If you got a natural pregnancy after IVF

MoFree

Congrats to all of you who 'outsmarted IF' by conceiving naturally after IVF. I know with 99.999% certainty it won't happen with us due to severe MFI where pre -ICSI conception would not have been possible.

What was your reason for doing IVF? Did you make any changes (meds, changing eating habits, lifestyle changes) that might increase fertility.

As a medical professional I find it fascinating and intriguing. Some conditions like PCOS or endo may self-correct after pregnancy. Some times it's luck and I sometimes wonder if REs may be too quick to suggest before trying other options.

ccam

For #1, we tried for a little over a year before meeting with our RE and being diagnosed as unexplained (although I was off any form of birth control for another year prior to TTC just not really "trying").  We did one IUI with clomid and two IUIs with Follistim, one of which resulted in an early m/c.  After those failed, we moved onto IVF which resulted in DS.

For #2, I never went back on birth control after having DS.  We started back with the RE and had 2 failed FETs, one of which was a c/p.  During cycles, I cut back on caffeine and alcohol, but didn't eliminate either (no alcohol after transfer though).  We took a break to do some more blood work and a hysteroscopy and endometrial biopsy, which all came back normal.  In that same break cycle, we tried naturally and it worked!  

itsmevkb

I think my story may not "count" as I did have an unassisted pregnancy prior to doing IUIs and IVF.  My first pregnancy resulted from only our second month trying so I think once we started trying again we were surprised that it wasn't happening.  And, I don't mean not happening in one or two months but not happening after a year.  I was 35 at the time and during a visit to my ob/gyn I said something about having been trying for over six months and he prescribed clomid and later progesterone to try and lengthn my luteal phase.  I did six cycles of clomid with nothing.  Then, I saw a RE and we found out that my husband has borderline count and motility and 0% morph.  That doctor actually told us that we would never have any children given my husbands morph issues and my age.  (What an a**)

We did two IUIs using clomid and moved onto IVF with a different doctor who told me that I had a low AFC, borderline FSH and that I was a poor responder to drugs.  He sort of blew off my husband's bad morph and said doing ICSI was up to us but it wouldn't be a 100% necessity.  Had we been out of pocket, I think we would have done some IUIs using injectables, but since we had insurance coverage that year (and that year only) which covered two IVF cycles I wanted to make sure we could take full advantage of that and if the first IVF didn't work we would still have time in the year to do a second. 

Our first IVF was successful and then six months later I found out that I was pregnant.  What was different?  Not completely sure.  Obviously, I was even older but my husband who had been working 3rd shift for quite a few years and was also in graduate school stopped working nights and so perhaps getting more and better quality sleep helped his sperm situation.  And, I hate to say this, but maybe because we weren't "trying" he was less stressed out about sex along with everything else going on and that could have improved his sperm. 

I miscarried that pregnancy and then we tried on our own again and at some point I used clomid again which resulted in another pregnancy and miscarriage.  We tried on our own again and eventually went back to doing IUIs as we figured we were just getting older and an IUI would at least help a little bit with our sperm issues and ovulating more than one egg would increase the odds of a good egg fertilizing.  We got lucky and our second IUI worked.  Much like after our IVF, about six months later I found out I was pregnant and if someone can explain how that happened, while we were using condoms, I'll pay them.  I honestly don't understand it.  I'd like to joke that God has a sense of humor but I don't like to imply that God hands out babies to some and not others.  Was my husband exposed to something ala Spiderman and his sperm turned into super sperm?  I have no idea given it hasn't ever been retested since our IUIs where he still had borderline motility, a little better count depending on the day and once had morph as high as 2% which is better than 0 but not great.

It's all one big mystery to me.

jesselayne8

We did not do IVF but MH was diagnosed with MFI. His morph was 1-2% and motility around 20-25%. Our final IUI was successful but I had to beg my RE to do it. He said it was a waste of time and $ and that we should move on to IVF.
MH never got another SA after DD but we suspect a drug he was on for hair loss caused the MFI. There are law suits going on now concerning this issue. I am wondering if DS was just pure luck because it "only takes one" or if the drug's effects are/were reversible.

