Briss' story

[LondonMarta]

Hi Briss,

I can't believe it that you actually got back to me. I must have read tens of your entries amongst all the forums I could find! I sound like a stalker now ...

How old is your precious angel? I found your story on this forum quite late and reading and knowing that you have succeeded made absolutely elated for you and must say gave me more strength to persevere.

I need to get a copy of all of my results, as they do not tend to give them to you. How did you get yours? I know you were testing privately regularly, but did you get copies from UCLH?

I was diagnosed with PCOS (although that diagnosis keeps changing), large uterine septum (two wombs) and endometriosis. The two latter ones were taken care of during two surgeries this year (God I was high on drugs and loved it) and feel absolutely better for it! Although, now after taking Clomid I am questioning whether my endo is back. The thing is that they could easily do all IUIs without any drugs as I am ovulating naturally and never had any problems with it.

Concerning weight, that is a relief that I am not the only one struggling with the same! I will try to amend my diet a bit and hit the gym as often as possible. That should do the trick!

I contacted a few clinics abroad and they all want to do their own tests i.e blood work, scans, semen sample and some other tests before talking serious, which is slightly annoying as I have all these and don't want to waste time.

I am 31 years old (my BF is much older) and at times panicking that things are not happening quickly enough and soon it will be more and more difficult. I know there are people, who are much older than me, still, I can't help it...

I should find out soon when is my appointment for the IVF and need to decide whether I should go ahead with the last IUI, in which case I won't be able to do the natural IVF in the meantime as the drugs would interfere (I guess). Also, I was wondering what NHS does with the leftover eggs they collect, if there are any left?

Don't be scared my Briss, I heard from others that the second IVF is easier for some reason, I think the body knows what to do the second time round! Keep me posted on your journey! I am crossing my fingers for you...

Meanwhile, whilst you are breastfeeding, I am going to find out on Wednesday the outcome of my IUI. Last time I didn't even get to get proper excited as my AF arrived a day before I was supposed to test :growl mad:

Lots of love x

 

[LondonMarta]

What did you decide to do Briss?
How is your little girl?

I got BFP on 22/10/16 and am beyond ecstatic!!!!!!! X

 

[Briss]

LondonMarta, congratulations on your BFP!! Was it after your last iui? Wonderful news! With regards to uclh I got all my medical records from them. You just need to send them a letter requesting it and i think pay 10 pounds or so and they will send you a copy of everything they have in your file.

Afm, I'm about to start my first natural IVF. 8 months after giving birth. We may not get to EC depends on how things are. But I'm glad we are finally doing something.

 

[LondonMarta]

Hi,
It was after the last IUI (second one). We were honestly not expecting it as we were told our chances with IUI were near nil. And here were are, 6 days 3 days! I am obviously stressed about the prospect of ectopic and/or an empty sac and need to wait till the end of November to have my first scan, which is like a torture!
Great news you are ready to start again!!! I am crossing my fingers, keep me posted! x

 

[LondonMarta]

Are you going to use the German clinic again?

 

[dovkav123]

Congrats LondonMarta. I feel for you, it is a scary time right now. I had insomnia, when I had my first BFP. Just relax and imagine how a tiny and a happy life is thriving in your perfect womb.

Briss,
I had pleasant chills, when u told me that u picked my recommended clinic. I wish u all the best on your next IVF. Hope and pray it will be a fast and pleasant experience.

Please keep us updated about your progress.

Unfortunately, my husband is not excited to try for another baby. If I keep talking about it, maybe, he will change his mind. He grew as a single child, and he doesn't see any need to give a sibling to our baby.

 

[Bevziibubble]

Congratulations!

 

[LondonMarta]

Thanks a lot!
I had my early scan (6 weeks 5 days) just over a week ago and there is one baby with one strong heart beating!! It is so surreal!
Couldn't be happier!

dovkav123, keep talking about it, he will either have enough of the talk and go for it or start seeing some sense in the arguments. Either way, win win! x

 

[LondonMarta]

Briss, where did you give birth?

 

[Briss]

dovkav, I think it might be even harder this time around. even though I know what i need to do i.e. natural IVF it's not going well. my DH's SA is so much worse that it's not even suitable for ICSI. also the clinic seems to have lost interest in helping me. They do not respond to my emails on time so my cycle failed cos we missed ovulation. My Dh is also not enthused about any more children, he is the only child himself. and now when he needs to sacrifice his social life again i.e. no pubs! he is not prepared to do that. it's so hard. we are discussing divorce again even though we love each other

LondonMarta, great news on the HB! i was at st Mary's. i started at the birth centre but later was transferred to the labour ward.

 

[Briss]

Since my last post I had 5 natural IVf cycles mostly in Germany and one in Spain. all failed just had my latest failed cycle, the egg did not fertilise. I am not that upset about this cycle but this is my third cycle in a row that did not result in an embryo. this is truly worrying. the doc said it's all in the egg, the morphology was poor and it looked like an egg of a much older woman obviously gave me a donor egg speech.

my before and after 40 natural IVF statistic is really worrying only one embryo out of 5 cycles after 40 compared to 4 embryos before 40:

natural IVF before 40:
1.BFP/Chemical
2.missed egg
3.BFN
4.BFP/MMC
5.BFP/Full term

natural IVf after 40:
1.missed egg
2.BFN
3.abnormal fertilisation
4.zero fertilisation
5.zero fertilisation

I really do not know where to go from here except to go on with natural ivf until we get lucky. what else is there?

