February/March Buddies

[LittleP]

Caroline

Good to see you around - keeping everything crossed for you and wishing you loads and loads of Baby Dust and PMA.

Take care

Little P

[cmg]

Thanks Little P. How much longer have you got to go - it must be pretty soon now. Hope it's all going well.

love Caroline

[donna99]

hi caroline,

hope you are ok & good to hear from you, i know what you mean we all have different but tough decisions to be made but i completely understand where you are coming from with having 2 embies left to thaw, i felt the same as you last yr, when i had only 2 left.....i just wanted a chance at it - and not getting one i agree is worse than a BFN in some ways....

so i would like to wish you all the luck in world with your future tmt....

i think that when i hopefully get my dream come true i would consider donating eggs to people less fortunate than myself - things really do make you think dont they?

good luck lol donna99 xxxxxx

[Shellbell]

Hi ladies, I've had some bad news today. I was told that my FSH level from my day 3 blood test was a 13.1! I guess this is due to low egg reserve in the ovaries. Has anyone else had a level that high? I'm quite worried. I am only 33 but have had radiation previously due to thyroid cancer when I was only 20 which I suspect has something to do with diminished egg reserve. Let me know if anyone knows if pregnancy can occur with a level that high.

Michelle

[daly]

Hello everyone!

Welcome Caroline. My heart ached when I read your post. This is such a journey we are on. I really hope this will be the cycle for your BFP. Tons of babydust to you and embies. My friend had 2 failed IVFs and one failed FET until she got a BFP (now a chubby baby!) on her last FET (2 embies transferred).
Regarding "puck up and transfer". That was written by a cycle buddy. I'm guessing, one of our european buddies. "puck up" isn't an American phrase. I do like how energetic it sounds. I can totally see how it could be misread!! lol

Donna99 - sending the happy follie fairie to your icey embies so you get a wonderful thaw. I say go with your gut. We kindof develop some intuition when it comes to our lengthy experience and thawing 6 sounds reasonable to me. Ofcourse, temper that with the knowledge I transfered 4 embies last ivf and got BFN. I've been pregnant 5 times and all lost to miscarriage. So, I'm heavily into playing the odds! My FSH is climbing as well...I thinks what 's most important is that you do everything/anything you feel is best. (not always easy to know) Good luck!

Jodic - hang in there. These cycles and treatment come with alot of unseeable stress and fear. Try to be very kind and gentle with yourself. So sorry to hear about your tubes.

Stacy Marie - I've asked a couple REs in my area about waiting more than 1 natural cycle before downregging and they all said it proved no benifits in recent studies. Sorry to give conflicting data to what other post's REs have found. Also, with your endo I know there has to be special consideration for getting your uterus and clean as possible and avoiding worse endo flare-ups. It will be interesting to see what your RE recommends.

Pauline - congrats on your package! It always feels like Christmas to me when it arrives.

Michelle - I just got my news about elevated FSH as well (12.9). I was shaken by this news as well. We're only 33!?!@! Most clinics in US are fine with treating up to at least 17. (some go higher) Also, the fsh levels fluctuate. My RE told me to take the level as indicater my reserve is diminishing and that I should act sooner rather than later. After reading up on this found that younger age is still a bonus for women with elevated fsh. The results of BFP is really linked more to the amount of follies/eggs you get from stimming. Were you IUIs stim cycles or natural?

Diane C - I'm sending you San Diego stuff on PM. I laughed when I saw you give you dh reminder before cycling. I do the exact same thing! It really helps. We are so lucky to have responsive dh. I can't imagine it any other way. After all this, PMS will feel like a breeze. I'd love to hear more about your thesis. Sounds like a very worthy topic. Good time to get in on research as it is still fairly new.

Hey MLG, Sue, Eminde, Kate and Allison - How are things going for you? Hope everyone is doing great. Some people are already stimming. Sending the follie fairie out to you.

I don't have much to report except that my eating habits are atrocious!! (Ate take-out Thai twice just this week!!!) Hey, we all have to survive some how.

[Shellbell]

Hi Daly, are you still moving forward with this IVF cycle? I'm planning to and started my bcp's today although I'm meeting with my doc to discuss success rates next week due to this news. The crazy part is that my FSH level was a 2.7 less than two years ago! I can't hardly believe that it changed so much so fast! That really caught me off guard. All other tests have been normal so far. Ugh!

[jodic]

hello ladies, thankyou so much for your support.

had my dr appt today

1/26 last bcp

1/30 1st u/s

2/1 start shots

2/5 2nd u/s

2/10 trigger (if all goes well)

2/12 ER

2/15 ET

theres alot in between but just aliitle heads up, woo hoo im so happy

[daly]

Hey Michelle,

I'd love to hear what your RE says. Aside from luteal phase defect, high fsh is my only known abnormality as well. (aside from ectopic tube being destroyed! But that was after alot of infertility tmt.) I did obsess over literature regarding high fsh's. There is no "tmt", but levels really do fluctuate. And women with high fsh's do have natural pregnancies. Our situation is different from menopause. We are still ovulating and still able to get pregnant. Being young with elevated fsh is better than being older with high fsh. I have a friend with high fsh who was 39 with a history of a bunch of mc's, but then fell pregnant by surprise while in between tmts. My level was normal 2 1/2 yrs ago also. The levels can really jump which is scary and noone can predict when that will happen. But, luckily we are getting tmt now and our levels are still fine for IVF. Really depends on getting right meds for a good stim cycle. I'm on max dose of follistim!! Have you been on a stim cycle before? How you reponded will be a good indicator of your chances of success. Bottom line, we still have age on our side and will probably do great. My RE is still confident I'll have success and he does not dole out positive thoughts lightly!! Let me know what you hear tomorrow. Good luck!

