IVF at 40

[Keyu]

Hi ladies, I am 40, and started the first cycle of out IVF over a Week ago. My egg retrieval was today, my stomach is sore.
We got 14 eggs which will be fertilized by ICSI. I know it has to do with egg quality and all, but I am just worried and we hope get done success. We are doing a 3 cycle and transfer after the 3rd cycle. Also decided to do some PGT on a few embryos. What are your thoughts guys? Any advice based on experience?

@Gardenlady543 I don't know yet, I haven't been informed. I wasn't spotting after the egg retrieval, up to yesterday, now I have a full blown period, I don't know if that is normal.

What are you thoughts on PGT? Would you test all your embryos?

@Gardenlady543 thank you so much for all your support.

@Keyu I would test them all if testing any. That's what I did with my embryos and if I go through another fresh cycle I'd do that again. I go through so much in my FETS, I want to make sure I'm at least transferring a euploid embryo. With you having 3 embryos from this cycle, by the time you've done the next 2 you should have a good amount of embryos and selecting the ones with the best chance seems sensible.

Hi keyu, congrats on getting 3. I had quite a few mcs so only wanted a pgs normal put back. I had two embryos one a 5bc and one 5bb and 5bb was normal. 5bc had two major chromosome defects so was a mc waiting to happen which I’m glad I avoided. The other is on ice for now.
If your clinic does next generation testing it’s pretty accurate for pgs with an error rate of 2-4%.
For me personally I wanted to be assured the embryo was as normal as possible to avoid mc for chromosome issues down the line but it’s personal choice.

Hi, I started out on our ivf journey when I was 35. Long story short we did one ICSI cycle and had 8 eggs collected all fertilised and we ended up with 3. Had 1 put back which worked but ended in a missed miscarriage at 12 weeks. We had a Fet which didn’t take I have a very thin lining which has been a massive battle using different drugs etc to try and help it!
In Jan this year we decided to have another fresh round, 5 eggs collected all 5 fertilised, 1 put back and I am currently 33 weeks and I am 40!!
We decided not to have my eggs tested purely because we didn’t have many to go at in the first place! I took a lot of supplements to support the drugs. Wishing you lots of luck xxx

Hi @Lilgemz81 thanks for to sharing I am so happy for you and I hope it happens for me too. That is what I was worried about, if I end up with 3 embryos and all come back testing abnormal, fingers crossed I get some more embryos in subsequent cycles.

@Funtimedreamer @Gardenlady543 I will definitely be testing them. It's one long wait after the other that's the part that gets one down, the not knowing

@Gardenlady543 Thank you for sharing such detailed info about supplements! I will buy the probiotics as I haven't been taking any. I have done a HyCoSy test and honestly I can't think of a more crampy and painful test, but it was useful to have it done. I haven't done the EndomeTRIO tests but were recommended those by one of the clinics. I will definitely look into it!

I completely agree with you; better to spend now than to regret later! We'll all get there!❤️

@Funtimedreamer Congrats on your pregnancy! I will buy ubiquinol and melatonin as well. I know; DHEA seems very promising but I worry about the side effects.

Are you happy with treatment with ARGC? My husband were considering treatment in the Republic of Ireland or in the Czech Republic, but so far initial consultations haven't been great.

Thank you so much for sharing your experience with me!

@Keyu Congratulations on your three embryos! That's amazing news!🌈

Yes thank youI @Gardenlady543 I just ordered some of those supplements you listed, very helpful

@Fabsco thank you, hoping for the best🤞🏽

@IsabelHerna Good luck with your treatment!✨

Hi guys I think I will be starting my injections some time this week. Eeek. Hope everyone is well. And you all having luck with ur ivf journeys so far. I don't know how I feel I think I'm a little still in shock and a wee bit nervous. How many days did people have their injections before egg collection

I had around 18 days cos I didn’t have many folicles grow and they were slow!! On my 1st round I had 12! Good luck on your journey x

@39yearoldwantbaby Hi, good luck with your treatment. I had 12 days of injections before my egg retrieval. I was fine through the treatments, I was worried at first, I just look away when my husband gives the Injections . Though the worrying part for me was the wait. News from the embryologist. Wish you all the best and do let us know how it goes.

