FertilityFactor.com Home

Hi guys, the egg retrieval went really well. They got out 22 eggs :D Not all of them may be mature, however. I'm supposed to get a call back from the RE's office later this afternoon to tell me how they are doing, how many fertilized, etc. Meanwhile, my boobs are sore and I can't fit into my jeans because the procedure leaves your stomach very swollen, lol :D

Sasha, I'm back... had a great time but OMG was is freezing! There weather is typically better then Michigan but would you not know that they were experiencing lower tempertaures then normal! I am sorry that af came, I really thought that you would be the one this month :0( Why is your dh getting mad at you??? it's not your fault that it was not your time this month..... he's probably just frusturated like all of us. Good like with this cycle of IUI! GOSIA, I'm with you.... where are all the bfps.... As you know, I skipped this month and possibly the next.... I'm trying to gear my mind straight before trying IVF... It didn't realize how much it would effect me. Doing IUI I was excited and pretty much easy going with it...now being introduced to IVF I'm scared... I think the biggest part is the $$$. GOGO, it's great to hear that everything is moving smoothly for you... I have a question what is the 5-day transfer? Also, before you or Tink mentioned Stims, what is this?

GoGo, when the did the retreival did they use anesthesia? How long was the process? I'm glad that everything went so well! Sounds like you have many follies, so there has to be at least 1 that will work. Did you hear back from the DR yet? How are they doing?

Hey chele!! Dh wasn't mad he was just really bummed he does keep getting mad at the Dr's, he thinks they leave the sperm sitting to long which I thinks so too and a bunch of other little things. Gosia good luck with your IUI. GoGo glad things went well. Does your stomach hurt at all?

Hi guys! BTW, "stims" is just the usual Gonal F (plus Lupron to keep you from ovulating until you're supposed to). And for the retrieval, my place does put people under general anesthesia (twilight maybe?) for ER, through an IV. As for the retrieval, I'm recovering very well; I have no cramping at all (!) and after we left we hit the Cheesecake Factory for lunch and then walked around the mall :D I was never even on any pain meds. So it really couldn't be better. I had a great experience. I bled a little bit, but nothing major. The only thing I hate is that you have to wear pads...ew! I started to swell up the next day and I think that was actually the worse; I was feeling much better by Monday and practically normal by Tuesday. Sunday we went out to eat and I could not fit my jeans at all :D On Sunday we also got some bad news; only 5 of the eggs fertilized. So the lab techs put them back to pull them out again on Tuesday. I had my egg transfer today. As for the egg transfer, needless to say, I was really anxious on my way in that there was nothing to transfer since I hadn't heard anything, although I could fit back into my favorite pair of jeans :D So I picked DH up from work and then we drove down to the surgery center. My appt was at 11, but we sat there for a while (it was 11:40) before the doctor came out and gave us the embryo report. At day 3, we had 1 8-cell, 2 7-cells, and a 6-cell; the 5th one was a 4-cell. That's great since on day 3 they are supposed to be between 6 and 8 cells. ALL of them were graded "3"--at first I was hearbroken until he explained to me that that's the highest quality they can be. I thought highest would be a 1, ROFL!! So I got teary right there since I was so relieved. We implanted the two 7-cells and the 8-cell and they're going to hold onto the 6-cell and try to grow it into a blast to freeze. I also found out that the vast majority (almost ALL) of the 22 eggs were mature, believe it or not. What happened was that the sperm didn't penetrate the eggs...so if this time doesn't work, we're going to try ICSIm where they inject the sperm directly into the egg. At any rate, when they actually did the transfer, DH was given a paper jumpsuit and footies and he had to wear a hair net thing and a face mask. Boston IVF does the transplants in the OR, so they had me lie back and they put goo on my belly and hooked up the ultrasound (ooo pushed on my bladder!). I saw as they did a mock transfer with an empty catheter. Then they brought out the full catheter and they put it in again and I could actually see the embryos come out the tip, and as the catheter was withdrawn I could see them at the top of the uterus. So they are in there and clinging to the top! Best thing is that I cramped a bit for the empty catheter but not for the full one, so I'm hoping to avoid uterine contractions for a LONG time. I'm home after the acupuncture treatment, and off for the rest of the week :D Oh--and they gave me a picture of the three embryos so I took it home and put it in a little picture frame on my desk :D I'm such a cheeseball. As DCL said, we're supposed to get snow here tonight on into tomorrow. I WILL NOT be shoveling :D I'm still a bit curious as to why the mature eggs didn't fertlize, but I'm happy with the way things turned out.

