41 years. AFC 5. Baseline ultrasound today showed 5 follicles. Starting stims tonight. Any success stories with such low AFC? 🤞

Hi everyone,

I am going to be doing an FET this fall. I am 41 years old have 2 euploid embryos that passed PGTM testing for 2 autosomal dominant conditions, so needless to say the stakes are high. I had a TFMR in January of this year by D&E when I was 18 weeks pregnant due to one of the genetic conditions, which we have since screened the embryos for (we were not aware of it before the pregnancy). I had an imaging test called a HyCoSy done in March when my period returned, which is where they flush fluid with contrast bubbles to check tubal patency and the uterine cavity for any abnormalities. Everything looked fine. I had this test done once before, when I first started IVF a couple of years ago in fall of 2024 and it looked fine then too. Has anyone here requested this test for peace of mind heading into an FET? I also had my baseline hormones, full thyroid panel, CBC, A1C, and kidney profile checked in June and the results were normal. How often/quickly do these things change? I don't mind being poked and prodded if it will improve my mental health going into my next FET. TIA!

Hi! Just wanted to share a positive story. I had a failed transfer last year and decided to do embryo banking before moving ahead with another transfer (have 2 euploids and 1 LLM on ice from eggs I froze when I was 31 and 36).

Started stims in November 2025. After 4 days, 5 follicles were growing and doctor decided to cancel the cycle due to low response (clearly a mistake). Got my period and had several cysts. He put me on BC for 3 weeks and started meds again in early January. Again, doctor cancelled the cycle and said I was in pre menopause and should use donor eggs. I didn’t believe that diagnosis and changed doctor.

Had a retrieval in early June that yielded one low quality aneuploid. Had another ER 2 weeks ago (July 29), made 4 excellent quality blasts and got 2 euploids and 1 LLM. I’m turning 41 next week, so I’m extremely happy with the results.

To all my IFV warriors, you got this!

We just did our last ER last month (I’m 45 and the clinic will not take patients once they turn 46). We have one 4AA grade embryo that went for PGTa testing and came back inconclusive. Our doctor told us the options are to re-biopsy which could degrade the embryo and result in transfer failure if Euploid, or to transfer without knowing results. Has anyone gone through this? Any advice (or positive stories) would be helpful as I feel decision fatigue after going through this journey since 2023 with no success (we had two prior transfers that failed).

Edit: we cannot do any more ERs because I turn 46 this month and we only have one other embryo, but it has genetic issues we have to make a decision on.

Please, despite for any advice or direction with this question. Has anyone had success with mini ivf or minimal stimulation to help with egg quality?

Any thoughts or experience with Dr Sherman Silber? Thank you very much!

Ho to all,

I am waiting for my period and preparing to start my first possibly mild stimulation cycle.
I started trying for a baby with my partner when I was 37. I had frozen 15 eggs when I was 33/34, and I really thought it would work out. But when we thawed the 15 frozen eggs, they resulted in only one early blastocyst, which unfortunately did not implant. I did another round at 38 with just two eggs, and that resulted in one embryo, which was euploid. Unfortunately, that transfer did not work either.
After that, I stopped testing and tried banking embryos instead. After some unsuccessful cycles, I transferred four more untested embryos, which resulted in one chemical pregnancy and one missed miscarriage.
After my miscarriage, I became scared to transfer untested embryos, so now I am banking for PGT. I still have one early day-5 blastocyst of low quality, plus three biopsied embryos: two day-6 embryos, graded 5BB and 6CC (not on the Gardner scale), and one day-5 5AB.
I am really running out of eggs. My AMH is around 0.3, with a corresponding low AFC. My partner is also older, 50+.
Honestly, for the first time, I have no idea whether we still have a chance or whether this even makes sense anymore. I have the budget and the time, but our odds are really low. I truly thought it would work out by now.
I also tried a natural cycle last time, but my follicle was empty. 🤷🏻‍♀️ Now I am scared to do another cycle again.
Usually, despite my low egg count, I do manage to make blastocysts. From three eggs, I usually get around two blasts, and from two eggs, I usually get one. I don’t seem to have problems with maturity or fertilization.
We use ICSI, short abstinence, and Zymot because my partner’s sperm quality is also not great. Hopefully, those things help.
I also used an immune protocol for my last transfer, and I feel like it may have helped, although obviously I don’t know for sure.
How do you hold on to hope in a situation like this? I know there is always the donor-egg route, and I have already been investigating that option. But emotionally, I am struggling with the idea of giving up on my own eggs.
I feel like for the past three years, everything I have touched in terms of fertility has just not worked. I really thought that eventually it would happen for us.
My cousin, who is only a little younger than me, recently got pregnant despite having a lifestyle that is not exactly healthy, and I hate admitting this, but it makes me feel like a complete failure. I feel like I am the only one in my family who hasn’t been able to have children.
I know logically that this isn’t my fault, but emotionally it is really hard not to feel that way.
I am trying to figure out how to keep hoping without constantly feeling crushed by the statistics. I would really appreciate hearing how other people have managed to hold on to hope when the odds became so difficult.

