddies!! can't wait!

[BlissfulCS]

Tina Marie- welcome. Another very important acronym is AFM...All Future Mothers...and that is what we are! Glad to have you with us on the journey and excited to learn more about you.

[crissylove]

Hi Everyone,

Tina-Marie welcome. Good luck.

SD, how are things going?

Shaymama, I'm on day 3 of stims. How are you feeling? I'm having dull back aches but not feeling very bloated yet. Anyone can answer...how should I be feeling by now? Been a while since I did a IVF cycle and I don't remember much, but I do recall being very uncomfortable. I just don't remember by which day.

ME: 39 ENDO, UF, PA
DH:35 Good to go
TTC: 5 yrs on and off
IVF#1 '06 Failed
IVF#2 '06 xncl'd due to lab mishap
IVF#3 '07 Failed
IVF#4 Feb '11

[crissylove]

Thought I'd share this woman's IVF blog eith u gals. Check it out it's amazing. Happened within the last month. She had 60 follicles at one point. Ended up with a nasty bout of OHSS. Her story is heroic and you'll never imagine how many fertilized. Read for yourself.
http://hopefulforababy.blogspot.com/201 ... chive.html

[LYD10]

Tina Marie- welcome. Another very important acronym is AFM...All Future Mothers...and that is what we are! Glad to have you with us on the journey and excited to learn more about you.

i always thought that AFM stands for 'as for me" because it usually precedes a section on personal updates. ha! what do i know?

[LYD10]

SDTrying/LYD10- how many of your fertilized eggs actually made it to blast stage with your first cycles? SD- I am nervous because my doc doesn't like going to blast. My embryologist is a naturalist who believes the body is where they belong. However, I want to try going to blast this time and they are doing it. They are going to only try to take 4 to blast and freeze the rest at day 2. They say that embryos freeze better before they get to blast (and the research I have seen supports it) When I see you responding so well to the stims in the past but getting excited about getting three to blast it worries me. I am afraid I may not be taking enough to blast and may miss the opportunity to transfer a fresh embryo at any stage! Thoughts?

Update- found a very cerebral but good article on the subject of 3 day versus 5 day transfer that helped. Looks like about 50% make it to blast. Still curious if that is what others have experienced. The article has me just as confused as ever though. So many alternatives. Glad my RE is willing to work with me so much though and didn't just put the smack down on the blast idea.

http://www.inciid.org/article.php?cat=&id=245

i never went to blast stage before. my embryologist likes early freezing as well. we'll see what she recommends this time - but i am leaning towards day 3 again. i just see so many embryos lost between day 3 and day 5 on these boards - and that bothers me. i dont know - maybe those embryos wouldnt have made it anyway - but i cant imagine so many embryos not being good. i'd rather try to put it 2 at day 3 and freeze the rest for future tries. but that's just my personal opinion now. my ER is this wed or thursday - we'll see what kind of tune i'll sing then i'll basically follow my embryologist's advise with a slight preference for day 3 on my part. i feel like this is my last cycle to bank my eggs ( i am 39) and i dont want to waste any going to day 5.

thank you for finding this paper - i'll go read it now.

[LYD10]

SDTrying/LYD10- how many of your fertilized eggs actually made it to blast stage with your first cycles? SD- I am nervous because my doc doesn't like going to blast. My embryologist is a naturalist who believes the body is where they belong. However, I want to try going to blast this time and they are doing it. They are going to only try to take 4 to blast and freeze the rest at day 2. They say that embryos freeze better before they get to blast (and the research I have seen supports it) When I see you responding so well to the stims in the past but getting excited about getting three to blast it worries me. I am afraid I may not be taking enough to blast and may miss the opportunity to transfer a fresh embryo at any stage! Thoughts?

Hey Blissful- I did my first IVF at age 32 and had a really great stim (most of the follies developed together)-- 21 eggs retrieved--> 18 fertilized--> 8 blasts. This stim, my follies have split into two groups so my RE things I'll be getting 8 mature ones at best. Initially we were going to let the first group go, to try for the second, but the first group is too big to let go. So, that's life I guess...I'm really just guessing about how things will turn out...I'm guessing they'll retrieve 8-9 eggs tomorrow at best, but I"m hoping all of those will be mature. Based on my last results, most will hopefully fertilize so that puts us at about 7 from there. Then you figure about half of those made it to blast, so I'm thinking we'll have 3-4 most likely.

