Sept 2008 - stimming buddies :)

[SueQiwi]

Kez~wow--I am impressed you are a gynie nurse! It must be so hard for you to look after pregnant women while you are going through IVF yourself. You must be a very strong woman and I admire you for chosing such a giving profession.

soready~ congrats on starting stims!! I hope that your body reacts well and you get tons of follies.

Priya~I can totally relate to wanting to hide and corner and not talk about IVF. My first cycle I was so naive and told entirely too many people about the IVF--it made it so tough when I got my BFN. This time I want to keep it more private--but the thing is that all these people already know we are having trouble now! I kinda wish I never told them. Alas--I know they mean well, but I think it is hard for people to understand what we are going through and they end up saying the wrong things without meaning it. I am glad you get to start stims on Friday--how exciting!

Lynniecat~congrats on your early-growing follies! You should be in great shape by egg retrieval. Im glad you got a massage--anything we can do to relax and maintain the PMA is worth it!

Karen~Im sorry that AF showed up. I too was hoping to shock my Doc and get pregnant naturally between IFV cycles--but it didnt work out for me either! Im glad that we will be stimming together. It is especially cool to be in-sync with another low responder sister! Are you on microdose flare protocol?

I went to the Doc on Wednesday and I am cyst-free and ready-to-go! He said my uterous looked especially healthy I also got my box of meds and I was so excited to get them home and safely into my fridge--I feel like a junkie! It so different than last time when i saw all the drugs and syringes I bust into tears, totally overwhelmed. I feel so much more PMA this time! Although the BCPs are really making me feel naseous. ugh!

[lynniecat]

Sueqiwi--

How exciting that you are cyst free! I was relieved when I heard that on Monday as I had a cyst my first cycle that had to be removed!

So when do you start injections?? Or have you started?


I had my massage tonight, very relaxing but I wish it was a lot longer!! I am nervous for my big day tomorrow! I am so worried I will be told that my follicles won't be growing or that one will have sucked up all the FSH! Fingers crossed for good results!

[karenvancouverisland]

hi ladies! i'm so excited it's the weekend! i don't have any plans- which i'm finding so exciting right now! (maybe that sounds weird). went out for dinner after work with some ladies and had a great time..now hanging with my DH watching bad tv (but makes for good posting )

yes Lynnie- i'm on vancouver island! where were you visiting? and i know what you mean about massage...i always want it to be longer too. it's such a nice treat. i hope your u/s goes great tomorrow, and even if 1 or 2 of the follies suck up all the FSH- remember it only takes 1 good egg to work (although i wish you many)

and sue- i'm pretty sure i'm 'flare', but not sure about the 'micro dose' part. i'm starting day 3 after AF, on 450 ui of gonalF daily (2x 225ui), and introducing luveris and cetrotide later (around day 6 or so)... is that the same as yours?

kerry- have fun at hellboy- it's quite a contrast to mama mia and i hate being around so many pregnant people too- but it's so hard, as at our age..our choices aren't great- either hang around some pg ladies..or avoid family/friends...? it sucks. i have a pregnant friend right now, and i thank god she's 2 hours away...as i don't think i could cope with hanging out with her.
priya- i so related to your post the other day about family/friends knowing about you IF issues and that not going well...sometimes i'm so grateful some people know and can help me..other times i hate them knowing and i want to crawl under a rock and never reappear to avoid looking people in the eye...and i think what your dr. did was despicable. your privacy was violated and that sucks beyond words. that being said, it seems like you have a resilient, positive attitude that can carry you through.
soready- good luck with those stims!!! tons of great energy to you for lots of big follies!

and to anyone else out there- all the best! have a wonderful night ladies lots of love, karen

[lynniecat]

Karen-- it probably is microdose as I think they always use that in the flare cycles. Its more dilute and you take it twice a day. I also do 450 of gonal f! I also do 150 of menopur.

We spent a few days in victoria and a few days in tofino. My second time there. My husband is from Ottawa, but his parents retired to Peachland (right near Kelowna). BC is absolutely beautiful!

Are you in Victoria and did you grow up there?


