Hi Ladies
Just wanted to share my 2nd IVF Cycle story with you and see if anyone has experienced something similar.
April 2013 First IVF Cycle resulted in BFN. 14 eggs collected, 7 fertilised, 5 made it to Blastocyst stage. 1 put back in which didn't take and 3 frozen. April 2013
October 2013 Second IVF Cycle resulted in BFP but sadly ended in miscarriage. 2 embryos put back in this cycle. 1 stuck but only up until 6 weeks
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I had read somewhere that Nettle tea is good for nourishing the womb and helping maintain a pregnancy so I started drinking this religiously twice a day as soon as I started my injections. I was also told to try aspirin this cycle a sit encourages blood flow to the womb which I also took along with my folic acid everyday. I didn't do any of this with my first cycle.
I was on the protocol which started with injections then onto tablets and then when the lining of my womb was thick enough they thawed my embryos and popped 2 back in. The hardest part about IVF is the constant obstacles and the waiting game especially in a fresh cycle. The frozen cycle was better but still felt like it went on for months and months.
The week after the embryos had been put back in I felt nothing. The first time I rested for 3 days but I was advised to rest for the first day and then move around as normal after the transfer day as the blood flow would assist implantation. A lot of people are encouraged to bed rest for 2 days after but I've been advised otherwise. I took time off but moved around as much as I could to encourage blood flow.
A week in I got a really bad cold. I had heard that this is a common symptom as your bodies immune system gets weak as your body starts to accept this new life latching on. My boobs would be really sore one day filling me with hope that it had worked to then feeling not sore and on those days I would be convinced it hadn't work. No one tells you that symptoms can come and go. I'm not going to tell anyone not to symptoms spot as it is impossible not too!!
The start of he second week I started spotting brown discharge. I thought it was the start of my period but when the spotting never got heavy enough to mark my undies and was only present when I wiped I started to think "this may have actually worked"
Test day came and I did the test convinced I wasn't going to see a second line. I waited for my hubby to go to work so I could do the test on my own, digest that it was a negative and then have my time to cry it out before I went to work. Then tell him when I wasn't a quivering wreck. I rung my sister to distract myself for the 3 minute wait and when I peeked at the test and it was 2 lines I couldn't believe what I was seeing. I told my hubby that night when we got in from work and we were so happy.
I immediately rung the clinic and they said to test again in a week and if it was positive then they would get me in for a scan the following week. The brown spotting continued over the next few days until things took a turn for the worse at the weekend. The brown spotting went from brown spotting to red blood but was still not heavy enough to soak a pad and was only visible when I wiped. The nurses at the clinic told me that this was normal when using the pessaries and some woman on IVF bleed throughout the whole of their treatment (thanks for the heads up i thought, no one told me this in one of the many appointments I had been too over the last few months!) and when the bleeding gets so heavy it soaks a pad that's when I need to worry!
As I had a previous ectopic pregnancy I thought I would contact the EPC to see if they could see me and put my mind at rest as i didn't want to wait another week to find out what was going on. IVF already feels like a massive waiting game so I went in on the Monday to be seen by a specialist who scanned me and showed me the babys sac, told me to stop worrying and that bleeding in IVF is normal. I didn't want to bleed, why cant I just be normal for a change, I don't want to spend the whole first trimester of this pregnancy I have wanted for so long wondering if everytime I go to the loo how much blood im going to see. If its normal. How much blood is normal? I just want to be normal. Fall pregnant and not bleed!!
They said to put our minds at rest and to make sure it wasn't ectopic that they would do bloods to check the hormone levels. I got a little mad at this point thinking the whole reason why we were referred for IVF was to avoid ectopic but apparently the chances are just as high in IVF as they would be if we conceived naturally.
I went in for my bloods across 3 days and when I got the call to tell me my levels had dropped by double over the course of 48 hours my heart felt like it had been broken. I cried, and cried and cried, the next day I woke up and felt like someone had died. That lost empty feeling you have in your stomach stuck around for a few days and then I moved on. I bounced back quickly as towards the end of the ordeal I just wanted closure. was this a normal pregnancy or not? Am I pregnant or not!? The fact I now knew it wasn't a viable pregnancy meant I could stop taking the 100's of tablets and the horrible pessaries and let my body go back to normal.
