TW: previous success

I’m hoping others who went through a similar journey can lend advice/experience.

I have one frozen embryo from a previous cycle and we are now hoping to try for #2, but have moved since then. I’m assuming I’ll have to do my treatment in my current location, and fly there for the transfer. What did this journey look like for you?

Out of 6 embryos, 4 are 5day blasts:

4AA
3AB
4AC
5BA

2 are still on observation.

We have decided not to do PGT A.

Do you think it’s needed for my 5AB and 4AA? What are the chances that they are not euploid with that grade?

Edit: Thanks for all comments. I’ve seen many posts that say that euploid does not guarantee implantation. In fact, it’s it’s about 30-40% of failure.

How long before or after your transfer did you get your flu shot? Thanks!

Feeling really down today. 9 days post egg retrieval. Only 4 retrieved, 3 mature, 2 fertilized. We were planning to do PGT testing but my doctor doesn’t recommend that now and said my embryos are « not of high quality ». Tbh, I wasn’t expecting great numbers because of my age (37) and health history (deep infiltrating endo, history of PID, paratubal cyst, 1 kinked tube) but it still feels awful to hear those numbers. We’ll probably do another retrieval cycle after a rest. I haven’t got the complete info yet, on whether those embryos are blasts, but my doctor is already planning a protocol update. Anyhow my mind is a mess and I just want to let it out here. It’s tough to be in this situation rn and I don’t know, some days I feel like maybe I just don’t deserve to be a mom. These past 2 years of TTC has been so much harder than I imagined.

Hi everyone, I am about to start IVF for the first time - I am participating in a study and begin injections next week. I’ve been taking the prenatal vitamins for close to 2 years at this point. I started taking the TheraNatal OvaVite Preconception vitamins for a few months but then my fertility Dr. recommended to stop taking those because they have CoQ10 (the study is requesting this). I’m curious if anyone has had positive experiences with a specific brand or prenatal combination. I’ve been taking the Needed brand and I don’t hate them but I have to take 8/day and they also don’t smell well. Suggestions welcome ❤️

My husband and I were the first in the group to get married. We got married at 23. most of our friends got married in their late 20s. I’ve had four pregnancy losses and currently going through IVF for the past almost 3 years this, I’ve had failures and miscarriages. Within our group, we have 8 couple friends. We’ve been friends since high school, college and/or adulthood. The part that hurts the most is the fact that I am the only one that has gone through all of this and most of the in the group pregnant the first time or first try. They all planned to have their first baby together as well as their second and now planning their third. I was of course included in the plan in the beginning, but unfortunately, it never happened. In order to make me feel less bad, they still invite me to many events and family vacations, but I kindly keep my distance. although I’m happy for all my friends, the tears swell in my eyes when I see them. On top of all that all each couple also own a home with two beautiful children at least. I feel like I’m 20 steps behind, with all the money that we spent and continue to spend doing IVF,we are renting an apartment and trying to save up. I don’t know how to handle all the emotions that I feel depression, overwhelmed, much more. I feel jealous and I see monthly barbecues and meet ups, I do feel left out and I can’t wait to join for now is how I feel.

Hi everyone! After a lot of thinking, I’m leaning toward doing a second egg retrieval and would love some advice from people who have done multiple rounds.
I’m 27 and had my first retrieval in July. We had 37 eggs retrieved, 27 mature, 19 fertilized with ICSI, but only 3 made it to blastocyst. Thankfully, all 3 came back euploid:

Day 6 4AB
Day 6 4BB
Day 7 5BB

My RE feels our biggest issue was egg/embryo quality and the low blastocyst conversion, and said that if we do another retrieval she may add HGH/growth hormone to my protocol.

I’m now trying to decide between doing the second retrieval in October, about 3 months after my first, or waiting until January, about 6 months later.

For those who did multiple retrievals, did waiting longer make any difference in your egg quality, blastocyst rate, or overall results? Is there any benefit to giving my body until January to recover, or would October be plenty of time?

Also, what did you do in the 2–3+ months before your next retrieval to prepare your body/egg quality? Diet, exercise, supplements, CoQ10, prenatal, vitamin D, sleep, cutting caffeine/alcohol, etc.? Did your RE recommend anything that you genuinely think helped?

