TTC thread take 2

[apirateslifeforme]

Well, for us, it has been a frustrating, sad summer. We did our IUI on May 3...it seemed to work, but I got AF 17 days later. Moved on to IVF, but our first 2 cycles were cancelled (my estrogen dropped to 22 and never went up).

We had an appt. with the RE to discuss donor eggs, and since it was CD2 for me and I'd had very good bloodwork that day (estrogen was now 44), we impulsively decided to do a "Hail Mary" cycle. Everything looked great...I ended up with 5 total follicles; 2 were barely 11mm, but the others were 18, 21.8 and 23.9. So we went ahead with my retrieval this past Monday. Only 20 minutes later when I woke up and the RE surgeon told me that unfortunately, there were no eggs, only blood and fluid. He explained that he'd reviewed my BW with my RE and my low AMH ( < .16) indicated either no reserve, or such low reserve that the quality would be compromised and most likely would not result in pregnancy.

I didn't realize I would feel the grief and anger that I do. After discussing donor eggs with DH, my mom, and our RE, I'd felt really optimistic. My mother asked if I was still able to carry a child and the RE said absolutely, everything looks great in there. She also told us that in their clinic, the success rate using donor eggs is 70-80% even with women in their 40s, with the failures being due to some abnormality in the uterus, which she doesn't see with me. So it's all good, but I'm still feeling sad and mad at the same time.

We're going to give it a few months...get these meds out of my system and have 1 or 2 cycles before we start. This has to work...

 

[BabyRapunzel]

Well, for us, it has been a frustrating, sad summer. We did our IUI on May 3...it seemed to work, but I got AF 17 days later. Moved on to IVF, but our first 2 cycles were cancelled (my estrogen dropped to 22 and never went up).

We had an appt. with the RE to discuss donor eggs, and since it was CD2 for me and I'd had very good bloodwork that day (estrogen was now 44), we impulsively decided to do a "Hail Mary" cycle. Everything looked great...I ended up with 5 total follicles; 2 were barely 11mm, but the others were 18, 21.8 and 23.9. So we went ahead with my retrieval this past Monday. Only 20 minutes later when I woke up and the RE surgeon told me that unfortunately, there were no eggs, only blood and fluid. He explained that he'd reviewed my BW with my RE and my low AMH ( < .16) indicated either no reserve, or such low reserve that the quality would be compromised and most likely would not result in pregnancy.



I didn't realize I would feel the grief and anger that I do. After discussing donor eggs with DH, my mom, and our RE, I'd felt really optimistic. My mother asked if I was still able to carry a child and the RE said absolutely, everything looks great in there. She also told us that in their clinic, the success rate using donor eggs is 70-80% even with women in their 40s, with the failures being due to some abnormality in the uterus, which she doesn't see with me. So it's all good, but I'm still feeling sad and mad at the same time.

We're going to give it a few months...get these meds out of my system and have 1 or 2 cycles before we start. This has to work...

So sorry to hear this. I hope this is the end of the misery for you and that good times are ahead. Those seem like good odds on the donor eggs!

I am also sad at the moment. I have a 3 year old daughter (C-section) and I am 40 (got a late start due to career, dumb move). I have always thought of having 2 kids. We tried last year, got pregnant right away and were very excited. Never realizing there would be a different outcome. We went for the u/s at 9 weeks and there was no heartbeat and "he" measured 7 weeks. I was devastated. I chose to wait for the natural miscarriage to happen, which occurred 3 weeks later (12 weeks). We waited 3 months before trying again. Tried unsuccessfully until Aug 16 this year, then finally a BFP. Got hcg levels checked and they were going up slowly, but not doubling. I am now losing this one as well. This baby process is supposed to filled with excitement, but instead it is filled with fear and sadness. I hope one day we both are able to hold that precious baby, who is on our hearts, in our arms. Until then I just don't feel complete. The good news for you is at least you now know what is not working, so I hope this next go round turns out wonderfully. Is it costly for donor eggs? I am not sure what our next step is. I have an appt in a couple weeks to discuss things. But not sure if they will look into anything yet, as I did have 1 successful birth and "only" 2 loses.

 

[apirateslifeforme]

So sorry to hear this. I hope this is the end of the misery for you and that good times are ahead. Those seem like good odds on the donor eggs!

