May check-in

[jerseyjaybird]

Anyone cycling this month? Other news?

We had been thinking that Dr. Derbala would be out of network for us and that we wouldn't be able to see him until 2022, assuming we switched insurance plans at open enrollment. Well, last Friday night DW got an email inviting her to call the office when she ovulates; she'll be scheduled for an appointment 5-9 days after. We'll be paying out of pocket for a TON of bloodwork but so relieved that this is within our reach after all.

While we're at it, we finally decided to say switch clinics. This has been a looooooong time coming (our current clinic is just so, so convenient), but we are totally crushing on the new place. The practice is 8 female doctors who seem truly collaborative. Our particular doctor has been a pioneer in helping trans youth navigate options for fertility preservation when starting hormones. ❤ ❤ I wouldn't say that we're feeling hopeful, but it feels like we are doing what we set out to do, which is to give our embryos the best shot possible. It's more a sense of responsibility than hope, but it is a relief. (Happy to chat specific clinics if anyone is near Central/South Jersey.) 

So our plan is an initial consult with Derbala this month, an ERA and follow-up with Derbala next month, and hopefully we can transfer in July.

[turboteal]

That's great you can get in soon for the appt!

Had my retrieval yesterday. I did seem to respond better this time (higher dosages FSH/menotropins and added low dose growth hormone before retrieval cycle), we got 17 eggs and they told me today that (I think) 14 were mature and 12 fertilized. Last cycle only 6 fertilized, hopefully they are better quality this time too and we get some euploid embryos. I feel pretty uncomfortable still, very bloated and sore, feels like I pulled several small muscles in my abdomen. Hopefully that dissipates soon.

[Jalapeñomel]

I’m not sure what I should do with my meds. I have estrace patches, estrodiol pills, and lots of progesterone.

[turboteal]

May 10, 2021 17:36:06 GMT -5 Jalapeñomel said:

I’m not sure what I should do with my meds. I have estrace patches, estrodiol pills, and lots of progesterone.

If you feel comfortable posting you have extra like on fb or IG, you may have friends (or fam of friends) who can use them. You could also see if your clinic will take them to give to other patients, like people paying out of pocket for their meds. Assuming nobody here wants them (I definitely got some meds from someone here a long time ago :] )

[thedutchgirl]

May 10, 2021 17:36:06 GMT -5 Jalapeñomel said:

I’m not sure what I should do with my meds. I have estrace patches, estrodiol pills, and lots of progesterone.

I’m not sure what I need yet for FET but I’d buy from you!

We just got engaged on Friday and are planning a quick small wedding in June with transfer hopefully in July so I don’t know yet exact timing or meds I might need. We don’t yet have a thaw date for the donor eggs but it should be the next couple weeks I think

[Jalapeñomel]

May 10, 2021 22:36:55 GMT -5 thedutchgirl said:

May 10, 2021 17:36:06 GMT -5 Jalapeñomel said:

I’m not sure what I should do with my meds. I have estrace patches, estrodiol pills, and lots of progesterone.

I’m not sure what I need yet for FET but I’d buy from you!

We just got engaged on Friday and are planning a quick small wedding in June with transfer hopefully in July so I don’t know yet exact timing or meds I might need. We don’t yet have a thaw date for the donor eggs but it should be the next couple weeks I think

Let me know! Just shipping is fine by me! 

[thedutchgirl]

May 11, 2021 8:52:54 GMT -5 Jalapeñomel said:

May 10, 2021 22:36:55 GMT -5 thedutchgirl said:

I’m not sure what I need yet for FET but I’d buy from you!

We just got engaged on Friday and are planning a quick small wedding in June with transfer hopefully in July so I don’t know yet exact timing or meds I might need. We don’t yet have a thaw date for the donor eggs but it should be the next couple weeks I think

Let me know! Just shipping is fine by me! 

Thank you! Will do!!

[stellelinds25]

I just scheduled a consult for June to talk about a FET with our RE...I know there is some testing that will need to be redone, so we'll see what the RE has to say. We have 2 embryos frozen and I'm not going to do another ER, because of that, I'll be interested to see if she recommends transferring 1 or 2 (I'm 38 with PCOS). I'm not sure how I feel about transferring 2...for anyone given the option to transfer 2, how did you make the decision?

[seeyalater52]

May 12, 2021 10:50:26 GMT -5 stellelinds25 said:

I just scheduled a consult for June to talk about a FET with our RE...I know there is some testing that will need to be redone, so we'll see what the RE has to say. We have 2 embryos frozen and I'm not going to do another ER, because of that, I'll be interested to see if she recommends transferring 1 or 2 (I'm 38 with PCOS). I'm not sure how I feel about transferring 2...for anyone given the option to transfer 2, how did you make the decision?

Are the embryos PGS tested? Are they blastocysts (5/6 day) or 3 day?

