42 and starting IVF treatment tomorrow - would love some company for the journey ☺️

[Sheffters]

Hi ladies, so, as the title reads, I start the injections tomorrow evening. I have an appointment with my clinic (Care) tomorrow morning for the baseline scan and to get the treatment plan. Meds have arrived so we are ready to go! My AMH is 8.3 with follicle count of 14.

I had my son via IVF 11 years ago and was very lucky that it worked first time and on the NHS. This time it's private and costing a fortune. This is the only shot we have at this so we are feeling the pressure for sure.

I fell pregnant last month naturally (first time ever due to PCOS) but that ended in a chemical at 5 weeks. We are opting for PGTA testing and keeping everything crossed for a euploid.

Is anyone else starting this journey?

@SweetPea1984 it is absolutely possible to be successful first round. It can just be psychologically easier to be focused on the long game so that the results of a particular round do not feel like the final story if things go sideways. The simultaneous hope and trepidation is such a difficult limbo to inhabit for a prolonged stretch!

I've seen exceptional quality come from low numbers, so AFC/AMH isn't everything, but your particular ace is numbers. Your clinic's challenge will be to get them to grow as a synchronous cohort so that as many as possible are in the optimal size range by trigger.

Hi @sirensongnice to hear from you, I’ve been hoping you’re doing well.
@SweetPea1984my first round was also a complete bust (though I have nowhere near your numbers, I think I got 6/7 eggs that round, 4 fertilised but none made it to blast), and second round not far behind it, 3 blasts, one failed fresh transfer and 2 non-euploids. Currently weighing up whether we keep going or not, and trying to lose a bit of weight and think about something other than fertility in the meantime!
I do have a 3 year old though, so even if this doesn’t work out, we’ve given it our best shot and we’re very lucky to have him

I have been on another thread. Had my EC today for only 1 follicle- no egg! I am ok with it but not sure where else to go now. I had 2 previous successful icsi fresh transfer babies. One chemical. Tried 2 rounds to freeze all and got no blasts. But this cycle is my worst. So will recharge and see what next - my follow up is 5th October but thats a bit late!

Welcome @SweetPea1984 and good luck for your first round! I'm slightly younger than you, turning 40 this year. To answer your question, it can work first time. I have a 1 year old from our first fresh transfer in 2024. I had just turned 38 at the time. Our numbers weren't looking great, we got 2 embryos on day 5 after collecting 16 eggs. Your AMH and AFC are both higher than mine were but I'd guard your heart and be prepared for a potential big drop off as it can be really disheartening seeing those numbers reduce. The first round is also a bit of a test to see how you respond to the meds etc and things can be tweaked for the next time if needed. We've done another 2 rounds this year and got more embryos frozen but we aren't testing them. We got 3 embryos on our second round and 7 from our third round but some are day 6. They are lower quality grades than our round in 2024.

Welcome also @facevalue I'm so sorry to hear of your egg collection. That must have been so difficult. I hope the follow up comes round quickly for you and you can begin to work out your next steps.

Our OTD for our fresh transfer was today and negative. I've contacted the clinic to let them know, stopped my cyclogest and waiting for the doctor to book us in for follow up. Wanting to go ahead with a FET as soon as we can so hopefully we won't be waiting for too long to be able to discuss our plan.

Oh @Magix86I am so sorry.

Thanks @overwork ❤️ I'm actually OK about it to be honest. I think seeing the negatives from testing early helped with the time to process it. It's not the timeline we would have wanted but I do feel good about going for a FET. We'll see what happens I guess.

Yeah I think I felt the same. By the time I could properly confirm what I already knew I was just desperate to get off the progesterone!

Hey all, would love to join you on this thread. I’m 39 and I’ve started the down regulation phase a week ago. Just waiting for my period to then have a baseline scan and start stims. It’s my first ivf cycle, I got pregnant naturally last year but had a missed miscarriage and no luck since then. We paid upfront for two cycles so we know we have a second chance if this cycle doesn’t work.

Joining this as I'm currently sitting in my little studio apartment in Greece on my own as I gear up for egg collection later this week. I'm 41 and it's my first IVF round (no children the old fashioned way, sadly) and it's a bit daunting to say the least - especially by yourself in a different country! My partner isn't able to get much time off, so he only came over for his bit (ahem) and the rest I'm doing alone.

8 follicles at my ultrasound yesterday. No known issues with either me or my partner. AMH 10, which I was told was above average for my age but seems very low reading some of your experiences! I've always been mentally prepared for the first round to fail, but I always assumed this would be a miscarriage or failed implant rather than simply no embryos... now I'm genuinely worried that from the few eggs I get there may be no usable embryos at all. We are doing PGT-A to reduce miscarriage risk.

We would love more than one baby eventually so I'm thinking I may have to come back for multiple egg collections anyway. I do feel a bit like my life is on hold until we know how it's going to go but really trying not to let the anxiety get to me!!

Welcome @Wiennetta and @poppymango I have stepped away from this thread for the last couple of weeks for a break between egg collection and FET. Hope all goes well for your EC @poppymango and hope stims go ok @Wiennetta. If it helps I dreaded stims but then weirdly enjoyed the process as it felt like I was somewhat in control.

@Magix86im sorry to hear but sounds like you are being strong. We might well be close in FET times. I am curious as to when my period will arrive following the withdrawal bleed after EC.

