March/April cycle buddies??

[sprouthaus]

Hi everyone,

I don't have much time to write - so I'll catch up with everyone soon. But in the meantime, I wanted to send some big fat PMA to Sisi!!!! I'm sorry that your cycles are all messed up. I have no idea how long it takes - I am hoping it doesn't take long - for you and for me!

Would your next IVF cycle be delayed because now you think you'll be on vacay when you need to be home? I had that happen to me too - your RE should be able to put you on OCP to help regulate your cycle (if you want).

Sara - AHHHHHHHHHHH!!!! I hope you make it through your long day!

More to all soon!

[kimbob]

Happy Monday everyone,

Just wanted to check in.

Sara, sorry you have such a long day. I hope you don't have those often! I'm sending you energy vibes to help keep you going. By my calculations, it's 6:30 am where I am so, 2:30pm where you are. At least you're almost half way done!

Michele, I hope you didn't misunderstand me. I didn't mean, "Oh, well, at least you have Ella." I meant, "Don't get discouraged, you did it once and you'll be able to do it again." If I was you, she would be my PMA supplier! Of course I am sure I would still get down and need to vent, so vent away - that's what we're here for! Have you heard about a surgery date yet?
I also hear you about the control issues. I really want this cycle to go to plan as well. The timing would be great. I try to stay positive and think it will all work out, but when I think about all the ways it could go wrong - well, that's just too stressful.

Sisi, what can I say. I would hope AF isn't actually coming, but I'm guessing you know your body pretty well. Sorry to hear that things are messed up. Would you consider asking your Dr for help regulating your cycle as sprouthaus suggested? On the brighter side - I hope you have a fabulous vacation!

Carolyn, yes, sadly DH and I have had years to think about it. We really want to be sure that we can't have our own children first. Who knows what the future holds...

Well, better run - relaxed a little too much yeaterday, so now I have to get myself sorted to go to work.

Silken and Riley, hope all is well.

Kim

PS - 1 hr until 1st synarel!

[CT_Michele]

kimbob- i totally understood what you were saying, and yes, ella is my big ol' bucket of pma. It is so hard to be sad when I can just look at her and smile. I know this will all work out in the end.

Sisi- sorry about the af schedules. I do hope you go back to normal soon, but i don't know how long that takes. Where are you going on vacation? I wis dh and I could get away, but I could never leave ella overnight.

I hope everyone else is well. Sara, I remember long days like that and I hope I never have to do them again. I hope you got a snow day today!

[silken]

Hi everyone,
I've been nursing a feverish kid and haven't had much time to myself, but I sure appreciate knowing you're all out there.
Since I need to make this quick, sorry about your delays CT. What are they looking for with the tests?
Sisi, so sorry about af! That's always miserable.
To answer a bunch of questions, antral follicles are the latent follicles that ovarian hyperstimulation actually stimulates. In a natural cycle, only one matures to develop an egg, but with the meds, they're trying to get all of them to mature at the same time. Most women have 20-30 per month in their prime years, 15 or so in their later years. I have 5, which suggests I have poor ovarian reserve and am in the burnout phase of my fertility (though to be fair, I only had 6 when I was 36 years old so it's a slow burn!) So the problem is that not each follicle will mature, and not every one will have an egg; not every egg will fertilize; not every fertilized egg will make blastocyst for transfer; not every embryo transfered will implant, etc... IVF works best as a numbers game--the more eggs the better odds.
My FSH count was 8 (so could be ever so much worse but isn't super either).
I'm pretty sure that at my meeting with the RE in March, if there are less than 5 antral follicles, they won't even try with me.
Oh oh, my son is howling again. I'm going to run cuddle him.
Hope everyone gets to wrap themselves around a sick kid. It's one of life's most profound primordial pleasures.
S

[CT_Michele]

Silken- I hope your son feels better soon. I think Ella is getting her first cold. Dh is miserably sick and ella has been coughing and has a crusty nose. I hope she doesn't get really bad.