I am also sad at the moment. I have a 3 year old daughter (C-section) and I am 40 (got a late start due to career, dumb move). I have always thought of having 2 kids. We tried last year, got pregnant right away and were very excited. Never realizing there would be a different outcome. We went for the u/s at 9 weeks and there was no heartbeat and "he" measured 7 weeks. I was devastated. I chose to wait for the natural miscarriage to happen, which occurred 3 weeks later (12 weeks). We waited 3 months before trying again. Tried unsuccessfully until Aug 16 this year, then finally a BFP. Got hcg levels checked and they were going up slowly, but not doubling. I am now losing this one as well. This baby process is supposed to filled with excitement, but instead it is filled with fear and sadness. I hope one day we both are able to hold that precious baby, who is on our hearts, in our arms. Until then I just don't feel complete. The good news for you is at least you now know what is not working, so I hope this next go round turns out wonderfully. Is it costly for donor eggs? I am not sure what our next step is. I have an appt in a couple weeks to discuss things. But not sure if they will look into anything yet, as I did have 1 successful birth and "only" 2 loses.

I'm sorry for your losses.

Yes, donor eggs are expensive, and most insurances won't pay for it. Our RE mentioned, however, that they have a sharing program, and before she even said anything about cost, my first reaction was that it would be a wonderful thing to do for another patient in the same boat as us. Anyway, it's about $31k for yourself, about $21k if you share. That's also for frozen; a fresh cycle is a LOT more, plus you have to worry about syncing up your cycle with your donor...easier to use frozen eggs, she said.

We do have a copy of our insurance policy on infertility, and it's ambiguous as to whether they would pay or not. I showed it to the doctor (probably the wrong person, but she was the one to ask about diagnosis). It does seem to indicate that they DO pay for donor eggs in the case of premature diminished ovarian response, which is my diagnosis as of Monday (I just turned 39 in July, so I'm young to be "out of eggs"). My day 3 FSH is also quadruple the day 3 level that they consider the limit. So we're hoping that they can make a case for us to get the help. I'm grasping at everything lately...

 

[BabyRapunzel]

Apirateslifeforme.........Wow that price is unbelievable! I sure hope your insurance will cover this for you. When will they let you know if it is covered? Keep us posted. I hope you have... all good news coming soon! Pixie dust to you.......

 

[BabyRapunzel]

Just doing internet searching and talking to others.....found someone who had a similar situation as mine and started seeing an acupuncturist and was able to have 2 babies. There are quite a few success stories on acupuncture and successful pregnancies from people told they could not have kids. Wondering if anyone had success going this direction? And thinking of purchasing a book called the Infertility Cure. Anyone read this?

 

[WDWBride04/19/2010]

Hey guys. Don't know if any of you watch The Doctors, but they talked about Next Generation Sequencing today, "[...] a procedure in which a laser is used to make a hole in the shell around a 5-day-old embryo and two or three cells are removed for testing. The cells are not part of the embryo, but rather are part of what will become the placenta. The results of the test reveal the chromosomal makeup of the embryo, which helps determine whether the embryo is healthy and can be carried to full term. [.... ...] this new test is readily affordable and can increase pregnancy rate by 50 percent, because doctors will know the embryos are chromosomally normal and will most likely implant and carry to term. It can also decrease miscarriage by 50 percent." Our r.e. tried waiting for our embryos to turn to blastocysts on our first round, but they stopped at morulas, so I don't think we could've benefited from this (the next go-around we transferred at the embryo stage), but I hope you guys are able to if you have to do i.v.f. Hope you're all doing well as well.

 

[WDWBride04/19/2010]

My husband is going to have a varicocele embolism at 9:30 this morning so that next time we t.t.c., we can hopefully do it w/o ivf, and also so that his life expectancy increases.

 

[erin1715]

My husband had an embolization done at the end of May. How does a varicocele affect life expectancy? The doctors told us that many men have them and some go their entire lives without having them corrected or even knowing they have one.

 

[WDWBride04/19/2010]

I think because it made his testosterone so low it cut into his life expectancy? Yea, I dunno if we would've found out about it if we didn't have trouble t.t.c....unless maybe his new, better p.c.p. would've caught it.

 

[erin1715]

I think because it made his testosterone so low it cut into his life expectancy? Yea, I dunno if we would've found out about it if we didn't have trouble t.t.c....unless maybe his new, better p.c.p. would've caught it.

