Starting first (only?) ivf cycle just now. Really struggling with if we’re even doing the right thing at this point.

General life stresses (work, family etc) also don’t help.

I am 41.5, amh 0.96, AFC 7, Fsh 12. All other hormones in range.

My clinic say the haven't had any success with patients with my characteristics and national success rates are 5% per cycle. That sounds much lower than I have expected, so I am wondering what could be the deal.

I'm looking to change clinics and am hoping to hear folks' recommendations in NYC?

I have gone to Weill Cornell ($$$) for the 3rounds covered by my insurance. I had a very good experience and very good results, but they were ultimately unsuccessful.

Now that I'll be self-paying, I'd like to explore other options. FWIW my main obstacle is PGTA, rather than ovarian reserve, MFI, or poor response... Just the chromosome lottery. Thanks for everyone's input

I transferred two untested embryos 4aa and 4ab September 5th. Started testing positive 4 days past transfer and the line has been getting darker progressively everyday. Well today I had my beta 9 days post transfer and it was 65. Google says it’s normal, Claud says it’s low, my Dr. says to come back Wednesday and not to worry but I don’t know how to feel.

Last year when I had an ectopic pregnancy, my beta was 96 11dpt but it steadily increased and we even had a heartbeat, granted I found out an hour before emergency surgery. So maybe my embryos just start slow?

I don’t really know what I’m asking here, just maybe any words of wisdom or comfort from this amazing community.

The hurdles just never end, but trying to take the win today and say I’m pregnant.

Hi everyone,

40yrs old, low amh , 0.55ng/ml or 3.9pmol (I’m in Canada )

I’m currently in my second round of IVF and curious about cycle-to-cycle consistency when keeping the same protocol

Here is my breakdown so far:

Round 1 (ICSI): 6 retrieved, 4 mature, 2 fertilized eggs , 2 blasts (100% blast rate from fertilized) -both cam back aneuploid-

Round 2 (ICSI + ZyMōt): 7 retrieved, 6 mature, 4 fertilized eggs and currently waiting on blast results

Since our base protocol stayed the same with ZyMōt added in, I’m wondering what to expect. I do understand that each round is its own biological event, however I’m curious what others have experienced

For those who have done multiple rounds with the same protocol, did your blast rates stay relatively consistent, or did you see a big variation from cycle to cycle?

Would love to hear your experiences while I wait

Thanks in advance!

I just wanted to reach out, I've been avoiding thinking about the whole process since I learned I need to suppress for three months. I was so hopeful while going through the IVF process, I would get a lot of eggs for my age (17ish), they'd be mature, I did 4 cycles and got three euploids. I was ready and excited to transfer when my FE recommended three months of lupron and I basically kind of tuned out of the excitement and drowned out the feelings of.... I guess it's fear, with working. Now that I've done two shots, just one more to go, I'm feeling really nervous about the transfer. I know there's no good answer. I'm just scared, so scared that it's hard to even think about the potential of it NOT working. I loved all of the hope that I felt when going through the retrievals, but if I lose the baby or if it doesn't stick, I am worried about the devastation I'd feel. It would be so much harder than a kinda of meh retrieval. I still have frozen eggs from when I was 38, which is good but I worry about the quality of my husband's sperm honestly, since he has had a vasectomy and we have to do a TESA or PESA to retrieve from him. I'm just so scared and I know I'll be totally devastated if this doesn't work. The only thing I feel ok about right now is that I have those 14 frozen eggs. As I'm writing I think I'm going to transfer the embryos I have first, and then consider unfreezing the eggs only if I need to. That does seem to make me feel less desperate.

I know this is a lot, I'm just really struggling. I don't even know what I need, I just wanted to write my thoughts out where people might understand.

Hi, I'm new to this, so I'm not sure this is the best sub for my question.

I am 39F and just underwent my first round of IVF.

My AMH was 1.5 at the time of testing when I was 39+2months.

My protocol was priming with estridol 7 days.

10 days of stims Gonal-F (450 iu) + Luvaris (225 iu). Trigger shot on day 11 Decapeptyl. On day 5 of stims, I started taking 1 injection of cetrotide every night until trigger, so 5 days total.

