Trying to conceive baby#2 following ivf treatment for #1

[lucieloos]

I thought I would start this thread as I can't see anything similar. We underwent many rounds of icsi and following a couple of bfns, and an ectopic pregnancy we were finally blessed with our beautiful daughter last year.

We recently started thinking about baby no 2 and had 4 frozen embryos of which 2 had been tested and found to be chromosomally normal so are meant to have a better chance. We didnt have the other 2 tested.

A couple of weeks back we had our first fet with one of the tested embryos and got a bfp super early at 4dp5dt. Sadly by 8dpt the line was barely visible and resulted in a chemical pregnancy. I've been feeling really down about it as this was meant to be a super duper embryo with no genetic problems which they said was the main reason embryos fail.

I thought it would be easier trying for #2 and of course it is in a way as I realise how lucky I am to have had a baby but I can feel the infertility fog starting to descend again as I realise although I've had a brief respite I will never be like my fertile friends and I do really want another baby and a sibling for my little girl.

Im feeling a bit negative at the moment. We will probably go back for the other tested embryo in the near future but I can't see how I would ever get lucky enough to get 2 bfps in a row. These things just don't happen to me so just not too hopeful about it at all. We said that if we used all of our frosties with no success we would be happy with what we have but already I am thinking should I do more fresh cycles. I will be 39 soon though so time isn't on my side for that.

Anyway just wondering if anyone else is in a similar situation and would like to share the journey. Please come and say hi.

Thank you Lucie. That’s very good advice. I’m not sure how many rounds we can justify (emotionally and financially) but I’m hoping I can persuade DH to do 3... If we get Frosties from round 1 that would be a huge bonus, but we’ll see (I’m mindful that round 1 will be a bit of a shot in the dark and that they might not therefore get the protocol right etc.)

Hi everyone

I've been reading but limiting posting for my own sanity.

We did our FET, transferred our last two embryos and today got a BFN.

Totally gutted and don't know what to do now. Enjoy our son and put a lid on all this?

This is our history:

IVF - bfn
Fet - BFP
Ivf - bfn
Fet - bfn
Ivf - 3 transferred, early MC
Fet - bfn

Is it worth carrying on? Thinking of going to Reprofit and doing PGD. Perhaps have the summer off then spend 3 months getting healthy.

Don't know which way to turn. What would you do?

Also to add, I am 40 in January.

We've had a total of 9 embryos transferred over the years and 1 child to show for it.

Oh twinkle I'm so sorry I had no idea you had gone for the next fet. I was really hoping this would be it for you this time. It's hard to say what next. How old were you when you did the second full ivf? You get good egg numbers? I think if you are going to go again I would think about reprofit. The flight time is much shorter and they are cheaper. I couldn't imagine having to go all the way to Greece each time. A 2 hour flight is more than enough for me. The pgs is a big bonus as it can tell you whether the issue is aneuploid embryos or something else and again it's quite cheap to do that at reprofit. I think take a few months out to sort your head and look into giving it a go there.

Cariad, 3 attempts is great and hopefully that will be enough to give you success. Where will you go for treatment?

Thanks @lucieloos. I did PM you a week or so ago as i didn't want you to think I was ignoring you.

I kept it to myself and off the boards and it's a real struggle when I should be 14 weeks pregnant and way past the scary 12-week mark.

I was 39 (and 2 months!) when they collected the eggs this round. 10 collected, 5 made it to blast. But still no baby to show for it.

Oh I'm really sorry, I use the app and for some reason you can't access pms on it which is really stupid! With those numbers you should get a pgs normal embryo. Did you do any immunes treatment last time like pred, clexane,intralipids? Give reprofit a try.

Lucie - We’re at the Lister in London as it’s convenient for work (for both of us). I’ve heard mixed reviews though, so we’ll see. Depending on how our first cycle goes, we may reconsider.

Separately, we’ve been seeing Jonathan Ramsay for MFI (also in London) and he’s been wonderful.

We both have pretty full on jobs, and I’m keen not to use up all my holiday on IVF (particularly as I work full time so am keen to spend as much time as possible with DS) so going abroad probably isn’t an option for us, although I’ll be hunting you down to pepper you with questions if I change my mind on that front!

