Success over 40 years old?

[OnRoundEleven]

Dear All

I wish you well with your journeys.

I would be grateful to hear stories from women over 40 years, who have had success please.

My story is that my husband and I started trying for a child in 2009. We had 3 natural miscarriages before 2017, when we started with our first IVF clinic. An embryo implanted in our first round in 2018, but at 14 weeks, we found it failed the Downs, Edwards and Patau test, and the pregnancy ended at 17 weeks.

In our seventh round in 2022, we used PGT-A tested embryos and went on to have our precious son. Since then, I've done three more cycles using PGT-A eggs, and none have implanted.

I've received a negative pregnancy test result today - in my tenth round of IVF. I'm 43 years old. I am feeling so very tired, but I desperately want a sibling for my son. I just don't know what to think or feel.

For this last round, we've had a hysteroscopy, had a thick lining, had intralipids and took steroids to suppress the immune system, take oral and vaginal probiotics (although didn't do the ERA, EMA, Alice test), took clexane, progesterone (prontogest and cyclogest), and used PGT-A 5BB embryo. I'm not sure what more to do, and wonder if my age is the deciding factor?... but in my heart, I don't want to give up on our dream. I don't know what to do.

Thanks for any support

[Beclp]

I have x egg taken out at 43.5 and transferred at 44. It was my last embryo

If it didn’t work I would have moved to donor embryo but I was lucky 🍀

I truely feel we all have some good ones left but it does come down to how much you can endure emotionally and physically and financially.

Have you any embryos left to transfer ?

[OnRoundEleven in reply to Beclp]

Thank you so much for the encouraging reply, and congratulations. I'm really pleased for you.

We do have one last PGT-A tested embryo left. It was from the same collection cycle as the other ones that haven't implanted. Hopefully it will work better.

[Beclp in reply to OnRoundEleven]

That’s great news 🙏 you just never know

I really didn’t have much hope as it was my worst graded embryo and I’d never had one positive after 7 embryos

She wasn’t tested but for some reason it worked.

I took a break and started taking some oral probiotics and I don’t know if it was that that worked or it was just meant to be ?

There’s no answers sometimes

[Positivechangeplease in reply to OnRoundEleven]

What’s your protocol? I was younger at 41 and my embryos are 39 but I had a failed cycle with my best embryo. I didn’t like it being fully medicated so I went to naturally modified which I much preferred.

[Kitkat10]

hi, I’m sorry you are going through this, it’s a tough time. I started IVF when I was 39 due to MFI. We used a sperm donor and my son was born when I was 41 after 3 cycles. Like you, I desperately wanted a sibling for him so I had another egg collection aged 42 and got 3 ‘top quality embryos’ but they were untested. Resulted in 2 BFN and 1 mmc. I was running out of resilience (and money) so I switched to DE and my first transfer worked. My daughter was born 3 months before I turned 44.

I felt exactly as you do , I really wanted a sibling for my son but I knew that my age was against me. My daughter is everything I dreamt of, I rarely think about the DE part and I wouldn’t change anything about her. It was a tough decision but I was determined not to give up and not to put my own feelings ahead of the desire to give my son a sibling. It sounds like you have done everything you can to have a successful outcome. I wish you all the luck in your path forwards. Donor eggs may be worth considering and I hope I haven’t been insensitive in talking about it, I know it’s a very personal decision. Just wanted to share my experience from the over 40 team xx

[OnRoundEleven in reply to Kitkat10]

Thank you for the idea. A close friend from a maternity group conceived a child with a donor egg through IVF, and you can see everyday what immense joy her little girl brings her. It is certainly something I'd consider.

I'm also wondering if I should consider using a surrogate with our last embryo, but I'm not sure which option is best. Being PGT-A tested makes me wonder if it's my womb that is the problem, not the embryo.

I am so thrilled for you that you achieved your dream. Thank you for this encouragement. Stories like yours make me determined to carry on. Thank you.

[Sarah770 in reply to Kitkat10]

Your message is far from being insensitive, it is so sweet. Congratulations, you are incredible !

[May37 in reply to Kitkat10]

Hi so I had my third round beginning 2020 afe 45. There was one embryo left and I thought I'm going to leave it to fate. I have a lovely daughter

[LaraCRGH in reply to May37]

Hi, Was this with your own eggs? That's wonderful news x

[May37 in reply to LaraCRGH]

It was de as they said possibly 5 per cent chance with own

[Mumsy23]

I am 42 and have had 5 transfers. only 1 resulting in a chemical. My Dr is stuck on my age being the major factor in our case. We have 2 Embryos in the freezer. Will be transferring them separately and that will be our last shot.

