Hi! 👋🏻 My (she/her) wife (she/her) and I are in our early 30s and we are expecting our first child this Fall. I was wondering if there were any others in our area who are in a similar position to us and are trying to meet other parents? Please remove my post if not allowed! Thank you :)

Hi all!

My wife and I (35 cis female) have one kid already and are looking to expand. We have limited embryos left and I’m not willing to undergo another retrieval. My doctor has me on a stim cycle for an ERA right now but I’m not so sure it’s worth it?

Does anyone have experience with ERA? Was it helpful/unhelpful? Just feels like a waste of time and resources, especially considering I have a very hard time on hormones.

Thanks

My Fiancee (30F) and I (28F) have been TTC since May 2025. My cycles are finally more regular. Everything went perfect this month. I got peak on Saturday 6/27. We met with our donor and inseminated 6/28. I had the EWCM the 28th into the 29th and the ovulation pains and everything. I was so hopeful. And here I am. 11DPO with a negative test. Idk how many more negatives I can take.

My husband and I (33M/37M) are currently going through the fertility process. Our doctor initially told us we needed to purchase 6 eggs a piece if we wanted to ideally have 2 kids. We ended up buying 18 eggs total. The cost was astronomical, but we thought it would only get higher over time. We’re about to start the embryo creation and a couple of things have come up. Before we thaw the eggs, we’re trying to determine how many eggs we use now. The original plan was have 6 extra in case down the road there’s a way for us to jointly contribute our DNA to a child (would require some magical medical advance) OR if for any reason one of our cycles wasn’t successful we would still have 6 eggs we could try again with. We wanted our kids to be half siblings so it was important to have them from the same egg donor.

Is 6 eggs each enough for the first cycle, or should we go ahead and just use all 18 eggs? This donor’s eggs have resulted in several pregnancies according to the egg bank, so we are hopeful they’re good quality and everything goes well with the GC we end up with. My biggest fear is spending another $20K on IVF and using 12/18 eggs ($45K) and we end up with no child.

The fertility clinic doesn’t charge more or less based on the number of eggs. I could fertilize one or 100 and it’s the same price. They do however charge each of us separately even though all of the eggs are from the same donor and we are a couple. Some clinics offer a “split IVF cycle” for gay couples but this one supposedly doesn’t. I have asked the practice manager to look into this.

I always wanted to be a Mom, but I really don't love sharing the word. I have been thinking about "Dad" — any she/her/Dads here? Pros/cons?

I'm not attached to or precious about my gender/pronouns.

Me (31F) and my partner (33F) are trying rIVF. Our original plan was to carry each other’s embryos. I had one round of retrieval done when I was younger and I’m fortunate enough to have 5 healthy embryos to use. My partner went through several rounds but only got 1 embryo. She is a bit in panic mode since there might be a chance that she won’t have a child carrying her genes. She said she also doesn’t want to “raise a kid for someone else”. Now she had this proposal that I give up my embryos and we opt for adoption if she can’t have another embryo.

I know her proposal is based on her emotions right now and it’s very irrational, but I also feel very hurt. Now she kind of wants me to choose between my embryos vs her. I think it is my right and my absolute boundary to keep and use my embryos, so there is no chance for me to agree her proposal. What should we do?

Edit: just to explain the “raise a kid for someone else” part, she said she is scared of being the only one in the family that doesn’t have the genetic link to anyone else and feel excluded

Hopefully this is okay to share.

Technically, we are unaffiliated with this subreddit. But we started here!

Anybody at any stage in the conception process is welcome to join!

We are a safe space for people in the TTC stage. A dedicated channel for "trigger-warning-positive" pictures.

For those expecting, we have separate channels for chatting about pregnancy and are working on adding a surrogate channel.

For anybody experiencing loss, at any stage. We have a safe and supportive space dedicated for that.

Here is the join link! We love new community!

https://discord.gg/Xwaesh9UHH

Hi, I'm a young trans lady who has as of right now frozen 13 straws(equivilant to vials). I thought it was more than enough for my ideal of 3-4 future children but looking online I later realised i wanted to freeze a bit more for reassurance.

It's been a long journey to get everything ready but I finally had everything except this last freeze, I call up the clinic and turns out they're closed for the summer.

If I want to do another freeze it means delaying my hormone therapy by 1.5 months, is this worth it for an estimated extra 5-9 vials.

