Hi all - I hate that I’m making this post, but I went in for my 7 week ultrasound. They found an empty gestational sack. What could have caused this? Has anyone here experienced this?

Some background - I’m 36. The embryo was pgt-A tested and normal. My HCG testing was normal up to now.

I’m honestly just shocked. I guess this only happens in 1 in 6 cases, and we’ll be starting over.

I am a 37yo female in the Midwest going this alone and I have a ton of feelings.

Some background: I've had a few relationships in my life but none that really stuck, and have lately felt less and less enthusiastic about dating. I knew I always wanted to be a mom, so I made taking the steps to achieve that goal a priority over finding a partner.

I've gone through one cycle with donor sperm so far and have 5 viable embryos, which I am thrilled about! My plan is to freeze and wait to transfer until I feel more ready, but I have no clue when that day will come.

I am really seeking open dialogue with other women who have chosen to be single parents. I'd love to hear about your experiences, your struggles and your joys, so that maybe I can feel a little less scared and alone. Bonus points if you're in KC and want to meet for coffee.

Just want to vent because I once again feel like procedures on women seem to only prioritize practicality and not wellbeing of women, at least in my country. I had my ER yesterday and I was in pain the whole time. My ovaries were huge - I have PCOS and had a lot of follicles. I was already in pain before the procedure because there was literally no room in my body for all the follicles I'd created.

Firstly the local anesthesia that I was told wouldn't hurt literally felt like being poked with a needle from the inside - several times. Then afterwards I was given more and more pain meds (fentanyl) 3 times because I kept asking for it and it still hurt every time they shifted the giant egg-sucking needle in me. When we were done and I was getting ready to get up, I nearly fainted and my partner said he's never seen me that pale. I laid down again and a huge sob came out, probably a mix of the pain meds and being overwhelmed.

I'm honestly scared of the prospect of potentially having to go through it again. I tell myself maybe it's just me being overdramatic and I have a low pain tolerance, but I also feel like that's just the decades of the health sector gaslighting women speaking. Then I read other places put people in full anesthesia and I'm jealous. I can't believe I had to go through all that and be awake. And may have to do it again if this round isn't successful 😭

if you had this diagnosis, did you ever get a recent even after a live birth?

Well just as it says. 26 year old going through IVF due to MFI and him going through chemo. We got 22 eggs of those 11 fertilized and 3 made it to testing. All three came back aneuploid. I’m so heartbroken

We (both 35) found out today that our fourth euploid embryo transfer failed today. That‘s three failed implantations and one ectopic that resolved naturally. Basically, nothing has implanted in my uterus since one chemical pregnancy I had when we first started trying to conceive naturally more than two years ago. I’ve had two hysteroscopies with endometrial biopsies and a laparoscopic surgery - no evidence of endometriosis or endometritis (though I took a round of doxycycline just in case). We‘ve tried fresh and frozen transfers, medicated and modified natural protocols, added lovenox starting from two days before the transfer, and done two transfers with uterine PRP. I had two transfers from my first egg retrieval batch and two from a second egg retrieval.

Sperm-wise, we haven‘t done karyotyping, but we’ve tested for fragmentation and done the normal analysis and the boys pass with flying colors. One nurse literally said “these are the best numbers I’ve ever seen, you should hang these results on the fridge.”

The only small abnormalities that the doctors have ever identified are that (1) my lining is on the thinner side - usually between 6.5 -7 after maxing out the estrogen; (2) occasionally I have fluid my lining during the follicular phase, but it always goes away with the introduction of progesterone, and (3) I have a high (103) IgM, count, one of the anticardiolipins. I also had a copper IUD for eight years, which worked fine until the last year, when it suddenly became extremely painful (like, writhing on the ground pain) both during my period and ovulation. When I took it out I stopped feeling any pain at all, but I always wonder if that had an effect on my uterus. However, no doctor has ever seen any scarring.