Ok, goodnight everyone...better get some good sleep so I can give my follies one last night of growth before the big 6 day check!

[karenvancouverisland]

hey lynnie...i'm in nanaimo- which is 2hrs north of victoria. i grew up on the island....love it here, although our summer's been less then par and i'm wishing for more heat...it's nice to hear when others enjoy our neck of the woods

wish you a good rest to plump up those follies!! look forward to hearing your next update. karen

ps. what does menopur do?

[PriyaC]

Hey Everyone - how are you guys doing.
Wow - I don't check the posts one day and there is so much to catch up - Me Like IT

Kerry - How was Hellboy? I loved that movie. And yes quite a contrast to Mama-Mia like Karen said . I hope you had a nice time with DH. Give us all the juicy details .

Karren - Glad you had a nice time with the GFs. I agree with you sometimes not having plans to do anything/something is very relaxing. Have a fun and relaxing weekend girl.
I do Gonal-F (600 IU) and Menopur(75 IU) as well
Menopur Is similar to Repronex. - "It is a gonadotropin that contains a combination of follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) and luteinizing hormone (LH) that stimulates the ovaries to produce eggs."

Lynniecat : Good progress on the follicles. Glad to hear you had a nice relaxing massage. Have a good rest today. Am sure you will get good follicle sizes and number in your u/s. All the best for that.

Sue - WOHOOOOOO for being cyst free. And another one for getting the meds . When do you expect ur AF to arrive? Hope you are doing better today and not being affected by the BCPs too much.

Soready - how did the stims go last night? Let us know.

NY4thtry and onemorebaby - How are you guys doing?

As for me - I had a nice day yesterday. We went to a coastal town at the tip of MA. It was nice - relaxing. Came back watched TV - ordered in.
Took the shots and today got up with a headache - I could not understand why I have a headache and then remembered - oh started my stims - that's why. Last time also I had some side effects like this.
Its so funny - I kept on checking the schedule my nurse gave to make sure I start stims on Friday and kept on making sure am taking the correct amt of medications .

Alright girls - have a fun and relaxing day today. Am going to get my cup of tea and then off to see some friends.
Love
Priya

[lynniecat]

Well...just got back from my u/s. Its the weekend, so different staff and the the tech was not very friendly, very cold in fact. Just said "Hi, my name is Andrea" and "you are all set". Also jammed the wand in me..OWWWW!

Anyway, I am bummed at the results. My clinic needs four follies to go to retrieval. SO, every one counts for me cause that is the limit of my ovaries it seems.

My 10 is now 15.7, my 9.3 is 11.5, my 7.7 is 10.7, my 6 disappeared and I have two new 8s...

The problem is that big one. Its probably a good one and is running away! I think they might cancel me and if they don't I worry it will be another round of bad quality.

Ugh! I am starting to feel that my life had no meaning anymore....

[karenvancouverisland]

hi ladies- lynnie- i don't know if i told you this story before or not (so forgive me if i did), but my last cycle i only had 2 big follies, and 2small seen on last u/s (it ended up being 3 small at retrieval)..anyways- my clinic was willing to go to retrieval, but advised against it as they knew we aren't rich, and recommended we save our $ for donor cycle.

so my 2 follies both had eggs, both fertilized, both implanted and i got PG. they were shocked and impressed (we can prove those RE's wrong sometimes). my later m/c is considered typical and unrelated to IF issues.

so, what i'm trying to say, is there is HOPE. but i guess only if your clinic works with you...are they flexible on this point? through my online experiences i know i'm not the only one this has happened to. it's your $, so why can't they go forward?

anyways, i don't mean to get caught up on details or try to fix this for you..i can imagine how you feel as i've been there.- i've attached so much of my identity to being able to have kids, i always thought i'd be a mom, i used to work with kids cause i loved them so much, i married a man who loves kids...then all this??!! what the f@# ? i've had so many dark days over the last few years where i've felt my life is losing meaning..i'm just lucky right now (meaning today) that i feel hopeful. who knows what tomorrow or tonight brings.

