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Original poster

IVF success stories please

30 replies

Tania2 · 22/12/2004 05:17

Hi girls,
Just wanting some success stories not sure if i am giong down this road yet as i am having more test in the new year.
My story....
Iam 27 live in Australia have a ds aged 2 natural conception but a very big suprise.
Was told i had endo when i was 18 and that i would proberly need medical help when i want to have a family so DH and i never used contraception. Been ttc number 2 for 1 year now and just had a lap and dye done last week and was told by my gyno that my tubes were so blocked that he couldnt get the dye through and i would have to consider IVF.
Having a levervist ultrasound in the new year to confirm the blockage but hoping that maybe my tubes were spasaming (sp?) during my lap and thats why the dye wouldnt go throu.
So iam really in limbo atm not sure if i can fall pg on our own or if we need to do IVF the $$$$ really worry me cause i hear of so many people getting into alot of debt doing ivf.
Needing some success stories to give me and dh a little hope and some light at the end of this very dark and lonley tunnel.
Thanks for taking the time to read my rant.
lol
Tania
xx

OP posts:
pilotswife · 22/12/2004 08:47

Hi Tania

I had IVF in Melbourne. Just took one go and outcome absolutely fantastic. Usually there is a support group attached to the hospital. Monash IVF produced a book with stories that I found very useful and inspiring and I know the Epworth had a magazine that was terrific. Good luck....it's really not that bad and you just have to keep visualising the wonderful outcome. The staff at Epworth were fantastic and made it just so easy.

Original poster
Tania2 · 22/12/2004 08:58

Thankyou for answering piotswife. Congratulations.
Melbourne is where iam i think i will be going to the royal womens hospital.
Hoping it will only take me one go. What was your reason why you did ivf if you dont mind me asking.

OP posts:
Original poster
Tania2 · 22/12/2004 11:36

Just thought i would bump up my thread incase there is anyother success stories out there???

OP posts:
MincePieMonster · 22/12/2004 11:43

Hi Tania,
mine is a success story ... eventually! We took 3 and a half years and 6 cycles of IVF but in the end were blessed with our beautful dd. She's now almost 4 and I still look at her sometimes and wonder at the miracle of modern technology. Our problem was one where dh had a very low sperm count and the ones that were there weren't motile, so we had to have the ICSI form of IVF (where they inject a single sperm into the egg).
I can't pretend it was easy - a rollercoaster really is the best way to describe it - but I don't regret any of it for a moment and I'm glad we chose to persist rather than give up after a couple of attempts.
I really hope that yours is a shorter and easier path to success than mine was - my best wishes to you and your dh.

MPM (alias CookieMonster) xx

Original poster
Tania2 · 22/12/2004 11:54

Thank you MPM sorry it took you so long. have you settled for 1 or will you give it another go? it must have cost you a fortune. Not sure if we would be able to have many shots of it $$$$ but hoping that because i have had 1 successful pg naturaly and that dh sperm count is normal that maybe it wouldnt take me long but then iam not quite sure on what the stats on that would be??
Anyway congratulations on your success with ivf. and again thankyou for taking the time to share your story.

OP posts:
DelGirlsRingAreYouListening · 22/12/2004 12:58

Tania, a friend of my sisters moved to Adelaide about 4 years ago. She had 1 ds naturally but then her tubes became blocked after an infection. Anyway, i'm sure she had 2 attempts at IVF which were paid for, much like our NHS system. I could well be wrong but i'm sure it was funded. I myself have had 5 attempts at IUI, 2 m/c's but am now 23 weeks pg. Best of luck whatever you decide

DelGirlsRingAreYouListening · 22/12/2004 12:59

oh, and she got pg both times but sadly lost the 1st very early but now has a beautiful DD from the 2nd.

Portree · 22/12/2004 20:33

I'm in the UK and had first time success with IVF/ICSI. It can happen and it's not always all doom and gloom. Our issues were severe male factor after dh survived a near fatal illness. My ds was created with sperm surgically removed from dh .. awesome technology really. The odds were stacked against us and we are very blessed.

Good luck.

OldieMum · 22/12/2004 20:48

Tania2, it is a dark and lonely tunnel and I sympathise with you standing at the beginning of it. It usually doesn't work first time, often because it takes the staff a while to work out the correct dosage and procedures for you. We went through 2 cycles of IUI and 6 of IVF before we conceived our wonderful, beautiful daughter, who is now nearly two. I am just so glad we kept going. The physical side is gruelling, but it's the grief when it fails that is so hard to take. We were very grateful to DH's supportive father, who helped us pay for it, but, sadly, did not live to see his granddaughter. We are in the UK, but DH is from Adelaide, so I feel a special link to someone in Oz going this. One piece of advice we were given by the doctors here - never go into a cycle thinking 'This is the last one'. It puts too much pressure on. Do your thinking when you have recovered from a failed cycle, not just before you start the next one.

ladymuck · 22/12/2004 20:58

Hi Tania, I have a history of PCOS, and after clomid/IUI I conceived ds1 after 3 IVF attempts and ds2 on the 4th attempt.

I would echo Oldiesmum advice re preparing for more than one attempt, and dealing with the grief being more grueling than the physical side. But if you go down this route it does take over your life for each 6-8 week cycle.

But like the others I wouldn't be without my two for anything!

morningpaper · 22/12/2004 21:01

Tania I know I basically hang out with lots of mummies, but several of them have babies through IVF and on their first attempt! So there are lots of happy tales too!

Original poster
Tania2 · 22/12/2004 21:34

Thank you girls iam watching this thread very closly your advice is very important to me. Have my appointment with my gyno today to discuss all my options dh is comming with me so hopfully he will be my piller of strength.

