Hi,
My husband and I are being refered for ICSI after 5 years of trying to get pregnant. Not having known anyone in Yellowknife who has had this done I am seeking info from others. Can anyone help me on this? :blush1:
Andrea

Hi Andrea and WELCOME!!! :welcome:

We've done ICSI with all 5 of our IVFs because of low sperm count. I'd be glad to answer any questions you have!

Your doc will superovulate you with injectable drugs, then retrieve your eggs through a short surgical procedure. They will physically insert ONE sperm into ONE egg (that is the ICSI part - Intracytoplasmic sperm injection) and then they will let the embryos grow. Either 3 or 5 days later they will transfer 1, 2, or 3 embryos back to your uterus and then you wait for 10 days and have a beta blood test to check for PGY.

IVF is a scary, confusing, frustrating, emotionally rough time to go through - and we'll be GLAD to help you through it!! Please feel free to ask any questions you may have - we are all here to hep you through it! :nod:

Thanks! It is such a relief to find a site like this as we basically know no one going through this or having already gone through it! Even DH was exited that I found a site with people going through the same thing! Our GP has not been very informative either but because of the shortage of doctors in our area we cant switch. It was the urologist that finally came up with answers to our questions and we weren't even sure why we were sent 1600 KMs (800 miles) to see her! Thank God we did see her though as she was the one that refered DH right away. She was very straight forward with us after DH's Byopsy(sp?), After five years of struggling for answers finaly someone had them! Now we're trying to get info from the clinic and all we've gotten so far is a price list! GP has yet to give my referal,his office is renovating so he took holidays! I am hoping we get the referal for me soon so that we can get the ball rolling! I cant wait to get started!
The only things that that have me scared are;
Is there lots of needles involved? I am such a complete wuss when it comes to needles for myself. Even now my arms are shrinking back in fear and my veins are in hiding. I read some of the other posts and it sounds like you give yourself the needles. :( OUCH
Is the extraction really painful (again I'm a wuss). Someone told me that a friend of a friend had it done and it was the most painful experience she ever had! :( Double OUCH. This doesn't bother me so much I just like to be prepared. Nothings worse than someone telling you this wont hurt a bit when its going to hurt loads! At this point in the game the pain doesnt bother me as much as the empty nursery and the stress its put on our marriage! (We were going to adopt but it fell through)

You've had 5 done? Any success? If so did you have a multiple birth? I have heard they are common with this procedure.

Again thanks so much! Already you have given me more info than anyone else! :)

Andrea

Andrea, you have DEFINITELY come to the right place and I am SO GLAD that you subbed!! :yippee: I am so sorry to hear about your adoption falling through, that must've been really difficult. :hug99:

To answer your questions, yes, there are needles involved - and lots of them. And yes, I can (and sometimes do) do the shots myself. But I will follow that up by saying it REALLY doesn't hurt, I promise!

Are you ready for information OVERLOAD??? :lol: In a typical IVF cycle you will do a cycle of BCP immediately prior to the cycle of retrieval. This is to regulate your body and ensure there are no lingering follicles and allow the RE to gain control of your hormones. Five days prior to ending the cycle of BCP you will start injections of Lupron in your belly. The injections are given with insulin needles and they are VERY small. After you do a few of these shots, they are no-brainer. The Lupron MAY cause headaches, that tends to be the most reported side effect. Five days after you QUIT BCP you will go to the RE for an u/s (transvaginal ultrasound, a wand is inserted into the vaginal canal) and your RE will make sure that your ovaries are "quiet" (meaning there are no follicles leftover from the previous cycle). The very next day you start stimulation shots (stims).

Depending on your personal situation, your stim shots will be a combination of FSH products (Follistim/Gonal-F and/or Repronex/Pergonal/Humegon) and possibly an LH product (Luveris). You will do one shot in the am and one in the pm - in addition to continuing the Lupron shot every day, so you do 3 shots a day (4 if you use Luveris). You do this for 7 days and on the 7th day you go for your first progress check. They will do an u/s and draw blood to check your estradiol levels (e2). From the u/s and e2 info, your RE may adjust your meds accordingly. Usually you go back in 2 days and have another u/s and e2 check. Then you start going every day for u/s and e2 check. So you are getting 3 or 4 shots a day and having blood drawn once a day. During this time, you should make certain you are well-hydrated - that will make the blood-draws much easier. :nod:

When the majority of your follicles reach 18-21mm in size, the RE will tell you to trigger and at what time. You will be VERY SURE to give yourself the trigger shot at EXACTLY the right time and then your retrieval will be 36-38 hours later. What that means is....YOU GET A SHOT-FREE DAY!!! :yippee: Usually you trigger at night (anywhere between 7pm and midnight) and then the next day you do NO shots and the following morning you go for retrieval.