i know with my upcoming cycle i switch between excited/hopeful and scared to freakin death. not only am i getting closer to success as i move into cycling..i'm also getting closer to potential failure, and some days i feel like i want to throw myself off a bridge or just disappear. I JUST WANT TO BE PREGNANT!!!!

anyways ladies,that's my half-rant, half-supportive post for this morning.

lynnie- i wish you the best over the next couple days; peaceful and hopeful thoughts.... and to everyone else too. priya- i'm about to have a cup of tea too.
hugs. karen

[lynniecat]

Hi Karen--

Thanks for the encouragement! Its good to know of your success! And I hope there will be more! I worry cause I am 42, but I just got pg with twins in Feb, so I think...why not now when I am feeling better and not flaring from lupus???
I have also been to Nanaimo. Yes, I found VI to be lovely and I also just LOVE Vancouver. DH got his US citizenship through me and the deal was I get Canadian through him. But its hard to get software jobs there and make equivalent money. Although these days it might be a bit easier. Vancouver is expensive and DH does not want to go back to Ottawa--too cold for him. Maybe one day!!! We joke that I should have been born the Canadian and him the American!



Got the call, estrogen is 165, up from 78, so doubled as hoped. They want me to increase my menopur to 3 vials or 225 units a night. They are hoping the follies will even out, God I hope so!!!!!!!! I return Monday for my next follie check!


Hope everyone else is doing well! I think Priya was supposed to start stims on Friday? Did you? Or do I have that wrong? If you did, hope its going well. I have medicine all over my room too! No room for the boxes anymore! So I have to get PG this go around!

[SueQiwi]

Lynniecat~Do not despair--your smaller follies still have time to catch up. I've seen this same thing happen to other ladies on other threads. Lots of follies catching up at the last minute after things felt a bit hopeless. (JDC on the Aug/Sept board who is pregnant now! and also Val who is currently PUPO) And as Karen told us she got pregnant with only 2 eggs! That has been an inspiration to me as I am a low responder and only had 4 eggs last time.

Priya~I am sorry you are getting headaches. It is crazy everything we are dealing with during IVF and a headache on top certainly does not help! I hope it goes away soon. But glad you are one injection closer to getting knocked up!

Karen~Yep--it sounds like you are Flare for sure! which mades sense as it works best on us low responders. Im not really sure about the "microdose" either as I know I am on top doses for all meds.

It is a little hard to compare protocols as the drugs have different names here in New Zealand, but here goes:
I finish BCPs on Sept 19
then I have the weekend off
I start Buserelin on Sept 22 5 units 2 x day
I start Pueregon on Sept 24 300 units once a day

Last cycle I stimmed in 6 days! So once I start injecting my cycle flies by! (this is not good really--they are trying to slow me down this time--but need to keep the doses high enough that I still produce eggs)

[karenvancouverisland]

hey sue..last time i stimmed in 6 days also. i had 2 huge follies and 3small..not good- but hey, sometimes it still works out.

so ladies, my new obsession with IF is finding out about DHEA, it's a hormonal supplement now being proven to help women with IF, especially those above 35, with 'diminished ovarian reserve'- helps with quantity, quality. and later helps prevent miscarriage, as it produced stronger embryos- HOLY SHIT. why didn't someone tell me about this earlier (like my RE???)

anyways, if you're interested, google center for human reproduction in NYC, especially their 'update' article entitled 'dhea reduces m/c, espc in older women'...inside article it talks about 'confirmed high pregnancy rates in very unfavorable patients'..they're working with a toronto clinic that's finding same results.

finding this out confuses me, creates anxiety but excitement too. i went to the health food store and looked at it yesterday (typical dose is 25 mg 3xday)..it's 90$, so i didn't buy it, but i'm going back today to get it. most women take it 3 months before stimming...sooo i don't know what to think-i'm stimming in a month. i'll call my RE on tuesday.

anyways, hope everyone is having a great weekend..i'm off to go blackberry picking with my DH (hopefully take my mind off all this!)

lots of love, karen

[kez01]

Hey everyone,

I hope everyone had a great weekend. We went to see Hellboy and I thought it was good fun, we sat on the back row and had a smooch
and then we went out for dinner. Other than that we took it easy over the weekend. I'm off today but back to work tomorrow. I also got my AF today so I guess no luck with natural approach again, just cramps to put up with.