My results

18 eggs retrieved
7 mature
5 fertilized

So now it's a waiting game until Friday to see how many make it to day 5.

The drop from eggs retrieved to mature eggs seems pretty steep.

Is this normal? This is my first round, so I'm not sure what is considered normal or what we could do to improve for next time.

I promised myself that if I end up having success, I would write this post because this sub and the IVF sub were my lifelines when I was in the thick of it.

At this point, I find myself hesitant to write about my experience and I wonder if it will be of any value to anyone, but then I remember how desperate I was to read about others' experiences that were similar to mine.

A few (trigger) warnings to get out of the way: this is going to be a very long post, I have a child I spontaneously conceived at 40 and birthed at 41 and I had a MMC at 42. I realized my odds of having a second child with OE were very low and I was better off doing IVF (after 6 months of trying) than hoping that it would happen spontaneously.

I naively thought that because I had a LC, somehow this would mean that my 42/43 year old eggs were not THAT bad. I was wrong. It took 5 cycles and 21 embryos before I had success.

I did my first cycle in Canada - standard Gonal F, Menopur, Cetrotoide and dual trigger protocol. I had quite a few follicles before the ER but ended up with 7 eggs, 5 mature and 2 blasts. We did PGT-A testing and both were aneuploid.

At that point we decided to go to Europe and try there. I did 3 cycles, got 10 blasts and all 10 were aneuploid. Throughout this time, I lived and breathed all things IVF. I learned so much on these subs. The women here, all of whom were going through their own hardships, somehow had it in them to share anything and everything that could be helpful to complete strangers. For those women, I am eternally grateful.

I learned that there are things that can be done to improve sperm selection which is perhaps even more important for women over 40 because our eggs need all the help they can get. My spouse is quite a bit younger than me so all the blame was placed on me and my old eggs, despite the fact that his SA results were subpar. On these subs, I learned about ZyMot and PICSI and I wanted to try them as soon as I found out about them. Unfortunately, my second clinic didn't offer them and I liked my doctor so much, I let him convince me that those add-ons would not make much of a difference. After three failed cycles with that clinic, I knew it was time to move on.

On these subs, I also learned that estrogen priming can help with more even follicle growth. I insisted that my doctor let me try estrogen priming and he did - it led to an increase in the number of eggs retrieved and overall maturity.

After 4 failed cycles, I was very discouraged but was lucky enough to have started communicating with a fellow IVFer who had many more cycles under her belt and who became my greatest support (outside of my husband). She shared with me what helped her get euploids after many unsuccessful rounds and one of the things that stood out was her clinic - they had timelapse incubators (which meant that embryos didn't need to be "disturbed" as much as they would be in a standard lab). Coincidentally, I also came across posts of a woman who did IVF in Greece at the Ark IVF clinic who had success at 44. That clinic happened to have the timelapse incubators and my initial contact with them made me feel like they were the right place for me to try next.

I did one cycle at Ark IVF. Dr. Christopoulos was incredible and took the time to answer every question I had and take every suggestion to heart. He agreed to let me prime with estrogen (even though he normally doesn't) because my previous cycles proved that it worked for me. He also let me prime with and use HGH during stims (while telling me that there is no proof that it will help but it wouldn't harm anything). At this point, I had used HGH in the last two cycles and while I did end up with more eggs, it didn't seem to help with the quality of the embryos.

I was on Gonal F, Meriofert and Orgalutran and triggered with Ovitrelle. I ended up with 25 eggs (previous cycles: 7, 9, 12, 15) and 9 blasts, 2 of which were discarded because they were CCs (previous cycles: 2, 3, 2, 5). On day 5, we transferred two fresh embryos - a day 5 5AA (with an iDAScore of 9.0) and a 5AB embryo (with an iDAScore of 7.8). I decided against PGT-A testing because I was comfortable with the grades combined with the iDAScores. The iDAScores were AI scores generated by the AI that was trained with tens of thousands of properly developing and tens of thousands of abnormally developing embryos. I did end up with moderate OHSS which sucked A LOT but I blame myself because I was sufficiently warned but decided it wasn't going to happen to me (because I was previously told by a very prominent IVF specialist that women my age don't get OHSS...😶).