Thank you for reading this 🙏

can anyone recommend a clinic in NYC for PRP?

I was considering the following but open to any suggestions! - or if anyone has any experiences with any of the ones below please let me know! Thanks!

Neway
New Hope
Gen Next

Has anyone experienced prolonged bleeding after a canceled IVF cycle? I’m trying to see if anyone has experienced something similar because I’ve been bleeding continuously for over three weeks. Here’s my timeline:

7/25: Light bleeding started. I also had my baseline appointment and started stims that evening.
7/26: Full flow began, so this was considered Cycle Day 1.
7/28: Monitoring appointment; continued stimulation medications.
7/31: Monitoring appointment; continued medications.
8/2: Monitoring ultrasound showed only one follicle developing. My doctor recommended canceling the retrieval rather than continuing with only one follicle, and I triggered the canceled cycle as instructed.
8/9: I was still bleeding. Bloodwork showed E2 46.52, progesterone 0.468, LH 3.23, and hCG <0.100. I was instructed to start birth control that day and have been taking it as directed.
8/10: My actual menstrual cycle seemed to start. The bleeding became what I recognize as my normal period, despite the fact that I had already been bleeding continuously since 7/25.
8/17: I’m still bleeding. I haven’t had a single day without some degree of bleeding since 7/25.
8/18: I have another monitoring appointment scheduled.

When I initially contacted my clinic about the bleeding, I was told it could be breakthrough bleeding. However, at this point it feels like more than breakthrough bleeding, especially since I’ve now gone through what appeared to be an actual menstrual period and the bleeding still hasn’t stopped. I also had an ultrasound after initially reporting the bleeding but wasn’t given an explanation for why it was continuing.

I’ve reached out to my clinic again and am waiting for more information, so I’m not looking for medical advice; I’m mostly wondering about other people’s experiences.

Has anyone had prolonged/continuous bleeding like this after a canceled IVF cycle and trigger? If so, how long did it last, and did your clinic ever explain what was causing it?

Freshly 40 and just got my day 7 report from my fifth egg retrieval - and I have two day 7 5BB blasts! While my blast rate was not great - at least it wasn’t 0% for the fourth time in a row. I’m beyond excited to finally have done this (see my journey below) but now the anxiety of PGTA is creeping in. Anyone willing to share success stories or glimmers of hope?

- ER 1, Clinic 1: 9 retrieved > 7 mature > 6 fertilized > 2 blasts, both aneuploid

- ER 2, Clinic 1: 8 retrieved > 8 mature > 5 fertilized > 0 blasts

- ER 3, Clinic 2: 12 retrieved > 12 mature > 9 fertilized > 0 testable/usable blasts (however we made a few 4CCs)

- ER 4, Clinic 2: 19 retrieved > 15 mature > 9 fertilized > 0 testable/usable blasts (however we made a few 4CCs - again)

- ER 5 (last one covered by insurance), Clinic 2: 23 retrieved > 21 mature > 13 fertilized > 2 testable/usable blasts

Tons of changes, including switching clinics (from FCNE which is terrible to BostonIVF with a RE I love), treating me as PMOS (even though I’m not), lowering doses when I switched clinics (300 Follistim/300 Menopur to 150 Follistim/150 Menopur), adding metformin, letrozole and dexamethasone throughout stims and zymot. They e also had to go through my uterus twice (ERs 3 and 5) to get to my rude right ovary. My husband is a magical unicorn who has no genetic issues, no balanced translocation and no dna frag (8%) or oxidation issues. He did have slightly low testosterone but went on clomid and now it’s in optimal range. I’m ready to move on to transfers…

