August 2012 Transfer Buddies

[suzyq]

Hi,
I am Suzyq and am looking for August embryo transfer buddies. My husband and I did a fresh cycle in September 2010 and had a beautiful boy in May of 2011.( I was 42 at birth.) Had a pretty healthy pregnancy until 30 weeks when I was put on bed rest for high blood pressure. Then took him via c-section at 35 weeks due to toxemia. We have one embryo of B+/A quality we are planning on transferring on the 16th of August.(Just turned 44 and will be at birth if all goes well.) Doc says are chances are just as good again with the FET. I start Lupron injections tonight.

I would like others to talk to and share with since we will not share with friends and family until positive pregnancy. I found this community helpful and reassuring last time.

Let's share our journeys together.
Suzyq

[sorcet]

Hi Suzyq ! I am Taressa (26) I had a fresh cycle that resulted in my daughter born oct 2010 my transfer will likely be August 15/16 if my lining looks ok. I'm very nervous bc my dd was a result of 2 eight celled embys the 2 we are transferring this time are 6 cells hopefully all goes well thanks for creating the thread !

[suzyq]

Hi Taressa,

Nice to meet you. Congrats on the DD. Wow! If all goes well for both of us we will transfer in a day or two of each other. Keep me posted on how things are going.

I am a bit nervous today about starting Lupron tonight. Not looking forward to night sweats and the weight gain, but all worth it. So want my little man to have a brother to grow up with.
Take care,
Suzyq

[suzyq]

Taressa,
I understand what you mean about being nervous due to the egg quality. We transferred two last time (A's) and only one this time. We froze two, but only one survived. Doc says there is a less than 5% chance we will loose this egg. So we are saying our prayers. Keep your chin up. I was encouraged to hear FET stats are almost the same as fresh cycles now. I also read FET babies are healthier.
Suzyq

[Wondercat]

Hi! I'm another one scheduled for an FET of 2 embies on August 15. As you can see from my signature, I have a son born October 2009 from my last fresh cycle. He was a c-section at 37 weeks. So awesome to share with you ladies trying for a second via FET at the exact same time!

Suzyq - I hear you on being nervous about the Lupron! It has been 3.5 years since I have done any of this, and I was incredibly nervous when I started the shots again on the 14th. I have gotten better each day, but it's definitely weird getting used to giving myself shots again. It's also harder with a toddler in the house!!! Um, btw - night sweats?? Crap! I didn't remember that being a symptom. That explains why I got so hot and irritated Saturday night I ended up sleeping on the couch! LOL The weather has been hot & sticky, but I should still assume hormonal influence when every little snuffling sound the dog makes is pissing me off THAT... MUCH!

Taressa - Funny, but I have no idea what the embryo quality is or any interest in knowing. I asked my doctor if they were decent, and he said that they were very good. He gave some grades that I promptly forgot, and he may have said something about "hatching"? Hatching eggs sounds like a good thing, right? Anyway, they are all we have to transfer no matter what and worrying isn't going to make a difference in the outcome. I know it's hard, but just try to focus positive energy on your beautiful little baby to be!

AFM - My next appointment is for my baseline u/s next Monday morning, and that's when I start slapping on hormone patches. This will make it harder hiding this process from friends and family (so far only my sister knows) as I spend a lot of quality family time in a bikini this time of year. At least all the injection bruises are pretty well camouflaged by the battle scars of cannonballing my nephew in the kiddie pool*...

(*I am a professional. Do not try this at home!)

[sorcet]

Hi wondercat ! So glad you're joining us I know what you mean about not trying to worry since I can't cOntrol it anyway. My RE said they are just as likely to implant as the 8 cells we put back on the fresh cycle he tends to be a bit of an optimist though lol. It's hard for me to get comparisons bc so many places freeze blasts (likely what u have if it's hatching which is awesome by the way !) and mine were frozen on day 3. Also makes me nervous that with the cryo preservation my clinic uses there's only a 70% thaw rate. They do have great FET success rates but I wonder how many potential embys don't make the thaw there ya know? I had a talk with my DH before deciding to do this transfer and this will likely be our last transfer regardless of outcome as much as I want a sibling for my DD my life feels stuck in infertility so the thought is daunting that this is it and 60% chance I'll walk away with nothing

I'm lucky enough to have never been on lupron ! Hearing everyone talk about it makes me happy about that what kind of side effects does it have ?

I'm hoping I get AF 3-5 days after stopping the provera so I can keep on track with u ladies. My nurse said on average it's 4 days then I'll start esterace vaginal tablets I know it sounds silly but I'm worried about them falling out lol !

[suzyq]

Wow! Great to hear from you guys.