Ohh yeah maybe it has to do with the testosterone levels. My husband's levels were low too. We've been trying over 2 years on our own with no "outside" help, so we're hoping and praying that this embolization helps us conceive soon! Best of luck to you as well!

 

[NEVERENOUGHWDW]

Hey guys. Don't know if any of you watch The Doctors, but they talked about Next Generation Sequencing today, "[...] a procedure in which a laser is used to make a hole in the shell around a 5-day-old embryo and two or three cells are removed for testing. The cells are not part of the embryo, but rather are part of what will become the placenta. The results of the test reveal the chromosomal makeup of the embryo, which helps determine whether the embryo is healthy and can be carried to full term. [.... ...] this new test is readily affordable and can increase pregnancy rate by 50 percent, because doctors will know the embryos are chromosomally normal and will most likely implant and carry to term. It can also decrease miscarriage by 50 percent." Our r.e. tried waiting for our embryos to turn to blastocysts on our first round, but they stopped at morulas, so I don't think we could've benefited from this (the next go-around we transferred at the embryo stage), but I hope you guys are able to if you have to do i.v.f. Hope you're all doing well as well.

That is how we had our success!!!!

 

[WDWBride04/19/2010]

Ohh yeah maybe it has to do with the testosterone levels. My husband's levels were low too. We've been trying over 2 years on our own with no "outside" help, so we're hoping and praying that this embolization helps us conceive soon! Best of luck to you as well!

Good luck!

 

[WDWBride04/19/2010]

That is how we had our success!!!!

Awesome! You weren't the couple on the show, were you?

 

[cc1013]

Hi all,
My name is Christine and I used to post here back in 2011 as we were undergoing our first IVF cycle. I have severe endometriosis, which is our primary problem.

After our first failed cycle, I withdrew as it was such a rough time. That's when I stopped posting here. We went through 3 cycles with our first RE which was a mistake. She didn't have our best interests in mind. We switched to an RE who specialized in endo and went through a lot over the last few years. We wanted to do another IVF cycle but had tons of treatments and delays before that.

I underwent two laps for endo, a cyst aspiration, unexplained hemmorghing and my DH had an autoimmune condition that flared up. That brough us to July 2013 when we tried to start a cycle and I stimulated too quickly. We had to cancel and delay to September.

During the September cycle, I stimulated quickly but our doctor was very pleased with the results. He is incredibly cautious and particular with his success rates. Plus, this was our last cycle that insurance would cover, so we asked him to cancel if things didn't look right. I triggered after 8 days of stims and we retrieved 10 eggs (most ever!). 9 were mature and 8 fertilized. We transferred 2 great day 5 blastocysts (historically always transferred 3 day 3 embryos of varying quality). We also were able to freeze 3 embryos for the future, which was brand new for us.

Yesterday, we finally got our BFP! We are obviously cautious but have never seen a BFP before. The nurse confirmed that my hcg was at 309 and progesterone was at 239. We are excited and also terrified. I just pray we have a healthy pregnancy.

I'm telling you all this not only because I appreciate all of the support we received in 2011, but because our road seemed long and endless. When that voice in my head kept shouting that we needed to leave our original RE, I should have listened sooner. In the end, I feel like we ended up with exactly the right RE for our situation.

Again, the support I received here was never forgotten and always appreciated. XOXO

 

[Hollymom1229]

New person joining the thread. DH and I just started TTC this month. We are both 35, and due to complications with my epilepsy we hadn't been able to start trying until now.

 

[joanne312]

