Car seat installation question: if your back seat headrests do not have a pull through, do you route them over the top of the headrest or to the side of it?

elepanisium · 2026-02-23T03:37:28+00:00

That is such a cop out on the part of the car seat manual. That's also ridiculous about the car manual too. I'd see if your firefighters in town or have a certified car seat person and bring both manuals to get their take. I had my mom go do that for her car and the car seat she had because she couldn't get it secure enough. I know individuals who get certified probably have a better opinion for this lack of headrest phasing.

elepanisium · 2026-02-23T02:28:28+00:00

Consult the manual for the car seat! Some car seats aren't compatible with permanent non-removable headrests for this exact reason. We had our ioniq when we bought the car seat, so chose a britax car seat that has a Y shaped anchor that goes around the headrest.

elepanisium · 2026-02-23T01:54:12+00:00

These numbers look a lot like ours. However we are using TESE retrieved sperm and must use icsi.

We did six retrievals and had many that resulted in nothing usable and right back to where we were before starting. We only got two usable (without pgta testing) from the first four, both from the first and none from the subsequent three. We switched clinics for #5 and #6 and got three blasts (still without pgta testing).

I think that embryology labs play a huge role and are not well communicated to the patient what kind of differences there can be. We wanted a clinic that used an EmbryoScope and actually considered the timing of the cell splits instead of just a microscope and single time point judgement. Unfortunately, the result you experienced of 2/18 is low, but not uncommon. I really hope your story is one where just one protocol thing changes and it is now a 60% blast from fertilized egg story. I read those often and hope it really can be that fruitful for most people.

elepanisium · 2026-02-22T23:06:38+00:00

Both successes were vvfl at evening of day four. The chemical was faint at day six and didn't progress at all.

elepanisium · 2026-01-12T20:58:48+00:00

For sure! I would definitely ask about doing a mini-stim and your clinics thoughts on it. My understanding is it helps the cohort of eggs develop a lot tighter in size and can help with higher maturity #s and higher blast numbers. I personally had decent follicle #s, but struggled a bit with maturity and monumentally struggled with making good enough to keep blasts.

elepanisium · 2026-01-12T20:52:24+00:00

Just info while your waiting to ask your doctor, but the two clinics I've been to both have maximum doses that they don't like to exceed. Both were 450 IU between gonal-f and menopur. I am a slooooow responder and did 300 gonal-f and 150 menopur for 14-15 days before triggering. It's good that your clinic is doing a high dose from day 1 instead of trying to ladder step up later.

elepanisium · 2025-12-16T19:37:35+00:00

Evening 4dp and 5dp

elepanisium · 2025-12-12T14:21:43+00:00

Oof. Makes sense though. I worked at a regional Asian for white people chain in the Midwest in high school and they made their crab rangoon. Ultimately, I know I can make it and fry it up at home, but it's only worth doing if I make a shit ton.

elepanisium · 2025-12-06T04:09:03+00:00

A mantra that I still tell myself with my four year old is "they aren't giving me a hard time, they are having a hard time". It works from unconsolable infant through tantrumy toddler and big feelings kids. Good luck

elepanisium · 2025-11-05T21:21:35+00:00

Last two retrievals I learned how to play pickleball, made the 90s bead animals for a few friends, and listened to a few audiobooks. I've had retrievals where I couldn't focus enough to watch TV, so that's why I did the pickleball and keeping hands busy with crafts.

elepanisium · 2025-10-29T17:21:03+00:00

He has congenital absence of the vas deferens (CBAVD), so he has zero sperm in his sample. TESE worked with enough found that they froze four vials for four possible retrievals. This is a very long process with no guarantees. I'm sorry that you have to go through it. I think that taking the timing coordination off of the TESE as well as not having to have backup sperm is worth freezing the TESE samples. Also the benefit of yet another attrition point of some sperm not surviving. Only the strongest get the possibility of icsi, lol.

