[BuckeyeTTC]

Anyone doing IVF in August?? I have seen a July thread and a September thread but not one for August so I thought I would start one.

I will be going through my second IVF cycle in August. First cycle in Jan/Feb resulted in a chemical. Would love to chat with others going throught this at the same time.

Kristen

[Christeena]

Hi Kristen !!

I would love to join your thread =)

This will be my third ivf. PLUS im 41 years old, but not letting that stop me from trying one more time. Its all the money i have left, but worth the shot!

[BuckeyeTTC]

Glad to see someone else over here. I was kind of starting to wonder if I was the only one going through a cycle in August. It's definitely worth a shot. I know that there are several ladies who have had success over 40 so thinking positively for you.

Kristen

[DRB]

I will be in August, the ER and ET at least. First Week of August.

Good Luck to both of you. It looks like if not the first rodeo for any of us. Looks like I will be on a different protcol this time. Long Lupron. I was on Antagonist last time, and had very poor quality embryos on Day 5.

[Christeena]

Denise !


Im not familiar with the Long Lupron protocol. I have read a few posts about women doing it, but my RE sticks with the antagonist. How long is it?? lol.. how does it differ? just curious..


Kristen, thanks for the kind words ! Being 41 is scary... but my Grandmother had her last child at 44, so im keeping positive.


I dont start BCP until July but Im going to start taking prenatal vitamins (which i have to purchase again because I threw out everything in a rage after my 2nd failure) Does anyone else take the prenatal vitamins? if so, what kind?

THANKS!
Chris

[Wishfor1more]

I'm doing an August ER/ET (first or second week-ish) if all goes according to plan. I am getting nervous but excited... I'm really nervous about the ER, actually. The whole "going under" part of it, then the recovery. What is it like? I have had gallbladder surgery and my wisdom teeth out, so I have had that kind of anesthesia before, but I find it mentally tough to be "out" and not know what's going on with me exactly.

I have never done IVF before (see sig) so I am hooing my body will respond as it should and I won't have to do it again, that I'll have some leftover for freezing if need be. Trying to stay positive!

[Christeena]

Originally Posted by Wishfor1more

I'm doing an August ER/ET (first or second week-ish) if all goes according to plan. I am getting nervous but excited... I'm really nervous about the ER, actually. The whole "going under" part of it, then the recovery. What is it like? I have had gallbladder surgery and my wisdom teeth out, so I have had that kind of anesthesia before, but I find it mentally tough to be "out" and not know what's going on with me exactly.

I have never done IVF before (see sig) so I am hooing my body will respond as it should and I won't have to do it again, that I'll have some leftover for freezing if need be. Trying to stay positive!

I have been under general anesthesia a few times also, and there is not much difference even though they try to call it "twilight" anesthesia. I think a few women are able to know whats going on but most of us are knocked out. The only advice I have about going under is to ask for the "anti nausea" medicine at the same time. (if you ever wake up nauseated from anesthesia) I was so greatful about that because I am the type of person that gets sooo sick after waking up from being under..

You will be fine! Its a super quick procedure (20 minutes approx) My first time i had just a little soreness for a couple days after (from the needle extracting the eggs out of the ovaries) I think the excitement and possiblities of having a baby makes it all tolerable, ya know??

GOOD LUCK!!!

baby dust for us all

[DRB]

Originally Posted by Christeena

Denise !


Im not familiar with the Long Lupron protocol. I have read a few posts about women doing it, but my RE sticks with the antagonist. How long is it?? lol.. how does it differ? just curious..


Kristen, thanks for the kind words ! Being 41 is scary... but my Grandmother had her last child at 44, so im keeping positive.


I dont start BCP until July but Im going to start taking prenatal vitamins (which i have to purchase again because I threw out everything in a rage after my 2nd failure) Does anyone else take the prenatal vitamins? if so, what kind?

THANKS!
Chris

Hi Chris. I take Rainbow Light one a day prenatals form whole foods. I also take a Omega 3 and 6 supplement for the DHA (I am a vegetarian). I love the vitamins, nothing synthetic all whole food based.

The Lupron is just more shots. I don't do BCP this time. I start on cycle day 21 of Lupron. After 8-10 days of those lovely shots, I start stim shots, then Retrieval. The RE said I was not a "low responder" so wanted to try something different.

Wishformore-This was nothing compared to wisdom teeth and myomectomy. The worst part of the whole IVF for me is the PIO shots. That is what I dread. You feel really full in the abdomen and your boobs will hurt from the estrogen. Other than that, it was not bad at all for me. Good Luck.

