InstantForum.NET v4.1.4Fertility By Design Forumshttp://forums.fertilitybydesign.com/forums@healthbanks.comSun, 05 Feb 2012 04:41:05 GMT20http://forums.fertilitybydesign.com/Topic1631-5-1.aspxHave any of you over 40 folks TTC had any experience with the mini-IVF process? I found it on the Fertility Center of St. Louis website. It is supposed to have a higher success rate for older moms to be. Just wondering if anyone had tried it.Here's my story. I got married this year for the first time at the age of 44 (one day before my bday, in fact). Several months later, we took a delayed honeymoon, and while at the doc for another matter, I found out I was 8 weeks pregnant the good old fashioned way. Unfortunately, the baby had no heartbeat, and the doc ordered a d&c.So our hopes were spiked and then dashed. But we thought, if we did this on our own, what could be possible with IVF? So we tried one round, and I miscarried again, this time at 3 weeks post embryo transfer. My beta never went above 40. We are close to accepting that this is just not going to happen at this age. But there are cases every once in awhile where it works. I have plenty of eggs and low FSH, but those poor eggs are from the 1960's unfortunately.Would love to hear success stories or tips from over 40 moms who eventually conceived. I am reading now that cutting saturated fats can make a difference, too.Thanks, and good luck to all in achieving your dreams.Fri, 30 Oct 2009 14:59:50 GMTHopeful44http://forums.fertilitybydesign.com/Topic4677-5-1.aspxWhat a long journey this has been! I want to share my experience to show that all the emotional and physical pain, the money and the time spent on these treatments can be worth it. After TTC for 1 year we went and started the battery of tests. First we found my husbands sperm is slow. All my hormones looked normal and tubes were clear but my Doc suspected endometiosis. The other thing she found was that when she did an ultrasound at ovulation my endometrium was thin. We did 4 IUI's with clomid, without success. I then had laproscopic exploration for endometiosis, which she did find, and removed adhesions, including ones that were adhering my ovaries to the wall of my abdomiopelvic cavity. We than did 2 more IUI's without success. We decided IVF was next but knew we needed time to relax some and save money (although we did not save enough, the IVF process used nearly all of our retirement and savings). This last december we started the first IVF round, they immediately had to change my med dosages due to my endometiral lining not thickening like it should. After that things looked good and all signs pointed toward plenty of good eggs. However, when they retrieved them we found they were not mature. The doctor said with where my follicles were, and my hormone levels, it was very odd that my eggs were not mature and he had only seen that 3 other times in all his years in IVF. So, the next round (we let my body rest for one natural cycle then started back up again), I did a double "trigger shot" which matures the eggs. The results were better but still not great, particularly for my age (28). We did get 7 to fertilize, but they were not dividing very quickly and the doctors were not optimistic. They said although my body creates hormones for some reason my ovaries and uterus don't seem to respond appropriately. We transferred 4 embryos but pretty much expected a negative pregnancy test. The should have been 6 or 8 cells each and our were 4 and 5. We were looking into options for donor eggs.But then, my test was positive, a beta of 89. And everything is still going well, I am now 9 weeks and have seen and heard the baby's heartbeat. This is a long story, but the ultimate message is that it is possible to beat the odds. Don't give up hope.Sat, 11 Jun 2011 13:15:45 GMTamybhttp://forums.fertilitybydesign.com/Topic3307-5-1.aspxMy husband and I were married 3 years ago today and started TTC shortly after. I have PCOS and he has a low sperm morphology, so we knew going into it things would be difficult. I saw an OBGYN in February of 2008 to get things started and was on steadily increasing doses of Metformin until the end of the summer, never getting a period the entire time. By August 2008 my doc realized she couldn't help me and referred us to a fertility specialist in the area. The plan of action was to do a few rounds of Clomid with IUI and see where to go from there. I did 3 rounds of Clomid, but never responded to it, so no IUI's were performed during those cycles. After that we switched to injectables with IUI. We finished one round of IUI with