ICSI at 29

[HopeHopeandmoreHope]

Hello everyone,
Just hoping to hear some success stories from people having IVF at 29 and OH is 31, I'm 28 at the moment but will be 29 by the time we start the process with create, OH has low sperm count so guessing we will have ICSI, I know a lot of people are in the same position with wanting this for so long and I feel like hearing other peoples success really helps me get through this awful TTC journey :( currently waiting to hear back from our chosen clinic to see if we will be accepted for a NHS round, the waiting is an absolute killer.
I'm really struggling with getting my head around the fact we are even in this position, even 2 years later I still can't believe we are struggling when everyone around us seems to get pregnant so easy and without even having to try. I suppose I'm having one of them days today where everything just seems so unfair. Majority of the time my mindset is very much we have to deal with what we've been dealt but every now and again it hits me of how shit this actually is when its all I want, to be mum, to have a family of my own. Sorry for the rant it wasn't my original intention with this post but it helps writing things down and letting it out!
Success stories much appreciated today

I had ICSI but at 34, got 7 eggs and from them 6 great quality embryos, the 2nd of which is my 13 week old son who I'm cradling now :) my husband had super low everything on his count due to a varicocele. Is your husbands low count a known cause?

@Imisscoffee2021 that's amazing! Congratulations! It's not known why his count and morphology is low, to be honest every doctor has tended to just focus on me rather than investigating him further. It's defiantly something we will push though! Has your husband had any procedures to help?

That's crazy they're focusing on you when the sperm parameters aren't good! He tried having it surgically fixed but the surgeon couldn't find the vein, that was a shit day when we felt we were doing something to fix it and paid privately for it not to work.

He worked really hard on life style changes as we were worried about the sperm they did get being dna damaged by being heated up in there so he also (tmi) refreshed things every other day to avoid this. Gave up alcohol, coffee, hot baths and took proxeed too.

@Imisscoffee2021 I'm sorry that didn't work I can't imagine how frustrating that must of been!! Did his life style changes work? Again, our doctors haven't really given much lifestyle advice accept to take zinc which he is doing, he likes a night out at the weekend so I've told them these need to stop or at least cut down!

Its hard to know as we had a dream round so have nothing to compare with, but I read ALOT of threads on here of ppl who had had ivf with varicocele still there and the embryos would slow down or stop after day 3 when the paternal gene would take over. Dna damage is common with his issue because the blood flowing near heats things up and damages sperm so I can only guess ejacuksting e eey other day to keep the supply fresh really helped. Even if it didn't work, if it hadn't worked for us we would have at least done everything we could so wouldn't torture ourselves thinking what if we'd just done this or that.

Ejaculating every other day* ivf clinics have the fella only abstain 24 hrs before providing the sample for that reason, its longer when male factor isn't an issue.

@Imisscoffee2021 I hope our round goes like yours! :) thank you for the information x

No probs! If u hv any questions as you go happy to help :)

@HopeHopeandmoreHope hi, I’m in a similar position to you. Due to start ICSI and I’m 28 which from what I’ve read should give us pretty good chances but from all the threads I’ve read on here it really seems you can never predict what is going to happen until you start!

have you had your treatment yet? Hope it went well for you if you have!

@180monkeys hey! Sorry your in this position too!! I turned 29 at the beginning of December so I'm not worrying about age just yet! I had my initial appointment at the beginning of December where I met the consultants and our patient coordinator and they really made me feel better about everything! I have a consultation tomorrow morning where they will discuss what protocol I will be doing, I'm with create so I think it will be mild IVF/ICSI they will also let me know what medication I'll be taking and we'll be going through consent forms so the ball will really start rolling! It's taken abit long due to Christmas closure but that's okay I'm very much everything happens for a reason! I'll start this cycle which should hopefully be around the 20th but never know with my unpredictable cycle!

What stage are you at x

@HopeHopeandmoreHope oh that’s good you’re getting started soon! The waiting is horrible isn’t it.

We were due to start privately in February but then we unexpected got our first NHS appointment in December and they said we would be able to start with them in April so we have decided to wait on the NHS for the sake of 2 months but I hate the waiting so much the extra 2 months is starting to feel like an age!

i think I will be doing short protocol with the lowest level of drugs to start with, think that’s similar to mild also? There’s so many different terms!

@180monkeys It really is!! We've just been sent our consent forms so we'll get them filled in tonight, exciting but scary!

Yes makes sense to hold on, hopefully you hear before April! I'm not sure to be honest! Sounds similar! I thought I'd done that much research into infertility and IVF that I knew everything but I think I only know the tip of the iceberg!

If you have any questions though up until this point I'll be happy to help as much as I can, I felt like the stage between the hospital and the referral was confusing I just didn't know where we stood! X

@HopeHopeandmoreHope we had already did our consent forms with the private clinic we were going to use, they are thorough and time consuming but it will be good to get them done and out of the way!

we got our first appointment about a month earlier than we were told so would be great if it was the same again but I’m thinking with the Christmas break it probably won’t be. We’ve had all our tests and everything done so just waiting to actually get started now.

yes I feel the same, I’ve did so much research but then read threads on here and there’s still so much new information.

yes that’s great thanks! I’m sure I’ll probably have loads of questions lol. I’m in Northern Ireland so I think it’s maybe different here as I see a lot about people waiting on their funding to be approved and stuff but we never had any of that, we were just told we’re entitled to one fresh and one frozen transfer.

have yous been trying for long if you don’t mind me asking? I feel like there’s new pregnancy announcements every day at this age, it’s so frustrating!

@180monkeys so you'll be a pro of consent forms when you have your NHS cycle! 😆

I'm Manchester and was so lucky our funding was accepted within about 10 days, couldn't believe it! Considering it took over a year to get to that point.

We've been trying for 2 years, due to MFI and polycystic ovaries we are going straight into IVF, my consultant at the hospital said there was no point in trying any sort of ovulation induction or hycosy as he didn't think it would work.

How about you? I know what you mean about the announcements, Christmas just seemed like one after another 😢

@HopeHopeandmoreHope oh that was good it didn’t take too long for yours to get accepted! Some people seem to have real issues with it.

We have been trying for nearly 3 years now due to MFI as well. We probably took longer than we should have to look into it but we just kept thinking oh it will happen soon so we only started tests and investigations in June this year so suppose it has moved pretty quickly for us compared to how long some people wait but just feels like an age! Is create a private clinic that the nhs use also?

@180monkeys I'm in n.ireland too and had treatment at rfc in October.

I did short aswell, yes same as mild.
The process was over quite quickly as you don't need to down regulate with short. You'll just start after a natural period ( possibly induced to sync with their planned timeline)

@HopeHopeandmoreHope our icsi round was successful and I'm 38 so there's definitely hope for you

@180monkeys yea I get that, I felt the same! Yes create is private but accepted NHS patients, it just seemed like a better option to us as the NHS hospital closest to me didn't have the best reviews with wait times and admin errors so we were lucky to be accepted.

@MoonIightDreamer congratulations!! I love hearing peoples success stories 😃

@MoonIightDreamer its so great to hear success stories! Congratulations!

did you have a fresh transfer?

@180monkeys yeah I did a fresh.
It was originally planned as a freeze all but in the end they were happy for me to go ahead with a fresh