Sasha, I know they have told me it should be inseminated shortly after the washing wich is 2hrs... do they wait much longer? Wow GoGo, I had chills reading your post....You are my helping hand; guiding me through what to expect/happens before I go through the process. I don't think your a cheesball.... if you are... then I'm right there with you!haha HOW EXCITING this is.... I sure hope that this will be your last attempt at conceiving (meaning it works for you)! :0) Now I have also read in my paperwork that you can have the add'l eggs frozen at that time if wanted (add' $1,200) and I was interested in that also. It seems that this is something you will be doing too? I am so excited for you, I hope this works! Lots of Baby Dust!!!!

Hello Ladies,
Gogo, how exciting for you...we are hoping for great news from you. Sasha, good luck with your iui.
Here is my update: Had ultrasound on Monday. I had 2 follies on the left around 18 and 19 and the right side had 2 at 26 and 28 which were pretty big. I got the HCG shot and IUI the same day. The scare was that the big ones can turn into cysts but the HCG shot would help them release. This morning I went back and the two big follies were gone which means I ovulated. My re was very happy.
I had the seconnd IUI. So overall, clomid helped me by growing follies to more mature stage and I had some activities on the left side which does not happen to often. I could feel that I was ovulating as well.My lower belly was pretty crampy last few days. Estrogen helped as well, I saw eggwhite CM more then before.
I am very hopefull this month, My re said that his statistics say that iui works by the 3.8 try. It was my third time.
He tries 6 iui's in the row and then the next step is the superovulation which I am not sure what it is. Maybe with injectables... I got pregestorone to take for the next 24 days and wait and wait...lol
Gogo, when are you supposed to test?

I meant , progestorone for the next 14 days...
Take care

chele after he collects it goes right in for the sperm wash. They do a double spin on him which takes about 20-25min I can hear the buzzer go off when it's done. I had to wait about 25 min after it was done for the IUI. Normally I wait about 5-10 min so it was way longer then normal. So that's why we thought it was out for to long. It takes your office 2 hrs for the sperm wash or did I read it wrong? How long does your whole procedure take from the time you step through the doors? GoGo that is so amazing what you went through. I heard Boston IVF is the best. They have a satellite office at my Dr's office. Have you ever read the book Conquering Infertility by Dr. Alice Domar? She is from Boston and she talks alot about Boston IVF. It's a really good book. I bet you'll get pg this month. Gosia I'm glad your IUI's went well, you had some big follies. So when you have the HCG shot does it make you release all the follicles? I'm just curious since this will be my first month doing it. I pick up my HCG friday. My IUI should be next tuesday or wednesday.

Gosia, Wow the size of your folliles sound wonderful! I sure hope this time works for you! I have had 3 IUI's but from what you wrote I'm wondering if I should try 1 more before going to IVF... oh I'm so confused..... Have these been the biggest follies you've had? I'm asking because I'm thinking maybe whatever you did this month was the trick for you... sure hope so. SASHA, I was just as amazed when I read your post... I have never heard of that short of a wash but maybe there are different levels of doing so... Yes, you are correct... Dh goes in and 2 hours later I have an appt to come in for the insemination. When I did the 1st IUI w/ my OBGYN it was the same. I had to pick up the washed sperm in a vial at the hospital 2 hrs after dh was there, carry it btwn my bbs to keep at body temp and make it to my doctors office within 45 min for insemination. Then the procedure is typically 10 min if there having problems getting the cathetar in or 5 if i'm lucky :0) There must be different levels of washing that I'm not aware of. Will you give yourself the HCG Shot on Sunday then? Lots of Baby Dust to you both!!!