Hi all, My name is Christine and I used to post here back in 2011 as we were undergoing our first IVF cycle. I have severe endometriosis, which is our primary problem. After our first failed cycle, I withdrew as it was such a rough time. That's when I stopped posting here. We went through 3 cycles with our first RE which was a mistake. She didn't have our best interests in mind. We switched to an RE who specialized in endo and went through a lot over the last few years. We wanted to do another IVF cycle but had tons of treatments and delays before that. I underwent two laps for endo, a cyst aspiration, unexplained hemmorghing and my DH had an autoimmune condition that flared up. That brough us to July 2013 when we tried to start a cycle and I stimulated too quickly. We had to cancel and delay to September. During the September cycle, I stimulated quickly but our doctor was very pleased with the results. He is incredibly cautious and particular with his success rates. Plus, this was our last cycle that insurance would cover, so we asked him to cancel if things didn't look right. I triggered after 8 days of stims and we retrieved 10 eggs (most ever!). 9 were mature and 8 fertilized. We transferred 2 great day 5 blastocysts (historically always transferred 3 day 3 embryos of varying quality). We also were able to freeze 3 embryos for the future, which was brand new for us. Yesterday, we finally got our BFP! We are obviously cautious but have never seen a BFP before. The nurse confirmed that my hcg was at 309 and progesterone was at 239. We are excited and also terrified. I just pray we have a healthy pregnancy. I'm telling you all this not only because I appreciate all of the support we received in 2011, but because our road seemed long and endless. When that voice in my head kept shouting that we needed to leave our original RE, I should have listened sooner. In the end, I feel like we ended up with exactly the right RE for our situation. Again, the support I received here was never forgotten and always appreciated. XOXO

Congrats Christine! I remember you from 2011 when I was active on this thread (I still lurk here!) I'm so happy you finally have your BFP.

 

[cc1013]

Congrats Christine! I remember you from 2011 when I was active on this thread (I still lurk here!) I'm so happy you finally have your BFP.

Thanks, Joanne! I remember you too! Thrilled to see 'DS 1' in your siggy.

 

[WDWBride04/19/2010]

Hi all,
My name is Christine and I used to post here back in 2011 as we were undergoing our first IVF cycle. I have severe endometriosis, which is our primary problem.

After our first failed cycle, I withdrew as it was such a rough time. That's when I stopped posting here. We went through 3 cycles with our first RE which was a mistake. She didn't have our best interests in mind. We switched to an RE who specialized in endo and went through a lot over the last few years. We wanted to do another IVF cycle but had tons of treatments and delays before that.

I underwent two laps for endo, a cyst aspiration, unexplained hemmorghing and my DH had an autoimmune condition that flared up. That brough us to July 2013 when we tried to start a cycle and I stimulated too quickly. We had to cancel and delay to September.

During the September cycle, I stimulated quickly but our doctor was very pleased with the results. He is incredibly cautious and particular with his success rates. Plus, this was our last cycle that insurance would cover, so we asked him to cancel if things didn't look right. I triggered after 8 days of stims and we retrieved 10 eggs (most ever!). 9 were mature and 8 fertilized. We transferred 2 great day 5 blastocysts (historically always transferred 3 day 3 embryos of varying quality). We also were able to freeze 3 embryos for the future, which was brand new for us.

Yesterday, we finally got our BFP! We are obviously cautious but have never seen a BFP before. The nurse confirmed that my hcg was at 309 and progesterone was at 239. We are excited and also terrified. I just pray we have a healthy pregnancy.

I'm telling you all this not only because I appreciate all of the support we received in 2011, but because our road seemed long and endless. When that voice in my head kept shouting that we needed to leave our original RE, I should have listened sooner. In the end, I feel like we ended up with exactly the right RE for our situation.

Again, the support I received here was never forgotten and always appreciated. XOXO

Congratulations! Wishing you a healthy and happy 9months!

 

[cc1013]

Congratulations! Wishing you a healthy and happy 9months!

Thanks so much! We officially graduated from the RE today and are expecting TWINS! Just six months ago, this path looked endless and things have definitely changed for the better. Everyone kept telling us to keep the faith and not quit even when there were days when I questioned our path.

Wishing the best of luck to all of the ladies here! It can happen!

 

[apirateslifeforme]

Congrats, Christine! Always good to hear a positive story - makes me think that it will happen for us soon!

And welcome to Hollymom1229...it's a tough road, but I personally have found a lot of support from others going through this.

Well...yesterday we got our official go-ahead for donor eggs. Insurance approved us and DH's 3rd SA came out "excellent." I was just on the egg bank site, however, and I'm a little stressed. They only have 79 donors...and VERY FEW of them seem suitable for us (or me, I guess I should say). There is one donor whose baby photo looks somewhat like me at the same age, her physical characteristics are a close match (except for weight...she's a lot thinner ), blood type and ethnicity are the same as DH and I...now I want to snap her stuff up before someone else does! I need to relax...she was there a month or two ago when we first heard about this and we looked at the preview, so her eggs probably won't go that quickly (I hope).