I bled for around 2 weeks and my boobs felt sorer than they have ever felt for about 3 weeks after. I couldn't lie on my front they were so sore. The clinic told me that they wanted me to continue with the meds because on some occasions your levels can dip low and then go back up. to add insult to injury the nurse then said "don't get your hopes up though as in my how ever many years of being a nurse I have never seen this happen" so I stopped taking my meds and let my body go back to normal. As soon as I came of the meds I had a proper bleed and started to feel better.
The hardest part about all of this is a lady that had a miscarriage the same time as me, announced she was pregnant again 4 weeks later and since then 5 ladies I work with and my sister in law have all announced they are pregant. I cried everytime I heard about a new pregnancy and felt bad as I am very happy for these ladies but want that so badly for me and my husband. I cant help but think why not me. Its hard trying for almost 5 years and seeing the ladies who stared trying around the same time as me, have their first and now onto their second and I still haven't managed to have my first yet!
I'm planning to do another cycle in April as I have booked a girls trip away at the start of April. I think I need a break and some time off as I had 2 cycles in 2013 so just want some time to try naturally and have some fun before we do another fresh cycle. It takes over everything and Is so mentally and physically draining im glad for the break.
I also wanted to change my job but don't know if that is a good idea as I don't want to start a new job and then have to go through IVF which means a lot of appointments with very short notice.
One thing that keeps me smiling is that it worked! and there is no reason for it to not work again. Part of me is excited that I still have such a wonderful blessing to look forward too. just wish I knew when....
Thank you for taking the time to read and I hope this doesn't put anyone off as that wasn't my intention. I would do it again in a heartbeat and excited for my new go as I would do anything to have a baby. until then were going to forget about it and see if we can make it happen naturally.
Good luck to any ladies out there starting their cycles, my words of wisdom is too carry on like normal and don't let it consume you. Try and eat well and laugh lots as stressing wont get you anywhere.
Lots of Love and Baby Dust
Nicky xxxx
Just wanted to share my 2nd IVF Cycle story with you and see if anyone has experienced something similar.
April 2013 First IVF Cycle resulted in BFN. 14 eggs collected, 7 fertilised, 5 made it to Blastocyst stage. 1 put back in which didn't take and 3 frozen. April 2013
October 2013 Second IVF Cycle resulted in BFP but sadly ended in miscarriage. 2 embryos put back in this cycle. 1 stuck but only up until 6 weeks
(I had read somewhere that Nettle tea is good for nourishing the womb and helping maintain a pregnancy so I started drinking this religiously twice a day as soon as I started my injections. I was also told to try aspirin this cycle a sit encourages blood flow to the womb which I also took along with my folic acid everyday. I didn't do any of this with my first cycle.
I was on the protocol which started with injections then onto tablets and then when the lining of my womb was thick enough they thawed my embryos and popped 2 back in. The hardest part about IVF is the constant obstacles and the waiting game especially in a fresh cycle. The frozen cycle was better but still felt like it went on for months and months.
The week after the embryos had been put back in I felt nothing. The first time I rested for 3 days but I was advised to rest for the first day and then move around as normal after the transfer day as the blood flow would assist implantation. A lot of people are encouraged to bed rest for 2 days after but I've been advised otherwise. I took time off but moved around as much as I could to encourage blood flow.
A week in I got a really bad cold. I had heard that this is a common symptom as your bodies immune system gets weak as your body starts to accept this new life latching on. My boobs would be really sore one day filling me with hope that it had worked to then feeling not sore and on those days I would be convinced it hadn't work. No one tells you that symptoms can come and go. I'm not going to tell anyone not to symptoms spot as it is impossible not too!!
The start of he second week I started spotting brown discharge. I thought it was the start of my period but when the spotting never got heavy enough to mark my undies and was only present when I wiped I started to think "this may have actually worked"
Test day came and I did the test convinced I wasn't going to see a second line. I waited for my hubby to go to work so I could do the test on my own, digest that it was a negative and then have my time to cry it out before I went to work. Then tell him when I wasn't a quivering wreck. I rung my sister to distract myself for the 3 minute wait and when I peeked at the test and it was 2 lines I couldn't believe what I was seeing. I told my hubby that night when we got in from work and we were so happy.