I thought 25 min. was normal. The only reason it takes that long is b/c they do it twice. They told me how they do it, they put the sperm wash in it then they spin it in a machine to seperate the good from the bad. They they stick it under the microscope to make sure it's ok if it's not then they spin it again. I would assume they do yours the same way. You should ask them why it takes so long. Actually I'm going to my Dr's next week so I can ask why it would take that long. I have to give myself the trigger shot when I get my surge on the OPK. I'm so not looking forward to it. Where are you in your cycle, is it to late to start meds for another IUI?

Hello everyone! I have been following your stories for a while now because I have been going through the same things as you. I just had my first IUI yesterday and today. Yesterday was in the n the cervix and today was the uterus. You would think today would have been more painful, but yesterday was kind of uncomfortable. Today there was a snow storm that was followed by an ice storm! Thank God my doctor is so dedicated. I just really hope it worked. I just wanted to say thanks to you gals, because you have been very helpful over the last couple of months. I haven't really chosen to take part in the conversations until now because It's been a little hard for me, but I could use some support and you guys seem to do that for eachother. I do have to say, I find the TTC lingo a little hard to understand. I think I have a few of the words down like...AF... aunt flow? DH...Dear husband? I don't know maybe someone can help me with that???? Good luck to you all....I look foward to chatting with you.

Welcome ekoorb!! if you have ?'s about the lingo tell us which one's you want to know and we'll tell you.

Hi, Sasha, HCG is definitely helping with realising your follies. For me it always happens within 24 hrs . This time the two big one were released but the smaller ones I am not sure. I guess the dominant ones go first. A year ago, I was on clomid with no monitoring, I am sure I had big follies but becouse there was no u/s and hcg shot , I must have had cysts becouce my period came later and very painful. The key for iui is close monitoring becouse it has to be the right time. I had u/s on Friday but I had to wait s follies were no right size yet.
Chele, these were the biggest follies I ever had. I think it was the clomid that made them grow and maybe waiting 1 extra day. I am very hopeful this month. Feb was the month that Cheri predicted for me as well. We will see if she was right.
By the way, on the first day I took progesterone my nipples started to be sensitive, so I know that meds cause that and I will not be making any connections to the pregnancy symptoms.
Ekoorb, welcome to the thread. It's a great place to share what we go through plus I have learned so much from everyone. Everyday I look forward to see what's happening here.
Sasha, good luck with iui next week.

Sorry for the spelling mistakes. I am in the rush to get ready for work.
Have a great day Ladies.

Sasha, yep they do the same thing but I recall reading something awhile back about 2 different types of washes... Not sure what the benefit is of doing it longer??? Good question. Yes it's too late for me to start meds for another IUI now, but beg of March would be the start of a new cycle. I actually called this afternoon to leave a message w/ one of the nurses to call me tomorrow a.m. I wanted to tell her that I changed my mind and want to attempt 1 more IUI before going for IVF. I figured she would explain to my RE and see what his thoughts are... also, then I could find out what dose they would move me up to and I could order the meds in head of time. We will see.... Cheri predicted March as my find out/conceive time so maybe it will work. But if not, then I think 4 attempts would be enough in my mind to say ok, go ahead w/ IVF. EKOORB, Welcome! Well your on your 2ww... hope it goes smooth (waiting period) for you. I have not been bad on my 2ww but there are many that have that urge to test early (which I totally understand). Good luck, and yes let us know what lingo you are wanting explained and one of us can help. GOSIA, you are right the most dominent one(s) release and the other just lay behind. They don't release they just empty during ovulation and disinagrate unless you are unfortunate like me a few times and they turn to cysts. Good, maybe the large follies are what you needed and they will work for you this month! The progesterone made my nip hurt also when I was on it. It gave me false hope but then eveyone's body is different. I hope everyone had a nice Valentines Day! Talk to you soon!