@overwork how are you feeling with everything?

Hi @Wiennettaand @poppymango. I think 10 IS above average! We’ve already had one success on the thread from a trip to Greece for IVF so let’s hope you are the second. I can imagine that you are very in your head on your own over there, maybe try to keep your mind occupied with something not fertility related if you can.
Thanks @IndigoBluey, do you have an idea when you are going for your FET? And remind me if you don’t mind, you have not PGT-A tested have you?
Thanks for checking in, I am really enjoying not thinking about it at the moment. I think the earliest it will all start again is in 6 weeks so I am focussing on socialising and I’ve started a home training programme which is long overdue for me and I’d love to be a little fitter and weigh a little less come the next round, will be an interesting experiment as to whether the drugs work better! I’m also becoming more accepting of the idea of us being a family of 3 if we don’t get lucky again. Before I felt almost chocked with panic that I was running out of time and had to make it work, but I think the fact that we are throwing everything at it is going to make acceptance easier in the end.

And @SweetPea1984you must be hurtling towards egg collection day soon! Hope you’re finding it all okay so far

Hope everyone is doing OK! Welcome to the thread @poppymango and @Wiennetta
I agree I think an AMH of 10 is pretty decent! Good luck to both of you. Please do keep us posted if you feel able to!

I also feel like life is on hold while going through fertility treatment but also just thinking and trying to plan for the future. @overwork sounds like you've reached a lovely peaceful place where you can focus on you but also be happy and content with what you have 💖

@IndigoBluey I've heard the next period can sometimes be delayed but I'm really hoping it's not too long. Do you have a plan for your FET yet, or are you still waiting for your consultation?

Welcome to all the new folks! Hoping everyone is doing well gearing up for their cycles and especially those on deck for ER's shortly.

@overwork I'm glad you're enjoying the time off and feeling rather balanced about it all. I feel like the entire IVF process puts you into a strange combination of constantly doing something (stims/regulation/retrievals/waiting/etc) and also having to pause living life off schedule if that makes sense. I'm happy to hear you're doing well!

Hi ladies,

I hope you don’t mind me commenting. I’ve read through the whole thread. I’ve found it really helpful reading about the experiences that other people my age are having with IVF so thank you for sharing and I hope that you all get the happiness that you undoubtedly deserve.

I’m currently recovering from surgery for a missed miscarriage. This is my 3rd missed carriage this year. We have been trying for nearly 3 years and have had 7 failed pregnancies. I seem to fall pregnant very easily but the pregnancy fails to progress and I have early miscarriages. I’m now 41 and we are thinking of starting IVF.

We had an initial consultation and tests done earlier this year. We have male factor issues as my partner has a low sperm count and only 0.5% morphology. My AMH was 8.1 and at 41 I feel like we need to move quickly if we are wanting to try IVF.

We will be self funding and using ICSI and would like to PGTA test any embryos due to our miscarriage history.

I just wondered if there was any words of wisdom that you could give me. Is there anything you wish you’d known before you started? Or advice for preparing to begin the IVF journey?

I think accepting that it might not work is essential to protect your heart. At our age, it’s probably not going to be one round, maybe consider doing up to three back to back and banking embryos, especially if you may want a second. As you have said you’ve read the thread you will have seen the attrition rates after collection, don’t be disheartened. Try and eat and sleep well throughout, take it easy and generally look after yourself as you’re going through a lot even if it doesn’t seem like it at the time. We have seen some success on here and lots of good wishes for you to have some too! Oh, and welcome to the thread!

Well… that’s me back from ER. 7 follicles and 6 eggs retrieved. Embryologist was great and said it was a really positive result to get 6 from 7. Sperm all looking great and it’s now a case of waiting for the overnight results and then until Tuesday.

Ah fabulous, congratulations! Now the waiting begins

Call from the clinic - 6/6 mature and fertilised. 🙈

Oh that’sa great start! Are you planning a fresh or frozen transfer I can’t remember?

Frozen transfer with PGTA.

I am really happy with where things are just now. I know there are important hurdles ahead, but today is a good day and I feel hopeful.

That's amazing @SweetPea1984 well done!! Great news

Congrats @SweetPea1984 thats amazing!!

Hey all! Thanks for the nice welcome messages to the thread!
Congrats on your ER results @SweetPea1984 - fingers crossed for the next updates.

I started stims this week, on Ovaleap. Injections have been so much easier than I thought so far. Really no pain at all for the actual injections. Have a scan booked next week so I’ll be anxious to see how things are progressing. Then I think hopefully ER early/mid the following week.

Im doing PGTA too so know it’ll be a long wait if we do get embryos to test, for those results and then the FET. So much waiting!

@Wiennetta glad the stims are going well! Good luck for the scan - keep us posted. The waiting with all this is the worst! But hopefully it will all be worth it 🤞🏻

I had my follow up consultation today. We'll be going ahead with a FET, likely with our 3AB embryo from 2024. Unfortunately the clinic say they can't fit us in in October so we'll have to wait for November which is really annoying! The doctor said that we can add a progesterone level check this time round, which they actually don't do for fresh transfers. She also said we can consider embryo glue as an add on. Just waiting now to do our consent forms again and hear from the nurses about getting us scheduled in. I'll try again and see if they can fit us in for our next cycle but it's not looking hopeful

I hope everyone else is doing well!