I transferred 2 blasts only after 3 failed transfers (2 CPs and 1 implantation failure) although didn’t have successful pregnancies either either time I did a double transfer (1 CP and 1 MMC.) Neither my clinic or my insurance allows multiple embryo transfer until you get past 2 failed transfers pretty much regardless, and never when they are PGS tested. My RE is pretty conservative when it comes to double embryo transfer of 5/6 day blasts and I suspect they would not have let me do it if I were older when I was attempting pregnancy.

Did you get pregnant your first transfer last time? Do you hope to have 2 children total, or would you be open to 3? Would you be open to a 3rd pregnancy/birth or is 3 only an option if you have twins with a second pregnancy? Are you conflicted about what to do with embryos if you have any left over once your family is complete? Realistically how do you feel about having twins?

You have better odds to have a live birth if you transfer each embryo separately, but if you’re aiming for 2 kids and you have success on the first try you may end up with an extra embryo that you have to decide what to do with. Transferring two embryos increases the risk of twins substantially but does not make a huge difference in the likelihood of a singleton live birth.

Technically you have time to try for two more kids in separate pregnancies if that is something you’re open to since you can transfer well into your 40s without much reduction in success rates.

[red]

We’re trying to do another FET now after my MC. Had my saline sono (6th overall) Tuesday and it looked like I had a polyp or retained tissue, so I had a hysteroscopy today (3rd overall) and it was retained tissue. So my FET for 6/11 is all jacked. Waiting for the official plan but will prob need to wait a cycle and do another freaking saline sono before moving forward again. Really over it and sad right now because I’m in a lot of pain and we cancelled a trip this weekend because of this mess.

[pinkpeony08]

red ugh, and sorry you had to cancel a trip over it too.

[pinkpeony08]

From my ultrasound today, it looks like I ovulated from the opposite side. With all the pelvic ultrasounds, I think only one other time did this ovary do its job. Otherwise, it's always been the same one. I can hope that maybe that's a good sign?

I also meet with the allergist recommended by my RI clinic to try to get answers and hope to get IVIG covered by my insurance. I met with him almost 4 months ago, and he wanted to review all my labs in detail before ordering additional labs. He said at that point it would be a week before he mailed the lab orders. Now it's been 3+ months, and he asked me to come in for a follow up to discuss. He still isn't done, but says he will be next week. I'm not too optimistic. Plus he runs way behind (I was in the first appointment after their lunch break and he still ran 1.5 hours late?!) He also told me a bunch of other things that were frustrating - implying I don't eat healthy/don't eat any fat/am obsessed with my weight because I'm thin. I can't stand when people make presumptions about anyone based on the shape of their body. Told me I should drink whole milk because a study in chimpanzees showed they had an easier time getting pregnant when they drank whole milk?! When I have seen my immune labs are worse when I eat dairy?! If I fit the standard pregnant patient, I wouldn't be in his office. I keep telling myself it will be worth seeing him if he can get the IVIG covered, but certainly I'm not eager to go back to his office.

[turboteal]

pinkpeony08 that sounds really aggravating. Also I only drink whole milk (my whole life) and use heavy cream in my tea/coffee and I just did my third retrieval so...lol.

So we had 2 blasts yesterday on day 5 and 4 more today, all biopsied and frozen. There's one more still growing that they'll check tomorrow, but I'm mostly excited about these day 5/6 ones, I really hope we get a couple euploid out of them. I'm nervous just because we had 19 eggs my first retrieval, 7 embryos, 4 euploid, one baby. 9 eggs last retrieval, 1 embryo, aneuploid. It feels like I just need such high numbers to eventually have a chance at a baby. And the recovery from this last retrieval was not fun, I def had some mild OHSS and was really feeling it for a few days. Fingers crossed for our pgs testing.

[thedutchgirl]

May 11, 2021 9:54:41 GMT -5 thedutchgirl said:

May 11, 2021 8:52:54 GMT -5 Jalapeñomel said:

Let me know! Just shipping is fine by me! 

Thank you! Will do!!

I haven't forgotten about this! I messaged the clinic mid-week to ask about meds and I haven't heard back yet. I'll let you know as soon as I do!

[stellelinds25]

May 13, 2021 8:26:32 GMT -5 seeyalater52 said:

May 12, 2021 10:50:26 GMT -5 stellelinds25 said:

I just scheduled a consult for June to talk about a FET with our RE...I know there is some testing that will need to be redone, so we'll see what the RE has to say. We have 2 embryos frozen and I'm not going to do another ER, because of that, I'll be interested to see if she recommends transferring 1 or 2 (I'm 38 with PCOS). I'm not sure how I feel about transferring 2...for anyone given the option to transfer 2, how did you make the decision?

Are the embryos PGS tested? Are they blastocysts (5/6 day) or 3 day?

I transferred 2 blasts only after 3 failed transfers (2 CPs and 1 implantation failure) although didn’t have successful pregnancies either either time I did a double transfer (1 CP and 1 MMC.) Neither my clinic or my insurance allows multiple embryo transfer until you get past 2 failed transfers pretty much regardless, and never when they are PGS tested. My RE is pretty conservative when it comes to double embryo transfer of 5/6 day blasts and I suspect they would not have let me do it if I were older when I was attempting pregnancy.

