Egg collection Friday, 2nd time lucky?

[NemoFish]

My first cycle last year ended in a chemical pregnancy with nothing to freeze, I responded poorly and got five eggs from three follicles. My relationship broke down as well, just to rub salt in the wound.

Anyway, I’m now in a new relationship with the man I can only describe as my saviour. He was a long term friend from work, and my best friend. We got together in September, my mum adores him, I moved into his house in December and we’ve bought a house together since. Plus we got a puppy (photo attached for the cute factor!). We decided not to waste any time and got in touch with a new ivf clinic closer to home (now in South Wales). He is everything my ex wasn’t. He’s so keen to do everything he can to improve our chances of success. No smoking, no drinking, he doesn’t need reminding to take his vitamins. He couldn’t be more supportive if he tried, the whole experience has been completely different!

I was out on short protocol as I down regged for six weeks last time which was way too long. He does my fyremadel jabs before work, and I do my ovaleap on the evening. We were both so so positive, until I had my day 10 scan this morning.

Just three follicles again. They even asked if I wanted to cancel the cycle. I’m devastated. I refused to cancel, but they’ve brought my egg collection forward to Friday which I wasn’t expecting, and I feel so totally deflated about the whole thing. I’m desperate to get a fresh transfer and dare I even hope for a frozen on too. However now I think I’m expecting too much. I can’t stop crying. I came into work and sat in his office crying on the dog all morning. So sick of this rollercoaster 😭😭 x

[Hidden]

Hey lovely. First of all sending you a HUGE hug and then wanted to say KEEP CALM!!! A very similar thing happened to me and I posted about it, the nurse even said the same to me. Read:

healthunlocked.com/fertilit...

and then

healthunlocked.com/fertilit...

So much can change in a few days, so try and keep positive xx

[NemoFish in reply to Hidden]

Wow that must have been hell of a downer to be brought right back up the next! My three are all between 15 and 22, so they’re ready to go now rather than next Monday as originally planned. My stim dose was 300iu ovaleap from the start of this cycle unlike the 225iu I was on last time, so I was definitely hoping for a better response from the outset.

I’m desperately clinging to the fact all five of my eggs last time were mature and all fertilised. Four went on the wonk at day 3 so I’m wondering whether that was more of a sperm issue. My partner has much better sperm than that of my ex so I’m trying really hard to keep seeing the positive side of that too.

I kind of like the irony of egg collection at Easter though 😆 x

[Orangeflowers]

Good luck lovely. I've got my egg collection on Monday hopefully too and did have a laugh to myself at the prospect of collecting Easter eggs and hope I don't say something silly when I'm sedated. All you need is one lucky gem and lovely to hear your partner is so supportive now too x

[NemoFish in reply to Orangeflowers]

Let’s hope Easter is a good incentive for our little eggs to spring into life! X

[AuroraXen]

First of all I'm so glad you're back at this! I mean, not glad that you're having to go through IVF but glad you've had suchba change in circumstances. Your new guy sounds amazing. I'd give anything for my husband to take his supplements properly without nagging 😆 But I completely understand you being worried and hoping for more follicles. Hopefully Daisy's story reassures you! You said yourself, the eggs you got last time were good and fertilised well, and fingers crossed the sperm being different will help them through past day 3 🤞And remember, your embryo did implant last year so there are lots of positives here! Oh, and gorgeous puppy! Xx

[NemoFish in reply to AuroraXen]

Thank you 😊 It’s so hard when you hear the negative tone of voice from the nurses scanning you combined with posts online “I only got 15 eggs is this any good”, it’s so depressing. Desperately going to cling on to a bit of hope and try to relax over the next few days. Got my little lump of a Pug keeping me distracted this time around so it’s not all bad xx

[MrsOrangejuice]

I'm glad that you've got such great support now (and a puppy!) and try not to let this most recent development put too much of a downer on everything - I am a weird responder and having been told to expect I'd over respond and have masses of eggs, probably OHSS, my body just ignored whatever protocol I was put on for ages. First one (long) cancelled, second (short)I had a couple of very large follicles and nothing much else until they whacked the doses up to max and I stimmed for ages. Third (short) I had one massive follicle for ages. I found the clinics reactions were pretty deflating, just when I needed to stay positive. If I hadn't been so fed up and determined on the third one, they would have cancelled at so many points and I wouldn't be expecting. A lot changed for me right at the end of each cycle and each time we got good eggs and blasts. I was though battling the clinics' and my own expectations that I should be getting 15-25 eggs each time, but apparently that isn't the way my ovaries roll and I've just had to make peace with that. It worked in the end, including after two chemicals and so many puzzled and disappointed looks from the doctors and nurses. I think provided you can be at peace with whatever you decide, have a bit of control over the process and not drive yourself mad with what ifs, that's the best thing for your mental health.

[Skittles11]

Hey, it's nice to see an update from you and its lovely to hear that you're feeling happier in your new relationship and things are much more supportive and less turbulent. Having good support and a partner who is right there with you is really important and it helps everything to feel calmer. I wish you lots of luck for your upcoming egg collection. It can be such a downer when you are hoping for better news but as you have pointed out, you had five eggs before and all were mature and all fertilised. There is no reason why a similar outcome wouldn't be possible this time.

I have low ovarian reserve so never get many eggs. On my last collection I got 5, and only two fertilised, I was gutted and the days that followed were filled with anxiety. But both made it to blast and so it can happen even with low numbers.

Your little puppy is so cute by the way! I have two dogs and they bring me a lot of joy and funny moments which really help when going through this xx

[NemoFish in reply to Skittles11]

Couldn’t agree more about the dog! Mine has been an amazing distraction, although having him hanging off my arm whilst trying to do an injection was easier said than done 😆

I’ve spent the day trying to stay as relaxed as possible for tomorrow, spending the evening eating chocolate and watching films. When I left work this afternoon a few people said ‘Happy Easter, hope you get some good eggs’, totally unaware of my situation and I had to laugh 🤣 x

[conceptionimpossible]

Hello egg collection buddy (I'm also going in tomorrow to have some Easter eggs collected!).

My clinic have been very up and down and inconsistent about what they've told me this week - it's so hard as there's so much emotion invested but my husband and I are trying really hard just to wait and see where we are on Saturday when we know what's been collected and what we're looking at in terms of embryos so that we can make collection as calm as possible. (And we're not exactly zen people, so it has been a struggle.)

It sounds like your follicles are all really good sizes, which hopefully is a good sign they're mature and will make some lovely embryos, and even if you don't get as many as you wanted, there's nothing to say that one of them won't be the one that sticks. ♥️

[NemoFish in reply to conceptionimpossible]

I hope everything goes well for you tomorrow! I’m getting all sorts of twinges now, I just want to get on with it! X

[conceptionimpossible in reply to NemoFish]

Same here - just ready to go now! Good luck tomorrow too; I'll keep my fingers crossed for you. x

[NemoFish]

Update** Egg collection done. Got five again. They found a sneaky small 4th follicle that hadn’t shown on my scans and it had two eggs in. Whole thing was horrific, took two nurses to hold me down, I was half way up the bed swearing and crying. Even the embryologist came in afterwards and said sorry for hurting me so much and that wasn’t like a normal collection. One ovary disappeared next to my bladder and apparently that’s full of nerve endings round that way, so along with another doctor pressing on my stomach, it’s was hard to get to. So so so glad it’s over. The wait begins 😫🤞🥚🥚🥚🥚🥚