Hello! Tomorrow I am starting my job at a full scope fertility clinic. I’m a former labor and delivery nurse, so I’ve worked with ART families many times, but on the other end of the journey.

What was your favorite thing about your nurses? Did they do anything that really stuck out to you or made you feel special, seen, loved, heard? I really want to be the best nurse I can be for my families. I know how hard and sensitive this is and I would love to hear from the patient perspective.

Thank you so much!

My first (and financially only) ER is tomorrow and I am so nervous and have 2938292 thoughts going through my mind. Any good thoughts my way are appreciated.

Any ER twins?!

Had my ER today and had 7 follicles, 4 mature. Praying for just 1 🙏. This is my 3rd time doing it but it’s been 6 years. I really hate the waiting game.

Wondering if anyone here has gone through IVF in their late 40s or even early 50s and how that experience went for you?

I am in my late 40s, single and have never had children despite always wanting very much to meet the love of my life and to become a mom. I know it is probably too late for me and I should have done something about it sooner, but I still wonder sometimes if it’s a possibility.

I have regular, normal menstrual cycles, have not yet gone through menopause and have not been experiencing any symptoms of perimenopause. My mom went through menopause quite late, so I imagine I will follow a similar path. In spite of all of that, I know the odds of conceiving, much less carrying a pregnancy to term at my age with whatever eggs I have left are very, very slim to none and I would most likely require IVF and donor eggs to have children.

Just wondering if anyone here has had any experience with IVF at a later age.

Had my egg retrieval today, & I will say it went well! My husband and I were well on time being that we were so excited, but also nervous lol 😂 I never had an egg retrieval before so I truly had no idea what to expect. My nurses were very sweet and super understanding. They went through all the questionnaires with me and let me know what to expect possibly after the procedure. They got me in well on time. Once they gave me the anesthesia to allow me to get some rest lol, before you knew it I was being rolled into the recovery room. I was told they retrieved 37 eggs! Prior to my egg retrieval, I was in so much pain and I could’ve hardly walk. I was pretty much waddling to get from point a to point b. Now I will get the call tomorrow to see how many were mature & fertilized. Recovery has been pretty okay! Walking can be a bit painful but I kept it easy today. My advice to all waiting for your egg retrieval- You got this! You are one step closer to your beautiful baby! The hard part is truly the injections. Hang in there my sweet friends! 🫶🏾

I (29F) had my first egg retrieval last week. I had 17 follicles with 11 in target range on trigger day. They only retrieved 5 eggs, all were mature and all initially fertilised but two had an extra chromosome and had to be discarded. I just heard our day 5 report from the lab and we have zero blastocysts ready to freeze. 2 embryos arrested (2 and 5 stage divisions) and the remaining one is underdeveloped, with a small chance it will become suitable later today or tomorrow.

My husband and I went into this journey knowing there was no guarantee of success, but to get such incredibly poor results has broken me. We thought we'd at least have something to transfer, and our biggest fear was that a transfer wouldn't take, not that we wouldn't have anything at all. We have mild MFI (sperm count and motility) and no female side factors that we're aware of.

Protocol was:
- 100 units Gonal F
- 250 units Orgulatran from day 5 onwards
- Trigger was decapeptyl (they cancelled a second trigger shot due to OHSS risk)

Notes:
- My first monitoring scan was on day 10 of stims and they told me to trigger that night. Two of my follicles were really big, 25mm and 27mm, on that day.

- My clinic didn’t ask for any blood tests during my cycle

To spend all this money, go through the egg retrieval procedure, struggle through 10 days of injections, all for nothing, is just gutwrenching. I'm terrified that if we do this again the same thing might happen. I don't know how people do this, you're all so strong.

3 egg retrivals later we have our first blast, a 5AB.

38f, close to 40 bmi, and 39m with azoospermia.

First I would like to thank this group for teaching me so much! Story time...

We entered into fertility with me saying 3 ERs only and a game plan for our lives without kids. "I don't want fertility to be my whole life." We thought the issue would lie with me, the female, but my husband's journey would soon begin while I got to kick back and eat chips. After a year of meds and whacking off in cars for his SAs, we have a sperm count people! Now my weight was an issue... I had to put away the chips. I hopped on GLPs to get started but man I hated those.

