2nd failed FET

[charliesangel91]

Hi everyone, first time poster here - just looking for some hope.

Second failed FET today with a supposedly ‘top grade’ embryo, my husband and I have been trying for 3-4 years and only pregnancy prior to ivf ended as a missed miscarriage at 12 weeks. Naively thought ivf would be the answer and after a cancelled cycle and two failed transfers I’m losing hope a bit. We have male factor infertility but I guess I’m worrying that maybe there is something else going on with me we don’t know about.

If people don’t mind sharing, how many transfers did you do before your BFP or baby? Any tips for staying sane when everyone else is having babies?

[Tamaa]

Hi. Sorry to know about your recent experience. I have been there and I can totally understand how disappointing it feels. We have male factor infertility as well. We had a total of two failed transfers before our bfp. However with the successful cycle, our clinic and protocol were completely different. My husband and I were both in better health and had really worked on ourselves (weight wise, clean eating, acupuncture, and supplements).

Please don't lose hope. Give yourself time to recover from this. For me, distancing myself from people worked in protecting my mental health. I just couldn't cope with all the questions and pregnancy announcements. I got myself engaged with people that did not know me personally and that gave me the much needed space. Wish you all the best 💗

[charliesangel91 in reply to Tamaa]

Thank you so much for your kind words and happy to hear of your BFP. I think my way of coping is to run head first into another cycle which maybe isn’t the healthiest so I think we will try and have a break this time to put ourselves in a better position mentally and physically. Thanks for sharing your story 💜

[Tinkertinkerbell]

I had 4 failed transfers - number 5 stuck and I’m 32 weeks pregnant.

2 transfers with my own eggs (including one double transfer)- BFN.

Decided to go with donor eggs and got 3 top quality blastocysts from a batch of 7 DE.

Transfer 3 and 4 with these top quality embryos from donor eggs - BFN. I was surprised and baffled - thought there was just something wrong with me and it would never work.

Paused for testing. Had the EMA, Alice and ERA biopsy which showed I had no good bacteria so needed loads of probiotics. Crucially also showed that for my body they were putting the embryos back a day too early so I needed an extra 30 hours of progesterone before transfer.

Transfer 5 - last embryo. With the changes suggested by the EMA, Alice and ERA - BFP! I wasn’t expecting it to work at this point but it did! I just had to push them to do the right tests and make the adjustments.

Good luck x

[charliesangel91 in reply to Tinkertinkerbell]

Thanks for sharing 💜 how were they able to test that for your body they were putting back too early/Needed more progesterone? I’m also someone who is super sensitive to hormones (I got pretty severe OHSS with a low dose of gonal-f) so I wonder if it’s that. I am so happy for you that you got your BFP, hopefully ours will come soon

[Tinkertinkerbell in reply to charliesangel91]

It’s the ERA test. You do a mock cycle and take all the meds and follow the same protocol as if you were preparing for a FET. Then on the day that would be the transfer (which for my clinic was always day 6 of progesterone as standard) - instead they do a biopsy of your lining. That tells you if your lining is pre-receptive, receptive or post-receptive. My result came back as pre-receptive and recommended that I needed an extra 30 hours of progesterone before my lining would be receptive. So my next transfer they timed exactly and made sure I had an extra 30 hours and a day 7 transfer. I was sceptical but it worked!!!! I really wish I had the test earlier as all my previous embryos had been put back too early. But thank god I did the test because otherwise this embryo would have been transferred too early as well and would likely not have worked. For me the EMA, Alice and ERA biopsy found the answer. It cost about £2K and the EMA and Alice parts of the biopsy also test for good and bad bacteria in your lining. This was also useful as I found out I didn’t have any bad bacteria but didn’t have any of the good bacteria you need to get pregnant either. So I used loads and loads of probiotics before my last transfer to build up the good bacteria x

[KT02 in reply to Tinkertinkerbell]

Can I ask what probiotics you used? Were they oral ones?

[Tinkertinkerbell in reply to KT02]

Hi, I used Canesflor x3 a day - pessaries. This was in February/March of this year but I have since heard that they are no longer available x

[Darcy1996 in reply to Tinkertinkerbell]

Hi did your clinic do the tests or did you have them done elsewhere?

[Tinkertinkerbell in reply to Darcy1996]

My clinic did the tests

[Darcy1996 in reply to Tinkertinkerbell]

fantastic - thank you and so glad to hear it has worked for you - all the best with the next chapter - not long now!

[Rjfguitfg]

I’m really sorry to read this. I can empathize with how you are feeling. I had 2 failed transfers before the third stuck. We did however totally change our protocol from fully medicated to modified natural. Wishing you lots of luck!

[charliesangel91 in reply to Rjfguitfg]

Thanks you. It’s just hard isn’t it? Glad to hear things worked out on the third for you 💜. I’ve also been on fully medicated protocol, what does a modified natural look like?

[Doodlebug23]

For me it was 7 transfers with 10 embryos to get my BFP. Currently 32 weeks pregnant 💖 No known fertility issues. Clinic doesn’t advocate the expensive ERA EMMA ALICE tests so adding the protocol of clexane and prednisolone plus modified natural was what worked for me.

[charliesangel91]

Thanks so much for sharing and a huge congratulations on your pregnancy. I’m already on clexane and did a cycle with prednisolone too but currently doing medicated cycles. I had a load of tests including hysteroscopy etc that didn’t reveal anything. I think it must’ve taken so much for you to do 7 transfers and that’s incredibly inspiring 💜 so thank you

[Sherri786 in reply to charliesangel91]

Hi can I ask what dose, timeline and side effects for the prednisolone?

[charliesangel91 in reply to Sherri786]

I took prednisolone 5mg from cycle day 2 throughout, with clexane 40mg and baby aspirin 75mg throughout FET ( I was doing a medicated cycle). Unfortunately it wasn’t successful, but I had no symptoms due to the prednisolone (it was a low dose), but I did notice feeling bloated, sore boobs etc as soon as I started taking progesterone.