[Gwen79]

Hey ladies!

Here we go again! Looking for some cycle buddies that are on IVF#3 or more. We'll be doing an antagonist cycle with the following meds:

Menopur
Gonal-f
Cetrotide
Dexamethasone
Lovenox
Intralipids
PIO
Crinone
Estradiol

Baseline is tomorrow and hopefully we can start stims tomorrow night! I think we're looking at a 7/18 ER and I'm praying for a 5dt with some excellent embryos

All you old pros out there please join me!

[2ndFamilyforus]

We are starting cycle 4. I have baseline on 7/8 and should start stims on 7/10. My meds will be the same as last time:

Menopur (450 for 10 days last time)
Dexamethasone
Ganirelix
Endometrin
Estrace
Medrol

prenatal vitamins along with baby asprin mixed in there on and off.....

this one is the time for all of us.

[HopefulinCO]

I'm hoping you don't mind if I join - this will be IVF #3 for me, but I was fortunate in that IVF#1 was successful. I'm on exactly the same timeline as you Gwen! Baseline US today, start stims tomorrow, and probable ER 7/18.

I'm going back to the long Lupron protocol that gave us our DD. For our 2nd IVF we decided to go for more eggs and tried the microdose Lupron, but my follies grew really quickly which my RE said usually happens with women who have DOR or are several years older than I am (I'm 37). We almost cancelled the cycle and the RE said we might want to really think about donor eggs. However, we kept going back for f/u ultrasounds and basically ignored the 3 or 4 big follies and waited for the smaller ones to get to the right size and got 11 eggs and 4 blasts from it, but BFNs on both the fresh and frozen ETs. After much discussion with our RE and between her and her partners, we decided to give it one more try with my own eggs but go back to long Lupron.

I've been doing royal jelly (for only about 6 weeks but I figure some is better than none), went back to my regular acupuncturist ( I hadn't seen her since I mc'd about a year ago with my 1st FET), and am taking prenatals and omega 3 fatty acids.

Otherwise I'll be on: Follistim (250 to start), Menopur (75), Lupron, Pregnyl trigger, doxycycline and steroids around ER/ET, then estrogen patches and PIO after ER.

to us all!

Heather

[Erintobe]

I would like to join you ladies. I am heading into my third fresh and have done one frozen. Got a chemical pregnancy from the first cycle which seems to be my MO. Both the fresh cycles were long lupron and the first was ok with 5 mature eggs but the second time with the same meds gave me only 3 mature eggs. I was a poor responder. Also seems my FSH jumped from 8 to 11 from one month to the next. Whoo hoo...

This time we are going NO lupron as they think I might have been oversupressed and BC pills for only 2 weeks then start stims. They are also going to give me the max dose of stims and hope I get more eggs out so I have more to choose from. Since I have no insurance coverage and used Attain this is my last try so they are going to throw the book at me.

I had my repeat water sono yesterday which was normal and will go for baseline 7/21 to start stims. I am a little behind you but would love company of people who have been through this before.

Odds suggest it is our turn... RIGHT!!!

[aryan39]

Hello ladies... I hope you don't mind me joining! I'm doing a fet this time with estimated ET on 7/18. This is my first fet but I've had 3 failed ivf's. I'm a little unsure if the embryos are going to make it to day 5 ... Froze at day three. We are requesting them to bring them to day 5. We've also scheduled a second opinion in august because we can only do 1 or 2 more ivf cycles. I'm currently taking many supplements(dhea, coq-10,royal jelly/ bee pollen, l-arginine, i think thats it)to try and help the next ivf round if needed. For the ET this time I'm trying intralipids. Have any of you tried this before? Also this is my first time with PIO shots... Those needles are big I have an appointment on Monday to see if my lining is ready.

Gwen-- Good luck tomorrow!

[HopefulinCO]

I'm so excited this thread is growing!

