IVF Anyone?

[Jad]

amygrrl - Seems like there is only one real drawback to the new job - the commute. It *might* be less flexible, but if your manager knows and is understanding about the IVF, then it doesn't seem like it would be an issue. Personally, between the $ advantages, the friendly atmosphere and the excitement/distraction properties of a new job, I'd probably do it. But then I hate my job (re: my new avatar ;) ) and would *love* a new job, so perhaps I'm just projecting.

Jan - Mmmmm. Oreos. Can you pass the bag over to me when you're finished? My outlook needs improvement, too. :rolleyes:

[amychris03]

amygrrl
I was going to say the same thing, the only draw back that
I see is the commute. In my opinion, the challenges of
a new job and the benefits would outweigh that. I bet
it would take your mind off of it.

Jan
Mmmm, oreos to dip in milk... Yum. I may need to go shopping!

Jad
Love the Avatar! That's how I feel... I quit my job because I thought
we were moving, and just had to sign my contract today for next
school year.

[islandgirlsj]

Just a realy quick drive by. (my husband gave me 5 mintues computer time before going back to bed) :rolleyes:

Transfer went well. We transfered 3 eggs. ( I didn't get the quality, although he said they were all exceptional). I'm not sure what that meant, however I have decided this time not to get caught up in the details, because it only takes ONE right! :p

We had to defrost 5 in order to get the 3, but that was okay. We still have 5 more frozen if GOD FORBID we have to do this again.

This time the Dr. ordered me to a stricker bed rest. He only wanted me up to go to the rest room or take a quick shower for the first couple of days, after that, I could begin to go (carefully) to being more active.
Not that anything was terribly wrong this time, but he knew my anxiety level was much higher this time, and just wanted me to rest as much as possible.

So... I have been *pretty* good. Have been up the stair a couple of times, but it couldn't really be helped as we have a 2 story home. :rolleyes:

Tomorrow I'm free to be up and around a little more.
The plan was to be back at work on Thursday, although my DH and I are still considering waiting a little longer.
I know it seem we are being awfully causious, but seeing as my panic attackes have been worse lately, I think we just feel it is better for me to really COMPLETELY follow Dr's. orders and to relax.

I have eaten 6 BOWLS of pineapple today. Hahaha... Overkill?? Eh, it was awfully good anyway, so call me nuts.

Okay, sorry I don't have time for shout outs, but I hope your all doing well.
:: hugs :: for everyones support. :o

[AusMarchBride]

islandgirl Woohoo, 3 embies of exceptional quality is fantastic!because it only takes ONE right It did for me, and it worked just fine.

I have eaten 6 BOWLS of pineapple today You're going to turn into a pineapple ;)

Get lots of rest, as much as you feel you need. If you feel like taking the rest of the week off, and it's a viable option, do it. The most important thing is that YOU feel you've done everything you can to help things along. Even if the docs say it makes no difference, it'll help you mentally.

Good luck and I have everything crossed for you.

amychris That's interesting that your docs use transfer date not retrieval date. I suppose it doesn't really matter in the long run, because he/she will arrive when they're ready, regardless of a 3 day discrepancy. :) Has the m/s kicked in yet?

Jad LOVE your avatar I just can't even imagine how I'm going to get through the second cycle. I promise you will get through it fine, just be prepared for your outlook to be not quite so positive as the first cycle. Come on here and post about it, or email me and I'm happy to tell you what I felt and how unsure I was about the cycle.

I hope your doc's unexpected absence is only for a short while, and I hope AF shows her ugly face soon for you. I didn't have a chem pregnancy so I'm not sure how long it will take, but if your levels were pretty low, I wouldn't imagine it would be too much longer. Can you get the doc's office to send you for another blood test to check your numbers and make sure they're going down?

Jan1902 Sorry about the lupron side effects, hope the headache isn't too horrible. Did the oreos help? I did get some helpful responses to my thread on CVS, and I also went and searched on WC as you suggested. Got lots of info, so thanks.

amygrrl Wow, what a conundrum. For me, the decision would be "do I want to do that commute every day?" Forgive me, but the whole US insurance thing has me completely bamboozled, I don't know how you ladies deal with it. It's like double dutch ;) That aside, I would also really want to ensure that if you took the new job, they really would be ok with you having to go in every 2-3 days for bloodwork and u/sounds (invariably in working hours), and then have the day off for transfer and then another day off 3 days later for retrieval. That's a big ask for many employers. Whereas with you working from home, that's doable without a problem.

I haven't actually posted about it before, but I was made redundant in June 2003 and haven't worked since, by my own and DHs choice. We bought a house at the end of 2003 and did some renovation work on it for a lot of last year, and then all the IVF stuff at end of 2004 and this year. I found it great that I was able to have appts whenever I needed them, and did not have to explain to an employer. In the industry I worked in (running a Futures back office) it would have been impossible to take the required time off at short notice. I was lucky in that I was able to afford this, but nevertheless, the freedom to be able to take appts whenever necessary that you would have working at home was important to me. And now, end of ramble. ;)

mrselle Hope yur first lupron shot went well. And I can't figure out which is scarier for me, THIS round not working for us or IVF NEVER working for us I think we all have those worries, I know I certainly did. As someone else said, it's fear of the unknown and what we can't control. Just try to take it one day at a time, and be reassured that if everyone is telling you things are looking good, then that's a positive thing. If you need to post or vent or just say "why the heck am I doing this", post here, email me or whatever, I'll do whatever I can to help. Sometimes, it helps just knowing that you're not the only person who feels/has felt that way.

Suzly That's great news about your betas being back to zero and you can get things rolling. He said he SO excited to get his started. I don't he has a clue what's coming to him That's nice that your DH thinks that, although he may change his tune in a few weeks ;)

If anyone reading or lurking has any questions they don't want to post here, you can email me (addy is in my profile) and I'd be happy to respond. Although I don't think there's anything to be embarassed about asking or sharing with relation to IVF. Heck, I've posted about my vile mood swings, painful nipples, cervical mucus, and a host of other things that I probably wouldn't share with my mother ;)

Hope everyone else is doing ok.

[Suzlywoozly]

AmyChris- I'll befriend you over on LJ, but I don't have a journal. I really only go over there to check on Scooter and Angel.Do you have a journal over there? If so, I'd love to come check on you too! I do plan to start a journal over here, so if you want to follow along keep an eye out in the next few days. :D Thanks for the payment info. I found out today that it is the same thing at this place too.

Jan- Sorry about the headaches! There is nothing a good cookie can't fix ;). I've been feeling so crappy since I restarted the metformin yesterday, that I just sent DH to get a jamba juice 20 minutes away! I did confirm that the b/c pills are to reduce or prevent more cysts.

Island- Glad to hear the transfer went well! Yum... pineapple sounds good right now.

Ann- That's nice that your DH thinks that, although he may change his tune in a few weeks
I guarantee he will be changing his tune QUICKLY!

Amygrrl- Wow, sounds like you have a tough decision to make. The thing that sticks out about what you listed is that the new job does know the ins and outs of IVF and that may be a good thing. Maybe if you are totally upfront with them now about your future plans of IVF in October, they may be willing to be more flexible. Plus a commute like that really isn't that bad for the Bay Area :rolleyes:! That's like driving to the grocery store, right?
Good luck with your decision!

I talked to our case nurse today. She said that since the beta was 0, we can get started ASAP. We meet with her next Wednesday to sign our lives away and to get all the info. She said if AF shows before then to call her so we can meet sooner. Now if the financial coordinator chick would call back things would be even better!

[la_bride_2004]

Just peeking in, as usual! Finals this week, so I guess this officially counts as procrastination.

DH has his varicocele repair surgery scheduled for Aug. 19, and then we are on the bench for another 3 to 6 months to see if there is any improvement. I guess we'll be able to determine then if we can TTC the "normal" way or should consider another round of IVF.

((Jad)) I wanted to send some special hugs to you, since I've had two chemical pregnancies so far. My experience- the first time, it took 2 weeks for the embryo guts to come out. The second, a week, but I hemorraged and it was pretty awful and I ended up in the ER. Not telling you this to scare you, but it was a very, very different experience than AF. I'd say take it really easy for a bit. I think having it "almost" work was a rough experience and one I never expected- I was only thinking it would be positive or negative.

island- sending you goof transfer vibes!

ms dallas- just wanted to say welcome, and I would do some research if IUI's are truly right for you- many times, with the IUI, the washing and prep makes the counts even lower, which makes them even less effective. This was a big reason why we jumped to IVF after only one round of IVF.



Hugs to everyone else- I am thinking of you all and wishing you well, but kind of relieved to have a break from all the TTC stuff, if you know what I mean.

[AusMarchBride]

Coreen I'm so glad to see you dropped by. I wish you all the very best for DHs surgery and I hope he recovers quickly and as painlessly as possible. Hope the surgery does the trick for you both, and that there's no need for further IVF.

Enjoy your break from TTC, and get back to your study young lady ;)

[mrselle]

Good morning ladies!

Took my first lupron shot last night and took the second one this morning. Not too bad, but now I feel funny. I'm feeling a little nauseous and like I could use a nice long nap. Could be because I am really tired, the extreme heat outside or the lupron. I'm guessing its the lupron. I can't imagine feeling like this for the next few weeks. :(

Will come back later for SO's.

[alo]

Okay, I am SO behind on replies.

First off, where I am. I had my lupron evaluation yesterday. No cysts, so we went ahead with the stims. Started those last night and have decided I absolutely despise Repronex. Not looking forward to that again tonight. Follistim was fine. So what I'm on now:

A.M.
5 units of lupron
150 of follistim

P.M.
75 IU of repronex (1 vial liquid, 2 vials powder)
75 of follistim

Doesn't that seem like A LOT of medication?! I am a little concerned, as I've never been on injectables before, so I would think they would start me off a little on the safe side. Oh well.

Another weird thing. I had this hard welt on my abdomen this morning, in a place where I had never given myself an injection. As soon as I gave myself the lupron injection, the welt went away. Like, immediately. It was FREAKY. Somebody please tell me you've had this happen. I feel like I'm living in a sci-fi movie.

AF is here, and I am not pleased. Crampiness plus sore abdomen (damn repronex) does not equal fun times. But hopefully she'll be gone soon.

Also - did anybody else gain weight on lupron? I gained 5 lbs. in 7 days, and I think that's a bit ridiculous. I know I'm going to gain weight on the stims, but I didn't know lupron was like that too.

mrselle: Lupron affects everybody differently, but I will say that I had side effects on my first day on it that I never had again. So hopefully you'll be feeling better soon!

islandgirls: What's the deal with pineapple? So hoping this is it for you!!

Jan1902: Lupron seems to be fine so far for me. The only side effects were the sore bbs for a few days, and then the hot flashes for a few days, and now I have a low-grade headache. All of it is bearable though!

Are you still having the headaches?

[amychris03]

Quick question because Im currently feeling yucky...
Have any of you guys flown with your meds? I will be flying
to California for a wedding in a couple of weeks and will most
likely be still on my PIO at the times. I will pack it in my carry
on so I dont run the risk of loosing it, but how do you explain
the needles/syringes to the xray guys? Do I need a drs note
or something? :confused:

ETA: Alo - I did gain 5 pounds from starting lupron
until retrieval and so far the darn weight hasn't gone anywhere
darn it...