[BuckeyeTTC]

wishingfor1more and DRB!!! Wishing you all the best as we go through this journey

My last IVF I did the antagonist protocol also but think that my RE is going to stick with it since I had a decent response. At least we got more eggs than we expected so that was good. The only thing he is going to differently is that I won't be on BCP's at all and will start stims right on day 3. I am expecting that I will be starting stims right around August 1 so retrieval sometime during the second week of August.

Christeena-I take Citranatal DHA prenatals prescribed by my OB. I have been on them for a few years since we first started trying. I use them because they have a stool softener in them which helps because of the iron. I also take a whole bunch of other supplements that are supposed to helop with egg quality and decreasing FSH. I am happy to post a list if anyone is interested

Wishfor1more-I know my RE did a conscious sedation for my ER last time. I know this time I am going to ask for more drugs since I pretty much felt the whole thing. Recovery shouldn't be too bad from the sedation and you shouldn't have much nausea unless you are sensitive to the fentanyl (narcotic) Some people get nauseated from that alone. If you have any more anesthesia questions I am more than happy to help since that is what I do for a living!!


Kristen

[Christeena]

THANKS Denise & Kristen !!

great info

[Wishfor1more]

Yes, THANK YOU so much for the info. It is so helpful for me. I am kind of a worrier to begin with, so this whole process is not going to be easy for me, but I know I can do it and being as prepared as possible helps.

I do get nauseous from anesthesia, so I will definitely ask for the anti-nausea meds. I had that with my second c-section and it helped. We just need to decide now how much money to gamble/pay upfront/take a loan for, because insurance does not cover this for me since I had an elective TL. I live in MA and we have the best insurance coverage for infertility, too! I have struggled with forgiving myself for having the TL in the first place, but I have to move on to positive thoughts now I suppose.

Another quick question - how bad was the bloating on the stim meds? I hear it gets bad right before ER, understandably so, but I'm wondering about the rest of the cycle. And how many times are you in and out of the clinic getting monitored before the retrieval?

Thanks and sorry for all the questions!

[BuckeyeTTC]

My bloating wasn't actually too bad. We retrieved 11 eggs wish is middle of the road but I was still reasonably comfortable. I think I went in for initial bloodwork, then in for monitoring 3 times with bloodwork and u/s and then in for ER/ET. It wasn't too bad. I know what you mean about the elective TL. We are on the other side with an elective vasectomy that failed reversal twice!! My insurance doesn't actually cover anything anyways but I know we would have been eliminated based on that. Feel free to ask any questions you have

Kristen

Originally Posted by Wishfor1more

Yes, THANK YOU so much for the info. It is so helpful for me. I am kind of a worrier to begin with, so this whole process is not going to be easy for me, but I know I can do it and being as prepared as possible helps.

I do get nauseous from anesthesia, so I will definitely ask for the anti-nausea meds. I had that with my second c-section and it helped. We just need to decide now how much money to gamble/pay upfront/take a loan for, because insurance does not cover this for me since I had an elective TL. I live in MA and we have the best insurance coverage for infertility, too! I have struggled with forgiving myself for having the TL in the first place, but I have to move on to positive thoughts now I suppose.

Another quick question - how bad was the bloating on the stim meds? I hear it gets bad right before ER, understandably so, but I'm wondering about the rest of the cycle. And how many times are you in and out of the clinic getting monitored before the retrieval?

Thanks and sorry for all the questions!

[Christeena]

Kristen,

WOW -- 11 eggs is fantastic in my book =)
My first time we got 9 then second time got 8.. but none made it to blast the first time and the second time we only had 1 make it to blast. I kept thinking,,, "one more egg"? LOL could have been the one!

[BuckeyeTTC]

I know 11 eggs is good but unfortunately we only ended up with 2 good embies and 1 so-so embie out of the bunch. I am hoping that even if we get about the same amount, the quality will be a lot better so that we can get to a 5-day transfer.

Kristen

[Christeena]

Kristen,

Yeah, I am familiar with egg quality. Being 41 now is really challenging.. im "EGG-CHALLENGED" lol but my FSH is really decent for my age (6.9) but I guess thats still not a free pass because when I combine my last two retrievals (17 eggs total) only ONE embryo made it to blast. There is a little more to the story though,, Our RE was suspicious of my DH Sperm because the embryos quit at four cell. So on our second try at ivf, we used half donor sperm and half DH sperm. again, the embryo's quit at four cell that were his but 3 of the Donor fert ones continued! SOOO, next we have decided to do 100% Donor sperm .. if this doesn't work, its on to donor eggs too =) but that gets pricey..

WOW i babbled..

thanks for letting me vent

HOPE EVERYONE is having a wonderful weekend!!

August is right around the corner