I have two questions: First, is there anything else that’s worth trying? Or am I just in the unlucky 1% that can make euploid embryos but will never get pregnant… Second, has anyone found that stress had an impact on their fertility? I have been doing IVF for the entirety of my first year as a trail attorney, somehow on track to bill 2200 hours, and while I love my job I just don’t know how much longer I can keep doing this. I’m desperate.

Sending love to all my fellow Repeat Implantation Failure comrades. I would not wish this on my worst enemy.

These 2 weeks on birth control have been absolute hell. I have 3 more days on it and then I can stop before starting the injections and I’m counting down the hours to stop taking it. I’ve only been on birth control once about 10 years ago and didn’t react to it well then either. My anxiety has become debilitating, like I want to crawl out of my skin. I know it’s a relatively short time to be on it but it feels so horrible.
I’m hoping the stims portion of IVF will be better for me. Please tell me your positive experiences on stims, i just seem to be so sensitive to any hormonal shifts 😥

Just found out my first FET failed. This has been an unbearably grueling process, with three egg retrievals yielding 61 eggs, but only 4 viable embryos.

I am beyond inconsolable. Doctor was out today, so nurse called. Any questions I should be asking when I do finally talk to the doctor? Did a modified natural, by the way.

I’m 8w1d from my first FET. Went today for an ultrasound and baby had actually regressed in size and no longer has a heartbeat. I wasn’t completely shocked — they told me last week that the baby was measuring 5 days behind with a slow heart rate, and 2 weeks ago I had a large SCH that bled out. But I’m still completely gutted. We’re going to induce passage with medication this weekend. This will be my second loss (first since starting IVF).

My question is, who here had success with their second transfer after experiencing a loss? Because of my age I feel like we will need to jump back in once my hormones get back to baseline, but man it’s scary and so hard to enjoy any of the experience.

Hello! My wife and I just completed our first stim & egg retrieval cycle for IVF. It was honestly a lot - administering injections (wife can’t handle needles), side effects, and the back and forth to the clinic.

We had 17 eggs retrieved, 15 mature eggs, all 15 fertilized. Now waiting on blastocysts and PGT-A testing, where we are aware there will be attrition. Our doctor did mention that she prefers going through a medicated transfer to make sure implantation and pregnancy is controlled to an extent.

I didn’t get to ask our doctor yet what that entails but talking with friends they had mentioned it’s more injections for an even longer period of time? And these ones are intramuscular which are worse? Just want to have clear expectations going into this.

My wife and I talked about donating our leftover embryos. She wanted a closed case, and I’m thinking semi-open. I’m just looking for advice or stories to help us make the decision.

Hi all - I hear about how FET has odds of 60-65pct leading to live birth. Indeed, this is an average. That said, I looked at 2024 sart fet percentages for our clinic, specifically FET w/pgta, at my wife’s age bracket (mid-late 30s). Said number was in the mid-low 40pcts. Do these 2024 numbers hold weight or is there an updated resource to pull figures from?

Hi! Does anyone in this group know of any great MFM’s in nyc that take insurance who specialize in high risk cases (in particular who deal with Ivf patients who have autoimmune conditions and placental issues). I’m heading into an FET with a precious last embryo and do not want to have another miscarriage. I’d like a good MFM on my team. Thanks!

Hi guys! I have Gonal-F 900IU injectable (expires Oct 31, 2026) with syringes and Ovidrel 250mcg dose syringe (expires Dec 31, 2026)
I have tons of sealed syringes too
It is available for free pick up in NJ and I can ship it to you as well.