[angelgirl8]

amy...quick answer: i'd get a note from your doctor's office just in case. you don't want to get there and have them tell you that you can't take them on the plane. we got one for a concert we were going to and it's pretty easy. just made me feel better to have it!

[islandgirlsj]

alo ~
The pinapple is supposed to help with implanation.... and we do have a few girls here who are now pregnant, and ate pineapple, so good enough for me to eat as much as possible. Heh! :D

Jan1902 ~ I hope you are doing OK with the bedrest, it is hard to relax when your brain is going 900 MPH.

Ummm... YES! :p I am up and about, although slowly, and relaxing alot today, but my mind IS GOING 900 MPH.
As for the weight gain, I didn't gain any, for which I'm eternally grateful, however I did get terribly bloated, so it appeared I had anyhow. No win situation there. I think you "should" drop the weight faily quickly once you stop the drugs.

Jad & Ann
I just can't even imagine how I'm going to get through the second cycle

I agree with both of you. The 2nd time around has been SO MUCH harder emotionally, on me than the first. Honestly, I'm not sure how I have made it through this cycle, except for just taking one day at a time.

I guess you have to keep the BIG PICTURE in your head.... while just keeping things real, and day by day. Doesn't really makes sense, but that is all I can offer Jad. This journey is not fun.

Okay, I know there are many many shout outs I should do, but I've been up for a while, and my doggie is making my bed all warm and taking a nap, I'm off to join her! :D :D

WHY or WHY can't there be some sign that those little embies are still in there.
Sheesh... the waiting is hard! :cool:

[Astro]

mrselle I was usually a little hot and tired when taking lupron. congrats on starting the shots. :)
alo my meds were at a higher dose than yours, so I think you're fine. the more we talk about it, the more I realize everyone's RE has different protocols. I gained weight on Lupron, only a couple pounds, but I banished the scale from the bathroom during the entire process on the suggestion of the IVF coordinator at my clinic. She said your weight may go up or down due to the shots, and there's nothing you can do about it. Worrying about it won't help. :)
Jan1902 Don't worry about eating all the oreos. Jad didn't share her icecream sandwiches. ;) (just teasing)
islandgirlsj congrats for your 3 embies! that's fantastic. Don't eat too much of the pineapple, it's acidic and too much isn't a good thing. I think 1 serving a day would be fine. I know what you mean about wanting a sign to see what's up with the embies. I still want that sign/window.

angelgirl8 and ausmarchbride How long are you guys on progesterone? My RE said take it through the first of August, but he didn't say if I should taper it off or stop cold turkey. Now that the kids are growing, I'm nervous to change anything in regards to drugs.

thanks

[Jad]

Drive-by for those who, ahem, acuse me of not sharing:
http://www.dianasdesserts.com/assets/managed/recipes/Ice_Cream_Sandwich_2D.jpg

:p

[angelgirl8]

jad...you're killing me with that. now, i absolutely need to eat that more than anything. and it's way too hot to leave this apartment!

astro...my RE had me drop down to half my PIO dosage (1/2cc) at about 7.5 weeks and had me stop at about 9 weeks. he told me to stop the day i saw him for my last appointment.

i definitely wouldn't stop without asking the exact day.

[Astro]

Jad thanks, now I'm busy wiping drool off my desk and keyboard.

[Klo.]

Hi girls -
I haven't had a chance to actually check in and write since we switched 'sites and well, since I'm a little busier these days with my little guy.
I mainly just wanted to pop in and let you ladies know that I am here and still cheering you all on. I'm sooo happy to see some recent successful cycles (Congrats to you girls) and all of you supporting each other here. I don't know what I would've done with out my IVF sisters when I went through my protocol. I'm mostly just reading along and trying to keep up with everyone's stories.

Is it ok if I post a picture of my little guy here??
This is Matthew, he is our IVF#1 miracle born on June 16, 2005. He is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. I am here to tell you that he was absolutely, 100%, without a doubt worth everything I went through to get him.
http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b5d804b3127cce923510a9f1cf00000066108BcN2TFs2Zi
restraining myself from posting more - a bad habit of mine.

Please, if this upsets ANYONE (even a tiny) please let me know and I'll take it out. I only come to offer hope and encouragement.

We'll be going back for #2 some time in the next 9 months so I'll probably be joining you ladies for real sooner than later.
Much love to you all.

Lo.

Here are my stats if you want to add them to the front page:
KLo
Me: Lois (31)
DH: Kevin (36)
Married: May 11, 2002
TTC: July 2003
BFP: October 25, 2004 (officially)
EDD: July 1, 2005
IF Info: Bilateral distally blocked Tubes, IVF#1 – Transferred two 8-cell Grade A embryos – Successful!! Pg with twins - one lost at 8wks.
ADD: 6/16/05 - Matthew Michael George
TTC #2 with IVF - some time in 2006

[Suzlywoozly]

Oh Klo, Matthew is absolutely beautiful! Congratulations :D It's so nice to hear success stories when things can seem so down.

I just have to say how impressed I am with my new RE and his office. The have been incredible so far and I haven't even gotten started. At the other dr. I would call over and over waiting for someone to pull their heads out of their butt to help me or answer a question. This office everbody knows what is going on and the call back promptly. This morning the financial coordinator called, ten minutes later the RE called himself. He wanted to let me know he saw the beta was zero and he wants me to start prometrium(?) today and hopefully AF will be here next week. Two hours later our case nurse called to say she had called the pharmacy to order the prescription and she just called back to confirm it is filled! I'm just shocked at how great they are. DH says they better be this good if they are taking all this money!! I'm so excited - I think I have already told you all that :p.

To make my day better, I saw my nephew today. I haven't seen him since the day my SIL told me she was pg back in October. The look on his face was priceless when he opened the door and saw me standing there. He looked at me, his jaw dropped open and he said "hurry, come in Auntie... let's play trains!" He is only 2 1/2 and I can't believe I have missed almost a year of his life because my SIL is such a biatch. I saw my niece too. She is now 7 weeks. It was really hard not to cry to see her asleep in her swing. I wanted to hold her so bad, but I knew I would loose it. God I want a baby so bad!

[sandybride]

Hi ladies. Gee, this board moves so fast. Thanks for the warm welcome. It's going to take me a little while to get to know everyone and keep track.

Matthew is adorable. I don't mind baby pics at all. I love hearing about success stories because it gives me hope. And, even through all this IVF stuff, one thing has remained the same about me...I love all things baby!

Thank you to all the ladies who posted about pineapple. I'm sold, i think i will order the supplements and eat some fresh for good measure. DH and I discussed possible plans in case my FET doesn't work. I don't think we are optomistic about trying IVF again. Dh has especially hated it. This is putting a little more pressure on FET to work for us,though. So, I want to make sure I do everything I can.

Jan1902, thanks for asking about me. I'm feeling a LOT better. Actually, pretty normal. I started BCP already and I start lupron on Friday. So, this protocol is a lot different but there's still lots of shots. I figure ET will be mid to late August. Hope you are doing well, It's going to take me some time to get everyone straight and start doing real responses here. I hope everyone can be patient with me.

[AusMarchBride]

Suzly Sounds like a great day for you all around. I'm so glad that your new REs office is so good, it really helps if you feel they are competent and know what's going on. I'm also really glad you caught up with your nephew and niece. It's very hard sometimes when going through IVF to see relatives/friends with babies, but the reward for you is in how thrilled your nephew was to see you. That's so cute :D

KLo Oh how cute is Matthew, just gorgeous. Enjoy your time with him, we look forward to seeing you back every now and then. Hope you, Matthew and DH are doing fine.

angelgirl I've seen on the news here that it's really hot in the US at the moment, and I know NY gets stinkingly humid. Stay inside with the aircon going and get Dave to get you some icecream. You're carrying his twins, that's gotta be worth a guilt trip to the icecream shop :D

Jad That's just plain mean posting that! It's the middle of winter here and I WANT that icecream thingy now!! They don't sell things like that here in Australia, so it's not even possible to get one. thinks to self, it's just two biccies with icecream in the middle, even ANN could make that..... hmmmm. off to the shops for icecream and biccies

Astro I was only on progesterone supps during the 2ww. When they did my 3 betas over the 3 week period, my prog levels were fine (around 90) so there was no need to continue the supps. If I had low prog then they would have given me more supps.

I think there's some debate in the medical community about whether low progesterone is a cause or a symptom of impending miscarriage. Some say that progesterone drops and then the pregnancy ends, others say that the pregnancy is already ending, and then the progesterone drops as a result. I don't know which is right, but I figure if your prog numbers are not so high, it can't hurt to keep up the PIO. Easy for me to say, I only had the supps not the injections. BTW, how many weeks are you? I think at around about 8 weeks the placenta starts taking over so progesterone supps aren't generally needed anyway. Bottom line, ask your doc to maybe test your prog levels, that will give you some comfort that all is ok.

islandgirl Hope the nap went well ;) I know it's hard to chill out, but try to relax and keep your mind occupied with things other than the 2ww. I tell you, the person who invents the way of telling if you are pregnant after a 2 day wait instead of a 2 week wait would get all my money.

Jan1902 I really found it a big help not working during IVF. I had a really high stress, very long and unpredictable hours and many working weekends and it would have just been impossible during IVF. The lowering of my stress levels alone had to help me be in a better frame of mind. And yes, we do have a nursery (undecorated as yet). I am at the moment disagreeing with my DH about whether we find out the sex. I want to, he doesn't. I hate yellow and that's about the only colour to do the nursery in when you don't know if it's a boy or girl.

amychris Re flying with your needles; doctor's note defnitely. I wouldn't leave home without it ;)

alo Congrats to you on starting your stims. Hang in there with AF and the sore tummy and everything else. The level of stims they put you on depends on a lot of stuff, they'll monitor you carefully to make sure you're not being over or understimulated. But do tell them about putting on the weight, they will want to know that. It can be a sign later on in the cycle of OHSS.

mrselle Congrats on starting your stims. You're on the way. :) Take a nap if you need one. It's tough on your body physically, and very tough emotionally so I think it's important while you're cycling to get as much rest as you can.

Hi to everyone else, hope life is treating you well.

[AusMarchBride]

Sandy Didn't mean to leave you out, you posted while I was writing my essay :D Don't worry about doing individual shoutouts, sometimes you can, sometimes you can't. Everyone gets busy. And I know what you mean, when you first join it is hard to keep track of everyone, like anything, it takes time.

If you don't mind me asking, what was it that your DH found so tough about IVF. Don't get me wrong, it's not an easy process, but maybe someone else here has had the same experience and can suggest something to help.

[angelgirl8]

lois...matthew is gorgeous! congratulations again.

ann...it is close to 100 in new york city (and 107 with the "heat index" whatever that is). staying inside and loving air conditioning!

have to ask, though: what are biccies?!

oh, and while i was up near boston we stopped at a homemade ice cream place where you could pick your own cookies, ice cream and sprinkles and they would make the sandwich for you. i was so sad i was full and couldn't partake!

whew...enough about ice cream. i blame jad for getting this in our heads!

suzly...i'm so glad you're happy with your RE's office. it makes the biggest difference.