I should be starting my second cycle this month.

@39yearoldwantbaby Good luck as you start your treatment this week. I was also very worried about the whole process as I'm completely terrified of needles (the fainting type!) but it wasn't as bad as I thought in the end. My husband also gave me the injections but there was one morning he had to leave very early and come back to give me the injection. I took the courage out of nowhere and administered the injection on myself! He was shocked!

I don't know if your clinic offers you three counselling sessions as part of the treatment but even if they don't, I would highly recommend doing counselling during treatment. Most people would wait until they get to the end to have counselling but you can do it during stims, while you wait for calls from the embryologist, during the TWW, etc.

Good luck with your treatment and know that we'll be here to support you!

Hi guys, hope you are all doing okay. Need some advice. I am to start my next cycle treatment but after my egg retrieval I wasn't spotting till a week after I had full bleed for 2 days then was spotting up to 2 days ago. I had called the clinic at the time as I did not understand if that was my period or if there was a problem and the nurse said it was normal and that was the medication leaving my system. But going back to my original cycle my period should be between the 17th And 19th of this month. So I called the patient consultant who I explained to that I was worried I may not be able to tell the actual start of my period as I was still spotting, she asked a nurse to call me and when the nurse called she said the full bleed was my period, there was all this confusion as I was passed on from one nurse to the other.

And the last one explained that the treatment would have messed up my original cycle so they usually advise that patients skip the next cycle and give their body time to adjust, but no one had told me this, I am just worried about this misinformation and worried about competence. My medication arrived today for the second cycle treatment so it is up to me to skip this cycle and start treatment on my next cycle. All in all I worry about getting older as that is the major factor for me.

My question is it wise that you skip a cycle, the nurses seemed confused or is it okay to start treatment on my next cycle? Just confused and sorry about the rant and sorry for all the typos.

I think it's very good news that you've got these results in your 1st try.
As for the testing, if you really feel so negative about them, i think its your choice in the end. Good luck with your journey

@dutchessmom thanks, will decide at the end of all cycles though.

Started 2nd Cycle today, fingers crossed.

My husband and I opted for egg donation to give us the best possible chance having a successful pregnancy. We thought it would minimise the chance of emotional pain as well as complications (I’m 42 so the chances of IVF working are low.) Unfortunately, our first round of egg donation was disappointing. We had 10 eggs, 7 fertilised but only one made it to day five so none were frozen. We were expecting more especially as the donor was in her early 20s. I achieved a positive pregnancy test (urine and blood) but the same afternoon I had started spotting and a scan 2 weeks later showed no pregnancy so I had an early miscarriage. My husband and I can’t help but feel that the blastocyst transferred was of a poor quality as it was the only one that made it. I would say that it is personal choice if you opt to try egg donation, but there are still no guarantees about the quality of the eggs.

@Lilgemz81 Congrats on your pregnancy!

Can I ask what supplements you took?

I am due to start IVF in jan and will turn 40 in April so nice to hear some good news stories! (Given up looking at stats as they are all so depressing!)

Thanks

@Hopeful199 thank you, I now have a 6 week old little boy! Miracles do happen!!

I took coq10 get the highest dose you can find! Vitamin e & vit d.
I had thin lining issues so tried l’argine too but not sure that did anything!
My egg supply was really low too, on my 2nd egg collection they thought I had 3 follicles but we got 5 eggs. One is still in the freezer and one is my little boy!
Wishing you all the luck in the world don’t give up xx

@Lilgemz81 thank you!

Yes, trying to stay hopeful. It’s just so much waiting isn’t it and that sends my brain into overdrive!!?? Who ever knew it would be so hard to make a baby?!?!

@Hopeful199 wish you all the best starting your journey. It's a good thing you are taking the supplements too, I started supplements 3 months before I started my cycles. I haven't had any success yet, not actually had a transfer, my first transfer will be this week, egg collection was today. So I wish us all the best❤️

Everything is crossed for you @Justhopeful

How did you find the injections etc…. Was it manageable? Trying to gather as many hints and tips as possible!