Mayzie15

@Mofree I don't believe MH and I could ever get pregnant on our own without IVF. MH has severe MFI and as you stated without ICSI I'm convinced we would never be able to have children. I'm so excited for the ladies that have had surprise BFP's and hope we see more soon.

Sk8terWoman

Lurking from PAIF, jesselayne8 would you mind sharing the information about the hair loss drug?   I think my husband was in the same boat, although our IUIs didn't work, but IVF with ICSCI did. After going off the drug (Propecia), his motility went from 0% to 30% over the course of a year.  The RE said that MFI is a side affect, but only a very small % of men are affected.  Feel free to send me PM.

Mr. & Mrs. Woodtick

I don't know if I count because IVF never worked for me

We tried for three years before starting fertility treatments. We had three failed IUIs before we moved onto IVF. We were diagnosed as unexplained with slight MFI. We did two rounds of IVF with ICSI and they both failed. DS1 was conceived on the first cycle after IVF #2 failed. The only thing I did differently was I started taking Royal Jelly. I have conceived four times since then. Three were chemicals and the last one was a medicated TI cycle. Every cycle I have conceived on I have taken royal jelly.

Hollowvic

I'm so glad I saw this post, it gives me hope. I'm about to try our first IUI next month but don't have high hopes.

jesselayne8

Sk8terWoman said:

Lurking from PAIF, jesselayne8 would you mind sharing the information about the hair loss drug?   I think my husband was in the same boat, although our IUIs didn't work, but IVF with ICSCI did. After going off the drug (Propecia), his motility went from 0% to 30% over the course of a year.  The RE said that MFI is a side affect, but only a very small % of men are affected.  Feel free to send me PM.

It was propecia. I couldn't think of the name earlier. He stopped taking it about 3 months into TTC #1. So it obviously takes yrs for the effects to be reversed if that is what happened.

jennasaisquoi

My story is crazy, and something of a fluke, but this seems like the place to share it.

Hubby and I started trying to have kids when I was 28, and we were diagnosed as unexplained. After multiple rounds of Clomid, 10 IUI's, and then 2 IVF attempts (and zero success) over the past 11 years, we were told by multiple experts that I most likely had severe egg quality issues, and wouldn't respond to medication (my AMH was something like 0.15. Incredibly low) and that our only option was to use donor eggs- specifically, that our odds of conceiving using my eggs was lower than 1%.

So I found and secured a donor- and the week before my sonogram to start the donor cycle, I got a BFP. I'd been thinking that my odd, spotty "periods" and fatigue were the result of my new job- I work in a heavily female environment, and I was also considerably more active than the usual desk job. Luckily there were three tests in the box, because I took them all- convinced that they had malfunctioned. Blood tests and ultrasound confirmed that I was 8.5 weeks along in a completely unmedicated and unplanned, but so far apparently healthy, pregnancy. The word "miracle" has been used- we are doing our best to be cautiously optimistic.

We elected to go ahead with the donor (too late to back out now!) and freeze the eggs. We're at 11 weeks now, with a due date of the first week of February- if all goes well, I will be a first-time mom at 40. Hubby and I are both still in shock. Overjoyed, but stunned!

jennasaisquoi

I should also add that I changed a number of things- I am more active, my hubby and I are both happier in general. He was gone for military training for 6 months, and I got pregnant the same month he got home (we can't discount that! . We both started eating Paleo in 2009- and I suspect I had a lifelong gluten problem, either celiac disease or severe gluten intolerance, judging from how life-changing the dietary tweaks were. The most interesting tweak- I did a 23 and Me test in February, and found out I am homozygous for the C677T gene for MTHFR. I stopped taking the regular prenatals I had taken for over a decade, and moved to Thorne prenatals, which contain folate instead of folic acid. (People with MTHFR can't efficiently break down folic acid, but can process folate.)  I had always heard that MTHFR caused recurrent miscarriage, but not outright IF....still, that may have been the missing piece of the puzzle.

