To ask for IVF success stories?

[jemimafuddleduck]

Sorry - I know this is not really AIBU but I don't really feel like this fits in Infertility and not sure where else to put it!

I am starting my medications for our first (and hopefully only!) IVF cycle today.

I am fully aware of the possibility that it may not work first time, and have seen lots of stories from people where it has worked second, third, fourth time... or god forbid not at all.

I am trying to have a PMA in relation to my cycle and am thinking THIS IS GOING TO WORK FOR ME!

But it would really help to hear from people who it HAS worked first time for! Can you please share your stories with me to help me remain positive?

I'm particularly interested in people who have used donor eggs as that's our situation.

Thanks in advance!

I sort of used donor eggs - the eggs were from my wife. We were going through it around 5 years ago, 1st IVF cycle after 3 failed IUIs. Only 2 embryos made it to 5 days, one went into me, and got my positive test on 3rd Jan 2014.

Best of luck xx

Ours worked first time. 9 eggs retrieved, 5 fertilised, 2 made it to 5 day blastos, one is our dd.

Good luck!

Ours worked first time too (first IVF round anyway) and I’m now sitting cuddling my 9m DS. PMA is a huge part of it, I also had accupuncture which if nothing else helped me relax throughout the process. Good luck!

IVF worked first time for me, we spent three months preparing ourselves; no alcohol, loads of acupuncture, I took so many vitamins I rattled, he didn’t cycle or use saunas/steam rooms and drank red smoothies. The IVF cycle was textbook and I found it empowering after years of helplessness and heartbreak.

Donor egg IVF worked for me on the first try. I now have 13 week old twins.

Good luck OP. Infertility is hell. I wish you every success

We had it, worked very well. Got a decent number of embryos/blasts, implanted two in 2010, one made it, is still doing well, then another one in 2012, alst successful.

wasn't a picnic, had reasonably serious OHSS, leading to the loss of one ovary but, hey, have got two kids.

For us, it worked eventually. We had multiple cycles, and count ourselves so incredibly lucky to have the wonderful child we now do.

However, for us, one of the more disheartening things was the blanket assurance from people who knew very little about the process or the probabilities that "it is bound to work!!"

A positive and supportive attitude is incredibly useful - but the blanket assurance it will all work (for us) is not

There again - everyone is different!

I wish you the very best of luck, and hope it all goes well!!

It worked for us first time, but we used my eggs. I had low AMH so we'd been considering DEs. I got 6 eggs, 5 fertilised with ICSI, all made it through to day 5. On blast was transferred and two embryos were frozen. I'm 30 weeks pregnant.

I'm not discounting PMA, but I was so convinced that it hadn't worked that I bet my husband a bottle of gin on the outcome of the pregnancy test.

I start my injections this week too (first IVF). Great to read these stories. I'm not sure whether to feel positive about it or prepare myself incase it doesn't work.

Both my sister and mine worked 1st time. I was 34 and she was 36. But please look into acupuncture - it has research to prove that it can increase your success rate if you have it one the day of implementation. Some clinics will send in a accunpucturist to treat you even it its a Sunday, Christmas or whatever. My clinic (ARGC) recommended drinking lots of milk each day for the egg growing cycle - lots of protein. Also please avoid foods that make your womb cramp like fresh pineapple.

A lot of us prepare for it not working,then that we will miscarry (I lost one of the two that implanted at 8 weeks which was a bit stressful),I watched the weeks and never quite believed it when I reached 40 weeks.
I was 8nduced at 41 weeks ,have very shirt labour.I didn't get the big hormonal rush I expected but love grows and I didn't find motherhood too difficult.Shes 15 now.
Good luck.

Unexplained secondary infertility, 1st round of ivf after 2 years trying worked, dd is 2 weeks old and we have 5 more embryos in the freezer. Good luck!

i donated eggs about 14 years ago, and it worked first pop
My friend had been trying for 9 years, had done a few years on Clomiphene and that failed so she tried two ivf cycles and they found her eggs were dying in the incubator, apparently she was in the final stages of menopause, so i said have mine... so she did and it worked and they have a daughter!
She made me come to the birth, since i got her knocked up, i think i have PTSD

It worked second time for us. I don't want to put a downer on you but I went into the first cycle absolutely convinced it would work and was absolutely devastated when it didn't, I cried for days. Second time around I was much more pragmatic, kept myself busy, had nice things planned in case it failed again. I can't know but I think if it hadn't worked second time around I'd have handled it better. The hardest thing about IVF is you have absolutely no way of knowing if it will/has worked and there is virtually nothing you can do to influence the outcome.

It worked both times for me (the second time was with a frozen embryo). We have two lovely children.

Hello and good luck for your treatment.
Currently 18 weeks with our first round of ICSI and have 2x frozen blasts waiting in the freezer.
Male Factor infertility but used own eggs and DH sperm. I know you said you wanted stories with donor eggs but just wanted add a happy story. Good luck!

Thanks SO much to you all for all of these lovely positive stories, they're really giving me confidence so please keep them coming!!

I totally take on board the comments some of you have made about setting myself up for a fail in case it doesn't work, but the way I look at it is I will be devastated if it doesn't work, whether I go through it with a PMA or whether I spend the whole time being negative/cautious.

If it doesn't work we will book a last minute ski holiday and try again after that (which clearly I won't be able to do if it does work!). So there will be a little treat to cheer me up if needed.

We asked our clinic about acupuncture and they said they are fine with people doing it, but they don't actively recommend it as there isn't anything which says it will help (other than to relax you).

Out of interest how many of you had acupuncture on your successful cycles?

I didn't have acupuncture. I tried it before my cycle and the guy a saw was a complete fanny, who kept trying to tell me what "element" I was and what colour aura I had.

Lots of people rate it but it wasn't for me.

@Si1ver haha!! That made me laugh. Yeah, I'm not sure that I "believe" in all of that sort of thing (and in any case I may have left it too late!

Yes it was generally successful for us three Cycles three pregnancies one ending in a miscarriage. One singleton and one set of twins. We are very lucky. Acupuncture on every cycle and Zita West supplements. I'm not sure how much bearing this had on the success rate but because we did this on the first cycle which was successful we maintained it if that makes sense . Best of luck OP

I did some mindfulness and meditation. There was an app I downloaded and listened to everyday.

Honestly, IVF is hardwork physically and emotionally. Anything you need to do to get through the cycle you should do. Try and stay calm and try and manage your expectations would be the best advice I could give.

Trying to explain to my sister that this didn't equal a baby was so hard. She was all "if this happens now the baby will be born then" and "you can do this to the nursery". I couldn't get through to her that I had a 40% chance of success and it was only that high because we were going abroad. People with no experience tend assume that IVF always means you get a baby out the other side.

I had IVF with my own eggs 17 years ago at the age of 35, it worked first time and we got DC1. However my ovaries were in a bad way and we didn’t manage any success after that with my own eggs, so we turned to donor eggs. We went to Spain when I was 39 for the treatment. It worked first time again! We have DC2 now as well.

It was all very stressful at the time, but seems like nothing now. I’m so happy that I did it. I hope it works out for you too.

What is PMA by the way? I would recommend a glass of wine after the treatment! For relaxation purposes. This would probably be frowned upon now. Also, I used to take a baby aspirin each day to help with blood flow, also probably frowned upon so I would suggest medical advice before doing that.

NC for this btw. No-one irl knows I used donor eggs. DC2 looks a lot like DH

No acupuncture or similar here, I don’t believe in alternative medicine, beyond relaxation etc.

The only supplements I took was folic acid. I carried on going to work (stressful job), are as normal (reasonably well but not super healthy), didn’t drink (over Christmas!!) but generally carried on as normal.

My only advice is not to go searching for “pregnancy symptoms” in your two week wait. On fertility forums people drive themselves crazy. I didn’t have any symptoms, and I was actually fairly convinced it hadn’t worked, so was amazed when I got my positive.

I didn't do any acupuncture, supplements etc. But I'm a scientist by nature and by training, so to me if something isn't strongly clinically evidenced, it's pointless. I know for others these procedures provide at least reassurance and some believe it worked for them. IVF is really tough and I think whatever gets you through you should go with.

My friend has just had the most beautiful two week old baby on her first round of IVF.
Good luck