I had my baseline US/bw a couple of hours ago. I had ~16 follies, but they were larger than expected (up to about 11mm instead of the normal 5 or so) before stims even start. So we're waiting for the E2 levels, and we'll make a decision at that point as to whether to continue or cancel and move on to donor eggs. I hate potentially having to make this decision - I was feeling so positive up until she started measuring follicles, just knew going back to long Lupron would be the answer! The most frustrating part is that my FSH and AMH are both normal, I have a good AFC, but my response to meds indicates DOR. I almost wish that if I had to be diagnosed with DOR, it was something I could SEE, like a high FSH or decreased AFC, not that I grow follicles too quickly, you know? It's just so hard for me to believe that that's a bad thing, even though I trust my RE and have read tons of research online that says the same thing.

Erin: Wow, no Lupron! Will the birth control stop you from ovulating or will they just monitor you closely?

Aryan: Where will you be going for your second opinion? I'm hopeful you won't need it though because the FET will work! I haven't done intralipids but I've read about other women who have and it's definitely helped! And yes, the PIO needles are big, but definitely doable. One cycle I actually goofed and injected with the HUGE 18 gauge meedles you're supposed to only use to draw the PIO up. It wasn't until about 10 days into it that DH realized and asked me if I was switching the needles out before giving them to him to inject (btw, I'm a pediatrician and he's a vet so you'd think we'd be able to spot the error before 10 days of horse shots!)

Heather

[Gwen79]

Originally Posted by Erintobe

I would like to join you ladies. I am heading into my third fresh and have done one frozen. Got a chemical pregnancy from the first cycle which seems to be my MO. Both the fresh cycles were long lupron and the first was ok with 5 mature eggs but the second time with the same meds gave me only 3 mature eggs. I was a poor responder. Also seems my FSH jumped from 8 to 11 from one month to the next. Whoo hoo...

This time we are going NO lupron as they think I might have been oversupressed and BC pills for only 2 weeks then start stims. They are also going to give me the max dose of stims and hope I get more eggs out so I have more to choose from. Since I have no insurance coverage and used Attain this is my last try so they are going to throw the book at me.

I had my repeat water sono yesterday which was normal and will go for baseline 7/21 to start stims. I am a little behind you but would love company of people who have been through this before.

Odds suggest it is our turn... RIGHT!!!

As it turns out I had 2 cysts (1 on each ovary) when I went in for my baseline. Also, I'm on CD 4 and my E2 level was 324! Yikes! That means 2 weeks of BCP and appointment on 7/21. Looks like we're gonna be pretty close together Yay!!! It looks like our protocols will be very similar as well. I know this will be it for all of us!!!

[HopefulinCO]

Hi ladies!

Well, Gwen79 and Erintobe, it looks like I'll be more on your timeline - at least I hope!

My E2 level was in the 150s, so I'm staying on Lupron for the next week, hoping I suppress, and having another US on the 15th. If that looks better, I'll start stims that night and just basically be pushed back a week. If I'm NOT suppressed, I'll have to rework my IVF schedule because I'll be out of town the week of August 1st and can't do my stims there (no fridge in the hotel).

[Gwen79]

Originally Posted by HopefulinCO

Hi ladies!

Well, Gwen79 and Erintobe, it looks like I'll be more on your timeline - at least I hope!

My E2 level was in the 150s, so I'm staying on Lupron for the next week, hoping I suppress, and having another US on the 15th. If that looks better, I'll start stims that night and just basically be pushed back a week. If I'm NOT suppressed, I'll have to rework my IVF schedule because I'll be out of town the week of August 1st and can't do my stims there (no fridge in the hotel).

Well at least we'll all be pretty close Hopefully you can get going on the 15th so you don't have to wait until you get back!

I'm the matron of honor in my best friend's wedding so when they told me I wouldn't get started for another 2 weeks I almost freaked! What if ER was the day of the wedding??? The nurse said I should definitely have ER by the Thursday before. Otherwise, I'd be on stims for over 11 days, which has never happened before. I'm hoping that I won't have to stim as long on this protocol!

[Gwen79]

Question for you seasoned veterans:

Have any of you done the long lupron protocol and switched to the antogonist one? Did you have better results with the antagonist? Switching protocols always makes me nervous!

[Erintobe]

Hi Ladies,
Getting closer!!! Glad you all will be on a similar time line.