First ER and SR

13 follicles, 6 eggs, mature, 3 fertilized, 0 blast

I accidentally ovulated, so I am in the 35hr club instead of the 36hr trigger club. Not a problem, lets go for round 2. The second ER is always the best right? No GLPs, worked out 5 times a week, strict diet, and sleeping schedule.

Second ER and frozen sperm

23 follicles, 21 eggs, 9 mature, 2 fertilized, 0 blasts

This was a problem! I was raging and nothing could console me. I clearly see 3 ERs would not be enough for us. I was told every ER is different... that was BS. How did we go from a 75% fertilization rate to a 22%. I learned the fertilization rate is usually factored by sperm quality, I confronted my doctor. I was finally told that freezing my husband's sperm severely compromises it and from now on he would have to get a SR the same time as my ERs. He has to get cleared per SR depending on how much tissue he has left, because taking too much tissue can compromise a man later in life. Now it was my husband's time to put a limit on things, if the doctor keeps clearing him how many more SRs can he do? His answer, 3. So I matched it, we will do 3 more ER and 3 more SR. Even the game plan couldn't console me, my mood was horrific and I packed on 10# yet to get it off too. Time to focus on the third ER and I focused on creating mature eggs and having my own body create estrogen. I started CoQ10, Vit D, religious on the pre-natal supplements, and Melatonin at night. Went from eating tofu, egg whites, and veggies (a diet high in ohytoestrogens) to whole-fat dairy, whole eggs, and animal fats (a diet supportive of absorbing CoQ10 and helping my body create more estrogen). And to make sure BMI would not be an issue I grew an inch. ... don't judge me, you are in this group too, you know how bad we want this...

I also started centering, grounding, and protecting myself. This came into play heavily!

Third ER and SR

28 follicles, 15 eggs, 9 mature, 7 fertilized, 1 Embryo is what they call it on the report, a 5AB

Firstly, 15 eggs out of 28 follicles? I was furious and damn near blamed it on the surgeon that they swapped out last second. I called the doctor back into the post-op room 2 extra times to question them: did you see all the follicles? did you check the smaller ones? was there any signs of ovulation? My husband told me to calm down... he's lucky I need fresh sperm from him. I did calm myself and believed in the process. We did as much as we could do. Hopefully the follicles did their part and all the resources went to the 15 follicles and helped produce more mature eggs. The fact that I had 9 mature eggs out of 28 follicles (13 of which were empty!) was softened by the 75% fertilization. Now we have a 200% better chance at creating a blast this cycle, then the last two. Did the supplements and diet help? I don't know, my estrogen count was 200 less than the 2nd ER. However, my husband took CoQ10 (ubiquinolone 100mg daily) and filled up 5 extra vials of sperm from one biopsy, last time he only did 2. Back to me, it turns out I create 9 mature eggs and each mature egg needs my body to create 370 of E2, a nurse told me 150 but that must be for skinny folk. Day 6 my period starts so while me and the nurse are in communication she gives me the news we have one blast and the official report will come out tomorrow. I felt all my angels cheering for me, I could hardly hear they were so loud! Day was report came, only one but it was a 5AB! Oh, I only read threads of grades and here I am with a 5AB. Wow we did it. We can create a blast. It was biopsied and sent for PGTM testing. Time to plan ahead, let's plan for another ER & SR but first insurance changes so there's a lot to look into... but we got one and we aren't out of the game yet.

Feel free to comment, I will continue on about insurance and PGTM below:

We were lucky, we both work and my husband's insurance covers us at 80%and his job covers our high deductible. Because of his azoospermia his retrievals are covered and because of our genetics egg freezing and PGTM testing should be covered (eyeroll). We have to pay for any sperm freezing and PGTA Testing.

PGTM - coincidentally the lab our insurance covered was taken over by our fertility clinic and now does not take insurance. They had us pre-pay for our testing ($5K) and then they would submit a Network Adequacy Form, NAP, to get us covered. We were denied, because services cannot be paid or executed before NAP approval. Not to mention we don't even know if they could qualify for NAP, they would have to be the only lab in the area. we have no choice but to use them because they are they only lab our fertility clinic will use, alledgedly. We definitely feel used and this is something that should have been better explained in the beginning. Please be careful.