[OnRoundEleven in reply to Mumsy23]

Thank you so much for replying. Wishing you the very best of luck with the transfers.

[Ranie]

I had my daughter at 47 with a pgt-a tested embryo and all of the above things youre doing, if this information helps. Was also my second pregnancy, first was at 42. The thing i did different was the bacterial culture check, i had been found with Enterococcus infection so took a month long Abx course. Is worth checking especially as labour may bring an infection over in the endometrium post partum esp if you had a c section before. Good luck xx

Ps oh worth noting these were my frozen eggs from earlier on at around 37 yo. I may be wrong but if they are pgt-a tested i doubt is the fault of the eggs as these are chromosomally good embryos, but i may still be wrong...

[ellebee123123123 in reply to Ranie]

Also a frozen egg mumma here! Can I ask how many frozen eggs you used and how many embryos you’ve got from them? I froze 90, have used 75 to only get 6 embryos. One is my beautiful son. 1 cp, 2bfn, 2 frozen embryos. 15 eggs left. Husband sperms is normal so appears to be an egg issue. Also had endo in the past.

[Ranie in reply to ellebee123123123]

Hi, i had 25 eggs from 2 collections at 37 where i got my two pregnancies (i lost first baby at 25 weeks from unrelated causes, my uterus ruptured on the site of a previous myomectomy...). I got 4 pgt-a normal embryos from these and 6 or 7 with mosaisicm that made it to day 5, i think 2 were less than 30% so the clinic could try these if no other options. So two healthy pregnancies one bfn from these (after which i did the emma amd alice tests) and I currently have 1 pgt-a euploid in the freezer but as am 48 now not sure i will go for a new pregnancy, given age and history, although I would love a sibling for my daughter. As i had frozen my eggs in a clinic in Greece where am from, I also did another 6 egg collections from age 40 onwards whilst living in the UK, which we tried fresh 5 times ( i had not pgta tested those) and one FET, some double transfer. I think id get 6-7 eggs each time, some were failed with 2 eggs retreived once i only had one that made it to day 3. In total around 20 eggs but never tested any, so not sure if quality was good, probably wasn't or combo of reasons. . Didnt find that the UK clinic in Cambridge was very supportive of me being at the cusp of 40 and over and id have to push for many things myself theyd be really dismissive of my chances. .. I would have gone with DE next but we decided to move back to Greece for one year and do the ivf here with the frozen. I tell all my friends to freeze eggs now by 36-37.

I think youd be safe to calculate a 10% chance as minimum for a good batch?

[OnRoundEleven]

Thank you so much for sharing your story. I'll definitely ask my doctor about the bacterial culture as I did have a C-section with my son. Enjoy your precious family.

[Ranie in reply to OnRoundEleven]

The endometrial cultures for bacteria is the emma and alice. Imagine that some centers promote endometrial infusion of antibiotics even, the issue is very important but i have had great results with the two antibiotics by mouth. I had augmentin and doxycycline for 14 days each and then a course of ciproflocaxin for 7 days with a break of 7 days in between.

Also used the vaginal and oral lactobacilli at the same time and repeated the alice at the end of treatment or they would have given me more antibiotics to clear it. Is very frequent!!!

[Charliebenj]

I was in a similar position, first child at the age of 40 via ivf and second child at 43. Both were pgt tested. I did have a negative pregnancy test following a FET inbetween but like you I was so desperate for a sibling. I somehow thought it was even more necessary given me and my partner were older parents. It’s such a drain on you emotionally, physically and financially. You can only do what’s in your gut but there is still hope at our age.

[Estherlovescats]

I had two failed rounds of ivf one at 39 one at 40. After the last failed ivfs conceived naturally using. Mira ovulation tracker and fertilily conception cups. Did all the supplements. Coq10 dhea tho i know you need dhea-s and testosterone bloods for that. Vit d. Magnesium zinc. Read it starts with the egg. Also mediterranean diet and sometimes keto as i had to loose 40lbs to qualify for nhs ivf. Our little boy is 8 weeks old now. No health issues which i was worried sick about being 40. All the best to you. It is possible at this age. X

[OnRoundEleven in reply to Estherlovescats]

I wanted to say thank you so much for posting your reply, and congratulations on your little boy. I'm so pleased it worked for you.

[Estherlovescats in reply to OnRoundEleven]

Thank you wishing you all the best yourself x

[Axel131]

Hi OnRoundEleven, I'm so sorry for all you've been through, it's such a marathon. So the fact that you have euploid embryos, which is brilliant by the way, takes the age factor out of it. The age is only a thing when you're trying to create euploids but studies have found that when transferring Euploid embryos there is the same implantation rate despite age.

remembryo.com/study-finds-t...

