IVF Check In 5/23

[bonzo]

Welcome to the IVF check-in for May 23!


Check-ins will be every Monday (jacks) and Thursday (bonzo). If we've left you off the check-in, or if you'd like to be added or removed, please let us know!


This is a check-in for those who are doing IVF or FET. Please don’t hesitate to use this check-in for IVF/FET info and support even if you’re not currently cycling. If you are interested in joining, please fill us in on your cycle. Everyone is welcome. Also, please update us along the way!


Asterisks will appear by your name if you do not update us in a check-in. After four consecutive asterisks (2 weeks), you will be removed from the list. Don’t fret if you are removed from the list, check in again and we will add you back.


Once you get a strong repeat beta, congrats! We eagerly await your 3TIF Grad Check-In posts! We encourage you to intro on PAIF, and while here in the meantime, please consistently use warning tags in posts and siggies, and be mindful of your status, especially on 3TIF outside this check-in. To hide content behind a spoiler tag use (without the spaces) [ spoiler = Spoiler ] Hidden content here! [ / spoiler ]


Arctic Foxes Image: imgur.com/igJYd61




BFP! Congratulations!




BFN ((Hugs))




PUPO! Congratulations! Rooting for all of you!




Cycle Complete (ER only/testing)




Between ER and ET




Stimming/FET Main Prep




Waiting to Cycle

** fikafairy I hope knee recovery is going well!

bonzo

**** skidevil87

sally , how is estrace going?
bex15, I had your tag wrong, but hopefully I've fixed it!
* wineandcake
* jacks
champagne, welcome!

[bonzo]

I've been volunteering with my local Resolve Walk of Hope, which I'm super excited about! It's coming up soon. It's been great working with so many other ladies who are going through IF or have graduated.

Other than that, not much is new here!

[skidevil87]

I'm hanging out in limbo until forever I suppose. Surgery went well- they were actually able to do more. my pelvis is still a "war zone" as my doctor so lovingly puts it. I have to go back on lupron for 3 months as they found a lot of endo on my small bowel which can release toxins causing a miscarriage. so- we are tentatively aiming for a late summer/ early fall transfer.

[skidevil87]

May 23, 2018 12:04:28 GMT -6 bonzo said:

I've been volunteering with my local Resolve Walk of Hope, which I'm super excited about! It's coming up soon. It's been great working with so many other ladies who are going through IF or have graduated.

Other than that, not much is new here!

I'm doing Walk of Hope in Chicago on June 9th!

[bonzo]

skidevil87, I'm glad the surgery went well! I hope the 3 months on Lupron help everything clear up so you can do your transfer. Looks like we might get a transfer around the same time!

I'm doing the Denver Walk of Hope! Have you gone before? We walked last year, after seeing the flyer at the RE's office while we were doing IVF #1.

[wineandcake]

Still waiting over here. Eggs were delayed so bumped back a month, they should be arriving next week. Once they arrive we should get the go ahead for a June cycle. I'm nervous about being pregnant, but even more excited about having a niece/nephew.

[champagne]

bonzo thanks for the tag. That’s awesome that you are participating in the walk. I’ve never heard of it before but now I’ll check if it is in my area.
skidevil87 I’m glad your surgery went well!
wineandcake I can understand why your nervous but I’m sure you’ll do great. What an awesome thing you are doing.

As for me, I need to finish up some tests. They have been hard to schedule because my work is crazy right now. It’s just blood work and a new SA for DH but I still can’t seem to find the time. I need to get on it though so we stay on track.

[jacks]

No updates here. If anyone would like to take over my check in, please do! Or perhaps a monthly thread would be more appropriate since there are not many of us here?

[bonzo]

We could switch to monthly, or at least just once a week, especially since most of us aren’t even cycling for a while. Would everyone still come in and update during their cycle if we posted less frequently? I think part of why the IVF thread has always been 2x a week is because when you’re actively cycling things change and happen so fast!

[fikafairy]

no updates here. Still waiting to cycle, likely looking at August. Monthly would be fine by me for now, or maybe every 2 weeks? Then we can increase the frequency as more people join us, or things change for those of us waiting.

[bonzo]

May 26, 2018 15:02:40 GMT -6 fikafairy said:

no updates here. Still waiting to cycle, likely looking at August. Monthly would be fine by me for now, or maybe every 2 weeks? Then we can increase the frequency as more people join us, or things change for those of us waiting.

I’ll be honest, these days I’m bad enough at getting the weekly check in up, if we switched to every other week I’d never remember! Monthly I could do, since doing it at the beginning of the month seems easier to remember than every other week.

[orangehibiscus]

Hi everyone. I’m on the TI/IUI thread, but my RE wants us to have an IVF consult next month so I have a couple of questions. I hope it is ok that I post this here. If not, please let me know!

Here’s our TTC background...

I’m 30, and H is 33. We have been TTC since Dec 2015/Jan 2016 (including bench time, etc). That cycle started in the beginning of December, but I didn’t ovulate until mid to late January.

I have PCOS, mild endo, and I’m overweight. H has borderline morph at 3% and abnormal semen viscosity (his semen doesn’t liquify the way it is supposed to).

TW Losses Mentioned

I have been pregnant twice, both last year. The first one they classified as a pregnancy of unknown location. I had methotrexate for that. After our bench time was complete, I got pregnant on the next cycle. It was ectopic. I ended up losing my left tube because of it.

I’m a poor responder to Femara alone, so I’ve been using Follistim too. Every cycle, I grow up an appropriate follicle (although sometimes it’s on the wrong side, and those cycles get cancelled). We’ve had 2 failed TI cycles, and another cycle cancelled, since my ectopic.

