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

[WeHaveHope]

Really happy but also very nervous today. I guess I should just be happy that 10 of my embabies made it to blastocyst stage and that we have at least 1 great one to transfer back. But, I have found myself thinking about this all day. The thoughts have consumed me all day today. Prior to beginning this process, my husband and I decided that we were going to give this one last try. I am 36, soon to be 37. My husband is 47, soon to be 48. We are not in our early 20's or even early 30's anymore. And, we have three kids between the two of us just none together. So we want to have a baby together but don't want to be any older when we basically start all over. So, we had originally decided to not freeze anything and to only transfer one embabie back. As life never works the way you plan it, I developed OHSS and had no choice but to freeze everything. We have recently talked about it again and have still concluded that we should just transfer one. The one that has been grades the best. Now that would leave us with 9 embabies frozen which we really had no plans of doing this to begin with. It sounds terrible. Such a dilema. Part of me would like to keep them frozen for a while just in case and the other part of me say, "hay you talked about this already and you decided to do this once and only once so why torture yourself". Also the dilemma of what to do with the frozen embabies. This is part of why we didn't want to freeze. Now we have to decide what to do. God, please help me make the right decision. I am so torn. If I had lots of money I would have them all put back and have 10 babies, but we just can not financially afford this. I can only pray that God brings peace to my heart. I feel terrible even stressing over something like this when others have bigger issues and would wish to be in our shoes. Sorry for venting.

Fertility Report:
1-4AB
1-3AB
4-3BB
2-3BC
1-2BB and
1-2BC

[crissylove]

We-Just curious...being that IVF is such a financial burden, and you are giving yourself (at least for now) this one shot at success, and being that you did have such a tremendous turnout, why wouldn't you gamble with putting back at least 2?

Obviously with IVF there's never guarantee, but this way you're increasing your odds. I think GHOST said to SD that the SART national success rate is roughly 30% chance of a live birth, and when you put back two you increase your odds to 50%. You'd have to then look at your clinics success rates for women 35-37 to see of the ones who put back two and went on to have live births how many had twins. It's usually for most places like 20%. So if there were 100 cycles, and the live birth rate was 28% (or 28 women), under 6 of them (20%) would wind up with twins. Something like that.

And I apologize for being nosy and I'm certainly not trying to persuade you...again "just curious" since you put it out there.

[BlissfulCS]

indigo- that list is terrific. Thanks so much for sharing.

Crissylove- we owed you one after the beating the gators gave us a couple weeks ago. Call it even. Looking forward to the tournament!

Wehavehope- no apologies! As the ladies reminded me today when I was feeling guilty about having only 6 going to blast, we all have our own unique worries and a right to them! You and DH are the only ones who can make the decision, and I am sorry you are experiencing this dilemma. I would say focus on this next cycle and figure out what you are going to do there. Then worry about the rest later. Personally? I am putting in two if I have two at the end of this. It is a tough call, but one you have to feel good about. I too struggle with the thought of maintaining the excess embies or knowingly destroying them. You may want them someday, you never know.

[BlissfulCS]

one more thing- Crissylove...I am so sorry for the OHSS but am super stoked for your Beta. Hope you start feeling better soon. I wouldn't wish OHSS on a Duke Blue Devil!

[crissylove]

Bliss-Ur such a good sport. Nothing like a little friendly rivalry. Turny should be fun unless UF gets shut out of course. On the OHSS, I'm pissing like a maniac. Hope that's a good thing.

[WeHaveHope]

indigo- that list is terrific. Thanks so much for sharing.

Crissylove- we owed you one after the beating the gators gave us a couple weeks ago. Call it even. Looking forward to the tournament!

Wehavehope- no apologies! As the ladies reminded me today when I was feeling guilty about having only 6 going to blast, we all have our own unique worries and a right to them! You and DH are the only ones who can make the decision, and I am sorry you are experiencing this dilemma. I would say focus on this next cycle and figure out what you are going to do there. Then worry about the rest later. Personally? I am putting in two if I have two at the end of this. It is a tough call, but one you have to feel good about. I too struggle with the thought of maintaining the excess embies or knowingly destroying them. You may want them someday, you never know.