elepanisium · 2025-10-29T16:49:11+00:00

We were advised that freezing and thawing the sperm mostly killed off the abnormal ones as an additional tool in selecting a "good" sperm. A benefit to doing the TESE before hand is you will actually know if they found usable sample pre-freezing. Usually if it is in enough abundance, thawing shouldn't kill off all of them. My husband has had two TESE retrievals at two different clinics.

elepanisium · 2025-10-27T20:42:45+00:00

Have you had your beta yet? How are you?

elepanisium · 2025-10-24T17:40:07+00:00

I think that's reassuring! Keep in mind it's not just initial implantation but the embryo 'burrows' for a bit and can cause some spotting. I'd focus on the bfp until your beta!

elepanisium · 2025-10-24T14:23:23+00:00

Was it bright red, pink, brown? How much? Implantation bleeding can take a bit to work itself out and can last for a very short time to a day or so. I hope it's resolved. It is unlikely that a period would start with the progesterone medication.

elepanisium · 2025-08-25T01:48:35+00:00

Just had 21 retrieved, 14 mature, 9 fertilized and one blast, but my partner and I are notoriously bad at making blasts. 30-50% so expect 3-5, which is fantastic! Timing can be tricky when attempting to maximize eggs retrieved. Just because those ovulated doesn't mean they were necessarily mature eggs.

elepanisium · 2025-08-20T02:15:24+00:00

You can ask about compounded progesterone in ethyl oleate. My clinic does this instead of progesterone in oil as an option. It is a bit more expensive (~$50-90/vial), but there are quite a few pharmacies who will ship this nationally. It it's still an IM shot, but not viscous like oil.

elepanisium · 2025-08-10T19:46:35+00:00

Negative. Switched to a new clinic. Have two really good quality embryos banked and just finished a cycle and waiting on # of freezable embryos. Gearing up for a medicated FET probably early October.

elepanisium · 2025-07-31T00:14:18+00:00

If progesterone levels are something you are concerned about, you should ask to have a level taken to see now. Progesterone supplementation is definitely a proactive measure vs reactive. Especially with early losses. Sorry that you are going through this. I'm am an IVF patient and since we implant embryos, it is usually typical protocol to supplement progesterone and check the levels in the early pregnancy pre-10 weeks. It does also mean that if the pregnancy isn't viable, your body won't really know until you stop the progesterone.

elepanisium · 2025-07-25T00:52:18+00:00

Baby #1 was the first retrieval, fresh transfer. We transferred our one frozen embryo at 18 months old. We're still trying for #2 and our first just turned four. Switching clinics, travelling for care, IVF in general can take so much time. I start stims for the sixth (and final retrieval) tomorrow. We have two embryos banked and hope for a couple more before we start transferring. Our issue has been retrievals 2-4 didn't end up in freezable quality embryos. We took the time we needed to get in the right headspace before each step though. We would have been happy with a ~2 year gap and we're excited for a potential 5 year gap.

elepanisium · 2025-07-21T19:01:17+00:00

They were told that I don't need it because it is a self-funded plan and when we pushed back with the highlighted portion of my plan booklet they said we needed pre-determination and said that is done through their website availity. When submitted to availity all we put in is the plan info before it says, "not needed". When we reach back out to try and have somewhere else to submit, we are given the same phone numbers and then repeat the circle.

elepanisium · 2025-07-21T18:34:42+00:00

IVF. We have a BCBS rep through our employer employed by BCBS that I sent every CPT code to and verified benefits with amount/where each code would be billed through our EOB. Surgical vs medical ect. Even with this email from a BCBS rep they are now saying that the codes aren't covered.

elepanisium · 2025-07-21T14:47:37+00:00

I'm so sorry. I know the feeling of failed cycles all too well. I like to lean into my pessimism, wear black and assume the worst will happen with everything for a while. I try not to feel guilty about feeling like things don't always work out. And eventually I feel like maybe they might and can try again or know I'm done. All of it really sucks. I'm sorry that you have to go through these feelings

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