Entering the world of Assisted Conception...like it or not...

[Hiker1]

Hello! Just wanted to introduce myself. I've been hanging out in the 2WW forums for a while, but as of today when my DH and I officially went to a fertility doctor, I think I need to accept that I am no longer part of the group of folks who will be conceiving the good, old-fashioned way. A little about me - 34, married for a year and a half. TTC for 1 year. I have hypothyroidism and it was determined a few weeks ago with diminished ovarian reserve (FSH of 12.8), had a clear HSG test done, and was referred to a fertility clinic by my obgyn. Would love to have some buddies to go through this with, especially someone who is just starting on this journey like me!

To fill you in on the doctor's plan: (he said we need to be "aggressive" when talking about the measures we need to take to get me pregnant and to do so ASAP because of the ovary situation)

This next month, I'll be put on a series of oral meds (Letrozol), then take a shot of Ovidrel, then we'll be doing IUI. After just 1 month of that, if that doesn't work, we'll move to some kind of injections with IUI, and not sure how long we have to try that, but then it will be onto IVF.

There is still a chance (we'll see in a week or so) that we got pregnant on our own this month, but I'm not holding my breath, if all the letdowns from this past year are any indication. In general I am still is shock, disbelief, and disappointment that this is happening. If not, I do feel somewhat empowered that we have a plan, and good doctors and amazing science so we can hopefully have a baby. I've told myself to try to stay unemotional about it, be realistic, and try one thing at a time. Hoping to find some friends on here to go through this with! Thanks for letting me share my story!

 

[Smille24]

If you don't mind, I'm going to join you. I feel kind of lonely myself because I don't know where I belong.

A little about me. Both dh and I are 28 and we've been ttc #2 (my 2nd, but dh's 1st) since Sept 2013. In the beginning, we tried a relaxed approach bc we watched our good friends struggle to conceive. They constantly complained how their sex life became a job. We swore that wouldn't be us, but after 9 mths we knew we had to take action.

We gave it another year b4 going to my ob for help. She suggested since I had a child and my dh has not, the easiest way to figure out the issue was doing an SA. Those numbers came back at 13mil with 10% motility. My ob told us she could not assist with a male issue and referred us to an RE.

After a series of tests like you had, my dh's numbers went up, but he has an extremely high % of abnormal sperm. My egg reserve is good, but they are not maturing so the quality is terrible. They said we can go straight to IVF which would give us a higher success rate or try 3 rounds of IUI. They are confident that IUI will work as long as his count cooperates.

So we are doing IUI this cycle with clomid. I am terrified it won't work. I will be completely crushed. I am sick of being poked and prodded but I remind myself that this is necessary for us to conceive. It's not the "old-fashioned way", but I've come to terms with it.

 

[Hiker1]

Thanks for sharing this Smille! Sounds like we both are on the same track. Certainly different situations, but both frustrated after a long time, both wishing it wasn't the way it is, and both starting this process around the same time. But for our health and sanity, we need to come to terms with it. The alternative to not going through with assisted fertility is potentially (and quite likely) no children of our own. That's not an alternative I'm willing to accept just yet.

I dont know much about the particulars of sperm quality/quantity. I was kind of given the impression (could be totally wrong though) that with IUI, the sperm is somehow "treated" prior to insemination so that only quality ones are used? In which case, I would think your chances would be pretty good since all that is being inseminated will be "good" ones. I really hope it happens for you quickly. The thought of all the poking/prodding/unnaturalness of it gets to me too.

I had my day 21 bloodwork today for progesterone levels, as well as AMH, and a bunch of other tests, including preconception genetic testing. I'm trying to tell myself that it's a good thing because we'll know prior to conception if there might be any genetic issues. People who conceive naturally don't usually get that luxury

Anyway, anyone else starting this process, please feel free to jump in and join! The more of us in this together, the better I think.

 

[Smille24]

They do what they call "washing" where they wash away the surrounding fluid which enables them to be more mobile. It also removes the abnormal sperm as well. I start 100mg of clomid tomorrow. I'm dreading the symptoms but it's 4 days, I can do it!

 

[Hiker1]

Yes, washing. That's what I meant. So yeah hopefully with that you'll have nothing but "good" ones to do their thing! Good luck with the Chlomid! What are the side effects? Is this your first time?

