milena2015
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I've been on this forum at my darkest moments and success stories really helped me get through. So I'd like to share my little success story and tips on what (I think) made the difference. I'm only 12.5 weeks pregnant, so I still worry about the outcome but 1st trimester screening tests were fine so I'm hoping things will turn out fine.
My first MC happened when I was 37 years old, at 8,5 weeks. I had a natural MC, so we don't know the reason. The second one happened about six month later, it was discovered at 10,5 weeks (baby stopped developing at 9.5). I had D&C and we did genetic testing. It was Turner's syndrome. By then I had already turned 38. The OBGYN told me I had bad eggs because of my age.
Naturally, we went to see a reproductive specialist. Turned out I had extremely low AMH, which after retesting in a few months became undetectable. My FSH was between 17 and 21, sometimes 26. Listening to reproductive doctors was painful: you are peri-menopausal, you have no eggs left, the ones that are left are bad, bad eggs, you have only a few months left. They gave us the donor egg talk. The clinic we went to (RMA in NYC) pushed me for IVF. They also told us my partner's sperm had low motility and was 97% abnormal. Thank god, in between the visits and blood tests, I was reading books and forums and slowly arrived to the conclusion that I needed to pause and try to get myself healthy first.
You may think it's an obvious thought -- to get healthy, eat right, get vitamins, etc -- but when you live a relatively healthy lifestyle, almost don't drink, don't smoke, do yoga and eat tons of fruit and kale, you don't think that your diet and lifestyle need much correction. So, reading the book by Julia Indichova's "Inconceivable" lead me somehow to "The Making Babies" book, that book gave me a better idea of what I should be doing with my body and my diet, which let me to acupuncture. I read everything legitimate I could find on babymaking and health and eventually settled on some regiment that I followed religiously for 6 months.
If anyone is interested, I'll write up my supplements/dietary adjustments in a separate post.
I went to an acupuncturist on a regular basis. Fortunately, after D&C earlier that year I had met my insurance deductible and all the visits were covered 100%. I was tracking my BBT, trying to see if I was ovulating. It was a very frustrating time. I thought I started having hot flashes and saw it as a sign of menopause. The acupuncturist was pretty much the only person who addressed all my concerns as I was going through the process.
After trying for four months without any result, the acupuncturist suggested I see a reproductive endocrinologist, however, not someone at the RMA clinic, but someone at a more progressive place, where they work with your body, do natural or mini IVF, and don't go by your AMH or FSH. They check all of the hormones, do regular monitoring techniques and help you with minimal dosage of meds, if needed --- but it's drastically different from a regular RMA practice. The natural IVF place said the numbers were just the numbers, that my partner's sperm was fine, as it only takes one sperm and we were able to get pregnant twice, so things should be fine. They were not overly optimistic and made it clear that with my record it can be difficult but not impossible and didn't put much pressure on me, my age, my eggs and my ovaries. I was diagnosed with Diminished Ovarian Reserve, by the way. Which is different from peri-menopause.
So, I've worked with them for three months. Surprisingly, that gave me a peace of mind because I could see how many follicles I was growing each months (usually between 1 and 3 total, which is very low), how well I progressed (not very well sometimes) but they never made me feel like I had no chance. Without going into too many details (I can share them if anyone is interested), we've decided to do some egg retrieval, create some frozen embryos, possible do genetic testings and do the transfer when we collect enough embryos. In each cycle we could only retrieve one egg, but it felt very natural and normal, as I didn't have to use too much meds and my ovaries were not abused unlike in a traditional IVF. We've done it for a couple of cycles.
Now, the best part. In the third natural IVF cycle, my follicles were not growing fast enough, it took almost 18 days to get to the ovulation. I was devastated as I thought that was it, the end of my reproductive days. Eventually, three small follicles matured and we retrieved two eggs, both fertilized, one survived to day 5 and is now frozen. We didn't retrieve the third follicle that cycle, dismissing it for some reason, and -- miraculously -- that egg became my pregnancy which happened naturally after we had an intercourse sometime around the day of the ovulation/egg retrieval. Right now I'm at my 12,5 weeks and everything seems to go well. I believe that acupuncture, supplements, my dietary and lifestyle changes have a lot to do with this miracle.
I'm wishing luck to everyone who's on this journey. Please, remember not to lose hope and do everything in your power to maximize your chances to be healthy and produce healthy eggs and keep your mind calm.
