Success stories of 1st time IVF

[organicapricot]

Hello all. Posting on this board rather than infertility as looking for bfp stories.

Today my DP and I had our first appointment at the fertility clinic. We are going straight for IVF due to male factor infertility. I'm feeling so disheartened though as we were told our chances were 35%. We get one cycle on the nhs. I'm pinning all our hopes on this one go.

Can anyone share their story if they got a bfp on the first try?

Hi there, I’m very, very lucky to be nearly 20 weeks after first ivf was successful.

We were also quoted a success rate per cycle and ours was 40%. At the time I thought, “not bad, but it’s never gonna work first time with those odds.” I work in data analysis so I’m a real stats nerd and I became obsessed with odds and probability at each stage of the ivf process. My number one advice would be to try not to consider probability. There are so many factors involved with ivf that your individual circumstances can never be reflected accurately with percentages. Try not to think about it, even though it’s hard.

We also have friends that have been successful on the first go, too, so it can and does happen!

I don’t know if any of this contributed to our success, but I really threw myself into it and did anything possible to try and help it to work. Regular acupuncture, bought premium vitamins, ate avocados every day and also dh and I stopped drinking a month before egg collection. Doing all of this stuff was exhausting, but in a way it helped me psychologically because it made me feel more in control. As though I was still able to influence the outcome in some way.

If it’s male factor, have they suggested icsi?

I was lucky enough to get pregnant on my first round of IVF. Basically my tubes were knackered so the IVF enabled the sperm and egg to meet and end up in the right place to develop into a healthy pregnancy.
I was 38 years old, very overweight and I found the process to be pretty straightforward. The OHSS at egg collection and in the following days was a bit of a bugger though and knocked me sideways for the first trimester.
Good luck.

The way I would look at this is: 35% means 35 couples out of every 100 are successful first time... now to me that doesn’t sound that rare... I’ve taken gambles on far worse odds than that. I have my fingers crossed for you, but getting worked up over figures is not going to help the process. Stay calm and good luck!

Hi,

We were over successful with our first cycle. 6 embryos, one put back in and is now a 2 year old crazy toddler ... one embryo didn't grow but the other four all made it And put on ice for future use.

We were very lucky, the Dr actually said we were the "one in a million" as all eggs were of top grade.

I had hypnotherapy before doing our cycle and I think it helped massively to keep me in a positive frame of mind.

Good luck and try not to think too much about the statistics. If IVF was such a shot in the dark then NHS wouldn't pay for it at all!! X

Thank you all for your stories and congratulations on your bfp's and DCs now. It's good to hear the good news stories too. They havnt suggested ICSI yet but my DP is having another SA so they might after that I guess. I love avocados so I'll be on with eating them 🥑 it's hard to not focus on the numbers but getting pregnant naturally is a bit of a gamble too and plenty seem to do it so I'll just do what I can and stay positive. Thank you all x

I am now 17 weeks and we had success on our first ivf go. I gave up stress, including seeing people that didn’t help in my life, I was told by the consultant to give up sugar completely as this improves egg quality. I got lots of rest and drunk an awful lot of water. I also gave up booze. I actually didn’t find the ivf it’s self too stressful. I was in a bit of pain the few days after the egg collection but I found the whole ritual of preparing for welcoming my baby a positive one to get my mind into that head space. I’m not normally a positive one but for this I had to be as I was also an nhs patient. Good luck with your go. Xx

I fell pregnant after my first round of icsi. He’s now a strapping 16 year old!
Good luck op

It’s lovely to hear so many great stories here!

Good luck op - we’re rooting for you.

Not me, but my friend got pregnant with twins first time. They’re beautiful 3 year olds now! Best of luck to you OP

I went for IVF but it didn't work, so we decided to go on skiing holiday a couple of weeks after to give us something to look forward to, we planned to do another round of IVF but was going to give it a bit of time first, a couple of months maybe..

When we went skiing and I knew my period was due around the time we were away, typical! But it never came, I didn't think much to it as if had quite a heavy bleed the month before and thought maybe my body was messed up from IVF treatment, after a few more days decided to get a pregnancy test from French pharmacy, like in Bridget Jones! Took some doing but they finally understood us! It was positive! We were in shock because we didn't expect it to happen naturally! We were also scared as we thought maybe it could be ectopic as I have damaged and coiled Fallopian tubes and doc gave us about a 10% chance of falling pregnant!

Nine months later my first son was born, he is now 4.5yrs old! We pretty much decided to start trying again for a sibling and tried for 6m before going for IVF again, decided to do a FET this time as had embryos left over from my first cycle so started down regging with the meds, doc said not to worry if my period didn't come that it can happen when on the meds but when it didn't I did a test to be sure and it was positive! Instantly contacted the clinic who brought me in for bloods which confirmed the pregnancy and had early scans to check everything was ok.

Since my second son I've had another two sons and I'm currently in early stages of another pregnancy, I'm thinking girl this time but we will see, if I have another boy then it will take me up to 5boys plus hubby, totally outnumbered with boys but it doesn't matter!

This is my success story, docs got it so wrong, I was obviously a lot more fertile than they thought! Ivf seem to fix me, cos before I had IVF we had been trying about 18m and nothing!

I’m currently 40+4 with our first round of IVF. We only got two eggs and only one put back in but it stuck and I’m now massive and waiting to meet the baby!

My amh was low (2.4), fsh fluctuated before we were accepted by the nhs so I had regular acupuncture with a fertility acupuncturist (also gave me a space to talk about it all). I tried not to stress about it (easier said than done!) and just embraced it all- tried to eat healthily, drink lots of water and chill (not spending my life on the internet reading about it). I think it helped it was in the summer holidays (I’m a teacher) so was less stressed about work too.
Good luck!!

We're really lucky to have two little girls (now 3 and 1.5) from our first IVF round. I have PCOS and DH had low motility so they did split IVF and ICSI. The oldest is an ICSI baby and the youngest an IVF baby.

I also have two friends who got pregnant first time and had embryos left to freeze. I also have a friend who has two IUI babies from just two attempts.

So lots of good news!

My advice would be not to focus on the statistics. It's just that - a statistic, an average. It doesn't say anything about your individual odds which could be much higher.

Like others have said, focus on doing what's in your control and getting into the best health possible. I had acupuncture and would really recommend it to increase your odds. Look for somebody specialised in fertility though.

Good luck!

Thank you everyone. I've really enjoyed reading these stories. Ruthieruthuk that's awesome bet you were so surprised! x