How soon is too soon?

[RSAM1990]

Hi everyone,

My first post! I had a second ectopic a few weeks ago and both Fallopian tubes have now been removed. My only option to get pregnant now is to pursue IVF. How soon is too soon to start the process after an operation? I’m conscious everyone advises starting IVF as soon as possible, giving as much time for multiple rounds and younger the better. But also I don’t want to waste money on a round if my body isn’t physically ready.

If anyone has any success stories with IVF after ectopic it’d be great to hear from you x

[KLADY123]

Hi there

Sorry to hear about your ectopic pregnancys. That must have been very difficult

I had my left fallopian tube removed last October (was due to a hydrosalpinx) and also had adhesions removed so was a fairly complex op. My ivf clinic (nhs) said I could start in Jan but I waited until March. A few months wont make a huge difference but years certainly could do. I'm 34. The most important thing is that you feel physically healed and mentally ready.

Very best wishes x

[RSAM1990 in reply to KLADY123]

Thank you for your reply. Yeh I feel like a couple of months to come to terms with things if probably more beneficial at this stage.

Sorry to hear about your ectopic. How are things going on your journey? Xx

[KLADY123 in reply to RSAM1990]

Hey! Didnt have ectopic but I did have a left hydrosalpinx, likely due to a number of childhood stomach surgeries. Right tube they think may have been incorrectly positioned so we went straight to ivf.

I'm 14 weeks pregant now on our first round ❤.

[RSAM1990 in reply to KLADY123]

Congratulations and all the best with the rest of your pregnancy x

[Ivfgotadream]

I had my first ectopic January 2018 had my first egg collection a year to the day later in January 2019. Could have started much earlier but tried for a while with just the one tube.

Had a second ectopic on my second frozen transfer in July 2019 and had second tube removed. Did another egg collection in the September and transfer in November but that was a BFN.

Then did back to back egg collections January 2020 February 2020 and May 2020 with a transfer in June 2020 - gave birth to twins almost 3 years to the day of my first ectopic x

[RSAM1990 in reply to Ivfgotadream]

So sorry to hear about your ectopics. Although it’s nice to hear from someone else in the same boat. It’s quite a lonely place to be.

Massive congratulations on your twins. You must be over the moon.

Any tips you can give to prepare? Would you say there is a minimum time I should wait before starting the IVF process? Xx

[Ivfgotadream in reply to RSAM1990]

Thankyou! I have to say I was almost relieved I lost my second tube - I was tired of feeling like I was playing Russian roulette every time we tried to conceive or did an IVF transfer. I lost 2 embryos on that transfer as it was a double transfer and the ectopic had a heartbeat and measured to dates so would likely have been a perfect pregnancy had my tube worked and they implanted in the right place.

Once that 2nd tube was gone I did take a bit time to grieve my loss of fertility as it’s a strange feeling knowing you’ll never have that miracle naturally conceived baby we all dream about but I was just ready to get going really and so started again with an egg collection within 8 weeks which I would say is probably the absolute minimum by the time everything had healed and assuming you were given methotrexate?. So timescale wise it’s really when you feel emotionally up to it? If you haven’t done IVF before it is incredibly draining and emotional and stressful and if you add that to already feeling fragile coming off of 2 ectopics it can make it even harder

I didn’t really do much to prepare - I knew my egg quality wasn’t great so for the back to back 2020 cycles I did I changed to natural modified IVF and did a 3 cycle package to bank as many embryos as I could (we had decided no more after that as wanted to draw a line under it all and try and move on) and also took the pressure off a bit as knew if the first one didn’t go great then we’d still have 2 more to go

[RSAM1990 in reply to Ivfgotadream]

That’s very very similar to myself. Our ectopic also had a heart beat and alongside the grief there’s a certain amount of guilt that comes with not being able to have safely delivered them, despite knowing there’s nothing I could have done differently you always wonder. I also feel grief at having lost the ability to naturally conceive, but exactly as you said there’s also relief that we don’t have to go through ectopic again.

Thanks for the advice with timescales. I haven’t had methotrexate as they removed the tube and pregnancy entirely. Hopefully that means my natural cycle settles down more quickly. I’m thinking of aiming to start after Christmas. It’ll give my body around three natural cycles and me some headspace to come to terms with everything. I can then concentrate on having a happy Christmas and not have thing ruined by failed rounds.

I just want to get going on it now. Starting the process feels like something I can control out of the whole uncontrollable drama of it.

Thanks for your reply. It’s so reassuring to hear from someone who has been in a very similar position with positive outcomes xx