IVF / ICSI AUGUST 2025

[VioIetMoon]

I thought I would create an August support thread for anyone that may need it ❤

@hopeanddreams ah that is so fustrating my lovely. I have a high left ovary and during my first ivf cycle they couldn't even see my ovary properly and it was so uncomfortable during the scanning process. My left didnt really respond that cycle and I only had 1 follicle on it so it wasn't a big loss.
This time around my right didn't respond but I had lots of follicles. I had well over 30 follicles between the 2 ovaries but we only we got 3 eggs and 2 of those fertilised and made it to blast. I didn't think we had any chance of getting blasts with 2 eggs but we did so try and stay positive for your 1.
Sorry if I've forgotten, but are you doing this with your partner? I'm assuming if so, his semen analysis came back fine? Was it standard ivf your did?

@YellowTack I'd be content with one more child. I've always wanted two children. I'm very blessed we have our son from our previous ivf, and I sometimes feel very guilty for wanting another when there as so many women struggling for their first but I do worry about him being an only child. Im not exactly young , i might not be around by the time hes my age and he won't have any other support system in terms of siblings or cousins. We'd love to expand our family but I think one more round would be the limit, financially.
My partner would love a house full of children but he said he feels guilty spending so much money when that's money we could use towards giving our son a better life. And especially now considering that weve had to freeze these embryos. If we transferred them separately, the FET fee is 4k for both, not including meds. I'd like to hope one would work, but if it didn't it's then the fact we'd have to finance another round of ivf. I'm thinking, would it just make more sense to do one more round now in the hope of collecting a few more embryos 🤞 and freeze them. That way ,we wouldn't have the pressure of the ticking clock and declining quality and we'd have aslong as we need financially to save and go through the FETS over the next few years. I dread the thought of going through it all again. I can handle the physical side of things, injections ect it's the mental impact that affects me.
Weve got this appointment next month at another clinic so I'm going to discuss if with them and get their opinion. I'm sure they'll urge me to process with a collection as having an FET at another clinic wouldn't be profitable for them would it.

Oh @VioIetMoon it's so difficult and unfair isn't it? The thought that other people get to do this for free and without the meds and mental torture and physical stress is crazy. I'm at the point where I think conceiving naturally is a scam. I just can't imagine anyone just getting pregnant they must be lying to us or we're all doing it wrong 😖 😂 We have only done one round so far and weren't eligible on the NHS so straight to private but once someone has a child of course you think the money could be spent on them instead. I mentally wrote the money for this cycle off, basically pretending it never existed and telling myself I might get nothing in return but knowing we wanted to at least try. It's so hard though. Have a think between now and your appointment with the other clinic and just mull it all over but I do understand wanting to stop the clock by banking embryos and then you have time to transfer and save up in between if needed. I also think going through the mental stress of another full round would be easier knowing you have 2 (or 1 if you do it after the next transfer if it was, hopefully not, unsuccessful) in the freezer, rather than transferring both and then doing another round and thinking if this doesn't work it's over immediately. Obviously hopefully if you transfer the two existing ones you won't need to do another full round but there is just no way of knowing. I'm so glad you have your son!

@hopeanddreams so sorry to hear that, I will cross my fingers for your little embryo, it’s already a fighter!

@Waitingforday6 I also think conceiving naturally is a scam at this point. How can people just decide to try and a month later be pregnant? That sounds too easy 😅.
We still try naturally in between IVF cycles but without much hope, but it’s crazy to think that this is actually the normal way of having babies!

@VioIetMoon I completely understand, I also ideally would like 2 children. The price of FETs are unacceptable, honestly it’s such a simple procedure! It’s so difficult to make these financial decisions, honestly I have stopped counting how much this is costing us because it is depressing. We could have used this money for a house deposit, or for a couple of amazing holidays, but here we are. It’s just so unfair, I feel like there should be more financial support for IVF, because in the end infertility is a disease that should be treated.

Thanks everyone, trying our hardest to stay positive.

@VioIetMoon it’s so helpful to hear everyone’s experience, definitely helps to ground me when things don’t seem to be going our way. Yes doing this with my husband, his analysis all came back fine and it’s positive we have one egg fertilised as it shows we can do it if you get me. Fingers crossed this little one is a fighter. Because we had so few the embryologist suggested we do ICSI for all

Ladies I am so proud of myself, I went to my bookclub tonight and one of the ladies announced her pregnancy, I didn’t even cry!
This is after I cried at least 3 times today for random stuff, I am so emotional it’s annoying, but I managed to contain myself this time!

