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

[indigofire]

Ok I'm a doula for a living studying to be a midwife (I know some people might think I'm insane but it's one of the biggest ironies in my life). And I'm at the hospital with a client who is currently having a c section for a breech baby. The doctor is one of my favorite doctors and she works at a fertility clinic. Think I could talk her into giving me a beta today??? Man I'm insane!!!! I'm definitely nominated for mayor of Crazytown!!!!

[BlissfulCS]

Great to hear from you mamaboo. Getting closer! I hate PIO and am switching to crinone this time. A little nervous about the switch but hey...its not like the PIO worked magic for me on the last two tries. Plus my lining is already at 9 which is much better than where it was last time.

Indigo- I am totally for you asking for the Beta. Asking is free as they say! Plus you can just call it field research. Interesting on your chosen career path. I want to use a midwife but the hospital in my rural area doesn't have any which means I would have to have a home birth if I go that route. The only challenge is the closest midwife is over an hour away and I am worried about not having back up. What are your thoughts on home births? I am really leaning that direction, the OBs in this town are limited and I can't imagine going through the birthing process with any of them (assuming I go through the birthing process at all of course!)

[WeHaveHope]

Hi everyone,
Unfortunately, my situation has not improved. I am still in alot of pain and barely able to walk. I weighed myself today, and somewhere between Wednesday (ER Day) and today, I have gained 9 pounds. Now I am really concerned. Has anyone here had fluid aspirated from their abdominal cavity? Did it require hospitalization? Was it very painful

[longtimerivf]

Hi everyone,
Unfortunately, my situation has not improved. I am still in alot of pain and barely able to walk. I weighed myself today, and somewhere between Wednesday (ER Day) and today, I have gained 9 pounds. Now I am really concerned. Has anyone here had fluid aspirated from their abdominal cavity? Did it require hospitalization? Was it very painful

Hi wehavehope...

I'm stalking from the winter cycle board... but if you have gained so much weight and are feeling like that...
have you called your DR???

You should call them and have them take a look at you... sounds like you have OHSS or something like that...

Anything they do will definitely make you feel better... but don't try to stay home and rough it out...

Please call your Dr's office and let us know how you feel...

Hope you feel better...
Hugs... and take care!

[indigofire]

WeHaveHope - CALL YOUR CLINIC NOW!!!! OHSS isn't something to fool around with. It can lead to organ failure. Get that fluid drained asap. 9lbs is a huge amount of weight. My clinic said 2 lbs and get your butt back in asap. Sending you healing energy! I had a friend go through draining. Wasn't so bad. Like the ER. But they'll give you good drugs.

Please let us know how it goes.

[crissylove]

We Have Hope-Please call your doc, especially bcuz of the weight gain. They say to call with a weight gain of 2-3 lbs/day. Don't let it get to a critical point. A girl on another thread had the draining and it relieved the pain and bloating within 24 hrs. I hope you feel better soon.

Bliss- Never a dull moment, huh. That was a crazy story. Glad u got ur meds.

Indigfire-I officially relinquish the "Mayor of Crazytown" campaign to you. I'll cast the first vote. Thanks for putting us on pins and needles.

[WeHaveHope]

The nurse finally called me back. She said that I should continue weighing myself daily and measure my intake and output. She said the labwork that was done yesterday was good. I am not swelling any place else and the labwork shows that there is no fluid shift. I have an appointment on Monday with the doctor that did the ER. 

[crissylove]

Oh-WE-I'm soooo relieved. Keep us posted hun. Feel well.

[LYD10]

The nurse finally called me back. She said that I should continue weighing myself daily and measure my intake and output. She said the labwork that was done yesterday was good. I am not swelling any place else and the labwork shows that there is no fluid shift. I have an appointment on Monday with the doctor that did the ER. 

WE - drink only gatorade! do not drink any water! - drink only gatorade - that will draw the water out of you.

[blairwh58]

WeHaveHope- hope you start feeling better soon. I'm sure this all stinks but know that next month will be our month and we will be bringing home december babies in no time! Drink lots of gatorade and good luck. Keep us posted.

[elcope]

Hello everyone! *waves to all*

Would love to join you - as I'm right in there on timing for Feb/March...

DH and I have been TTC #1 for 5 years now - he is 35, and I will be 35 on 5/1.

Up to this point, my doctors have been unable to determine where the issue is - for 2 years, DH was originally thought to have been the issue, but after switching from my OB/GYN to an actual fertility specialist here in Seattle, they determined he was not the problem at all - in fact, his numbers are excellent (how does that even happen?). After running every test under the sun on me, all they came back with, were a few fibroids in my uterus - and even though they weren't considered an issue, I had surgery last June to have them removed (unfortunately, one came back, not even 4 weeks later).