Wondercat- Thanks for joining us. You had me laughing and that felt great. I needed it. The shot went well last night, it was just the build up to it that got me. The anticipation is always far worse than the bit. I should be fine now. Also hearing from you guys helps. My husband just does not get it. All the meds, mood swings, and the thought of pregnancy again so soon does not thrill me, but I have a time line. I am not getting any younger at 44. I have a positive attitude "that what will be will be." I am doing my part and the rest is up to God. Just hope we have the same plan........LOL

Me-My baseline will be the 25th and then on to patches. One thing I am looking forward to is no progesterone shots this time. Just the esterace tablets this time. I too am worried about the leakage. Does anyone know how that is? We swim and boat a lot and not sure how the tablets will affect this.

[Wondercat]

Sorcet - If I remember correctly, my previous transfers have been day 5 and I think they then froze on day 6. For sure they were blasts, I remember that. Our first FET they only had 2 and both of them thawed successfully so I hadn't thought about it too much. Great, now I can add worrying about thaw survival to my freak out list... Evidently the main side effect of lupron is turning you into a sweaty insomniac ***** while your innocent DH and dogs dare try to sleep in the same stiflingly hot room. Though I don't recall seeing dogicidal mania on the insert from CVS... Maybe I should alert the manufacturers. Anyway, it's always so interesting to me, all the different protocols that we can go through to achieve the same result!

suzyq - Another one with a different protocol! Somehow based on my box o' drugs I think I will be doing both shots AND esterace. I honestly don't remember if this is what I did last time around - I only know for sure I did shots, hard to forget those. My first cycle I only did esterace. It didn't work, but I think there were other factors there such as being on the verge of OHSS and the sample from DH not being as good. I swim and boat a lot, too, so I guess we will find out together how leaky we will be!

Are either of you as amazed as I am about how fast this is all coming up?? I only just got approval on July 10, which feels like yesterday yet was somehow already a week ago. Suddenly it's less than a month until transfer day!

[suzyq]

Wondercat,
I am amazed at how quick this is going. I got approval on May 30th and would have started right away, but my father became quite ill. I had to leave for Texas to be with him. Got back home and was deplaning when my brother called to tell me he passed. Signed FET paperwork the next day and three days later flew back for the funeral. Gave myself a few days and then started back in this cycle. Needless to say I have been a little stressed. Not to mention my father's wife was a real piece of work throughout this whole ordeal. I will just say she is a very miserable woman and wants everyone else to suffer with her. This is how she has been the whole 18 years they were married. (Sorry don't mean to go there.)Anyway the first two weeks after his death were terrible. It was harder than I thought it would be, but time is a great healer and I am doing better. I am passed the anger stage and accepting it all for what it is. Wow! Got to let all that go.

Think I will try some acupuncture this time to for stress relief. Anyone try this?

As for the progesterone shots I think you would remember them. My hips were black and blue. My DH hates needles and paid my 16 year old daughter (first marriage) a buck a shot to give them to me. She will miss the cash this time.

[Wondercat]

suzyq - LOL that's awesome about the "buck a shot"! My husband was very good about doing it, but he is a restaurant/functions manager and works very odd hours so I ended up just having to do them myself a lot. Oh. My. God. I have no idea how I ever managed to stick that thing in the first time. I was in front of a mirror actually speaking to myself - out loud - for about 15 minutes first. Felt like I was in some really bad TV show or something. "You can DO this. You are STRONG." [insert other cliche platitudes spoken while glaring one's self in the eye here] But, I did it. Getting really bruised this time around from the Lupron, so am definitely not looking forward to upping the needle size.

Speaking of that, kind of ironic you're thinking of relaxing by... Sticking needles in yourself! Seriously, though, I did acupuncture a couple years back when I threw my back out (far out) putting my son in his crib. At that time I tried acupuncture, massage, and the chiropractor. The acupuncture was good, but overall for relaxing me actually the chiropractor was best. I think the massage therapist I chose was too wimpy for the kind of muscle tension I was sporting. With both the massage and the acupuncture there was a lot of sandlewood incense and ambient flute music involved. Now I have nothing against that, it's just a little too zen for my temperament.

Please don't feel like you can't vent about something like that! There is never a good time to lose a parent and nasty, miserable people generally have almost superhero-like powers to spread their malice into the deepest parts of your subconscious. The kind of thing where you can wake up from a solid sleep literally seething with rage at some stupid thing they said the day before despite the fact that your brain keeps reminding you that this person and everything they say are completely unimportant. Let it go when you are ready to, and not a minute sooner. Trying to move on before you are ready is like trying to play solitaire without a full deck of cards. You have the illusion of doing something, but you will never win.

