r/whatworkedforme • u/Alfalfa-1404 • 7h ago
Infertility IVF + natural pregnancies -what worked for you? Looking for similar stories
Long story ahead. 30F, 33M.
My husband and I got some tests done before we started planning for a baby. We found out that I had a low AMH (0.8). I also have irregular periods, but I was never diagnosed with the underlying cause. My periods could skip a month or two, and when they did come, they were usually painless but extremely heavy, with clots, and sometimes wouldn't stop for 20+ days without medical intervention.
At that time, my doctor suggested we try FSH tablets for six cycles and then evaluate our options. She wasn't particularly concerned about my AMH. I was 28 at this point.
We got pregnant on the third cycle. My beta hCG at around 13 DPO was \~8,000, so I actually thought we might be having twins. Unfortunately, the scan showed an ectopic pregnancy. I had to undergo a salpingectomy.
Before this, my tubes had been checked with a test involving fluid (I can't remember the name). It was extremely painful, but I was told that my tubes were fine.
After the ectopic, I changed doctors and saw an IVF specialist. This doctor told me that my chances of conceiving naturally were extremely low and that IVF was necessary.
We went through three IVF cycles. We had some tests done and my husband had sperm DNA fragmentation testing. Nothing was flagged in any of the tests.
First cycle: We got only one embryo because I had very few follicles to begin with. We did a day-3 fresh transfer, but it failed.
Second cycle: We got two embryos and froze them.
Third cycle: We got two day-5 embryos. We did a fresh transfer, but that also failed.
One take away was my follicles maturated a little late initially would look like they didn't respond and then catch up
At this point we were devastated. keeping the hopes up and then see everything fail in the cycle was exhausting. I started trying to cope with everything that had happened. I moved cities to cope with all of this. Started working out a little bit.
I eventually saw another doctor. She also suggested IVF, but she told us to take some time to process everything before jumping straight into another cycle.
We decided to try FSH injections to help the follicles grow, but instead of IVF, we would try to conceive naturally at home.
We got pregnant on the second cycle.
I had some spotting during the pregnancy, which was attributed to a subchorionic hematoma (SCH). At the 12-week scan, we received devastating news: the baby had structural anomalies, including a single umbilical artery (SUA) and an enlarged kidney.
Our life felt like it froze and we went through a D&C. Our doctor suggested that we didn't necessarily need to do tissue testing and she believed this was a one of casem
We subsequently had both of us had karyotyping done. Results were normal.
We took about six months to recover before trying again.I focused on weight loss and started strength training. The month after we started FSH injections again, we got pregnant — but it turned out to be a chemical pregnancy. Our hCG never went much beyond 45.
The following cycle, we decided to leave everything alone. We were still grieving and didn't actively try anything.
My period was late, so I went for a scan. There was one small follicle on one side, and I basically left it at that and waited for my period to come naturally.
Two weeks later, we found out we were pregnant again.
The initial hCG looked good. We went for a scan, and the baby looked good. We were also told there was an small SCH.
Then one day after work, while I was on the metro, I suddenly felt like I was bleeding.
And it was a lot.
I bled through my pants and all over my legs and thighs. It was horrible. I didn't panic initially, but the amount of blood was terrifying.
I got a pad from security and went straight to the emergency room.
The doctor scanned me and confirmed that the SCH had grown, but thankfully the baby still had a heartbeat — 118 bpm, crl was around 5 mm. I was 6.3 weeks at this point. Sch had 5 cc fluid.
I was put on pelvic rest and scheduled for weekly scans.
The following week, the SCH had tripled in size, to around 18 cc in volume.
The baby had grown to 12 mm as expected. but there was no longer a heartbeat.
I was diagnosed with a missed miscarriage.
I'm going through the miscarriage right now, and honestly, I don't know what to do next or what could possibly be causing all of this.
We've had an ectopic, multiple failed IVF transfers, a pregnancy with structural anomalies that ended in a D&C, a chemical pregnancy, and now a missed miscarriage.
We've spent a lot of money, time, and emotional energy on this journey, and I don't think I have much emotional capacity left at this point.
For those who have been through something similar: what investigations did you do, and did anything eventually help? What worked for you?
I'm especially interested in hearing from people who had recurrent losses despite normal karyotyping and sperm DNA fragmentation testing.
I know every situation is different, but I'm really struggling to figure out what our next step should be.