Retrieval....what to say. I think I am one of the few around here who DOES remember a retrieval and it was painful. But I metabolize anesthesia differently than most and that should NOT have happened. American REs do what's called a twilight anesthesia - you are awake and lucid but you do not remember any of it. REALLY. After my first retrieval I have never remembered another. It is a surgery - you will have an IV, you will wear a hospital gown, you will be in a surgical suite. As soon as you are sedated, the RE will insert a long needle through the vaginal wall and guided by ultrasound, the RE will aspirate the follicle and collect the fluid which will contain the egg. This will continue until all the eggs have been retrieved (anywhere between 10-25 follicles is normal). Upon "waking" from the anesthesia, typically the first thing everyone asks is "How many eggs??" :lol: You are released to go home afterwards and usually lay low the rest of the day.

While you are recovering from the anesthesia, the embryologist takes each of your eggs and inserts a single sperm into a single egg; this is ICSI. After fertilization, the egg/sperm combination will be allowed to grow and you will be called with a fertilzation report the day after retrieval. That is very exciting because that's when you find out how many babies you have! Then depending on the embryo quality and your RE's protocols, you will have an embryo transfer 3 days later or a blastocyst transfer 5 days later. Transfer of 5 day blasts proves a higher PGY rate. That said, we've yet to do a 5 day transfer because we've never had enough embryos (they usually want at least 5 good embryos on day 3 and then they will consider going to day 5). The transfer is VERY simple - nothing more than a pap smear. There are, however, some REs who still give valium for transfers, although I cannot understand why. The transfer takes about 10 minutes and then you remain slightly inverted for about 30 minutes and go home. Most REs will have you couch-rest the remainder of transfer day and then go back to normal activity, no heavy lifting for 3 days. Some REs enforce strict bedrest for up to a week after transfer, although studies prove that bedrest has NO affect on IVF success rates. :dunno:

Beginning the evening of transfer you start progesterone in oil (PIO) shots and these shots are the doozey of them all. The needle is large (1-1/2"), it is bigger (more like a pencil-lead than a hair) and the oil is very viscous and difficult to inject. The injection goes into the muscle in the hip and after all the oil is injected, you have to massage the area or you will end up with "pockets" of oil in your muscle. There are all kinds of tips/tricks to doing PIO shots to minimize the discomfort for when you get there - don't worry. I personally promise they aren't that bad! :nod: These shots continue for at least two weeks after retrieval at which time you have a beta blood test. If the beta is BFP, the PIO shots continue for about 8 weeks. If you get a BFN, you can stop the PIO shots immediately and AF will show within a week.

Well...there it is, IVF in a nutshell! This is a LOT to soak up - if you have questions, please ask!! Don't be shy, we were all right where you are at one time - alone, scared, confused, frustrated, bewildered, and DESPERATE for information!! I'm just glad you got here when you did and now you don't have to be alone! :aok:

You've had 5 done? Any success? If so did you have a multiple birth? I have heard they are common with this procedure.

Again thanks so much! Already you have given me more info than anyone else! :)

Andrea

Ooops! Yes, I have done 5 IVF cycles, I have just started my 6th. I have one daughter from my very 1st IVF cycle, she is almost 2-1/2 and I LIVE for her! She is my proudest accomplishment:
http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b5dd02b3127cce90984f625e2200000016108BatHDFw1Zu

I waited a year after her birth and we started trying for a second baby in January of 2004. We got PG in March with our second cycle but it was ectopic and I ended up having emergency surgery to remove the PGY and both of my tubes (the tubes were my choice to remove). In July of last year we started our 3rd cycle and had to drop it for lack of response. In October we did our 4th cycle and got PG but m/c early (considered a chemical PGY). In December of last year we did our 5th cycle and got a BFN. I've had to take the last 6 months off because I have been pretty sick with strep that I haven't been able to shake - all from wearing my body down so bad from all the IVF cycles last year.

As for multiples, they are common - about 1/3 of all IVFs produce twins. Triplets are far less common, somewhere around 5%.

Hi Andrea...just wanted to let you know that I too had ivf done in March of 2004. We retreived 10 eggs and 5 they did the icsi with and 5 they did not. We had no real reason to think that all wouldn't fertilize, but only the ones that we did icsi with did. We put in 4 good blasts and I became pregnant with triplets. Sad to say, I lost one of them around the 8 week mark, but carried the other 2 to 36 weeks. I was blessed with a baby boy and girl on December 2nd after 10 years of trying to have a baby. I hope everything works out for you and wanted to let you know that even if you think it will never happen don't give up hope!

Sharra

Suzi;
What a sweethart! Julia, Such a pretty name for such a pretty little girl! :princess: (I'm biased I had an Aunt named Julie and my God-daughter is named Julianna!)

When will you know if this cycle takes? I will :crossfing and :pray: for you! I love to hear when others are pregnant! At first it used to really bother me, due to the obvious fact that it wasn't me. Now because I have a plan of action I know that all in good time it will be.

