sensitive: A story of hope: I didn’t... - Fertility Network UK

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sensitive: A story of hope

Littlepip1 profile image
15 Replies

I didn’t want to use this forum and run and soo many positive stories gave me hope through out 5 years TTC. Unexplained infertility

So here is ours:

We had our first round of IVF when things opened up again after Covid. We’d had our first round cancelled because of the fertility clinic closures. Our first round was a failure in most fronts. Despite having great ovarian reserve I only developed 4 mature eggs. All of these fertilised but none made it to blasto. We had one Morala which we had put back. I started bleeding day 8 post transfer and as expected test was negative and full flow period started day 16PT

Some decisions: going into the first round I had a BMI of 29+ so I decided to postpone the second round until I had lost some weight. Went hardcode on the fast 800 and lost 3st in 3 months and we went into our second round.

This time the protocol has changed and meds were upped in an attempt to get more eggs. My consultant also told me to take 600mg of COQ10 which I did from failure of first round up to egg collection of second. My husband also took 300 a day. His protocol was changed as well - in the run up to egg collection he was told to ejaculate every day for 7 days with the final ejaculation being on the day of egg collection (this was so only the string remained) He managed this.

Despite med change I produced less viable eggs, only getting three. Again all fertilised, but unlike the first round (and against all statistical odds) all 3 got to blasto with 2 being top quality. However only one was good enough to freeze.

Fresh cycle (transfer 2): the best embryo went back in. I had Accupuncture both before and after. Progesterone pessaries only. 2 weeks working from home during wait to relieve stress. Day 8 I started to bleed, by the end of the 2ww I was at full flow so knew the test would be negative and it was. Devastated - we had been soo positive because of the quality.

Frozen cycle (transfer 3): worked out for the transfer to go in on my birthday, but I couldn’t cope with that so pushed back to 2 days after. This time I pushed for lubion progesterone injections alongside pessaries despite having the right levels. I figured having more does no harm so let’s throw the kitchen sink at this. There was an extra cost but we were already in blood stepped so deep so though what the hell? By this point we were pretty hopeless. If the top grade one didn’t work then why would this? Even my partner who had been the voice of positivity through the other rounds had lost hope which I found very difficult - I don’t think I realised how much his faith in it working had carried me during the other rounds. This transfer I didn’t do acupuncture. I worked full time during 2ww. We went away for the weekend and I drank and ate all the wrong things. On Monday we had the frozen transfer. Morning of transfer we received the call that the embryo has thawed well and is already hatching (we’re told this is a good sign, but we still don’t dare to hope).

On day 8 I didn’t bleed, but thought ‘this is a frozen transfer so it’s different - it doesn’t mean anything’. On day 13 I still hasn’t bled, but we ‘knew’ it hadn’t worked - why would it? Day 14 3am I did the test and our dream of 2 lines came true, but the anxiety continues. A few early bleeds but strong heartbeat at 7 weeks

We are almost a year on now and have our little boy after 6 years of the most unimaginable longing and pain. So it can happen.

If I was doing it again the two things I’d make sure of was the COQ10 (for egg and sperm quality) and the Lubion, but I think what I’ve learned is that it only takes one but it can happen even when all of you thinks it won’t.

Good luck everyone. I hope this provides a glimmer of hope and if anyone has any questions or is in need of support as a fellow IVF warrior, I’m here xxx

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Littlepip1
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15 Replies
Football61 profile image
Football61

Love this. Congratulations!! ❤️

Thank you so much for sharing your story. I've had 3 implantation failures and my last round I also bled around 8 days post transfer (day 3). This new Dr has changed my protocol completely with extra progesterone (lubion injections) on top of cyclogest pessaries which I was taking 3 x a day. It will be a fresh transfer though but hoping for frozen blasts. I'm taking the active form ie ubiquinol. This supplement does work because I had 3AB embryo last year in the summer but failed to implant, probably because I had covid the month before. Thank you for giving me hope, I will not give up x

Littlepip1 profile image
Littlepip1 in reply to

good luck to you. This is the hardest of journeys xxxx

Can I ask, what grade was your embryo and how much progesterone were you taking?

Littlepip1 profile image
Littlepip1 in reply to

we had a 5AB and 5AA the third one wasnt good enough to freeze and I can’t remember what that was graded.

I was doing the cyclogest pessaries on a night - 2 pessaries for the first 2 cycles. For the last I remained in the pessaries and then did one injection of lubion and I can’t remember the dosage, but it was one vial.

Hope that helps.

in reply toLittlepip1

Thank you for your reply. It's so reassuring xWishing you endless happiness with your son x

SianieShorts profile image
SianieShorts

such a lovely ending. Very happy for you xxx

Weareback2 profile image
Weareback2

Congratulations ♡ i also think frozen embroy's work better for some people than fresh. Xx

Littlepip1 profile image
Littlepip1 in reply toWeareback2

yes - if we try again for a second I would only do frozen transfers having done a bit of reading on their success. Obviously you have to get the quality to freeze which can be a problem.

in reply toLittlepip1

I've never had a frozen transfer and after having fresh transfers, any remaining embryos that did make it to day 6, my clinic said they were "not good enough to freeze", one was a 4BC. Someone gave me an idea on here and I may give it a go. Basically at day 5 if I have a few blasts then I'll transfer the lowest quality one so that the good quality one/s is frozen. Not sure if it's a loophole but I'm hoping that I will get blasts even I get two; one good and one low. I have 3 pronuclei stage embryos in the freezer due to overstimulation and ohss risk x

Littlepip1 profile image
Littlepip1 in reply to

yes I thought about that in hindsight I should have perhaps had the low grade one put back and frozen the other two. But our ending was our little man so the outcome is what we wanted anyway. I do wonder if we had two frozen whether we could have got him a sibling

Systema23 profile image
Systema23

Congratulations and thank you for sharing your story of hope. Can I ask, why is Lubion the gold standard? My clinic had me on it for my first cycle but have changed for this one.

Littlepip1 profile image
Littlepip1 in reply toSystema23

I’m not sure about the gold standard, but I’d done some reading that suggested progesterone levels are not high enough and during IVF more can help. Not sure if they were peer assessed studies but a lot of voices in the community agreed so I pushed for it to get my levels higher. Whether it was the lubion or whether it would of worked anyway without I’ll never know, but I’d definitely go for higher progesterone levels again.

Klndmr profile image
Klndmr

It's always good to share a story with a happy ending/beginning 😁 We all go through a lot and a happy ending gives hope to many around! Congratulations and wishing you all health and happiness only from now on ❤️😘🌞🌼

Daughterofaking profile image
Daughterofaking

Congratulations and thanks for sharing

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