[AusMarchBride]

angelgirl Biccies lol. We Australians have an extremely bad habit of shortening words and then adding a "y" (or "ies" if the word is plural). Biccies is biscuits, what you would call cookies. We don't call them cookies here. You guys (or maybe it's more in the South) have biscuits (made from bread) that we would call a bread roll. Confused yet ;)

Here's a pic of a bread roll (doesn't look anywhere near as nice as Jad's ice cream pic) http://www.palmerharvey.co.uk/Images/Bread%20Roll.JPG

oh, and while i was up near boston we stopped at a homemade ice cream place where you could pick your own cookies, ice cream and sprinkles and they would make the sandwich for you. i was so sad i was full and couldn't partake!

Yum and what a bummer for you :D

[alo]

I go in tomorrow for my first u/s and b/w after starting stims. I have a question about what we'll see - will we see all the follicles at this point and they just grow from this point on, or do we see a few follicles now and we'll see more follicles later? I'm just wondering if the follicle count we get tomorrow is going to be it or not. Thanks for the help on that.

Jad: I love those ice cream sandwiches! I'm going to have to make one of those my "reward" for getting through the next hard day. :)

AusMarchBride: I work with many Australians, and I've always wondered why they add "o" to the end of everybody's name. Like Jane is now Jano and Tim is now Timbo. I would love to know if this is normal in Australia or not.

Suzly: I'm so glad you're happy with your new RE! That makes all the difference in the world.

Klo: Matthew is just beautiful. It is inspirational to us all to see that picture.

[mrselle]

Klo, Matthew is absolutely adorable. :)

Suzlywoozly, DH and I were also surprised at the big difference between our RE's office and my regular Ob/Gyn. Our phone calls are returned promptly and the staff is excellent. To say we have been thoroughly impressed would be an understatement. People tend to be a little more attentive when there is money involved. We have made more progress in nearly two months with my RE than we made in the two years I was seeing my Ob/Gyn.

Sandybride, Hi there! :) I don't think I welcomed you the first time, so welcome!!!!

AusMarchBride, I had to remind myself yesterday that I need to take more time for myself and get plenty of rest. I slept pretty good last night, so thats a start.

Hope everyone else is doing well.

[kat]

Having a severe food aversion day, so forgive me if I skimmed over much of the food talk and pictures. :D

Just a drive-by to answer Astro's question: my RE has told me I could stop -- cold turkey -- the PIO shots TOMORROW TOMORROW TOMORROW, at which point I will be 9 weeks pg. The sad part is that DH left this morning for a business trip, so the last two shots I have to give myself. Dunno why I hate them so much -- I fear that I've been blaming a lot of my symptoms on the progesterone and that I'm about to find out I was wrong. :)

Oh, and KLo, that is one beautiful IVF miracle!

[AusMarchBride]

I work with many Australians, and I've always wondered why they add "o" to the end of everybody's name. Like Jane is now Jano and Tim is now Timbo. I would love to know if this is normal in Australia or not.

Oh absolutely normal. My maiden name was Spalding and I was always referred on the trading floor as Spaldy or Spaldo. It's slightly less common for women, maybe 2 in 10 don't get a nickname/shortening whereas I do not know of a guy that doesn't have a nickname.

It's funny, for example Rebecca will get Bec or Becky automatically, but if we can't shorten a name like Ann, then it gets lengthened to Annie. We're a strange bunch :rolleyes:

To answer your follies question, they'll see some now, and more later. They'll count the ones that are big enough to measure, but generally, the longer you are on stims, the more follies will grow.

mrselle Sounds like your move to an RE was the right thing to do and worked well for you. I think it really helps if you feel your doctor knows what's going on.

kat Yaaay for stopping shots, and I hope all the nasty side effects were from the progesterone (but I doubt it ;) ).

Off to my OB appt now. Will post later today how it went. Hope everyone's doing well. It's Friday here :D

[Jad]

Will try to do better replies than I have been recently...

alo - Have fun at the u/s today! Those are my absolute favorite part of IVF. It's so interesting to see your ovaries at work. I can't answer your official question because on my first u/s I didn't know what the sizes were because I couldn't see the screen, and then I didn't ask the nurse. They usually don't offer the detailed info unless you request it. Also, beware that the number and size of follies can change between techs. So don't worry if that happens.

klo - Matthew is a beautiful baby! Congratulations. And I cannot wait until the day that all of us have our IVF miracles!

sandy - Don't worry. You'll figure out who we all are eventually. It took me a few weeks,too. :)

Ann - Now I totally want to call you Spaldo. That's a helluva funny nickname! :p

island - How are you holding up? Sending you sticky, sticky, sticky vibes!

kat - Hooray for the end of the PIO! Oh, and I forgot to mention when we chatted. I might as well borrow the yoga thing as well since I've got a couple of months to use it.

suzly - Glad you're so happy with your RE's office. It's so important to trust the person leading you through this process. And yippee at the 0 beta if I didn't mention that earlier!

mrselle and Jan - Hope the lupron isn't giving you too many problems.

Coreen - Thanks for telling me your experience. For me, it always helps to know the range of what can happen. We miss you around here, although, of course, I hope you are enjoying your break. Keeping everything crossed that the surgery works wonders for you guys.

amygrrl - So whatcha thinkin' on the job? I actually just found a listing that I might have a real shot at, and I'm totally terrified at the prospect. It's farther from my RE's office, I don't know what the insurance would be, I don't know how they'd feel about IVF appointments, etc. Such a head trip, this process. :rolleyes:

And hi to our preggos that I've missed....astro and angel and amy!

[AusMarchBride]

Ann - Now I totally want to call you Spaldo. That's a helluva funny nickname! :p
See now for me, it's not unusual at all, and most Aussies wouldn't think it odd either :D

Feel free to call me anything you want. After working with traders for years, I answer to ANYTHING :rolleyes:

alo Remind me (not sure if I've forgotten or if I ever knew) but what is it that you do that brings you in contact with so many Aussies?

And please tell me you pronounce it as Ozzies not Ossies. We really hate the "soft s" version :D

[alo]

Okay, so I went for my u/s this morning. I have 4 follicles on the left and 6 follicles on the right. Is this good?! My RE was shooting for 20, I think (because with my diagnosis, the more eggs I have the better), so I'm really hoping some more start to grow! The tech didn't measure them, she said they don't do that at the first u/s. So that's all I know.

AusMarchBride: I work at a research institution. It just so happens that one of the professors used to work in Australia, and so now he only hires Australians (don't even get me started, it's so illegal!). But that's how I end up working with them - 4 on a somewhat regular basis. And I do pronounce it "Ozzies", they make sure of it!

Jad: Thanks for your response. I'll keep that in mind in case things aren't what I expect on Sunday (my next monitoring appt)

[AusMarchBride]

alo I have 4 follicles on the left and 6 follicles on the right It's a great number for your first u/s, more will come I'm sure of it.

And as for that professor, don't worry too much about him hiring the Aussies, there's only 20 million of us compared with what? 260 million Americans? And I make up for his bias because I used to hire Americans if I could :D

[amychris03]

angelgirl8
Yes, I think I will ask my dr for a note (or what they recommend)
when I go in on Monday.

jan1902
Nah, Oreos with rice milk just doesn't sound as appealing. How are
the headaches? When do you start stims?

islandgirlsj
How are you doing? When is the big test day? Not soon enough Im
sure.

Jad
That picture looks so yummy. Makes me want to make my tollhouse
pie soon :)

Klo.
Matthew is such a cutie! Congratulations! :)

Suzlywoozly
So glad you like your RE! Things seem to be moving right along!

Sandybride
You start lupron today right? Hope it goes well!

AusMarchBride
Your OB appointment was today right? How'd it go?

alo
Good follie count for your first day! I bet you'll see more on
Sunday!

mrselle
How's the Lupron going?

Kat
Congrats on stopping the PIO! I guess Im about a
3 weeks behind you, so I don't have too terribly long
to go.

---
Whew, I think Im caught up, hi to Astro and Coreen
and anyone else I may have missed! Not much going on here. My
ultrasound is on Monday at 1. Im getting nervous again, even
though I still have my symptoms. I'm so excited because my bb's
have grown enough that I don't need to get the chest of my
bridesmaids dress altered! I also found a new OB- i have to change
because my old ob/gyn no longer accepts my insurance, and it was
tricky to find one without telling people I am PG! The one I found
came highly recommended by the one friend that does know, and he is
the only dr in the practice, so he'd be with me the whole time and
the one to deliver! Have a good weekend everyone! :)

[islandgirlsj]

I'm SO behind on shout outs here, it feels rather embarrassing. :cool:

I'm hangin in here. I returned to work on Thursday, much to my husbands dismay, but I couldn't just sit around any longer either. I was beginning to feel silly. 3 days seems to be excessive, and I know whatever is going to happen is going to happen right?

I'm paranoid every half hour, when I get these little twinges/cramps. Weird.
They don't last but a few seconds, but it makes me worry each time.

Other than that, my headaches seem to have eased off, my butt is rather sore, thank you PIO very much. :rolleyes: , BB's are sore.

Mostly I'm just pacing the floors, trying VERY VERY hard to be positive. The 2nd time around this is much more emotional, and hard I have to say.

Blood work on August 3rd ~ 5 MORE LONG DAYS!! :eek:

[amychris03]

islandgirlsj
I told ya your butt would hurt soon enough ;) Hey, I
had those twinges/pulls too and look how well that turned out!

[islandgirlsj]

Amy...
Really, you had those twinges???
That makes me feel better, like at least they are normal.

I can only hope it turns out as good as you!! :p :) :D ;)

[kat]

Folks, just FYI, I’m going to be laying low in this (and all CC) threads for a while. I’ve been having some mental and emotional difficulties re: this pregnancy (ones that I hope are purely hormonal, but not fun to deal with nevertheless), and at the suggestion of some of the people I love most, I am trying to stop thinking about All Things Baby for a while. That includes giving up posting & reading the boards here. :( I’ll probably lurk every now & then, but am going to try to keep my access to a minimum for a few weeks. When I get through this period, I’ll probably do a better job of explaining how I feel – and I’d like to do that for any other moms-to-be out there who might be reading this and who are dealing with similar feelings.

Anyway, I wish you all the best for the next few weeks. Good luck to everyone who's cycling, or will be cycling in the near future!!!

[islandgirlsj]

Kat ~
Take good care of yourself Hun, and we will all be sending our love and support.
(( hugs ))

[alo]

Help. My nurse just called and said they're a little concerned because my estrogen level is a bit low. It's only 42. If I have 10 follicles, shouldn't it be like 1000? I don't know.

So I'm to stop lupron, and up my follistim. Hopefully that'll do it.

Can anybody let me know what their estrogen level was at that first b/w appt. (the first one AFTER the lupron eval, I mean)? And if I should be concerned?

[angelgirl8]

kat...take care of yourself, okay?

alo...i think there's a huge range of e2 numbers depending on follicle size and number and the person, but here were my numbers after 3 days of stimming:

IVF#1: 191
IVF#2: 73

hope that helps!

[amygrrl]

hey chicas... well, i took the new job. the offer is 'in the mail'. my last day at my old job was today and then i'll start the new job on the 8th... actually, i'm totally psyched. it's way more familiy friendly and it's with what is considered a pretty cool company... (hint... may the force be with you)...

so now we are just trying to decide when to start the bcp's for ivf. af should be here in a week or so and then i'll have my day 3 b/w. i could start bcps in 2-3 weeks then and the retrieval would be in late sept, but i'm thinking we'll wait one more cycle out and start bcps in early/mid sept instead... i'm anxious to start the process again, but i want my body to heal completely and i want to lose a little more weight. i dunno.