Thank you so much for your support. It is very difficult. In as much as we want to have a baby together we also have 3 other children that we new to be ableto care for. Especialy with one now going to college. We want a baby so much, however I can't even imagine having twins. I dint know if I could handle that. One is such a life changing event but twins or more when you already have 3 it can be extremely challenging to give each one what they need and deserve. We have always tried to make logically, calculated decisions in our lives. And, we are trying to do the same, but it is difficult as clearly our hearts are struggling with this. Your right, we need to try and concentrate on this cycle only and cross other bridges when we get there, If we get there. Thank you for listening and for providing your support.

[blairwh58]

Bliss- Im so jealous of your vacation and cannot wait until I am in the same situation. Just sitting at home anxiously awaiting people to update the boards…but Ill have to wait a few weeks for that. PS. I really hate 9p EST games…that’s really close to my bedtime geez.

Crissy- The OHSS im sure sucks but what a great beta!!!! Sooo excited for you. And as for your gators….i agree with bliss, after the slaughtering they gave us a few weeks back we should consider it even now. I always cheer for SEC teams in the tourney anyway (unless they are playing against my cats of course). Cant wait for your US.

Indigo- Even though the situation still sucks I am hoping AF comes sooner than later so you can jump back on the train. Maybe you will even be able to catch the tail end of March or early April with your FET.

WeHaveHope- You and DH definitely have a tough choice ahead of you but I wouldn’t stress about it until you cross the bridge. I would just consider all your options and make the best choice for you all. I guess everyone is in a different situation- since DH and I don’t have any kids and have been trying for 2 ½ years we want to transfer 3 again just to make sure we bring home a baby, but I see how your different situation results in different choices. I know a lot of clinics have embryo donations for other people in our situations who don’t have healthy embryos, so you could consider doing that as well. Best of luck.

Sweetmomi- looks like you can start POAS Saturday?? I know some people are opposed but I like to encourage it, especially since I cant POAS just yet.

To_have_fun- sounds like you have a lot of great embryos!!! The ET will be here before you know it!

AFM- Seriously….is it Sunday yet? I want to start my shots sooo badly especially after going through the past few weeks with you all. It’ll be here before I know it I guess. I also need to order all my meds. They wanted to ship them a few weeks ago but I figured I would hold off until closer to the stimming since its going to cost a good chunk of change. Guess I need to man up and just fork out the cash. Should be used to it since I paid $400 yesterday for 6 acupuncture visits.
___________________________________________________________

The LIST

-jmbella: Waiting for AF, BCP for 21 days then injections
-Nicnad1: Natural FET in 3rd wk of March
-indigofire: ET 2/15, waiting for AF to do FET




-Tina-Marie: ER in March
-JenMink55: ET/ER in April/May
-Blairwh58: Start Lupron 3/6 & ER/ET late March
-Shaymama: ET/ER late March
-Akdelp: ER/ET Late March/Early April
-Happy123: ER/ET March
-gracefullyservinghim: donor IVF in Mexico, leaving March 7


-Katieb1231: FET 3/17
-wehavehope: ER 2/23- 10 frosties, FET 3/23



-Mamaboo: Lupron 2/5, ET 3/11
-Addy: Lupron 2/23, “Big Meds” 3/5, ER/ET Late March
-Jcoope28: Lupron 2/27, ET 3/23




-To_have_fun: ER 2/26, 13 fertilized embryos!!, ET 3/3
-Blissful: ER 2/28- 14 eggs!, ET 3/5….first beta 3/14


-ckret01: ER 2/13, ET 2/18, beta 3/2
-Kyleen81: Natural FET 2/21
-sweetmomi: ET 2/26
-elcope: ER 2/24, ET 2/28, beta 3/12