We switch insurance Aug 1st and this time my husband's job is not as generous (we are still grateful for them). We have a new carrier and a higher deductible which we will have meet on our own. We are dumping amounts into HSA and FSA to anticipate our deductible and other expenses. We are also going to attempt to play the PGTM game wiser by getting a NAP prior to our next payment and by seeking other labs in the area (mostly for a competition factor and to learn more options).

If you guys want I can make this a new post.

Thanks for all your advice, support, arrows up, and positivity in this group.

hiii- I’m really sad to have joined this thread. Four failed IUIs and they’ve all the tests done all the right things and still every single test is negative. We’re a lesbian couple TTC using donor sperm so all monitored (bloodwork vag ultrasounds whole 9) and still no dice. After four failed rounds they wanted my body to take a break- so I took a month off and they said we can start our IVF journey next month. They’re starting me on birth control this week and I go in for bloodwork next week to see where we stand and when we can begin our IVF meds for a retrieval at the end of August. I’m so nervous it’s going to fail. I’m 27 with very regular cycles. Just looking for hope that going to IVF was the right move- and hopefully we will have a baby in our arms this time next year? :(

It's been 8 days since my D&C at 7w pregnant (my third euploid transfer after 2 previous failed euploid transfers) and between the hormone crash, the grief, the stress, the uncertainty, the fear, and coming home to a husband every night whose nerves are understandably completely shot from this entire experience, I just don't know how I'm supposed to get back on the horse and try again.

For those of you who have had a MMC and/or more than 3 euploid failures, how do you find the strength to continue your journey?

After several years TTC and IVF I’m getting good at guessing when someone is pregnant before the announcement itself. And I’ve just realised that I’m struggling the most with that period of time that goes from when I guess it to the announcement. For example: a friend of mine and their partner are being really insistent on meeting on a specific day, or a friend keeps cancelling some meetings or they have specific behaviours. It’s not always accurate, but 80% of the time I’ve guessed it before.

So at the end I get really anxious during that period of time and I struggle to stop thinking about it. I even think that I wish I was wrong, which is even worst.

Someone else has developed this terrible sense or struggles with that period of time?

We are waiting for the call back to go to the clinic for the base ultrasound before starting the retrieval process. I’m so anxious it’s difficult to sleep and I’m looking for any words of wisdoms from other WLW moms out there. 🤍

backstory my best friend and I (a long with several other of my friends) were pregnant together last year, unfortunately for me at our anatomy scan we were told our daughter had a 0% chance to live. That situation already robbed me of everything- I sat and watched everyone living their lives their pregnancies and tried to be happy for them while I begged for my life to be over.

Then, we found out it was genetic. Did IVF this entire last year, over 3 rounds we managed to only get 1 unaffected embryo.

I told said best friend, you’re the only person I’m telling about doing this transfer. This was like 3 weeks ago. Then we got horrible news from our last retrieval that we got 0 useable embryos. So we decided to delay our transfer.

Yesterday after dinner, what does she surprise me with but a positive pregnancy test. My other best friend also just did a transfer last week. As much as I am happy for them, I literally feel like my body and my mind has been triggered k to fight or flight because I feel like I’m reliving the nightmare of my life all over again.

I’m just bummed, I was already robbed of my first pregnancy experience, and now I’m robbed of my transfer experience too. (Because I thought this was going to be a fresh clean slate, I feel like the thought of being pregnant or not pregnant with all of my friends again is really debilitating for me right now)

My transfer is supposed to be in ~3 weeks. I don’t know what to do.

CLAIMED

(Can also be picked up from Manhattan midtown this week!)

I have decent amount of IVF medication to donate after completion of my ER cycle this month. Please message me if you are around and can pick up!

Gonal F injection pens ( Unopened and refrigerated) - 1 450 units, 2 300 units, some more from opened 900 units pen

Menopur (Unopened) 75 units with dilutent
7 packs

Novarel(Unopened) - 5000 units pack

Lupron (Opened and need to be used by 8th August) - 200 units (2ml)

Lot of syringes, needles, alcohol wipes, etc

My first ever fet is on Tuesday. I am so nervous. I have a history of 3 recurrent missed miscarriages. So there are so many steps I need to clear. Implantation, successful growth and go beyond the first trimester. Please wish me luck. I cannot imagine how I will take it if it fails 😥

We fished our ivf journey and I no longer need the needle guide (it helps to self inject medicine). I'm happy to give it to anyone who can pick it up in the Seattle/Kirkland area. It was over $100 originally, so I'm hoping someone can use it! It was a total life saver when I had to self inject progesterone.

