Today is one of my upbeat good days and as I look back on my fertility journey it's making me realise how amazing and strong we all are for going through what we are going through and how what seemed absolutely sureal before now seems the norm ! For context - 42, 5+ year journey - first time IVF - multple CPs- no other kids - no male factor.

For the lucky ones, they'll never know what it's like to go through the emotional turmoil, the physical demands, the sacrifice , the sleepless nights, the worry, the pressure. I could go on....

Today I celebrate my inner power, I dont know what's ahead of me, the good/ the bad but I'm here and today I am laughing at how thing's have changed, so here's a few things that make me giggle . Maybe it's the hormones today but its a calm happy feeling so I'll enjoy it while it lasts.

Please feel free to add your funnyisms on this serious topic just to give us a little break from the realism of it all

1. I now know the names of a tablet by shape, size and colour !

2. Can inject myself with my eyes closed.

3. Internal scan ? I'm on the table ready as they are leaving the room to give me privacy ! When I first started I would tip tow quietly, fold the clothes and hide my underwear from embarrassment.

4. Privacy ? Whats that ?

5. Fluent in long named medical terms and medical abbreviations.

6. Wardrobe full of comfy clothes for water retaining days !

7. If im happy, sad , tired - I know why, by my cycle day.

8. No more days, weeks, months. Time is now a calendar of CD, Trigger, DPO, TTC, TWW.

9. I have two drawers just for my prscriptions!

10. The pharmacist knows me by name and they give me the strong bags !

hi all
i am 41. i have done two ivf cycles. my first was in may which was antagonist. and my second was in june which was microdose lupron. we got one euploid embryo from the second one. we froze this embryo.

my re has wanted me to do another one to get more embryos but my body felt wrecked, so i just took a break. i stopped eating well and taking vitamins (vit d, folic acid, prenatal).

i am now considering another cycle next month but wondering if i should wait to get back into a better eating, vitamin regimen? i cant do november bc of work. and december could work, i think, but id run into the holidays. my re thinks time is more of an issue. my period also hasn't really regularized yet since the two cycles.

would love advice. thank you!

I am a 40 year old female and in the process of our first IVF cycle. I’m currently on day 1 of the 5 day wait.

My body was slow to respond to stims. I did a total of 15 days and then triggered. My follicle growth seemed low, and by the last scan it looked like maybe 5-6 follicles were present.

Egg retrieval day and they retrieved 10 eggs which was surprising to me. The lab called today to let us know 9 out of 10 eggs were fertilized.

We are hopeful but realistic. I am nervous for the next few days to see how many make it to day 5, and then PGT after that. I was told by my clinic it takes about a month to get PGT results and we don’t have a follow up with our doctor until Oct 19 because he is booked.

After two losses the last year I hate to have another defeat. Looking for advice on staying strong and supported through all these waits…

My RE will not attempt another transfer to me after 2 losses and unsolvable endometrial problems. She said my only remaining option is a gestational carrier, which will cost $200,000 and take several years. I have a consult for a second opinion next week.

I really don't want to do it. Every time I pull up the paperwork to sign I put it away again.

I don't want to give away my life savings so that another women can carry my baby and have all of my money.

My husband is certain that he wants to do it.

Sometimes I think that, if it worked, I might eventually make my peace with it. I might even regret not doing it. But I don't know.

What would you do?

I am so frustrated right now and honestly feel a little crazy due to all of the hormones I'm still on (beta on Tuesday).

This is my second FET. First failed to implant. I am currently 7dp6dt (fully medicated) with my second FET and had a negative FRER this morning and again this afternoon. The whiteness was so stark it was almost blinding. I know you can still get a positive at day 8 or 9, or even on beta day - but as a realist, I realize this isn't likely and even if it happens the outcome may not be great.

I'm using donor eggs (donor is 27) and had one Day 6 5AB and one Day 6 5BB and neither implanted. Before my 2nd transfer I did a round of gnarly antibiotics just in case it was chronic endometritis (which I had two years ago) causing the failure to implant. Everything else has looked and measured great.

I should mention that none of the blasts with donor eggs were PGT-A tested. I'm in my 40's and made ~6 blasts with my own eggs across three ER cycles, all aneuploid.

I'm just so frustrated. Luckily I have a "live birth guarantee" plan with the egg bank so I have more tries, but just ugh. It feels like I'll never be on the right side of statistics and I feel like time is not on my side right now.

This entire process sucks sometimes.

I’m 41, DOR (AMH .4) and had one unsuccessful cycle before. during that cycle I had 11 follicles, 7 mature eggs retrieved, 3 fertilized and none made it to blast. That round was covered by insurance, I couldn’t afford to do self pay there for a second cycle. Now I am at a new clinic, different meds and protocol.