Did you get pregnant your first transfer last time? Do you hope to have 2 children total, or would you be open to 3? Would you be open to a 3rd pregnancy/birth or is 3 only an option if you have twins with a second pregnancy? Are you conflicted about what to do with embryos if you have any left over once your family is complete? Realistically how do you feel about having twins?

You have better odds to have a live birth if you transfer each embryo separately, but if you’re aiming for 2 kids and you have success on the first try you may end up with an extra embryo that you have to decide what to do with. Transferring two embryos increases the risk of twins substantially but does not make a huge difference in the likelihood of a singleton live birth.

Technically you have time to try for two more kids in separate pregnancies if that is something you’re open to since you can transfer well into your 40s without much reduction in success rates.

Thank you for all of the questions, you've really given me a lot to think about and using the answers to all that, plus our RE's input will make the decision easier.

I do think that my clinic leans towards just doing one, but I'm just thinking ahead in case the option for 2 is given. I was just shy of 36 when we did our fresh transfer (we obviously opted for no testing) and I'll be 38 for a FET if all goes as planned. I think what even got me thinking about transferring 2 is because I was on my clinics website looking for some info and came across their success rate charts, which they break down by age group and the number of embryos transferred. And in my age group, the average number transferred was 2. I lean towards just doing 1...I just need to get the "two will give us better success rates" notion out of my head...I know the statistics and I know that's not true!

[thedutchgirl]

May 16, 2021 17:18:06 GMT -5 thedutchgirl said:

May 11, 2021 9:54:41 GMT -5 thedutchgirl said:

Thank you! Will do!!

I haven't forgotten about this! I messaged the clinic mid-week to ask about meds and I haven't heard back yet. I'll let you know as soon as I do!

Sent you a PM!

[dove]

So…I guess I belong here now.*sigh*
We’ve been trying for a while. Actually haven’t been on BC for well over 7 years or so. I turn 40 this year, MH is 42

Just got back from the RE this am. We had a failed HSG a couple months back. He couldn’t get through my cervix likely due to previous LEEP procedures’ scarring. We are going to try again with dilation using a laminaria insert after my next cycle. Assuming there is no blockage we will move on to an IUI w/Clomid. If my tubes are blocked, IVF is the only answer. Given my complicated medical history, I’m not sure I want to put my body through that.

My AMH is 6.6; MH’s sperm count is high. I’m getting a period regularly, so not sure what is the issue. We have a diagnosis unexplained infertility.

In a weird coincidence, when we moved into this house a couple years back, we bought it from an estate. It belonged to the doctor who trained my current RE. So it’s kinda like her ghost is helping.

[Jalapeñomel]

May 20, 2021 9:58:59 GMT -5 dove said:

So…I guess I belong here now.*sigh*
We’ve been trying for a while. Actually haven’t been on BC for well over 7 years or so. I turn 40 this year, MH is 42

Just got back from the RE this am. We had a failed HSG a couple months back. He couldn’t get through my cervix likely due to previous LEEP procedures’ scarring. We are going to try again with dilation using a laminaria insert after my next cycle. Assuming there is no blockage we will move on to an IUI w/Clomid. If my tubes are blocked, IVF is the only answer. Given my complicated medical history, I’m not sure I want to put my body through that.

My AMH is 6.6; MH’s sperm count is high. I’m getting a period regularly, so not sure what is the issue. We have a diagnosis unexplained infertility.

In a weird coincidence, when we moved into this house a couple years back, we bought it from an estate. It belonged to the doctor who trained my current RE. So it’s kinda like her ghost is helping.

Sorry to see you here, but I wish you luck as you navigate this process. 

[konapoppy]

May 12, 2021 10:50:26 GMT -5 stellelinds25 said:

I just scheduled a consult for June to talk about a FET with our RE...I know there is some testing that will need to be redone, so we'll see what the RE has to say. We have 2 embryos frozen and I'm not going to do another ER, because of that, I'll be interested to see if she recommends transferring 1 or 2 (I'm 38 with PCOS). I'm not sure how I feel about transferring 2...for anyone given the option to transfer 2, how did you make the decision?

I agree with seeyalater52 - really consider if you are open to twins or even triplets. We only had one good PGS embryo, but we wouldn’t have transferred two.

[thedutchgirl]

After the debating on eggs, we ended up not getting the two extra because someone else got to them first. I'm okay with this. We're pretty sure we're one and done due to age (although my soon-to-be H always wanted to, as an only). Hoping the 8 we got is sufficient. Tentative thaw date is June 9. We could do a week earlier but pushed it for a variety of reasons.

We're set to get married in a small event at our house on June 19, but my mom suddenly needed triple bypass as of yesterday (in surgery now). We may push June 19 by a few weeks if necessary as she has to travel to be here for our wedding. So if we don't transfer until late in July, that will be okay. It seems so close now that we're not dying to get it done YESTERDAY. It will be here before we know it.