Starting 1st IVF treatment! NEED SUPPORT AND ADVICE!

[SamanthaRae21]

Hey ladies!

Name is Samantha and I live in KS with my husband who is a soldier on Bomb Squad in the Army. Hey, somebodys gotta marry into it right!? LOL.

Anyways, we have been TTC for a year and a half now with no luck. We have done Ovulation kits, sperm friendly lubricants, etc. Nothing...We started looking into infertility a couple months ago and found a Dr. in Kansas City who did alot of testing on both of us to discover if their was indeed an issue. Sperm analysis came back GREAT! Dr. said my husband has "super sperm..." LOL. Only thing they found with me is during my intravaginal ultrasound, they discovered I have Polycystic Ovaires, but my Dr. said he can not determine if I indeed have the "syndrome" aspect. He says some women often will have Polycystic Ovaries but not the actual syndrome. Labs all come back normal despite a slight increase in my testosterone levels, which were BARELY above normal. My periods are regular every month and I ovulate regularly, according to my progesterone tests and numerous spikes in ovulation tests. So there seemed to be no reason to why we should be having difficulties.

My husband has a bad back which makes our "timing" difficult for the past year or so, so this may be the culprite in our situation unfortunately.

To make an already LONG story short...we have decided to start IVF treatment. I have been on BC pills for 3 weeks now and am just about ready to go off of them. I go for my blood level testing this week to determine if I am ready to start my self injection shots! IVF Orientation was OVERWHELMING to say the least! I cried after I left the office because I was just like "How am I going to do all of this..!?!" Im scared of Overhyperstimulation, im scared of the shots, im scared of the procedures!

I need some helpful support from anyone going through IVF or getting raedy to! Any support/expierience you can provide will be SO helpful!

Thanks so much ladies!!

Samantha

[brit1612]

Welcome to the board, this is a great place to come for support! IVF can be very overwhelming in the beginning, but it really isn't that bad. The emotional aspect is the most difficult part, physically it is easier than it seems. Hope you are a lucky first timer! I have a lot of IVF info on my blog if you would like to check it out, the link is in my signature. Good luck to y'all. If you have any questions, I would be glad to try and help. Keep us posted on your progress.

[WeHaveHope]

Welcome. You will definantely find lots if support here. I encourage you to join us over on tgr Fall/Winter Board.

[SamanthaRae21]

Thanks for getting back to me ladies, I really appreciate it alot!

I am just very overwhelmed with all the medications! I look at the calender of events and im just like "Oh my goodness!" Im scared of side effects, Im scared of being completely miserable and sick...Just plain scared!

What kind of side effects did you guys have with your meds? I will be on Gonal-F starting on the 14th and then if I dont respond quick enough they will add in Menopur/ Ganirelix around the 18th.

Ovidrel will be around the 23rd, depending on follicle growth and egg retrieval is set for at or around the 25th.

How did your procedures all go? What was the post procedure like, sore, etc?

[furmomma]

dont worry soon you will see much like everything else not knowing what to expect was the hardest part. I am currently in my 2wk waiting time on my second IVF with donated sperm and egg. when I first started it was scary but really no reason to be. the medications are not really a huge big deal although for me the progesterone is making me a bit of a bear! ivf itself, the whole legs in the stirrups thing.....easy. nothing worse than a pap smear. I am doing mine in argentina and I dont speak a lick of spanish. somehow legs in the stirrups is part of some universal language. women see stirrups and know ok, lets go and get it over with
If you are using your own eggs I think it might be a little easier with different medications and then a little harder dealing with the egg retrieval.
anyway, remembering the medications and not going postal on someone with all the extra hormones is really the biggest problem I am having.
I will send happy IVF vibes your way and hope for an uneventful time leading up to your IVF

[WeHaveHope]

Try not to worry. I know it looks and feels overwhelming but you will do well. We are so much stronger than we give ourselves credit for. I don't relate have any information on the medications UPI mentioned because I have not used those. I do encourage you to join the Fall/Winter Board. There are alot of wonderful members who may have some information they can share. We are all willing to help each other through this journey. Hope to see you overthrew soon.

[Julia73]

Hi Samantha, from reading your post it looks like we are at the same point in this journey. My DH and I went for our suppression check on the 13th as well, today is fsh day 3 and I got online to see if anyone else was having similar symptoms from follistim as I am. I share alot of your fears and concerns and its good to see I'm not alone in that. Best of luck on your journey!

[Lal7373]

Hi there, im starting my first IVF cycle as well, and it certainly is over whelming. I honestly dont know much about it, and im just trusting that my Dr. knows what she is doing. I just ordered a whole list of medications, and i think this is the scariest so far. Im curious about side effects. Alos would love to know how many Follistomo Cartridges everyone needed. My perscription is for 6 900IU Cartridges which cost $5,000K. Does that seem high?

[Lal7373]

Hi Samantha, from reading your post it looks like we are at the same point in this journey. My DH and I went for our suppression check on the 13th as well, today is fsh day 3 and I got online to see if anyone else was having similar symptoms from follistim as I am. I share alot of your fears and concerns and its good to see I'm not alone in that. Best of luck on your journey!

WHAT ARE YOUR SYMPTOMS FROM FOLLISTIM?

[catdempsey]

Hello ladies,
I know that starting this cycle can be rough and the cost of medicaions can had more stress. Well I just wanted to extend my hand and let you all know that I have just finished my cycle and have a ton of brand ne never opened meds left over. If you are in need please let me know I have 4 boxes of 450 IU Gonal-F and 6 vials of 75 units of Menopur left. If oyu are in need please let me know ir if you know someone you can get a hold of me on my email cdempsey47@gmail.com good luck ladies. Catherine

[blueeyedreamer]

Hi Samantha- I'm from Kansas City! Just wanted to wish you luck on this journey.

[raven]

I'm also right there with you, just barely starting on IVF. I got the detailed schedule today and almost started to cry. Looks very scary - but it's nice to have some support from people who already went through this. I wish you good luck and please keep us up to date.

Nicole
(Who is not in the bomb squad but trains bomb detection dogs )