I'm fine with that (provided the quality is good). We are interested in single transfer, so I figure that's 3 tries to get pregnant. Hopefully it will just take one. My clinic's data for clinical pregnancy for women <35 is 79.5% which is pretty awesome. I figure with past success, I've got good chances.

I trigger tonight at 10pm and go for ER Sunday at 9:45AM...I'll report more then!!

SD - so do you still have some blasts left over form your first fresh cycle? i have 3 embryos left over from my fresh cycle - but they are not that great and time is running out for me to harvest more eggs so i wanted to do a fresh cycle to replenish my supply.

[LYD10]

We are sisters of the same mind LYD10

Yes, we have 5 left, but only 2 that would give me any hope at all. One is a 6BB and the other is a 5CB. Last FET we thawed a 5BC and it didn't make it very well through the thawing process. It did implant though, just didn't make it. So, as Rio puts it, I have confidence that my uterus is "hospitable"

I'm going another fresh for the same reason, eggs under 35, but also because of the new vitrification (sp?) process. I'm somewhat convinced my last embie would have made it if the poor little dear hadn't been so torn up by the thaw....

We'll both have our lucky #2 this go-around! Fresh IVF has better success rates I'm super hopeful!

Awesome! yes - it sounds like we are both very practical Here is hoping we both get lucky with the fresh cycle and bank a few good embryos for the road BTW - are you planning to do acupuncture before transfer? I know your clinic has a good one. I am actually using her myself.

[Shaymama]

Crissylove- I am feeling good. Not bloated yet either and I am on day three of stims. I go in tomorrow morning for another ultrasound and blood draw. I have been having some headaches and minor back pain but nothing bad. Since this is my first cycle I have nothing to compare it too. Anything I should know of that might or will happen? What stims are you doing?

[crissylove]

Hey Shaymama,
Hope all goes well at ur US today. From what I've read every IVF cycle is unique. I just didn't remember feeling this good by SD 3-4. I have been super tired this time around. Yesterday, as I lft for work I told my DH all I could think about was coming back home so I could go back to sleep. I went to bed at 8:45 last night, and this morning I'm still sleepy.
Hey guys how d'ya put ur stats below the line at the btm of ur post so they appear ech. time?

[crissylove]

BTW SD, love ur PMA!

[crissylove]

Oh! Shaymama I'm stimming with 150 iu of Menopur in the am and 225 of Follistim in the pm. I forgot to mention I've had minor headaches and back tenderness as well. It's okay though.

[MamaBoo]

Well, part of my baby-in-a-box arrived yesterday. I'm having to use two different pharmacies due to insurance. So it starts....I was warned about this. Insurance can be great financially, but a pain otherwise...

Well, I start Lupron tonight. I am scared. I'm not sure I remember how to do all of this. It's been two years since my last cycle

[Shaymama]

Crissylove- My ultrasound went well. They said I have 24 follies and they are starting to grow, but when they got my blood work back they called and said I have to come back tomorrow because my estrogen level is getting high. I have PCOS so my chances of OHS is super high. I am glad my work is understanding because it looks like I will be 2 hours late every morning this week. I am taking menopur 150u and bravelle 75u at night with the 5u of lupron and 1mg dexamethasone. I apparently can not watch American idol because I cry if they make it or when they don't.
To put the signature at the bottom...go into the user control panel towards the top of your screen. Click on edit profile and then it should say something about a signature. Just type in what you want it to say. Hope that helps.

[MamaBoo]

Well, my first injection is done! Yeah! I was nervous leading up to it, not knowing if I'd remember what to do. I guess it's like riding a bike Thankfully all went well, and I'm on my way.

[LYD10]

Well, my first injection is done! Yeah! I was nervous leading up to it, not knowing if I'd remember what to do. I guess it's like riding a bike Thankfully all went well, and I'm on my way.

Congrats, MamaBoo! I felt the same way - forgot but it came back fast. i looked up some videos online to refresh my memory.
do you have to do menopur? that one is the most troublesome for me. all that mixing and changing of the needles. I finally got it down perfectly by day 4. the 1st 3 days i switched to the smaller needle too early.

i am on my day 9 of stims - so i am very proficient at this point but i havent done PIO in my previous cycles. this cycle i will be doing PIO and suppositories. from what i've seen 15 min of heat afterwards goes a long way to avoid the lumps - so i'll be doing that. I figure i'll do PIO after DS goes to sleep so i can do the 15 min of sitting on the heating pad.