Hey Natalie,
Sorry to hear about the change of plans with your cycle. Way to remain positive!! At least now they can make adjustments to your approach to maximize your chances for the next cycle. Sometimes I guess it is trial and error. I'll keep you in my thoughts , maybe this happened for a reason for you!

Thanks so much! Yeah who knows.. life is definitely unpredictable and infertility definitely likes to just throw curveball after curveball. I think I went into this thinking it's going to take a few tries because of my low AMH. Managing expectations is key!

(Also I should note I meant to say trigger Friday and do IUI on Sunday.. I misspoke. I didn't want anyone to be concerned that it was way more than 36 hours later! =)

Good luck!! I am very interested to hear how all of this plays out. I have my baseline next Thursday, and egg retrieval scheduled for 4/26. We decided to use PGS. And we're doing FET. I say all of this now, but the curveballs... Srsly - it's hard to remain positive, but my fingers are crossed for you!!

@Prayerfullywaiting: where are you in the cycle??

I love your positive outlook! That really goes a long way when you are going through the ups and downs of this process!! I hope that one follicle is your winner!! That's all it takes!! Keep us posted!!!

@hopeful 15--We had our egg retrieval yesterday, I have a minor fluid build up and my estrogen levels were a touch high, but we did get more eggs than anticipated. (I really do not understand how that happens, but I'm okay with it.) I'm drinking lots of sports drinks and eating salty food to keep the OHSS at bay. I"m trying to remain positive for a fresh transfer on Monday

@Prayerfullywaiting - amazing, good luck and keep us posted.

Natalie - Good luck next week and keep us posted!

Hi guys,

I'm struggling a little more to be positive about all of this today- as my Dr. said today (day 15) I still only had 1 follie larger than 10mm and 6 smaller and that even the large one didn't grow as much as she expected in the past few days. My E2 doubled again so I was surprised to hear that the follies didn't grow. She recommended that we continue to do stims for 2 more full days (Sat and Sunday) and trigge Monday night for IUI on Wednesday morning.
A few days ago I was definitely thinking the positive growth/changes in the last week were enough evidence of the stims working for us to try again (without the Cetrotide inhibiting growth for the first few days). But now I'm wondering if IVF will even work for us. I'm on a HIGH amount of Gonal F- 450 a day and 100 of Microdose HCG. So, it's not like they can up the amount (I don't think?)

Anyone have any insight into poor response and canceled cycles?

Thanks!
Natalie

So sorry Natalie. I know that it's so discouraging to have what feels like is another setback but.. they have learned what not to do in this cycle (starting cetrotide early) and all it takes is 1 egg. If it's comforting at all, they didn't capture all the follicles prior to our retrieval, so we did end up with more than expected. Stay strong. You got this.

Natalie, yes I went exactly through what you’re going through. I always had 1 dominant follicle and a bunch of small ones. I switched doctors and the new one said I create follicles in my luteal phase. Therefore, I took 7-8 days of Birth Control pills starting on day 20 or 21 of each cycle. I then proceeded to baselines that showed quiet ovaries. I would start full stims on day 3 or 4, as long as my FSH was below 20. Protocol was 1 50 mg clomid, 150-225 IU of gonal F. I am DOR/low AMH so giving me more drugs didn’t make me produce more eggs. So we kept me low dose. I think you should call your doc and talk about luteal phase suppression and ditch the cetrotide. IMHO cetrotide should only be used to prevent ovulation before trigger. Good luck! Msg me if you want to talk further.

Hope,

Wow-that's so interesting! Thanks for you advice. I would have never thought about the fact that if I have low amh the high dose of stims are probably not going to make eggs that aren't there to be made anyway! It seems way more important to get the timing right for my particular cycle and rather than blast away with super high dosage as we did this cycle. I'm definitely going to have an appointment with the doctor as soon as we know if this IUI worked or not so we can start the next cycle ASAP after that. She'll be hearing alllll my thoughts (hah) and Ill ask about luteal phase suppression.. so thank you!

I'm becoming more and more of an advocate for myself. I keep thinking "I'm a client.. not a patient" as I hit send on another email to my doctor.. hahah. I've had some trouble with the nurses not understanding my protocol and I've started to double check certain things with the doctor when they seem uncertain or can't answer my questions completely.

Thanks again!
Natalie

Natalie, exactly! OMG, you just have to be your own advocate in this process. You have to question and reaffirm repeatedly. Not that the medical staffs are bad or that they want us to fail, its just they seem so busy and we are each have unique complexities in our care. I am sure I would not have been this far along in my care had I not consistently been on the ball with my medical team. Good for you! I call it the "WTF" session, where you regroup after a failure, lol. But, in your case, I hope its a positive beta meeting!
Can you think back to your last baseline for this cycle you're in? Do you know what your follicle sizes were? If there was a big fat one already on day 3, like 5-10 mm, while others were much smaller, its a good indication that your big one was already recruited in a the prior luteal phase. Fingers crossed for you and look forward to more updates from you! XOXO

Hey ya,

Thanks again, Hope, for your advice. I didn't have any biggies at my baseline. I honestly think I'm just easily suppressed by meds- because the baseline test I had when I first met with my RE there were significantly more follies than the second US follie check they did when I was on birth control. She remarked then, "wow you must be easily suppressed if BC is doing it". Then apparently forgot and for my first cycle she put me on the cetrocide that suppressed me.

I really thought I was going to be unwavering in between cycles because I knew we might need more than one try. But I'm really doubting our decision now. The meds didn't even bother me. But the emotional roller coaster has taken it's toll already. It's such a low point during the 2ww of an IVF cycle that was converted to IUI. Since my dr. recommended skipping IUI because "it wouldn't increase our chances at all". I'm having trouble even mustering hope.

When we were first trying to conceive, I would let myself believe it was happening because my periods were never late until the year we started trying. Usually after 2 weeks of being late and taking every HPT on earth- I'd get a late heavy period. I've told drs. this and they just chalk it up to endometriosis. Everytime we TTC naturally at some point in my cycle I'd get this shivery feeling in my lower abdomen, which I have right now. It makes me think it is the telltale sign that the IUI cycle isn't working. Which again- I figured but actually feeling it in your body- is a different matter.

How is everyone else?
-Natalie

Hey Natalie, I'm struggling with that too. Just that gut feeling and similar pains that lead to a no go. I had my beta today, but won't find out the results until tomorrow afternoon. I cannot muster up enough courage to take a home pregnancy test. I can't bear to see another negative. So we are waiting on the phone call. I'm trying to stay positive.. but having a rough time.

Hi again,

PW I hope your beta was good news!

So- I started my period today, IUI was a flop. I called and emailed my drs. and nurse team to let them know, but since it's Sunday I won't hear back till tomorrow -probably afternoon at best. I am going to be reallllly annoyed if they want me to wait and sit out this month. :(

I read studies that say that waiting after a canceled IVF cycle (due to low response) shows literally no difference in response when they took time off in between cycles. I also saw that many people have poor response with their first cycle and are successful in their second. (With little to no explanation!)

My guess is still that the birth control and cetrotide they had me on suppressed my response. So if they make me wait this month- they'll likely want me back on the BC to line up my cycle to their schedule. I also read just BC can suppress women's response and has NO value except to make women's cycles predictable. :/ WISH I HAD KNOWN!

It's making me consider finding another clinic- but I'm hesitant because my insurance rider is covering a lot of our treatment. I worry going to a clinic outside of our typical hospital system that the charges will be insane and we'll blow through the rest of our coverage in no time.

Hope everyone else is well. I'll probably be back here whining tomorrow when I find out! Hah.

-Natalie