My Story

[WannabeMommy82]

Hello everyone,
This is the first time I've ever posted on a message board. I wanted to share my story and see if there is anyone else out there who can help shed some light on my situation. Here is my story; I will try and make it as short as I can and I will try not to ramble. My husband and I have been trying to conceive for 5.5 years. He is 33 and I am 28. After 1.5 years of trying on our own, we were referred to an ob/gyn, at which time my husband's sperm was checked and I was sent for a pelvic ultrasound, blood work, and a hysterosalpingogram. All came back "normal" and we were told to keep trying. After another few months of unsuccessful trying, I was given Clomid, and after 2 months on it, became pregnant. We were ecstatic. However, I was sent for an ultrasound at 9 weeks and was told that only a sac had developed, but no baby (a blighted ovum). We were devastated - I had never even heard of that before. After a natural miscarriage a few weeks later, we waited a month and tried Clomid again. After 4 months, I was not pregnant, and my doctor referred us to a fertility clinic. After months of waiting to get our first appointment, we finally started our first round of IUI. To make a long story short, we did 3 rounds of IUI, and although everything "looked good" during each cycle, they were all unsuccessful. At that point, I was sent for a laparoscopy, hysteroscopy, and another hysterosalpingogram. Everything turned up "normal". We were told to move on to IVF. At this point, my husband and I decided to take a bit of a break, thinking that maybe it would happen on it's own if we just tried not thinking about it. It didn't. After almost a year, we went for our IVF consultation at a different fertility clinic. Before we could get started, though, we were referred for more tests to see if our new doctor could determine the problem. After a DNA Fragmentation (hubby) and a third hysterosalpingogram, sonohysterogram, and endometrial biopsy (me), we were finally diagnosed as not having "unexplained infertility" after all. My husband was told that 91% of his sperm is missing the drills needed to penetrate my eggs; and I was told that I had Endometrial Glandular Developmental Arrest, a problem with my uterine lining that prevents a pregnancy from properly implanting and growing. I was told to take 3 month's worth of Depot Lupron, an injectable drug that would put my body into menopause and essentially "fix" my problem. After the drugs wore off, we could get started on our IVF cycle. After having to wait a few extra months due to an ovarian cyst that developed and also because of Christmas holidays, we finally got to do our first IVF cycle this past month. Everything went well - we got 7 eggs, 5 were mature, 4 fertilized. At Day 5 we still had 4 embryos but only 2 had become blastocysts. The dr. transfered the 2 good ones and we waited another day for the other 2 to grow, but unfortunately they arrested, so we had none to freeze for a frozen cycle. However, we were still confident with the 2 that had been transfered. Anyway, my first blood hcg level at 9 days past my embryo transfer was 8.6. I was told anything over 5 was a pregnancy, but that 8.6 was too low, it should have been around 50. So I was told to go for a second set of blood work 3 days later, and my hcg level had dropped to less than 3. My husband and I think I got pregnant but lost it or it died almost immediately. We are devastated. We now need to figure out something for a second cycle. I know many people have had to go for many, many cycles of IVF, but our doctor seemed so confident that this would work for us on the first try. I'm wondering if anyone else out there has the same issue as me - Endometrial Glandular Developmental Arrest? And if so, what protocol did your doctor use for your IVF? I have to wait 3 weeks until I can have my follow-up appointment with my doctor, so I'm anxious to see if he can do something differently, or if there is a different drug I can take to make my uterine lining receptive.

[sassicassi]

hello. first i want to say that i am soo sorry for all that you have been going through. i will be honest that your story makes me worried about my own story. i have been seeing my fertility specialist for 3 years and we have not found a single problem; except that i have a thin lining & that is pretty much what we have hacked it up to be he has never mentioned what you have Endometrial Glandular Developmental Arrest? this will definitely be something that i will be looking into. i can't even imagine the emotions you have had to deal with. we are very hopeful our IVF will work too because there seems to be nothing wrong with either of us. i worry about a huge disappointment and being super stressed about it. i am trying to stay as positive as i possibly can. i am fortunate to be blessed with a 9 yr old step son and i thank God that if i am only to ever have one child and it is him that he brought into my life. he is wonderful. i really hope you can find some answers. is your doctor suggesting another round of IVF ? very curious to hear about your journey.

[WannabeMommy82]

Sorry it has taken me so long to reply. Yes, my doctor is recommending another round of IVF. After my first round failed, I had a follow-up appointment with him and he mentioned that he thinks my endometrium is fixed now from the drugs I have been taking. He thinks it didn't work because I didn't make many eggs (only 5 were mature, and we were left with 2 embryos to transfer). He simply doesn't think the embryos were good enough quality. So ... here we go again with a new drug regime for a second try! I have high hopes this time, but it's still very hard not to let the many, may doubts creep through.

[WannabeMommy82]

P.S. If you are concerned that Endometrial Glandular Developmental Arrest is what you might have ... request to have an Endometrial Biopsy done. That is really the only test that can be done to find out. If I hadn't have had it done, I would never have known, and we would still be diagnosed as "unexplained", which is quite frustrating. All "unexplained" means is that they could not find the problem!