Anyone having a baby(ies) by assisted fertility?

[BumpyBecs]

Hi, Is there anyone who is having a baby as a result of assisted fertility treatment?

I am 13+4 and first PG. We had 3 failed ICSI and looked at adoption but decided to give having our own baby one more go.

We went to Barcelona in Jan for egg donation by ICSI - and here I am now. Yeah! 7 years later (and purse alot emptier!!)

We are over the moon but has been a long road to get here.

Would love to hear your experiences. x

Hi Bumpy - I'm not having a baby through treatment, but wanted to wish you luck with your pregnancy. It took 4 years for us to get pregnant, having had a previous miscarriage I dithered about whether to go for IVF with an increased risk of miscarriage for ages. Last year we decided we would and I lost weight in preparation for treatment early this year - but got pregnant naturally before I needed it. I think pregnancy is a hugely different experience when you've struggled to get here, I just feel constantly lucky and amazed at how far I've got (27 weeks). Hope everything is going well for you.

Hi! Congratulations on your pregnancy. I have ICSI twins who are 2 and I am currently 10 weeks pregnant from a FET from the same cycle. It feels so amazing after not thinking we would ever get pregnant to being this lucky. Sadly I had a shock natural pregnancy last year that ended in miscarriage so particularly on edge for this pregnancy. I panicked all the way through my twin pregnancy too. When you know how hard it is to get pregnant it makes it all the more worrying.

Hi - thanks. Congratulations to you both as well. I am sure every PG woman worries about everything but when its taken this long it is so hard not to anaylse everything! It also isn't quite so simple to try again and have a bonk if all goes wrong ! Have you found it the same?

Just more used to bad news than good and is taken some getting my head around.

Twinmummy - do you know if this cycle is twins or not - did you have an early reassurance scan?

We are just having one (2 Embryos transfered) and was a little sad when one didn't make it but have a vv hectic job (love it though) and twins would have put a different light on our world! How lovely though to have 2!!

We are just having one, we had two transferred but one didn't make it. It implanted but never grew into anything, it was just an empty sac. Sad it didn't make it but pleased for the other baby. Two sets of twins would be hard work!

I completely understand what you mean about the added worry when pregnant after infertility. I dont think anyone gets it really unless they have been there. I also know how hard it is to deal with good news when you are so used to hearing bad. I actually saw a counsellor with my first pregnancy as I found it very difficult to come to terms with.

Were you on any drugs for the first 12 weeks? I have to take oestrogen and progesterone as I didn't ovulate for this cycle.

Yes, egg donation was easier than ICSI though for me as I didn't have to go through the nasal sprays, notherethesone, injections, constant scans to see if you are ready for the collection etc (the donor did).

I just had 1 large injection mid Dec then HRT patches (oestrogen) five days later and then added progesterone pessaries 2 days before transfer until 12 weeks PG.

All in all the drugs weren't bad - except became allergic to the patches and got welts wherever I put them :( - but who needs extra hormones when you are pregnant!

We have 4 frozen Embryos in Spain- I am worried aboout them surviving the defrost if we decide to do it again. How did it work for you? Also they choose the best ones for this cycle- does it mean the others will not be as strong?

congratulation, i was trying for 6years, and had 1st baby on 2009 but ICSI, this was my first try, he is now 2years, I never thoughi will get pregnant normal again untill last november when i find that i am pregnant i went for 2test and checked by the doctor to make sure I am not emagining , it was real, i am now 24weeks, waiting for my baby in july, very excited.. the best thing that can happen natural.

Our clinic are fantastic they have really good success rates and were very realistic about how it worked with embryo transfers. It sounds like I had a very similar protocol with my frozen cycle that you had with yours fresh one. Oestrogen from the day of my period followed by a scan to check nothing was going on with my ovaries, then they figured out the transfer day in terms if what was best for them and had me doing progesterone from two days before. They said that that protocol was a pretty new one as prior to it they either went with a womans natural cycle or she had to artificially stimulate and ovulate with meds. They said that because they are not dictated to by the timing of ovulation they have a far bigger window to get the transfer done in. I imagine if you had a frozen cycle the protocol would be much the same as you have already had it for the fresh.

In terms of defrosting they said they don't tend to bother putting back any embryos that don't survive completely intact. Mine were all frozen at the 4 cell stage and were grade 1 and grade 2. We had 7. They defrosted two and one went down to 1 cell so it was disguarded. They then defrosted 1 more that survived intact. So we had those both put back. We have 4 left. I would imagine your embryos would have been a good enough grade to freeze which means they have every chance of succeeding as a pregnancy. Our embryologist put our very best two back the first time round but how you would be able to tell the difference between one grade and another must be negligible. I think the difference between a grade 1 and a grade 2 isn't loads and all it is based on is visual appearance. If you have an embryo survive the thaw intact I think it is classed as good as fresh and likely to have every chance of working.

