Egg collection is tomorrow.

[Belangalo]

I am really nervous. I am in Australia but I have found this community to be the one that feels most comfortable as I read through here. I hope that it is ok for me to be here.

I confess that IVF has happened so quickly that my head is spinning and it feels like I am suddenly in for egg collection tomorrow.

A bit of history: We met later in life and got married 2 years ago. We had been trying to get pregnant from just before our marriage and for a year afterwards before we finally worked out that something wasn't right. We both got tested and discovered that my husband had zero sperm count. Nada. Too small to be measured etc. Thus began a year long journey of lifestyle changes and supplements/meds for him. The good: It worked and his sperm count climbed although not to normal levels. The bad: The unfortunate side effect was ED - can you believe it? *smh*

So, we asked for IVF as trying to conceive naturally just seemed like we were wasting more and more time and with a low sperm count (they anticipated would continue to rise) and as we were getting older (F37/M38) we wanted to give this a serious effort. We got a recommendation and booked an appointment at our local IVF clinic. Literally three weeks later I am sitting in the IVF clinic with hubby for the initial consult. It goes well, he checks all our GP blood tests and then sends us a cost estimate for superovulation, collection, transfer and freeze and books an appointment for with the nurses for 2 days later. I turn up to the next appointment, we sign a contract get walked through the process and am told to book a random appointment with the private hospital next door for transfer to take place in about three weeks and pay for my meds which arrive the next day.

A few days later my period starts and I go in for the bloodtests, pick up the meds and am shown how to do the injections. Then it's off to the races. Every second day I turn up for a scan and blood test and now it is 11 days later and I was told yesterday afternoon to take my trigger and that collection is tomorrow.

It has been 21 days since I walked into my IVF clinic for the first ever consult and I am now fielding calls from the hospital to confirm everything for collection including my food for after the procedure tomorrow.

I am overwhelmed. I haven't even really had time to read about IVF or what I need because this has all been so quick. Last night and this morning I have been looking for a forum to read through - to even learn the sort of questions that I should be asking.

I have 5 follicles ready to go at about 18mm-19mm and another 7 they say will be ready by tomorrow with a few other follicles that may be in the race. My womb looks great according to them and they rated it a 10 out of 12. They say I have responded beautifully to the meds and everything looks perfect.

Honestly, they don't talk to me much. My bloods and scans take about 15 mins tops every second day. The phone call in the afternoon is about 1-2 minutes. I feel like I know nothing about this process at all. Everyone just keeps smiling and telling me it looks great, not to worry and to just keep doing what I'm doing - oh and to book an appointment for transfer on Monday morning.

I just don't know what I should be asking. I am a bit nervous about tomorrow because I am hoping for some high quality eggs that can be injected with my husbands sperm - but have I completed a protocol that gives me the best chance for that? They seem so confident but reading the forums...I just don't know if I should be as confident or relaxed. I feel a bit lost and maybe I just need a few words of encouragement.

[Millbanks]

Hi lovely, you are very welcome here! It’s a wonderful supportive forum and you’ll find that anything you are going through, someone else will have experienced it too, so just ask away.

It’s not uncommon for waitlists here in the U.K. to be months so we have plenty of time to get used to it. That said, my last cycle at anew clinic was hugely overwhelming in the same way as you. Everything happened so quickly and they were pretty tight with giving me information- so I was calling them all the time to ask everything I could think of. I think they got fed up with me!

But the key is trust. If you like your consultant it goes a long way to believing they are doing the right protocol to get the best eggs and create the best embryos for you. Your follicles sound good so it looks as though they have done that. There are lots of online sources that can explain the steps too. One website called The Duff is particularly good.

My advice would be to go with the flow. Egg collection is a fairly simple procedure (from the patients) point of view and you’ll be in good hands. The amount of scans and bloods you had sounds similar to one of our top London clinics.

So rest up, drink plenty of water after and let us know how you get on.

You’ve got this! Xx

[Rain415]

Hi,

I would be overwhelmed as well it seems as though you responded great and straight into the thick of it, there’s quite a waiting list in UK so think we have time to adjust and just want it done!

I had my collection yesterday 16 follicles got 12 eggs. Only question I had was why they chose to do ivf not ICSI when we have a male factor issue, (His sperm chose that day to have a borderline normal result 🙄) they understood my concerns and went for half ICSI half IVF. If you know what route you two are going down then I wouldn’t worry that you have no questions!

I agree with comment above ‘the duff’ website is very good! All the luck for today! Sounds positive so far! 🤞

[FM91]

Your welcome here anytime for anything😊.

Firstly ur so lucky to get it started so quickly. We would love to be in ur position. The amount of wait we have out brain goes into overdrive with too much thinking, too much planning, too much reading.

I waited over 18montha to start ivf and when the time came started to freak out and felt overwhelmed so dont worry.

All you need to do is honestly relax ur mind, eat well (fruit,veg), plenty of water and the standard supplements (folloc acid, vitD and iron tablets). Reading rhe forums ul soon realise sometimes you can have the perfect ‘prep’ for months and not get the great result you were hoping for, or live life with no changes and a positive.

We ask alot of questions because we like to feel in control of situation as we all know its soo out of our hands, so if u do feel lost dw too much. Sometimes the more we know the more we google the more worried we get. If you have questions and ring them im sure they will explain.

Hope this helps. Take a couple days after egg retrieval to relax, i needed 3days as i was in a little discomfort. But nothing that paracetamol and hot watter bottle didnt fix. Wish you all the best lovie. Hope u get lots of beautiful perfect eggs 💕

[LisaBeatrix1980]

What an exciting time for you. It's so difficult to offer any helpful advice, I know for me as reassuring as I found it all you can't help feeling how you feel. But the women on here are just supportive if you feel overwhelmed about any thing after egg collection someone will always be there for you on this forum. I guess the thing that helped me was to take it easy and really try and and feel the relief and pride that I had done everything I could, my body had done the hard part and now it was down to something or someone else.

After collection just try and process the stage you are at and relax as much as you can, I know it's not easy. Good luck, you'll do great xx

[Belangalo]

Thank you so much for the welcome and the advice! It helps to read it. I have kept my IVF and problems conceiving a secret from most people. It's so lovely to be around other people that understand the sad grind that is infertility.

I did go through egg collection and I was a bit disappointed with the result. 6 eggs retrieved. All of them mature. Of those 6 only 5 fertilised. Of those 5 only 4 made it to day 3. Of those 4 only 3 made it to day 5. One was transferred and 2 were frozen.

I am so grateful that I did get some embies to the 5 day point though! I was terrified that with only 6 eggs collected the odds were going to be really poor.

So now I wait to see if my little embie transferred on Monday sticks. I have 10 days of waiting and I am reasonably relaxed and try to stay hopeful! I have played this waiting game each month for a long time without success but maybe this time! Fingers, toes and everything else crossed!

I have all those wonderful progesterone side-effects. Cramping, tender and swollen breasts with bright blue veins, bloating, lower back pain, sudden nasal conjestion...so I know that trying to symptom spot for pregnancy isn't really an option. Which is both frustrating and comforting. There is nothing to really get my hopes up or dashed before the blood test next Wednesday!

Thank you for the warm welcome. I needed it. *hugs*