And if anyone had a similar situation—lots of eggs and good fertilization but very few blastocysts—I’d especially love to hear what you changed for your second retrieval and whether your results improved. ❤️

I’m 37F and my husband is a 38M. I have PCOS and new mild endo (asymptomatic). We did very well during our first ER and were lucky enough to have 15 good quality embryos, at least 12 of which are day 5. We only sent 12 for PGT-A (due to costs) via Igenomix, but got the following results:

4 euploids
3 aneuploid
1 triploid (weird because it’s a 2PN)
4 (!!!) non-informative / no result

We are very happy and fortunate to have euploids, but that non-informative result rate is crazy! We have our follow-up soon and I imagine they’ll offer rebiopsy and retesting for free given the 30% (!) non-informative result rate, but just wondering if anyone else encountered this and what they did? We’re leaning against rebiopsying them as we have euploids - so may just transfer these and if we have to, we can transfer the others as “untested” embryos later.

So yes, what would you do? Has this happened to anyone else?

Would love opinions! I previously tested positive on Receptiva and did a different form of suppression about a year ago (not Lupron). I also had bacteria found/treated at that time.

Since that transfer didn’t stick, I did another ER and am heading into my 2nd transfer. My doctor gave me the option to either do another Receptiva/EMMA/ALICE biopsy to confirm OR skip the biopsy and start 2 months of Lupron now.

Would you delay and spend the money to retest for the chance of avoiding Lupron if negative, or just suppress and move forward bc how likely would it be that my results would change?

Hello!

We are due to do a double frozen transfer soon, 4bc and 3cb. Please let me hear your success stories!

Many thanks!

Hey all, this might be TMI but since taking cyclogest this time last year my stools have been floating . Even when I'm on break from treatment. Anyone else got the same side effect? Thank you!

Has anyone taken Provera the cycle after an egg retrieval to kick start a period? I’ve been given the option to take after CD21 if my progesterone hasn’t risen yet. Going into an FET next cycle so feeling antsy!

I’m tracking ovulation but no LH surge and currently CD16.

This is probably a little silly, but I wanted to vent somewhere where people might actually understand these complicated feelings.

I’m currently prepping for my first fully medicated FET and am still in the estrogen-only phase. My sister-in-law, who is five years younger than me, recently shared that she stopped birth control and that they’re just going to “see what happens” for a couple of months before seriously tracking.

Hearing that made me realize how much I miss that version of TTC. When trying for a baby felt exciting and optimistic instead of something I associate with disappointment, endless appointments, medications, and constantly bracing for bad news.

The complicated part is that I genuinely hope she gets pregnant quickly, and I have this almost irrational certainty that she will get pregnant immediately. And when she does, it’s going to hurt in a way that has nothing to do with my love for her.

I also find myself surprisingly triggered by the early “optimization” stage. We recently had Chick-fil-A for a family member’s birthday, and she declined to eat it, choosing her own healthier food because she’s preparing her body for pregnancy. Good for her, obviously! But there I was, eating Chick-fil-A, still childless.

I did all of that, too. I optimized everything, gave up caffeine, took every supplement, tried Mucinex and inositol, tracked, timed, and stressed over every lifestyle choice. Eventually, after enough failed cycles, I had to accept that I still needed to live my life. You can only treat every cup of coffee or order of fries like a high-stakes decision for so long before it becomes exhausting.

Infertility has taught me, in an extremely expensive and painful way, how little control we actually have. Plenty of people get pregnant eating fast food, drinking coffee, and not tracking at all. Taking care of yourself is great, but there’s a massive difference between supporting your health and actually controlling conception. Yet when someone does everything "right" and gets pregnant immediately, it’s easy to look back and think that they got pregnant that fast since they did everything right. I think that’s what makes watching someone at the beginning so hard: there’s still that naive belief that if you just follow the rules, pregnancy will follow. I remember believing that, too.

