Bus 10 - All aboard the Donkey cart! Ivf, pcos, endo, unexplained fertility

Hey everyone, hoping someone can offer me some advice!

We’ve been TTC our first since December 2022, we’ve finally had my OHs SA and his results have come back as follows:

Volume: 3.7ml
Count: 1 mil
Morphology: 2%
Motility: 60%
Forward progression: 58%

So obviously his count is incredibly low, any success stories on improving count/morpholgy?

We need to repeat again in 3 months but his GP has been pretty useless so far and not given us any advice or even how to interpret the results, they just text him and said he could collect a paper version from the surgery and that was it!

@thislittlebird congratulations again! Yes I'm in the last few weeks of me second pregnancy. 2 years of trying didn't work for us, then IVF seems to have worked really well for whatever what causing our unexplained infertility and/or we've been really lucky. The embryo I'm now pregnant with was a low grade and the clinic wanted to throw it in the bin on day 5 but I asked them to keep it, because why not try it. I got pregnant both times with the first and the second transfer from the same collection and we have some frosties still, so really lucky. I'm done with 2 though. I can imagine not wanting to roll the dice again. I guess it's easier if IVF works early on. Any kind of infertility makes you more aware of these things though and has a big impact, both emotionally and in other ways (still in the same job I've wanted to move on from for years following treatments and pregnancies!).

Good luck to those on the cart. There are some success stories amongst us, although with various timelines and hurdles xx

Welcome to all the new folks on the thread, I’ve technically graduated after 5 years or ttc/infertility/ivf but happy to answer any questions if you ever have any about the processes etc

Thank you x @Marvellouslymadmum! it’s very weird how it took so long to get to this stage and now it’s all flying by. July? Ugh, that’s annoying.

@CycleGirl20 omg you almost have two? Has ivf worked first time for you both times? Impressive if so, 7 attempts for one was too many for me to want to try again, as tempting as it potentially is. I feel beyond lucky we got this (fingers crossed) healthy baby girl at the end of it all and can’t imagine I’d be bold enough to throw the dice again lol, or rich enough really, since this one took three collections 😭

@kerrym87 i came back with normal levels of NK cells but insisted on low dose prednisone anyway, just in case my immune system was part of the issue. My second to last transfer was a weird experience though, it very much felt like my body had rejected the embryo, like I was fighting something off and then a few days later I got the negative test.

Thank you @kerrym87 thank you for taking the time to add a bit of context. I've to take progesterone to bring on my period if it hasn't started by day 30.

@WanOvaryKenobi that doesn't quite make sense but there's no harm in trying. To be honest, it can be difficult to pinpoint ovulation especially as the blood test took so long to come back. It might be better to dtd every couple of days from something like d14 just to make sure until at least a week after suspected ovulation. When I had leteozole my clinic suggested that rather than risk missing a window especially when cycles are irregular as your cycle might actually get shorter with letrozole. Fingers crossed for you x

@kerrym87 Thank you! I actually just got some good news today. My day 21 progesterone test came back as 1.7 n/mol last month - but this month it came back as 93 n/mol!

Completely baffled as the nurse said I should start having sex now. Even though I am on day 27. The 21 day test was taken on Monday and I got them today on Friday. Does this mean I am ovulating now? I thought the day 21 was confirming ovulation after it happened? Baffled!

@m00ngirl I get it. It's just not fair you have horrendous symptoms yet can't get seen. Might have to really push home how it affects you when you get there. Sending hugs!
@WanOvaryKenobi hi, I have pcos but I ovulate, have poor quality embryos and male factor too. Fingers crossed for you as I think stuff like letrozole can work quite well for someone with anovulatory issues, although obviously there's no guarantees x

Hi everyone, new to this thread. I'm 32, DH is 41. TTC for 2 years with anovulatory PCOS. On my second round of letrozole - the first one didn't work. We have 4 cycles left then will be moving on to ICSI. Thanks for setting this up, it's a rubbish club to be in but I feel for all of you.

@kerrym87 I have all the symptoms of endo unfortunately and it really affects my life. I've decided to leave trying to get a sooner appointment for now due to the stress it's caused, trying to destress over summer as I'm TTC (have never been pregnant though, unexplained infertility) and if the late July appointment happens it happens, if not I'll try again in autumn. So stressful.

Hope your treatment is going well x

@m00ngirl that's awful. Wonder if you could go down to surgery to get t sorted or book a gp appt to discuss and get it sorted. Do you have any symptoms suggestive of something like endo? That might speed up referral x

Thanks @kerrym87 - Chelsea was the one they said had lowest waiting times. I also took advice from here and kept calling asking for any spaces that came up sooner but they keep cancelling my appointments and the entire gynae clinic. It's outrageous.

I just wrote to my GP begging for help/a new referral on their new online system which is the only way to get through now and it cut me off halfway through as they've "reached capacity" which they do everyday.

The NHS is completely broken.

@Marvellouslymadmum @moongirl if its not too far you can ask where the lowest waiting time is and get referred there. You can have treatment where you chose so could be another hospital. Unfortunately a fuss needs to be kicked up sometimes with these stupid long delays as its not fair to keep cancelling for you both all the time. Maybe try speaking to the secretary direct as well x

@Marvellouslymadmum don't suppose your gynae appointment is at Chelsea hosp? I'm likewise waiting for a mere initial telephone appnt there and also desperate for a lap referral. My appointment has been cancelled THREE TIMES and they've now given me a date at the end of July (but I know they'll cancel that as well)

@thislittlebird congratulations! How are you getting on? I'm 7 months with our second from IVF, after 2 and a bit years on the Donkey Cart.

@thislittlebird I live I hope! We ruled out any immune issues after we saw Dr gorgy, everything was notnak so might just have been the ones transferred were just duds as we had fragmentation on all. Long protocol with different drugs and starting later in cycle seemed to work better with my body so here's hoping! So glad it's worked for you and baby is finally here!

@kerrym87 Only two transfers so far but 3/4 possibly coming up so hopefully a good shot. Over 3 rounds and 12 embryos I didn’t test 9, tested 3, 1 out of those 3 was euploid and that 1 is now living with us. So for us at least, testing was a good choice. I think other tweaks helped too, like the low dose steroids for me.

@thislittlebird yes it is. Previous embryos not tested so don't know if they were euploid. I typed wrong it's 3 euploid plus a mosaic but I know euploid doesn't means it'll stick. It's been so long but so few transfers (only 2) I'm just so fed up with this now but know I'll keep going

@kerrym87 is this your first private round? Or just a new private?

Nice that you don’t have a long shift for a while. So you’ve banked three euploids so far? That’s pretty good, this is your first round with a euploid?

It's my first FET with new clinic so we've just done oestrogen (ongoing)and fyremadel for 7 days, lining good, no follicles seen start cyclogest tomorrow. Not doing a 12 hour shift for a week after transfer. Terrifying but so done with being childless after nearly 5 years.......we have got 2 euploid and a mosaic in freezer after this but hoping we have success first time. Know its not likely but we can hope!

@kerrym87 thanks and good luck! What’s the plan this time, any new protocol or tweaks?

@thislittlebird congratulations! I've got transfer 28th and terrified!

Hi everyone, a brief update from me to say baby girl arrived at 14.21 on Tuesday (38+2) weighing 7lb 1oz. Can't believe we finally got there in the end, it's incredibly hard to get my head round how the ICSI actually worked, but we are very grateful it did.

Hope you're all doing ok and looking forward to hearing your updates!

@kerrym87 i wouldn’t be surprised if it was the second because my mum has something similar, but I would like the docs to be aware either way! Going back to be taped up for 24 hrs!