Ah @yellowtack I am proud of you! It's so hard! Maybe I have been in the infertility space for too long but I always think 'don't you know you aren't supposed to announce your pregnancy face to face???' There was one day last autumn where I text my mum saying 'I feel like I'm in four weddings and a funeral' (the fact I know that movie means I am overdue a first child based on my age 🤣) Over the space of 24 hours 3 pregnancies were announced and one person started their period...you can guess who. And they have all had their babies since and I'm still over here busy working on number 0.

@Waitingforday6 I think people who haven’t experienced infertility seriously have no clue how hard it is for the rest of us!
I had friends specifically wait for an in-person meet-up to share their pregnancy news, I understand wanting to do it in person with family or very close friends but otherwise I 100% prefer receiving a text message! At least that way I don’t have to fake my reaction and I can digest the news before I see them in person.
Infertility feels very lonely, that’s why I find these forums so helpful!

So my 2WW is over and I tested last night BFN, tested this morning on OTD and have a half blue line on my clearblue test, I dont have any more tests to hand atm so will try again on the weekend but anyone have any experience with ClearBlue doing this? Also Im not sure when the line appeared as after the 3 minutes I checked and it was negative so I walked away from it, came back after a hour and saw the line.

@Hopeful786 unfortunately I haven't experienced this particular situation but I'm keeping my fingers crossed! If you are unsure you can get a bloodtest privately to show you the actual beta hcg number. My clinic does a bloodtest (I haven't had a transfer yet) but if not I probably would do that as I just can't imagine the home tests ever being positive 😂 really hope it's the start of a line for you!!

@Hopeful786
They always say don't read the result after a certain timeframe has past. I think about 10 minutes. Sometimes lines can appear, they call them evaps. It's due to the urine drying .
Even in positive tests, it's why the become darker after a while aswell.
Could you try another brand of test?

@Hopeful786 sorry to hear that, have you tested again today? Maybe try a different brand- I’ve always seen people stay to steer clear of blue dye tests (which I think clear blue are?) because of indents and evaporation lines etc and to stick to pink dye ones like Easy@Home or First Response.

Definitely feeling a hormone crash today after nearly a week of no stims and it being Day 5 after egg collection. Got a banging headache and feel like my sinuses hurt! Hoping it means my withdrawal bleed is on the way- I have had some constant mini cramps at night also but not too painful, I expect just my ovaries being like “why are these follicles empty already and have been brutally poked??” 😅

Well we are 5dp5dt and I decided testing would be a great idea this morning because I love to disappoint myself😂 I really was not expecting anything but there is a definite faint line there!
I’m feeling a very odd mix of emotions, I’m obviously very happy there is something there but do not want to get my hopes up too much because it is still very early, but fingers crossed this is the start of something!🤞🏼

Hope you’re all doing okay and things are going good for you all x

Great (early) news @Chlo1995 ! Fingers crossed for a decent line progression for you over the coming days x

Keeping my fingers so crossed @Chlo1995!!! Do you have a diagnosis (no need to share of course)? We are unexplained and I have never seen even the faintest of lines which is why I said above I would do a blood test if our clinic didnt't do one because I just can't imagine a second line ever. Just like I can't imagine people getting pregnant naturally. 😂 We saw some friends the other day and their faintest of faint lines was making us pretend tea in their toy kitchen 😆🤞 ❤️

Just had my Day 5 update from the clinic and we have 4 blasts to freeze 🥹 they said they are watching 3 more overnight in case there are any stragglers.