Twinkle - Sorry you’re having such a tough time. No advice I’m afraid (as I’m an utterly useless novice on these boards) but I wanted to send you a hug.

I'm on

Pred
Baby aspirin
Clexane
I had acupuncture before and after transfer and had intralipids.

How long do you have to stay in Prague for for treatment as I'd likely have to go on my own as DS starts school in September.

Thank you @Cariad2017 x

I just read back properly @lucieloos. The ages I did fresh ivf were 34, 37, 39.

Really sorry to hear your news twinkle. No advice really as I guess it depends on how you’re feeling - but from your posts it doesn’t sound like you’re ready to give up yet. So perhaps looking into reprofit would be a good idea.

cariad sorry to hear you’ve made it to ivf. I’ve been with the lister and found them very good. Although would caution that you are your best advocate - I have found that because I’ve been really on top of all my options they’ve been responsive to that, whereas I wonder if I’d been more passive if that would be the case. Keeping a separate consultant for mfi sounds like a good plan. But I’ve been really impressed with the clinic.

lucie wow you’re so disciplined not finding out the sex! I just wanted to know EVERYTHING as soon as possible

Thanks @Snowdayfet. I guess I'm asking, judging by my history, is it worth continuing or are we throwing good money after bad?

Twinkle, it doesn't sound like you're ready to give up. I think I would try one or two more rounds at reprofit and see where you're at after that. If you are doing pgs then you will only need to go out for egg collection and the the embryos will be frozen at blast stage so if you wanted the absolute minimum time out there you could get away with one night (the night before egg collection) but the would mean travelling home after egg collection. I've done it a couple of times but it's not for everyone so you could do 2 nights. Obviously your dh needs to go to leave a sample as well but you could do that at any point before treatment and have it frozen. The clinic isn't in Prague it's in a small town called Brno which is about 90mins from Prague.

Snow, I think I would have been more open to finding out the sex with our first but dh really wanted a surprise so I went along with it but I was so glad that I did as it was amazing finding out after giving birth. I've got no desire to find out before then this time. I think everything else is so controlled in the ivf process with various test results etc it's the one little thing that we can have to ourselves.

Has the spotting stopped Snow? Good that you're getting another scan for your sanity at least!

So sorry about your news Twinkle.

I hope you get your results soon Lucie.

Good luck Cariad! When is your appointment?

Still counting down the days over here..

Thank you Snow. That’s very reassuring to hear about the Lister. I’d better get swotting up in advance.

Genghis - DH has another appointment with the MFI specialist to check whether a course of antibiotics has improved his DNA fragmentation on 22 June. Our next appointment at the Lister is 27 June, but it will be very close to day 21 of this cycle (which is when I’ll need to start down regging) so it may be that we’ll end up cycling in August rather than July, but we’ll see.

twinkle I would definitely do the PGS testing as that enables you to be sure that your embies are normal. I might also be tempted to look into recurrent miscarriage given your chemical last time just to check everything is ok with your lining etc. You’re already on all the treatment for immunes so no further investigation required there.

Out of interest why did the clinic transfer 3 on your last ivf? That is unusual if you’re not even yet 40.

genghis yes it’s stopped for now. Fingers crossed that’s it!

Thanks everyone, really appreciate you taking the time to answer!!

@Snowdayfet - they transferred 2 good and 1 not so good to increase my chances. They transfer 3 if you're 39 and 4 if you're over 40! Do you think I should've gone for SET?

to everyone x

My lining scan for this round was perfect, triple thick or whatever it's called! Just don't understand why they are all failing. It's so hard - 5 embryos and no baby?!?!?! That doesn't usually happen does it?

I think it's probably down to age twinkle. As we get older the more likely it is that there's something wrong with the embryos which stops them from implanting or causes them to miscarry. I think that's why the pgs testing will be good for you so you can see if that's the case. I've always been a fan of SET as technically the odds of success are higher overall transferring them one at a time than all together but I know it's difficult when you're having treatment abroad.

So I could have PGS and that still means it wouldn't work? 😢

Well there's a chance as both snow and I had chemicals with our first pgs tested embryos but the odds for success are much higher especially if you manage to get more than 1 normal embryo. I think it was around 80% success rate then.

Thank you, @lucieloos, thank you so much for your help! X

Not very helpful @Mountainsoutofmolehills.