This thread has been closed by the original poster.
pear / 1881 posts
@AmeliaBedilia: I will be doing 150 Menopur and 300 follistim, so you are not alone! I'll try to respond more later
pear / 1986 posts
@AmeliaBedilia: Sounds like your meeting was very productive! Thats great! As I mentioned earlier, my hematologist recommended starting Lovenox when I started stims, but not while I was on BCPs, so it seems like two weeks prior to transfer would be good although you could start right when you start stims, too. This injection burns quite a bit (I was also on this during my first fresh cycle when I had OHSS), but I actually got used to it fairly quickly. My insurance covered part of the Lovenox since it was prescribed by the hematologist, but it was still $500 for a three month supply. But just a suggestion that your insurance might cover part of it - especially if your GP/OB or someone other than your RE prescribes it.
cherry / 107 posts
@AmeliaBedilia: I started on 300 Follistim, upped to 150 Menopur and 225 Follistim when I didn't respond after a few days and then upped more to 225 Menopur and 225 Follistim before I finally resonded (kind of). It's a reasonable dose. I'm assuming my RE doesn't like to go over 450 combined because if she did I bet they would have done it to me last cycle with my suuuuper slow rise lol. What I've read also says that LH is ok/safer for egg quality if it's added later in the cycle, which I think is why my RE adds it on stim day 4 and starts with just the Follistim for the first 3 days.
Also thanks for everyone's support. I appreciate it I just don't really know how to respond except to say thanks, and I appreciate it. I'm not in a great place right now so I'll likely only be answering direct questions or ones that I have specific answers to for awhile, but I'll be reading along and you all have my support while I'm quiet.
pomegranate / 3764 posts
@Aqualov: You take whatever time you need. It SUCKS what you are going through. Cancelled cycles and extended waiting are what has pushed me over the edge several times, so we understand. xx
pomegranate / 3764 posts
@AmeliaBedilia: I have never used Menopur so I'm not sure how that works - but it sounds like you have lots of options, so that's a definite positive. I really think with some tweaking, you have a great shot at this.
pear / 1881 posts
@dookie32: OMG! Look at that line!!! Forgive me, but what kind of transfer did you do and is this your first one?! Congrats, lady!!
pomegranate / 3764 posts
@dookie32: Holy moly, that is an insane pee stick. Test darker than control already? Mine only JUST look like that! :o
kiwi / 538 posts
@NorthStar: Thanks! This is my 2nd FET with a PGD tested embryo (5AB).
@jaguar: I'm kinda surprised by the dark line too since I'm 10dpt. I hope it's a good sign! As my husband and I said- just the beginning of a series of anxiety-inducing moments!
pear / 1881 posts
@dookie32: when is your beta?? With that line, I would not be surprised if it split to twins! Eeek!! So happy for you!!
nectarine / 2192 posts
@dookie32: beautiful line- congratulations!
Thanks for all the helpful opinions. I am going to do my best to just trust my RE on the stims. We are getting an opinion from RI to make sure we are doing the best we can for transfer.
My challenge today is getting my meds ordered for a less insane amount. My meds through freedom would be 5000-7000 not including the growth hormone. Yikes! Between large doses of Menopur and follistim as well as growth hormone, this could be insane. I should get my med list early this afternoon, but I have a pretty good idea. Hopefully I will be able to get the growth hormone through a discount program. I start stims 2/27. I'm trying to decide between ivf pharmacy, which I used before, but the guarantee is two weeks. They usually come in 7-10 days, which is fine. Or I can go with IVF prescriptions- they say six business days, shipping costs $65 more, but they're less known.
pear / 1881 posts
@AmeliaBedilia: oh my gosh, that is a crazy amount of meds! Have you applied to any of the discount programs, like compassionate care or first steps? But, not sure if you would get an answer fast enough..I think that you know this, but if you order locally, follistim is def the cheapest at Winfertility. Good luck in deciding..it's a lot of work pricing out meds
nectarine / 2192 posts
@NorthStar: thanks, yes it is, but saving this amount of money makes it worth it. If the growth hormone program works, that will save me $1000. I'm leaning toward going with ivf pharmacy since I had a good experience with them, and it seems like I should have them in time.
apricot / 344 posts
@dookie32: WoW!! Beautiful lines!!!! Congratulations!!! When is your beta?!