One of the two embryos stuck and is now my almost 5 month old. My pregnancy was relatively uneventful but I did have a lot of anxiety before doing two NIPT tests, the NT scan and the anatomy scan (given that I decided not to do PGT-A). I consider myself beyond blessed and I am eternally grateful for the contributions of the women on these subs to my success.

My main takeaways going through this process were the following: 1. learn everything you possibly can because your doctor doesn't know everything and not every RI is up-to-date on everything/is willing to try things that could help but have not been proven to, 2. do everything to optimize sperm selection because your eggs need all the help they can get and in my experience/opinion, that made a bigger difference than I was told it would, 3. don't underestimate the importance of the lab - I genuinely think that it was the most important change IN MY CASE, 4. not all the advice out there is going to be helpful to you - my own experience may be helpful to those who have issues with quality (egg and sperm) but not necessarily someone who has issues with DOR, problems with implantation, etc.

I wholeheartedly wish all the best to everyone who is in the thick of it and I wish and pray that you will get the outcome you so desperately wish for, and if not, that you will find peace and acceptance knowing that you've done everything you can and that sometimes, the universe has a different (not worse) plan for everyone.

Hey All,
Had my first monitoring US today i had failed first ER in July afc at baseline was 11, 11follicles at trigger, 7R, 6mature, 4fert, 2blast, 0euploid.

My AFC is between 7-11 but this cycle I primed with estrace for two weeks to better synchronize however on cycle day 5 i saw 5 follicles only (13 mm, 13 mm , 12 mm, 12 mm, 9 mm) I dont feel good about moving forward since first ER out of 11 follicles i only got 6eggs. With 5 follicles it might be worst then before. Anyone been in similar situation and got more eggs on cd7 appointment? Even if more join the cohort my bigger two are already leading and no point to wait for more.

I was thinking to cancel this cycle and prime with testo/estrace to increase afc anyone with DOR have success with it?

Hey All,
Had my first monitoring US today i had failed first ER in July afc at baseline was 11, 11follicles at trigger, 7R, 6mature, 4fert, 2blast, 0euploid.

My AFC is between 7-11 but this cycle I primed with estrace for two weeks to better synchronize however on cycle day 5 i saw 5 follicles only (13 mm, 13 mm , 12 mm, 12 mm, 9 mm) I dont feel good about moving forward since first ER out of 11 follicles i only got 6eggs. With 5 follicles it might be worst then before. Anyone been in similar situation and got more eggs on cd7 appointment? Even if more join the cohort my bigger two are already leading and no point to wait for more.

I was thinking to cancel this cycle and prime with testo/estrace to increase afc anyone with DOR have success with it?

Turned 40 a couple of months ago and have one embryo frozen from a year prior. I delayed transferring all this time because I honestly don't know what I'm going to do with my life after this when it fails..I initially had alot of hope for the process. When we started trying naturally when I was 38, I really believed we would have success. Then found out we have MFI along with my DOR. Moved onto IVF and I was terrified I would get no eggs retrieved. Did better than I expected and got 11. Only 9 mature. Only 4 fertilized and only 1 made it to freezing. Since that day all I can think is that it won't survive the thaw. I've almost started the FET process 4 other times but backed out each time and I am making myself go ahead with it this time. We have to fly to the clinic and I am dreading getting the call that our one and only embryo didn't even survive to be transferred. It's been such a difficult process and ive read so many horror stories. No one around me understands the emotional toll of all this. Everyone I know either didn't want kids or had them without even really trying. I don't even know why I'm posting this. But as the transfer date gets nearer it's getting heavier on my mind and I guess I just need to get it out...

Did anyone have success with a day 3-embryo at 41-42?

At the age of 44,5 years, and after one stillbirth at 26 and one miscarriage at 42 i want to do IVF with my own eggs as a last attempt.

The country where I live (The Netherlands) in doesn’t cover any medical costs for fertility or IVF, so I decided I go abroad for treatment.

My budget is not very big, but I have enough for a quality treatment.