3 unsuccessful IUI's later, we opted to try IVF. Cycle #1 started on 2/2/11 - with daily injections starting on 2/13. My egg retrieval was just this past Thursday, 2/24 - and they were able to recover 22 eggs, 15 of which were considered "very good!". However, received the call yesterday, that not one of them fertilized on their own, and a rescue ICSI was underway.
Received the call today, that 3 eggs successfully fertilized (my emotions are on a roller coaster right now!) - and now I'm just waiting for the call on when the transfer will happen (as soon as tomorrow, but as late as Tuesday for a Day 5 transfer).

Other than that - just wanted to ask if anyone out there is still having cramping issues after egg retrieval? My stomach is still in severe knots - and I'm incredibly "fluffy". In total, I've gained 7 pounds in the past 5 days, but the Doctor says this is normal - and that I could go back to work yesterday (day after retrieval), but there was just no way. Feel a little better today, but still really uncomfortable. Anyone else out there feeling this way?

Anyhow - good luck to everyone! It's so great to be able to discuss all of this with others that are going through the same thing!

I'm off to read other comments...thanks for listening.

- Erin

[crissylove]

Hi Erin,
Us girls welcome you. Hope u get ur dream come true this go around, and even when you do, if you ever have to go through this dreaded process again for baby#2, hopefully with that kinda egg turn out they'll use ICSI right from the start.
Keep us posted on ur progress we know exactly what ur going through. Some of us have been there many times b4 sadly.

[Kyleen81]

Thank you ladies for the support. I'm feeling a bit better this morning. I'm now day 6 past 5dt and oddly enough last time around I'd had bad cramping from day one.

I feel my little wombat is making a nice home for themselves in there and then I get scared every time I go to the loo that AF will be there. Oh dear me.

Wehavehope take lots of care and make sure you get loads of rest.
Erin welcome and I'm sure things will go well. You to make sure you rest up and tke care of yourself.

[indigofire]

We Have Hope and Erin - drink at least a litre of gatorade a day. Or a litre of V8 if you don't want all the sugar that's in gatorade. It'll help you to absorb all of that extra fluid. That's what I did. I did the V8 because I'm on a no sugar no flour eating plan for PCOS. Also increase your protein intake. So eat salty high protein foods...it'll help with the fluid. My clinic was adamant about those things.

ASM - I was strong and backed out of asking that doc for a beta. Only 3 more days right??? Man it's driving me crazy.

As for homebirths - after being a part of 182 births, and everything I've seen, it would take an army or something terribly wrong with my baby before I would set foot in a hospital. I've been apart of mostly hospital births and things go way wrong at hospital births all of the time because of interventions. But at homebirths there really aren't many interventions and things usually go smoothly. Now I live in Ontario Canada and our midwifery system is very well integrated into our health care system and midwifery care is covered by our provinicial health plan. So it's a completely different ball of wax. Our midwives have hospital privileges (ie, they can admit and discharge). The midwives are primary health care providers of women of low risk, and have OB's whom they can consult with or transfer care if risks become apparent. The C section rate in all of Ontario just hit 30%. So in an urban hosptial the C section rate for low risk first time moms is somewhere between 30-40%. The C section rate for planned hospital births with midwives is 12% and and for planned homebirths is 9%. Those statistics speak volumes to me. The WHO (World Health Organization) says that in any industrialized country the c section rate should be under 12-15%. Now if I lived in the states, I don't know how I'd feel about it. It would depend on the environment in the state. However, please do your own reading once you get pregnant, and read the good books, not the OB written - scare the pants off of you - books. (Please throw out What to Expect when youre expecting if you have it - total fear based!!!) A really good person to get a lay of the land in your area would be the doulas who are doing it fulltime. They'll know the best care providers, what midwives are available, which hospitals are women centred vs. doctor centred, etc...they work in a variety of settings and really have no loyalties to anyone one institution or care provider.

Sorry for the rant, it is what I do for a living and something I'm very passionate about. Also for women who have gone through ART to get pregnant I highly recommend that you find a midwife vs an OB, unless you're high risk. Why? Because we've been so pathologized getting pregnant and an OB will continue to make your pregnancy a pathology instead of a beautiful time in your life to be cherished and nurtured. Midwives specialize in normalizing births. OB's are trained to pathologize birth. Sorry, I'm ranting again. Please feel free to ask me anything about it.

Homebirths are also very sacred and if done with properly trained midwives, are extremely safe. There are many many studies showing how safe they are. There are also warped studies that say homebirths are dangerous and those are usually the studies that are very biased and leave out very important data. The countries in the world that have the safest birth records also have the highest professionally attended home births.

Ok....enough on midwives and homebirths. I am totally open to discussing any of this with anyone, just not sure how board related it is?

[WeHaveHope]

Thank you all for your support. It means alot to me. 