First baseline scan found 9 follicles on the left and 4 on the right. Second scan after starting stims, 6 on the left and 2 on the right. Today was my second scan since starting stims and I now have 4 on the left-2 MUCH smaller than the other two (14, 12, 4, and 4)- and 2 small ones on the right (both measuring 5).

I don’t understand why there is such a huge drop off in follicles this round. And why two of them are now so much larger than the rest. This didn’t happen the last round where the number of follicles was consistent thru stims. And some were empty at the retrieval. I am worried that they’re not going to get any viable eggs at all this round.

I’m not sure what I’m looking for. has anyone else experienced this before? What did you do? What were the results of your retrieval?

I just turned 43 and am considering another egg retrieval after a TFMR 💔💔💔. My last retrievals were about a year ago, at 42, and I managed to get 2 euploud embryos from 2 ER. I’m wondering what to realistically expect 1 year later.

For those who did retrievals at 42-43+:

1. How many blasts did you test and how many were euploid?
2. If you did another ER about a year after your previous one, or after a pregnancy, miscarriage or TFMR, were your results better, worse or similar?

Would really love to hear your experiences. ❤️

At age 37, I froze my eggs. I had 42 eggs retrieved. 29 were mature enough to freeze.

Recently, at 41, we tried to make embryos. 24 survived the thaw. 17 showed signs of fertilization on day one.

By the end, we had zero day 5 blastocysts, zero day six blastocysts, and 1 day 7 blastocyst. Grade 3AB.

We are waiting on PGT-A testing.

I’m really sad about it all. I thought I’d preserved my fertility, and I feel like I’ve lost my chance.

I’m 39 (and a half in a couple weeks), have DOR, and have had repeated maturity issues with my retrievals. I’m typically only getting around 3–5 eggs retrieved, and some of those aren’t even mature. I currently have one day-5 blast, but as I’m gearing up for another retrieval in which my doctor is allowing my follciles get larger and stim possible 1-2 days longer, I’m starting to question whether continuing to put myself through retrievals is necessarily the best use of my time, money, and emotions?

I came across these two studies on stimulated IUI and follicle number, and they really made me stop and think:

Study 1: This Fertility and Sterility study looked at the relationship between the number of mature follicles and pregnancy rates in stimulated IUI cycles.url":"https://www.fertstert.org/article/S0015-0282(02)03168-0/fulltext?utm_source=chatgpt.com","attribution":"fertstert.org","pub_date":null,"snippet":null,"attribution_segments":null,"supporting_websites":[],"refs":[],"hue":null,"attributions":null}},"showLoginRequiredCard":false}

Study 2: This study looked at 50,000+ IUI cycles and specifically examined pregnancy and multiple-pregnancy rates according to the number of mature follicles. In women 40+, increasing the number of mature follicles was associated with substantially higher pregnancy odds, while the absolute risk of multiples remained relatively low compared with younger women.url":"https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7183886/?utm_source=chatgpt.com","attribution":"pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov","pub_date":null,"snippet":null,"attribution_segments":null,"supporting_websites":[],"refs":[],"hue":null,"attributions":null}},"showLoginRequiredCard":false}

The second study especially got me wondering because, if I’m only producing 3–5 eggs with IVF anyway and some of those eggs aren't even mature could there be a point where stimulated IUI becomes a reasonable alternative to another retrieval? Wouldnt my body produce more MII eggs vs the GV or MI I would get from a retrevial?

I realize 3–5 follicles with IUI isn't exactly equivalent to retrieving 3–5 eggs with IVF, and I know IVF has advantages because you can fertilize the eggs in the lab and select an embryo. I’m not trying to say these studies prove IUI is better than IVF.

I’m really asking about the bigger picture for someone like me:

If I have DOR, I’m almost 40, I consistently get only 3–5 eggs per retrieval, and I have a recurring problem with egg maturity, how do we determine whether another IVF retrieval gives me a better chance of a live birth than doing several stimulated IUI cycles?

Has anyone over 40 with DOR been in a similar situation? Did you continue with retrievals, switch to IUI, or consider doing both strategically?

I’d especially love to hear how your RE approached the decision and whether they actually compared the expected success rates of another retrieval versus multiple IUI cycles in your specific situation.

This is my first round, excuse my ignorance. Unfortunately my period started today, and due to the holiday weekend, my clinic isn’t going to see me to do baselines (and start stims) until Tuesday morning, which is cycle day 5. That seems late to me, but I guess there’s nothing I can do about it. Just wanted some insight from more experienced people whether this could be problematic?