The clinic were very firm on the fact that the chances of a pregnancy working if the embryo lost cells after the thaw were slim and they wouldn't put a patient through the expense and heartache of a transfer that didnt have a chance of working. I believed them and that could be the reason for their high success rates. I think if you thawed your embryos and they did lose lots of cells I would be suspicious if your clinic did want to go ahead with the transfer. What stage were your embryos at when they were frozen?

God that was long! Sorry on my iPhone and can't see when I am rambling!

Hi ladies - great stories.

Am currently 17+4 with baby #1 via IVF. Incredibly lucky that our first cycle was successful. Long story short, came off the pill, periods never came back, PCOS diagnosed, failed clomid cycles, failed letrozole cycle then successful IVF. Had a looooooong stimming phase (3 and a half weeks as either didn't react or over reacted to Puregon) and 2 embryos transferred in December. BFP on 27 Dec!

I had no real issues with IVF, even DH confirms I didn't become a complete nightmare however, once the BFP appeared the 'nightmare' began. I seriously had the longest first trimester. I had several big bleeds that scared the crap out of me, I thought it may be ectopic at one point, worried about growing pains ect....The nice NCT lady summed it up quite nicely for me which is that it is hard for me to trust a natural process that had such and unnatural beginning. I was so scared of miscarriage, it's not like you can just try again the next month.

Any way. Fingers crossed. I am so desperate to meet our bub Have a gender scan on Friday, it will be great to see it again!

Looking to the future we have to frozen embryos, but who knows. Sometimes PCOS gets 'reset' after pregnancy.

Hi ladies, I'm 20wks today with my first, after a second cycle of IUI. I feel like a bit of a junior tho with you all on ICSI and IVF :) I'm pretty glad tho as if we have any trouble with ttc a second, I'll be jumped up the list.
We had almost 4 years of trying before we got this, and I was ready to give up on it all, couldn't handle the rollercoaster of emotions any more.
I have several low-grade issues which all mount up to it being a mountain to climb to get pg- mild PCOS, tube damage and a hormone lack which means I don't surge enough LH to ovulate. Fun fun fun!
I think it's true about the worrying more (altho I'm a right stresshead anyway!) my 20wk scan is next Monday but I've started to feel kicks in the last few days so that's reassuring!
Good luck with all yr pg's :) and I hope all goes well. Please try not to worry (too much) -we've been thru a huge journey to get here, we should enjoy it!

Hi all, this is my first time posting! I am 18 weeks with my first. It was after my first cycle of IVF so feel very lucky. Also have PCOS. We'd had three rounds of IUI beforehand but nothing happened then.

We have ten frozen embryos so should be able to have a whole family based on the cycle we've already had (not planning to have eleven kids though).

We'd been trying for quite a long time so am very happy that it's now happened.

Congratulations everyone.

I have a 22 month old from my first cycle of IVF (lost his twin at beginning of 2nd-tri) & am now 31 wks from our first FET.

Lovely to read others` stories

33 weeks today with ICSI on first go.

My gosh i have worried this pregnancy lol. Seemed too good to be true but alas i finish work today so it must be real lol

Hi ladies, it is SO good to hear your stories. There have been times over the last few years when you genuinely feel no one knows what you are going through and EVERYONE seems to get pregnant straight away.

I was so happy for my friends and family getting pg but at the same time part of you screams inside.

Like alot of you I got diagnosed with prob after prob. I haven't been taking contraceptive for nearly 12 years and after 4 years we finally decided to get help.

I was diagnosed with endrometrosis, pcos (later told I didn't have) and scarring on one of my tubes. Then on top an operation my (then boyfriend - now husband) had caused him to have a low sperm count. Just felt never ending.

With the ICSI the 1st and 3rd had 2 embryos transferred but none good enough for freezing - but 2nd ICSI, the embryos didn't develope and I didn't even get as far as transfer - worst day of my life.

After the 3rd we discussed with our consultant and she said although my egg quaility each time had been suboptimal (poor quality) I had produced embryos so I could keep trying ICSI but at nearly £5k a shot and the total disappointment we decided to look at adoption.

That's another subject but got 6 months into it and all assessments before deciding we would give egg donation a try.

The clinics in Spain (Barcelona - ours was Eugin) are incredible. The facilities they have are out of this world.

Twinmummy - my frozen were at 4 cell stage and it is so good to hear from you how it worked. I haven't really got as far as understanding that process as was concentrating on this one but now it seems (everything crossed) to be going well am already thinking about brother or sister for my bump!

Thanks again ladies - not feeling so alone and different hearing your amazing and heart lifting stories.

Here's to our much loved and much wanted Superbabies!

Keep the stories coming- also sorry for the long message- like you twinmummy - am a nightmare on my IPhone! Xxx