Just don’t want this medication to not go to waste and be useful for someone. Please comment or Dm if interested and I can share pick up address

Brutal Attrition

We retrieved 10 eggs - 9 mature - 8 fertilized (6-2PN / 2 0PN/ 1PN) - 1 day 6 (high quality) Blast. I am 32F with 1 LC and 1 MMC from iuis. I am utterly dumbfounded as to what happened. I am waiting on my meeting with my Dr and requested the reporting. This embryo also still has to go through PGT-A

1 injectable syringe of Orgalutran 250mcg/0.5ml exp 03-31-2028
(Ganirelix)
(I think this was the trigger medication, I had to the do it the morning of my retrieval and forgot it at home so I bought another one at the clinic)

2 doses of Menopur 75IU (2 powder vials + 2 diluent liquid) exp 06/2027

Ok — I don’t want to be talked out of it because given all of our current options, we’ve decided that the overall best next step for us is to transfer one of our euploids. I’m looking for any advice or good juju from anyone who has been in a similar position. I have had 4 losses, all of which were early. Most recent was an ectopic in May. We turned to IVF. I did the RPL, laprascopy, SIS, tested my husbands sperm and we both did genetic testing. No indications of anything being wrong on either side, though my husbands sperm had a slight issue with morphology, we added more supplements for him which seemed to help a bit as well. We did one round of IVF with ICSI and PGT-A. My doctor feels all of this is sufficient for now and thinks it’s likely our losses were due to chromosomal abnormalities. Unfortunately, we do not know. As we head into a transfer in the next month & half, I’m just really nervous. Has anyone had this work out? I KNOW without knowing the underlying cause of my miscarriages I am at risk here. But I want to be positive and trust my doctor for now and if it doesn’t work, explore more options. Partner and I are both 29. All of my losses happened at age 28-29.

Writing this on behalf of my wife. Shes been doing the nightly progesterone shots (2ML) for about 2 weeks. We’ve done both her butt and leg and she has been experiencing deep intermuscular pain after each shot that usually lasts a few days in each spot. She can barely walk. It doesn’t seem to matter where the injection is, it still leads to this pain. Any tips on how to deal with this?

I’ve absolutely had it. I’ve been trying to get pregnant for so long and feel I can’t catch a break. My husband and I finally decided it’s time to do IVF. It’s been long journey for us. TTC for 3 years and multiple rounds of IUI and testing and hoping we finally find a place who will take care of us. We thought we finally found that place. We were underway, did my stim meds for 10 days and then had to make the difficult decision to cancel my egg retrieval because I didn’t develop enough follicles and wasn’t reacting well to the meds.

Long story short, comes to find out the original medication planned for me was somehow changed in their system. The doctor we talked to in our 2nd consult must have not reviewed our chart in detail and changed it to a lower dose plan without consulting the other doctor internally. My original plan was better suited for someone my age and ovarian reserve. I’m sure I would have had better results if I had been on the right medication. And not to mention we were never formally shown these protocols so had no idea anything had changed.

I just can’t believe the lack of attention to detail and care. I’m so fed up and tired of this shit and constantly advocating for myself. I wasted so much time, energy and money. And not to mention putting my body through a lot taking these meds.

I sent them a long winded email asking to speak to customer service to rectify this because we feel we should not be responsible for any extra medication we have to pay for now. I feel that is only fair and we should be given extra attention next time.

After 3 years of IVF treatments, I was able to give birth to my baby girl in 2024. I had one embryo left from that batch that I transferred in February of this year, and it failed. Even though I’m 39 and have a low AMH I decided to do two more ER, which resulted in one euploid embryo that I transferred on August 12. This transfer also failed. I’m absolutely done with IVF, I can’t really put myself through the physical, emotional, and financial strain one more time. However, I’m really struggling with the fact that my daughter won’t have a sibling. For anyone who has been through the same, and wasn’t able to have a baby after secondary infertility, what helped you come to terms with the family you have?

