Active discussions

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Infertility

Our Infertility Support forum is a space to connect with others in the same position, discuss causes, treatment and IVF, and share infertility stories of hope and success.

Original poster

IVF April 2025

793 replies

waitingforourmiracle · 07/03/2025 11:15

Thought I'd start a thread for anyone starting IVF/ICSI in April! This is going to be round 2 for me, I'm currently waiting for my period to start so I can book my pre-treatment appointment and typical, I'm a week late with no signs of AF! Joys of PCOS and irregular cycles!

Be nice to have some company! 💛

OP posts:
Chickenqueen · 11/04/2025 18:22

Timetotryagain · 11/04/2025 16:40

@Chickenqueen i just realised you said FET next week i thought you said you were starting a new stims which is why i asked about embryo banking haha. Fet makes much more sense haha!

Show quote history

Ah yeah I wish I could have done some embryo banking but I’m an NHS patient so they don’t allow it I think! Starting my prep month next week ☺️ are you NHS?
On the waiting they said it could take 3 weeks for the results but actually it took around 10 working days in the end. Did you to PGT-A testing as well?

lovelivelaugh64 · 11/04/2025 18:22

@Timetotryagain I am in a lot of pain and discomfort so just taking it easy.

Timetotryagain · 11/04/2025 18:28

@Chickenqueen yeah thats like us with are with NHS, i was reading a lot of (americans i think) do embryo banking and they do 3 egg retrievals before testing and transferring but i imagine thats more to do with the fact they have to pay for it all.

Yeah our clinic does the pgt a as a standard too which is cool!

Are you doing a medicated FET?

@lovelivelaugh64 lots of lucozade etc and keep up with the paracetemol today 💜

Laura2345cc · 11/04/2025 18:37

StoriesAboutJanuary · 10/04/2025 08:49

Hi ladies. I’m new to this thread. This is my third cycle; the first two cycles were done to bank embryos. I am currently almost 41 and my clinic is abroad.

I wanted to share my current protocol and experience in case it helps others who are navigating similar decisions, especially those considering alternative or self-directed approaches.

I’m fortunate to have a baby boy from my first transfer. However, my next two transfers were unsuccessful. Although we have one embryo frozen, we decided to do another fresh cycle.

Over the past few months, I’ve done extensive research and designed a protocol that includes both clinic-advised steps and additional treatments I initiated myself. Some of these — like the use of HGH — my clinic didn’t support, but I chose to proceed based on studies and anecdotal evidence I found.

Supplements (Started 2 Months Before Cycle)

• DHEA – 25mg daily
• Vitamin D – 5000 IU daily
• Folic Acid – 5mg daily

Pre-Cycle Prep (1 Month Before)

• 7-day course of vaginal probiotic pessaries
• Full course of metronidazole (in preparation for a possible fresh transfer).

Cycle Timeline

• Day 14 of previous cycle: Started Omnitrope (HGH) 2mg (0.30 mls) daily
• Day 21 of previous cycle: Started Estrogen priming – 2mg tablets twice daily (morning & evening)
• Day 26 of previous cycle: Added Dexamethasone – 0.5mg tablets daily.

Unexpectedly, my period started on CD27, possibly due to the DHEA or estrogen.

Cycle Day 2

• Discontinued Estrogen and DHEA
• Increased Omnitrope to 3mg (0.45 mls) which will continue through Stims and even up until the morning of my trigger. I will basically use up all the HGH I have (a total of 62 mg)
• Started Stims – currently on Pergoveris, which is often recommended for older women
• My clinic is planning a double trigger, which I’m pleased about

I had my Day 2 scan results which showed 13 antral follicles visible, measuring between 5–10 mm. It is still early days, so monitoring how things progress. I am remaining cautiously hopeful as this journey can be very unpredictable.

I know some of the steps I’ve taken involve personal risk and are not my clinic’s standard, but I wanted to share this in case it helps anyone considering similar strategies or protocols. I’ll update as things unfold. I’m also kind of using this a a personal reflection!

I'm happy to answer questions and am also keen to hear from anyone else who’s done something similar!

You really did your research! Impressive how customised it is... to what level!
Thanks for sharing.
I saved your post in my email! I was going to do something similar, having had failed 2 cycles.

Alexm06 · 11/04/2025 20:00

@lovelivelaugh64im sorry you didn’t get the news you were hoping for. But there is still hope! Fingers crossed you get some better news tomorrow

FancyGoose · 11/04/2025 20:32

lovelivelaugh64 · 11/04/2025 18:07

Hi all, I don’t really have much good news to share. At my day 9 scan 21 follicles were seen. At EC today they collected 21 eggs. However only 11 of them were mature. So the other 11 were disregarded. She said from the 11 they’ve tried to fertilise all 11, but half of them or more than half have not responded great and to manage our expectations. She also said that it was extremely difficult to do the ICSI procedure. She is going to give us a call back in the morning to let us know how many have fertilise. I am hopeful for 6-7 but she didn’t sound too promising over the phone which is devastating.