I immediately rung the clinic and they said to test again in a week and if it was positive then they would get me in for a scan the following week. The brown spotting continued over the next few days until things took a turn for the worse at the weekend. The brown spotting went from brown spotting to red blood but was still not heavy enough to soak a pad and was only visible when I wiped. The nurses at the clinic told me that this was normal when using the pessaries and some woman on IVF bleed throughout the whole of their treatment (thanks for the heads up i thought, no one told me this in one of the many appointments I had been too over the last few months!) and when the bleeding gets so heavy it soaks a pad that's when I need to worry!
As I had a previous ectopic pregnancy I thought I would contact the EPC to see if they could see me and put my mind at rest as i didn't want to wait another week to find out what was going on. IVF already feels like a massive waiting game so I went in on the Monday to be seen by a specialist who scanned me and showed me the babys sac, told me to stop worrying and that bleeding in IVF is normal. I didn't want to bleed, why cant I just be normal for a change, I don't want to spend the whole first trimester of this pregnancy I have wanted for so long wondering if everytime I go to the loo how much blood im going to see. If its normal. How much blood is normal? I just want to be normal. Fall pregnant and not bleed!!
They said to put our minds at rest and to make sure it wasn't ectopic that they would do bloods to check the hormone levels. I got a little mad at this point thinking the whole reason why we were referred for IVF was to avoid ectopic but apparently the chances are just as high in IVF as they would be if we conceived naturally.
I went in for my bloods across 3 days and when I got the call to tell me my levels had dropped by double over the course of 48 hours my heart felt like it had been broken. I cried, and cried and cried, the next day I woke up and felt like someone had died. That lost empty feeling you have in your stomach stuck around for a few days and then I moved on. I bounced back quickly as towards the end of the ordeal I just wanted closure. was this a normal pregnancy or not? Am I pregnant or not!? The fact I now knew it wasn't a viable pregnancy meant I could stop taking the 100's of tablets and the horrible pessaries and let my body go back to normal.
I bled for around 2 weeks and my boobs felt sorer than they have ever felt for about 3 weeks after. I couldn't lie on my front they were so sore. The clinic told me that they wanted me to continue with the meds because on some occasions your levels can dip low and then go back up. to add insult to injury the nurse then said "don't get your hopes up though as in my how ever many years of being a nurse I have never seen this happen" so I stopped taking my meds and let my body go back to normal. As soon as I came of the meds I had a proper bleed and started to feel better.
The hardest part about all of this is a lady that had a miscarriage the same time as me, announced she was pregnant again 4 weeks later and since then 5 ladies I work with and my sister in law have all announced they are pregant. I cried everytime I heard about a new pregnancy and felt bad as I am very happy for these ladies but want that so badly for me and my husband. I cant help but think why not me. Its hard trying for almost 5 years and seeing the ladies who stared trying around the same time as me, have their first and now onto their second and I still haven't managed to have my first yet!
I'm planning to do another cycle in April as I have booked a girls trip away at the start of April. I think I need a break and some time off as I had 2 cycles in 2013 so just want some time to try naturally and have some fun before we do another fresh cycle. It takes over everything and Is so mentally and physically draining im glad for the break.
I also wanted to change my job but don't know if that is a good idea as I don't want to start a new job and then have to go through IVF which means a lot of appointments with very short notice.
One thing that keeps me smiling is that it worked! and there is no reason for it to not work again. Part of me is excited that I still have such a wonderful blessing to look forward too. just wish I knew when....
Thank you for taking the time to read and I hope this doesn't put anyone off as that wasn't my intention. I would do it again in a heartbeat and excited for my new go as I would do anything to have a baby. until then were going to forget about it and see if we can make it happen naturally.
Good luck to any ladies out there starting their cycles, my words of wisdom is too carry on like normal and don't let it consume you. Try and eat well and laugh lots as stressing wont get you anywhere.
Lots of Love and Baby Dust
Nicky xxxx
it's the best medicine xxxxx