 

[CaliDreaming]

So sorry you've had such discouraging results up to now. Yes I think keep trying is all you can do unless you just decide that you're happier as a family of three. It doesn't seem like there'd be much change in your fertility in just a year's time so hopefully you'll find that second magic egg soon.

How's your baby girl? Is she walking and talking yet?

 

[Briss]

CaliDreaming,how are you? I was prepared for some disappointment and expected it to take longer but so far the result have just been way too depressing and discouraging. DH blames it on breastfeeding but i really do not think so. I ovulate normally it's just that the egg quality changed dramatically in the last two years. the only thing I changed is i stopped taking large doses of coq10 as soon as I got pregnant last time. I've only been taking prenatal vitamin + fish oil in the last two years. Can coq10 really make such a big difference to egg quality? The doc said she thinks only about 20% of my eggs are good enough to fertilise last time it was very different my main issue was to catch the egg in a natural IVf cycle but once caught it'd definitely fertilise. now it's both, catching + fertilisation. doing back to back IVF cycles abroad is putting a lot of pressure on Dh and my DD. I feel like I am dragging them around Europe catching eggs. DH can't even go on a holiday as she spends his entire annual leave allowance on EC/ET trips. He brings it up more and more often that we should take a break from TTC until I stop BF but I feel like time is of utmost importance as i have more chances now than in 6-12 months

 

[CaliDreaming]

I tend to agree with dh that breastfeeding and just the demands of having recently given birth could be affecting things. A lot of people recommend that women, even young women in their prime, take 2 years minimum between each pregnancy to recover completely.

Coq10 does make a massive difference too so I'd start that up once you feel you are able. A lot of supplements have mixed results but the benefits of coq10 are universally accepted.

Yes your fertility is expected to decline at your age, but age-related declines after the big drop at 35 are very gradual. So I think there is a good chance that bf'ing and recent childbirth are temporarily affecting things. You are still ovulating regularly and thus should have several good eggs left and definitely at least one more good egg so don't despair.

I do think a short break would do you and your family a world of good but I know it is definitely hard to take a short breather when you feel that time is ticking. I guess you're afraid that things may be worse if you wait, but it could be if you take a breather with the goal of getting yourself in tip top reproductive health you'd get faster results. I think the latest research suggests that declines in egg health can be reversed.

 

[Briss]

CaliDreaming, thanks. I do wonder if childbirth/BF is more of a factor than age? can't do anything about BF though, my DD still relies on it heavily and I just can't deprive her of what she needs. I also have very little sex drive compared to pre pregnancy so maybe it's an indication that things are not back to normal and my body does not really think reproductive organs deserve any attention at this time so diverts most of my blood with nutrients to other causes.

 

[dovkav123]

Hi Briss,

I am so sorry about your poor results in IVF. My heart cries for you.
Cali is right, that egg quality should go down gradually and yes, the quality can be reversed.
Not only your age, something else could be a problem.
Can your breastfeeding take toll on your body and nutrient reserve?
Did your mom get menopause early in 50s or later in 60s?
Q 10 does help with an egg quality and aspirin as well.
Do you do ovitelle shot before EC? This helps to mature an egg.

To tell you the truth the glyphosates, Round up, causes infertility and many chronic diseases. It is a synthetic amino acid that kills weeds, and our body takes it as organic, its own and makes big problems.....You need to eat organic food as much as possible.
In order to detox from this chemical, you need to eat food that contain lots of sulfites, broccoli, radish, eggs.....Antioxidants like berries and fruits. Get plenty Vit D and eat high cholesterol food.
I really believe you will catch that beautiful and healthy egg, you just don't need to give up.
We did our 6 IVFs every single month, 2 months we did IUI and the 7th IVF next month was the lucky one.

 

[Briss]

dovkav, thank you! I think it's probably age + BF and the fact that I still do not sleep as BF through the night + the fact I can't take coq10 or chinese herbs. it also took us 7 IVFs to conceive our daughter but i had embryos and transfers. this time around it's rather depressing, over 5 cycles we only managed one embryo my eggs come out mature (with or without the trigger shot) but they just do not fertilise with ICSI. I started thinking that maybe i need to take a break and resume once we stop BF. but I am 41... not much time to waste, feeling the pressure.

because i cook for my daughter now i generally try to buy fresh organic produce. my vice is sugar just can't beat the addiction.

I am also concerned about having too much chemicals in our life, have been trying to eliminate as much artificial stuff as possible but we still breath the air and drink water that is far from healthy.

 

[Briss]

Just to report two more failed natural IVfs

natural IVf after 40:
1.missed egg
2.BFN
3.abnormal fertilisation
4.zero fertilisation
5.zero fertilisation
6. BFN
7. Immature egg

it's getting more and more depressing. I started ubiqunol but only 100 as i am still BF and we froze DH's sperm in a couple of clinics so we could save on travel expenses with only me travelling.

no luck with stopping BF, I went away for a few days and left my DH with DD and she was totally fine without BF but as soon as i got back she went straight for the breast...not sure what else to try.

 

[Bevziibubble]

I'm so sorry

 

[gingmg]

Hi Briss- I'm so sorry you are going through this. Sending big hugs. I hope you catch that egg soon. How is your little girl?