Bad Eggs and PGD testing (newbie) TW

aconklin214

Hi Everyone,
Let me start by saying this post may be a TW for some. 

I'm new to posting but a long time reader of these boards. I am currently pregnant but will probably experience my 3rd miscarriage in a year and a half and my 4th total.

A quick background. I had my first MC 9 years ago. Hubby and I decided to wait and enjoy our 20s before trying again. Fast forward to April 2017 when I found out I was pregnant. At 20 weeks, we found out our daughter had Trisomy 18, and 2 weeks later I MC'd. In March 2018, I found out I was pregnant again, twins, and MC'd at 8 weeks. Started seeing a RE who ran all sorts of tests. Came back that I have MTHFR, PCOS and Endometriosis (I already knew about the Endo after being diagnosed in 2012). No chromosomal translocation for hubby or myself. Doc warned that I may have bad eggs, as T18 is not common when you're 29. He felt we should do IVF with PGD.  My husband and I declined and instead decided to try clomid. 2 weeks ago I found out I was pregnant for the 4th time. My beta HCG has been terrible, not doubling, barely moving. I've been taking progestorone, baby asprin, lovenox injections, prenatals and additional folic acid. Dr. said to prepare myself as this pregnancy will not be viable either. He once again stated I have bad eggs and suggested IVF with PGD if I want to try again. 

My question is, has anyone ever had anything similar, done IVF with PGD and had good embryos? IVF with PGD is very expensive and I'm petrified to spend all the money to have every embryo come back abnormal. I'm not asking if anyone has had a successful pregnancy, just if anyone has had success with PGD testing after being told they have bad eggs. 

suzycupcake

@aconklin214 Just came here to say so sorry for your losses. Hugs. 

aconklin214

Thank you ♡♡ 

Holls214

@aconklin214 you may want to ask on the Pregnant after IF board as well and see if anyone has advice too. Sorry you are going through all of this. 

aconklin214

Thank you. I'll try there too. 

zamoraspin

@aconklin214 I’m so sorry for your losses and the uncertainty you are going through right now. I don’t have a success story to share (I hope we will have one in the future) but I just went through my first ER and we are basically only doing IVF for the PGS testing. We started trying for a baby when I was 35. It’s been 18 months and I’ve had four first tri mc’s. We tried to test products of conception on the third and fourth babies. We didn’t get a clear result as to the third, but the fourth baby had Trisomy 22. We suspect all losses were due to chromosomal issues. DH and I have normal genetics and karyotyping.

A note on genetic testing - PGD is where the geneticists build a probe for a particular genetic condition (like where someone has a translocation or is a carrier for a genetic disease), PGS is a general genetic screening to identify embryos with the correct number of chromosomes (euploid embryos). As we age we are more likely to produce eggs that turn into embryos with the wrong number of chromosomes (aneuploid). Based on your post your RE wants to do PGS. The terminology is confusing though.

We thought a long time about whether to do IVF. It was first brought up by my RE almost a year ago. We decided after loss #3 to try one more pregnancy on our own. Even women who have had 5 mc’s have at 50% shot at a successful pregnancy according to my RE. But it can start to feel like your chances are zero when you’re doing the same thing over and over. After our fourth loss we decided it was time to try something new. Partly it’s my age - at 36, we have a more limited time to figure this out. 

Good luck to you!

aconklin214

Thank you so much for your response.  All the paperwork they gave me before we decided to try one more time on our own says PGD but I appreciate the clarification. I have an appointment next week so I will ask him to clarify exactly what kind of testing they will be doing if we decide to. My husband is having a real hard time with IVF on general so I've been gently trying to convince him that this us our only option left. Even though I am 30, I know mentally I cannot keep doing the same thing over and over and getting the same result. Every MC destroys another part of me. Best of luck to you with everything ♡♡ 

embryoman

@aconklin214 sorry for your loss. Besides advanced maternal age, recurrent miscarriage is probably the major reasons women undergo PGS. Chromosomally abnormal embryos are usually the cause of miscarriages. By testing the embryos you can be (somewhat) sure that they're normal and can avoid going through this. And if you do miscarry with normal embryos, this is useful information for the doctor also. Ask him/her what next steps would be done in this situation. 

IVF and PGS are expensive, for sure. You could shop around for cheaper clinics that have similar success rates (check out the CDC or SART for stats). That's probably where the bulk of the cost will come from. Good luck!