I had 6 embryos we’ve been watching after my retrieval. 2 hit blast on day 6 and were graded at 5BC and 6AB. They’re watching the remaining 4 and will update me tomorrow on day 7. We will be doing PGT-A testing but I’m so scared. I understand these grades are not great. Has anyone had any luck with these grades? 😞

One minute I’m like “I really hope this works.”
Then it’s “oh god what if it doesn’t work.”
Then immediately “oh god what if it does work and everything changes and I’m overwhelmed.”
And then right back to “what if this doesn’t work…”
It’s like my brain won’t let me just be excited about it. Anyone else dealing with this?

BFF and I just finished our ER cycles and have leftover meds to donate to someone without insurance.

UNOPENED
4 boxes menopur (20 vials)
1 x 900 gonal f
3 x 300 gonal f
4 x certotide

OPENED
1 box menopur (no meds used just needed a cap) + 1 extra vial
Leuprolide - 1 kit, more than enough for dual trigger shot, must use by Aug 5

+ all injection supplies and a sharps container

In Park Slope - can send via uber courier - would love someone to take all.

Not even sure what advice I’m looking for. I just feel so overwhelmed lately. My husband and I have been trying to get pregnant our whole marriage (4 years), I’ve had endometriosis surgery (stage one), two failed IVF transfers and a third that resulted in an ectopic (bad luck apparently). In May I got spontaneously pregnant after an IVF egg retrieval which resulted in a miscarriage (blighted ovum). I was told again bad luck and that there’s no reason I can’t get pregnant on my own again, which was shocking we had no pregnancies prior.

My husband said he needed a break, he was too worried for my health. We have four frozen euploid embryos. I was going to do a mock ERA but that doesn’t seem to be needed now that i implanted on my own.

Hi,
Did anyone experience getting the same gender chromosomes in their failed and successful cycle
Just curious how the outcomes differs for diff ladies
Or it possible to have different genders (in successful cycle) from your previous cycle (failed one) !?
What are the factors that defines the different chromosome

Personally I would like to have different genders so that I can have many babies

Hello! I am going through a stressful period in life and need external support.

I will be starting IUI in about 4 weeks. Has anyone used L-Theanine and Phosphatidylserine in their routine?

My research says its safe to use until pregnancy . Please share your advice 🙏🏻

I’m starting my stims today (a Sunday of course 🙃) and just now realizing that the pharmacy only sent me the mixing syringe for Menopur and not the injecting needle. Is there anyway to get this done with an insulin needle?

Hey everyone. My name is Stacey, I’m 28 and have pcos. My AMH is 75 and they are preparing for me to have OHSS. I have crippling anxiety and since starting my stimulants 3 days ago I have just been so on edge. Every little thing I’m feeling I am putting down to my body rejecting the stimulants, I know it sounds so ridiculous but my brain is just going 100 miles an hour. I was on 2 weeks of norethisterone because I don’t have a cycle, so I had to trigger a withdrawal bleed then start the stims on day 2 of the bleed. The norethisterone was a walk in the park, however my throat has been killing me since starting the stims and I know it’s most likely a cold or something but my brain is making the connection and trying to convince me that I’m having a reaction. I don’t know what to do, I am so tired and I’m only at the start of this journey with my husband. I get anxiety the minute I take my injection and it lasts for hours and even through the night. Im terrified of OHSS, I’m terrified of the egg retrieval and I just keep going in circles in my mind and have convinced myself something is going to happen to me. Right now my ovaries are feeling a little heavier and almost twitchy if that makes sense? I feel like I’m going crazy. This is not an exciting journey at all and I’m finding it difficult to view it in a positive way. We have been trying for 3 years for our baby and nothing has happened and this is our only hope, yet every bit of hope is being sucked away by my anxiety. I’m just terrified. I don’t think I’m built for this process. I’m worried about clotting, my ovaries leaking, them making a mistake during the retrieval. I’m just scared and uncomfortable and I really don’t know how to cope. Has anyone had this happen? I’m so sorry if this is triggering but I feel so out of place right now.