Calling any August Cycle buddies

[Sand]

Well done Ellie ! .... You shouldn't be disappointed with 10 eggs - and 6 fertilising is great news. You only need one cracker ! . Keep us posted with how they're doing, and when ET should be scheduled ....

I'm next for EC. Tomorrow !! I really can't wait ...... I'm having a General, as I'm far too wimpy for a Local. Have decided this time to take the whole 2ww (or 17 days as it is in my case) off work. I have convinced myself that this is what went wrong last time ...... as soon as I went back to work I could feel my blood pressure rising again (stressful job). So, am planning on doing next to nothing this time. I know this will make the 2ww even longer, but I'll cope. This time next week, pls remind me I said that !

Hope everyone else is feeling okay today, and the 2ww-ers aren't going too bananas x..

Sandra x

[AMITHIS]

Sandra,

Just wanted to wish you good luck for tomorrow! By the way, I think most people do get general instead of local for EC. I have a feeling the Dr.'s probably prefer it that way as well!

I think taking time off work was the right thing to do...especially if you have a stressful job. Fortunately, I'm not working now but I used to have a stressful job as well and just know I wouldn't have been able to concentrate on work during the 2 ww anyway!

Looking foward to hearing how things go.

Staci

[alicia]

Ellie,

Wow - six fertilized on the first go - that's great! It's also a good sign that your estrogen isn't too high. Last time, I got 18 and only 8 fertilized becaue estrogen was too high.

Sandra,

Good luck for EC. Hoping all goes well and that the effort is fruitful! I quit my stressful job altogether last October to do tmt. (I traveled by plane several times a week). I did it because, like you, I wanted to be sure I had done everything in my power to help it work. I now have a nice part time job in a boutique which is not at all stressful, but takes my mind off things.

Wendy,

Good luck for ET. Keep those little embies nice and comfy!

By the way, do they let you see the embies under a microscope before transfer in the UK? My clinic did - it was fascinating even though they only looked like some circles clustered together.

Good luck to all!!

Alicia

[ANGELA]

hiya

sandra good luck for ec tomorrow hope it all goes smoothly

wendy hope et goes well take it easy during your 2ww

my clinic dont use general they use conscious sedation they are running trials on local at the mo i asked for local when i get to ec but now they tell me i have to enter the damn trial mmm not sure what im gonna do yet will talk it over with them on tuesday

love to you all and loads of PMA
love Ang xx

[Ellie]

Sandra
Good luck today for ec hope you get loads of eggs and no pain.

Our 6 are all still hanging in there they will let us know tommorrow when et is ,it will either be tommorrow or saturday.

Ellie

[Dolly]

Hi Guys,

Sandra, good luck with your EC today. Hope it all goes well for you and you get lots of lovely eggs. Let us know how you get on as soon as you can.

Wendy, hope your embies are nice and snug. Good luck with your 2ww.

Alicia, I get to see photos of the embies before they are transferred - it must be amazing to see them on the screen. I think some places give you copies of the photos to take home with you.

Guy's does EC on sedation. I found it ok the last 2 times - I don't remember anything about it - apparently I chat non-stop through the whole thing about nothing in particular! It feels funny losing that 1/2 hr of your life - but I would rather that than a general.

I usually work during my 2ww - I think if I was off work I would go nuts. Last time I was on holiday for the 2nd week and it was torture - I thought about it 100% of the time and the week dragged by. Luckily I have an office job and it is not in the slightest bit stressful - and I find being here helps keep my mind off every twinge!

Hope you're all well

Dolly

[AMITHIS]

Hi all,

Well, AF finally showed up today (never thought I'd find myself being happy about that). The clinic wants me to go in Fri. morning so they can do a scan and bloodwork. Hopefully, the cysts will be gone and I will be downregulated enough to start taking the estrogen and get moving along again. It would be nice to actually have ET done in August. It feels like I've been at this forever!

Staci

[wendy30]

Hi everyone

My ET was yesterday but I wasn't on the computer as I spent the rest of the day with my feet up and my dh running about at the back of me. Everything went fine, it turned out that out of the 8 frosties they were frozen as a 5 and a 3 so they thawed five and put back two beautiful ones (their words not mine). I think this is the smootest everything has gone and I saw them going in which was fab, so fingers crossed now! I'm due for my test on the 17th and I am off work till the 13th, so just 2 days at work before the test. I feel pretty calm this time and even the pessaries are not annoying me as much (switched to putting them in the back way this time and although the thought of its repulsive its much better)

Staci its weird to actually want your period but everything about this strange, so congratulations, hope you can get going soon.

Sand hope your ec went ok.

Ellie, six is great, I had 5 last time (the ones I've used now), it only takes one.

Hope everyone else is coping, heading off now to watch the big brother suprise eviction, they are so evil, haven't yet given in to the temptation of watching it all day till Friday since I'm off.

Speak to you all later

Wendy

[candy]

Hi, I need some opinions. I started stims on 7/30/04, when I went for bloodwork and us on 8/2/04 estrogen was 67. I went back today and estrogen is 298 and no measurable folicles. They said they are growing but just not measurable yet. The are decreasing my dose of stims since there was a big jump in my estrogen. Is it normal to decrease stims when folicles are grwoing slowly? I know we have some ladies that have been thru this alot (too much!) so I wanted some feedback.

