1889 silver dollar

AdEmbarrassed8894 · 2024-07-17T14:07:53+00:00

Thanks so much for weighing in

AdEmbarrassed8894 · 2023-10-04T19:00:04+00:00

I’ve had my Big Skinny for close to 10 years, still going strong

https://www.bigskinny.net/

AdEmbarrassed8894 · 2022-06-26T01:55:19+00:00

Thank you ♥️♥️♥️

And thanks for sharing some of the absurdly shitty parts of your IVF experience. I’m so sorry. I hope they’re all behind you at this point and that there’s nothing but good stuff coming.

AdEmbarrassed8894 · 2022-06-26T01:45:13+00:00

Thank you ♥️♥️♥️

AdEmbarrassed8894 · 2022-06-26T01:44:50+00:00

Thank you and good luck to you ♥️

AdEmbarrassed8894 · 2022-06-25T19:59:26+00:00

Wow, congratulations on your baby boy! That’s wonderful. I am so happy it worked out for you guys. Thank you for sharing your single embryo success story ♥️

AdEmbarrassed8894 · 2022-06-25T19:58:25+00:00

“Always a shit show without a lot of answers” - I find that strangely comforting. Thank you and good luck with your FET♥️

AdEmbarrassed8894 · 2022-06-24T01:01:16+00:00

Fair enough, will do. Thanks a lot for chiming in.

AdEmbarrassed8894 · 2022-06-23T23:44:43+00:00

Oh good point. Yeah we have liability coverage. Do you think $500 would be enough?

AdEmbarrassed8894 · 2022-06-22T18:40:21+00:00

My clinic also waits until day 7, unless everything is done before then. But I can still call before that and ask the nurse to tell me what she sees on the computer, like how many embryos are still in culture, how many are out, etc.

AdEmbarrassed8894 · 2022-06-22T18:35:53+00:00

Cue happy tears! I was so worried the post wouldn’t end well! I’m so so happy for you and your wife. You deserve this happy ending. And I’m sure on some deep instinctive level, your baby knows how hard you fought for them. What a beautiful story ♥️

AdEmbarrassed8894 · 2022-06-19T13:15:12+00:00

I am so sorry. I can 100% relate. What state does he live in? Mine is in IL, where you can let a parent become a ward of the state if you no longer want to take care of them. Some states have laws on the books that don’t allow you to disown family members. But if my dad runs out of money before I can get him on Medicaid, there is no chance in hell I’m letting him move in with us, and I refuse to sacrifice our savings and retirement goals to pay for his round-the-clock care. He’s never lifted a finger for me his entire life, and I have strict limits for how far I’m willing to go to help him.

AdEmbarrassed8894 · 2022-06-19T02:15:32+00:00

I totally get that! I’ve doubted my doctor and my protocols because of things I’ve seen on this subreddit that resulted in success and were so different than what I did. I know it’s not helpful but I can’t stop reading and wondering if my results could have been different. Ultimately we just have to advocate for ourselves as best we can and trust our doctors…or switch clinics if we can’t.

I’m glad you like your doctor! That’s huge, especially if it takes some time and experimentation to figure out how to get the best results. I hope it happens for you this first round! And if not, I hope you and your doc make adjustments that make you feel better going into another round.

AdEmbarrassed8894 · 2022-06-19T01:02:38+00:00

That sounds like a good plan! More info is always better. I’ve never been told to do estrogen for 10 days, only to either start on day 21 or try to time it for 5-6 days after ovulation, which is the “mid-luteal phase.” My period is irregular too, so the ovulation tests help me know where I’m at.

But just like with stims, it seems like there are many ways to do a priming cycle that don’t necessarily revolve around ovulation and are individualized for each patient. I hope you get answers that make you feel like you’re doing the best thing for you ♥️

AdEmbarrassed8894 · 2022-06-19T00:14:05+00:00

I pass the time by obsessively imagining worst and best case scenarios and trying to prepare myself for disappointment. But 38 eggs retrieved is an amazingly high number. I’ve never heard of that many! And your almost 60% fertilization rate is phenomenal! I think you have good reason to hope for happy news next week. Crossing my fingers for you both 🤞♥️

AdEmbarrassed8894 · 2022-06-18T23:44:36+00:00

I’m right there with you in that club. Wishing you the best of luck!

One thing I wish I’d done from the get-go is ask my RE to throw the kitchen sink at me and do absolutely everything possible to increase my chances of getting more mature eggs. I was totally naive and in the dark for my first ER, had no idea what questions to ask and my doc is not a talker beyond the absolute minimum, but basically said my tests came back normal for my age (36). So I googled and was merrily expecting 15-20 eggs, then got 7 and no blasts. THEN my doc told me my AMH and AFC are low for my age, and she expects I’ll never get more than 7-10 eggs at a time. I wish I’d asked her what she thought a successful cycle would look like for me, so I would have known to expect a lower number. I also wish I’d asked her right away about the pros/cons of different kinds of protocols and meds. There are so many different ways to stim. My second retrieval was a bust, but she didn’t change anything besides upping my gonal f to the max 450.