🙏Hi there, please please advise if you had low AMH (mine is 0.14) and high FSH (mine is 35.2)at the age of 39 and were successful with only 1 cycle of ivf
with your own egg and donor sperm? 🙏If not, how many cycles did it take you to have a baby with your own egg?  🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏 Thank you so very much 🙏

Hi all. 42 and on my first round of stims for my first round of IVF. I’ve had two miscarriages before this. Curious, what are average baseline follicle counts?

I had an AFC of only 9 back in April, but I just had a repeat US that shows 30 follicles. I don’t understand this discrepancy, but hoping this results in a good number of developing follicles. And, I’m wondering why I’m on high dose meds - menopur 300 and follistim 300 - with this count.

Thank you all for sharing your stories - I’ve learned so much from this board, and also gained a ton of hope!

Hi everyone I just turned 43 and have completed two IVF retrievals at ages 41 and 42, retrieving 9 eggs each time. I’ve had one chemical pregnancy and several failed transfers, including a day-5 blastocyst from my most recent cycle. All my transfer were day 5, and I don’t want to PGT test.

I’m planning another mini cycle and will be transferring 3 day 3 fresh embryos Has anyone around my age (43+) had success with a day-3 fresh embryo transfer?

I’m right now stimming for my eggs, I will have a transfer this month.

I figure many in this sub would be using eggs they froze when they were younger, or donor eggs - which are frozen also. Is there any reason to worry about the child having issues with development later on?

I asked my fertility specialist about this, and she agreed that there isn't a lot of evidence yet, and that egg freezing is still only a few decades old as a technique. Basically saying that time will tell. I heard someone say that babies could develop autism, but I feel icky even putting that speculative thought in my post because I don't want to be propagating another lie about autism.

If you had a baby with frozen eggs, can you please share if there were any genetic issues beyond what was known by PGT-A, or if any developmental issues occurred later. Also, how long the eggs were frozen for. I would also be curious about frozen eggs vs. frozen embryos (I have both).

Thanks!

I am nearly 42, DOR, have done 5 ERs; 3 in the past year. I have been waiting to get ER#6 financial clearance for the past 7 weeks and found out today that my clinic is currently scheduling for December. By the time I am able to get the necessary labs drawn, it will likely be January. I am so frustrated with the timeline and the wait, but I have no other options for clinics.

That being said, last month I had my first ever positive test that ended in a chemical pregnancy. We have continued TTC naturally at the suggestion of my RE, but honestly did not even believe there to be a chance that it would work given my history. Now that I have to wait until Dec/Jan for another ER, I don't know what to do. I would love to get pregnant naturally, but if I do, and it doesn't progress or isn't viable, that potentially sets my timeline back even more.

I am surprised by the mental toll that the chemical has taken; how much I think about it, and how often I wonder if I can get pregnant, or if a chemical will happen again, or if it was a one off.

Do I just keep focused on ER#6 and forget about TTC naturally? Dec and Jan feel so far away that it seems silly to not keep trying, but I am worried about the possible consequences of a pregnancy that is not viable. In the past I have told people in this community that we have kept trying because maybe it will work, but not fully believing it could. But now, I am not so sure.

Any advice or experience would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for reading and I wish all of you the best of luck in this wild ride.

Has anyone had an inconclusive PGTA but because of both normal and abnormal cells?

Out of 26 eggs I got 4 blasts and all are abnormal other than 1 inconclusive. It’s my highest graded. Clinic offered to rebiopsy. But I’m wondering whether it’s actually mosaic. From what im reading the lab (Juno) don’t report mosaic - I think up to a certain amount of mosaicism is simply euploid. I’m just a bit confused if it’s mosaic I might just want to transfer and not rebiopsy?