End TW

So now the RE wants us to come in for an IVF consult. She is not recommending IUI for us. I think because it has higher risk of ectopic. Also, the RE’s nurse said it would only increase our chances by 3-5%. There’s no one local that does a washed sperm IUI, so we would have to go to her office.

My RE batches IVF, and the earliest we could do IVF is September, and that is if I can lose the weight by then.

My RE is almost 2 hours away one way. The nurse said I could do my baseline US locally, and then all of the rest would have to be done at her office. I know everyone is different, but how many scans is about average in an IVF cycle? She did previously tell me that she would use an antagonist protocol and do a freeze all cycle since I will more than likely end up with OHSS.

When we go for consult, what questions should we ask? They do have an IVF coordinator, so I assume we will meet with him/her. How long did your consult take? I’m sure we will also meet with a financial counselor too (maybe?).

Wow, I didn’t think that would be that long...oops! Wine and cheese for everyone who made it through that!

[bonzo]

Hey girl! I’m sorry you’re moving in here, but hopefully we can help with all of your questions!

My RE does not batch, so I don’t have any advice about that. I’m also super close to their main office (like, 2 miles door to door) so I had a very relaxed attitude about monitoring. That being said, my RE had me come in for baseline ultrasound, and then daily from Day 6 until trigger. I had both ultrasound and blood work each time.

For the consult, I think we spent about 30-45 minutes with the IVF nurse the first time. And roughly 20 minutes with the financial coordinator (and she was prepared to talk longer, but we had gone over all the numbers ahead of time). There’s also a mandatory class that’s about 3 hours, where we learned about the actual process, and how to do the meds. You’ve already been doing injectibles, so I don’t know if they’ll make you do the class. I think that will depend on your clinic.

I think a standard antagonist protocol is pretty typical to start with; from my understanding, most REs don’t start customizing unless the 1st IVF fails, because this is the protocol that works for the majority of women. But definitely ask about the meds, understand what they do. See if you qualify for discounts through the pharmacy or the med company (Serono has a discount program, and I think the other major manufacturer does too). Your nurse should be able to point you towards those.

Ask about transfers - does your clinic do single transfers, or do they like to transfer 2?

Financial - find out how the IVF package works, what it covers. For instance, at my clinic, anesthesia is paid separately, directly to the anesthesiologist. So that was an extra $400 on top of what we had paid the clinic. That was part of what we went over in our meeting with the financial coordinator.

Is there an on-call nurse? Who do you call if you have questions during your cycle? How do they communicate changes in dosage?

[orangehibiscus]

May 27, 2018 12:23:39 GMT -6 bonzo said:

Hey girl! I’m sorry you’re moving in here, but hopefully we can help with all of your questions!

My RE does not batch, so I don’t have any advice about that. I’m also super close to their main office (like, 2 miles door to door) so I had a very relaxed attitude about monitoring. That being said, my RE had me come in for baseline ultrasound, and then daily from Day 6 until trigger. I had both ultrasound and blood work each time.

For the consult, I think we spent about 30-45 minutes with the IVF nurse the first time. And roughly 20 minutes with the financial coordinator (and she was prepared to talk longer, but we had gone over all the numbers ahead of time). There’s also a mandatory class that’s about 3 hours, where we learned about the actual process, and how to do the meds. You’ve already been doing injectibles, so I don’t know if they’ll make you do the class. I think that will depend on your clinic.

I think a standard antagonist protocol is pretty typical to start with; from my understanding, most REs don’t start customizing unless the 1st IVF fails, because this is the protocol that works for the majority of women. But definitely ask about the meds, understand what they do. See if you qualify for discounts through the pharmacy or the med company (Serono has a discount program, and I think the other major manufacturer does too). Your nurse should be able to point you towards those.

Ask about transfers - does your clinic do single transfers, or do they like to transfer 2?

Financial - find out how the IVF package works, what it covers. For instance, at my clinic, anesthesia is paid separately, directly to the anesthesiologist. So that was an extra $400 on top of what we had paid the clinic. That was part of what we went over in our meeting with the financial coordinator.

Is there an on-call nurse? Who do you call if you have questions during your cycle? How do they communicate changes in dosage?

Thanks Bonzo! We’re going to do one more completed TI cycle, and then I think move on to IVF if that is unsuccessful.

Daily monitoring...yikes! That is definitely not doable for me. I would have to take 2-3 weeks off of work for that. I get why they want the monitoring done at their office, but I don’t see why I can’t do it at my local place I’ve done all of the rest of my monitoring?!?

Thanks for the advice on med discounts! They are so expensive. I don’t think they would make me take the class, but who knows, they might! I definitely will need a list of all the meds, their routes and dosages, and what they do for IVF.

We did talk about transfers, and they will transfer 2 at one time.

That makes sense that Anesthesia bills separately, and I will ask about that. I will also ask about on call nurse and how they communicate dose changes.

All very good advice! Thank you so much!

[sally]

bonzo thanks for the check-in! Did we ever come up with a new name since it isn't winter anymore? My only other suggestion is summer sloths 😜 hopefully someone else is more creative.

I'm chugging along on estrace. Lining check tomorrow and if things look good transfer will be next week!

[bonzo]

sally, we haven't come up with a new name yet! Summer Sloths is cute. If we get a couple more suggestions I'll get a poll up.
And FX all looks good at lining check tomorrow!

[bonzo]

We have a tentative calendar! If everything stays according to plan, our donor will start stims on July 3. I’m so excited to move forward again!