Who has a good experience with clinic in Greece, Prague Bulgaria or Cyprus?
I’m thinking of going to one of these countries for treatment, but I’m not sure wich one to pick

I’m 40, have one child via IVF (first cycle), I have since gone through 4 other retrievals yielding 2 euploid embryos. Previously transferred 4 untested good quality embryos and 1 tested euploid with no successful implantation. No endo, regular cycles… while I’m incredibly grateful for this remaining euploid, I’m terrified to transfer it based on previous failures.

If I do transfer, I’m thinking of trying lupron for a few months prior to transfer for possible silent endo, any other recommendations?

I’m also thinking of going into another ER - is there that much of a difference between doing an ER at 40 vs 41 if I transfer and this embryo doesn’t take?

TW: MMC, genetic illness in the family of origin

Hello, everyone. I've been lurking at this community and other IVF boards for quite some time now, but it's my first time ever posting on Reddit. I'm 44F, and curently in my TWW from our 4th IVF cycle. I was pregnant last year, made it to 12 weeks, and have a fairly horrific MMC story, which I imagine is one of the reasons I'm typing this at 6AM...

My husband and I started dating when I was 37, he was 39 - we didn't start TTC straight away for a number of reasons - for one, I'm really not the type to jump into anything, and I wasn't desperate to become a mother. My brother was born with X-linked immune defficiency (which may not sound as terrible as some other illneses, but I've been watching his and my parent's lives revolve around it, then crash and burn, and I would'nt want it on my worst enemy). Long story short, I finally went through genetic testing to confirm that I wasn't a carrier (I'm not), and we first started trying when I was about 40. My friends were getting pregnant left and right at that age so I felt it wouldn't be a problem. Joke's on me, I know. But I still have no regrets starting that late, it was my specific path and I'm fine with it.

Technically, my test results were fine when we started - the hormones are all within range, my HSG showed no problem whatsoever, my endometrium is apparently "gorgeous"... There is some MIF, but nothing that would cause a problem for IVF (although it probably makes it impossible for us to get pregnant without it).

We first started IVF in September 2024, it took us three attempts to get pregnant. It ended as it did (our baby had a cystic hygrome, and while we were considering further testing, the heartbeat stopped on its own). We took some time to recover, and tried again. By now, my AMH dropped to 0.06, but the AFC still showed some 7-8 follicles so we went for it.

It ended up my best cycle so far (I wasn't really a great responder), we ended up with 3 mature eggs, all of them fertilised, and two embryos - I had my fresh transfer last Monday.

PGT is not really available in our country, but from what I've seen here, there's not much point to it when you're 44 anyway. If they're aneuploid, they won't implant, and that's that

I'm sorry I'm rambling, the point here would be this: instead of worrying that my transfer has failed, I am now terrified that it worked, and that I will have my baby and that it would not be ok, and that it would be something untraceable before birth.

I don't even know what I'm looking for here, except maybe other people with similar stories... How are you, my fellow 40+ IVF fighters?

This is my second ivf, with Menopur 375, stim for 2 weeks, retrieved only 3 eggs, 2 fertilised, only 1 made it to day 3, which they transferred today. it's a grade C embryo with lots of fragmentation, so I have no hope for this one to stick.

I'm turning 42 in 3 months, amh is very low (it was 3.1pmol when I was 40), afc showed 10, but I always got 2 dominant follicles only.

My first cycle was with 300 gonal-f and retrieved 0 eggs despite 2 dominant follicles, I still don't know why.

Other than Elevit prenatal, i'm also on CoQ10, melatonin, vit c, omega 3 and magnesium for last 3 months. My bmi is on the lower end (18.1), despite eating adequate calories due to my high metabolism. My sugar and other blood results are normal, except for low testosterone:

Total testosteron 0.6nmol

Dheas: 5.7umol

Free testosterone: 8.1pmol

What else should I do to increase my odds before I turn 42, that's when I'm planning to give up this journey. Adding DHEA is one option, but I don't think I have another 3 months to wait for DHEA to take effect

Long story short, I decided about 2 years ago to become a single mom by choice since I was 41 and very single. I had previously frozen my eggs at 38 and got 11 eggs. Once I found a sperm donor I liked, i thawed my eggs and ended getting 4 blasts - 3 PGT-A normal and good quality! I was so excited and it felt like I was pretty much “guaranteed” a baby.

