Hi all. My husband and I start our IVF journey today. Our appointment will involve having all the final tests (including a dummy embryo transfer) before they start me on the treatment. Nervous and excited at the same time. What’s a dummy embryo transfer like?
Wishing you all a lovely, restful Christmas. Hope 2019 brings lots of happy news for you all. 😊
Oh how exciting. Fingers crossed for you.
The dummy transfer involves them checking that the length of the transfer rod thing is right. They want to make sure they can get that embryo in the right place swiftly. So they will just have you lie on the table with you feet up on the stirrups, open you with the clamp thing they use for smear test, then insert the long transfer tool and see that they can see it in the right place on the screen (they do ultrasound at the same time to "steer.
It's easy peasy, and just like transfer, over in moments xx
Good luck to you and Merry Christmas xx
Hope today goes well xx
Thanks for all your kind messages. Thanks Camillage, puts my mind at rest to know what will happen. Wishing you all a lovely Christmas too. xx
So exciting! All the very best! Merry Christmas xx
Hi all. My dummy embryo transfer, 3D scan etc all went well. She said it looks good and I have eight follicles. Hopefully that’s a good sign. Got a bit cramping during procedure and spotting after. Need to take antibiotics (including repositories 😳) to avoid getting an infection. Hopefully it will all be okay. Hope you all have a lovely Christmas. Thank you for your supportive messages. xx
Hi all. I’m still spotting and it’s been two days since my dummy embryo transfer. Is that normal? Thanks for any advice. x
Hi all. I’m a week into my preparation month now and my injection medication is arriving next week. So far so good. Taking some annual leave soon over the period where I will go to the clinic a lot got blood tests and scans and also when egg collection takes place. However I am quite worried that my embryo implantation (if I get that far) could be just before I go back to work. My job is pretty stressful/unpredictable and I worry going back to work straight after will potentially have an impact on things. Considering whether I ask to be signed off but I have never done this before and not sure if it is even possible. Would appreciate everyone’s advice and experiences. I know it hasn’t happened yet but trying to plan ahead where I can. Thanks in advance for any advice. xx
Hi.. im in the same position as you with work...have leave booked for around most appts but will be back to work straight after the transfer, possibly even that day.
And like you i work in stressful/unpredictable environment
( would be strange if it was the same job lol) I spoke to my consultant and he said its no issue and infact he said id be better of working as normal during this time.. Said resting up or avoiding things has no difference on success and Id be better to carry on as normal.. and maybr just be a bit more mindful of the dangerous situations in work if possible.
His lack of concern about me being in a high pressure work environment helped to reassure me a bit! xo
Hello 👋 Thank you, that’s really reassuring. Wishing you lots of luck with your journey. Look forward to sharing our experience. xx
I haven’t done IVF ( I had surgeries to treat endometriosis) but carried on as normal in my 2WW. I avoided heavy lifting or anything like that could harm any embryo that might be in there. I found going to work a good distraction; if I stayed at home I’d driven myself crazy!! I got a BFP & am 19 weeks pregnant .
It’s up to you; if treatment doesn’t work ( not saying it will fail) & you feel you may blame yourself get your GP to sign you off & they can put “gynaecological reasons”. But if you feel going to work would give you some normality you could get your employer to be you on lighter duties; legally in the 2WW they have to treat you as if you are pregnant. ( Not sure if you’ve told your employer you’re having treatment)
You must do whatever feels right for you only you know what is. Don’t feel bad if you need to put yourself first, I think it’s fair enough. The main thing is you don’t want any regrets.
Wishing you good luck & hope it’s a BFP xoxo
Hi Jess. Thank you so much for your message. Many congrats on your BFP! How are you feeling? That’s really reassuring, thank you. No I haven’t told my employer as I have been there less than a year so don’t really feel comfortable telling them at this stage. I will see how I get on but may decide to go down the GP route if I feel I need it. Thanks again. xx
I’m good thank you. Put yourself first. Wishing you good luck with it, hope it’s a BFP ❤️ xoxo
Hello all. 👋 How are you all?
I went for my baseline scan and nurse consultation today. My appointment was a bit of a mixed bag today. My scan all went well and she said I am ready to start my treatment which was good.
