One shot at IVF - yes or no? What can we do to maximise our chances? Please share your stories with me.

[CakeInMyFace]

My DH and I have one DD who is nearly 3.5. We've been ttc our second for 2 years and have recently had the news that we are unlikely to conceive naturally again. DH has very high levels of abnormal sperm, and I have one fully blocked tube and it's likely I have damage to the other one. If our DD was born under these circumstances then we are VERY lucky to have her. And I know how lucky I am to have her, I adore her and love every minute with her.

Saying all that I've been desperate for another baby these years, and now it looks like it may never happen. We've had a private IVF referral (recommended we do ICSI as well), we can only afford to do it once and I don't know what to do! I'll regret it if we don't. but how likely is it to work on round one? The pressure will be immense, I'm scared, and really struggling to accept all this.

Is there anything we can do to maximise our chances of it working? How many of you did it work for on the first try? Has anyone else been in this boat? What did you do?

Well age is a big factor in ivf success rates.
My first ivf at 32 worked (with only 1 good embryo)
2) at 34 bfn (2 lower quality embryos)
3) at 35 bfp (2 good quality embryos)
Thing is its very hard stop once you start.
How is the tube blocked? As they seem to want to remove hydrosalpinx before ivf.
Then of course there is the chance of twins. Storage costs of extra embryos.
And if it does work there is the 1/4 chance of miscarriage.
The results can vary so much from no fertilisation/eggs to lots of frozen blastocysts and a twin pregnancy.

Really all you have to lose (generally) is the money. But it can be stressful, i had scans every other day, they often dont tell you when the op will be more than 2 days beforehand. Then there is the drop off in numbers from collected to mature to fertilised to continuing growing each day.

They don't know much about the blockage but advised we go straight to ivf given our ages, I'll be 38 in March, and DH sperm. Everyone keeps congratulating me on being referred to ivf since we've been trying for 2 years, they seem to think it means instant baby. I'm really struggling to accept all of this, but am wanting to be realistic as well.

Hi Cakeinmyface

I don't know whether my situation will help you or not but I share your same worries and concerns but have gone for it!

I have PCOS but still ovulate every month, been ttc for nearly 4 years, dh has moderate motility but everything else is fine, we have unexplained infertility.

Dh has two kids from a previous marriage so we are not entitled to IVF on the NHS. After re-mortgaging our house we have paid £6295-00 for ICSI privately and at the moment I am on my stimms hopefully having egg collection next Monday.

I am 38 years old.

I am putting alot on this working as I do not know how we would afford to do this again. This scares me alot if I let myself think too much about it but then I stop myself thinking too much about it and I think it will work, we deserve this, we are good people etc etc and keep positive that I will have a BFP at the end of it all.

I know I might sound mad but that it how I am dealing with it and we have had to try this and pay for it as I know I would always regret not trying it IVF/ICSI to see if it worked.

I never want to regret not having the chance to have a baby and be a mother so thats why we have made the choice to go on this journey xxx

Hi CakeInMyFace, I know our situations are all different but hopefully I can offer you some hope. I am 34 and although we were officially diagnosed with unexplained infertility following a lap/dye/hyst last April, recent sperm tests for DH revealed very high levels of abnormal sperm. I also have fibroids, and although several specialists assured us that they weren't interfering with ttc I always had my doubts.

After trying unsuccessfully for three years with not so much as a hint of a BFP in that time, we finally conceived on our first NHS-funded round of IVF in November at the Oxford Fertility Unit and I am 11 weeks today :) Words cannot express how grateful I am, as in my lowest moments I never thought I would be able to have a baby of my own.

We had an incredibly stressful course of treatment. Despite having a highish number of antral follicles at my baseline scan, I responded poorly to the lowish dose of Gonal F I was on with only six follicles; then only four mature eggs at egg retrieval with only two of those fertilised (we didn't have ICSI). DH's mum also sadly died a week before my egg retrieval. However, both little embies miraculously survived and I had a three day transfer of a 7 cell embryo, with a frozen blastocyst to use for a future FET.

I put our success down to a combination of luck, diet, acupuncture, rest and avoiding stress. I started acupuncture last February when I was still hoping for a natural BFP and increased my sessions as appropriate during the relevant stages of IVF treatment. I would definitely recommend having it at least twice - before and after embryo transfer - as research shows it can significantly increase your chances of successful implantation.

I also ate a high protein/low carb diet from stimms onwards, drank two litres of water a day, tried to eat one avocado a day (research shows that they are fantastic for increasing your IVF chances) and had a small glass of fresh pineapple juice and a handful of Brazil nuts daily during the two week wait to aid implantation. I also took the two weeks after the transfer off work and rested as much as possible to minimise stress.

I really wish anyone about to embark on IVF/already having treatment the best of luck - it is such an emotional roller coaster and very hard to keep positive at times. My best friend is about to start her first (and hopefully last) cycle and I am praying for her and everyone else who has to go through this. Hugs to you all xxx