Alicia, thank you so much for the warm welcome to the board. It is so comforting to have a great group of women to talk to.

Ellie, great news about 6 being fertilized. I hope I am so lucky.

Staci, glad to hear AF is here - funny the things we wish for.

Sandra , please let me know how the ec was. I want to know what to expect.

Wendy, tons of baby dust to you!

[cmg]

ooh blimey it's all happening now isn't it. Congrats Staci on finally getting past the AF hurdle. Hope it's plain sailing from here.

Wendy all the best for the 2ww, sounds like you're in a really good frame of mind, which has got to help.

Ellie, all the best for ET - I thought 10 eggs and 6 embies sounded like a lot but I have no idea how many you could have, so what would I know. Sounds like a long time between EC & ET, longer than I expected. How do they decide when to put them back?

Sandra, hope EC went well. How many d'you get? Hope everyone else is doing ok.

I'm on day 8 of stims and apparently everything's fine but I don't know much more than that as the ARGC seems to operate on a need to know basis. Candy, I'm really impressed with the level of info you've got about your hormone levels but can't answer any of your questions cos they don't tell us things like that, so I've got nothing to compare with. I think I'm getting closer to EC, as they say tomorrow I might need a blood test in the afternoon as well as the morning, which means hanging around in London all day in a heatwave. I reckon I'll be up to 6 litres of a water a day soon. DH's birthday is on Mon which the clinic said could maybe be EC day, so perhaps he'll get to spend it in a little room with a specimen jar and a copy of Penthouse! Are other people's partners paranoid about not being able to deliver the goods under pressure when it's needed?! It's the only bit he's actually got to do and mine is sweating over it, poor lamb!

Anyhow, time for bed. Hope everyone's staying sane

Caroline

[Mia]

Candy,
I also had a jump in my E2 level with slow growing follicles.
day 4-176
day-6-536
day 8-1300
etc.
My stims were cut back at E2=176 with very small follicles 3mm or less. When my E2 was 536 my follicles were still only 5mm. I would suspect that these very small follicles would be in the unmeasurable range.
Even with the reduced dose my follicles kept growing and really took off towards the end of stimming. I had the same concerns that you are experiencing now, but they did grow!! I went on to EC and had 18 eggs.
Good luck with everything!
Mia

[alicia]

Candy,

Sounds like you are responding very well to the stims. It's great that your follicles will all be about the same maturity. I had a huge range of sizes, so fewer were actually viable at EC. Sounds like your clinic is doing the right thing. You DON'T want OHSS, even though we always thing more is better, don't we?

Staci,

YES!!! Now you will be on your way - no more thoughts of turning back, okay?


Wendy,

Good luck! I got your testing date and will add it to August Testers thread with my next post there.

Ellie,

Good luck with ET. Rest good - make DH cook and fetch you books and movies. I slept a lot, too.

Sandra,

Hope you are not at all sore from EC. Also that you are resting and drinking a lot of water. Hope the embies are cosy in the lab and growing well.

Caroline,

My DH was not nervous at all - maybe he's had a lot of practice . My clinic will take a sample a few days before EC and freeze it as a backup, in case there is too much stress or the sample is not good on EC day. I would definately recommend that, just to take the pressure off.

Dolly,

How is it going? When will you be starting stims?

Alicia

[candy]

Mia, you definately made me feel better about the my small follies. The last thing I need now is something else to stress about. I hope my results are as good as yours were.

Alicia, you are so right about not wanting OHSS. I guess I was hoping for better news. I have to remeber that we are all different and we all respond differently to the meds. Maybe too much information is a bad thing. I should just trust the experts!

[jaye]

Hi everyone, not much happening here, still downregging and waiting for AF - due tomorrow. Funny to be looking forward to it!
Caroline - DH isn't worried about not being able to do it, but he worries there's not 'enough' when it's done - not that I know what he's comparing to, he just says it doesn't look like much Gosh, there's not much left private, is there?
Wendy - glad everything went smoothly for ET - hopefully things also go to plan when you test!
Sandra - hope EC went OK - that's the bit I really hate.
Personally I prefer to keep working, even though it's probably more stressful. I just think I already go crazy enough on 2ww - I feel like I'd just go completely mad if I didn't have work to take my mind off it all.
Good luck everyone else,
Jaye.

[wendy30]

Hi Everyone

Candy - I wouldn't worry, I think it is quite common to reduce your dose, it is frustrating when it doesn't happen quickly but its better safe than sorry where ohss is concerned.

Jaye, hope your AF arrives soon

Caroline - my dh has never been bothered about the cup bit. In fact the first time we did IVF he was hilarous. He is a fanatical football supporter, and the first thing he said to me when he came back was that there was a 'readers wives' picture in his magazine and the woman was wearing his teams football shirt and the thing he was most bothered about was that he didn't have that football shirt in his collection, sad-oh, still it kept me laughing and took my mind of the EC. Our hospital take the partners/husbands in for a dry run to ensure they can perform on the premises so to speak.

Hope everyone else is doing ok, Alicia thanks for adding my test date.

I'm going a bit stir crazy today so dh is taking me to the cinema to see I-Robot (the calming kind of film you need). I am signed off till next Friday and have been told to take it easy, not sure if it makes any difference at the end of the day but I'm happy, I think as you go through more cycles you just want to ensure that you can't blame yourself for it not working, this is my 5th.

Speak to you all later

Wendy