Follistim, but it didn't work. The second round got canceled half way through because I was overstimulating and it would have been dangerous to continue. At that point my doctor advised us to switch to IVF. I was heartbroken. I had vowed I would not do IVF, mostly because I was uneducated about the process and what I did know about it terrified me. I've never been good with medical stuff... especially needles. My husband and I decided to take 6 months off to decide what to do. I started researching and realized I could do this. I made an effort to get in shape, loosing 40 pounds and running my first 5k while doing do. I also learned to meditate and to relax, which is key with this sort of thing. In November of 2009 I called the fertility center and made an appt for early December to talk to a nurse about IVF and get our month scheduled. We chose February of 2010 to do the first transfer. My period came early without any help of Provera (which was a total suprise and I attribute it to my weight loss and exercise), so I did my moc transfer in mid December, started on meds in late December, and we did our egg retrieval and transfer the last week in January.Afte the retrieval I was excited because we harvested 7 eggs and 5 of them were supposedly mature and fertilized, but I was crushed at the transfer when I was told that only two were good enough quality to transfer. That meant we had no eggs to freeze if this didn't work... and I was sure at the time it wouldn't work on the first try. Again I was heartbroken. The next two weeks waiting for the blood test were excruciating. The day of the blood test my husband was out of town for business. We decided we would have the nurse leave a message on our answering machine at home, then I would call my husband from my cell so we could listen to it together. I left work early that day and got myself so worked up on the way home convincing myself it would be negative that it took 20 minutes for me to calm down enough to call my husband and listen to the message. I was absolutely floored when I heard the nurse on the machine say congratulations. My husband was very quite and I was crying again, only this time it was happy tears.I am due October 21st, 2010 and having a baby girl after two years of trying to conceive and one round of IVF.Wed, 08 Sep 2010 17:24:36 GMTartlyn18http://forums.fertilitybydesign.com/Topic5-5-1.aspxAfter years of trying it took a long time for us to conceive. We tried everythnig. Stay with it. It's hard to say what really works, but don't give up?Mon, 05 Jan 2009 20:28:05 GMTBurlhbhttp://forums.fertilitybydesign.com/Topic4034-5-1.aspxHey everyone, a little about myself. im 30, have been married for 3.5 years and have been TTC since. i never have had regular cycles either. they started by putting me on bc pills to help regulate me. never worked completely. then they would have me use prometrium to initiate menses than clomid. i have done 5 cycles of this and using ovulation predictor kids regularly. never once have i had positive result. this month i was going to start the Injections and trigger shot, but my most recent ultrasound showed a cyst so back on bc pills to help disolve it they say. so back to square one. has anyone else had lack of ovulation? tomorrow i am going for the test to make sure my tubes are not blocked also, even though they say that should not affect the predictor tests. im very discouraged and emotional.Tue, 25 Jan 2011 21:28:55 GMT*hope*http://forums.fertilitybydesign.com/Topic3140-5-1.aspxIt's been over a year since I went through the process so I don't remember all of the details but I'm 34 and my hubby is 37. I have advanced endometriosis and he has poor sperm in all regards. Our first round of IVF/ICSI worked in April 2009 and our boy/girl twins were born a few weeks early in January 2010. We have 5 babysicles left so we're planning on a FET next year. I saw someone mention a shared risk program in another thread... We did that and spent nearly $30,000. Since it worked on the first round, it costs us about $18,000 more than a single round of IVF but you never know if it will work and I felt a lot better doing with shared risk.Tue, 29 Jun 2010 10:38:38 GMTSnowPumpkinhttp://forums.fertilitybydesign.com/Topic3316-5-1.aspxHi ladies,Has anybody done back to back fresh IVF cycles? Please share your experience, pros and cons. Thank you.Thu, 09 Sep 2010 14:36:44 GMTazaliahttp://forums.fertilitybydesign.com/Topic1259-5-1.aspxHi thereMy name is Annie, I'm 36 and expecting my first May 6, 2010. Just wondering if anybody else is due around May 2010?Fri, 04 Sep 2009 11:28:45 GMTbabymama