---------------------------------------------------------
alo - i wish i could help you. i was a really bad ivf patient the first time around and didn't keep track of any of my numbers!

kat - take good care of you and the babies!

islandgirlsj - when i was preggers with avery, i was twingy and crampy up until about 10 weeks.

gotta run but i'll come back to finish s/o's....

[sandybride]

Hi ladies! I'll be here more often now because I have a break from work this month. You are all so great. It's a big comfort to read about your stories. There is so much I can identify with. It's hard to know where to start.

KAT: I want to wish you well and send you HUGS. I need to read back and find out exactly what your story is, but I totally understand the need for a break. Sometimes it's the best thing you can do. To take your mind off of things and just be "You" again is so important and necessary for your overall health and in the long run for TTC. I hope the break does good things for you.

AUSMARCHBRIDE: To answer your question...DH really hates the idea of all these drugs going through me. He's convinced they are going to give me cancer and although I've encouraged him to read up about it, he just hates the idea of it. I think it's been especially hard for him to see me dealing with side effects. I had moderate OHSS with our first IVF attempt and had to cancel the transfer, which is why I'm doing FET now. He found it really unpleasant to do the pio shots and worries about the health of these little embies...with drugs, freezing...etc. If I know my DH, however, he will go for another round if I really want to. For now, we are hoping one of these three embies will take so that we don't have to make that decision.

I started lupron on Friday and I think the SE are worse this time. Last time I had some night sweats and hot flashes. But this weekend added nausea, dizziness and headaches. Yuck....

[CapeCod04]

Well I've finally started the meds. My husband is dreading the mood swings - I had some pretty good ones when I was on gonal-f for our IUI attempts! I started with lupron last night. So far, so good - only a bit of a headache. I am not looking forward to the inevitable bloating. I am going to try and get back to healthy eating (haven't done well since we moved last week) and going for walks. I go for b/w and u/s on Wednesday. I'm impressed with those of you who know your hormonal levels! I never kept track. I only kept track of the follicles and their size.

[AusMarchBride]

Capecod Congrats on finally starting your meds, it's nice to feel you're under way. I didn't ever ask about my levels while cycling (which is strange seeing as I'm a bit of a control freak :rolleyes: ) only follies and their size. Good luck and hope the mood swings don't hit you too badly.

sandybride I'm sorry your DH is so worried about the side effects, it must be adding to the stress. I hope for you this FET does the trick and so it is not necessary to go back again. Maybe if that becomes necessary, your DH could speak to one of the REs about his fears. Sometimes, an expert viewpoint can help. I hope the side effects ease off and the filthy headache goes away quickly and try and enjoy the break from work.

amygrrl Congrats on the new job. If I read correctly between the lines, you'll soon be saying I Love My job (the capital letters?) :D

alo Can't help you, I never asked what my estrogen levels were. Hopefully the change in drug levels they advised will do the trick.

kat I hope the break from here will do the trick for you, but you'll be missed. I read in another thread that you are off to Ireland, so I hope that you have a great trip. Sending you hugs, and if you want to email someone about the problems, feel free to drop me a line. Take it easy and look after yourself and we'll welcome you back here whenever you're ready.

islandgirl Not to get your hopes up, but I had those twinges/pulling feeling in my 2ww, but only in this positive cycle, not in the unsuccessful one.
Only 2 days more to wait, have my fingers crossed for you. :)

amychris Hope all is well with you, and you enjoy your ultrasound today (it's already Monday here :) ).

Hi to everyone else, hope life is treating you well and your weekend is a good one.

CVS for me on Wednesday, am not too nervous about it yet, which is totally weird for me :rolleyes: Otherwise all going well except for the evil morning sickness. I got some drugs for that on Friday, absolute waste of time. So I'm not taking them anymore.

[alo]

Well, this morning didn't go all that well at my monitoring appt.

I'm on day 6 of stims, and I only had 6 measurable follicles. Four of them were between 10 and 11 mm. Because I'm doing the preimplantation genetic diagnosis, and I have a specific day in which we've reserved lab time, we don't have time for things to grow on their own time. These follicles only have 6 days to grow 7 mm.

Besides that, I'm supposed to have 12 follicles before they'll go forward with the retrieval at all. Because I need 6 to fertilize before they'll do the pgd, they want at least 12 eggs to start out with. I only have 6 to begin with.

So, all of that on top of my low estrogen numbers - I fully expect the call from my nurse this afternoon to be the one saying my cycle is canceled.

My husband is telling me not to get ahead of myself, but let's be realistic. It doesn't look good.

[islandgirlsj]

Alo ~
I'm sorry to hear about your appt. :( I can imagine how dissapointing that would be! We go through so much, and the dates are always so tight, and when things just don't go as planned, it is hard to just stop and have to think about starting all over. My love and support goes out to you Hun.

AusMarchBride ~
Hey Mamma! :D I'm sorry that you are still feeling sick, and that the pills did not help you any. Ugh.. that is just horrible! Glad to hear that you are hanging in there though!

Thanks for letting me know that you too, had the twinges, cramp thingies. I have been keeping hope that this is a good sign, but let me tell ya... I'm still freaked each day wondering, is this good.... is this not. I don't FEEL pregnant... I feel pregnant. This didn't work AGAIN.... I think this did work this time!

I tell ya.. I'm a freak. :cool: :rolleyes: :eek: :D
I just want to DEFINATELY feel something, and I know there is nothing.
3 more days... I can make it.

Jad ~
How you hanging in there hun? I hope your doing okay. What is your next step? Have you already made a follow up appt with the Dr?
(( hugs ))

CapeCod04~
Yay for starting Meds. If that can actually be said in one sentence! Hahaa..
I'm sorry that your husband is ALREADY worrying about your mood swings, but tell him that is HIS part of this deal, you go through all the drugs, appts. and hopefully pregnancy and birth, and he gets to deal (happily, and nicely) with your moods! Heh!

sandybride~
I'm sorry to hear your side effects from Lupron are already kicking in, and are worse this time. I tell you, that drug ought to be banned!
I completley understand your husbands concern about all the drugs, but he should be comforted by the fact that this is not something your doing for a prolonged period of time, and that short term, there should be no worry at all.
My husband is only freaked about giving me the PIO shot each night because he can't stand to see how much it bothers me, and well... it does hurt Man.
Anyhow.. good luck Hun.

amygrrl~
Congrats on taking your new job!!! It sounds like you are really happy and excited about it, and that is wonderful!

amychris ~
Hope all goes well with your ultra sound today. Come back and let us know how your doing!

*whew* did I get everyone? I hope so. This thread moves so fast!

I'm doing "okay". Just a freak these days, but then the wait does this to us all. Just keeping hoping that THIS time, I will get lucky and things will be postiive.

:: hugs :: all around, and hope you all had a good weekend.

[islandgirlsj]

Jan1902 ~ Sometimes I just cannot believe I am doing this for the 3rd time, it seems insane.

I'm scared of this thought... terrified that I may be that in a few days!! :eek:

You hang in there... and just keep postive that the change in drugs and what not is going to be the right balance this time, and that this will be the LAST time you go through this!!

(( SQUEEZE )))

(oh, and yes, I am rather lucky, my RE does test earlier than the 2 ww wait everyone else seems to do, I'm not sure why. :confused:

[islandgirlsj]

Okay, I'm feeling rather worried now.
My little twinges/cramps, this afternoon have turned into feeling more like I'm getting ready to start my period.
My stomach is bloated... and I'm not feeling good about this at all.
:( :( :(

I can't stand the thought that this didn't work again.
I can't even call the Dr. I don't want to know what they might think. :(

[amychris03]

cross posted from the March Mommas thread!
Awww, I just love our baby! We went to the drs appointment today
and everything went great. Baby is measuring 5mm, which is right
where it should be for 6w1d. And, we got to see and hear the heartbeat!!!
It was really amazing to watch, which made me get all teary-eyed. I know
you read in all of the books that the heartbeet starts in the fifth week, but
to see that little heart beating is just the coolest thing. Heartbeat was
130bpm, which the dr also said was good. We go back Monday, 8/8 for our final ultrasound with the RE and get released to a regular OB. And also I will
hopefully be able to stop PIO then and do the progesterone suppositories.

---
kat
Take care sweetie! I hope Ireland is just the relaxing getaway you need :)

amygrrl
Congrats on the new job! It sounds like you will be very happy!

Sandybride
Sorry the Lupron isn't treating you well this time. Hang in there!

Capecod04
Glad the lupron is going ok for you so far! Don't worry, I never even
asked for my hormone levels as long as they say everything looks good ;)

AusMarchBride
Sorry the morning sickness is still around. What drug did you get and why
dont you like it? Good luck with the CVS Wednesday!

Alo
Im so glad that things worked out and they aren't going to cancel
the cycle!! YAY!

islandgirlsj
Don't get discouraged yet! Crampy is ok as long as there is no
bleeding involved and PIO can definitely cause bloating! Hang
in there!

Jan1902
Lets hope the third time is a charm ;) Interesting how different
places do different things...

Hi to everyone else!! :)

[CapeCod04]

Alo I'm sorry things aren't looking good for this cycle.

AusMarchBride Good luck with the test!

IslandGirl It's hard to stay positive, but don't count yourself out yet.

Jan Maybe third time's the charm?

So for me - I can feel the emotions being a little out of control. DH worries because last time I went off on this horrendous crying jag one night. I couldn't stop. I wonder why the lupron doesn't come in a pen. I hate having to measure it. I have short-arm disease and I can't see the stupid numbers on the syringe without my reading glasses! As if I didn't feel old enough already!

[AusMarchBride]

Capecod I'm sorry to hear the emotions are getting to you, but you know it's completely normal don't you. Hope you're settling into your new home ok.

amychris Sorry the morning sickness is still around. What drug did you get and why I was given Maxolon (an anti-nausea drug). The reason I don't like it is that it doesn't work :mad: Doesn't even take the edge off my nausea. So I stopped taking it as it's not doing anything so why take it :rolleyes: Glad to hear your final RE appt went beautifully and I hope they let you stop taking the PIO next week.

islandgirl My little twinges/cramps, this afternoon have turned into feeling more like I'm getting ready to start my period. All this can happen, whether you are pregnant or not, so don't read anything into it. All these things can be side effects of progesterone. Try not to punch me as I say this, but really, the only absolute sign is a negative test. Hang in there, we're cheering for you.

Jan1902 I always remember a saying an old boss of mine had (she'd been on too many of those group huggy management conferences) and whenever she said this, all her staff wanted to tie her to a chair and beat the living daylights out of her. Nevertheless, I'll repeat her saying which was "If nothing changes, nothing changes". So although you may want to hit me, the fact that you have a new clinic who is doing something different may do the trick for you. Keep your chin up, we're cheering for you too.

alo I'm sorry your follie count was not as high as you'd like, but I hope they don't cancel your cycle. Is there no way they can rearrange the lab times? I know estrogen level isn't a guaranteed indicator of follies/eggs because with my 2nd cycle, I had great estrogen levels (above 8000) but they only got 2 eggs. Jad posted a message to me on the old WC thread when it looked like my cycle was going to be cancelled that really gave me a giggle, I hope it does for you. Message is "I'm keeping my fingers crossed that your ovaries figure out what's good for them and do what they're supposed to. Otherwise, they're gonna have to answer to us. And it won't be pretty. :D "

Hi to everyone else I haven't mentioned, sending you all hugs and good thoguhts and wishes.