OP posts:
DelGirlsRingAreYouListening · 22/12/2004 21:40

good luck Tania and like others have said, which probably didnt come through on my post, there are lots of positive outcomes, it just can take some longer than others but with your age (i'm 10 years older than you and my sis's friend is older than me and that does make a big difference} I wouldve thought with your age and the fact you've already conceived you have a brilliant chance of an early success.

Portree · 22/12/2004 23:09

Tania, have you had a look at ivfconnections.com too? They have an Australia board and also an endo board. Also meant to say on my last post that I had zero expectations of my IVF cycle which I think helped me enormously as I was really quite blase about it and assumed it would fail (even though my clinic's take home baby rate is 40% per cycle started - better odds than the low-tech way).

Moomin · 22/12/2004 23:23

How did you get on today Tania2? I realise our times are going to be different with me in the uk but am very interested as i may be going the same route as you in the new year. we too have one child already, conceived naturally and hvaing been ttc number 2 for 2 years now. i have mild endo but it now seems i have some in one or both ovaries and this is affecting us ttc. we are tempted to ask to be referred for ivf without waiting for the endo to be treated, as the past year has been so stressful already and time is ticking on...
i really don't know what will be advised by our consultant - i don't even know if iui is an option either. anyway, let me know you got on today - i'm rooting for you!

lockets · 22/12/2004 23:25

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

jenkel · 23/12/2004 00:27

Your message brought back so many memories for me.

Well, here goes - Tried to concieve for 4 years and no joy, went for various tests and it came back that DH sperm was very low and the only chance would be ICSI, tried one cycle and it failed, they then found Ovarian Polyps and Ovarian Cysts, so went through an operation to remove them. Then surprise surprise, fell pregnant naturally only for it to turn out to be eptopic, probably due to all the scarring from the surgery. So more surgery and was told that it was more or less impossible now for me to get pregnant naturally with DH low sperm count and all my scaring. 2nd ICSI was succesfull and we have a beautiful 2 year old dd. And wait for it, was breastfeeding and not using any contraception and fell pregnant again naturally and this time it was in the right place, so now have another beautiful 10 month old dd.

Makes me wonder if all the advice we were given was true. So happy, we have a wonderful family and at times in my darkest hour I thought I would never have kids.

ICSI/IVF is not an easy route, your emotions are all over the place and it does take over your life. Unfortuantely one of my best friends is now divorced and one of the many reasons is that the stress they were under whilist going through IVF. But when fertility treatments work it is wonderful.

Good luck in whatever you decide to do, just remember that it can and does work. And sometimes, despite all the advice you are given you may not even need it - I'm proof of that! It really does just take one.

Original poster
Tania2 · 23/12/2004 05:20

Well girls had the appointment and have both decided to go ahead with the IVF in the new year. Have been sent home with all the info pack and a video to watch but now iam wondering which ivf i will be doing cause there are so many different ones. would anyone out there know?? I have no sign of endo and no cysts gyno just said that my tubes are blocked at the start. other than that i am very healthy and young and if any dr looked at my records he would get excited as i have a very high chance of it working. Getting very nervous but at the same time releaved that there is light at the end of the tunnel.
Once again girls dh and i really appreciate all your stories and support to a complete stranger thank god we have found this site.
lol
tania

OP posts:
Original poster
Tania2 · 23/12/2004 10:52

Just a quick queston......
Did anyone choose to not tell anyone they were doing IVF or did you choose to only let family know?
Dh has just asked me not to tell anyone we have to do IVF.

OP posts:
MincePieMonster · 23/12/2004 11:06

Tania,
we told absolutely nobody for our first 3 cycles and then immediate family and a couple of close friends for our second 3 - no idea why the change of heart by the way!

I think there are pros and cons to both - if you tell people, there's a lot of pressure in the form of people asking you if you are OK all the time (sometimes welcome, sometimes not), but if you don't tell anybody, you often have to present a brave face and pretend everything is OK when all you long to do is let it all pour out.

A lot will depend on how supportive you think people will be and whether you and dh think you are strong enough to get through it on your own.

My best wishes go to you both ... CM xx

Original poster
Tania2 · 23/12/2004 11:46

Thanks MPM. Problem is that everyone knows that we have been ttc for a year now and that i have been seeing a specialist and that ivf has been discussed. Do you think that it would be convincing enough if i say to people we are still deciding what we are going to do and maybe we are having a break from ttc for a little while.

OP posts:
MincePieMonster · 23/12/2004 12:17

Tania, I think that would be totally plausible. Would you be able to keep all the appointments at the clinic quiet though? That was quite easy for me because my family don't live locally and at work I just said it was 'women's things' and they never asked again!

Original poster
Tania2 · 23/12/2004 12:29

Appointments at the clinic may be alittle hard as i will have to go into town and MIL will have to look after our ds. We are happy for imediate family to know. Dh has just said that he doesnt even want people to know that we have done ivf when we finally get pg and says its not because he is imbarrassed its just our personal business. I dont understand that???? I feel that he is imbarrassed.

OP posts:
MincePieMonster · 23/12/2004 12:53

without meaning any disrespect to your dh, I think it is a 'man' thing to be embarrassed about this. Maybe they see it as some sort of failure on their part (even when it isn't) that it hasn't happened the natural way. If he doesn't want to tell, then I would go along with him.

jenkel · 23/12/2004 15:44

We told no family, just 2 very very close friends who were sworn to secrecy. Going through IVF puts a lot of pressure on you and we didnt want added pressure from our family, none of our parents had any other grandchildren so I'm sure you can see what we mean.