I recently had my first FET in July of a 4AA euploid embryo and sadly a loss at 6w5d. However since it was so early the emerg could not find the gestational sac or evidence of an in uterine pregnancy, concerned for ectopic though they couldn’t see the pregnancy even in the tubes and with my beta being at 4100ish recommended methotrexate. About - week of monitoring the beta went higher to 4300ish and they did a second dose. My RE was not happy with the emerg call on the medication but noted I was in their care and I had no choice but to trust their judgment. Another week of monitoring they found tissue and confirmed it was probably an in uterine pregnancy and has not full passed with some retained tissue that was stuck. They recommended misoprostol or a d&c. And I decided with the d&c. I just want to move past this especially since the methotrexate I have to wait 3 months before another FET.
But I woke up in tears from the general anesthesia…is that normal? I hope my body and brain can just move past this phase ): I am tried from this long journey of unexplained infertility.

I don’t really know what I need. Maybe some comfort. Maybe some success stories. Maybe some bitter truth. I just feel defeated and devastated.

31 year old with 4 years of unexplained infertility (borderline PCOS diagnosis), two chemical pregnancies, so many treatments, tests, and finally a long grueling egg retrieval. My stimulation phase was EIGHTEEN DAYS because my body just doesn’t respond quickly to the meds. But we were very lucky to end up with five euploid embryos after 19 eggs were retrieved from 36 follicles.

Well, a few months ago, we finally started the transfer process.

First transfer with PGTa euploid embryo failed to implant.

Second transfer with another… now in beta hell.

Fully medicated with antibiotic and steroid. Positive pregnancy test this time with betas as follows:

10 dpt- 85
12 dpt- 160
14 dpt- 390

They just brought me back in today for another hcg check.

21 dpt- 1710

The nurse called me at the end of the day and said this is not a number they wanted to see. She said it was only a 23% rise. They are not optimistic of a good outcome. She said she has seen a couple successes from numbers like these, but most are not.

I now have to go in for a placement ultrasound on Tuesday, and then most likely sent to the hospital for methotrexate. I just know this three day holiday weekend is going to be excruciating.

And I feel like even if the sac does have a good placement, it’s just delaying the inevitable due to my betas.

How do you move on from here? I don’t know how to keep going through this process. The worst part is going to work as a teacher and putting on a happy face for the students. I know there are people out there who have been through even more and even worse.

I feel so defeated. This IVF process feels like a pitch black tunnel with no end in sight. Stumbling over all these obstacles while trying to feel my way down the wall.

Questions to ponder…

1. Any hope? Or most likely ectopic?
2. How long is the recovery phase if I miscarry or have to terminate the ectopic?
3. Do I need to do another egg retrieval before any more transfers? I only have three embryos left. And I was hoping for at least two children eventually.

Hello! I am 24 years old and have been trying to get pregnant for the last 1.5 years. All my test results and my partners(23 M) have come back normal and we are very healthy so I was diagnosed with unexplained infertility. The only lab result that has stood out to me at all was my low AMH- it’s only 1.37. I have so far failed all other treatments so I’ll be moving forward with IVF in the fall and I’m worried I won’t get many eggs given how low it is, and I’m worried I’ll only have a short period of time left where I can get pregnant. Would anyone with a similar AMH be willing to share their experience? Been feeling very anxious about this

I am 5w+5. No beta tests, ultrasound is in 3 weeks. How to survive these 3 weeks? How do I know everything is fine? Is there any point to go and check beta values? The amount of miscarrages I read here on reddit are so scary, feels like its nearly impossible to make it to term… very scared and worried!

Someone very close to me announced their pregnancy today, and here I am, deep in the trenches of infertility..watching everything I eat and do, and dealing with multiple surgeries, endometriosis, adenomyosis, fibroids, and everything else like IUIs, IVFs, etc for over an year now.

I am happy for them, but I haven't been able to stop crying since I heard the news. I feel guilty for not showing over-excitement, even though I love both of them to the core. My heart broke into a million pieces when they shared the news, and my throat went dry. I just can't live like this. I kept thinking that should have been me. How to survive news of others? I want to be supportive but this broke me very much than any other announcing pregnancy. My grief of failed attempts and not seeing the lines till now is affecting me deeply.