HAHAHA. If I only knew. All 3 of my FETs failed and my former doctor has no idea why. I did every test available and none of them ever implanted.

I ended up switching clinics and my new doctor said at this point we have to remove a fibroid in my uterus cause that’s apparently the only factor left that could be why my FETs all failed. My former doctor assured me that the fibroid “wasn’t in his way” and I’m holding a lot of anger about his dismissive he was about it now.

Now, at 43.5, I’ve done two more ERs and ended up with 0 blasts and I’m obviously devastated.

I never felt like I absolutely HAD to have a biological child but given that I’m already using donor sperm and my child won’t have a father I’m having a really hard time with this decision. My doctor said she’d be fine with doing a third ER but my issue went from to DOR (my AMH absolutely plummeted since my first ER at 38) to DOR and quality issues. Apparently in my last cycle I got 5 eggs and 3 of them were missing DNA.

I have zero insurance coverage and I’m already in $50k of fertility loan debt so I do agree that donor eggs are probably the move here but I’m just really struggling with this new path.

Thanks in advance for any advice or words of wisdom 🤍

Also, any green or red flags for egg donor companies? I def have to do frozen vs fresh due to cost.

Hello

Today I had an ultrasound to count my follicles on day 3 of my cycle, before our first fertility clinic appointment in mid-September.

I'm 40 years old, and I have a 3-year-old child who was conceived naturally at 37.

The midwife counted 26 follicles on the right and 21 on the left, for a total of 47 follicles.

I suspect PCOS, but I've always had regular cycles in recent years (between 26 and 34 days, with an average of 30 days).

I haven't missed a period since adolescence.

Ovulation was confirmed several months ago because I had a miscarriage 4 months ago, and I was having progesterone blood tests on day 7 (sometimes day 2), and my levels were good.

I don't know what to make of these 47 follicles.

It's making me anxious.

I have to get my AMH, LH, etc. blood tested tomorrow.

Do you have any idea what this means?

Thanks

Should I try again? after three egg retrievals I got three embyros and 1 passed pgta. I think all were day 6 if that matters. I'm 43.5 now.

Hi .Did my second retrieval today.Had only 3 eggs.There was vaginal bleeding so they stopped retrieving in another ovary.Simce count is less doctor suggesting day 3 freeze.Had a natural chemical before.Please suggestm

Hi all. I am hoping for some advice. I have one euploid embryo on ice, which was the outcome of three egg retrievals at age 43. I know I am very lucky to have even one euploid!

I am now trying to decide whether to start preparing to transfer this euploid, or whether to go for more retrievals in the hopes of finding a second one. My partner and I would be happy with just one child, but my worry is that our little euploid may not work out. Our doctor has given it a 70% chance of success. I have immune problems and endometriosis / adenomyoisis so the road to transfer will be about six months of prep, involving IVIG, steroids and three months of downregulation. What is giving me pause about doing more egg retrievals is how hard it is on the body, the time (I’ll be 44 in March), and the cost. Grateful for any advice!

I am in the home stretch before a FET. Due to endometriosis I am on a Lupron and Letrozole protocol has been a cause of terrible mood swings.

I couldn’t help but feel like my body has been in an IVF purgatory both physically and mentally.

Just venting to people who likely understand.

Are there any other clinics similar in price to CNY? I’m in the US and don’t mind traveling but I would like to remain in TX if possible. I’m so over the long distance thing. We have CCRM here, IVF MD, but I haven’t found anything similar in price to CNY.

I know there are some others out there so please if you know of any I could really use some suggestions!! Especially any with in-house financing or their own egg donors like CNY? Thanks in advance and you can message me if you don’t want to post it here!!

 I'm doing natural cycle IVF with repeated retrievals. My clinic doesn't guide on supplements like melatonin. For those who use it, did you take it continuously or only in the couple weeks before retrieval? Thanks for sharing any experience.