To answer your questions- They are checking my heart to make sure everything is ok. My family has a pretty bad history of heart problems, most of my cousins started heart medicine in their 30's. Throughout my pregnancy I had some high blood pressure and still afterwards too, so RE wanted me to get a physical. I had also been having some slight chest pains, so at the physical they did an ekg and it came up borderline normal. So considering the family history, they want an echocardiogram which is tomorrow, and a stress test which is on friday. On top of all that, when they took my blood, the analyzed CRP and it was through the roof. Elevated CRP can indicate heart problems, but as high as it was with me might indicate a noncardio inflammation problem. Either way, this all needs to be sorted out before I can even think about getting prgenant again. Hopefully I will get clearance this week so I can schedule the olyp surgery- RE won;t put me under anesthesia until heart stuff is in order.

So I will let you all know how this stuff goes this week. I can't wait until this week is over, just too much running around and stuff to do. Next week will be bitter sweet, school vacation so no tutoring, but I was supposed to start stimming...

[wishfull27]

eveing ladies -

Sis - sorry the witch AF is messing yu around- always the way when need it to have good timing - everything will fall in to place - anyway where are you going on holiday to ??

CT - hope all ok - have you had the other tests yet?.. hugs honey ((()))

Sprout - sounds like your working too hard ?? xx

Silken - how is your son - hope he is feeling better - hugs ((()))

Lee - how was the shift from hell - bet you got floods your way now the snow is going ??

Kimbob - wow cycling now you have taken your synarel - ready to rock and roll x

Sure I have missed someone - not intentional

Been busy at work and still more crappy weather - DH had car accident yesterday on ice - thankfully he is ok - not so sure about the car yet

accupuncture tom again - can't wait

MIL still here so got to go and be sociable

take care lovelies xxx

[wishing4baby]

Hi Everyone, I was hoping I could join your board. I am starting BCPs tonight in preparation for my 3rd cycle. I don't have my calendar yet, but I am guessing the retrieval will be early to mid march.

I am going to do some reading to catch up on the board.

Hope everyone has a good night.

[Sara30]

Hi

Sorry not much time to catch up again!! Just popped in to say hi and I have been reading, so will catch up have a hectic week this week!! I HAVE to do some study have not been online on my course since mid january and if I don't do some then time will pass me by.........

So hoping everyone is ok and I will write a mega long personal later this evening to bore you all!!!!!

Hi Wishing4baby, welcome to you, sounds like you might be transferring embryos around the same time as Kim and I, looking forward to hearing all about you.

Speak to you all later.
Lee xx

[wishfull27]

Hi wishing - welcome to the thread - whats your story ??

Hi everyone else - busy day and still stacks to do - will be back later for personals if not promise tomorrow xxx

[sprouthaus]

Hi everyone!

Whew! The class I am currently in is already kicking my butt - and I've only been to one class! Just another reason to wait until April to cycle. The reason seem to keep piling up.

W4B - Welcome to the board! We cycled together in Dec - last I remember you were going in to speak with your RE about all of your chemicals - any update on this?

Sara - It is nice to have you here - knowing I'm not the only fool stuck in school!

Wishful - Hope DH and car both make it through OK - always super fun to have additional stress like this!

CT-Michelle - I'm keeping you in my thoughts. Sounds like you have hurdles on top of hurdles right now. I sure hope everything works out for you so that you can move through your cycle smoothly!

silke - I hope your kid is better soon. Thanks for all the antral follicle info - but I'm confused on something. I usually have 8 antral follicles, but my first IVF cycle we were able to harvest 12 eggs and there were even more small follicles in there. Where did they come from?

kimbob - how are you feeling?!! You know we all get to live vicariously through you since you started synarel. Probably time for me to update the list too!

Sisi - How are you feeling? Have you sorted out your cycle and AF yet?

I'm sure I've more to write, but I must be off or I'll never get myself to the gym. BUT - know that I am thinking of all of you.

Stupid school has me so busy, I haven't even had time to fill out paperwork for a consult with SIRM yet - and I need to get that done in March! argh

[Sisi1]

It would appear I posted too soon, no AF yet and by the looks of things I may actually be back to normal and about to ovulate , Yay!

Now I just have to give this ovulation a thorough invasion for the next 36 hours if you catch my drift....then it is off to discuss my protocol next week.

After that I am off to Orlando Florida to check out some real estate for MIL and to have some must needed reprieve from winter. Once I return I will be ready to get started as long as I can be sure everything checks out A-ok on my day 3 for next cycle.

Hi to everyone and a big thank you for putting up with my rant, I promise to improve

[wishing4baby]

I spent some time catching up on the previous posts, and wow, does this board have some amazing women!!! I feel so lucky to have found a great thread.