-SD Trying: ER 2/6, 5dET 2/11. Beta- 10pt= 18, Beta 2/22= 497
-Crissylove: ER- 2/10, ET 2/15, BFP @ 6dp5dt, Beta 2/24= 178, 2/28= 711, US 3/10
-Trying4second: 3dET 2/11, Beta 2/24= 336
-LYD10: ER 2/10, Beta 2/24 = 20, Beta 2/28= 54


-Zdia- FET 2/15
-Cwehrs: ER 2/24

[elcope]

Good evening, everyone...I was just reading back through all the posts today - and wow, it's been a really tough day today.

My heart goes out to everyone here, that received such disappointing news today. As many have already posted, there's simply nothing that can be said. You all are in my thoughts...

Crissy - congrats on the great beta - and I'm soooooooooooooooo sorry about the OHSS. I know how much that really sucks...and I'm STILL having issues. Can't seem to catch my breath for anything - feels like I ran a mile (and I soooo know I didn't do that).

Bliss / Blair / Crissy: It's so great to see such big fans of NCAA b-ball. That's a whole different kind of "madness", wouldn't you all say? My husband and I go to Vegas every year for 2nd rounds (3/16 - 3/20 this year), with about 20-30 other friends - and we have been, for the past 13 or so years! Of course, I'd love to go this year, with even better news of a BFP under my belt...now wouldn't that just be amazing? Anyhow, good to see the excitement about that here!

WeHaveHope: You and your DH have many tough decisions to make - but, as Blair said, cross that bridge when you get there! Don't let it stress you out just yet...you'll know the right thing to do, when the time comes. You really will.

AFM: Like I mentioned to Crissy, I'm still having some issues w/OHSS. I'm down another pound, which is great - but just can't seem to catch my breath. Driving me crazy. Still, cramping from ET yesterday - heard eating pineapple is supposed to help embryos stick, so I just ate a bowl full (gotta love stories like that!).

Anyhow, wishing everyone a good night.

- Erin

[sweetmomi]

thanks Indigo!

[timber5k]

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

This may sound terrible, but I'm so glad to find someone who is going through the same thing I am. I think I read one of your later posts and everything turned out okay for you, which is great. I developed a mild case of OHSS after my ER on 2/15 and my RE recommended postponing the ET and doing an FET in about a month. But I was too excited, so he agreed to transfer only one embryo on 2/18. My OHSS symptoms gradually went away, but then the day of the expected implantation (2/25), they came back even worse. I figured that was a good sign as far as possibly being pregnant, but I was miserable. I saw my RE on 2/27 and he said I had 2-3 liters of fluid in my abdomen and scheduled a transvaginal draining for the next day. I was in terrible shape. I gained 7 lbs in a couple of days. I couldn't lie down, I couldn't stand up straight, I couldn't breathe. Laughing, crying, coughing, hiccuping, burping, anything like that was extremely painful. I had my procedure yesterday and they drained 3 liters. I immediately felt relief. I was under twilight anesthesia (breathing on my own) and the procedure really wasn't bad. The good news is that my HPT was positive and my first beta was 52. I go in tomorrow for my second beta.

I'm nervous because I kind of feel like the fluid might be building up again. I don't mind going in for another draining, it's just that I've already missed so much work. I pray that the OHSS symptoms don't come back (at least as fiercely) and that I have a good beta tomorrow.

I'm new here and it's been great to see how everyone is doing.

[blairwh58]

timber5k- Sounds like a very tough experience....but on the bright side it also sounds like it paid off for you this time!!! Congrats on the BFP and the good beta. Good luck with the second beta and hopefully that extra fluid stays away. Keep us posted on things.