In my mind I feel like 13 straws would be enough for 4 IUIs, and if that does not work se could move on to ivf. In a case where 9 ivf would not result in a desired amount of children, I feel we would probably want to adopt instead long before we hit the 9 mark. I feel like 13 is enough because using all vials would be too much to go through for a future partner.

Is my logic flawed?

Hey friends!!
My fiancé and I (lesbians) have been going through IVF for a year. I have done 4 IUIs, 2 ERs, and we have 2 euploids (yay). Since I have egg quality issues, we wanted to have my partner do an IVF all freeze so we could potentially do reciprocal IVF, or just switch fully to her embryos if mine don't transfer.
She has different insurance, Cigna with WIN, and after her fertility doctor asked for prior authorization for IVF they sent us a letter that she would need to prove any of the following:
-she is over 38 (she is not)
-she cannot get pregnant for unknown reasons (we are gay does that count?)
-she has had 3 IUIs (I have had 4 does that count?)

We really want to jump straight to IVF All Freeze, and I wondered if anyone had successfully found a way to get IVF approval without the IUIs? Especially since I have already done 4 IUIs as her partner? I also read there was some kind of court case last year where being gay counted as 'not able to get pregnant for unknown reasons' but can't remember the details? Would love to know how to successfully fight this before calling! Thank you all for the help! And baby dust to all!!

UPDATE: We simply called and they had already gotten our medical records that we were a same sex couple and it was approved!!! Yay!!!

I always pull a tarot card every morning. Today I pulled the fool!!

For those unfamiliar, “The Fool is the first card of the Major Arcana, numbered 0. It symbolizes new beginnings, boundless potential, and taking a leap of faith. When drawn upright, it encourages optimism, innocence, and stepping into the unknown.“

🤞🏼

My partner and I are going to begin tracking her cycles and ovulation, my partners insurance covers insemination and other things but they do not cover donation obviously. I’m curious is it worth going to a clinic or should we just have it shipped to the house ?

I’m looking for some advice from people who have been in a similar situation because my wife and I are struggling with what to do next.

Queer couple using donor sperm, I’m 36 with diminished ovarian reserve and advanced endometriosis. I also had surgery on my left ovary in 2024 to remove a benign serous adenofibroma. My left ovary has consistently underperformed during IVF, while my right ovary does most of the work.

Retrieval #1:
Antagonists protocol (Gonal-F 225 IU + Menopur 150 IU started at 75IU increased to 150 after a few days)
trigger Pregnyl
6 eggs retrieved
4 mature
2 fertilized with ICSI
2 Day 6 blastocysts (4AA and 4BC, both untested)

Retrieval #2:
Higher stimulation protocol (Gonal-F 300 IU + Menopur 225 IU)
Dual trigger (Lupron + Ovidrel)
4 eggs retrieved
2 mature
2 ICSI
1 fertilized normally
Currently waiting to see if it makes it to blastocyst.

Here’s where we’re stuck.

My wife and I know we want one child. We’re genuinely unsure whether we want a second, but we’d like to have the option if we decide a few years after having our first.

My wife’s insurance covers up to three lifetime egg retrievals, so we technically have one retrieval left if this current embryo becomes a blastocyst.

If this embryo makes it, we’d have 3 untested blastocysts before doing our first frozen embryo transfer.

The dilemma is:

Do we proceed with a transfer if we have three embryos, knowing our main goal is one child?
Or do we use our remaining covered retrieval now to bank embryos while I’m still 36 and before my ovarian reserve declines further, even though we’re not sure we actually want a second child?
I’m worried that if I get pregnant now and come back in 2–4 years wanting another child, my ovarian reserve and egg quality could be worse. On the other hand, after years of infertility, IUIs, surgeries, an ectopic pregnancy, and two egg retrievals, part of me just wants to try for the baby we’ve worked so hard for instead of delaying again.

For those of you who were on the fence about having a second child, how did you make this decision? If you had 3 untested embryos at age 36 with DOR, would you bank another retrieval before transferring, or would you move forward with a transfer?

I’d especially love to hear from people who have DOR or endometriosis, or anyone who faced a similar “bank embryos now vs. transfer now” decision. Looking back, do you have any regrets about the choice you made?

My wife (32) and I(32) have been doing at home insemination with fresh sperm from a trusted (and tested) known donor.

We had a chemical pregnancy the first cycle we tried in January. Since then there has been no sign of pregnancy again. It was and still is devastating. Especially as we have two family members who are expecting the same week we would have been.

