IVF Under 35

[Capri93]

Hi wanted to have a group for ladies going through IVF where they are aged below 35.

I will do a introduction and hope I could make some ivf buddies that may possible be in a similar boat.

Age: 29
TTC length: 6 years
Relationship length: 9 years
Medical issues: damage from previous D&C
Miscarriages: 6
IVF round: 1
IVF status: 2WW
Eggs collected: 9
Eggs matured: 5
Eggs fertilised: 3
Embryos:3 - 1 (8 cell) and 2 (4cell- disposed)
Transfer: 3 days

Really just want to have a safe space for us ladies where we can ask open questions and find comfort.

Look forward to hopefully meeting some ivf buddies.

Hello!

Age: 31
TTC length: 3 years (but known fertility issues for a long time)
Medical issues: low AMH and damaged tubes
Miscarriages: 0
IVF round: 2
IVF status: 2WW
Eggs collected: 5
Eggs matured: 5
Eggs fertilised: 3
Embryos: 1 - unsure of grading, they just said it wasn't developing properly
Transfer: 5 days

Had the transfer on Wednesday, so currently 4dp5dt, did a FRER this morning as I know other people have got a positive this early, unfortunately it was negative, so feeling pretty rubbish now ☹️. When did you have your transfer?

Sorry to see you've had quite a few miscarriages, has this been looked into?

Hello

Age: 34
TTC length: N/A (vasectomy)
Relationship length: 11 years (married 9)
Medical issues: vasectomy and low AMH
Miscarriages: 0
ICSI round: 1
ICSI status: commencing process (have paid and calling clinic tomorrow to set up appointments
Eggs collected: N/A
Eggs matured: N/A
Eggs fertilised: N/A
Embryos: N/A
Transfer: N/A

I am right at the beginning of the process having found out this week that I have low AMH. We thought we were only dealing with the vasectomy so were considering a reversal but then found out the AMH. Reversals can take 6-12 months for sperm to return and don’t always succeed so often result in ICSI anyway. Decided we didn’t want to take the risk of ICSI being needed in 12-18mo and my AMH being even lower. I am very clueless about the process tbh so hoping the clinic make it clearer tomorrow.

Hi @ButterscotchBabe yeah the MCs were rough, they have looked and looked but can't give a reason. It's truly frustrating but I'm shocked that with IVF you get pessaries... these really could of helped with keeping me sticky and lined during previous pregnancies!

I caved today (6dp3dt) and took a test, I feel I see a faint line butbi think I'm going a little loco as I had to get a flash light out... was notbwirh first pee of day but not too hopeful. Will go again Wednesday and then wait till OTD next Sunday.

This 2ww is absolutely draining and I thought it would be a good idea to try work through the week but time is not going any quicker.

It is still early to test and at this stage my mum said a negative is positive... shows the trigger has left your body so don't face the fear of a sorry not sorry moment as any positive following s negative is a true result.

I will keep fingers crossed and I'm sure we both will be okay, I still don't know why the clinics don't do tests in-house or ultrasounds...

Hey @Hopingforno2in2023 vasectomy reversals is not something I know loads about! But is something I would love to understand more so please share your journey as you go.

IcSI ended up being the method we had to use, we were not told until EC that my OH sperm likes to backstroke...

The process got stressful at times in the beginning but it was for a greater good so got easier with time.

Just remember to ask anything that's a question in your head, this is your body and your choice so they need to ensure you understand the end to end process. It also can get emotionally draining or put strain on a relationship, but don't let IVF beat you, use it as a chance to bond where possible. And it only takes 1!

Wishing you best of luck!

Thank you Capri :)

Have first appointment 27/02 and then will start bloods early March when my new cycle begins.

Have you done another test?

Hi everyone,

I'm in a slightly different boat to you, as in a same-sex marriage, but hope it's alright to join you! Here's my stats:

Age: 32
TTC length: 18 months
Relationship length: 7.5 years
Medical issues: none that I know of - AMH is 13.4 which is not wonderful but fine I think.
IVF round: 1
IVF status: awaiting dates to start (hopefully March)

My wife and I have a 20 month old daughter who my wife carried, we conceived her by artificial insemination at home (aka turkey baster!) and it only took four months. But we started trying with me for a second almost as soon as she was born, I think she was about 8 weeks old at first attempt, and that didn't work. Logistics made it impossible for us to continue that way, so we've moved to a clinic and are now planning IVF hopefully very soon. My clinic have said I can do IVF Lite which is a lower dose of stimulation, so expecting fewer eggs than there might otherwise have been, but hopefully fewer side effects too.