[Smita]

Shell and Daly,
I know I've gone on abt it in the other thread..But do, do try YOGA and/or accupuncture for your fsh levels, if you're not already.
Both of you will see results- Yoga is known to balance the hormonal system..I had a high level- 15 in september, in Feb it was 11 and in march 8.3..the only thing i can think of which i did was yoga..so hang in there girls. You'll get there. I've been there so i know how frustrating it can be..


hugs,
smita

[daly]

Hey Smita - Thank you so much. I should have mentioned that I'm doing acupuncture and she feels we can get "some" decrease in fsh. I'm also taking the herbs for now. Unsure if I will cont after starting stim. Any thoughts? Hopefully your post will inspire me enough to get off my buns and back into yoga again. Been very lazy lately!!

[Tracii]

Hi Girls - just a quick one from India...what a beautiful country!! All is going well with downregging. Lots of massages and good food! I have gained weight but I can't stop eating...I love spicy food. Today I am laying by the pool..we have been doing a lot of travelling and I need a day to relax. This afternoon another massage.

I probably won't be back on until next week so I hope everyone is doing well!!

[Shellbell]

Hi Daly and Smita, yes this will be my first cycle with Follistim. My IUI cycles were done with Clomid. I had 2-3 follies each of those cycles. These cycles were in 2004 and 2005. Yes, it is definately a positive that we still have age on our side. And from what I've read it looks like the FSH levels can vary a bit month to month as well. But like you said we're still luckily going through this now before our levels do get any higher.

I've never actually tried yoga. I belong to a fitness center that gives lessons. I might just give that a try.

I did try acupuncture one time and that was enough for me. It was torture to me! I couldn't relax at all. All I could think of were those little needles all over my body! It was killer on the arms and feet. Making me cringe just thinking about it.

Thank you both so much for the info! Daly I wish you best of luck during your cycle (we're pretty close cycle buddies). Smita congratulations on your pregnancy.

My appt with the doc is actually next week, probably Monday. Will definately let you know how it goes.

Michelle

[Smita]

Hi Girls!
Daly, its good you're trying accu.. Personally I have never tried it so have no clue..try some yoga as well.. during stims, its better if you ask your healer if its ok to continue with the needles during stims..
Shell, do, do try yoga, especially if you have a place nearby that offers classes.. the postures may look and be named weird, but i do have full faith they work-
Some postures you shd ask for are the sun-salutation and the lotus pose(the lotus pose takes a while to master, but its good for the reproductive system and so is the cobbler/butterfly pose..just ask.
Ok, I'll stop going on about it..
Trace,
Feel so proud to hear you describe India as beautiful. IT IS a lovely and diverse country, just that its got more population than we can sustain.. so where are you now? Kerela- have you visited Kumarakom there..Even I havent been there, though its abt 300 odd miles from where i am.
Have a great trip!

Sending truckloads of babydust your way!!

smita

[fulloffaith]

Hey ladies!
Just a quick update on me:
We have completed everything we need to do for the upcoming FET. They gave me an example calendar so I could try and see when I would be able to start. AF should be coming next week and then should have another one the 1st week of March and that's when we'll start!
I have been on a diet and exercising...lost 5 lbs so far and feel great. I hope to lose 10 more lbs. by the time we start FET!
We are gonna be traveling to Arizona next month on vacation to spend time with my grandparents. Looking forward to that!
Life is good!
Good luck to all you Feb/Mar buddies who are already in your cycles...I'll be there soon with ya!!

Have a great day everyone,
Allison

[Kate21]

Hi girls,

I went for my first scan yesterday for my FET. It all looked ok, although they said my womb lining is a bit on the thin side so I have to go back tomorrow for another one. I have got the lovely ovulation sticks to pee on each morning - so lovely!! Hopefully, if my womb lining does as its told and I ovulate as normal then next Wednesday will be ET day!!

I am a bit nervous about the embies thawing, but the clinic did say that they would defrost 2 and if they didn't survive they would defrost another 2 or the singleton so that we had 2 to put back in. We have 5 so I'm sure we can manage to get 2 from 5

Allison - excellent news on tmt dates, it makes it seem so much more real. Believe me FET is alot less stressful than IVF and hopefully that will help the embies settle in so that we get a BFP!

Donna99 - I've just sent you a PM!
Daly - I've been having acc since my BFP and I really believe its helped me to be more relaxed and positive - good luck with yours
Shell & Jodii - good luck with tmt - try and stay positive and relaxed - easier said than done I know!

Good luck to everyone else that I missed!
Kate