Sorry to hear you've not had the outcome you wanted. Fingers crossed for a really low drop off rate 🙏 the waiting and being too scared to even hope is the worst part of IVF in my opinion so sending lots of best wishes for some good news!!

thehype · 11/04/2025 21:06

Hey before I disappear off this thread I will give an update that we didn’t get any blastocysts on day 6 so back to the start for us.

We are having a review with the consultant next week to hopefully discuss what went wrong and if our chances could be improved if we went for another cycle (we haven’t decided yet as it would mean taking out a loan) so if anyone has any suggestions / previous experience on how to improve our fertilisation rate (21%) and to increase the chances of them continuing to grow from day 3 to day 5 then that would be really appreciated.

Otherwise good luck to you all, thanks for sharing all your experiences and support, and I really do wish you all the best.

Miraclemuma03 · 11/04/2025 21:20

FancyGoose · 11/04/2025 08:29

Hmm I'm no medical expert but that doesn't sound like a legitimate explanation to me. I've never been told that you can't leave too much of a gap or that you need to flush out bad eggs. I would ask to speak to the medical director/whoever runs the clinic and ask for a thorough review. Ours looked at whether there was similar experiences in other couples that day (which could indicate something wrong in the lab), whether other people on the same injections had ever experienced similar (which would indicate the stims protocol is not maturing the eggs enough or damaging the quality), as well as considering whether there was user error from the embryologist. While we didn't get answers, it did reassure me to know it was being taken seriously and the review involved all their senior staff (nurses, embryologists, consultants, medical director) and was explained to us in detail. Sounds like your clinic might be fobbing you off a bit. I also know someone else it happened to, with donor eggs, and their clinic admitted something went wrong and donated some extra eggs for free to her as a result. Obviously not the same situation but proves it can be the fault of the clinic.

Show quote history

There was investigations but no other issues for the 2 other ladies that had eggs collected the same day. He did go in to very long details of what went wrong and it was very much my eggs. Short of it all, i had 2 eggs fall apart when being looked at, 3 were not mature and the 2 that were mature enough for icsi did not fertilise and they did leave them longer then normal incase there was late fertilisation, it was just a bad cycle, the doctor is setting up a new plan and my meds will be increased. we have been through something similar before though we made embryos to put on ice and we had a fresh transfer which ended in miscarriage at 9 weeks, 1 fet didnt stick and the last one didn't survive thaw so I know my eggs are "getting tired" so to speak. But il give it one more round and that will be it for us.

Miraclemuma03 · 11/04/2025 21:23

worldwidetravel2017 · 11/04/2025 09:34

Its so unfair and frustrating how we all ' do IVF ' for ' a chance '

I injected myself today tho - so proud of that - partner nornally does it

Good job, it feels great when you do it yourself for the first time. I felt so proud of myself for doing my trigger shot on my own lol

Miraclemuma03 · 11/04/2025 21:25

@Twofromanotherkind yes so my doctor is making a new plan and he is going to increase my puregon from my understanding.

Miraclemuma03 · 11/04/2025 21:32

@lovelivelaugh64 I'm sorry about your upsetting news with your eggs. I hope by some miracle you have a great fertilisation rate. The wait is a killer for sure.

Miraclemuma03 · 11/04/2025 21:39

thehype · 11/04/2025 21:06

Hey before I disappear off this thread I will give an update that we didn’t get any blastocysts on day 6 so back to the start for us.

We are having a review with the consultant next week to hopefully discuss what went wrong and if our chances could be improved if we went for another cycle (we haven’t decided yet as it would mean taking out a loan) so if anyone has any suggestions / previous experience on how to improve our fertilisation rate (21%) and to increase the chances of them continuing to grow from day 3 to day 5 then that would be really appreciated.

Otherwise good luck to you all, thanks for sharing all your experiences and support, and I really do wish you all the best.

This is devastating, I'm very sorry of this news. It's such a hard journey to be on. Take some time to think about all your options and then decide whether or not you want to go again. No 2 rounds of ivf are the same so you could get a very different outcome next time but of course there are no guarantees.

FancyGoose · 11/04/2025 22:16

Miraclemuma03 · 11/04/2025 21:20

There was investigations but no other issues for the 2 other ladies that had eggs collected the same day. He did go in to very long details of what went wrong and it was very much my eggs. Short of it all, i had 2 eggs fall apart when being looked at, 3 were not mature and the 2 that were mature enough for icsi did not fertilise and they did leave them longer then normal incase there was late fertilisation, it was just a bad cycle, the doctor is setting up a new plan and my meds will be increased. we have been through something similar before though we made embryos to put on ice and we had a fresh transfer which ended in miscarriage at 9 weeks, 1 fet didnt stick and the last one didn't survive thaw so I know my eggs are "getting tired" so to speak. But il give it one more round and that will be it for us.

Show quote history

Ah glad they took it seriously at least although I know it offers no comfort. It's such a blow to go through it all and come out with nothing. Really hope you have a better run of it next time, it's so cruel that we have to go through all this just for the chance of trying to have a baby.

FancyGoose · 11/04/2025 22:29

thehype · 11/04/2025 21:06

Hey before I disappear off this thread I will give an update that we didn’t get any blastocysts on day 6 so back to the start for us.