 

[Smille24]

They told me the side effects were hot flashes, extreme mood swings and dryness down there. There's also a 10% chance of multiples. This is my 1st time taking it. I'll start tomorrow (cd 3-7). Hopefully the symptoms will be mild.

 

[Hiker1]

Keep us posted on your side effects. Hope they aren't too bad!!

 

[MMW430]

Smille, are you doing a trigger shot? Are you being monitored at all? Our first baby, was an IVF baby (first try, transferred one embryo and had one baby) but I'm currently pregnant with our second, which is from iui (it was a different clinic. The first time, we didn't even try iui.

IUI, worked on the second round, which was clomid, monitoring, and an ovidrel trigger shot. Hopefully you don't have side effects, I didn't! Honestly, IUI is a breeze compared to IVF, but if it comes to IVF, you'll be okay and it'll be worth it if it works. Good luck!

 

[Smille24]

Thank you. No side effects so far, but it's day 1.

I am doing the trigger shot which will be mailed to me.
They are monitoring me bc they want to make sure they got the dosage right and make sure my body is doing what it should. I will also be taking progesterone after the procedure.

Congrats on your second pregnancy! It makes me so happy to hear it worked and gives me so much hope!

 

[MMW430]

It's great you're being monitored. Not everyone does that. I'm on progesterone as well. It really is true sometimes when they say you only need one. I had one follicle, and really wasn't very hopeful because, I mean, one doesn't seem very good, but it worked!

 

[Hiker1]

Hi Smille! Happy New Year! How are you doing on your Chlomid so far? You are my trailblazer, as I'll be doing the same thing as you, just a few weeks after. Hope all is well and side effects are minimal.

 

[Smille24]

Happy New Year!!! I've had no side effects so far which is great. In 1 week I go for my mid cycle u/s so I am hoping for positive feedback. I feel great knowing we're doing everything possible.

How are you holding up in the tww?

 

[Hiker1]

This is great that you haven't had side effects yet. Right now I am reading the packets of info given to me by the fertility doctor, and was reading about Chlomid and thought of you. Seems like the chances of side effects for that drug are pretty low thankfully. I hope things continue to go smoothly for you!

Thanks for asking about the tww. I am temping and yet again my chart dosent seem to follow any pattern. Literally every month that I've temped, on the days past ovulation, my Temps have shown really strange patterns. I'm still above the coverline but now especially having seen the fertility doctor and knowing that there are legitimate reasons for having not conceived so far, I now have zero hope for this cycle. But I'm not upset about it because now i know there's a reason things haven't worked out yet. So I just kinda want my period to come so I can get started with assisted conception. I feel like once that starts, then maybe we'll actually have a real shot at conceiving. Hope that made sense

Ps my doc said to stop temping...that it is an unneeded stressor. But I don't want to let go of doing it just yet. Makes me feel like I have an inside scoop about what's going on with my body on a daily basis. And that stopping temping is letting go of control in some way. Is that crazy? Do you temp? Not sure what to do with that.

 

[Smille24]

I've found that temping is stressful, but I still do it as it has become a morning routine. Last cycle I had a crazy chart, but the weather here didn't know what to do so I blame that. I've tried to stop temping, but like you I want to know what's going on. Sometimes taking control can be draining.

I bet the meds will help and you'll probably see a clearer chart next cycle since your body will do what it should.

So you're just doing 1 round of IUI and moving on if necessary?

 

[Hiker1]

From what i understand I am doing 1 round with pills, then I think 3 rounds with injectables, then onto ivf. Only met with the doctor once so still waiting on bloodwork etc to say for sure. I hope it happens quickly for both of us!!

How is your chart now that you are on the meds? I still think I'm going to keep charting. Like you its a morning routine for me so why not. Gives me one more thing to obsess about lol

 

[Smille24]

I hope it happens quickly for both of us too. It's be a long rough journey. The success rate for the 1st couple of tries with IUI is good, but again it depends on the issues they're trying to correct.

We are doing 3 rounds and then moving on. We may be have to move on sooner if dh's count does not cooperate. I am really stressed that I will go through all of this and they tell me his count isn't high enough, but they seemed confident that it'll be ok.

My chart is looking pretty erratic but that's normal pre-O. Last night I had some hot flashes, it was pretty uncomfortable bc it's way too cold to open a window.