MoFree

@MrsLee04‌ I don't know your friend's medical history but I can tell you with 99.999% certainty that a naturally occurring pregnancy will not happen with us.

emwaiting

I don't post often but I saw the title of this and thought it might bring me some hope.  We did IVF Dec 2012 and we had our DS last August!  We were blessed to have it work on the first try but the 3 embryos that we thought were going to have to freeze didn't stay at a good enough quality to freeze so we are back to square one for trying for #2.  Our doctors told us that our best chance to conceive on our own would be to try as soon as possible after #1.  We were very lucky to have a very "easy" baby and so we started trying again.  We did a few months on our own and then just on Clomid and Femara but no luck.  So then we did do 2 rounds of IUI and again no luck.  So we are taking a "break" and then plan on going back to IVF again when we can afford it.  We were just talking last night about when that would be and it put me in a funk about how those of us that have to go through all of this, it just isn't fair!  So I is nice seeing the stories of the "happened when we weren't trying" or the first pregnancy might have fixed things in there.  Also seems like everyone and their dog is pregnant right now and that is tough to handle that it can happen so easy for some.  I am over the moon in love with my son but can't help but to think if we made such an amazing first one how could we not want more!  Good luck to everyone!

summererobinson

itsmevkb -

 

Your story does count!
Secondary infertility is a real thing and it was terrible for me when people thought because I had one child I should be able to have another!

summererobinson

I had 1 son naturally at 16. We tried for 7 years for number 2 and were diagnosed with unexplained secondary infertility. In that time we had sex often, tried temps, had blood drawn to check for ovulation, ect. They couldn’t find a reason why other than 1 of my tubes was slightly blocked. No male issue at all. We did 1 round of IVF where we got 20 mature eggs BUT only 3 fertilized, causing the doctor to think there could be an issue they hadn’t seen. Well, those 3 kept growing and we got a BFP before we had to look into that further. When he was 6 months old we found out we were expecting on our own! Without us doing anything to try. In fact, I was LESS healthy  in the fact that I was barley sleeping, I was also breast feeding full time! 

This has happened to quite a few people in my infertility group ( shady grove fertility) if you want more answers, if you message me your email I will pass it to those girls for their responses too!

amandaleigh1

I wish I could be "fixed" from having a baby after IVF. I've never ever had a chemical or miscarriage (not that I would wish that on anyone). I went straight to IVF as I have an endo dx.

I actually had pretty well timed sex last month and stupidly had my hopes up. I am pretty sure whatever was preventing conception before DS is still in play now. It sucks. It will be more IVF for me.

patchen30

Hi Mo! I recognize a bunch of you on here but haven't been on for a long time... You can see my journey w/ conceiving #1 via FET... I had him in Oct 2011 and breastfed for 10 months...my second cycle after getting my period back I got a surprise BFP. We never really knew why I couldn't get pg - a little MFI, moderate endo, poor quality embryos...but mostly it was unexplained. The RE has no idea why I got pg naturally. I had surgery for the endo in July 2010 and had 2 cycles, then an IVF m/c, then another cycle or 2 then pg w/ FET, then had the baby then BF for 10 months then a cycle then pg again. So basically I didn't have too many cycles after having my surgery before I got pg naturally (i.e. maybe the endo didn't grow back). Also, I never got pg before having a lap and afterwards I've been pg 3 times (2 babies). It could be that, or it just could be a stroke of luck. I hadn't changed anything in my diet or anything. And, my RE says it's an old wives tale that you're more fertile after you stop BFing, although I know a million people who were infertile, did IVF, had a baby then conceived naturally.