Thought I'd give this a try since I don't know anyone IRL that has had any experience with IF (in fact I found out three more friends who are pregnant last week!) and have been struggling a little. I'm 33 and have always been super healthy and take pretty good care of myself, but this part of my body doesn't seem to want to cooperate with everything else. DH has done his best, but talking about things isn't his strong suit... We've been actively TTC for about a year and a half, but my cycles were very irregular and then my AMH levels were lower than they would have liked to see. COVID kind of delayed everything, but I was able to freeze some embryos back in October and am now in my second month of Letrozole/monitoring with timed intercourse. The pressure seems to be a lot for DH when intercourse is so scheduled and structured, so trying to decide how quickly to move on to trying IUI and then IVF. I would love to avoid IVF if possible (I know this isn't within my control, but just hoping) to save those embryos for the future, but am getting impatient.
Looking forward to connecting with all of you here!
Hi @briannerita. If you're looking for a community-like place to share your daily thoughts/struggles, check out The Bumps TTGP board: https://forums.thebump.com/categories/getting-pregnant. There's a weekly IF thread, and even though it doesn't have as many ppl as here, it's a good place to build some connections that can help you with your struggle. That's where I spend most of my time, and it's a really good group. If you decide to join, read the Ultimate Guide pinned at the top of the community to get to know the lay of the land as it functions differently than most TB Message Boards.
I'm not sure if I should say "welcome" since no one wants to be here heh. Your story sounds a lot mine; I had no reason to think TTC would be anything other than "normal" experience -- healthy, young (29 when we started), etc. And then it didn't happen in the first 6 months and I said, "Well, sometimes it can take a year"...and then it didn't happen within a year...or two years or three! At that point, I decided that we needed to talk with a doctor about what was going on (or, more accurately, what WASN'T going on). DH is the keep-to-himself type and doesn't like to express his emotions or even talk about them, so it was really me spurring us on to the RE's office. All of the testing was normal, save for AMH being a bit on the lower side for my age, so we went ahead with medicated cycles and IUI for a couple months. After that wasn't working out, we realized IVF was our next step and scheduled our IVF cycle to start after we returned from our annual vacation.
TW
Three days before we left on vacation, I got my first positive pregnancy test ever -- naturally. Unfortunately, it ended in an early miscarriage and really scarred me as far as pregnancy goes. It took me another year to be ready to move forward with the IVF cycle. Our first cycle was a success and resulted in a healthy baby girl. I hope you have similar success!!
~~ Our Story in Spoiler! TW loss/child~~
Fall 2012 -- started TTC Summer 2015 - no BFP yet, labs normal, referred to RE Fall 2015 - Summer 2016 - Further testing all normal. 3 IUI's -- BFN. Recommended move to IVF. Planned cycle for fall 2016. September 2016 - Surprise natural BFP. MMC @ 8 weeks. RE expressed confidence that we just needed the 'right' embryo. Fall 2016 - Spring 2017 -- Break from TTC June 2017 - Started IVF; egg retrieval for freeze all cycle. 9 mature eggs retrieved, 5 fertilized. 2 4BB embies on ice. August 2017 - FET transfer both embies. BFP. Twin pregnancy confirmed by ultrasound. EDD 4/28/18 September 2017 - Twin B stopped developing; Twin A doing perfectly! Graduated from RE @ 10 weeks March 2018 - Baby Girl born via C/S due to pre-eclampsia -- strong and healthy!
TTC #2 January/Feb 2021 - Freeze-all IVF cycle March 2021 - FET of 1 PGS normal female embryo. BFP! Beta #1 156, #2 472, #3 1241, #4 5268 EDD 12/5/21 - Christmas baby!
Re: New Here- Introducing Myself!