Gwen: I am not sure the names but I think I am doing the antagonist and was on the long lupron. My RE doesn't give me the names of the protocol. I was on the long lupron where you start on day 21 the month before and continue through stims.. Now I am doing two weeks of birth control to supress me and will add ganirelix to prevent ovulation. I didn't get a lot of eggs with the long lupron so they figure they would try this. My good friend did it the opposite way and was successful with the lupron and not the BCPills. Hopefully switching will be the answer or that is how I feel at least. The last protocol didn't work so it can't hurt to try this. I also feel that I ressponded well during my IUI's and actually had 5 follicles the last cycle so maybe using ganirelix is better for me.

Heather- As you get closer to ovulation you add ganirelix every night to prevent ovulation. I am amazed that you have so many follicles already developing! My AF is only 5 or something like that! IT SUCKS!! But I totally agree that it is frustrating not to have a tangible diagnosis. I almost wanted blocked tubes or endometriosis so I could fix it. Nothing you can do about DOR.

Aryan- Question? Why are you asking for your embryos to be grown to day 5? Since my numbers have been low I have always done a day 3 and wondered about growing to day 5 but my office wont do it. They feel day 3's might live inside while they might not make it in the dish. Is there a reason you are going to day 5?

Gwen I totally get your wedding issue. I had first decided to take off the whole summer and start again in Sept but got really excited and decided to start early. When I went on BC pills I thought I would be on them for 3-4 weeks but it was only for two weeks.... SO the timing was faster than I thought and i got nervous ER would be the weekend we are hosting my husbands family for a pool party (about 30 people). My DH decided to cancel the party. He figured even if ER wasn't that day, which it wont be but might be trigger day, I would be close and very uncomfortable. I think he was looking for a reason to cancel but I feel bad anyway. I know a baby is more important than a stupid family party but I guess i feel bad that I didnt' just wait another month like i planned and then it would not be an issue.

The other major pain about changing the party is that know all 5 of my DH brothers and sisters know we are doing our next round of IVF and I was hoping to keep this one a secret as not to have to tell everyone it didn't work.

Ah well. Excited to start anyway!

[Gwen79]

Erin - thanks for the input I know that my last cycle was a mistake and that was a lupron flare. I don't get too much scientific info from my RE because he's a little out there...but from what I've read, the antagonist protocol should help with egg quality. My RE hasn't actually said I have poor quality, but based on the results from my first 2 cycles, I'm thinking it was mediocre at best.

I'm really worried that when I go back on the 21st my bloodwork will still be messed up and the cysts won't be gone. I'm trying to ignore it, but you all know how it goes!

[Adelaid72]

Hi Ladies! I would love to join you. I'm going to be a while after you but I am about to start IVF # 4.5 (#4 got cancelled before transfer due to no embryos making it). We are switching protocols again. I did two long lupron, 2 antagonist and now we're doing the estrogen priming with dexamethasone!
Next week I start OPK's to see when I have the LF surge, once I do I start taking estrogen pills intil AF comes then I get my baseline and start meds day2. I usually stim for a WHILE so it's possible I could have my ET on my birthday!

Good luck to all you ladies and I hope to see a lot of BFP's!

[Erintobe]

Good morning ladies, Hope you all had a great weekend. I spent the day at the beach here on Long Island and it was beautiful! Could not have asked for a better day...

I was so happy this morning to see I only have one more week of BCpills. They make me tired and nauseous and I am ready to be done! It also means I am close to starting. Although I have to admit it has been nice not to worry about when I am ovulating and needing to baby dance.

The next three weeks will be crazy for me which will be good as I hope it makes the time fly. My Mom and Sister and her two kids (3 &1.5) are coming up on Friday for a 6 day visit and then my husbands brother and his 3 kids (5,4 &2) are in from California, they leave just in time for ER... kinda wish all this was going on during the 2WW but it will be fun.

Hoping my box of meds comes before my family does as I am trying to keep this cycle quiet and that will be hard to explain.

Gwen- Hope those BCPills do their job. It would stink to delay again but like you said, it is out of your control.

[Gwen79]

Erin-sounds like things will be super crazy at your house! How will you hide the injections with all those people around???? Wish I spent the weekend at the beach! Instead I had a garage sale in the hopes of making a little money for this cycle, only made $100 oh well, it's better than nothin! I'm so jealous that you start in a week! I still have a week and a half and that's not even for sure! Praying that you get our first BFP!!!!!