Questions to ask RE about Two Consecutive Losses

mp1648 · October 2008

Hi ladies - I have a call with my RE tomorow to discuss my recent losses - two chemical pregnancies in four months through IVF.

Apart from embryo quality and questions relating to egg and sperm quality, what other questions should I ask her?

doyous&idos · October 2008

I wish I had an answer for you, but I don't. I just wanted to wish you all the luck in the world and I hope you get some answers.

CMM05 · October 2008

I'm so sorry for your losses IF sucks! Anyways.....what about asking for protocol changes??? Could you talk about 3dt vs. 5dt?? (not sure what you did....). I'm assuming you were on PIO......if not, ask about that? What about inquiring about PGD and ICSI (again....not sure if you already did this or not....)

I think that's all I can think about for now......

Best of luck.....

jenick · October 2008

I'm sorry you are going through this.... I can't imagine. I don't have any advice for you except suggest that you post this question on the Success After IF board. Many of those ladies have had so much experience with IVF. good luck!

nancyandnate · October 2008

I am so sorry! Going through losses after IVF seems especially heart breaking. ?

I haven't been through IVF, so don't know exactly what they test for and how that compares to RPL (recurrent pregnancy loss) tests. ?They usually look at various antibodies, anti-coagulants, anatomical, chromosomal and hormonal things. ?If you haven't had all of that, maybe ask what additional testing can be done??

pinkwedding05 · October 2008

I'm so sorry.

I would def ask about PGD. It gave us so much information. Have you had the RPL panel?

I had some further testing after my 3rd loss that is not really typical, but necessary. We did a hysteroscopy because a HSG is just not detailed enough. We also did Millenova testing to further test for immunological disorders (they will test for immunological disorders with the RPL panel, but this is far more detailed). We did a DNA fragmentation test on DH's sperm to make sure that a good percent of them were good quality.

I would have all of this testing done before doing another IVF.

Again, I am so sorry for your losses.

mp1648 · October 2008

Thank you ladies, so much for your thoughts and your input. Both cycles were ICSI, first one there were only three eggs and only one fertilized. Second cycle - nine eggs, four fertilized. None made it to freeze and since our numbers were so low, we did 3dt for both. I was on PIO and made them test my progesterone anyway.

I am going to ask about RPL testing and as far as PGD, it is scary since I would have to do another fresh cycle in order to test any embryos.

Thanks again and I am sorry for your losses but I am so grateful that you are willing to share.

pinkwedding05 · October 2008

Did they change your protocol for your 2nd IVF? My 1st IVF was a complete failure because I was understimmed. We only had 3 eggs fertilize out of 10. For my 2nd IVF we upped all of the doses, but I believe the key was adding in estrogen before starting stims. It was sort of a mix of Antagonist and Estrogen Priming. We got a MUCH better response with this cycle. They retrieved 30 mature eggs and 28 of them fertlized. The bad news was that only 3 out of 28 were considered "normal" with PGD.

We knew that egg quality was a possibility, but it became much more clear to us after the PGD report. I just didn't realize how much protocol affects a cycle. Have you considered getting a 2nd opinion?

pinkwedding05 · October 2008

I'm sorry I just reread your last post and wanted to add something.

I was like you and struggled with the thought of another fresh cycle. We were paying OOP and the thought of spending another 18-20k for likely the same result just killed me. My dr wanted another shot and if I we had the money, we might have considered it. Then again, it was just so much work and emotionally I don't know if I could have done it again.

We made the tough decision to use frozen donor embies. Our chances were low, but since I had been pg 3 times before, we thought that I might have a better chance. Amazingly it worked, and we honestly couldn't be more thrilled. We knew that being biologically related was not the goal for us, so it made our decision a little easier.

I'm certainly NOT trying to discourage you in pursuing a bio child or to sway you in any way. I don't specify what we did in my siggie and I didn't want to lead you to believe that we were successful with my own eggs. I actually believe we might have been successful one day, it just wasn't a risk we were willing ot take.

GL in whatever you decide.

mp1648 · October 2008

Thanks Andrea, very much for your posts. They did change my protocol the second time - although I also only had about 17 antral follicles to begin with. I have never heard of the estrogen priming - I will ask about that.

I am open to adoption, donor eggs, donor sperm, donor embryos, any race, any ethnicity, etc. It is great to hear that you had success. I am really going to try and take a mental vacation from major decision making for a while.

I decided to postpone my follow up with my RE to do it in person on the 27th with my husband. I will definitely ask about the estrogen.

If you do not mind my asking, how much did donor embryos cost and what was the process like?

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Questions to ask RE about Two Consecutive Losses

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