IVF.. what's the process like?

[ideal]

I am heading with DH to our first consultation next week and am equally parts terrified and excited!

I just wondered if anybody can advise on the process when it comes to zing? I know we will have this explained more to us, but I've read so many horror stories online of egg retrieval etc being extremely painful. I am not very good with pain is it really bad?

Any tips or advice would be so appreciated!

I'm quite scared of the process and DH is worried about the things I may have to go through.

Thank you

Your experience won't be difference whether it's IVF or ICSI. It's just how they put the egg and sperm together that's different - ICSI is more expensive.

I was a nervous wreck before we started. I had a hideous needle phobia and had never had an anaesthetic. In the end it was really no bother. I did my own first injection and was blown away how easy and painless it was. You just pinch the skin and you don't feel it. I had sedation for egg retrieval and it felt like a lovely sleep, no bother at all. I was a bit sore after but it was OK because the bit I had been dreading was over. Embryo transfer was less uncomfortable than a smear and it was fascinating seeing the embryos going in on the screen. I was very lucky to get my beautiful DS from the process but it really was positive from the start. Please don't be scared.

I meant to add that my needle phobia disappeared immediately from that first injection. I give blood and everything now without batting an eye. It's amazing what you can do if you have to.

You're not stupid at all OP. I would also echo having a look at various supplements for your DH. It is possible to improve sperm quality but it takes time and a repeat sperm analysis is needed. Dr Jonathan Ramsey is a well known urologist in London that deals with things like this so maybe worth having a look into that. It may be the difference between you having IVF and ICSI

If you are a large BMI OP, I'd strongly suggest losing weight. I'd TTC 4yrs and DH and I went on a health kick and both lost 10kg. I conceived the next month! It might have been a coincident, but I strongly suspect the weight loss helped. Sadly, I MC'd. Also, its recommended to take the prescribed 5mg of folic acid if larger, not just the OTC 400mcg dose.

DH also had a slightly lower sperm count and with our 2nd round of IVF needed ICSI. Is he doing things to try to improve his sperm count? Loose boxers, not over heating testicles, no hot baths etc? I started DH on a lycopene supplement. Its naturally found in red/orange fruit and veg, and some studies have shown it can improve sperm quality.

Someone upthread mentioned that conscious sedation was because they went private. I had 1 round on the NHS and another private- both at Guys, London and both were under conscious sedation. Gas/Air was never mentioned and personally, I wouldn't have opted for that at all. I felt nothing at all. Someone else said the recovery post op is longer if you have sedation. I was woken up, got dressed and was out of the department about an hour later. Conscious sedation is not the same as a general anaesthetic.

IVF for me was fairly simple and the egg retrieval was ok, just uncomfortable but not really painful.

not meaning to preach, but having done it and wanting to share best advice to make life easier..
I too highly recommended trying to get a healthy BMI before you start IVF as it improves your chances and as you will likely add 3 + stone on when pregnant, being overweight to start can make it very uncomfortable indeed, along with issues for the actual pregnancy. I wish I'd lost an extra stone or so before I started and my BMI was already in healthy range. my back and hips were ruined for months.

if you watch "celebrity save our sperm" on channel 4 / 4OD that gives great advice
on how he could improve his chances.

General anaesthetic for egg harvesting here on NHS, although that was a decade ago.

Transfer was very much like a smear test - had expected it to feel more of a procedure, iyswim.

Watch out for OHSS symptoms, I was landed in hospital for ten days thanks to that. Went to A&E as had been advised by the clinic if symptoms started to show (given they had retrieved 49 eggs at egg collection, they were pretty clear it was likely to be "when" rather than "if") but found I had to explain several times why I was there and exactly what OHSS was.

Be kind to yourselves and try not to count days on calendars, or track cycles. So many couples have fought for fertility treatment and fallen apart as a result. We knew it was likely to be problematic and went in with the point of view that for us, IVF wasn't so much about having a baby so much as about evening the playing field so we no longer had a much worse chance of conceiving than "typical" couples. You do need to be very clear and accepting that all the interventions in the world cannot guarantee a successful outcome. We came up with a Plan B which involved making the absolute most of the opportunities for travel etc that couples with no children have.

DS conceived via ICSI on second attempt 🙂 DD conceived as an absolute surprise naturally 2 years later.

Good luck.

There's a TV programme that Alex Jones did, where she "worked" in a London fertility clinic...Making Babies.

You might find it interesting?

Thank you for your message and your suggestions.
DH and I both had weight loss surgery 2.5 years ago. I've lost 9.5stone and he has lost almost 15 stone, so we are as healthy as we can be, now.
My BMI is high because I have loose skin (and lots of it!) that is still contributing to my weight. NHS refuse to take this into account and so we are having to go privately for our treatment.

I will look into the larger dose of folic acid, and likewise I'll look into some supplements for DH!

That is a massive weight loss OP! Congrats and whow!!! 😮

I had 4 rounds. They came about after DH was diagnosed with cancer and needed chemo. He froze his sperm beforehand. I was having treatment while he was having chemo so found it easier to just get on with it as what he was going through was so much worse.
I had sedation was egg collection. No memory of it at all! I went through fresh and frozen cycles. The hormones didn't cause me any issues but I'd never suffered from PMS or had problematic periods. As a PP said, the worst part is the waiting and lack of control. I had a toddler and was working 4 days/week at the time; suspect being constantly busy helped to minimise the impact.
Overall, I found IVF was not nearly as hard or stressful as I expected.
I wish you all the best and hope it's the same for you.

Thank you so much! Xx

I had nine rounds, two of which were abandoned early on - the first due to a breast cyst which seemed to be caused by the increased hormones, and then another later cycle was abandoned due to the my endometrium refusing to thicken.
Out of the seven full rounds I had three egg collections. The other rounds were using frozen embryos, and one round with an egg donor.
I found the early rounds relatively easy to cope with physically and emotionally. But after successive failures I found each round increasingly hard to cope with emotionally and was in a very bad way by the end.
You should expect the treatment to take over your life. There are a lot of appointments, for blood tests, for internal scans, for mandatory counselling if using a donor. You have very little control over timing so it’s hard to make other plans. Appointments run late, things change at the 11th hour. You have to somehow be very zen about it all.

The egg collection is not particularly difficult. I had sedation for mine, and wasn’t aware of anything. I didn’t have any pain during or afterwards. The only thing that was difficult for me was the pace at which everything happened when I was taken into the theatre. I was suddenly pounced on by about 6 different people and was having a cannula inserted at the same time as being wired up to the monitors at the same time as having my legs put into stirrups at the same time as being moved down the table at the age time as having my glasses taken off. It felt a bit overwhelming.
Recovery afterwards was straightforward, with very little bleeding and no pain. I took a taxi home and put my feet up for the rest of the day.

We had ICSI because DH had low sperm count and motility. The first round collected 11 eggs with 6 fertilised, so I felt very hopeful. Sadly my endometrium didn’t respond well and never thickened up much, and none of the embryos implanted. Each subsequent round had fewer eggs. Only collected one on my last round.

For me it was an increasingly negative and distressing experience. All the focus is on the 30% success rate. But obviously that means there’s a 70% failure rate which no one mentions. The consultants were extremely cavalier about the financial implications of all the various experimental treatments they recommended. By the end I felt that I had been duped. I expect I’d feel less bitter if I’d had any success.

A lot of couples split as a result of infertility. You both need to be kind to each other, and agree on when enough is enough.

I had a million different medication regimes so if you want to know any specifics about the meds please ask as I probably did all if them at some point.
Good luck.