Here is a little about me. DH and I have been trying for 2 years. I was diagnosed with stage IV endo at 23. Dh and I started trying to conceive pretty soon after we got married (26 at the time) and we were told right away that our only chance was IVF. Well it now seems the endo might not be the real problem. I have had 2 fresh BFN cycles and 3 FETs which all resulted in chemicals/early miscarriages.

My RE now thinks my egg quality is poor. Which shocked me when I heard, since we get many embryos and they all go to blast and tend to survive the thaw. Last round we had 14 great looking blasts. But according to RE, that doesn't mean they are chromosomally normal. We know it isn't DH's sperm bc we have had them tested and 96% are normal.

So this cycle (our 3rd) we are not doing a fresh transfer. We will freeze all embryos on day 1 and in April all embryos will be sent out for CGH testing, which will test all the chromosomes (not just the 12 PGD tests). DH and I are keeping our fingers crossed we have some normal ones.

I am the oldest of 3. My sister got married this past August and was pregnant by October. I think it took her 1 month of trying . Needless to say it was hard for me. I am so thrilled for my sister and our family (it will be the first grandchild). I get to be an Aunt, which is amazing, but it is still a little hard sometimes.

But... I feel like we are closing in on the real problem. Gotta keep up the PMA.

Sprouthaus - so glad to be cycling with you again!! You are such a great support to the ladies on the board.

To the ladies using DE, I can't wait to hear about your experience.

To the rest of you great ladies, I look forward to hearing how you all do and getting to know you all.

Here is my cycle info:

Feb. 24 - start Lupron
March 6th - start Follistim
March 18th - estimated ER

[kimbob]

Hi everyone,

Welcome Wishing! It's great to have you join us. I see you're from So. Cal. It's nice to have someone from the same time zone as me! I am sorry that you have been through so much. I'm sure your sister's pregnancy is bittersweet for you. You're right to feel hope that you're closing in on the problem, though. I am crossing my fingers for you!

Sisi, congrats on the impending O. Hope you're having fun with the invasion! I'm glad that this means you will be able to have your trip and start your cycle, too!

Sprouthaus, that must be one tough class. I hope it doesn't stress you out too much. Pardon my ignorance, but what is SIRM?

Wishfull, is DH doing alright? Is your car going to be able to be fixed or are you needing to replace it? I hope it works out and doesn't add a lot of stress for you.

Michele, how are the tests going? I'm keping you in my thoughts and sending you all the good vibes I can. Good luck on your stress test tomorrow. I'm sorry to hear that Ella has reached the milestone of 'first cold'. Is she getting better?

Silken, I hope DS gets better, if he's not already - kids always seem to bounce back faster than we do, don't they? Are you counting down the days until you meet with the RE?

Sara, don't worry about catching up with us - we don't want to add to your work load! I hope your studies are going well.

I think that's everyone - sorry if I've missed anyone.

AFM- I'm getting used to the synarel. I have noticed a few changes, but not sure yet if they're related to the synarel. TMI alert... I'm 'irregular', cranky, and my boobs hurt in a different way than PMS-y boob pain. Not sure if i'm cracky from the synarel or the irregularity - it's not nice. I'm hoping to gain some insight this evening at my 1st AP appoinment. This place deals with fertility a lot and they work closly with my RE's office so I'm hoping he'll have some good info for me.
Had another bizarre dream. This was about ER. My DH wasn't there - my RE was there, but was rude and detached, and the guy who plays "Dell" on "Private Practice" was trying to do the ICSI and was putting my poor little eggs through tourture! There were only 3 eggs, too. And my DH wasn't there so I don't know what they did the ICSI with, and they did the ET after half an hour!
Thank goodnes it was just a dream!

Have a nice day
Kim

[sprouthaus]

Hi gang - not much time to write now, but I was doing a quick read on the boards - and HAD to reply to kimbob's post.

Your dream made me laugh out loud! Ok - not the part about your RE or DH or the eggs being in torture. But the fact that Dell from Private Practice was doing it. At least you had something (someone) nice to look at

[Sari]

Hello:

Can I be in your group too? Its my first time here and my first time IVF. I start my pills today. I don't know what to expect. Same as many of you, I'm paying from my pocket, and only go to try one time. I don't have money for more. So cross my fingers and hope for the best.

God bless us all, and hope to have good news from all of us at the end of this journey.