Nervous but excited! @Hopingforno2in2023 Sounds like we might be starting at similar times, I've got an appointment on 23/02 to kick things off. @Capri93 @ButterscotchBabe Wishing you all the best for the 2WW!

Hi @RunningOnHope off course you are welcome! My sister has 3 children in a same sex relationship and they alternated birth twice (so same donar but different egg each time) and adopted the 3rd time to have a full family home of rainbow love!

32 with no issues currently is a dream but I can understand the fear of thr unknown as you will be missing the clarity in why it had not worked sooner, ivf is still like a lottery, it inky takes one but there is hardly no control once the embryo is put back in which is the hardest part!

I am spreading baby dust to you and here to answer any questions you may have!

Also, this 2WW has been dreadfully I did a test in days 7 and 8 (if I counted correctly) and was negative. Decided to just pray and wait it out now.

Once again welcome!!

Yes I did one Tuesday and it was negative, my heart feels empty but I have hope as I've had a few of the more vulgar morbid symptoms and unless the hormones change how AF makes an appearance. This is all new to me so banking on that. How are you?

Hi ladies,

So good to see all of your stories and to connect,

Age: 32
TTC length: 18 months
Relationship length: 4 years
Medical issues: Male factor, we believe down to hair pills
Miscarriages: 0
IVF round: 1
IVF status: 2WW (transfer yesterday)
Eggs collected: 12
Eggs matured: 8
Eggs fertilised: 7
Embryos: 6, we had our 3AA implanted yesterday and do have a number of ABs for back up
Transfer: 5 day

I had egg collection in December as I was showing signs of hyperstimulation (I only did 6 days of stims in the end on a very low dose) as my body went mad producing loads of follicles and my E2 really shot up so they have to ‘coast me’ which meant giving me a 4 day break of medication before egg collection to bring my E2 level back down and this resulted in lower egg number than we originally expected - was very unwell after collection and moved to a freeze all round and ended up having transfer now.

Thinking of you all, and see I have some people in their 2WW, how is everyone deciding when to test? I’m probably going to try on day 5 which is really early but want to try

@Hopingforno2in2023 we are in the boat, my OH had a vasectomy before I met him and we've decided to go straight for ICSI!

Age: 33
TTC length: NA - Vasectomy
Relationship length: 7 years
Medical issues: Vasectomy, PCOS
AMH: clinic - 10.2 / NHS - 14.1 ??
Miscarriages: 0
IVF round: 1 (my first born was IVF with ex husband for 'unexplained infertility')
IVF status: Downreg done, waiting for AF for baseline

My OH had Surgical Sperm Retrieval in Dec which went really well! I finished 5 days of Norethisterone on Monday, just waiting for AF so I book baseline and get started with stims.

Fingers crossed for you capri!

Exciting to have someone at the same stage running. Hope your appointment goes well on the 23rd. I am so impatient for February to go!

Hello fellow vasectomy ICSIer Sj! Interesting that you have had the sperm retrieval already. Our clinic haven’t mentioned a date for it yet and I assumed that it would be done at same time as egg retrieval but perhaps not.

I am so clueless about this process!

@Hopingforno2in2023 so we first called our clinic in October and our timeline went something like this:
10th Oct - AMH bloods and initial scan
27th Oct - Consultation and start consent from approval
21st Nov - Treatment planning appointment and OH virology bloods
13th Dec - Surgical Sperm Retrieval
21st Dec - 2nd treatment planning appointment and my virology bloods
15th Jan - AF arrived almost two weeks late!
2nd - 6th Feb - Down regulation (Norethisterone)

... now waiting for AF, they said around 3-4 days after stopping Norethisterone and I'm on day 3 now.

Every clinic will have different ways of doing things but that's been my journey so far, hopefully it'll help you a little. They do SSR first and freeze it incase they are unable to retrieve sperm for any reason. We were both very nervous on the day as he had his vasectomy almost 10 years ago, but they found plenty using the first (simpler) technique so that was a relief.

Have they given you any indication of timeline yet?

Thanks for the timetable Sj that is very helpful. So glad you got plenty of sperm with the simplest technique. Fingers crossed we do too, DH’s vasectomy was 6.5 years ago so not too long.

so far:

06/02 - treatment payment received and accepted by clinic
08/02 - quick details taking phone call and initial history taking appointment booked
27/02 - history taking appointment
around 08/03 - AMH and FSH bloods
around 23/03 - Day 21 bloods

They have said a scan too but no idea when that will be or when sperm retrieval will be. I assume once the blood results are in they will decide the timeframe.

@Hopingforno2in2023 ah, hopefully it won't take you too long to get going. We had a delay over Christmas because the clinic's lab closed, there was also a delay with our consents because they had to get letters from our GPs but mine took a while.