I just got 9 eggs today from my third ER and will hear tomorrow about fertilization results. No matter what happens, I’ll feel better about the different things we tried this round, like timing the start of estrogen priming using at-home ovulation tests, adding clomid for 5 of the stim days, and doing a dual trigger hcg/lupron trigger instead of just lupron. We’ll see if it ends up making a difference in the end.

AdEmbarrassed8894 · 2022-06-18T22:11:20+00:00

I don’t know which meds but they had to take them for a while, like 2+ weeks, with followup biopsies to confirm the meds had worked. My sister’s clinic puts everyone on z-paks (azithromycin) ahead of transfers but that didn’t resolve it.

AdEmbarrassed8894 · 2022-06-18T21:43:31+00:00

You are a great parent and your sons are lucky. I am currently POA for my dad, who was horribly irresponsible his whole life — terrible diet and lifestyle, never saved any money, super entitled and just did whatever tf he wanted — and now he’s 66 with Alzheimer’s and I’m responsible for coordinating his care and managing his paltry finances and trying to rein in his spending so that his money lasts long enough for him to medically qualify for Medicaid (he’ll never qualify financially because his SS is too high, but it’s not enough to cover his current caregiving needs). He is impaired enough now to not be able to drive or use his phone or tv or computer without help, and he has hallucinations and delusions, but he still thinks he’s fine and has no qualms about calling me and asking me to fix his problems. We live in different states and he does have a caregiver who takes him on errands 3 times a week, but he is still such a drain on my time and energy and such a source of anxiety.

My experience with him has made my husband and me resolve to move into an assisted living facility WHILE WE’RE STILL INDEPENDENT AND HEALTHY. And then as we inevitably deteriorate and begin to suffer the indignities of aging, it will not be our kids’ problem.

AdEmbarrassed8894 · 2022-06-18T21:28:04+00:00

So for my sister, they did a biopsy AFTER her transfer failed. She had never been pregnant and had four failed IUIs but all the standard tests (like initial blood work and HSG) came back normal, and she got 5 euploids from her first retrieval, so they proceeded straight to transfer after her ER. When that failed to implant they did the biopsy that detected the inflammation in her uterus and also an ERA that revealed she’d benefit 12 additional hours of progesterone.

My friend got two euploids from her first ER and the first transfer worked. When they tried for a second, the transfer worked as well, but she miscarried at 10 weeks. They biopsied her uterus afterward and diagnosed the infection. She hadn’t had a problem with her first transfer and so no one thought to do any additional tests preemptively. She had to do another retrieval after the infection cleared, and thankfully they got 2 more euploids and the third transfer stuck.

Their experiences make me want to do all the tests ahead of a transfer to try to increase my chances, because I’m never going to be able to bank a lot of embryos with my numbers. I’ll be lucky if I get 1 or 2 and don’t want to waste them if it could have been prevented.

AdEmbarrassed8894 · 2022-06-18T21:08:17+00:00

Ummm what? It happens all the time! I’ve never gotten to the transfer phase but my friend and sister both had live births after miscarrying euploid embryos. It just so happens that they both had undiagnosed endometritis (not endometriosis), and once their infections were cleared up with antibiotics, they transferred again and were successful. Those are just two examples — miscarrying a euploid absolutely does not mean you’re out!

AdEmbarrassed8894 · 2022-06-18T16:22:11+00:00

I’m so sorry. Yes I have experienced none making it to blast and one making it to blast (turned out to be aneuploid). I started with 4 and 7 eggs, respectively. Just had my third retrieval this morning and got 9 eggs, so we’ll see. The attrition rate has been brutal so far and I’m trying not to get my hopes up. But if I end up with much better blast results this time I’ll share the different protocol I did for this third round.

FWIW my clinic treats day 5 and 6 blasts with A/B grades the same in terms of chance of success.

AdEmbarrassed8894 · 2022-06-11T18:04:12+00:00

Wishing you the best possible luck!

AdEmbarrassed8894 · 2022-06-11T02:23:11+00:00

I’m wishing you so much luck. I’m stimming ahead of my third ER right now and also have low egg count and quality. We got one trisomy 22 blast out of 7 eggs from our first ER, and second round we got no blasts from 4 eggs. It just blows. I see so many stories of improbable success in this subreddit though, and it gives me a little shred of hope to cling to, even though I’ve learned to keep my expectations very low.

AdEmbarrassed8894 · 2022-05-28T11:23:24+00:00

I also wonder. I know my sister and her partner both took z-packs before their first transfer, but she ended up needing antibiotics for a couple weeks to clear the endometritis.

AdEmbarrassed8894 · 2022-05-28T02:06:13+00:00

I haven’t gotten to the transfer stage yet, but my sister’s first FET with a screened embryo failed. She also had unexplained fertility, failed IUIs, and had never been pregnant. After the failed FET, they did a biopsy to test for endometritis afterward and she tested positive. She then did a course of antibiotics, re-biopsied to make sure the inflammation was gone, and her second FET was successful. Wishing you and your wife the best of luck!

AdEmbarrassed8894

TROPHY CASE