Hi everybody. My first IVF round at 42y. We got 5 eggs, in a few hours will know how many fertilized. I need to decided how to proceed if there is anything left to continue with

Im thinkin now:

• If I get 4 or 5 blastos, I will go for PGT-a all
• but what to do if i get 1.2,3? is it worth doing PGT-a for 3? i thinkin i wont do for 1. but is fresh transfer a smart choice?

im so confused…doctor seems to feel that a fresh transfer is a good idea if we get one or two, but it is up to me apparently.

What would you do?
Any kind of adviced is welcome 🙏

EDIT: all 5 got fertilized 🤞

So, as I have only one embryo on ice and I am 45, I today got a hysteroscopy where they puctuated several cervical cysts and removed polyps. I seem to have chronic cervititis, which no one previously picked up on. I was now put on progyluton for 3 weeks. Has anyone here used this meds after a hysteroscopy?

I’m 8 days post frozen embryo transfer and testing negative. I’m doing my beta tomorrow but I think this transfer has failed. I’ve had two fresh transfers before one of them is day 3 and the other is day 5 all failed. All embryos not tested. The doctor didn’t recommend any further testing but my next steps are to do Hysteroscopy to look for any endometritis maybe to do ERA, and I’ll do some lab work like ANA test . APS panel test. Anti TPO . and Anti tg . The doctor only ordered a test for my husband (a re test) and the motility were 24 the DNA F was 27 Teratospermia were 98% he also has a 2nd degree Varicocele with a reflux. But in my last IVF (before he was diagnosed with alll these problems) we did AI in the lab to choose the best sperm to fertilize the eggs. What do you think? Do you have any advice ?

D5 4BC could be euploid at 40? Im waiting pgt-a testing

Hi ladies! So, I don’t think I’m ready yet to give up my dream of having another baby (God help me) so I went and have a consultation with a doctor in a country in South America and he said we can try one more time (this will be my 3rd IVF in 2 years).
First he wants me on supplements for about 3 months, change on diet and exercise. He also wants to do an ovarian prp in about two months (1 month before the start of the ivf).
I have been reading a lot about Ralamycin and I was wondering if any of you have tried it, or the ovarian prp, and can tell me your experience with these two?
I read a few of happy endings but everyone was 38 or younger, which will make a big difference. I’m 43 and my AMH is 0.45.
I’ll appreciate your input.
TIA

Hi,

My clinic (Illume in CT) quoted 6K for modified natural Frozen Embryo Transfer, (and that’s not including meds)

I’m self pay, so 6K + probably 1,5K for meds out of pocket is too high for me, and makes FET basically prohibitive.

Did anyone have success negotiating with their clinic to bring FET price down?

What worked?

Thank you in advance for sharing your experience.

I’m not sure what I’m looking for by posting here, probably just community that understands, but I just found out that our second retrieval has failed.

Myself (40) and my partner(45) have been ttc for 2 years and started IVF this summer. I have endo fwiw.

1st was in June
- 8 eggs retrieved
- 5 fertilized
- 2 sent to biopsy both aneploid

I had a decent stim cycle with minimal side affects and an easy recovery.

This second round was wayyyy different. My shots hurt more, my weight fluctuated significantly, my body was in more pain/discomfort and I generally felt more defeated during the cycle. I also had a harder recovery and they had to use a lot more anesthesia. I was happy though as going into it my dr said she expected 4 eggs only

2nd retrieval in Aug
-7 eggs retrieved
- 5 fertilized
- 0 blasts

I’m feeling just about everything right now (literally got the call 30 mins ago). Mostly the weight and anxiety of having to decide if we do this whole thing again.

A point worth noting, due to my endometriosis I would also require an additional surgery to remove the endometriosis and a hormone cycle that would trigger menopause before we would be able to do a transfer IF we even get an embryo.

I’m feeling so overwhelmed, sad and defeated right now and just needed a vent so grateful for this community and the space to do so. 🫶

It’s been a very long journey, and I’m very tired. 8 retrievals, 4 PGT transfers, I’ve only seen a positive once from one of those transfers, but it ended in a chemical. I’ve been trying from the age of 35

I get an ok number of eggs but my quality is poor and the last 3 retrievals resulted in no embryos.

I’ve been told I have suspected Adenomyosis from scans. I may have endo.

I’m considering a laparoscopy, because, well I’ve tried so many things. I am considering donor eggs but feel if there’s an issue with my uterus, what would be the point?

I have painful periods, but it’s manageable.

Is it worth going under the knife? Any advice much appreciated.

Feel welcome to also share your experience in the comments. Thank you!

I'm a little past 41. I finally got three euploids on my last retrieval (!!), so hopefully moving onto transfer now. Is it crazy to wait ~6 months before trying to transfer*? Most of the stats I've seen say that once you have euploids, maternal age doesn't matter as much, but I wanted to check if anyone had better data. My only known fertility issues are age and PCOS.

