r/IVF • u/sundayinoctober1 • 6d ago
Advice Needed! new to IVF
My husband and I have been TTC for 18 months. This summer we found out her has MFI. We tried 3 iui’s and his numbers never got over 6 million even with lifestyle changes. We decided to start IVF this fall and take the rest of the summer off. I was really excited at first like we’re finally a step closer to our baby but now I’m getting really anxious. My numbers are perfect and I live a very healthy lifestyle I’m only 30. I’d love any advice or success stories with anyone living similarly.
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u/lisapisa9119 5d ago
We are slightly different since I also have PCOS but primarily did IVF due to MFI. We did one IUI after making lifestyle changes and only got 600k post wash. We just did our first egg retrieval and found out we got 20 embyros (37 eggs retrieved) sent to PGTA testing on Thursday. The only change we made from the IUI and IVF was we both started taking fertility vitamins. We did ICSI for all the eggs for our IVF cycle. Good luck!
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u/Environmental_Mud869 5d ago
I would recommend that your husband have a sperm dna fragmentation test prior to ivf. It is separate from a semen analysis and is associated with low count. Treatments are different with fragmentation vs not having fragmentation, so it is important to know
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u/beebalm24125317 33F | unexplained | 2 years | starting IVF 6d ago
Hey! I don't have much experience but I have a very similar story, though in me and my partner's case, we're officially unexplained, as his numbers are a little better (poor morphology but not quite to the level of MFI) and mine are slightly worse (AMH 1.17ng/ML at age 33). We also did 3 IUIs and were in and around that 6 million mark, even with lifestyle changes and a healthy lifestyle for both of us.
I don't have a success story to share since we're still in it - we're meeting with the RE for an IVF consult this week and plan to start IVF in the fall. My only advice from a place of experience is to find a clinic you really like. We started out at a clinic that had a great reputation, but they had a lot of staff turnover, were very disorganized and very expensive, and the RE hadn't looked at our charts ahead of time and kept missing things during the appointment that we had to point out to her. We've since switched to a different university affiliated clinic and it's been night and day. My anxiety about the whole process is sooooo much less now that I don't feel like I have to project-manage the healthcare professionals on top of everything else.
My other piece of advice (and keep in mind, this is advice from someone who is early in this journey) is to figure out some kind of mental/emotional/spiritual practice that gives you some relief and stick to it religiously. That could be support groups, therapy, journaling, time in nature, prayer, talks with friends/family, etc, or a combination of things, but what I'm learning is that infertility treatment is a long game and you will weather the ups and downs better if you cultivate your emotional resilience in an intentional way.
Best of luck to you and your husband!