I did IVF - AMA

[Ididivfama]

I remember how confusing it was when I started this journey and how I would trail the different boards, asking all sorts of questions. Happy to help and give as much info as I can without being outing. Hopefully it helps some people and is interesting for others!

Were you funded by the NHS?

No, we went private. It was for a second child so we wouldn’t be funded at all.

Your IVF resulted in a child?

I’m about 20 weeks pregnant so hopefully!

Congratulations - all the very best 😃

What side effects (if any) did you experience from the medications?

How did you find the egg retrieval and did it take you long to recover?

And how long did the whole process take for you?

Thanks for sharing your journey. We will most likely be starting our first round in the coming months and I have no idea what to expect.

Thanks @MrsSkylerWhite

I think I was lucky as I had hardly any side affects. I was mostly tired, but that could have been partly the psychological impact. I was probably more emotional than usual but nothing crazy. I was also on the highest possible injections to create follicles. I have heard that women who create a lot more follicles (eg those with pcos) get more symptoms and discomfort. Headaches are also common.

I was very lucky as my family all knew we were going through it so we had lots of help with childcare for our current child and I had time to rest. I was also off work which was great. There are a lot of appointments.

Egg retrieval was great because you’re out of it completely! I was really nervous waiting around for it though. One minute you’re lying on a bed in the surgery room charging to the surgeon and the next you’re being wheeled out and told it’s done! They gave me lots of nice drugs apparently as I felt ok. Again we had booked in time to rest for me. I spent the remainder of the day in bed. Perhaps some mild period like cramps, but that was it.

Hi OP, thank you so much for sharing

1. How old are you?
2. How long has it taken to go from initially contacting the clinic, to getting pregnant?
3. Do they ask if you want twins?
4. Did the clinic go straight to ivf, or try other treatments first?
5. Was your infertility diagnosed/explained?

Congratulations on your pregnancy x

And final question!

Well, we made an appointment when my period started in March to start when my next cycle started in April. For us it was easy as I have regular cycles. And we used the time to prep and order in the meds.

When my next period started I called them so they could update the clinic and I started the injections the next day. I took an Ovaleap injection every evening. That makes the follicles grow. Then from day 4 I added in another injection called Fyremadel, which I think stops the follicles releasing the eggs. Kept doing both for another week and they would scan me every 3 days to see how the follicles were progressing. Some people find their womb starts feeling full and uncomfortable. I was ok. Egg collection worked out at about 2 weeks after I had started the injections. The night before egg collection you stop all other injections and take one trigger to trigger egg release. The transfer was 5 days after that. That was very intense and you are awake. They were lovely though and it was so special seeing the embryo go in! They show you on the screen. Then you take a pregnancy test about two weeks after that!

So I guess around a month? Maybe a little more. It can take longer if your body takes longer to grow the follicles. If I hadn’t had enough 2 weeks after starting the injections then they would have kept going for another week.

The worst bit is the waiting post transfer. It was horrendous and my mood was absolutely awful.

How old are you? 33, so young compared to a lot of people in the clinic.

How long has it taken to go from initially contacting the clinic, to getting pregnant?
Not long at all. Let’s see… I think we started enquiring in February but in a more relaxed way as we were still thinking about what we wanted. By March we decided we wanted to go for ivf and they booked it in to start asap which was my next cycle in April. Pregnant in May. So three months max from enquiring to knowing I was pregnant!

Do they ask if you want twins?
No they are very strict about this and do not let you have twins for no reason. They talk a lot about the risk of multiple pregnancies. I think they only give that option in very specific circumstances including if someone has low chance of success. It’s dangerous as each embryo could multiply again!

Did the clinic go straight to ivf, or try other treatments first?
The one thing I would say is that private clinics don’t really have an interest in diagnosing or doing anything else. It was very much ok you can’t get pregnant, so do you want ivf? There was technically an option to have IUI but they said it was a waste of time and would just cost extra money. In my case there was no research to say it would work (dh had great sperm). Perhaps if dh was the issue we could have tried that first but in a way it’s not that much more money to go straight to ivf.
I had a hycosy to see if that could explain what the issues were. I chose to have that so we could find out as much as possible and feel like we could justify the ivf. Some research says the hycosy procedure can make you more fertile. It didn’t work though.

Was your infertility diagnosed/explained?
Not really. It was mostly unexplained. I possibly have low ovarian reserve which may be I have fewer eggs coming out, even if they are reasonable quality.

@Ididivfama Thank you, that’s so interesting!

Thank you for explaining everything so well, that's so helpful to know. Congratulations on your pregnancy ❤️