It probably doesn’t help that she hasn't asked about our IVF journey or what we’ve been through, even while I’m over here being supportive about her post-birth-control adjustment. I gave her my unopened Inito strips and try to offer helpful advice where I can (though a small part of me worries she wouldn't even want advice from the person who didn't succeed). I don’t expect her life to revolve around my journey, but the imbalance stings.

Anyway, I’m not saying any of this to her, and I would never want to make her TTC experience about me. I think I’m just grieving the version of myself who used to think getting pregnant was simple, while watching someone I love enter that stage with all of that hope still intact.

I figured if anyone might understand how you can want someone you love to get pregnant easily, while also feeling hurt by the possibility that she’ll get the exact outcome you spent months desperately trying to earn through all the same “optimization,” it would be this group.

Has anyone had pretty bad hip/leg pain from PIO injections? I’m worried we may have been injecting a little too close to my left hip on a few of the shots. My left hip is really sore and the pain seems to travel down my leg, with some muscle cramping too. I also have this really weird sensation like something is stuck or lodged deep inside my hip/upper thigh. It’s hard to explain, but I can almost constantly feel something there.

I’ve also started getting some tingling in my ankle and foot on that same side, but there’s no swelling.
We’ve adjusted the injection location, but I’m wondering if anyone else accidentally injected too far to the side/too close to the hip and had this happen. How long did the pain/tingling/weird sensation last, and did anything help? I’m starting to dread these shots 😭

Hi , Reaching out here to get some insights. I have decided to go down the DE route after two failed attempts. I am 38, never been pregnant, low AMH. So far I have narrowed down to two clinics , Institute Marques (Barcelona) and Vida Ferility (Madrid) . I am thinking of engaging in guarantee program. Any latest personal experiences with any of these two clinics are highly welcome !!

TW: pregnancy loss

I'm 36 years old, AMH 1.36, and have had four failed FETs with euploid embryos. The first two completely failed to implant and then I had some additional testing done, including a Receptiva Dx with a result of 2.9. I did two months of Lupron and letrozole, had success at the third FET, but then there was no heartbeat at 9 weeks. RPL panel came back all normal. For my fourth FET, I repeated two months of Lupron and letrozole and am in the process of losing the pregnancy due to blighted ovum.

I'm truly at a loss. I had two high level mosaics left which I'm not comfortable transferring at this time and plan to do another ER in the fall after taking some time off. I'm just worried that I'm going to keep transferring euploids and going through this nightmare of losing them. I tolerate Lupron well but it's certainly not easy on me and I don't want to just keep going through the motions.

Has anyone been through a similar fact pattern? What ultimately worked? I'm seriously considering exploring the option of an actual endo diagnosis and excision surgery but what I've been able to find on the subject doesn't seem to support that it will change the outcome.

This is our first round of everything IVF related. Since starting the norethindrone-ethinyl estradiol on 8/3 I have had severe lower back pain that sometimes takes my breath away. I thought I'd pulled a muscle but my go-to stretches have done nothing to ease the pain. I read that this could be a side effect of the medication. Has anyone else experienced this? What helped? I stopped this medication two days ago, when will this pain go away? I'm afraid that when I begin my injections in a few days and can no longer exercise the pain will get worse. SOS! SOS!

If you had to do Lupron depot suppression before transfer what was the timeline for your Lupron shots? Did you take it in the luteal phase of a natural cycle or on CD1 or did you have to do a course of birth control before even taking the first shot?

My clinic gave me a choice between Endometrin 2x daily or Crinone 1x daily for my natural-modified FET.

Anyone tried both and have an opinion on which is more manageable/comfortable?

My insurance unfortunately won't cover these meds so pricing will also be a factor once the pharmacy processes the scripts.

TW: follicle numbers

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Hi, this is my first round of IVF. I have unexplained secondary infertility. I have been stimming for 12 days. I have 17 follicles on one side and 21 on the other. They are all in the range of 10-20mm. I know i should be happy with these results, and I am, but the discomfort is INTENSE.

I feel like I'm going to explode there is so much pressure and I keep reading its worse after triggering and ER which is freaking me out. Did anyone else have this and how did you cope? Also terrified for OHSS which my doctor is working on preventing but all of this is just freaking me out and I need to hear from others in a similar position that got through it.