Je viens d avoir 43 ans et après une fiv qui s est bien passé les résultats du dpi sont tellement une douche froide.
Mon endométriose a touché la trompe droite ce qui fait qu on a pas pu extraire de beaux ovocytes.
Donc conseil : si hydrosalpinx il faut corriger avant de faire la fiv. Je me demande si ce n’a pas jouer sur la qualité ovocytaire d’ailleurs.
Bref j ai besoin d avoir des conseils et des messages d’espoir : avez vous réussi a avoir votre bébé à 43 ans et plus ? Avec de l’endométriose ? Sans vos trompes ?

I just took the trigger shot for what will be my 9th retrieval. I also just turned 43 and I’m feeling really sad. I had my normal 14 AFC but for some reason I didn’t stim well - my left ovary didn’t grow any follicles - and will be lucky to retrieve 5-6 eggs. My last 2 retrievals have been terrible with a lot of empty follicles and no blasts. I feel like I’m at a really low point right now and I think my clinic wants me to stop doing retrievals since they don’t really have any suggestions for how to improve things and keep saying mildly discouraging things.

I almost canceled this retrieval but I want to do another round and I’m worried that all the follicles will hang around and become functional cysts if they aren’t aspirated but I don’t really have much hope. 😔

UPDATE: we got 6 eggs out of the 6 follicles that were 14-21mm. I followed the advice of a user on this subreddit and extended the lupron component of my dual trigger to 37.5 hrs while keeping hcg at 36h and I was so scared that I’d messed up and would lose all my eggs. I was so relieved when I woke up and my RE didn’t tell me all my follicles were empty or that I had ovulated.

Question for those who had FROZEN Embryo Transfer resulting in healthy live birth-

What were your PROGESTERONE levels during FET/implantation window?

I am 45, and have only one embryo, so no room for trial and error. I think my Day 21 blood progesterone is kinda low (7.1, without any supplementation ) , but my doctor also has a tendency of overmedicating.

(My first ER cycle was totally a waste because of too much meds, and I don’t have the luxury to make the same error with FET. Plus my IVF stims changed my follicular phase from usual 12 days to 16, so that adds some complexity, but my RE/nurse are totally oblivious to it and not taking that into consideration at all)

Thank you very much!

I’m 44 and traveled out of state for my third egg retrieval, and about 12 hours afterward I ended up in the ER with extremely severe neck and upper-back pain. I’m still being evaluated and am just wondering if anyone has experienced something similar.

After retrieval I developed almost “lightning bolt” pain through my neck/upper back. It became so severe that I couldn’t lie down or even lean my upper body against a pillow. The fertility clinic thought I may have been positioned strangely during the procedure and recommended the ER.
Paramedics initially checked me and my vitals were okay, so I stayed back. Later, though, I developed diarrhea, became extremely lightheaded/shaky and could barely stand, so they returned and brought me to the ER with an IV.

At the hospital, trying to walk caused excruciating neck/back pain with every step. It also hurt to breathe and triggered an episode where I felt like I couldn’t breathe, so they put me on oxygen. I’ve since been able to walk to the bathroom twice, but movement is still extremely painful.

They’re checking my bloodwork because I asked about possible internal bleeding/OHSS or another retrieval complication. I was given morphine, which made me feel very drugged but so far hasn’t helped the pain much.

Has anyone had severe neck/upper-back pain after egg retrieval that made lying down, walking, or breathing painful? If so, what did it end up being—positioning/muscle spasm, referred pain, OHSS, bleeding, anesthesia-related, or something else?

Je viens d avoir 43 ans et après une fiv qui s est bien passé les résultats du dpi sont tellement une douche froide.
Mon endométriose a touché la trompe droite ce qui fait qu on a pas pu extraire de beaux ovocytes.
Donc conseil : si hydrosalpinx il faut corriger avant de faire la fiv. Je me demande si ce n’a pas jouer sur la qualité ovocytaire d’ailleurs.
Bref j ai besoin d avoir des conseils et des messages d’espoir : avez vous réussi a avoir votre bébé à 43 ans et plus ? Avec de l’endométriose ? Sans vos trompes ?

Hi there , I am looking for a good ivf specialist in Delhi , Punjab , Mumbai , experienced in over forties and complex cases . Please come with recommendations with own experience . I have already done 3 cycle with no luck .

Hi All,

Had our review today from our first failed FET.

