follicles after first ultrasound with IVF

By LaughLines Oct 7, 2017

Today is CD 5 of my first cycle of IVF. I had a baseline US on CD2 but they didn't count any follicles at that one.

I have high AMH (8.3) due to PCOS
I respond well to femera, clomid, etc.

So i was expecting a lot of follicles.

I only have 3 on the left and 3 on the right between 8 and 11cm. The person who called was not very reassuring that there would be more... I thought I would be a high responder, they're worried about OHSS for me, so I thought it would be more than 6

How close were those initial US counts to what you ended up with?

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20 comments

SweetiePie
honeydew / 7463 posts

Oct 7, 2017

I just responded in the IVF thread but now that I see more details (risk of OHSS) it’s very possible that they are being very cautious with your protocol. What meds are you on and how much?
OHSS is no joke and it would make sense if they’d rather underproduced by a little than overproduce and put you at risk of OHSS.
LaughLines
clementine / 880 posts

Oct 7, 2017

75 of gonal f and 75 of menopur. So it is a low dose. They're having me stay with that tonight then tomorrow increase gonal f to 150 and leave menopure the same and add cetrotide.

I was watching the US and there were a ton of smaller circles on my ovaries - but i have pcos so i dont know if they are cysts or small follicles that could grow more.

I guess the main point of my question is to ask if it's a set, steady number throughout stimming or if it goes up as you get farther
SweetiePie
honeydew / 7463 posts

Oct 7, 2017

@LaughLines: My experience was that it was always pretty steady or would maybe go up slightly (like by a couple). I wouldn’t expect them to end up seeing 10-15 at later ultrasounds, but they could definitely end up retrieving that.
IVF ladies seem to be pretty scarce these days! Hopefully someone else can chime in to share their experience because just mine isn’t much to go on!
periwinklebee
grapefruit / 4466 posts

Oct 8, 2017

@LaughLines: I don't have experience with this issue, so am not helpful, but just wanted to let you know that I'm thinking of you and rooting so hard for this cycle to be a success.
skiierchck99
kiwi / 518 posts

Oct 8, 2017

@LaughLines: On my first scan, 5 days into stimming I had 3 measurable follicles on each ovary and many more too small to measure - they only measured ones over 10 mm. In the end I had 20 mature follicles. So yeah - you could definitely see a large increase.
LaughLines
clementine / 880 posts

Oct 8, 2017

@skiierchck99: that's what i was hoping to hear so I'm going to be optimistic and think that's what's going to happen to me

How many eggs did you retrieve?
skiierchck99
kiwi / 518 posts

Oct 8, 2017

@LaughLines: Maybe 19-20? It's not in my notes, but close to that many and most fertilized (through ICSI). My first transfer resulted in a chemical pregnancy/early loss, but I'm currently almost 22 weeks after my second! And I have like 12 embryos on ice for the future, haha. Hoping you'll be reassured at your next scan! They do say too that the quality is much more important than the quantity.
LaughLines
clementine / 880 posts

Oct 11, 2017

as an update for anyone searching this in the future:

at my ultrasound yesterday (after 6 days of stimming) I had 13 follicles between 11mm and 20mm. I have another Ultrasound tomorrow (8 days of stimming) and if that goes as expected I will probably have my egg retrieval on Saturday.

So for me, I did get more follicles between my first and second ultrasound. If I'm lucky I might have more tomorrow but they might not have time to mature before egg retrieval, so we'll see.
skiierchck99
kiwi / 518 posts

Oct 11, 2017

@LaughLines: Glad to hear! That's a good strong number : ) Hope retrieval goes smoothly.
SweetiePie
honeydew / 7463 posts

Oct 11, 2017

@LaughLines: That’s a great update! Keep us posted!
LaughLines
clementine / 880 posts

Oct 12, 2017

Another update: this morning after 8 days of stim shots, i had 25 follicles! Between size 11mm and 23mm. I did the trigger shot tonight and will have egg retrieval on Saturday. Not all 25 will be mature because they won't have enough time before Saturday, but I'm so happy with how much it has increased since the first ultrasound (only 6 then)
SweetiePie
honeydew / 7463 posts

Oct 12, 2017

@LaughLines: awesome!!! Can’t wait to hear about retrieval and your fert report!
skiierchck99
kiwi / 518 posts

Oct 12, 2017

@LaughLines: Get it, girl! Hoping for an easy retrieval and no OHSS after! I was worried about it but didn't get it and really had minimal pain. Get a heating pad if you can. Are you doing ICSI or just regular?
LaughLines
clementine / 880 posts

Oct 12, 2017

@skiierchck99: I've been drinking electrolytes to try to prevent ohss... We'll see

We're doing ICSI and genetic testing... So we're freezing them for an FET next month... So even if i do get ohss i will have time to recover
skiierchck99
kiwi / 518 posts

Oct 13, 2017

@LaughLines: I drank a lot, too. And when I was SO SO sick of gatorade, I turned to electrolyte water! Saved my life.
OurEastAndWest
cherry / 134 posts

Oct 13, 2017

@LaughLines: Wow, that's awesome to hear!! I would have been a nervous wreck with that first ultrasound too. Please keep the 'updates' coming for those of us who might be in a similar boat soon And good luck Saturday!!
LaughLines
clementine / 880 posts

Oct 14, 2017

Well.... Had my surgery this morning and it was very disappointing. Out of 30-40 follicles they only got 8 eggs. And the grades on them dont sound good so may have to scrap the genetic testing and just transfer what we have if we even get any....
SweetiePie
honeydew / 7463 posts

Oct 14, 2017

@LaughLines: Oh no, I’m sorry By grades do you mean the maturity? Or do they actually grade the eggs? I’ve never heard of this, but that’s not to say it doesn’t happen.

Personally, unless you have nothing testable, I would still test OR bank them and do another retrieval so that you can send a bigger batch to be tested. So you might only have 2 to test this time (picked a random number) so you do another retrieval and hope for more to then combine with the two and send a bigger batch for testing. Make sense?
We always had a small number this time (2 the first round and 5 the second round) and we still sent each batch for testing. Because we wanted to avoid future retrieval’s if at all possible. And it would have been very annoying to do 2-3 rounds and find out the “normal” embryo was from the first retrieval! Know what I mean?

Anyway, it’s a very personal decision and obviously I don’t know all the details. Just sharing my two cents based on the limited knowledge I have. We’re all here if you need advice or to vent!
LaughLines
clementine / 880 posts

Oct 14, 2017

@SweetiePie: i dont know if it was grades exactly... Maybe just maturity level or something...

The reason we're doing testing is because of previous miscarriages (2) and the last one was due to trisomy. So we dont have anything hereditary or a balanced translocation... Just wanted to be preventative
SweetiePie
honeydew / 7463 posts

Oct 14, 2017

@LaughLines: and you guys did karyotyping of yourselves? That’s how you know no balanced translocation?

I’m obviously a huge advocate for PGD testing, but I know I’m also jaded. Plenty of people have way better odds than me and it’s hard for me to wrap my head around!

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follicles after first ultrasound with IVF

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