Possibly moving on to ivf - help!

[Robyn321]

Hi all

The beta test has shown that our 4th iui has failed so now waiting for af to arrive and to start all over again. The difference is that now the dr has told us to seriously consider doing ivf for the next cycle.

We were pretty surprised and not really prepared, but we talked through the procedures. Overall, it doesn't sound too bad - I've always thought of ivf as being much more invasive/painful/stressful than the iui - but from how they were describing it it seems that it is only the egg retrieval which is going to put me out of work for the day, and the transfer is just like the iui.

But that is the dr's point of view. What do you ladies who have had ivf think? Is it in reality going to cause me lots of stress/pain? When did you go back to work? How did your oh deal with it? Do you worry about the embryos being stored? Is 29 too young to be having ivf?

This feels like a big step to take, and I want to be sure that we've thought it through properly...

 

[Please]

Hi Robyn! Sorry you to are in this nasty TTC boat...it sucks! I havnt had IVF yet but it is happening in March/April for us, just a couple of things I might be able to help with. I don't think 29 is to young but then again I am only 24 next month, I look at it that the success rates are great the younger you are. My consultant didn't want to try IUI as he said success is 15% where as IVF is 30% and there's not a huge difference between invasiveness etc. Your partner has low morph so does my DH just 4% IVF/ICSI I was told is the best treatment with low morph. I'm just rammberling now, you must do what feels right for you. For me after 3 years with not a sniff of a BFP enough is enough IVF here we come. Best of luck x

 

[raf-wife]

hi i have recently had ivf and to be honest with you and i know this may sound odd but i have enjoyed some of it especially the embryo transfer it was amazing to see our embryos go in and to get the scan pic, egg retrieval was not bad either even though i was really scared beforehand, the injections were no trouble i did get some side effects but nothing i couldnt deal with, the hardest bit so far was waiting to see how many eggs fertalised and how many embryos made it and of course now the 2ww but i love being pupo, i dont think your too young and please is right icsi may be the best option, as for how my dh handled it he has been amazing from the start i definatly feel like a pupo princess, good luck hun x

 

[Flake-y]

Hey Robyn,

I agree with Lottie above, you're not too young, in fact, the younger you are, the more likely you are to have success with IVF.

IVF isn't to bad, the injections didn't bother me at all, I didnt have many side-effects from them at all. Egg collection was fine too, I was a bit crampy afterwards but nothing too bad. Same as Lottie though, I found the time after EC to be the most stressful. Waiting for the phonecall to find out how many eggs had fertilised was hard, & then waiting to see how many embryos have made it to transfer was difficult also. And then of course the 2ww, but it's not any worse than any other 2ww I've done.

Good luck!!!

 

[princess2406]

Hi Robyn,

I felt the same when we were refered for IVF thinking we are too young, I am only 24 and oh is 26, but if it helps us concieve then I don't think it matters what age we are hun.

I am yet to start treatment so can't really answer your questions, but just wanted to say I know how you are feeling, IVF was the last thing we were expecting, but now it has sunk in I can't wait to start treatment!

Good luck x

 

[zubijee]

hi all, after two failed iuis .we are also thinking about ivf.

 

[zubijee]

im 36 and worried about age .im thinking im too late i should done it before /

 

[raf-wife]

oh dont worry hun 36 isnt too old good luck x

 

[Robyn321]

Thank you all so much - you've made me (and dh, who's been as eagerly reading your replies as I have) feel so much better. We were a bit worried that the drs were being a bit too aggressive but having heard that other drs are also recommending ivf for people in their 20s has reassured us that they're doing the right thing. As dh's morphology dropped to 2% at the last iui there's a good chance we'll be doing icsi like you please.

Raf-wife, flake-y - thank you for sharing your experiences - that makes me feel much more confident about going through it now! Hope your embies stick!

 

[LizzB]

Hi Robyn,

IVF really isn't as scary as it sounds. I was nervous before we did it but you kind of get used to being special!
The injections are fine, the thing I would say is that if you are on the Buserelin as I was, drink tons of water. I didn't at first and got a few dizzy side effects, but then I made sure I would drink lots of water throughout the day and then half a pint or so before I injected and then the same straight after - it took away any side effects at all.
As your follicles grow you can feel them as you get close to collection but it isn't pain, just a bit of discomfort, much milder than period pain.

The egg collection is absolutely fine, once they sedated me I woke up 25 minutes later with no pain and recovered from the sedation within half an hour. I was amazed! I didn't even need to sleep when I got home, but I'm glad I took the day off work.

As you said the transfer is just like IUI.

The thing I would say is just prepare yourself for the waiting, however I'm sure with the IUI you've already done a lot of that, but I found that to be the worst as i am hugely impatient!

Good luck with it!

Liz x

 

[Robyn321]

Thanks LizzB - that's really reassuring! I started the injections yesterday - I'm on gonal-f but have been feeling funny so will try drinking a bit more!

Getting impatient already.....