January Cycle Buddy Group

[pinkgerbil]

I got the call back from the Embryologist, and am kind of bummed. Out of ten eggs, only five fertalised with the ICSI, so I am tentatively going to be doing my transfer on friday. If they still look good on friday, though, we will push it to sat, but she doesn't think they will make it that far.


I am still sore, I feel bruised on the inside, and it hurts to use the restroom, but at least I can stay awake today!

[lonestarrose]

Pinkgerbil-I'm sorry for the low number but I'm so thrilled that you did have some fertillize. That's such a blessing! I pray they all make it to Saturday but either way I pray you get your BFP.

[steph27]

Pinkgerbil - Wow, you got your report early. Sorry it wasn't the best news, but the ultimate goal is a baby, right? And there is a good chance with 5 embryos that you can get a baby. My first fresh failed and then we did a FET and that was a BFP. Don't lose hope!!! I hope your pain goes away.

AFM - The tylenol definitely helped last night. I haven't felt the need to take any this morning. The pain is still there, but not very bad. I feel the need to go to the bathroom, but then I sit down and can't go. Hoping I don't get any major constipation or anything. I weighed myself yesterday and today and it didn't change from yesterday, although yesterday was a few pounds more than I normally weigh. I haven't weighed myself in a few months though so I probably just gained a few pounds over the holidays (wouldn't surprise me a bit with all the junk I ate), hopefully it's not a sign of OHSS. I really don't feel any of the symptoms and my doctor didn't seem concerned at all, even getting 41 eggs. So hopefully I'm all clear. Just awaiting the fert report today. Ha! As soon as I typed the words, the phone rang. Funny.

So, fert report is in. They were able to ICSI 40 of the 41 eggs and 30 have fertilized normally. So we are planning for a day 5 transfer on Sunday. I wonder how many of those will last till Sunday. Last time I was so disappointed to have 18 of them die, but even if that many die again, we will be left with 12 which will be a great number. Like I said, I'm just hoping for 10. 2 to transfer and 8 to freeze would be a dream come true. Well, that was nice timing to be able to let you guys all know. Now I need to call DH and tell him.

My thoughts are with all of you in all your different situations. So so excited for some more ER's and especially for those betas that will be here before we know it!

[emme^4]

I hope I'm not driving you guys crazy posting all the time. I have a lot of free time at work (though right now it's our really hectic time and I'm just slacking a bit :p) !

2ofakind - My RE is like that too. She thought I had too many follicles and kept lowering and lowering my dosage. I can understand the want for a lot of eggs, but while I was getting my reports every day, I could see the downside as well. For example, one thing that I thought of that I hadn't before was .. what if I ended up with a lot of frozen embies? Would I keep on using them until I used them all up? Could I bear to donate them (I think the answer is no, however selfish that is) or throw them away? After waiting for so long to get to this point, they're not things that I wanted to think about, so I'm very thankful with my numbers since I don't think it will force me into a tough position either way down the road.

kimi - Yay for quiet ovaries ! That's what they love to see and what we love to hear. What issues do you have with your protocol (if you don't mind sharing)? We had the option of using Bravelle but we stuck with Follistim just because I had used it before (though Bravelle would have saved me a shot every night) and it's nice that you're only using half a vial of Menopur since that stuff is expensive and burns like crazy. I'm excited for you to start stimming.

Ng24 - Ahh, I logged on this morning eagerly anticipating your fertilization report. I think there was a typo in what you said, though. You mean you hope the nurse calls you nice and early so that you can have a great rest of the day? I really hope they have good news for you ! I did dig around for a while online last night and it seems like they have great ICSI rates (I even read one where they said that the sperm doesn't have to be moving and I thought that was really interesting.. though it doesn't make a lot of sense to me). You're right in that you wouldn't want more eggs than sperm, and I think you're going to do really really great.

lonestar - You have a beautiful name ! In response to your DTD question .. that is a good question. It really depends on your husband's sperm count. They prefer that you abstain for 2-5 days before ER. If your husband's sperm count is fine, you can do it as late as the night of trigger, but I would recommend the night before trigger. If his sperm count is low, then maybe accumulate a few extra days worth.

