IVF Scheduled for January - Feeling Hopeful

[DandMe]

After my tests on the 30th the RE said that we were good to go! We got our schedule yesterday and start baseline US and bloodwork on January 15th.

So far, here's our tests:
DH 43
Sperm: 3 ML Volume - Viability 80% - Total Sperm 73 x 10^9/L Motility 80% Normal Appearance/movement

Me: 38
FSH - 7
AFC - 10 on left, 12 on right ovary
Uterus: normal shape - smooth, normal interior
Ovaries: good shape and size
Excellent responder (IUI cycles)
Two previous pregnancies/births (unmedicated/natural)
One previous pregnancy/MC (unmedicated/natural)

No known health issues with either DH or myself.

I am excited, but still cautious.. the doctor said we had a 50% chance - that age was the number one factor in our success... but I can't help but think that my good numbers are going to tip the scales in my favor just a little bit??

The nurse afterwards said that she felt we had nothing to worry about, that we would be excellent candidates and kind of gently hinted that the doctor kind of has to stick with his stats to avoid building up too much hope for some, and decreasing it for others...

Anyhow! I stay on BC until January 12th and then start my meds on January 15th.... ETD around January 30th.. is there anything else I can do to make this successful?

[thumper]

After my tests on the 30th the RE said that we were good to go! We got our schedule yesterday and start baseline US and bloodwork on January 15th.

So far, here's our tests:
DH 43
Sperm: 3 ML Volume - Viability 80% - Total Sperm 73 x 10^9/L Motility 80% Normal Appearance/movement

Me: 38
FSH - 7
AFC - 10 on left, 12 on right ovary
Uterus: normal shape - smooth, normal interior
Ovaries: good shape and size
Excellent responder (IUI cycles)
Two previous pregnancies/births (unmedicated/natural)
One previous pregnancy/MC (unmedicated/natural)

No known health issues with either DH or myself.

I am excited, but still cautious.. the doctor said we had a 50% chance - that age was the number one factor in our success... but I can't help but think that there has to be SOME 38 year olds who have male factor, or their own factors, low AFC, high FSH, poor responder... whose chances are not an equal 50%..???

The nurse afterwards said that she felt we had nothing to worry about, that we would be excellent candidates and kind of gently hinted that the doctor kind of has to stick with his stats to avoid building up too much hope for some, and decreasing it for others...

Anyhow! I stay on BC until January 12th and then start my meds on January 15th.... ETD around January 30th..

new to the ivf club, wishing you the best! i'll look for your posts to see how you are doing!

th

[D&M]

I'm so excited for you! Good Luck and I can't wait to hear how everything goes!

[DandMe]

I'm so excited for you! Good Luck and I can't wait to hear how everything goes!

I'm excited for you as well. Can you imagine how happy we 'could' be in a month?

[jenice]

Dandme - All I can tell you is IVF is a mystery to me any way. I have a DD via clomid but a couple years later can't get pregnant @ all. I do have one good tube. I figured IVF would solve all my problems, I was told by my RE I have really good chances. I have had one BFN which I transferred with 2 blastocysts and transfer went well. My E2 level was high which could have been the reason or just the stress of retrieval on my body. Did FET with one 2-cell one 4-cell embies got a BFP miscarried @ 5 weeks. I'll be doin another cycle maybe in Febuary. I just NEVER thought I would be here, but I am.I'm not trying to discourage you and hope it happens for you the first time I feel IVF is just a chance to get pregnant . My RE said my first cycle could have failed just because it failed, not that something is wrong. I just remember being very hopeful and really expected a "+" result and was crushed when it was a BFN. I think in some ways my BFN was worse than my miscarriage cause I was upset thinking I couldn't get preggo with IVF. With this cycle I was preggo miscarried but I was preggo. My advice would to go into this knowing this is a chance and be cautious and definitely be optimistic each cycle you never know what can happen look @ me. I never thought my FET I would get pregnant and I was shocked and was sooooo happy, so it can happen.

[DandMe]

Jenice; thank you for your honesty and caring note... believe me, we know what it's like to be disapointed, the last two years have done a lot to toughen us up, and a nine week loss was the highlight of knowing how tough we could be.

If we could get through that, we could get through another bfn. Of course we are very hopeful, I want our energy to be high and hopeful, but our strength to be intact should we really need it.

The energy and support of women like you help make this journey bearable.

I am sorry you have not had success yet with the IVF... and although it's not all your dreams, having your daughter must be a huge consolation.

Please let me know if you will be doing your February cycle...!

[hjw]

DandMe - personally, I'm a big believer in acpuncture improving the odds of success. It can help your lining etc (and from a previous IUI cycle I also have experience of it helping with slow growing follies) but also in reducing the side effects of all the drugs and keeping you calmer and more relaxed throughout the whole process. My DH had acupuncture as well in the month prior to egg retrieval on both our fresh cycles and from initially being told by our local hospital that we would need ICSI, we had a good fertilisation rate on both cycles with normal IVF. I choose to put that down purely to the effects of acupuncture.

Good luck with your cycle!

[jenice]

Dandme - I am hoping my AF comes soon. Since my miscarriage this would be my Af after it, it is cycle day # 32. If I don't get it I'll call my RE office maybe they can give me meds to bring it on. I was figuring I would perhaps start stims end of January. I am hoping IVF will work this time in march it will have been a year of IVF. I just want my life back. I quit my job so I could cycle and figured it would be better anyway cause of my little one, plus once I would get pregnant it would have been very difficult to work and my job was mentally stressful and physically demanding also. I thought maybe with me quitting it would of helped me getting pregnant I would have been more relaxed, well that didn't work either. I had borderline pre-eclampsia with my prior pregnancy and as a result continue to have high blood pressure which I'm on medication for. I thank God for my DD I was very lucky to have her. I had 2 tubal pregnancies before her and surgeries to go with it. This will be my 3rd cycle so maybe #3 is in my cards I hope for you this works the first time cause IVF is sooooo mentally draining. Some people say" I don't know how you keep doing it " I do, I don't have a choice. If I want more children then this is what I have to do. This is our last paid cycle after this I don't know if we can afford to keep doing this or to be honest mentally getting burned out. I still have one good tube, so they say. I just don't seem to ovulate on the side where I have my tube So, they said IVF would work good for us, well I proved them wrong !!!!! One good thin g is I hyperstimulate and can produce a crop of eggs on little amount of follistim. I had 15 eggs from my fresh but 5 were abnormal which is expected to have some. So I was left with 10 froze 2 right away and had 8 left out took to blast had 2 blasts and the others didn't make it. Now I wish we didn't go to blast cause we could have kept doin FET which are cheaper and alot easier. Did your RE ask what you want to do about going to blast or not ? I want to transfer 3 embies this time @ day #3, hoping for better success with getting pregnant. Our age we have I think 50 % bad eggs so I would like to tip the scale in my favor with more embies.