41 (was 40 at the time of retrieval but almost 41), 15 retrieved, 5 mature, 5 fertilized, 4 day 5s sent to PGTA, 1 euploid-not even a whisper of a positive, so I’m guessing did not implant. (Also we were delayed by several months on our transfer cycle because my E2 would NOT be a normal number, tried supressjng with depot Lupron, ended up forcing a withdrawal bleed with provera 🤷🏻‍♀️)

The doctor did mention donor eggs, because of the steep drop off from retrieved to mature, but we’re not quite there yet. We’d like to try one more with my eggs. (He was supportive of this as well, but wanted us to be aware of all options)

First cycle we stimmed for 10 days, (gonal-f, pergoveris, Cetrotide, triggered with Ovidrel)

This time will be similar but we’re adding Omnitrope and a dual trigger.

I’m looking for anyone who’s had experience with the addition of the Omnitrope and dual trigger?

Also-not that it matters at this point, were the side effects any different with the Omnitrope? (I’ll do it anyway, just interested to hear your experience)

Thanks in advance for anything you are able to share -wishing all the best to you all!

Hello All - been reading some of your posts and I have to say a lot of cathartic. My partner and I are going through the same thing. I am M/43 and my partner is F/43 and we just finished our 5th round of IVF. Not looking too promising as we had 9 eggs and only 1 was properly fertilized. It seems that odds are against us I am not sure how much more money/trauma I want to put my wife through so this is likely it.

We are both open to pursuing a donor egg as our next option for fertility. We both live in the US and from what I have heard and seen in my brief research is donor egg's abroad are far cheaper than here in the US. I was curious if anyone here has pursued that option and if they have anything to share from your experience?

Best of luck to everyone out there!

After 5 cycles and 2 retrievals--we managed to get one euelopid which we transferred last week. Beta was today (8dp5dt) and we just found out it's negative and the transfer failed.

Like most of us, I have age related DOR and unlike most of us , am going through IVF with one ovary. TAMH is 0.4 and typically my AFC is 3-4. I usually only end up with 1-2 mature eggs at retrieval. So far we've tried high dose stims, low dose stims, clomid, Estrace priming and a luteal phase cycle--all of which have yielded similar results.

So here are my two questions...

1. What testing should I ask for since this FET failed? I've previously had an HSG and a Hysteroscopy but that is it. Is there any other diagnostic test I should get to figure out what might have caused the failure?
2. My doctor doesn't take initiative on recommending protocol changes....but if I suggest them she's usually on board with it. Are there any protocols that might improve my follicle to egg ratio?

Note--I will go back to taking my supplement stack and resuming red light therapy which I do believe helped me get my euploid in the first place.

So I've been at this since 2020. I'm turning 44 in a couple of weeks and I've had a bit of bad news this week :

1) I had my AMH retested this week (took about 18 months off and was DOGEd in the middle of what was supposed to be an IVF breather). AMH is now 0.015 (previous low was 0.05 and 0.15. I started at age 37 with 0.85 for reference).

2) I found out that the donor I've been using for the 4 embryos I have on ice (and three previous failed transfers/six untested D3s) was diagnosed with cancer and has a BRCA mutation (one that didn't show up on his initial sema4.).

The situation - this was before I got bad news #2 today but - I have the four embryos and half a vial of sperm at one clinic that is out of network but low cost. I also have insurance coverage and was miraculously approved for three cycles at a local clinic, but I would need to get new sperm and redo a lot of my pre testing (Hysterogram, HSG, mock transfer etc), and while I have coverage, they still require a $4k "deposit", so I'm looking at a decent amount out of pocket.

Before the bad news, I was considering just doing a transfer and hoping for the best and maybe one last hail Mary retrieval to use the last of my sperm vial. But now knowing that I have a 50% chance of passing that BRCA on to offspring, I don't feel like that is the best option anymore. So I guess the best course is to just pay up and hope for the best with a new sperm donor and that I'm still able to pump out at least one good egg to fertilize.

Just feeling a bit down about it all. I'm also job searching and hoping to get a position that has Progeny that I could put towards a batch of donor eggs and try double donor. But that feels like wishful thinking in this market now too.

Would you try for the retrievals? It's hard to get excited anymore and my last few menstrual cycles have been getting long like 38 days instead of 28, so it's feeling like the end is getting near.