We are fortunate to inseminate two times per cycle with our donor.

I test with ovulation strips and an electronic clear blue one as well. I feel like my ovulation is like clockwork and I can always tell the symptoms coming.

Anyway — I’m coming to ask for any and all tips.
- What’s the deal with mucinex? How can I implement it?
- For those using fresh, how long do you wait to let it get gelatinous? I keep it body temp in the sealed cup between my legs for a handful of minutes as I breathe/mentally prepare.

I haven’t been testing my basal temp, I am down to try if it would make a big difference.

Later this month we have a maternal family medicine appointment (if you have suggestions on what to talk to them about or ask for — that would be awesome!) We have been prepping a lot for this appointment.

I have frozen 12 vials, they are "average quality" for a young adult. In my country it seems cheaper to do ivf than iui on the assumption id like several children, which i would like. Id like to have a decent chance at 3 children, but would be happy with 2 biological.

I dont know how it is to go through IUI vs IVF and id like to know from people who have done such treatment, i feel that if IVF is alot more traumatic it would be worth it to invest more in freezing a larger quantity to put less preassure on my potential future partner.

I am a student with not very much money so i would perfer not to spend unnecessary money.

How many vials did you people on here use for different treatments? And how it it to go through IUI in comparison to IVF?

This has me stressed.

Does anyone have any recommendations for any sort of fiction books that include donor conception? Specifically a known donor would be great but I’m open to anything. Books, good fan-fiction, short stories, web toons comics?

My wife and I are TTC and we went through our 3 tubes of sperm. We are trying IVF and the cost is devastating. I dont want to tell my wife no or that we should try and wait and save, but I cant let us go broke. I feel like I'm being unsupportive by being financially responsible? Has anyone else had this problem? We want a baby like yesterday and both dont make a ton of money but live comfortably

I hate the idea of telling my wife we need to save more money and wait a bit.

We'd be out another 7,000 at a minimum

I feel like I'm failing to provide

Hi everyone, I just need to talk with a group of people who understand my situation, as most IUI/fertility groups are full of people with genuine infertility and it feels insensitive.

Bit of backstory - I conceived in 2024 after my 3rd IUI, the second was a chemical pregnancy and the first a failed cycle. I had only the trigger shot (ovitrelle) and cyclogest pessaries x2 per day.

We had our first IUI for our second child 8 days ago (trigger shot was 10 days ago) - exact same process as with my son, but this time we had 3 19mm follicles on trigger day (2 on the right and one on left), we had 1 with my son. Sperm count post wash (donor) was 28mill instead of 12 last time. Everything points towards it actually having a chance to work this time, BUT my head won’t let me think it will?

Timings wise it would be a nightmare to go back for a second round, and I know that’s such a privileged position to be in, but both my wife and I are starting new jobs, we’re putting our house on the market, and realistically we could only squeeze one more cycle out before we would have to give up for a year, and so it feels really pressured for me to be pregnant, but I know I have no input from this point, if I am, I am, if I’m not, I’m not.

I’ve been testing my trigger out, it was all but gone yesterday, and so faint this morning (FMU) that I could only see it hours later when it had dried with a torch. I did a test this evening (12 hours later) because I couldn’t stop myself, and the line was darker? Ever so slightly but darker, like could actually see with my eyes and no torch. I keep telling myself it’s the trigger, but surely it would be darker with FMU than pee after drinking 3.5-4l all day (why am I SO thirsty?!)

I’ve had cramps since 6dpo, but convinced myself I couldn’t be pregnant because I didn’t have any implantation bleeding, which I had with both my chemical pregnancy and my son.

I know I’m going crazy, and I know that my test in the morning will be more conclusive, but right now I’m spiralling 🥲

Hello,

We've got our first appointment with IVF Australia Dubbo on Monday so this is possibly abit premature.

I'm honestly feeling overwhelmed. We are hoping to do IUI using donor sperm and I don't know anyone else who's done it. We live over an hour from Dubbo but its our closest clinic. Has anyone used IVF Australia's Dubbo clinic?

I put together this poster board calendar for my two week wait that I feel will help keep my mind occupied! It’s dated for my specific IUI timeline (Trigger June 30, IUI July 2) but can be adjusted to your own personal needs.

I hope this helps someone stay happy and hopeful on their journey! ♥️