We are having a review with the consultant next week to hopefully discuss what went wrong and if our chances could be improved if we went for another cycle (we haven’t decided yet as it would mean taking out a loan) so if anyone has any suggestions / previous experience on how to improve our fertilisation rate (21%) and to increase the chances of them continuing to grow from day 3 to day 5 then that would be really appreciated.

Otherwise good luck to you all, thanks for sharing all your experiences and support, and I really do wish you all the best.

So sorry to hear your news. I had total fertilisation failure with my last round (and 20 eggs) so the cycle was all over by the next day - it was devastating. My previous two cycles weren't too great - both times I had only 20% make it to d5 and all resulted in miscarriages or BFNs. I was really naive going into it and thought I'd have a decent handful in the freezer as I swear that's what everyone else seems to have when you hear people talking about it. My medications have been different each time which my new clinic says isn't that helpful as they can't really work out what has or hasn't worked for me. But based on my history, they have decided we will do artificial oocyte activation (with calcium) on 50% of the eggs. The embryologist recommended only on 50% to hedge the bets a little as she said it isn't completely proven and it can cause embryos (or maybe eggs) to damage, so it sounds like it's a bit of a gamble. They've also recommended a mild steroid of dexamethasone which they said can help with ovarian response. Finally, I'm on a different stims protocol with 2 days of gonal f (which I have tried before), and then moving on to pergoveris which I've not had before. My DP also has poor sperm which fluctuates a lot so we have frozen a sample which looked okay as a back up, although we are hoping to get a better one on the day (and he had an embolism a few months ago too). Obviously it is too soon to say whether any of this will make a difference for us as we haven't started yet but I hope that helps when considering the options. Best of luck with deciding what to do next - it's such a tough decision.

lovelivelaugh64 · 12/04/2025 00:05

@FancyGoose I am so sorry to hear this. Did you do ivf with ICSI when failed fertilisation occurred or just ivf?

Chickenqueen · 12/04/2025 07:47

@lovelivelaugh64 Sorry to hear about your experience, it’s so so gutting. Second @FancyGoose on asking about the calcium ionophore, we went from 0 blasts in round one to 3 in round two with the calcium activation. Also started acupuncture and DH took Impyrl. We also did ICSI which seems like my eggs don’t like!

Chickenqueen · 12/04/2025 07:49

Timetotryagain · 11/04/2025 18:28

@Chickenqueen yeah thats like us with are with NHS, i was reading a lot of (americans i think) do embryo banking and they do 3 egg retrievals before testing and transferring but i imagine thats more to do with the fact they have to pay for it all.

Yeah our clinic does the pgt a as a standard too which is cool!

Are you doing a medicated FET?

@lovelivelaugh64 lots of lucozade etc and keep up with the paracetemol today 💜

Yeah I can see the benefit if you had to pay for testing as you can send off a batch at once! Yeah I am doing a medicated FET with LOTS of meds, my clinic loves a drug haha. Can I ask what clinic you are with?

Timetotryagain · 12/04/2025 09:36

@Chickenqueen we are with tfp, you? :) we havent discussed any FET plans yet until the embryo results are back so not sure what their process if whether its natural modified or medicated

@lovelivelaugh64 have you had an update lovely?

lovelivelaugh64 · 12/04/2025 10:22

@Timetotryagain Hi, just had a call from the embryologist. Unfortunately from the 11 mature only 3 fertilised. This isn’t the news I was hoping for, I hoped that a bit more fertilise. However 3 is still good, and it only takes one. I am hoping the 3 that have made it; make it to the end but I know that there will be a few drop off by day 3 & 5, which means there is a possibility that were left with no embryos.

lovelivelaugh64 · 12/04/2025 10:33

@Alexm06 have you got any news on your embryos? 🤞

FancyGoose · 12/04/2025 10:44

Thanks @lovelivelaugh64 Yes ICSI - we've only ever done ICSI as partner's sperm (particularly morphology) isn't great. Sorry to hear your fertilisation rate hasn't been what you'd hoped. Here's hoping those three are strong ones and make it to d5. As you say, it only takes one so don't lose hope just yet. 🙏

Alexm06 · 12/04/2025 10:52

@lovelivelaugh64Yes soo had the transfer this morning with a 4AB and a 3BB was frozen said they will check on the other one tomorrow to see if they can freeze it. Sorry to hear you are disappointed as was I with what I collected and with 3 fertilised but having one transferred and one frozen there is hope for you!!

lovelivelaugh64 · 12/04/2025 11:13

@Alexm06 that’s great news! Hoping it sticks 🤞

Timetotryagain · 12/04/2025 12:08

For those who had egg collection and a freeze all cycle, was your period quite heavy and clotty (tmi sorry!) After?

@lovelivelaugh64 holding hope for those 3 💜 90% of my fertilised eggs made it to blast so hopefully you have s similar rate!

@Alexm06 congratulations on being pupo!

lovelivelaugh64 · 12/04/2025 12:09

@Timetotryagain how many did you have that fertilised and how many made it to blasts?