CVS tomorrow for me, we can apparently pay extra ( :rolleyes: ) and get a quick answer on some of the major things they test for. Which we'll probably do if it's not too expensive. Talk about rip-off the patients who just want peace of mind.

[Sidsou]

Hi all! Just a quick drive by post to say hello and I'm thinking of you all while I lurk and read here :)

Ann Nothing ever seemed to cure the morning sickness for me either. I just looked at it as an excuse to take it easy and rest more. Some people claimed that the sea sickness bracelets worked for them and that crystallized ginger (or any form of ginger) helped. I never really found anything - it did subside for me a few weeks into my 2nd trimester. Warning though - morning sickness can come back in the 3rd trimester but it wasn't as bad and then I ended up taking Benadryl (very low dose and plain type - it's safe in the 3rd trimester, my sis had to take it to stop early contractions) for some bad seasonal allergies, but it also helped a ton with the morning sickness then. Not sure if any of this helps! I guess think of it as an indication of a healthy pregnancy :D

Jan I'm so excited for you to be stim:ing already!! I'm way behind you. I still haven't gotten AF after my Clomid challenge. I'm over a week late, but that's not unusual for me after taking Clomid. The doctor's office where you are going really tries to err on the under stimulation side choosing quality vs quantity. They will up your meds if they think they need to. I remember for me they were just aiming for 10 eggs, but I only ended up with 8 (but it worked!). BTW - We were down in your neck of the woods on Saturday. I forget how beautiful it is down there :)

CapeCod I hear you on the emotional rollercoater! I've been terrible lately. I sometimes feel sorry for our DHs to have to deal with us during all of this, but I think they still have it easy!

AmyChris Isn't it amazing!! You will be shocked over the months to see how big your baby will get and all the things you'll be able to see. Congrats again!!

Island This is the toughest part! Fingers and Toes and everything else crossed for you!!

[Jad]

Just a drive-by to say "hi." I'm still feeling really down. Depressed, actually. But, sadly, that's nothing terribly new. And unfortunately, I'm a lot less amusing when I feel this way. So I'm just lurking at the moment. But I've got my fingers crossed for everyone else.

[amychris03]

Jad
(((hugs))) . I don't think there is anything I can say or do to make you
feel better, but just wanted you to know that you are in my thoughts.
Take care!

[islandgirlsj]

Sidsou ~ I hear you on the emotional rollercoater! I've been terrible lately. I sometimes feel sorry for our DHs to have to deal with us during all of this, but I think they still have it easy!
YES THEY DO!!! :cool:
Every time my husband looks at me like I might be a bad clone of his wife, I remind him that HE is the one giving me the shots, which cause me to act this way, so DEAL. :D Hahaa.

Thanks for all the support ladies.
I'm actually feeling better today, bloating gone, and back to just the twinges I had been having....... but the BIGGEST change was last night, my family was having this lemon cake, and just the smell of it made me run for the restroom. :eek:

So I'm back to being cautiously optimistic..... but hopeful.
(then again, check with me this afternoon, and I'll probably be sobbing that I'm not :rolleyes: :p )

[mrselle]

I feel like I'm so far behind.

kat, take care of yourself.

alo, hope things turn around for the better. Thinking of you.

amygrrl, congrats on the new job!!!

AusMarchBride, Jan1902, Jad, hope everythingis going well.

amychris03, glad to hear all is well with you and your little one.

Sandybride and CapeCod04, I understand about the moodswings. I thought I was doing ok until Sunday night when DH told me that I had been snappy all day. Since then I've been depressed. This morning on my way to work I just wanted to cry. I've had this mildly annoying headache since last night and I all I want to do is get in the bed and pull the covers over my head.

QUESTION: After starting lupron when did AF arrive? I started lupron last Tuesday and aside from some cramping yesterday and today there is no sign of her.

[Astro]

AusMarchBride I hope everything went well with your tests and you can rest easy. :)

(sorry, that's all I have time for now)

[CapeCod04]

As someone who is about to turn 44, I can attest to the fact that IVF is a huge deal! I'm lucky my doctor would even do it with me. The success rates are so much lower, they don't usually do it. They say they don't want to get patients hopes up and waste money. I think it's also that they don't want to bring down the practice's success rate! Anyway - my doctors made it very clear that these celebs having babies after age 40 likely had donor eggs. So sure - it's going to be easy for Kelly Preston - she won't be doing all of the drugs we're doing.

[AusMarchBride]

And lastly can I just state my need to kick both John Travolta and Kelly Preston in the teeth right now, assuming that what I read about them is true - - apparently they told NBC they'd like to have a 3rd child (they have 2 healthy kids already) but as she is 44 they would probably do it via IVF, as it's 'no big deal now.' Yeah, it's so easy to do IVF, a real walk in the park . . . rant over now!

Good grief, what a stupid stupid pair they are :mad: Words fail me.

mrselle Sorry your DH said you were snappy, it never helps to hear it. Hope the headache goes away. Although the emptional upheaval makes you feel crappy, remember, it's mostly if not all, caused by the drugs. Sending you hugs. Sorry I can't answer your question, I didn't take Lupron.

alo Just wondering how you are going and what news of your cycle?

islandgirl I have my fingers well and truly crossed for you. It's the afternoon of the 3rd here, sheesh, can't you tell the REs office you work on Australian time?

Jad Sending you many hugs and I hope the depression eases quickly.

Sidsou Warning though - morning sickness can come back in the 3rd trimester Thanks for the heads up. Although today, maybe because I was worrying about the CVS, I have felt less nauseous than normal. Hoping AF arrives at your doorstep soonish ;)

Hi to everyone else.

Thanks to Jan1902, Astro, Capecod and everyone for their good wishes for CVS. I'm back at home (on sort of rest with just a little CC time ;) It seems to have all gone ok, and I'm not having any cramping or spotting which is a good sign. I get some preliminary results in 24 hrs on 5 major extra chromosome tests they do (Downs Syndrome, Trisomy 18 and 3 other ones about which I have no idea), and then 2 weeks for the full chromosomal tests where they check everything.

[amychris03]

Ann
Glad things went so well!! That is amazing that you get the
results back so quickly!!! Rest up :)

[alo]

Sorry it's taken me so long to get back here, but I have good news. :)

My cycle has not been canceled, and it looks like everything is right on target. The u/s tech who was so disappointed in my progress was way off base.

As of my monitoring appt. this morning (day 8 of stims):
- I have 8 follicles that are 12 mm or better (with one being 13 mm and one being 15 mm - I heard something about the 15 mm one being something to worry about though. Is that because it's so much bigger than all the others?)
- My lining is 7.2. (Is this good?)

So now I just wait to hear about my estrogen level and find out if they need to tweak my meds. And then supposedly I start going every day for u/s and b/w from here on out.

Does anybody know how to order more meds? My nurse ordered them for me, so now I don't know if I need her to order more or whether I do it myself. But unless they decrease my amount of follistim, I'm going to run out in 3 days (which will not get me to Sunday!). Just wondering if anybody knows, I'll ask my nurse this afternoon when she calls.

mrselle: I didn't get AF until the day after my lupron evaluation (and I was supposed to be on day 2 of my cycle by that point, so she was definitely running late, but they said it was no big deal). Anyway, that would mean that AF arrived on my 8th day of taking lupron. I think.

[amychris03]

Alo
I had one guy that was growing a bit bigger than the rest, and all
my RE said about it was that it may be over-mature by the time the
rest were ready for retrieval. I presume that happened for a couple of
them because a couple days before Retrieval I had 12 that she thought
she would get, and we only ended up with 10. I just ordered my meds
myself (as they all had refills) as I needed it. In fact we got a sheet of
paper that said "It is your responsibility to refill your medications as needed."
You can always ask to make sure though, as different places do different
things!

[islandgirlsj]

Fate Sealed.
Blood Given.
Have to wait until 3:00 ish THIS AFTERNOON for results! :eek: :eek:

*sigh*

[islandgirlsj]

This I'm posting, because it has been a question asked a lot, and thought it was good information.

*~*~*~
Pregnancy hCG Beta Chart

Human Chorionic Gondaotropin (hCG) is the "pregnancy hormone" that keeps the corpus luteum producing progesterone when conception occurs. It is this hormone that is measured by Home Pregnancy Tests (HPTs). An hCG beta blood test is much more sensitive than an HPT, and can detect pregnancy as early as 10 days after fertilization.

As a general rule, hCG beta numbers should double every two to three days. However, if you have been given an hCG injection (Profasi, Pregnyl) to trigger ovulation or to lengthen the luteal phase of your cycle, trace amounts can remain in your system as long as ten days after your last injection, and give a false positive on a pregnancy test. Two consecutive quantitative hCG beta blood tests can circumvent this problem. If the level increases by the second test, you are likely to be pregnant.

An hCG level of less than 5 mIU/ml generally indicates you are not pregnant.

Week from the Last Menstrual Period (LMP) Amount of hCG in mIU/ml
Week 3 Amount of hCG in mIU/ml 5 - 50
Week 4 Amount of hCG in mIU/ml 4 - 426
Week 5 Amount of hCG in mIU/ml 19 - 7,340
Week 6 Amount of hCG in mIU/ml 1,080 - 56,500
Week 7 Amount of hCG in mIU/ml 8 7,650 - 229,000
Week 9 Amount of hCG in mIU/ml 12 25,700 - 288,000
Week 13 Amount of hCG in mIU/ml 16 13,300 - 254,000
Week 17 Amount of hCG in mIU/ml 24 4,060 - 165,400
Week 25 Amount of hCG in mIU/ml 40 3,640 - 117,000

Pregnant women usually attain serum concentrations of 10 to 50 mIU in the week following conception. A max is reached by the second to third month, followed by a decrease in the third trimester.

Taken from:Newly Pregnant (http://www.inciid.org/printpage.php?cat=newlypreg&id=241 )

[amychris03]

islandgirlsj
Fingers crossed for ya! How are you feeling today?

[islandgirlsj]

Thanks Amy. :)
Feeling???? NERVOUS. :eek: :p :rolleyes: (and scared as well)

[Jad]

island 3pm Eastern? Central? Mountain? Pacific?

It's gonna be mighty uncomfortable to sit here on pins and needles with all my appendages crossed. :p

alo - Glad to hear the threat of cancellation is past and that things are on track. Let's hope they stay that way. And that you get to avoid the evil tech from here on out.

Jan - How much longer until ER? Shouldn't that be coming up soon?

Ann/Spaldo - Looking forward to hearing the good results!

[alo]

Keeping my fingers crossed for you, islandgirlsj!

[angelgirl8]

stopping in quickly to say:

alo...so glad your cycle wasn't canceled!

islandgirl...waiting anxiously for your results!!

hi to everyone else!

[alo]

Jan: Why the sugar-free ones? And are they any good?

[islandgirlsj]

:D :D
I DID IT!
PREGGERS at Last!!
:D :D

Hcg Level 42.5
:D :D

[amychris03]

WOOOHOOOO!!!! :D Congratulations islandgirlsj !!!!!! YAY!

