I thought I would share my recent experice with growing folicies with the FSH drugs over the past three weeks.

My growth was VERY slow... Afer three days of taking they drugs... I took my bood work and the nurse called me to ask "are you doing your shots" Of course I was and I was scared that there was a problem when she asked me to come in the next day.

I go in the next day and still my estrogen levels are REALLY low and they see only 2 very small foliciles.

This goes on for a whole week.

Then 2 sundays ago they were talking to me about stoping the drugs and canceling the cycle B/c they could only see two foliciles that have any potential.

The following Tuesday I show up and low and behold I have 4 folicles of decent size with 3 smaller ones that are starting to pick up.

Finally this past Thursday my estrogen levels are where they should be and they see 8 foliciles with potenial. YEA!

This whole process took 3 weeks... which is the longest anyone there has had to be on the drugs. When I asked why they thought this was happening to me their response was:

B/c I have a a lot of adheasion around my overaries (from the j-pouch surgery) these adhesions block the blood flow to the overaries.

On Sat I had my reteriavel and they got 12 (yes 12) eggs and of this 12 I got 6 embroys today . Today we transfered 2 and froze 4. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that in 2 weeks I'll have good news and be expecting our 1st child.

So... IF any of you experince this very slow development... PLEASE don't give up. It can still be OK if you system is slow to start developing.

And THANK YOU to Jill who was emailing with me back and forth through all of this.

Hope this helps someone.

Nicole

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Biegal13,

Nicole, I'm so happy you had good results after a shaky start! 13 days left in the 2ww!

I had the opposite experience with both my IVF cycles. I only used the stim drugs for 8 days and got 12 eggs both times. First cycle May 2005got three embryos (day 3), transferred 2 and got my son Alex from that cycle. Transferred the frozen embryo May 2007 and miscarried.

This cycle I got 12 eggs, but had one day 6 blast that we transferred and had three blasts to freeze.

Nicole, thanks for sharing your experience. I am in the middle of a cycle right now. After 3 days of stims, I had an u/s and b/w. The nurse said that I have 13-15 follicles growing but they were still very small. My stims were increased and I am not to take any Lupron until further notice.

The nurse told me that the Lupron is probably over-suppressing me. But, now that you shared your experience, maybe the adhesions are also playing into this.

I have an u/s and b/w scheduled tomorrow (Thursday, 8th). I will let you know what they see this time around. My retrieval will hopefully be early next week.

Thanks again and best wishes.

I know every clinic is different, but I didn't even have an u/s until day 5. On day 5 I had 6 measurable follicles and between 10-20 others that were too small to measure. I probably wasn't much different than you on day three Sunny Days...I just didn't know it.

Thanks Jill . I hope my u/s and b/w are right where they are expected to be tomorrow.

I just want to say Good Luck!
I hope everything goes well.. =)

Nicole, just wanted wish you lots of luck with your ivf. I had a similar thing with our ivf in July where they could never see my left side no matter how they moved the ultrasound. Like you, I only had a few and then the last 4 days, everything caught up and we ended up with 12 embryos. Good luck in your 2WW. Keep us posted.

I had my u/s & b/w today. My E2 doubled which is a good sign but my follicles are still small. I will no longer be taking Lupron and I will remain on an increased doses of the Gonal-F and Menopur. An u/s & b/w is scheduled again for this Saturday.

The doctor seems to be not concerned and expects things to start picking up speed now that the Lupron will be out of my system.

I'll keep posting. . . .

Great news Sunny. I'm very happy for you that things are picking up.

Thanks for the well wishes everyone... it really means a lot.

Update:

I had some problems last night. I came home from my parents house and starting getting cramps as I was driving home. By 9:00 pm the cramps were REALLY strong espically on my right side. I was concerned about OOHS but I went to the Dr this morning and he doesn't think that is what's is going on. He thinks that I may have a bad bladder infection. YUCK!! So I hope they call me back soon with the resulsts of my urine test so I can get this fixed fast.

I know they have some meds that are OK for pregnany, but this scares me a bit to have to take them if I do have a bladder infection. Also just hope it doesn't change any chances of having a postive result on the 19th!

This happened to anyone else?

Best to everyone.

Nicole

I had a terrible bladder infection after one of my IUIs...I don't think it's that uncommon - they are inserting something into the area that may bring bacteria with it...

THere are definitely antibiotics that are okay - you may have to take them longer or more often during the day because they are less potent, but they won't affect the outcome of your cycle and won't be a problem with the baby.

Hope you got an answer, that pain is awful.

Hey everyone...

Starting to feel better. YEA!

And I'm excited that it is only 10 more days until the 19th. I'm thinking of taking that day off from work just b/c I don't want to be there when they call with the results... either way.

Talk to you all soon.

Nicole

Nicole,

I am so happy that you are feeling better!

Today, I had another u/s & b/w done. My follicles are starting to grow and my E2 level is right where it is supposed to be. My ER will be later than originally predicted but that's okay (hopefully late next week). I just hope my ET is before Thanksgiving Day. Beggars can't be choosers though and I will take what I can get .

I hope that you get good news. I will be taking the "news delivery" day off as well. I am always very emotional so either way I want to be in a good place.

Thanks again for sharing your experience.

Sunny,

I'm so glad things are moving so well for you now. Its looks like eliminating the lupron really worked for you. Thank for sharing that with me. If I need to do another round, that may be something that I should try. Looks like you are gettig close to the retrieval part. YEA!


Just 9 more days for me! And Jill's is coming up even faster.

Jill, we will all be keeping out fingers, toes, and everything else possible crossed for you.

Thanks Nicole! We should know the results by Tuesday afternoon...

This wait has been pretty easy...not sure if it's because there is already an Alex so it doesn't feel like an all or nothing situation like the last time. Or, maybe I'm just so much busier now. Plus, we have a lot going on this weekend and that has helped a lot.

My advice during the 2ww is to stay busy!

I am in the 10 day wait as well. I stimed for a long time too. I was just a slow and steady grower. My first IVF was a bust only 7 total and 3 fertilized. This time I traveled to SF where I'm from to see DR. Zouves. He has done 5 or 6 fellow j-pouchers. This time we got 14 eggs 9 were mature 8 fertilized and we had them sent off for PGD because of my age (39, 40 in Jan) 3 cam back bad 2 came back good and 2 came back what they call swing embroys. They could go either way. They think 2 genes are sitting on top of each other. Anyway we transfered all 4 and my beta is on the 19th. I go back to Phoenix on Tuesday. GOod luck to all.