The nurse I saw to talk through my treatment plan said my thyroid level was a bit high. It’s 3.06 which is within the normal range according to my GP but apparently for fertility/getting pregnant/staying pregnant she explained it ideally needs to be under 2.5. The way she delivered this news was quite blunt (I got the impression she was having a busy/stressful day as she was 25 minutes late to see me). I asked if this mean may there was a delay to my treatment and she said there shouldn’t be she would check with the consultant and let me know tomorrow whether I needed to go on some other medication. She left me a voicemail to say the consultant wanted me to go on some medication but my phone had run out of battery so when I tried to call back it was too late. Quite worried now as keen to get started with the stimulation! Has anyone experienced this? xx
Hi Kat,
I was in a very similar situation. My TSH was 3.1 and GP said it was normal. I ended up needing to see a private endocrinologist to be taken seriously. The good news is I was put on levothyroxine and within only a couple weeks, my level had dropped to 1.6.
I recommend reaching back out to your GP ASAP. Ask to speak to their endocrinologist if they have one. Your levels will need to be monitored every 2 weeks until you get to healthy levels and monthly while you’re maintaining and in treatment for fertility/pregnant.
My endocrinologist wanted to bring my levels below 2 because when you get pregnant, your levels will rise. One word of caution, the second I saw a private doctor, my GP refused to provide any additional blood tests or treatment for my under active thyroid. Thankfully, I have access to private insurance through my husband’s job.
Good luck to you and please feel free to reach out if you have any questions.
Holly
Hi Holly. Thanks so much for your message. That really helps and great to know your levels came down within a couple of weeks. I spoke to the clinic where I am getting treated on Friday and they have put me on Levothyroxine and I started taking them on Sunday. Fingers crossed they will help. 🤞Thanks again for reaching out. I really appreciate it. Kat
Wishing you the best of luck x
Hello 👋 How are you all? Hope you’re all okay and keeping warm. It’s freezing out there today!
I started my stimulation injections (Fostimon and Merional) last Thursday evening and started Cetrotide injections yesterday morning. Side effects include tiredness, a bit headachey and also get a bit itchy round the injection site after I do my Cetrotide injection but only for about an hour. Find a hot water bottle helps. Has anyone else experienced this?
Had a check up scan and blood test on Sunday. The clinic said I have six follicles developing on the right side and two on the left side but the left ones are very small at the moment. They also said my lining was looking good so far. I was so relieved as I was so nervous.
Got another check up and scan today. Fingers crossed everything is looking okay. 🤞
Wishing you all a good day and lots of baby dust. 👶🌟 xxx
Happy weekend all! How are you all?
I’m going to the clinic today for what I hope will be my final scan/blood test before egg collection next week. Felt a bit more rough the last couple of days with headaches, tiredness, lots of bloating and feeling hormonal (crying for no reason!).
Excited for the egg collection to happen so we are one step further on our journey but also nervous about whether we will have any quality eggs/whether they will fertilise etc.
I think I am going to have six follicles in total on my right as sadly I don’t think my left ovary has produced any. Hoping that’s enough to get one or two quality ones. 🤞🤞
Feeling all the emotions at the moment! xxx
Hello all 👋 Quick update - Had our visit to the clinic today and all went well. The good news is that I have seven good size follicles on the right side but sadly only two small ones on the left.
The clinic have just phone to say I can do my trigger injection at 10.30pm tonight and my egg collection will be on Monday- yay!
I’m excited for the next stage but also very nervous about what will happen next. I’m hoping against hope that one or two will be good quality and they also fertilise with my Hubby’s swimmers! 🤞🤞Keeping everything crossed!
xxx
Hello ladies 👋☺️
Thanks again for all your supportive messages. It has made such a huge difference to me during our first IVF experience.
We had our day three update call this morning and were so relieved to hear that our two precious embies are doing well and will be frozen today. The embryologist said they were high quality so fingers crossed that bodes well for the future. 🤞🤞
Our next appointment with our consultant is in mid Feb so hopefully we can start our second stimulation cycle after that.
Looking forward to continuing our journey soon. Wishing you all lots of baby dust and good luck. xxx
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