TTC #1 since 02/2020
2009 | Dx PCOS; likely a misdiagnosis
07/14/20 | Dx Hashimoto's Thyroditis
07/21/20 | 1st RE appointment
07/2120 - 08/20/20 | so much testing; no signs of PCOS
08/20/20 | Dx Unexplained; AMA
09/08/20 | IUI #1 Clomid + Trigger + Prometrium | BFN
09/30/20 | Urology consult; more testing required
10/2020 | Clomid + OPK + TI + Prometrium | BFN
10/26/2020 | Starting 2nd IUI cycle, with Letrazole and with a new RE / different clinic
11/03/2020 | New Dx "poor egg quality"; IUI cancelled in favor of Trigger + TI + Prometrium | BFN
11/26/2020 | Combo IUI (Clomid + Menopur) + Trigger + Prometrium | BFN
12/20/2020 | Combo IUI (Clomid + Gonal-F) + Trigger | IUI Cancelled due to thin lining; TI only | BFN
01/14/2021 | Combo IUI (Letrazole + Menopur) + Trigger | BFN
02/06/2021 | Switched to a new RE (TEW) ; trying naturally until we complete additional testing
03/14/2021 | Hybrid Double IUI, with Zymot (Letrazole, Gonal-F) + Trigger + Endometrin | Ovulated 4 mature eggs but still a BFN ☹️
04/07/2021 | Natural cycle while we regroup | BFN
04/09/2021 | Employer announces fertility benefits starting 05/01/2021! | Search for a new doctor who accepts insurance
05/10/2021 | New RE consult & plan for IVF
05/13/2021 | Mid-luteal IVF cycle #1 interrupted; had to get cancer genetic screening done to make sure I didn't have the same SDHA gene mutation as MH.
06/10/2021 | Aygestin priming IVF cycle #1; opted to Cx after 9 days of stims since only 5-6/12 follicles responded
07/26/2021 | Attempt #2 at IVF cycle #1 (mid-luteal start): 8 retrieved, 8 MII, 6 fert (1 PN3), 3 Day 5 & 6 blasts: 3AA, 3AA, 6AB; 3 euploid
08/09/2021 | Rest cycle / unmedicated TTC | Shockingly, a BFP! EDD: 5/25/202 | CP at 4w4d
09/23/2021 | IVF cycle #2 (mid-luteal start): 14 retrieved, 13 MII, 11 fert, 5 Day 5 & 6 blasts: 2 x 3AA, 2 x 3AB, 3BB; 2 euploid
11/12/2021 | IVF cycle #3 (mid-luteal start): cancelled due to ovaries being on vacation
12/20/2021 | Rest cycle / unmedicated TTC + Pregmune Immunology Testing; BFN
01/22/2022 | Rest cycle / unmedicated TTC + understanding uncovered immunological issues; BFN
02/18/2022 | Mock transfer cycle! ERA, ReceptivaDx, EMMA/ALICE; start Prednisone to address NK activity
03/16/2022 | Final, "Hail Mary" super-ovulation + TI cycle before FET; BFP! EDD: 12/21/2022 | MMC 05/08/2022
05/20/2022 | D&C; recovering...
06/21/2022 | Trying naturally until October 2022
07/21/2022 | BFP! EDD 04/02/2023
I'm not sure if I should say "welcome" since no one wants to be here heh. Your story sounds a lot mine; I had no reason to think TTC would be anything other than "normal" experience -- healthy, young (29 when we started), etc. And then it didn't happen in the first 6 months and I said, "Well, sometimes it can take a year"...and then it didn't happen within a year...or two years or three! At that point, I decided that we needed to talk with a doctor about what was going on (or, more accurately, what WASN'T going on). DH is the keep-to-himself type and doesn't like to express his emotions or even talk about them, so it was really me spurring us on to the RE's office. All of the testing was normal, save for AMH being a bit on the lower side for my age, so we went ahead with medicated cycles and IUI for a couple months. After that wasn't working out, we realized IVF was our next step and scheduled our IVF cycle to start after we returned from our annual vacation.
TW
Summer 2015 - no BFP yet, labs normal, referred to RE
Fall 2015 - Summer 2016 - Further testing all normal. 3 IUI's -- BFN. Recommended move to IVF. Planned cycle for fall 2016.
September 2016 - Surprise natural BFP. MMC @ 8 weeks. RE expressed confidence that we just needed the 'right' embryo.
Fall 2016 - Spring 2017 -- Break from TTC
June 2017 - Started IVF; egg retrieval for freeze all cycle. 9 mature eggs retrieved, 5 fertilized. 2 4BB embies on ice.
August 2017 - FET transfer both embies. BFP. Twin pregnancy confirmed by ultrasound. EDD 4/28/18
September 2017 - Twin B stopped developing; Twin A doing perfectly! Graduated from RE @ 10 weeks
March 2018 - Baby Girl born via C/S due to pre-eclampsia -- strong and healthy!
TTC #2
January/Feb 2021 - Freeze-all IVF cycle
March 2021 - FET of 1 PGS normal female embryo. BFP! Beta #1 156, #2 472, #3 1241, #4 5268 EDD 12/5/21 - Christmas baby!
"When all is lost then all is found."