persimmon / 1132 posts
@AmeliaBedilia: I'm not sure if I updated, but I got my IVFPharmacy meds in less than a week! (I'm on the east coast.) I would order from them again if I had to (and had the time).
nectarine / 2192 posts
@Amorini: thanks! Stims start 2/27, so I should be ok as long as I get it in today.
grapefruit / 4045 posts
@AmeliaBedilia: I used MDR pharmacy and they shipped by fedex and I always got the meds the next day. I think I even got them same day once. And they took orders on Sundays, which was actually very convenient. Good luck with where ever you order from!
nectarine / 2192 posts
@agold: thanks. The high success rate of the FETs on here is giving me some hope. I just hope that the reproductive immunologist will have a good plan.
honeydew / 7463 posts
@dookie32: That is one heck of a line!!!! Congrats!!! I did PGD as well and my RE did tell me there was a slightly higher chance of twins
Hi all, I've been commenting here and there and following along every few weeks, but keeping some distance. I've been a serial waffler for a while on whether I wanted another baby and whether I wanted to go through all of this again.
This past week for some reason I suddenly feel strongly (or stronger than I have) to do it. Mostly my husband would really like another and though he's not pressuring me, I know it would make him happy. And I know I won't regret having another. But I may regret NOT having another. So I can't see how it would be a losing situation. All of my reasons not to are short lived and temporary. So...here goes nothing.
For now my plan is to see if my RE still has my inconclusive embryo on ice (long story, chance it was destroyed) and get it retested. The chances of it being normal are slim to none and it will be $4,000. But I feel it's an OK gamble to potentially NOT have to pay another $25k if it's good. If that makes sense. If it's good I'll probably try to transfer in the fall (since I want a 3 year gap for sure). If it's not then I know I need to start retrievals this spring/summer. My odds of a normal egg are low so I know I'll need to try a couple to a few times, most likely. Hopefully that will give me something to transfer in the fall.
I emailed my RE last night, so we'll see what he says about the existing embryo. And take it from there.
I won't have a lot of excitement for a while but I am dipping my toe back in to try and get myself ready for all of it.
I know that none of us LIKE that we have to do IVF. But I am really, really dreading it. It just makes me cry when I think about everyone else I know just "trying". Just throwing caution to the wind. "Let's just see what happens." It makes me mad when I think about why we have to do this. That it has to be so planned out and clinical. But I guess that's how most of us feel. Just sucks.
Sending lots of love to you all and hopefully I'll be up to speed on your stories soon. xoxo
grapefruit / 4045 posts
@SweetiePie: I'm just barely pregnant with my first from IVF + FET. I don't have any frozen eggs left and I'm already thinking/dreading doing IVF again for a second+ baby. As for your current frozen embryo, wouldn't it be just cheaper to transfer it and if it isn't "good", it won't take anyway? I've been all about managing cost and $4K for testing one embryo seems like a lot! But best of luck because really, I'd love to have a frozen embryo to transfer and would totally understand if you thought spending that $4K was the only way for you to avoid having to do an entire egg retrieval process again. Best of luck with whatever you do.
honeydew / 7463 posts
@agold: congrats!!! That's so exciting! I know you've been hanging around for a while, really happy for you
My reason for having to do PGD is because I have a balanced translocation between chromosomes 18 & 20. I actually get pregnant pretty easily, but I need PGD to have a healthy baby. my chances of having a trisomy 18 (Edwards syndrome) baby are very high. If you're not familiar with it, it's a horrible syndrome to have. Chances are I would miscarry, which is hard enough, but carrying to term is pretty awful too. Stillbirth if not miscarriage, death within first year of not stillborn, very low quality of life, etc. So my RE won't even transfer an embryo that hasn't been tested first. $4,000 is a lot for testing but if there's a small chance it's "normal" then it would be worth it! We paid between $25 and $30k for our first round out of pocket so if I can avoid that it would be huge. I keep thinking "what if I do a round and test that old embryo with the new ones and find out that it was good all along and I never even had to do that round!" It's a really low chance but I'd be so frustrated if I put my body and our bank account through all of that. Hope this all makes sense!