 

[miranda007]

Hey! Just saw your post and thought I'd drop in. I was really scared starting IVF but it actually wasn't anywhere near as bad as I thought. God you hear so many horror stories. I was 35 when we started - think I had an ovarian reserve of 14.8 - it apparently isn't accurate so Lauren please don't freak out that yours is 12 or whatever it is. We had to do IVF because of my husband's low sperm count/ motility etc.
after a year TTC naturally - seeing the IVF people it actually took the stress out of it. They were worrying about it and I was under their control. It's a long road but it's more the mental game - of waiting and trying not to over think everything. We had two egg pick ups - because we wanted to banks few before I got too old. First round not all the eggs released - there was 10 in there - so we got 4.. All 4 made it to day 5 and 3 came back genetically tested all ok. We decised to get a few more so next round same protocol - but for some reason I didn't respond so that was cancelled day before egg pick up because she said there's only 3 eggs in there we can do better- you don't pay anything for it being cancelled. Next pick up they got 6 eggs (must be my body they don't all release and I mustn't respond to the trigger injection which is meant to release them al) we got the genetic testing done back and 3 are all good. So we have 6 in total! We're putting a frozen one in soon. So excited. Nervous though.

You'll both be fine. I didn't have any symptoms from the drugs - aside from a bit of bloating. But not everyone is like that. I just made sure I are really healthy food, drank lots of water and got lots is sleep. And only did walking etc for exercise.

It's definitely not the fun way to get pregnant - and I know I'm not pregnant yet - all the injections and the waiting - it all felt like you're getting somewhere. TTC naturally was harder.. Those months and months of nothing happening was hard.

 

[Smille24]

Thank you miranda. Now that we've been seeing my RE, I do feel less stressed, because like you said someone else is worrying about it and I'm just the guinea pig. The only thing that worries me is will it work? If it were only a female issue, I wouldn't be concerned, but my dh's count/motility/abnormality is a major issue. Ttc naturally became torture and I am just so happy that science has come do far to assist.

I hope your ivf is successful. Please keep us updated.

 

[miranda007]

Smile - I wouldn't worry about your husband's low sperm stuff. My husband's was bad and I've seen people on forums with ridiculously low amounts have good results. All they need is to pick out the good ones. The way I saw it was that it was easier for the issue to be on his side than with me.
They'll probably do ISCI with you - and there's some people that think that's inferior because it doesn't allow for natural selection. I asked the Head Genetics guy and he said actually it's better because with IVF (where they put the sperm in with the embryo and it fertilises themselves - it's just the one which is the quickest to get to the egg. It's not necessarily the best. in ISCI they choose the one that looks the most normal - or no two heads etc. and that's what you want. We had 100% fertilisation results. Which trust me - I was surprised at with my husband's results.

I've grabbed his stats so u can compare. He was low in all 3 areas.
Ejac volume 4.3 mil (normal is more than 15
Sperm concentration 7.9 mil (norm is 15 mil
Total sperm count 33.97(norm is above 39)
Motility
2% rapid, 26% progressive, 44% motile
Motility index he was 72/300 norm is above 120
Morphology
0% normal norms - I think for natural conception it has to be 4% and assisted conception they want it 2-6%
TZI 1.47

As I said I've seen results on forums with like 200,000 volume and stuff like that. And they got pregnant with ISCI.

Initiallywhen we saw the specialists they were worried about DNA fragmentation which means the DNA isn't written correctly and we wouldn't be able to use his sperm. This was worst case scenario - but we didn't have to go there so I felt lucky. They think he was low because when he was 11 he was in a car accident and had lots of x Ray's around his hip. And then when he was 15 his Mum bought him boxer shorts that were too small and in a week he has contortion of his balls and had to have surgery. So they think the scar tissue is still there and causing sperm to over heat when they travel down.

I guess he's doing all the right things like taking Zinc, a men's multi vitamin, not drinking too much. He didn't drink at all in the 10 days when we did the injections because at the end he knew his job would be vital with the fresh sperm they take. We both took COq10 I think it helped with our egg quality. But hey you're much younger than me!

Hope this helps. Ill pop back over and hopefully be able to tell you good news. Kind of excited - but nervous at the same time. I guess because so far it's all been because of his side and now it's up to my side. Anyway thinking positive!

 

[Smille24]

Good luck to you!