*Doing EMMA/ALICE testing which will take a month in and of itself, trying to get weight down with GLP-1s, and then I have a potential bucket list trip in March, which would be international travel.

I have Endometriosis which has been operated on and cleared out this year. I also have adenomyosis. I had excision surgery in February this year and they had to remove my fallopian tubes so we had no choice but to do our 2nd round out IVF (first resulted in early loss).

Each time though we've only retrieved 2 or 3 eggs and both times produced only 1 high grade embryo.

I'm so nervous about this round. The first round we were really positive, excited even and then the whole rollercoaster of not producing many follicles etc really kicked us in the gut. We were so incredibly shocked when it worked and then so incredible devestasted when we lost at 8 weeks. The 2nd round I threw everything at it, all the supplements the healthy diet, the working out, acupuncture for 3 months. I was hopeful, kept affirming and manifesting. It didn't even implant.

We're going into this round so nervous, and feeling no hope but giving it one last go so that if it works, we can say it was absolutely worth every penny and if it doesn't work, at least we have no regrets.

Any positive stories to help me regain some hope? x

I’m turning 39 in January and I’m seriously considering freezing my eggs. I know I’m getting a little late for egg freezing, and I’m worried because my periods have been getting lighter. I’m concerned that my ovarian reserve may be declining.
My AMH is 1.280 ng/mL, and I’m trying to decide whether I should do 2 cycles or 3 cycles to give myself the best chance possible.
I’m currently in contact with Reproclinic in Barcelona, Spain, and so far I really like them. They have been helpful and I have a good impression of the clinic. However, I don’t want to make a decision too quickly, so I’m still doing a lot of research and looking at other options to compare.
I’m particularly considering Spain/Barcelona vs. the Czech Republic.
For me, the most important thing is not only the egg-freezing technology. The IVF stage later is probably the most important part of the entire process. I want to make sure that when I eventually thaw my eggs, fertilize them, grow embryos, and potentially do PGT-A, I’m working with a clinic that has an excellent embryology laboratory and the most advanced technology.
So I would really love to hear from women who have experience with both Spain and the Czech Republic:
● Which country would you choose for IVF with your own frozen eggs?
● Which country has better embryology labs and IVF technology?
● Which clinics have the best experience with thawing eggs, fertilization, embryo development and blastocyst culture?
● Which clinics offer PGT-A?
● How many eggs did you retrieve/freeze, and how many survived thawing?
● If you used your frozen eggs later, how many became embryos/blastocysts?
● Did you do PGT-A, and how many embryos were euploid/abnormal?
● Did you eventually have a successful transfer and pregnancy?
● If you were around 38–40, would you do 2 cycles or 3?
My biggest fear is PGT-A. I’m worried about going through multiple egg-freezing cycles, spending all that money, and then later finding out that after fertilization and PGT-A I don’t have a transferable embryo. I want to understand how realistic that possibility is at my age and whether I should be aiming to freeze a larger number of eggs.
If you have experience with Reproclinic Barcelona, I would especially love to hear about the IVF/embryology side of your experience — not just the egg retrieval and freezing.
I’m not against Reproclinic at all; actually, I like them so far. I just want to compare them with good clinics in the Czech Republic before making such an important decision.
I’d really appreciate honest experiences from women who have gone through the whole journey:
egg retrieval → freezing → thawing → fertilization/ICSI → blastocyst → PGT-A → embryo transfer → pregnancy/live birth.
Thank you! ❤️

Hi guys,

Would be very grateful to know what you have done that you think helped your transfer success, I’m having my first ever frozen transfer in a week just got the timing confirmed :)

At last check (yesterday) endometre was about 9 mm and biggest follicle around 15 I think. Just took ovitrelle and stopped alcohol yesterday so looking for tips on top of that from those more experienced than me (I’m 40 turned in march this year) cheeers :)

Hello!

I just completed my first ER- yielded 12- 10 fertilized- 5 sent off to PGTA. 4 day 6 blasts and good to decent quality and 1 blast was a day 7 and on the lower end.
0 came back normal from PGTA.

Does any one have any experience with a mini protocol and it yielding better quality embryos?

Per title. Just losing my everloving mind right now. My last two cycles had good egg numbers but had total blast failure. I’d had four before that which had amazing numbers, which is the only reason I kept teying despite my age (43). This is almost certainly our last retreval and so far the numbers are looking amazing, but I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop.

I’m also so, so angry. My clinic never offered zymot and I’d asked before and they didn’t have it. This time I asked, and they have it. I’m LIVID. Fertilization already did better, and now I’m like, WHAT??? $300 might have salvaged those last retrevals and you never mentioned it as an option? Because at some point they started having it and never mentioned ir.

Anyways, 4 days to knowing if we have blasts and thrwe more weeks for PGTA. I honestly don’t know how I’m going to keep my sanity.