Also, what's weird about this is that until a few months ago I didn't even know I had an embryo left. I had 8 PGD tested and 1 (my son) was good. I saw the report and one of them said something like "inconclusive" which I sort of took to mean that it wasn't good. No one ever explained it to me. Well 1.5 years later I get letters saying "you have to let us know what to do with your embryo" and I'm ignoring it thinking its a mistake, we don't have any. Then I get a call from my RE who switched practices and he tells me that they saved the inconclusive one because it can be REthawed, REbiolpsied, REfrozen and REtested. Which is amazing to me in and of itself. Then if it's good it would be thawed and transferred. So it would go through 2 freezes and 2 thaws! Which adds another level of risk. But again, what if it's good??? And I can avoid all of the other stuff???
grapefruit / 4045 posts
@SweetiePie: Got it. That does make sense. I'm familiar with the trisomies but I always forget that people choose to abort. So in that case, the $4K makes sense. Have you talked to your doctor about the twice-re-freezing process and what happens to the embryos then? I'm sure there's info out there on that scenario. And there's such good freezing techniques now that I might not even been concerned with twice-freezing. And yes, I still hang around here! I can't shake the IVF off of me and its still totally in the forefront of my mind all the time.
kiwi / 538 posts
Just got the call with my 1st beta #- 466. I'm relieved but to be honest REALLY super nervous about twins, especially since we only implanted 1. Obviously I would be excited for any viable pregnancy but since we already have a 4 year-old that I can barely handle on a daily basis, twins is not something I'm really pulling for. Besides being a high-risk pregnancy for me at 38, it would be a total game-changer for our family. The hormones are getting to me- I need to get off the interwebs!!
nectarine / 2192 posts
@SweetiePie: ugh, that's so hard! I feel like so many of us have to go through so much more than "regular IVF," as if that isn't hard enough.
I'm waiting for the growth hormone place to review my prescription and call me. I really hope this goes smoothly, since it would save me so much stress and money. I ordered my Menopur, ganirelix and follistim from ivf pharmacy. It should get here in time, but I'll feel so much better after it arrives.
pear / 1881 posts
@dookie32: omg, that is high. I have a friend who transferred one in November and it split into twins. how many days past transfer are you? I assume they will have you come back Wednesday for another beta? You can do this...one step at a time. I have an almost 4 year old, so I can so sympathize with you..
honeydew / 7463 posts
@agold: Yeah when we spoke on the phone he mentioned that it adds some risk but he has seen it done successfully many times. So, like most of this business, he's not making any promises but keeping hope alive. He is a great guy and a fantastic Doctor so I'm going to trust in him.
kiwi / 538 posts
@NorthStar: I'm 11dp5dt today- next draw will be Wed. I'm definitely getting ahead of myself but this is pretty much my control freak personality :).
honeydew / 7463 posts
@dookie32: If it gives you any comfort, my first draw at 12dp5dt was like 966! The office really prepared me for the possibility that the one split after transfer (one of them DID split in vitro when I got my first fert report). At my first ultrasound he even asked if I was ready to see how many were in there. But only one was in there, I guess he just implanted early and I make a lot of hcg because I always get early bfps.
Either way it will all be ok! xoxo
kiwi / 538 posts
@SweetiePie: That does make me feel better :). I feel so stupid being worried about this when being pregnant again is all I've been wanting for such a long time. I'd know I'd be happy no matter what happens. Glad I can talk about this stuff with you guys- people in RL can't understand what this roller coaster is like.
honeydew / 7463 posts
@dookie32: Look at betabase.org, it shows that there's a huge range of normal for singleton pregnancies.
And don't feel bad for worrying about twins! I would be terrified if that happened! I know that all would be fine and we'd make it work but I'd be so scared.
pomegranate / 3764 posts
@dookie32: My friend transferred a single emby a few days after me and her number was 466. So far, indications are one baby.
It does make me paranoid my numbers are too LOW (286 compared to 400s) but ... trying not to panic.
pomegranate / 3764 posts
@SweetiePie: That is a really tough decision to make. I would always use what's there JUST in case ... but it's a lot of money to use on a not-great emby. Meep. Tricky decisions for you.
clementine / 849 posts
@dookie32: Congratulations! That line is spectacular. To ease your mind about twins, my beta was 457 at 10dp5dt, and it was a singleton. Here's to a happy and healthy 9 months!
ETA: The range of normal in beta numbers is insane. Don't panic Jag
pomegranate / 3764 posts
So I stupidly had a psychic reading and they said they couldn't see any more biological kids for us... cue panic that this one isn't going to work. It even sent me back getting more bloods done in a panic. Why do I do this to myself?
And crap... what if they are right? *freak out*
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