There can be other microdeletions that the PGT-A can't pick up but I think the statistic is that there is a 95% chance of live birth after 3 euploid embryo transfers so I think you're right it's more environment than embryo. In saying that you seem to be doing everything else to cover that with the steroids etc if it is an immune issue but definitely warrants a further chat with your team. I did give birth to my son after a day 3 fresh transfer at 43 so it can happen, sadly he passed for other reasons but he was my second son and perfectly chromosomally normal so it can happen. Give yourself time to grieve and process all that has happened and then regroup and see if your team can come up with some different ideas. Really wishing you all the best with growing your family.

[OnRoundEleven in reply to Axel131]

Thank you so much for your supportive reply, and I am sorry to hear of your loss. You are so strong to come out the other side. I wish you every happiness in the future.

[Twiglet2]

I am 42 and 25 weeks pregnant with a sibling. It’s taken me 5 or 6 egg Collections (plus 2 transfers from embryos left from round 1 that brought us our son) so I think maybe 11 transfers in total for this baby, a lot of them double transfers, I just kept going with own eggs (no PGTA) had a few misscariages along the way but finally got there hopefully!! 🤞🏽 just to give you some hope that it can be done but did take MUCH longer than when trying for our first! I was close to moving away from own eggs. I’m so sorry to hear of your latest result and it sounds like you are doing all the right things I can’t think of anything else but to keep trying to find the right embryo (with your eggs or donor) and I wish you sooo much luck xx 💜🤞🏽

[OnRoundEleven in reply to Twiglet2]

Thank you so much for the encouragement. I really wish you the best with your pregnancy.

[Spicycurry]

How thick was your lining? Also, I did Emma, era, Alice and nk cells testing and found out I had low nk cells in the endometrium which meant I had a neupogen infusion on first day of progesterone and hcg infusion 20 minutes before transfer. Low nk cells in endometrium can prevent implantation.

[OnRoundEleven in reply to Spicycurry]

Thanks for the reply. My lining has always been thick (well over the threshold) so I doubt that this is the issue. Thanks for mentioning the neupogen infusion - I'll ask my doctor about it.

[Spicycurry in reply to OnRoundEleven]

I had to be extra progesterone as I had too much oestrogen in my body which was thickening it up too much. I was on a progesterone pill from cd5 previous cycle for 3 weeks. It thinned out lining.

[OnRoundEleven in reply to Spicycurry]

Gosh, that is really useful to know. I've been looking at my progesterone levels the day post transfer, and it was only just above 100 with my latest 3 failed cycles, but 170 with my son. I was wondering if I needed to increase my progesterone pre-transfer. I'll definitely ask the doctor about it in the debrief. Thank you so much.

[Spicycurry in reply to OnRoundEleven]

I don’t mean post transfer. I mean the cycle before it. The period before you even start treatment for the transfer. I was put on norethisterone as down reg to make ovaries quiet and to control cycle. I took 25mg twice a day starting on cd5 in early August. I took norethisterone waited for period. Then on cd2 and cd3 lining was checked to see if I could proceed with treatment for my natural modified frozen transfer.

[HalifaxCalifornia]

hey there! I’ve written a lot about my journey, I believe you can see my posts. I was told that my husband and I would never be able to conceive a baby. We were told we were too old at 42 and as a result of our age, we were “futile”…

Found out I was pregnant via IVF at a new clinic a week before my 45th birthday and have a beautiful little boy as a result! And an embryo in the freezer. Do not lose hope, ❤️❤️❤️❤️

[OnRoundEleven]

Thank you HalifaxCalifornia. Your comment has given me real hope - Honestly, it has really lifted my spirit. I just don't feel ready to give up just yet, so your experience is a wonderful encouragement. Enjoy your little boy!

[Spicycurry]

I took norethisterone for 3 weeks before I started treatment for transfer to keep lining thin. I had previous cycles cancelled as lining was too thick at baseline scan. It needed to be well below 5mm on cd3.

[MontsJ]

The things I’d consider are ruling out an infection (Emma/Alice or Fertilysis) and more thorough immune testing (rather than assume you need intralioids and steroids). Did you have a section, if so hysteroscopy. Any changes to your periods at all, just thinking of adenomyosis which can increase progesterone requirement. I know for some people medicated vs non medicated FET can make the difference too

[OnRoundEleven in reply to MontsJ]

Thanks so much for your reply. I did do immune tests, but not Emma, Alice, ERA, which I regret now.

Also, thank you for mentioning adenomydis. I've never heard of that before, but I have been looking at my progesterone levels on day of transfer. My one success was when progesterone was 163 nmol/L on transfer day. It's been 90-122 on the non-successful transfer days.