Handhold - ivf low follicles

[CreamLampshade]

Hi there

looking for a bit of reassurance. I’m 39, soon to be 40, and 10 days into stims (gonal-f 300). Went to clinic for scan today and there are 11 follicles even tho I started with 15 which was disappointing. And only 2-3 are big - loads of the others are really small. They have asked me to go in for another scan on Monday but she said to expect maybe 6-7 to be big enough at collection, which maybe means around 4-5 eggs? I know it only takes one but im very worried about numbers given my age and also this is my only chance on the nhs so feel I need to get it right.

any success stories with similar situations? And also tips for getting them bigger? Should i be resting or getting steps? I usually try and do 8.5k a day but have stopped the last few as I’m tired. Worrying that’s affecting things.

ivf is tiring!

I always had loads of protein and hot water bottles! I had a very load AFC and a low AMH, so was never going to get a lot, but I really believe the extra protein made the difference enough to stop my cycles being cancelled!

No tips for encouraging follicle stimulation, but I am a good case study for quality over quantity ☺️ I had 3x rounds of egg collection with mild ivf and got between 3-5 eggs each round. Ended up with 7 embryos of varying quality and got pregnant with both my embryo transfers. First produced my DD and second is currently cooking in my tummy as I'm 12 weeks pregnant!

So the 'it only takes one' chat is not just chat. Wishing you lots of luck xx

It really is quality over quantity. My youngest is almost 8 now but the cycle that resulted in her was almost cancelled due to a poor response. I was on the highest dose and basically only one follicle kept growing - it’s likely that was the one which would have grown in the natural cycle (I didn’t suppress that cycle). I had 4 eggs in the end - only 2 developed into embryos - one bad quality - so I had written it off (they did try to persuade me to cancel early on but I couldn’t be bothered to start over - I wouldn’t have tried again if I had, so I had nothing to lose).
Anyway, it worked. My first daughter who is 13 is also an ICSI FET baby and those odds were behind me too. I’ve been very lucky.

I had my egg collection when I was one month away from my 41st birthday. First round of ivf. Collected 5 eggs, only 2 of those eggs were mature. Both fertilised, both transferred on day 5.
Resulted in pregnancy (1 baby) and my baby is now 11 months old.
I was also very worried while waiting to see how many eggs were collected and couldn’t believe I would get pregnant with only 2 embryos. I had written myself off before the embryos were put back in.
It really does just take one good one 🙂
Best of luck x

Thanks everyone. This is reassuring xx I keep thinking there’s something I should be doing to keep on track but I guess I’m putting too much pressure on myself. @SquashPenguin do you know how much protein you’d have a day?

OP - you may be better asking Mumsnet to move your post to the fertility board where you'll likely get more response

Both my kids are from 5 follicle cycles.

Oh this sounds just like me, don't be disheartened at the end of the day you only need one viable egg! My first and only round we only collected 3 eggs and from them I now have 5 year old twins. I was 41 at the time, told our chances of success were minimal and gave birth at 42, it's entirely possible hon, good luck xx

Thank you.. I thought it had posted it in fertility! How do I ask them?

Report your own opening post and ask for it to be moved. I have also done that for you but coming from yourself might make @MNHQ notice more 🤞

My daughter is 8 now but she is the result of only 7 follicles responding, 5-6 eggs collected and only two developing. We returned both but neither were of particularly great quality. We were offered to abandon the cycle. All is not lost. Crossing everything for you!

I needed this post today! I also had a day 10 scan and only have 4 follicles showing (my baseline showed 8). One lead follicle which is 12mm and 3 others which were about 10 or 8mm. I’ve cried the whole day and feel like a total failure.

As much as I thought I had prepared myself for it, when it was confirmed out loud I was crushed and totally fell to pieces.

I know I will likely not get any embryos or it’ll get cancelled. But I’m going to hold out hope for Mondays scan too. 🥺

Sorry to hear this! It’s so dispiriting isn’t it. All this build up and worry. Really hoping that it works out okay for you and here if you need to chat!

I’ve actually just posted in ‘Aibu’ as I found a really upsetting thing in my boyfriends search history (completely by accident as he was showing me something on this phone) — feel free to take a look, would value others opinions as I’m feeling heartbreaken and honestly wondering whether to just give up on this ivf.

Just as an update, I got 14 eggs in the end, 10 mature, five embryos. Transfer on Monday hopefully. Me and boyfriend have patched things up too - I think the hormones massively were affecting me and making me over react a bit!

Congratulations @CreamLampshade thats great news (and about working things out with your boyfriend). I literally just had my egg collection - only got 3 eggs but I’m happy with that, knew we’d only get a couple so the extra 1 is good. Slim chances still but I’m happy, fingers crossed the quality is ok.

Aw well done @HopefulllHolly - as they say quality is everything, I am crossing my fingers for you!! Weirdly I won’t find out how many make it to day 5 till Monday which is also the day of my transfer - all seems a bit rushed, especially if there is a chance I ask them to put two in. But getting ahead of myself - will be very happy to have even one good embryo.