Why did you choose to go straight to ICSI btw Sj?

@Hopingforno2in2023 just because I had trouble conceiving before, so we didn't want to pay all that money for a reversal when that could fail or I have problems conceiving after, and then have to pay all the money for ICSI afterwards anyway. So we basically decided to cut out the middle man and go straight for ICSI so we have more chance.
OH is also adamant that he only wants one more haha, so he would also want to look into another vasectomy afterwards, so the cons also outweighed the pros.

How about you?

We also only want one and also want the vasectomy to still be in place after as I don’t get on with contraception Sj!

We were weighing up the two options and I did an AMH test to get an idea of my fertility and it came back low so decided not to spend 12-18mo trying with a reversal with the risk of needing ICSI still but with even lower AMH.

@Hopingforno2in2023 ah so pretty much the same as me then. They said my AMH was on the lower side of normal at 10.1 considering I have PCOS so should be more, but I had AMH bloods with the NHS 2 weeks before that and that came back at 14.2 ??? I'm sure it didn't go down that much in 2 weeks 😅

AF is starting to appear slowly, so I'm hoping for a full flow later today or tomorrow, then I can get my baseline booked in and hopefully start with stims.

That isn’t a bad AMH Sj and seems odd that it had changed so much. Mine was 4.99, maybe it will go up when I have it tested by the clinic! I am on CD2 today and desperate for this cycle to be over so I can get started with the tests.

Hi Ladies,

Would love to join you's! A little bit about me..

Age: 32
TCC: 4 years
Relationship length: 7 years
Medical issues: male factor
Miscarriages:0
ICSI: round 2 (1st round unsuccessful last May)
Status: doing down reg

I am due to finish Norethisterone this weekend and should be starting stims next week! @Sj2505 I think are timings are similar! It's so comforting to find others going through this journey! Sending positivity to you all best of luck to those of you already in TWW ✨

Hey @P4P23 welcome ☺️ I'm so sorry to hear your first cycle was not successful!
It's nice that we are almost in sync! How long have you been on Norethisterone? How are you feeling?
I was supposed to be on it for 10days from CD21, but because I got AF two weeks late, they adjusted it so they didn't have to move my dates! So I did 5 days from CD19.
AF is on her way. Started a little last night and there on wiping.. but no full flow yet. I'm assuming tonight or tomorrow 🤞🏼

@Hopingforno2in2023 to be honest, my consultant seemed a bit doom and gloom so maybe he just sees it as a lower AMH 😅
I told him I think I got 12 eggs with my first and his response was "ohhhh you're not looking at those kind of numbers this time" 😆
We've all never longed for periods so much now. Hope time flies for you. Have you got any plans this month? Might help the time to go quicker haha

@Sj2505 Thankyou ☺️
I'm on it for 8 days starting from cd20..and I've been feeling good although I was finding myself getting slightly irritated at stupid things last night so just took myself off to bed early 😂 I am a lot more anxious going into the second cycle I think..suppose it's because I know off the roller coaster of emotions ahead of me at each wait! 😬

Did they give you a higher dose then over the shorter period? Where you feeling ok on it?

You'll never be as glad to see AF, at least the 'show' is here so you know it's close to full flow! When do you start the stims then now it's arriving?

@P4P23 I was the same 😅 irritable one minute and crying the next!
I guess because you were unsuccessful last time there's bound to be some anxiety around it this time round too.
I had to take 3x15mg a day. I read another thread where a woman was on 3 a day but it didn't have the right effect so the next time she had to do 6 a day, so I think my dose was pretty average?

My plan is I have to call on CD1 to book a baseline scan for CD2-3, all being well I start injections that evening ☺️ so I'm hoping to be starting by Tuesday evening. Trust me to get AF over a weekend 🤣
What do your next steps look like?

@Sj2505 it's wild how it changes our emotions! 😂 The last 6 days I've been fine until last night and today..Deffs still irritable and feel like I don't want to be near anybody today..I've even told my DH it's best to stay out of my way 😂😂😳

Yeah it makes sense you where on 15mg for a shorter period! How's flo going now?do you think it's possible you'll be notifying the clinic today or tomorrow is cd1?

My plan is stop Norethisterone on Sunday and If I don't bleed within 3-4 days then I've to contact the clinic but all being well AF shows up and I'm scheduled to start injections on Friday! I don't seem to have to go in for a baseline scan..I've just a provisional scan booked in for what should be after 7 days of injections.

It's lovely to read you've had a successful pregnancy from treatment in the past..Positive stories do ease my mind 👏🏻