My first MC happened when I was 37 years old, at 8,5 weeks. I had a natural MC, so we don't know the reason. The second one happened about six month later, it was discovered at 10,5 weeks (baby stopped developing at 9.5). I had D&C and we did genetic testing. It was Turner's syndrome. By then I had already turned 38. The OBGYN told me I had bad eggs because of my age.
Naturally, we went to see a reproductive specialist. Turned out I had extremely low AMH, which after retesting in a few months became undetectable. My FSH was between 17 and 21, sometimes 26. Listening to reproductive doctors was painful: you are peri-menopausal, you have no eggs left, the ones that are left are bad, bad eggs, you have only a few months left. They gave us the donor egg talk. The clinic we went to (RMA in NYC) pushed me for IVF. They also told us my partner's sperm had low motility and was 97% abnormal. Thank god, in between the visits and blood tests, I was reading books and forums and slowly arrived to the conclusion that I needed to pause and try to get myself healthy first.
You may think it's an obvious thought -- to get healthy, eat right, get vitamins, etc -- but when you live a relatively healthy lifestyle, almost don't drink, don't smoke, do yoga and eat tons of fruit and kale, you don't think that your diet and lifestyle need much correction. So, reading the book by Julia Indichova's "Inconceivable" lead me somehow to "The Making Babies" book, that book gave me a better idea of what I should be doing with my body and my diet, which let me to acupuncture. I read everything legitimate I could find on babymaking and health and eventually settled on some regiment that I followed religiously for 6 months.
If anyone is interested, I'll write up my supplements/dietary adjustments in a separate post.
I went to an acupuncturist on a regular basis. Fortunately, after D&C earlier that year I had met my insurance deductible and all the visits were covered 100%. I was tracking my BBT, trying to see if I was ovulating. It was a very frustrating time. I thought I started having hot flashes and saw it as a sign of menopause. The acupuncturist was pretty much the only person who addressed all my concerns as I was going through the process.
After trying for four months without any result, the acupuncturist suggested I see a reproductive endocrinologist, however, not someone at the RMA clinic, but someone at a more progressive place, where they work with your body, do natural or mini IVF, and don't go by your AMH or FSH. They check all of the hormones, do regular monitoring techniques and help you with minimal dosage of meds, if needed --- but it's drastically different from a regular RMA practice. The natural IVF place said the numbers were just the numbers, that my partner's sperm was fine, as it only takes one sperm and we were able to get pregnant twice, so things should be fine. They were not overly optimistic and made it clear that with my record it can be difficult but not impossible and didn't put much pressure on me, my age, my eggs and my ovaries. I was diagnosed with Diminished Ovarian Reserve, by the way. Which is different from peri-menopause.
So, I've worked with them for three months. Surprisingly, that gave me a peace of mind because I could see how many follicles I was growing each months (usually between 1 and 3 total, which is very low), how well I progressed (not very well sometimes) but they never made me feel like I had no chance. Without going into too many details (I can share them if anyone is interested), we've decided to do some egg retrieval, create some frozen embryos, possible do genetic testings and do the transfer when we collect enough embryos. In each cycle we could only retrieve one egg, but it felt very natural and normal, as I didn't have to use too much meds and my ovaries were not abused unlike in a traditional IVF. We've done it for a couple of cycles.
Now, the best part. In the third natural IVF cycle, my follicles were not growing fast enough, it took almost 18 days to get to the ovulation. I was devastated as I thought that was it, the end of my reproductive days. Eventually, three small follicles matured and we retrieved two eggs, both fertilized, one survived to day 5 and is now frozen. We didn't retrieve the third follicle that cycle, dismissing it for some reason, and -- miraculously -- that egg became my pregnancy which happened naturally after we had an intercourse sometime around the day of the ovulation/egg retrieval. Right now I'm at my 12,5 weeks and everything seems to go well. I believe that acupuncture, supplements, my dietary and lifestyle changes have a lot to do with this miracle.
I'm wishing luck to everyone who's on this journey. Please, remember not to lose hope and do everything in your power to maximize your chances to be healthy and produce healthy eggs and keep your mind calm.
Almost no drinking, maybe a few sips of wine here and there. 
That's great and really inspiring. Wish you have a healthy pregnancy