Yolanta - Haha, I feel so silly for even bringing it up but I'm half debating if I need a lawyer for my restraining order case against my BIL but it sounds like your office does more real estate law. I've interviewed a bunch but the evidence is so strong against him that I don't think I need a lawyer, but it would just be nice to have someone speak for me since I find the whole court thing so intimidating. Seriously, who would have thought this would be my life .. I feel like I'm in an episode of Jerry Springer. :p Sounds like your stimming is going well, and it's so true about being a human pincushion, because if you had told me that I'd be stabbing myself in the stomach with needles a few years ago, I would have thought it unthinkable. And to do it willingly, at that!

pinkgerbil - I think five fertilized eggs sounds great. I know you're disappointed, but I think you can estimate to have about three on day three, and if you transfer one or two, you can still have one or two to freeze. It is pretty unlikely they will have you go to day five, but beautiful healthy day three embryos are just great !

[steph27]

Lonestar - They had us DTD 5 days before ER and then we're not allowed again till beta.

[lonestarrose]

Thank you Emme for the compliment. I love my name too. I got really lucky with that. I'm glad I asked and I just called my doctor b/c my DH motility is the problem so I'm waiting on a call back to find out for sure. I go in tomorrow morning so I'll ask then if I don't hear back.

[2ofaKind]

Hi All, Just wanted to say that I am so thankful for having this group. I have not even started stimming yet and I have been so incredibly emotional today. Suppression check is tomorrow and I think the combination of terror and excitement over finally starting again is just really building on me. Also, today marks the 6 year anniversary that my father in law passed away (at only age 54) of cancer. DH and I were not yet engaged when he passed, and it is so sad to think about all he is missing and all that we are missing out on by not having him here.

**Prior success mentioned** I am also kind of nuts and save special (good and bad) emails and periodically go back and read them. I found an email from almost exactly two years ago - January 20, 2010 - that I wrote DH from work when I got the official call with my beta. I had been testing at home and was getting super dark lines. My hcg result was 510 and we were talking about the prospective of twins, which we did find out a few weeks later, were on their way! I was so happy and just hope I get to feel that again -- that we ALL get to experience the joy that comes with the BFP! **End mention

So yeah, it has been so good to read through everyone's posts and share the journey. I am SO HOPING I get the all clear to start stimming shortly after my visit tomorrow!

[pinkgerbil]

Steph- Wow! I hope you do have ten that make it!

Lonestarrose- Thank you

Emme- I really do hope so. I think what frustrated me the most was the idea that I would not have any left to freeze, you know? Kind of like, I went through all of this for nothing, beacuse if I dont have a BFP and theres none to freeze, then I am not sure what we would do, beacuse our ins. has a life time cap on fertility stuff, and this one round almost takes us there.

[emme^4]

lonestar - Has your DH ever tried any herbal supplements for low motility? I had two friends whose husbands had low motility and so I asked my RE and acupuncturist about it and they both high recommended this one brand and I figured it wouldn't hurt so I started making DH take it ($29 for a one month supply) and in all three of our cases, quantity and quality went way up. I'll be the first to admit that I didn't think it would do anything, but surprisingly, it did.

pinkgerbil - I don't want to get your hopes up but I'm pretty sure that the lifetime cap on fertility stuff isn't the same thing that they are showing you on their bills. I discovered this because 1) my mom is an HR director and she mentioned it casually and 2) from asking my insurance/doctor/etc. it seems that the hospitals have a deal with insurance places so that the insurance places pay a much lower amount than you would be charged, and therefore, your limit could cover a lot more. It could be worth finding out.

[lonestarrose]

Emme- we have tried supplements before and it did help. He was at 1% motility about 5 years ago when we started and now he's at 21% so we are very happy with the results. The RE never mentioned his low sperm count this time around so I'm guessing that has improved too, which is awesome. So, all is great as far as improvements but the numbers still aren't high enough so we are here and we will also be doing ICSI. I'm so thankful for the invention of medicine and how far it has come in such a short time.