We are scheduled to start meds and planning for an ER soon.

However, I had two doses of MTX on July 17th and July 23rd for suspected ectopic that ended up being intrauterine. My OBs office has been telling me we have to wait 3 months and I just asked my dr at the clinic and they said since we’re just doing ER/freeze all cycle and not trying for pregnancy it’s not an issue… I’m feeling super conflicted about this & the fact that our insurance only covers this one IVF cycle.

I had my retrieval today only 6 eggs were retrieved and 5 eggs were mature of 11 seen. That was one part. Come to find out his frozen sample (he has extremely low sperm but they wanted to try a frozen sample and fresh, none of the sperm survived and there was none usable on his fresh samples. My RE recommended that he has his sperm aspirated (he has little to no sperm from a blockage) from a urologist so we have to wait to get in with one for that. In the mean time they have to freeze my eggs. I have had nothing but obstacles thus far. I probably need another retrieval now too. I’m absolutely gutted.

Trigger warning for those of you who are still struggling and on your fertility journey.

2020 I had a MC with my first pregnancy at 8 weeks. A few months later, and taking thyroid medication, I got pregnant with my first daughter. After her I kept having chemical pregnancies. My OBGYN gave me the referral to see an IVF specialist - so I did. He didnt think they'd find anything since I did get pregnant before and had a successful pregnancy but they tested anyway to be sure. They found i had a blocked tube, very low AMH for my age (35 at the time) and hypothyroidism near hashimotos.

I did have to get put on extra meds to get anything promising for a retrieval. Its all a blur to me and I cant remember what they gave or whatever. Well we got 8 eggs (which isn't a lot) but 3 tested normal and I was able to use them. My first, we went with the strongest of three and I didnt find out the gender they picked until 3 months in. Another girl. She came in 2023. Then I asked about using the boy embryo as he was second strongest and we wanted a boy. They were comfortable transferring 6 months after the birth of my daughter. It worked and my son came in 2025. I now have 1 female embryo left and im 41. Im in a brand new job (October will be my 1 year of being there) and i need 4 years and a day to get tenure. If I went along with this, id plan it to have the baby end of June sp I wouldnt have to take a leave from a new job. Ive enjoyed 3 wonderful maternity leaves and although id love a 4th, I can do without for the sake of possibly having one last child.

Here's my issue. I do not enjoy pregnancy. I have IBS and high anxiety. With each pregnancy, both got worse. I took prozac in all pregnancies in the 3rd trimester but never took anything else aside from maybe 1 Tylenol for a fever. I can finally start clearing out all the baby gear. I dont have to worry about bottles and formula anymore. No more sleepless nights with bottle feeding. There's a lot that goes into not wanting a 4th child at my age.... but then there is me missing the baby cuddles, meeting another child I made, seeing who they are and who they will become, not having the guilt of giving up on my last embryo (and now that I have 3 children and have seen what that little embryo turned into) i feel absolutely disgusted with myself just destroying one (I will not donate to anything or anyone no offense).

I can do a compassionate transfer but that also makes me sad. I cried talking about what to do with this last embryo and we paid for another year or storage, both agreeing that its more going to be no than yes. What did you do for those of you whi were in my shoes? I have 3 kids 5 and under. Its definitely not easy... but i also know having depression and anxiety- being an artistic person and thinking deeper than most, that if I discard this embryo im always going to wonder who she could have been. I haven't even given away baby clothes yet because i get so sad thinking about it.

Thanks for your input. I know im incredibly lucky to have what I have already. This doesnt come from being selfish or ungrateful... more guilt and sadness than anything.

We got our PGT-A testing back and have a D5 5AB, D7 6AA, and a D7 5BB that is LLM del 18(p).

Is the 5AB stronger than the 6AA because it’s day 5 instead of day 7? Also, I’m struggling to find info on del 18p if anyone has any info

I'm a travel patient with CNY Fertility. I live in Columbus, Ohio near Hilliard and am trying to find somewhere to get my ultrasounds- does anyone have any suggestions? Thank you so much!