[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

This may sound terrible, but I'm so glad to find someone who is going through the same thing I am. I think I read one of your later posts and everything turned out okay for you, which is great. I developed a mild case of OHSS after my ER on 2/15 and my RE recommended postponing the ET and doing an FET in about a month. But I was too excited, so he agreed to transfer only one embryo on 2/18. My OHSS symptoms gradually went away, but then the day of the expected implantation (2/25), they came back even worse. I figured that was a good sign as far as possibly being pregnant, but I was miserable. I saw my RE on 2/27 and he said I had 2-3 liters of fluid in my abdomen and scheduled a transvaginal draining for the next day. I was in terrible shape. I gained 7 lbs in a couple of days. I couldn't lie down, I couldn't stand up straight, I couldn't breathe. Laughing, crying, coughing, hiccuping, burping, anything like that was extremely painful. I had my procedure yesterday and they drained 3 liters. I immediately felt relief. I was under twilight anesthesia (breathing on my own) and the procedure really wasn't bad. The good news is that my HPT was positive and my first beta was 52. I go in tomorrow for my second beta.

I'm nervous because I kind of feel like the fluid might be building up again. I don't mind going in for another draining, it's just that I've already missed so much work. I pray that the OHSS symptoms don't come back (at least as fiercely) and that I have a good beta tomorrow.

I'm new here and it's been great to see how everyone is doing.

I am sorry that you are feeling so miserable. My RE said that when you show symptoms of OHSS prior to transfer the transfer itself and pregnancy makes the symptoms much worse. I was so miserable that I could not imagine the symptims getting any worse but my RE said the likelihood that it would was very big. So we decided to wait. The bad news is that they fluid will probably come back before things get better. The good new is that it will eventualy pass. The GREAT news is your great Beta. Congratulations. Keep your head up, it will get better.

[indigofire]

Ok guys, let's have a better day today shall we??

After giving myself the time to grieve I'm now looking forward to the next cycle. I talked with my doctor about it yesterday and she is very optimistic about our snowbabies. I don't think I said this before but we did a split cycle this time. We had 19 eggs, 11 of which were mature, 4/5 fertilized via ICSI with my husband's sperm (that's been frozen for over 10 years and he had a systemic cancer when he banked them, so they weren't of the best quality) , and 5/6 fertilized half ICSI and half regular IVF with a donor (a known donor of someone very close to us, who is one of the best men in the world for being so generous, oh and he's healthy and only 30!). On day 3 my DH had 3 that made it and so we transferred his best 2. Of the donor 5 made it (2 ICSI and 3 IVF). We decided to culture the one left of DH and the other 5 of the donor to day 5 and freeze at blast. 3 of the donor's made it to day 5 and the report said very strong and healthy. So I'm hoping that because he's healthier and they were fresh sperm, that they've made much better embryos. So things are looking up. Just not looking forward to the $2K+ bill for the transfer.

So the plan is to wait for AF. Should be here tomorrow or Friday. Then go in on day 2 for monitoring. Then start estrogen for 10-14 days checking my lining for thickness. Once at the desired thickness, start PIO for 5 days and then transfer 2 of our snowbabies. So hopefully transfer will be around March 20-23ish, then maybe I'll know I'm pregnant just before the beginning of April!

Feeling much better about things and I think these are the embryos that are going to make it! Gotta have a PMA.

For all of those with OHSS I'm really questioning the 2% thing. Aren't only 2% of women going through IVF supposed to get OHSS??? It seems like our statistics are waaaayyyyy higher than 2%? Or am I mistaken and the rate is much higher?

[ckret01]

Thank you all for being so supportive even though I am a new member here.
I had my beta today and it was 5. So I will be stopping my progesterone shots and will be seeing the Dr next week to see what to do next. I have a fibroid that is outside of my uterus and the Dr thinks that now with the failed IVF he may want to remove it. I am just so sad

[indigofire]

OH ckret!!! I am sooo soooo sooo sorry! Allow yourself time to grieve. Allow the tears. You will move through and onto what's next. Fibroids can be a pain in the butt during pregnancy, so maybe having it removed is a good thing??

Hugs!