u/elessar-01

So I had my first ever scan this morning! Besides my gestational sack/yolk etc they saw another “black structure” near it but the RE said it was hazy & isn’t convinced it’s a second gestational sac 😵‍💫😵🫠 I only had one embryo transferred and twins do NOT run in my family… but they do in my husband’s and when I tell you I almost passed out on the table when I saw that second blip 😭

THEN I got my HCG back from my bloodwork this morning and it was 10,962. Cue the legit panic that that second blip wasn’t just a subchorionic hematoma & im somehow having twins

Has anyone else had a crazy high HCG in week 5 from just a singleton? 🥲 please 🥲

i'm typing this laying on my couch fighting for my life as if i shotgunned three white claws in a row. i went 3-4 days without this side effect recently but it's back in force. even took it after i finished my morning toast, but maybe taking it before walking the dog is a mistake as it circulates through my blood stream faster??

any tips for avoiding this level of severity? i can barely move 🫠🫠 lmao

I have been on birth control since my period post egg retrieval on June 9. Today I had my saline sonogram (which hurt way worse than the first one) and the dr said 'everything looks great! we'll let you know your schedule later today. have you stopped taking birth control yet?' NO, because your clinical care coordinator told me to keep taking it!!!

this was my first time seeing her after the egg retrieval. no 'hey how are you doing/how was your recovery' after i took myself to the ER with a fever five days post retrieval, no 'let's debrief on the number of eggs/embryos' just moving on along as if it's business as usual

then I myself had to mention that i'd prefer to do a natural FET cycle because i ovulate naturally. i'd let the nurse know when i got my bloodwork done a few weeks ago, and my doctor seemed surprised by this, and told me 'oh, well then we'll need to wait for day one of your natural cycle.' THEN WHY AM I STILL ON BIRTH CONTROL?!?!?!?!??!? is there ZERO f-ing communication in this office?!

the other part that's bothering me was that they were just going to automatically start me on a medicated transfer cycle without even talking to me about the other options, especially since i ovulate naturally. it feels like they're just being lazy and defaulting to the easiest, most convenient option for them versus what would work best for me, with zero consideration for if i'd like to pump myself full of more medications or not. like, thank GOD i did my own research and was able to advocate for myself or else i'd have been strong-armed into a medicated cycle completely unnecessarily. is this not insane???

if they don't get their act together and stop treating me like a number and start treating me like an individual human being and actually educate and communicate with me properly i'm going to seriously consider switching clinics. i'm SO unimpressed with the level of care and attention i've been given.

Called my RE office & told them I got Day 1 of my period today after my egg retrieval on the 30th. I asked if we can start having intercourse on Saturday (2 weeks after which was my original timeline) and she said yes but only protected, and when I clarified if that meant just for now or for the whole month of June she said 'until we see what happens next' ???

Has anyone been told this by their RE office? I would have figured the risk of multiples was over now that the eggs are gone/things are getting back to normal. Not to mention if I haven't gotten pregnant & need IVF why do we need to use protection at all?? Like wouldn't a miracle baby be a good thing??

15 eggs collected -> 7 mature -> 7 fertilized normally -> 5 blastocysts 🥹🥹🥹❤️ i am over the MOON!

they said the PGT-A testing will take about two weeks and I can't WAIT!!! i was so nervous with the less than half maturity but getting 5/7 to blast stage is beyond my wildest dreams. now just to hear back about testing results 🤞🤞

(31F AMH 1.85 AFC ~20)

we just bought a house & our back neighbor of course has very invasive bamboo that's creeping into our yard. i haven't met them yet but am wondering if anyone knows of a good bamboo removal service?

the plan is to introduce myself to my neighbors and offer to have it all removed & pay for it if they're amenable, otherwise i'd need whatever service to manage it from spreading into my yard every year or whatever's necessary

typing this on my couch with a heating pad, chugging electrolytes, & grimacing through the bloat but just wanted to celebrate here that they retrieved 15 eggs today!! : )

i know there's gonna be attrition & im nervous about the call tomorrow to see how many actually fertilized but i was super nervous about the procedure and im glad we got a decent number!

TW: weight loss/discussions of weight, eating

so I was on the Mirena IUD from Aug 2017 to Aug 2025. In that time I slowly gained 10-15 stubborn pounds i could not seem to lose for love or money, even after getting the IUD out last year.

Fastforward to day 8 of stims today and without changing my diet significantly or even working out, i've somehow managed to drop almost three pounds. i'm a little stymied, given everything i've read has said to be careful about putting weight on during stims.

now i'm wondering anecdotally if anyone else has experienced this after being on an IUD long term, and if all this high estrogen is almost like a 'factory reset' for my system, and i just haven't realised how suppressed my hormones were/maybe still are after the IUD which was causing the stubborn weight to stick around.

of course there are no long-term studies looking at this, (but when has women's healthcare ever been a priority to study.) plus i feel like this is a difficult thing to replicate in a study/lab as there are so many confounding factors so i doubt there will ever be good evidence supporting/against it.

this is more of a high level question but my nurse didn't give me time to ask the reasoning behind dosage changes (and i love the nerdy science aspect of all this because i work in a different sector of healthcare)

for days 1-3 i was at 225 Gonal F & 75 IU menopur, then for day 4 (today) they had me drop my Gonal F to 175, while keeping menopur the same tonight, then tomorrow they're increasing my menopur to 150 (sad reaccs) and adding cetrotide at 25 mg SQ.

any reasoning behind this? My AMH is 1.85 (im 31 almost 32) so i think she thought i have a lower ovarian reserve & would need a higher dose protocol but it appears that i responded too well (? too much) to the original dosage. if anyone has any insight that would be great!

Hey all!

I'm heading into my second week of birth control before I start stims for my very first egg retrieval. The only caveat being I'm leaving ~2 weeks after the retrieval for my friend's wedding in Italy. Any advice to help the recovery go quickly/smoothly? From what I've read Once you get your period 7-10 days after you feel pretty back to normal but I'm a little worried about lingering pain, fatigue, etc. making traveling difficult

thanks in advance!