Thanks so much for all the info! It means the world to me! We are hoping that in late Oct. early Nov will be our first cycle. DH is going to have to give the shots though as it might be hard with my eyes glued shut and my hands in hard fists! LOL I cant stand needles!

Sharra,
Congrats on having twins! :thumbsup: Thats great news! I hope we are that lucky!

Gotta go:bolt: work beckons! Take care Ladies!

Hi Andrea!

I had icsi with our first ivf. They did 1/2 icsi and 1/2 normal. We have never had any male problems, always just me. Well now three years later they do icsi for just about everyone just because they see better results. So our upcoming ivf will be icsi totally.

Suzi did a great job of explaining everything. I do give myself my own shots. I used to be so afraid of needles, passing out at blood draws, etc. But having IF for so many years I felt it has taken away any control I could have. So I insisted on doing my own shots as a way for me to feel I have control over something. The first two Brandon did, but from then on I did them all except PIO since I can't do my hip myself.(I could use my leg but I've heard that hurts more) I can honestly say it isn't bad. If done right you don't even feel them. they are really very small. Now PIO not so small. They suck I'll be honest. But the best thing you can do is relax as much as possible. Tensing up will make it hurt like hell. You want that muscle to be as relaxed as possible. And have your DH practise on apples or balls. It is best when it goes in quickly and smoothly. If you hesitate it hurts more. But honestly it really isn't bad at all. It goes by fast and you will get used to it. Just think of that baby you'll get to hold in the end!

We transfered three on our first IVF three years ago and have one boy. Since the technology is far better now(it improves every year) we will only use 2 embies. We have less than 50% chance of it working, about 10-20% twins.

I wish you the best of luck with your upcoming cycle. This is a great group of ladies here with lots of info. Between all of us we've done just about everything so there is alway someone here who can answer your questions, you will never feel alone!

Sarah

Sarah-Thank you. Did they do AZF for you when you had your first IVF? I heard that it really increases the chances of a positive result. I'm hoping that we can do that but I'm not sure yet, we haven't been to the clinic yet (referal hell). I meet the Foothills Gyno on Thursday so hopefully I'll have some answers direct from the clinic.

Fingers crossed for your cycle in Sept! I chose November to start our first cycle and hopefully only cycle. If your cycle is successful and then mine is we'll be PG at the same time for six months! I really cant wait and Mike has been so awesome about being bat boy for the needles. Mike thinks I'm strange because I can get tattoos but one single needle makes me behave like a terrified three year old.

No they didn't do AZF(are you meaning assisted hatching?) with our first and I don't believe they will be doing it this time around either. I hope that you can get in to see them real soon! I know how frustrating it can be to just sit and wait. Hopefully we'll both be pg together real soon!!!

Ah trust me I have a tatoo on my foot, these little needles are nothing! I seriously most times do not even feel it going in. YOu just have to go hard and fast. Like throwing a dart. It really is the best way to do it! I'm a very honest upfront person and the stim/lurpon shots are really nothing! the PIO are different those hurt but not for long.

Sarah

FYI :fyi:

AZH isn't typically done unless the woman is 35 or older. It is used to reduce the surface "shell" of the embryo (found in women over 35) and the acid could actually damage the embryo if it's not there.

Hi Andrea. I'm new here too :sunny: . My husband and I have just about completed our first IVF cycle. We go in for the pg test tomorrow. Although I'm very new to this process also, I will try to help out any way I can.

I have PCOS, so I was only on Follistim for 7 doses (my shots were once daily) and I produced a higher number of eggs - 21 in all. We had ICSI done on 19 of them. We were able to transfer 2 blastocysts and we froze 3 additional blastocysts. My experience was a little different from Suzi and Sarah's but it was very similar. I'm not so bad with needles, but my husband is horrible :eek: ! Anytime he goes to give blood, without a doubt, he passes out:faint: . We decided early on that he would be giving me all of the shots because he wanted to be involved with the process. I think he felt guilty that I had to go through this, and he was trying to be strong for us both, which I thought was wonderful. But it was going to be a challenge given his aversion to needles. The subq injection in your belly doesn't really hurt much, but quite honestly, I think the progesterone shot hurt less. I'm not sure why that is because I always hear the opposite. My nurse said that I may just be a little more sensitive on my belly. I also think that it may be because we use a little trick when my husband gives me the intramuscular progesterone shot......my husband smacks my bum just before he is about to inject me. (I got this idea from my best friend who is a physicians assistant.) The initial sting from the smack, for a brief moment, takes my mind of the shot. And then when he sticks me, I can't even tell! I swear by this. When it comes time for your progesterone shots, try it and see if it works for you.

Well, I hope everything is working out for you. Please keep us posted. :hug1: