Reaching a year TTC no.2. What to expect.

[BiscuitLover3678]

Hi everyone who is in (or has been!) in the same boat.

Finally getting to a year of nothing happening if whatsoever. Spoke to my gp and I’m being sent for a day21 blood test and dh will get a semen analysis.

Anyone else done these and what is it like? What do they do do or suggest given the results?

Im feeling good that we’re finally dealing with it but also feels a bit strange. It’s so weird because we conceived our first child so quickly and now this!

Any tips and recommendations?

@BiscuitLover3678 hi! So we had bloods for me and semen analysis done for DH after cycle 9/10. DH semen came back like super sperm and my bloods were all fine. Ovulation was fine.
so they sent me for scan on my uterus. Again was all fine.
nothing was mentioned about being referred for fertility but they would only offer a hycosy to check tubes an that’s about it for secondary infertility.
i decided not to wait the long lists and go private to have more AMH and bloods and the scan. Cycle 11.
had the bloods done. Awaiting period to book in Hycosy. Found out I was pregnant cycle 11 😂🧐 typical lol.

i had a mmc with that pregnancy at 9 weeks. Had a chemical streight after. But then 3 cycles later fell pregnant again. Now 12 weeks.

so guess what I’m trying to say is. Cycle 10/11/12/13 can feel hopeless. But sometimes it is just luck. And for us was no baring on fertility at all clearly.

so deff get some tests done. But keep going knowing it could really be ANY time! Good luck xx

@BiscuitLover3678 it was my 2nd ttc btw. I had a 3/4 year old DD whilst we were ttc. And fell pregnant first time back then. Mc again. An then fell pregnent with my DD cycle 7. Just for reference. I was 5 years younger tho.

so I’ve had

cycle 1
cycle 7
cycle 11
cycle 1
cycle 3

go figure!

Thanks @Indianna2006

wait so have you had 5 kids?

No only one child 🙈

2 miscarriages and one chemical in that.

and one current pregnancy.
but been pregnant 5 times yes.

@BiscuitLover3678

Oh ok I understand. I’m so sorry for your losses :(

how old is your child now?

it really is a journey isn’t it.

@BiscuitLover3678 it really is a journey. It’s so hard at the time to rationalise it all.

My DD is 4. She will of just turned 5 by time this little one arrives. If this is the one 🤞🏼
I hope she’d be late age 3 early age 4 and felt sad about the age gap as time kept passing and we lost the pregnancy I’d of been due any time with now. But alas clearly that was not meant to be and somehow it does work out eventually and seem to then not matter 🙂

Hi OP
Sorry your TTC journey hasn't been what you planned. I too am in a similar boat - TTC over a year for #2, ds conceived v easily over 5 yrs ago.
So Dr sent me for day 21 bloods in June which all came back normal, bar high prolactin which I think was a eeault

Whoops pressed post too soon! Result of me hating blood tests / injections etc - she offered me to have it again but I had no other high prolactin symptoms so didn't go.
At the same time she referred me to the fertility clinic. I waited 3.5 months for my apt. Had AMH blood test and scan, partner had semen analysis. All came back normal according to the dr.
Dr suggested we could try IVF but he didn't pile pressure on. As we have our ds IVF would need to be private. It was fine but I was a little surprised the Dr at the fertility clinic didn't look at the day 21 bloods I had done a few months before - there was a lot of detail in it as the results showed levels for loads of different things.
I've really made an effort with my diet recently - cut out caffeine and alcohol, eating lots of fruit and veggies, and I'm taking loads of supplements and having acupuncture.
Hope this helps OP and good luck on your journey x

This is really helpful thank you

I feel like I need to start really cutting caffeine and upping my health game, but it’s so hard when those are the little things that get you through the journey 🙈

Can you remember how much ivf is and do you have a plan of when you might try?

Hey BiscuitLover I know what you mean about giving things up...I didn't for ages but then all of a sudden I really wanted to and I don't really feel like I'm missing out too much. If I had tried before when I didn't really want to give them up I would have been really miserable.

The IVF is ridiculous - over £3k per round where I am (London) and really, given our chances (Dr said there was a 30% chance of an IVF round working for us, which is higher than the NHS odds so not sure if that's a reflection on us as a couple / the stats for this clinic or both), we should probably budget for at least three rounds as the odds aren't really in our favour for it to happen first time. I think we will look into it in Feb / March which will be 18 months since we started trying. It will also give me a good amount of time to eat well, exercise, keep taking my supplements and get my body ready for IVF to give us the best chance.

I have had one miscarriage and two chemicals since we've been TTC no 2 so it appears I can conceive but none are sticking.
It's a long and tiring journey. Trying to find different ways each month of getting through the sadness / worry and finding hope. Xx

Hi @BiscuitLover3678, I've typed @BiscuitLover3678 before, I think I was on another thread you started a few months ago, a 10 months TTC despair thread. I've got 14 months TTC under my belt too now so I'm sorry you've reached the year point too. I've had 3 and 21 day bloods which all came back normal except I've lost my immunity to rubella, which means I have to have a 2 month break from TTC to have the two MMR doses (you're not supposed to get pregnant till 30 days after 🙄) The last two cycles I've had randomly unusually heavy periods, which is worrying the hell out of me, having a second child has never felt so far away tbh. My DD is 4 next month and absolutely obsessed with babies. She's always asking me if I'm pregnant. I tell her I don't know if I've got a 1 baby only tummy or a 2 babies tummy, and that I'm trying to find out right now. I say to her we have a family of 3, isn't that happy? A lovely happy family of 3. She says yeah a bit, but I want it to be 4! 1 - 2 - 3 - 4! Breaks my heart.
We have semen analysis tomorrow and I have to take it to the hospital in a taxi myself because DH has an injury and can't dash. We have to time the "deposit" to just before the taxi arrives and have a system worked out to make sure the timing is right. Then it's about half an hour to the hospital so pretty stressed about getting it there before it goes bad!
After that we'll be going private for further tests, my GP says that's all they can offer us since we have one child. It's a shame, never thought I'd be in this position xx

In a similar boat here. DD is 5 and we’ve tried for over two years for a second. The journey has been complicated by multiple surgeries for severe endometriosis. Now I am recovered from all of that I am told there is no medical reason why I shouldn’t be able to conceive a second … but literally nothing happens 😔we have had all the fertility tests and everything is fine. I did feel better to get all checked out and more in “control”. Time isn’t on my side given my age and therefore we are heading for ivf before the end of the year. Sending best wishes for your journey.

Just to add, if you do have the fertility tests and there is something that’s not quite working as it should, there are lots of things that can be done to help the process along. IVF isn’t always the first port of call. My advice would be to get the tests done earlier rather than later, especially if you are over, say, 35.

I’m so sorry and good luck to you

I’m sorry about your surgeries and that it’s not been happening.

what other things did they suggest pre ivf? How long between first going to gp and ivf? Also trying to work out a timeline.

Annoyingly I can’t get my blood test this month as cycle day21 is on the weekend :( so frustrating

In my case they did suggest go straight to ivf, but that’s because I am now 39 and my history of so many surgeries indicates it as the best option. But if I was a bit younger and didn’t have my medical history they might have suggested I try IUI first. I have friends who weren’t ovulating, or were ovulating irregularly and were given medication to help with that and became pregnant. I have to go to a private fertility clinic as wouldn’t be entitled to nhs funding as I already have a child. I had my tests as the clinic in June and I will start ivf in November. But this did include a minor operation in august as they found a polyp in the June scan and therefore it would have been a shorter timescale I imagine had it not been for that. My consultant knows how keen I have been to move things along and I have certainly had to chase the process on at times.

Sorry to hear this. I can understand the frustration. It’s the worst thing when there seem to be obstacles in the way of achieving what you want so badly 😞

I’m sorry you’ve had to go through so much. Not long at all until ivf and hopefully a baby very soon ❤️ do let us know how it goes!

do you have to do much to prep?

thanks this is all so helpful. It can be really hard to find out this info!

Thank you for your good wishes 😊in terms of prep, for us it was just a case of going through the process - initial tests at clinic - consultant appointment - minor surgery - follow up with consultant - blood tests - nurse planning appointment (where they explain the whole process again step by step and show you the meds ) then the next step is just to get delivery of our medication ready to start. They give you lots of advice about lifestyle and diet etc to try and get your body in a good place too. We already eat quite well and don’t drink anyway. But of course I needed the minor surgery which most people
wont need. Everyone’s journey will be different, some more straightforward then others. It’s quite a big process, far more involved than I had realised and therefore it has taken a while to get my head around it and find out what I need to know. I still feel very new to the ivf game ! Sending lots of good thoughts your way.

It sounds like you’ve gone through so much already! Do you know how many embryos they will create? Still such a minefield to me.

hopefully we will all get our babies at the end :)

I’m afraid I have no idea … my understanding from what they’ve said is that it varies a lot from person to person. I’m sure someone else who has been through the process will have a better idea …