wow melry, your 375 gonal f makes my 150 sound pweeny!
adkgirl, do you continue acupunture after transfer and during the 2ww? on my last FET, I had acupunture before ET but then my acupunturist advised me to stop during the 2ww.
x

Looks like my ER will be Tues or Wed, so I don't have to worry about any more med (this cycle anyway...hoping it's the last)

nive,
not sure. I wasn't a fan of the acupuncture, it was a little wierd, but the acupuncturist swore that it give more positive results if you keep up with it....not sure at this point.

Adk and nive...
Im doing accupuncture too and my accupuncturist recommended doing it before and within a day after ET. He said it enhances blood flow. I have not asked about 2ww period, but right now IM going weekly and he has me on some herbs as well. He also recommended up until the time of ET to limit exercise. He explains it as vigorous exercise and a lot of sweating take blood flow away from the uterus and that's the last thing I want right now. Im on a strick walking and yoga only routine. Im willing to try anything... :)

I have really liked accupuncture! I find it very relaxing. Although sometimes the needles annoy me especially in the hands and feet. I always think "i'm never going to make my mind slow down or stop" and then like a charm before the 30-45 minutes is up I'm in this little trance. I think my anxiety increase this week might be because I didn't do it! I can't do it next week either because of the holiday and my work schedule.

So yes, I am an anxious mess. I want my period to come so bad so I can move things along and get more information and distract myself. And this week marks what would have been my darling daughter's due date (thanksgiving) so I am sad that I'm not going into labor and bringing my healthy baby home like I was supposed to.

My last cycle that was cancelled due to poor response I had 450 iu of gonal f and next time it will be 600 so me and jewelzsi can represent the pharmaceutical industry in this group.

Goodluck you guys!!!

thanks so much cab for the note.
i'm going to talk to my acupunturist re. continuing after ET. he's given me some 'homework' to do also- i have to light this sort of insense and hold it over 2 specific points under my bellybutton, it all seems 'a little out there', but like you said, I'm willing to try anything!
according to zita west (infertility specialist to the stars!) 5 elements acupunture is recommended but i'm living in brazil and wasn't able to find anyone who practiced this type so i'm doing regular acupunture. for me whats important is that it relaxes me, i like the practitioner and i feel like i'm doing something.
re. the exercise, i wasn't aware of that. i'm running and its the only thing that keeps me sane, but will ask my RE about it.

kelly, i can only imagine how difficult this time is for you. i'll be thinking of you.

jewel, best of luck with retrieval tmrw x

Me too - I'm headed for accupuncture. Your words make me want to call and schedule the session ASAP!!

I also am on a yoga and walking routine only. They said as soon as the shots start, I'm to take it easy as my ovaries will get swollen and they don't want a high impact routine to mess things up.

Even yoga can be a little crazy with some of those poses. If I feel like it's crunching my tummy too much, I skip and do child's pose.

;-)

u/s yesterday showed 8 follies on the left and 4 on the right - but they vary hugely in size, from 0.5-1 so the RE has added centrotide to the mix, and increased the gonal f to 225.
we were a little disappointed by the scan- i know 12 is a good number, but last IVF we had 22 eggs. i'm hoping that although there may be less this time perhaps their of better quality - and of course, we only need one golden bullet!
another u/s tmrw so fingers crossed i'll feel more positive.
how are all you guys doing?
x

Hey ladies! So, I just realized this stuff is here - sluggish brain lately and I haven't been around on the boards. I'm currently in my first IVF cycle too. I actually started BCPs in September, but because of finances taking awhile to coalesce, we had to do one extra month of them, so I started injections in November on this cycle. Started on the 7th - I've been on injections now for 2 weeks. Currently on Lupron, Follistim, and Menopur. Just had my follicles checked yesterday - 8 potentials on the right and 6 on the left. 1 is 13mm, 4 are 12, and the rest are 8-10. I go back in tomorrow for another measuring. My RE says that they do an ER at 18mm, so I'm hopeful that ours will be possibly on the weekend or shortly thereafter, as I seem to have been growing about 2 mm/day. I'm also starting to feel all bloated and sore, like PMS or ovulation pain.

What side effects, if any, are y'all having? I have some awful insomnia lately. Tossing and turning for hours, then I finally fall asleep, and I'm exhausted when DH wakes me in the morning. When I first started the meds, I had some crazy, rather hilarious meltdowns, but that seems to have eased. I'm also crazy hungry all the time.

Well, good luck and baby dust to everyone. Let's all eat pineapple and have some sticky little embries in a few weeks!

I love acupuncture! Our first round of IVF I didn't do it and we had an immediate miscarriage. For our second IVF I started going for about a year before the cycle. It completely changed my whole body!!! My periods have always been awful and suddenly they were so much better. My acupuncturist said that if it is going to work for me that I would see a difference by the 3rd appt and she was right. I could see it and feel it after the first!

We ended up getting pg with two s from that cycle. We did loose 1 of our boys but I totally attribute our healthy DS to acupuncture! For this current cycle I'm doing it again.

I had never heard not to do acupuncture in the 2ww though. Anyone else hear anything about that? Now that I think about it I've never dine it in the 2ww but it was always due to scheduling issues.

I hope everyone is staying sane in all of this! Good luck!!!

Hi Ladies! Hope youre all doing well. I just had my first followup appt yesterday after starting stim meds. So far I am responding a little too well. They reduced my Gonal to 300 from 375. I have another appt on Friday. If everything continues as planned, they are expecting an ER around Nov 28-29th.
I was also told to stop exercising as of day 4 of the stim meds. I like to run so its kind of hard. I'm trying to walk but the last couple of days Ive had horrible headaches. Today was the first day without one so maybe my body is getting used to the meds?? I'm also bloated but besides those two symptoms, I feel normal.
Whimsical.....I can totally understand the meltdowns! Ive only had a few , mostly with my poor DH. I am fully aware that I am having a meltdown and even tell myself in my head to STOP but nope. It just went on lol
Jewel...hope everything went well with ER!!
Kelly...I'm so sorry you are going through this. I'll be thinking of you!!!
Nive...i love your term "Golden bullet" !!!

Just found out my ER will be Sunday or Monday!!! OMG - we're in the home stretch. Officially starting to get into panic mode!

hi ladies,
firstly, belated happy thanksgiving to all those in the US and beyond.
i'm not sure why but i'm finding this cycle very hard. i've been through 1 IVF and 2 FET's, but this cycle seems different.
i was really hopefull to beging with but now i'm just despondent. we had another scan yesterday and the person doing the scan (who we know by now as he has done most of my past scans) didn't even count the follicles. on tuesday we had 4 on one side and 8 on the other. yesterday, it seemed that the few we had all varied hugely in size, one was 10 and the others were 4.
and then my endometrium doesn't look very good either.
its exhausting always trying to be hopeful and positive. i'm tired.
at least last time i produced lots of eggs- this time i feel like a failure and we're only at the begining. i have POCS for christ sake! isn't the one plus from that supposed to be that i produce lots of eggs!
rant over.
hope your all doing well :) x

Has anyone done the ER yet? Is it bad? Not that bad? Mine is Monday morning, and I'm really nervous about it. I suppose part of the problem is that I had a friend from high school pass away during a routine procedure under anaesthesia (dental work) two years ago, so I think that's in the back of my mind. Of course, the very very low chance of happening side effects freak me out too.

whims, the ER is fine! Mine was a breeze....over in two seconds (or so it seems). They are very thorough and it's super easy. Don't worry, I know it's hard with what's happened, but try not to worry!! Good luck tomorrow!