[Jad]

island Great news! I really did think it was going to happen for you this time, but I know how hard it can be to get your hopes up. So hooray that it really did work! So happy for you. :D

[Suzlywoozly]

Island- YIPPPPPPEEEEEE! Congratulations! :D That is fantastic news!

Went to the RE's today for my "nurse talk." We went over every little detail and we are on track for moving forward. They are hoping AF will show since I haven't stopped bleeding from when I m/c almost 5 weeks ago. The provera should have brought on AF, but nothing yet. I'm not too worried... my hormones are ragging, my face is breaking out and I've got the worst cramps ever! All signs she is on her way :D. I never thought I'd be so happy to see her show. If everything goes as planned, they think the retrieval will be September 14th. G*d, that seems so far away. After leaving there today, my mind has been put at ease about the whole thing. She showed me the follistim pen and the lupron injections. Needles aren't as bad as I thought.

Anyways, be back for some s/o's later.

[amygrrl]

yippeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! for little miss island

and yes i love my new job!

trying to keep track of everyone, but i'm on a new med that makes me sleepy as anything so i've spent a lot of time napping this week. but i AM lurking and reading along.

gotta sit down with the hubby tonight and map out when we should do the next ivf b/c it looks like he might be out of town the first week of october and we need to make sure he won't be 'needed' then!

much love to all my homies at the IVF thread....

PS - is it wrong for me to want to be Jude Law's nanny????

[Scooter]

delurking to say

Congrats, Islandgirl!! :D :D

[islandgirlsj]

Thank you all sooooooo MUCH!! :D

I could not have even TRIED to do this without this wonderful board, and all of you guys cheering me on, and knowing so well what I was going through.

I just can not even begin to express the RELIEF I feel right now. :p
I was scared to death all day waiting for that phone call... SCARED TO DEATH, and then when I got the "congratulations", well it was just a surreal moment.
Even my RE nurse was crying. Hahaaa.

I get to go back friday for more blood, and we all know that this is such an early stage anything can happen, but I'm feeling postive once again.... for the first time in a long time.

LOVE YOU ALL!
:D

[AusMarchBride]

islandgirl CONGRATULATIONS That's fantastic news. I'm so so happy for you. Now you get to stress some more with the wait for the next beta, then the u/s and then..... It doesn't stop :D

Scooter Nice to see you, how are things going with you?

amygrrl That's wonderful that you are enjoying your new job. much love to all my homies at the IVF thread Don't think I've ever been called a homie before, or that I even know what it is. I'm assuming it's a good thing ;)
PS - is it wrong for me to want to be Jude Law's nanny???? Hehehe

Suzly Glad you are feeling better about the needles. Those pens are really simple to use. Sending you "AF hurry up" vibes.

Jad Can I just say I crack up every time I see your avatar, I love it :D

Jan1902 whenever I visit Australia someday - I can get off the plane and yell 'Greetings, Ozzies!" like a real native Good stuff, but you need to say "Gidday" not greetings. And gidday is pronounced GIDA, not gooday. Yes, my estrogen was over 8000, but it may be measured differently here, metric and imperial and all that stuff. They weren't at all concerned and my clinic is fairly conservative so I'm sure it is measured differently.

Hi to angelgirl, amychris, alo and I'm sure I've left people out but hi to you as well. I'm sitting here trying to pass the time before I ring for my CVS results so my brain is a little wobbly. The actual CVS was fine, no bleeding or spotting so far and the risk period is the first 36hrs and I'm up to 24 already so that's a good sign.

[AusMarchBride]

I wanted to post a link to this site, maybe when islandgirl has managed to get her feet back on the ground :D she could put it at the front of the thread.

Beta Doubling TIme Calculator (http://ivfer.com/hcg.htm)

It's a site where you can plug in your beta levels and calculate the doubling time.

[Klo.]

Just a quick fly-by...

Congrats Island!!!!! Awesome news. Love it. :D

[Scooter]

AusMarchBride, I'm ok, thanks for asking. :) Our last letrozole cycle was a bust, and tonight I just had my 7th and last Bravelle shot. Trigger tomorrow night, IUI Saturday. Only 2 follies and I've found out I have a polyp. I'm thinking this last IUI is also going to be a bust. Next month I'm going in for another saline sonogram & a hysteroscopy, and then I'll have my first IVF cycle probably Oct/Nov.

[Suzlywoozly]

I'm happy to report AF is here!!!! At least she could have waited until later today to make her appearance, instead of 1:30 in the morning. Figures.... I asked for it!

I am so pissed at MIL again (what's new? :rolleyes:) We went to dinner with them last night and they are really pressuring us to know when we are going to finish the bathroom - we are in the middle of remodeling. We keep telling her that we have it taken care of. So finally at dinner when she asked for the 100th time, DH told her that we have more important things on our plate and that one of those things is way more important than getting the bathroom done, besides it takes 3 weeks to special order everything and DH doesn't have the time in the next 6 weekends to get it done. She and FIL tell us "well you've waited three years to get PG, we can't see why you can't wait longer & finish the bathroom now :mad:. I was so ticked off at her comment! Then to make matters worse, I mentioned something about getting a pedicure. She stops me in the middle of the conversation, asks how much I pay and how often I go to get one. I knew where she was going with this, so I lied and told her $16.00. She has the balls to tell me, "well you expect my son to make sacrifices for you to get pg, then start painting your own toenails and save the money!" FIL chimes in that if I go every month, that's X amount of money we could be saving per year. First of all, it's really none of her business how we spend our money, second of all going to get a pedicure is my own little way of relaxing and it's not like I go every week & the third thing is that I only get them done in the spring/summertime. DH doesn't understand why I got upset and tells me on the way home, he didn't realize that I spent $16.00 on a pedi. If he only knew... it's was more like $30.00 :rolleyes:. I don't understand why I have to always explain myself to these people! Come to think of it, I think I'll go get a pedicure today ;) Sorry for the long rant... The AF hormones must be getting the best of me!

AusMarchBride- Looks like you "hurry up AF vibes" worked! THANKS!!! I'm glad to hear the CVS went well. I'm sure the results are going to be fine. It's always the waiting which is the hardest.

Alright I have to go back to bed!!

[alo]

Morning ladies. Nothing new here. Just waiting til tomorrow and my next monitoring appt. Fun stuff. I cannot BELIEVE that retrieval is going to be on Sunday. I am torn between being unbelievably excited and terribly scared (not of the actual procedure, just of what comes after it).

islandgirlsj: Congratulations!!! I am so so so glad that it was good news. You must be over the moon!

suzlywoozly: Oh man, your inlaws sound awful. I'm sorry you have to put up with this.

As for the retrieval being so far away - I know, it's SO hard to wait! Since we're doing pgd, we had to wait 3 months to start our cycle. But once you start doing the injections, the time just seems to fly, and it'll be here befor you know it!

The injections really are so much easier than I imagined. I usually have pretty severe reactions to medication, and I have handled these just fine. And the actual injections just become part of your day, like brushing your teeth! It's crazy how scared I was at the beginning, and how it's no big deal now! (until the PIO shots, but let's not talk about those).

AusMarchBride: When do you get your CVS results?

Can you explain what you mean by "risk period"? I haven't looked into CVS or amnio at all, so if you can shed some light on that, I would appreciate it.

[islandgirlsj]

AusMarchBride ~ Thank you! :D I'm still feeling pretty sky high happy, but I did post your link on the first page. It is a cool link.
I'm thinking I will begin to add more helpful sites there as well, so if you have any more you like, please let me know.

So happy you doing well since your CVS. I know it can be a scary thing, and I'm not really looking forward to that either. The things we do Huh! :rolleyes:

Klo.~ THANK YOU. How are you doing??

Scooter ~
Wow, I didn't realize you were already to the trigger stage. I'm sorry you are not feeling to confident about it right now... but you NEVER EVER know what might happen, look at me! I'm keeping you in my thoughts!


Suzlywoozly ~
::YIKES:: with your In-laws! Sheesh! It really is NONE of their business how much you spend on getting a frigging pedicure! And what is worse, is that WHY does it bother them so much that the bathroom is not done? They are not living with you right, so what the heck. You guys will finish it when you have time to. Ugh... I feel for you. Take care of yourself though Hun, don't let them get to you at this stage!
Glad that Aunt Flo has finially arrived, and you can move on.
(( HUGS ))

alo ~
Thank you!!
Wow, already retrieval for you as well! How time has flown! I keep thinking you had time to go!
Well... as nervous as I know you feel, remember to rest as much as possible, and take things very easy after your retrieval. You will not feel good for a least a day, so just try to pamper yourself. Keeping you in my thoughts as well!

~*~*~
So as HAPPY as I am, I do need to keep in mind how early this all is, and that I still need to take things very easy and hope that my numbers continue to double. I will be there donating blood tomorrow, and also going over with the nurse our drug routine, to make sure we are still doing the same thing. Have to say I'm not thrilled at 3 months :eek: of PIO shots, but if it keeps baby in there nicely, then I'm happy to have my sore butt.

Thank all of you again, for all your support!!

(oh, and I would like to create more of a reference on the first page, so if any of you have used, or read other helpful IVF sites, please let me know, and I will add them.)

[mrselle]

islandgirlsj, Congratulations!!!!! I am so happy and excited for you.

Suzlywoozly, your in-laws sound like a piece of work. You should start getting pedicures AND manicures. ;)

alo, Wow, I can't believe your retrieval is Sunday. I'll be thinking of you.

Hugs and kisses to everyone else. :)

~~~

AF is here and I start stimming tonight. Things are moving right along now!

[angelgirl8]

islandgirl...huge congratulations!!!

amygrrl...so glad you love your new job!

ann...you get those results?

i swear that's all i can keep in my head right now...i'm such a crappy replier, but i promise i'm always reading along. always.

[kat]

Drive by (practically on my way out the door to Ireland...) to wish islandgirl a massively huge CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!!!! Such wonderful, wonderful news!!!

(and to tell Ann that I am anxious to hear your CVS results, too -- ours is scheduled for 8/16).

Good luck/happy cycling to everyone else!!!

[Astro]

Islandgirl CONGRATULATIONS! I'm so happy for you. :) The PIO shots don't always go the first three months. Depends on the Dr's. My RE had me doing progesterone until 12 weeks (this coming sunday, not that I'm counting down the days). I think AusMarch and angelgirl got off theirs earlier. Don't worry if your beta's don't always double. Mine doubled once, but didn't quite double the next time... and the kids are fine. Could you please add my EDD to the front page? It's 2/18/2006 (but the kids will probably arrive early). Also here are a couple neat links
http://www.ivf.ca/calcu.htm IVF Pregnancy Due Date and Timeline Calculator
http://www.ivfer.com/pg_calc.htm IVFer's Pregnancy Calculator Page (includes includes embryo measurements, heartrates, and fetal weights)

AusMarchBride Congratulations to you too! That's great news about the test results. :)

angelgirl8 Sorry to hear about your hyperthyroidism. Hope it's all fixed with some meds. I've got hypothyroidism (opposite of you). I've had it for a few years and it's controlled by an itty bitty pill every day. My Dr's all say as long as it's under control, it's not a problem during pregnancy. Hope your m/s gets better soon.

alo Good luck with your retrieval. We'll be thinking about you and hoping for great eggs. :)

mrselle Good luck with stimming tonight. Now the fun really begins

Jad Hope you're feeling ok. I've been thinking about you a lot lately. Sending icecream sandwich thoughts your way.

Suzlywoozly I think your in-laws are getting plenty of smacking thoughts. ;) They sound like a lot of stress. Congratulations on AF arriving, I think that calls for a pedicure.

kat You probably won't see this until you return, so I hope you had a fabulous time in Ireland.

As for us, still here, counting down the days until Sunday when I can stop the progesterone sups and the climara patches. Still got some spotting, but much less than it used to be. The kids must be growing, because there's no way my stomach would pouch out that much if they weren't in there. ;) They're still on a huge chocolate milk binge every afternoon and now evening. They also like to wake me up for bathroom trips about 3-4 times a night. UGH! I want to sleep through the night. Oh well, I'll gladly take the night-time trips as long as it's for them. I'm lurking often, just don't post much. Talk with you all later. Have a great weekend, we're off for a 3-day weekend at the beach (chilly, WA beach; not sunny CA beach)

[Jad]

Ok. Because I've been getting confused, let me see if I've got this straight.

alo is likely triggering Friday for a Sunday retrieval. Jan is right behind her. mrselle is starting stims tonight and so is next in line. Sandy and capecod are both doing the lupron thing. suzly is just getting her cycle started. And then amygrrl and Scooter and I are bringing up the rear (unless scooter gets lucky next week!)

So who's missing? sidsou aren't you in here somewhere? And what about queen?

astro - I made more ice cream sandwiches last night. Froze five. Ate two. :o (Chocolate milk actually sounds pretty good, too. There's this place in Atlanta that has a drink called P.C. -- Plain Chocolate -- that is chocolate milk over ice and all DH's female relatives go *crazy* for it.)

Ann - Seriously, how do you get your "hurry up AF" vibes to work so well all the well from Melbourne? They worked for me too if I remember correctly. God that seems like it was a long time ago already. <sigh>

[amychris03]

Jad
You make your own ice cream sandwiches? How do you do that? It sounds
so yummy, but I'd have to put chocolate inside, not a big fan of vanilla!

[islandgirlsj]

JAD ~
Great work! I was getting everyone jumbled together as well... and now it is all clear! :D ;)

Ice Cream sandwiches are the best.. THE BEST!
I like making them with BIG chocolate chip cookies and then like cookie dough ice cream. YUP... fat city. Hahaa.. :p

You hang in there darling, you are going to jump back in here as well, and were all gonna be here cheering you on. ::hugs::

mrselle, kat & Astro~
Thank you all for your congrats. :D

mrselle~ good luck starting the stims... things will move along quickly now, I know your going to do great.

Kat ~
You have a great trip, and I hope you are feeling so much better when you return!

Astro ~
YAY for that growing tummy, and also that the spotting has slowed down. That is wonderful news. I can't believe how fast your time is going also!
I updated the 1st page with your sites, thank you!
You take care of those babies now. ;)

amychris03 ~
Ice cream sandwiches are easy. All you need are cookies of your choice & ice cream of your choice. Let the ice cream get a little soft, not to soft though, or it will run everywhere, take two cookies, ice cream in the middle and wrap them with seran wrap, and freeze.
YUMMINESS! :p

[amychris03]

islandgirsj
aah, now I get it, i was envisioning the kind you got at lunch when you
were a kid... MMM, that sounds really good, especially since Chris has
been promising to take me out to ice cream for a week now (we have
two stores 5 mins away) amnd he's always too tired when he gets home.
Hmph! ;)

[Jad]

Finally. Talked to my RE. Which I guess is good, but I'm feeling *so* confused. He said that we can do a fresh cycle or a frozen one. I was leaning toward fresh (try to keep our frozen ones for kid#2 a couple of years down the road, thus giving us both younger eggs and a shot at avoiding a fresh cycle while simultaneously caring for kid#1, which seems like it would be harder than a fresh cycle sans kids) but he seems to think we should do frozen. It's less invasive and there's no use planning for kid#2 when we don't even have kid#1. So I don't know what to do. And DH says it's my call. RE also said I could start BCPs tomorrow if I wanted. I feel really ambivalent about that, too. I'm dying to get this over with. However. I'm not sure I'm ready emotionally. And then there's the whole question of how all this impacts my job/job search. I really really don't know what to do. :confused:

And lastly, (this has nothing to do with being confused, it's just a complaint) I'm just not sure I like him as well as some of the other docs in the practice. He has this weird way of retracting whatever nice things he says that makes me feel crappy. For example, at our registration appointment he was joking about my being young and beautiful and then he said something about how people know he doesn't really mean it when he says that. Ok, so I'm ugly? Thanks. And just now, in talking about my embryos he wouldn't say that they were good, despite the fact that the other doctor (the one that I talked to while this one was out of town) said that the consistency of the embryo quality was unusually good. Instead, my doc just said that he'd "seen worse." :(

Anybody have any wisdom they care to share?

[islandgirlsj]

Hey Jad ~
Just my 'opinion' on the fresh vs frozen.
When our first cycle failed we also talked about doing another retrieval for fresh, only because for some reason I had in my head "Well if the FRESH perfect ones did not work, why would frozen ones?" :cool:

HOWEVER.... what I think, is that this time around, I was not going through the recovery from the retrieval, OHSS, and my body was more ready to accept the transfer.

Of course this just my feelings, and I know that plenty of women get pregant the first time as well....so, well I guess in the end you just have to do what you feel comfortable with.

[Suzlywoozly]

Quick question... The RE is having me do some tests next week which I am kinda scared about. The first one is the saline sonogram and the other is the uterine sounding. Did anybody else have those done? If so, did the RE perform them or did they have someone else do it, like someone else in the office?

I go tomorrow for CD2 b/w (& I threw a pedicure appt. in there too! :D )and then start the b/c pills tomorrow night. I thought since AF showed 6 days earlier than they had planned, everything they told me yesterday was going to screwed up. But our case nurse called back today to tell me everything will stay the same, I will just be on the b/c pills longer. Looks like the retrieval will be the week of September 12th. It hit me like a ton of bricks today when I was writing everything on the calendar, that holy shi*t, I'm really doing this! :eek:

[AusMarchBride]

I'm such an idiot, I forgot to post my results yesterday, and then CC was down for me for 24hrs or so while they did some server upgrade.

My results were fine, they only test for Trisomy 13,18 and 21/Downs Sydnrome, and 2 other fatal genetic syndromes that I can't remember. I was mainly worried about the Downs because of my "advanced maternal age" :rolleyes: I get full results in 2 weeks time, but I'm ok with letting all the friends and rellies (relatives in Aussiespeak ;) ) know I am pregnant.

Shoutouts:

Suzlywoozly Not sure what the sono sounding is, I think it's a routine ultrasound. Saline sonohysterogram is ok, people have different experiences with this. Mine was fine, no pain, just a tad uncomfortable and a little cramping afterwards. Some people have more intense discomfort/pain, especially if the tubes are blocked. I know there's been a couple of threads on it here, I'll see if I can find them and post links. Good for you for having booking a pedicure, your in-laws should be punished by ingrown toenails forever. I always had a pedicure and leg wax before my retrievals, I figure if I was going to be half naked with a number of people staring at my hoohaa, they might as well see non-hairy legs and pretty coloured toenails first :D

Jad You poor thing. There's just so much uncertainty in this IVF stuff, and they always leave the decisions up to us. I sometimes wanted to say "you're the expert, you're the one getting paid thousands of dollars, YOU tell me what we should do. You want to know about futures trading, I'll advise you, but I know squat about IVF so you tell me what you would do in my situation". Anyway, ranting over. Maybe if you can ask the specialist what he would do if you were his wife. The other thing, if I was you I wouldn't worry so much about the eggs for kid number 2 or that you'll be doing fresh cycles while caring for toddler no 1, let's solve one problem at a time. I never really had the decision to make about fresh versus frozen as we only got 1 frozen in the first cycle and none in the second (thanks to my uncooperative left ovary). Ask the doc to give you his clinic's success rates for fresh vs frozen. For me, that would be the bottom line. If their rates are higher for fresh, then do fresh.

Also, re the doc's personality, maybe he's just an idiot and doesn't express himself well. But seriously, challenge him about the egg quality and tell him what the previous docs have said and ask him to explain exactly what he meant. You need to try and resolve some of this because you need to trust him while you're cycling.

alo Can you explain what you mean by "risk period"? I haven't looked into CVS or amnio at all, so if you can shed some light on that, I would appreciate it. Not sure, did you mean risk factor?? I'm happy to explain the risk factors but I'll do it my next post (it'll be a bit of an essay).

Jan1902 Gotta love those ultrasounds You mean dildo-cam?? Delightful ;)

I know I've missed people out but DH is home and I need to get off the computer. Hi to everyone I've missed and thanks for all your good wishes for my results.

Also, big thanks to Jad for posting this alo is likely triggering Friday for a Sunday retrieval. Jan is right behind her. mrselle is starting stims tonight and so is next in line. Sandy and capecod are both doing the lupron thing. suzly is just getting her cycle started. And then amygrrl and Scooter and I are bringing up the rear (unless scooter gets lucky next week!)

[AusMarchBride]

Screening Tests vs CVS vs Amnio

Please note all this is my own understanding and research, please don't take it as definitive medical advice. Ask your doctor what applies to you.

Screening tests= one ultrasound and a blood test. The ultrasound (called the Nuchal Fold Test) measures the thickness of the skin on the back of the foetus' neck. Thicker skin is an indicator of some genetic disorders, especially Down's Syndrome. Blood test measures various proteins etc that are elevated or lowered relative to normal levels which can also indicate genetic disorders. These are only screening tests, and DO NOT give a definitive answer as to whether the baby has a particular disorder. They provide you with a risk factor, upon which you can decide whether or not to go ahead with CVS or amnio to definitively confirm the presence of a disorder.

For example, let's say as a 39 yo woman I have the standard risk of Down's Syndrome of approx 1 in 200. If I do the nuchal fold test and it has good results (low skin thickness) and then the blood test also shows I have normal levels of whatever proteins they test, they may come back and say I have a risk factor of 1 in 1000 after the tests. Or conversely, my nuchal fold test or my blood test or the combination of both, could increase my risk factor to 1 in 80. This is still only a RISK FACTOR it does not give an actual result. Also, these screening tests do carry an increased rate of false positives for twin/triplet etc pregnancies. I could then go ahead and do CVS or amnio to get a definitive answer that Yes or No the baby will have Downs.