[suzyq]

Wondercat- Thanks for understanding about the venting. You hit the nail on the head with the superhero power of bad cheer. I let her ruin my sleep too often in the past, but no more.

As for the needles, there is no way I could have given them to myself. I went home to my mom's for a visit last time and made her give them to me. She didn't even know I was pregnant. Should have seen me break that to her."Hi, mom. Your 42 year old daughter is pregnant, and by the way you have to give me killer shots every night to keep your grandchild alive." That went over real well. She thought I was crazy. Told her the other day I was doing it all over again and got chewed out. She is just afraid of losing me. Nice to be loved.

The acupuncture is not just to relax, but also for my lower back. I have done chiropractic and massage. I have a friend who swears by her guy that he can take the swelling out and alleviate the pain. Insurance covers it so it is worth a try.

Taressa-How are things going?

[sorcet]

Suzyq- so sorry to hear about all that stress as if IF and treatments aren't enough so sorry to hear about ur dad I'm always game to listen to a vent no worries !

Wondercat- I always gave myself my own PIO shots never bothered me acupuncture freaks me out though I think I'd be too tense to go through it

How are u girls holding up ? It's coming quick

AFM- took my last provera today hopefully AF shows in a timely fashion 5 days would be nice have a family picnic with a pool in 4 days lol. Finally called the lab to try and ease my fears. The embryologist said they have an 85% thaw rate and believes mine will thaw just fine. She also said the difference between my 6 cell embys being 8 cells was probably a matter of an hour or 2 they have 10-20% fragmentation which is said is good and normal and shed only statistically give me a little less chance of success this go around. It did make me feel a little better hopefully in 3 weeks all our embryos will be snuggled in !

[Wondercat]

sorcet - You almost gave me a heart attack with the three weeks! FOUR, it's FOUR more weeks still. Hmm. That's not much longer. OK, still having a heart attack!! Which I suppose answers how I am holding up: still slightly dazed. I spent about 10 solid minutes last night staring at my schedule on the fridge door, like it was going to tell me something new. It didn't. I'm really glad to hear your numbers sound so good for success. At least you know you CAN do this because you already have, which is comforting.

suzyq - Most IVF grandmothers are a generation before IVF and no matter how old their daughters are I think it's hard for them to understand. My mother particularly has always been worried that it's the "wrong time" for me to be doing this, no matter when. "Are you sure this is the right time to be having a baby??" Somehow the notion of a so-called test tube baby leaves the uninitiated thinking you can just go into the clinic and walk out with a full-term baby the same day. She gets it a little more after seeing how long it actually took; we started TTC in 2005.

AFM - I took my last BCP last night, AF expected in 3-6 days and baseline u/s on Monday. I am finally starting to get excited about the idea of being pregnant. Weirdly, I had been feeling anxiety about not being able to share enough love and attention with my DS and another child. He absolutely LOVES hanging out with my sister's kids, so I know he will enjoy having a sibling. But he is also very jealous of his time with me. And then he gets equally jealous if other children pet "HIS" dogs, which always helps get me over my ego trip of feeling like I'm *that* important to him! ::sigh::

[suzyq]

Wondercat- Your right about IVF grandmothers. She also worries about toxemia again which is more than most likely to happen again. We are prepared for it as best we can be. Last time I had a housekeeper come once a week when I went on bed rest till 6 weeks pp. This time we will look for a part-time nanny house keeper just in case I go on bed rest earlier. OB thinks it will be earlier than 30 weeks this time. Whatever happens we will deal with it? I accept the risk and want another baby. Moms just worry. That is their job.

Taressa- Also glad to hear your numbers are good. I have not questioned about my one left. Went with the good news from my RE I last reported and leaving it at that. Sometimes too much information gives me more to worry about.

AFM- The hot flashes have hit with the heat of hell. I can't seem to walk across the room chasing my 14 month old without breaking out in a sweat. Don't remember it being this bad last time. Though I did cycle in Sept. which is cooler here in Seattle. Honestly it is never hot here. It is just me. My DH just wishes it was hot for him instead of leave me a lone..... Hopefully my body will adjust soon and the symptoms will ease up. I just hope my DS appreciates having a sibling. If not I am going to enjoy the heck out of one more.

[Wondercat]

Suzyq - Do the doctors know what caused your toxemia last time? I don't know much about it, so don't know why they would expect it to recur. I already have somebody clean my house every 2 weeks, but bumping that up to every week while pregnant sounds like a good idea! We both work, and usually my in-laws watch our son during the week anyway so we at least know that they would be there to support me if I went on bed rest. This will be my first "warm weather" cycle, too, all my other ones were in the winter. I woke up this morning drenched in cold sweat. Fun! My DH is the same way, they're not too good at comprehending what injecting hormones does to us!!