Hi Ladies,
If I am in the wrong spot, please refer me to another board! Thanks!!!
Since the birth of DS in 2010 (pregnancy came easily), we have experienced 2 miscarriages, so we are now under the care of a RE. Yesterday, I had my follow up appt to discuss all tests and the outcome of the HSG and hysteroscopy.
Everything was fine anatomically, but apparently some of my numbers don't look great (I'm 40). We've decided to pursue IVF, and the whole process is completely confusing. Any words of wisdom? How did you decide how many embryos to implant? Do the medications make you feel awful?
AMH- 3.15, FSH (day 2)- 2.18, LH (d2)- 2.90, Estradiol (d2)- 313.9
After Lupron challenge: LH- 17.54, FSH- 7.27, Estradiol- 354.1
Thanks so much!
Beth
Re: Intro: Is this where I belong? :)
Hi!
You might want to check out the infertility board where you'll find a lot of people just starting and going through the IVF process. They're a great bunch of really supportive people.
IVF is confusing when you start. But don't worry, it seems like a huge and confusing process, but it's made up of lots of little steps that your REs office will walk you through as you proceed.
As far as words of wisdom, all I can say is be good to yourself and patient with yourself. IVF is very stressful and has a lot of emotional ups and downs. I took a stress management class that was geared toward people going through IVF and found it to be very helpful. It taught different relaxation techniques and coping strategies. It also allowed me to meet a lot of people who were experiencing the same thing I was.
As far as the medications, I had no side effects other than getting bloated. I made sure not to read about the different side effects before starting on the meds so that I wouldn't have them because I expected them. The list of meds can be daunting when you first see it. But, for the most part, you'll only be taking a couple of them at a time, and your REs office will tell you exactly when to start/stop each one.
My REs office pretty much always puts in 2 embryos for my age (I was 35), so that's what I went with.
Good luck!
Me: 35 DH: 30 TTC since 1/2010 DX: 6/15/2011: MFI IVF with ICSI
IVF #1: Sept 2011: Beta 10/10- BFP!! 1st u/s 10/31/11 1 blighted ovum, 1 embryo 2nd u/s 11/14/11 stopped growing, no h/b D/C 11/17/11
IVF #2: FET 5/4/12 : Beta 5/16/12 BFN
IVF #3: ET 7/6/12 : 7/18 Beta #1 BFP at 246, 7/20 Beta #2 at 713, 7/27 Beta #3 at 9068. 1st u/s 8/7 with one lovely hb.
Mabel is here! 2/17/13!
Same as PP, I only got bloated with stims. Lupron gave me headaches and hot flashes but it didn't last long.
We put two embryos back. One was excellent and the other was not so great like the rest of our embryos. The others stopped growing so we didn't have any to freeze. We assume DS came from the great embryo and the other just didn't implant.
Good luck to you!
TTC #1 since 3/2011
DX: anovulatory and severe MFI
DH is a testicular cancer survivor
IVF#1 w/ICSI lupron, gonal f, ovidrel
ER 6/15/12 6R 6M 6F! ET 6/20/12
Beta #1: 154 Beta #2: 509 Beta #3: 7326
Baby Boy born 3/1/2013
TTC#2: 6/2014 all testing came back normal
IVF#2 (#1 for LO#2) 9/2014 - 17R 10M 10F 4 blasts frozen on day 6.
FET #1 10/15/14 - Beta #1: 216 Beta #2: 823
Baby Boy born 7/10/2015
Unexplained Infertility
After two Clomid cycles, three injectable IUI cycles, two IVFs, two miscarriages, and one lap surgery, IVF #2 has brought us our little boy!
TTC #2
After months of being postponed or cancelled, FET #1.3 (Natural FET) brought us twin girls!
I agree that you can check out the infertility and secondary infertility boards but you are certainly welcome to stay here as well.
I too had an easily achieved first pregnancy and I've also had two miscarriages. I'm sorry for your losses. I'm wondering which of your numbers they thought looked bad? They don't seem bad to me, and actually seem pretty good. I'm 41 and my AMH is way, way lower and my FSH higher. Not sure about the Estradiol or LH.
Do you know what caused your miscarriages? Is there reason to believe that doing IVF will help prevent another miscarriage? Have you thought about trying an IUI first?
Anyway, I agree with the advice to take each step of IVF one day at a time or it can get a little overwhelming. For me, the medications never made me feel awful but there were days where I felt bloated or just a little "off." I never found doing the shots all that bad but I was always worried that I would screw something up and mess up my whole cycle.
As for how many to transfer, our insurance limited us to two. You don't want to transfer more than you want to get pregnant with because even though the odds of transferring three and ending up pregnant with triplets isn't that great, it still could happen. Personally, I would never transfer more than two.
Another consideration, depending on how well you respond to the meds, is how many eggs to fertilize and then potentially freeze. Many women don't think much about that until they have 7 frozen embryos and then realize they don't want potentially 7 more children and yet they can't bring themselves to have them destroyed or donated to other couples.
Kelly, Mom to Christopher Shannon 9.27.06, Catherine Quinn 2.24.09, Trey Barton lost on 12.28.09, Therese Barton lost on 6.10.10, Joseph Sullivan 7.23.11, and our latest, Victoria Maren 11.15.12
Secondary infertility success with IVF, then two losses, one at 14 weeks and one at 10 weeks, then success with IUI and then just pure, crazy luck. Expecting our fifth in May as the result of a FET.
This Cluttered Life
Hopefully they'll be able to figure out the clotting issue and some baby aspirin and/or Lovenox can help you to carry another pregnancy.
Please let us know what happens.
Kelly, Mom to Christopher Shannon 9.27.06, Catherine Quinn 2.24.09, Trey Barton lost on 12.28.09, Therese Barton lost on 6.10.10, Joseph Sullivan 7.23.11, and our latest, Victoria Maren 11.15.12
Secondary infertility success with IVF, then two losses, one at 14 weeks and one at 10 weeks, then success with IUI and then just pure, crazy luck. Expecting our fifth in May as the result of a FET.
This Cluttered Life