CVS is an invasive test that does carry with it a miscarriage risk (approx 1 in 100) but it also does give a definite yes or no answer. This test is usually done around 12 weeks, which is about 4-6 weeks earlier than amnio. I chose to do CVS because if my baby had a serious genetic disorder, we had decided we would terminate the pregnancy. We therefore didn't want to wait until 18 weeks to do amnio. For some women, (including me) the risk of the miscarriage is an acceptable risk compared with finding a definite answer. CVS involves an external ultrasound to determine the location of the placenta. Your abdomen is then swabbed with a sterile solution. Then a local anaesthetic is injected into the stomach, and a hollow needle is inserted through the abdomen into the uterus. (They used to do CVS through the vagina but that has been discontinued. There were also issues with CVS being done at around 8-10 weeks and some evidence of limb deformities resulting from the CVS procedure. These limb problems do not occur as now as the CVS is done a few weeks later in the pregnancy). A thinner needle is then inserted inside the hollow needle and some tissue from the placenta is withdrawn. You feel pressure but no pain. It only takes a minute or so. You then are advised to go home and rest for the rest of the day. The miscarriage risk is generally gone within 48 hrs. You can have spotting/bleeding (the uterus is a bit annoyed with having been punctured and may cramp a little). There is also a risk of uterine/amniotic infection which can cause miscarriage. You can get results after around 10-14 days when they have grown the cells in the lab and then done full genetic tests where they check that all the chromosomes are there and in the right spots etc.

Amnio is very similar to CVS except that it is done later in pregnancy (around 16-18 weeks) and it takes a sample of the amniotic fluid not the chorionic villi which form the placenta. This fluid contains cells from the baby. This is then sent to the lab where the cells are grown and analysed. Amnio has a slightly lower risk factor for miscarriage, around 1 in 200.

Both CVS and amnio have to be done carefully in twin/multiple pregnancies. They need to ensure that, if CVS, the tissue is taken from both/all the placentas, or if amnio, that fluid is taken from both/all the amniotic sacs.

I didn't do the screening tests for a few reasons.

First, I am 39 and therefore my risk factors are already high.
Second, I was adopted at birth and have absolutely no idea about any family genetic issues.
Third, I don't want to know a risk factor, I want a definitive answer. The risk factor they'll give you is, for example, you have a 1 in 2156 chance of a Down's Syndrome baby or a 1 in 3564 chance of a trisomy 18 baby. That's all they tell you.

So DH and I decided to do CVS. We picked this over amnio because CVS can be done earlier. Although CVS doesn't pick up spina bifida and other neural tube defects, a blood test can detect these specific problems at around 16 weeks. So we did CVS. I can get a quick result in 24hrs on the 5 major extra chromosomal problems, and then full results in 2 weeks. My DH and I will terminate the pregnancy if something serious is found to be wrong.

If anyone wants to ask me anything about it, either post here or email me on ausmarchbride@hotmail.com I'd be happy to answer any questions.

[amychris03]

Suzlywoozly
I had a saline sonogram, they basically shoot saline in prior to putting
in the ultrasound wand, which helps them see better if there are any
fibroids/polyps etc obstructing the uterus which would impede with the IVF.
It was just fine, didn't even really have any cramping after the fact that
I remember. I went straight to work! :)

Ann
Glad the preliminary results look good! Congrats :)

Jad
Im not sure i'd be liking those comments either, do you have to use "that"
dr, or since its a practice, can you switch?

Jan1902
ER on Wednesday? That'll be here in no time! :)

alo Good luck this weekend with retrieval!
---
Not much new with me. Had a rather depressing morning. I was doing
my normal babysitting gig, while my friend went to a drs appointment.
I guess at her first ultrasound for new baby, the sac was measuring
small and they didnt see a heart beat. Well, she started having a
miscarriage yesterday and they confirmed it today at the appointment.
I feel so badly for her. I guess the gestational sac is still in there but
now there is nothing inside, so they arent sure if it will completely
resolve on its own or not. So sad.

But anyways, I have my last ultrasound with my RE on Monday,
and get released to my regular OB! And get to stop the PIO shots
(but will be on suppositories still)! As an asside, I read somewhere,
Jan , that tricare doesn't cover ultrasounds in pregnancy
unless medically necessary? WTH? I sure hope these previous
two and the one on Monday were considered necessary!:rolleyes:

[alo]

Another good day at the RE's. My embryos are looking good, and as long as my estrogen is at the right level today (it's been a little low all along), we are GO for retrieval on Sunday. We get to do the trigger shot tonight - I am MORE than a little nervous! :eek:

Here's where my follicles are:
Left: 17.5, 19.2, 16.6, 16.4
Right: 18.2, 18.6, 19.0, 16.1

I am guessing that is good! I had the sweetest u/s tech this morning. She told me how positive this cycle was looking, and then she printed out a copy of the follicle sizes and put it with my things saying "You'll want to make this the first thing in your scrapbook." Now, isn't that the sweetest, most positive thing you could hear?! I adore her.

AusMarchBride: Thanks for posting all that information. I am actually REQUIRED to do cvs or amnio, due to my chromosomal abnormality. Even if they pick out "normal" embryos during the pgd process, people with balanced translocations (me) are more apt to have other chromosomal issues as well. So I must do one or the other. They both sound scary!! :mad:

AmyChris: You can stop the PIO already?! That's awesome! My RE is deadset against progesterone suppositories and it makes me so mad!

Suzlywoozly: I had a saline sonogram too, and it really wasn't any big deal. I think I had like 3 seconds of pressure (almost like a gassy feeling) and that was it. But my RE said that even that was not normal - that you really shouldn't feel anything.

Jad: I can't help with fresh versus frozen. The only thing I know is that one doctor I spoke to said that fresh has better success rates than frozen.

And thanks for posting that timeline of sorts, I was really confused too!!

mrselle: How did the first stims go? I was SO nervous about them, but now they're just old hat!

Jan: When are you triggering?

[Suzlywoozly]

Dang, I just lost my entire post! :mad: Let's try it again...

AusMarchBride - That's great news that the tests came back fine. I think MIL is just jealous because she's too fat to bend over to even cut her nasty toenails and she would never get a pedi because she doesn't like anyone touching her feet. It's too bad because her feet look like they belong on a dinosaur! :eek:

Amy - That is so sad about your friend! I hope your day gets better. Thanks for the info. This is the only thing that is freaking me out.

Alo - Yeah for good follies!! I hope the retrieval goes well. So did you order that cute shirt to wear to the retrieval?? I got mine in the mail the other day... I ordered the largest size but there is no way that it is ever going to fit over my hormonal b :eek: :eek: bs! Good luck on Sunday!!!!

[islandgirlsj]

Dont even know what to say.
RE office just called and said my HCG number dropped to 22.9
:( :(
Said to come back tuesday for another test.
I'm going home now to hide.

I just don't understand. :(

[Jad]

Oh, islandgirl, my heart is just breaking for you. I am so so so sorry, sweetie. I'm crying right along with you. :( :( :( Take good care of yourself this weekend. And next week. And the week after, too, 'cause I know how long it takes to get over this. Many ((hugs)) to you.

[la_bride_2004]

Catching up, because I am done with my finals.

Island Having had this happen to me too, I know there aren't words. Please know I am thinking of you.


Suzly wishing you luck. No, I haven't had those procedures, so no advice!

Alo yaaay for the follices, and curse the lab tech who had you so stressed out.

AmyC yaaay for stopping the progesterone.

Amgg I am so happy to hear your new job is working out!

Jad No advice on the fresh vs. frozen- it's a tough call either way. We elected to do the frozen, and I have to say in all honesty, that it wasn't THAT much less stress and trauma on my system than a fresh cycle, and I had OHSS with the fresh cycle! Depends on your RE's protocol, but for my FET, I was on 20 units of lupron for weeks and I thought my head would split in two from the headaches (damn unsuppressable ovaries) and I had the lovely PIO TWICE a day. Just wanted to throw that out there, because I was under the mistaken belief too that a frozen cycle was so much easier, and it wasn't.

Jan1902, Ann and everyone else Just wanted to wave and say I am thinking of you all.


Me- I am on LJ as "redgemini"- just thought I would post that. We're still waiting, DH has surgery on the 19th, and then we get to wait six more months to see if it helped and figure out our next steps. I am having a hard time with it all, especially since one by one my friends and neighbors are all getting pregnant with ease. Happy for them, sad for me....I'm sure you are all familiar with this song!

[amygrrl]

hey girls.... we need BIG prayers....

so this afternoon i took a HPT since we are heading over to the east bay and i wanted to be able to drink and it came up POSITIVE! i am totally freaking out! we are headed to the dr's office right now to have the blood test and will get the results tomorrow sometime. please keep us in your thoughts!

amy

[amychris03]

islandgirlsj
I'm so sorry, you are in my thoughts. ((hugs))

Amyggrl
Saying a prayer for you to! Wow, was this expected at all? Good luck!

[Jad]

Heading out, but wanted to say I've got you in my thoughts too amygrrl. Big afternoon around here.

[Scooter]

islandgirl, oh no, I'm so sorry. :( I've been following along in this thread so I know the rollercoaster you've been on, I'm just so sorry this is happening to you.

Amy, what amazing news! I'm going to email you right now. Guess we'll have to be having some celebratory virgin drinks tomorrow, eh? ;)

[Suzlywoozly]

Island- I'm so sorry :( I don't even know what to say. I'm thinking positive thoughts for you right now!

Amy- HOLY COW!!! I can't believe it!!!!!!!!!!!! :D Just got your e-mail... you probably aren't going to check in here again, so I will call your cell phone in a little bit. Yes, us three girls are going to have to celebrate tomorrow!!!

Just got back from my heavenly pedicure! I was thinking nasty thoughts of MIL as the chick massaged my feet and legs :D Also went to get cd2 b/w. The lab lady freaked me out when she looked at the lab slip and said "all this!!??" Are you serious... we have to run all of these today?" I thought I was going to pass out when they pulled out 13 vials! I was hoping they weren't going to use them all, but no such luck... she even pulled out another making the total count 14 :eek:

[angelgirl8]

alo...looking good.

amy...sending much love and everything your way. check back in soon! : )

islandgirl...sweetie, i am so sorry. i feel awful for you. take care of yourself, okay?

[amychris03]

I have a question for you pg ladies. I am still SO BLOATED from the
procedure, and you can see on the ultrasound how big my ovaries are. The
dr isnt concerned because most of the cysts on the ovaries have resolved
and they are starting to shrink, but I can't wear any of my pants and I
swear I look PG already, which I totally shouldn't! I dont want to go out
and buy clothes just yet. I guess my question is, will this bloated belly shrink
or what? I currently have like 3 pairs of pants that fit comfortably when
I go back to work.

[amygrrl]

cross posted from SAI...

i thought this was just a rumor or something! needless to say, we are stunned! this is the first time i O'd since we lost avery so we obviously expected nothing. the dr. just called and the first beta at 12dpo is 26.7... not great... but for those of you who remember, my first beta with avery at 11dp3dt was 32 and she grew and grew. so i'm not nearly as freaked out by the number as i would have been before. i'm meeting some of the sai girls for lunch here in the east bay and then heading over to pick up the prescription for the progesterone suppositories. my p level is notoriously low... this time it was 6.9... again, not too worried since i only tested at 9 the first time with avery.

nope... this was VERY unexpected. i have never, to my knowledge, been preggo on my own. in fact, the only time it ever happened was with the ivf w/ avery. right now we are just stunned. as are all the dr's and nurses at the clinic. though they keep saying that you are most fertile right after you have a baby.

beyond that, this is such a miracle that i'm making myself enjoy every minute of it while i can regardless of how long it lasts. gotta run since the girls will be here in a few minutes.

much love!!!!!!

amy

[Sidsou]

I can't believe I'm literally several pages behind reading! You guys are quite the chatters ;)

Island <<<Hugs>>>

Jan I'm so excited for you!!!

Amygrrl Congrats!!!!!!! It is amazing isn't it that sometimes just plain old BD can get the job done!

As for me, I'm still waiting for AF (2 weeks late) after my "Clomid challenge" to check my FSH levels. Clomid did the same thing to me before, so I wasn't surprised when