Lynnie: Dont worry about your follies, mine always started alittle slow, I was on menopur, I started on 5 x 75 iu ampoules and then after 8 days they increased it to the maximum 6 ampoules and I stimmed for 12 days. I ended up with 12 eggs which was great as I only got 4 first time round. I also did not downregulate this last time round which I thought was alot better, they gave me cetrotide from day 5 of stimming and that stops you ovulating. I wish you luck and try to relax and eat lots of protein and vegetables.

Priya: I'm sorry your headaches have returned I think you are similar to me, whenever I do treatment I seem to have terrible headaches, I am a sufferer of migraine but it is especially worse during an IVF cycle. Makesure you drink lots of water and try meditation, sometimes it can work. I know what you mean about checking your meds, I feel obsessed sometimes when I do treatment, double checking you just want everything to go smoothly, I hope it does for you

Sue: I hope they manage to slow your cycle down, only 6 days of stimming, thats amazing, I've never done less than 10 days, my follies always seem to take their time, I sometimes wish they would grow quicker but hey we all want good quality eggs so I wish you good luck.

Karen: really good rant on being pregnant, people have sometimes said to me its better to not be pregnant than to misscarry. I dont know if I agree, I sometimes feel defective as I have never been pregnant. I also agree that we seem to find out so much information on this site that we just wish our doctors had told us earlier I will google this DHEA I'm interested. Glad you enjoyed the blackberry picking and I hope it worked in taking your mind off things. I just noticed you are having cetrotide in your upcoming cycle, have you had it before? I felt much better having that rather than downregulating with the buserelin, it felt more natural somehow not being shut down, they introduced it on day 5 of stimmulating.

Soready: I hope your stimming is going well and you had a lovely weekend.

Well I guess I'm going to have to attack the mountain of ironing that I have. Keep those PMA going girls, thinking of you all,
Take care
Kerry xx

[lynniecat]

Hi Ladies,

Just got back from my u/s


16.8, 13.5, 13.3, 9, 9

The big one slowed WAAAAYYYYY down.

I am feeling less optimistic. The doctor on today thought 3 eggs and wondered if I wanted to cancel. But I doubt I will do better next time anyway. I want one of these to be a good one!

[liz35]

My 1st IVF cycle. Started Lupron shots this past Friday. Starting Stims on Wed. Would love any special tips or advice.
Thank you!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[PriyaC]

Goodevening everyone:


liz35 - Welcome ..... All the best with the first cycle.
Just try to keep relax and stay positive.

lynniecat - When is your ER scheduled? Usually the follicles grow each day a little so hopefully by ER day all of these will increase in size and you will have more than 3. If you are going to do ICSI - you can get all of the eggs to fertilize. Hang in their girl. i will keep u in my prayers.

Karen - Thanks for letting us know about the DHEA - its very interesting. Will you be talking to your RE about it? And did you buy it? Hope you had lots of fun blackberry picking - so did you pick a lot to make some preserve etc
You summed it up pretty good how it goes for most of us with our cycles from being excited/hopeful to scared to .... and how all of us just want to be pregnant ...............

Sue - 6 days of stimming for you are Karen - that's pretty quick. I hope this time they manage to slow down your cycle. I stimmed for 9-10 days last time. This time the RE is going to make me stimms some more if possible.

Kerry - Glad you had one day off and could enjoy 3 day weekend. Good to know u guys had fun at the movies
Please don't think like that - you are not defective at all. We are the miracle women who against all odds get pregnant and have babies - my view point .....
I really don't understand how ppl can say something like this to anyone - that's very immature and wrong thing to say.
So is the ironing over? I hate doing that and try to postpone it to the last minute. Just couple of weeks to your appointment right.

As for me - The weekend was good. I tried to be busy so my mind was off IF most of the time. My first b/w was yesterday and the levels were fine. Go for my 2nd b/w tomorrow and then the u/s will start.
Headaches are not bothering me no more ....

Talk to everyone tomorrow
lots of love
Priya

http://willbemom-journeyoflife.blogspot.com/