Obviously 4 is great and I’m so grateful to have some but am very hung up on the grading as they seem fairly low (despite the clinic saying they are good quality?). We’ve got a 4AB, 2x 3CB, and a 4CB. The latter 2 are my concerns but equally I know grading doesn’t mean too much and lower graded blasts can still equal a baby… just feeling a bit meh and out of sorts (I think I’m on a hormone dump for sure haha)

@Georgiaivf hang in there!! The big day 5 🤞 my husband was next to me and I pointed at your username and went 'that's my buddy' 😀 the number of times I told myself 'you are on a hormonal comedown' over the last few weeks 😂 I think it's only just all catching up with me now plus ovaries and hormones attempting to get back to normal. Hopefully your post-EC bleed is near and not too intense and then you can start looking ahead at potential dates in the autumn

@Georgiaivf ah crossposted. Fingers crossed for the three stragglers, we had two stragglers frozen on day 6 so that can definitely happen! 4 in the freezer is great! I haven't read the full report and grading for ours because I know they don't freeze anything that can't become a baby. Every embryo is a fairly equal chance from how I understand it. Maybe listen to Emma the Embryologist. Every clinic and every embryologist grades differently but you hear of loads of transfers where the last one works (which would be the lowest grade) so it really doesn't mean much. Well done on having your freezer gang!!! ❤️ but it's normal to struggle with the drop off!

@Waitingforday6 haha bless your husband, it is so nice having people on similar timelines to you for sure! Lol I was expecting it but didn’t think it would impact me being overly emotional at the grading of the blasts lol. Think it was the relief of knowing we got freezable blasts but then my brain moved onto the next anxiety

Yeah a few more to add to the freezer would be great but if not myself and my husband said our minimum we wanted was 3 and if we were lucky, we’d get 5 so we’ll see!

Definitely reading posts on here and Facebook about success stories with lower graded embryos (or blasts?? Idk what they are at this stage haha) is helping to try and curb my negativity into optimism. Will give Emma the Embryologist a go!

@Georgiaivf Amen to your brain quickly moving on to the next anxiety. Throughout all of this I kept saying 'I'll relax after the next scan' or 'I'll feel better once the EC is done and we know the number of eggs' (I was up all night after EC googling mature to immature egg ratios 🤣) it's never-ending and if we are lucky enough to get pregnant it's not going to stop either 🙆‍♀️ I always call them embryos but they can definitely be called blasts. Or Frosties. Or Ice Babies. 😁 Definitely check out Emma the Embryologist. I haven't listened to it yet but she has a podcast called Hatching a Plan and the first episode is on embryo grades. I imagine it will make you feel better!! And I have loads of podcast recommendations if others enjoy listening to them as much as I do, Big Fat Negative, IVF BFF, Infertile AF. Am I Ovary Acting is supposed to be good but I haven't tried it yet.

@Georgiaivf and also I think we had a similar AMH and our doctor predicted 2-5 embryos so you've definitely done a great job there!

@Waitingforday6 completely agree, I actually don’t think I’ll rest until I have a live baby in my arms, can’t even imagine the anxiety that will be if we get to the pregnancy stage and it continues on as it should! We had a miscarriage last year at approx 5w3days so logic would tell me if we get further than this stage I should relax but I know I’m going to be a mess throughout lol, no matter what stage. My algorithm is also awful atm for very sad outcomes for people which adds to the anxiety- I’ve tried blocking keywords but they still seep through.

haha I like ice babies 👶🏻🧊

Ah that’s interesting re your drs predictions! I don’t recall ever being told an estimate for us, I’ve just based it on the average amount I see online which I’m pleased I did, otherwise had I not I might’ve thought all 21 eggs would become blasts lol.

My post EC bleed has also just started so I guess that explains all the crying in the last hour or so lol! IVF comes with some very cruel timings haha

I'm sorry about your miscarriage @Georgiaivf 😞 I haven't had any losses but I know I would be very anxious throughout as well if we are lucky enough to get to that stage. The algorithms are the worst. I keep hiding stuff or clicking not interested as well to sway them and it just comes back stronger. Although I equally get the 'expecting baby number 3 and it just gets better and better' or 'our little surprise' or 'our first wedding anniversary with our 3 month old'. Come onnnnnn!!!!!! 😫

Hope you get through the bleed ok and then are back on track for transfer prep!!

Sending everyone a hug particularly those that are having a hard day!

@Waitingforday6 that drives me f ing mental! I can't open social media without seeing bump videos or someone announcing their 5th baby is on the way or showing us a pregnancy test while holding their 3 month old. They all make it seem to easy to get pregnant.
Everyone has the right to document their happy moments but the platforms fail to allow people to filter these out and it's extremely insensitive to women struggling.