New to IVF
New to IVF
Hi. My husband and I have just met with a fertility specialist and his recommendations are IVF. I am currently 26 years old. My husband and I have been ttc for about 18 months. My husbands sperm count was low, but was corrected with fertility vitamins. I had several hormone levels off, but are no regulated with medication. I was also on clomid for 4 cycles. We are still having no luck. Everything on my end looks great. I am ovulating each month and my tubes have no defects. Really, it's an unknown cause and our MD said that we should have been pregnant by now. Since this is all new to me and I do not know anyone who has been through this before, I would like to reach out to those who are in similar situations. This month we were on our own, so I am crossing my fingers, but if this month is unsuccessful, we will be starting our first IVF treatment next month. Any information from anyone would be much appreciated. I usually don't go on forums, but it would be nice to reach out to others with similar situations.
Re: New to IVF
I am 38, my husband a touch older !! I don't ovulate and he has a low and poor quality of sperm due to mumps in his childhood.
TTC for 2 years and then thrown straight into IVF.
The IVF process its self I didn't find traumatic. What I did find traumatic was the paperwork. Finding out we were all ready to go and another piece of paperwork needed to be completed and signed. My husband works away a lot and this became very stressful. Once the clinic realised this we created a work around and the problem went away. My clinic were also very quick to answer the phone. My IVF buddy goes somewhere else and she books out 20 minutes for her quick phone call. That causes her a lot of problems.
I was given some advice and I will share it with everyone. Limited the number of people you tell about your IVF, or when you are actually in the IVF cycle. I have told my IVF buddy and my best friend (obviously my hubby). That's it. So when it went wrong I didn't have people telling me there were plenty more fish in the sea. I agree there are plenty more fish in the sea, but unfortunately none come with a £5k cheque to pay for the next round !!!!! If you note my mum is not in that list. My mum is desperate for me to have a baby, I don't need that extra stress. If I told her about the IVF, she would tell her two best golfing friends, who would tell their husbands, who would tell their golfing buddies who would tell their wives and whilst they were telling their buddies it'll be picked up in the pub and then next thing you know Mary from number 17 stops me in Tesco to ask me how its all going. Get my drift? PRESSURE!!!!! Be tempted but don't!
Are you open to alternative therapies?
In preparation for my second round I started to have acupuncture. I was very stressed out after my first round. It costs me £30 a week, but as we are having to pay privately for our IVF we thought every little helps. I started 2 months before the start of round two.
I have found that I am better prepared for IVF and I am certainly more relaxed. I feel that me, myself and I have been 'making baby' focused for a bit too long and its wonderful to switch off. My acupuncture has been about improving my fertility, but also about looking at other areas of my body. My pancreas wasn't functioning properly (apparently) but that seems to be better and I lost 10lb in weight by doing nothing. I also take DhEA to boost oestrogen (because of my age - not recommended for young whipper snappers!!) and clary Sage a couple of drops into the soles of my feet for blood flow. I don't prescribe you doing any of these without talking to a practitioner.
On a final note. Keep your husband in the loop. Mine didn't want to be in the loop the first time, but was very much for the second (except for jabbing times - couldn't cope!). Every night we'd talk about how I was feeling and how he was feeling 1-2 minutes, and that has made a big difference. I am in my 2ww now and going to acupuncture this lunch time.
Good luck. x
TTC for 2 years and then thrown straight into IVF.
The IVF process its self I didn't find traumatic. What I did find traumatic was the paperwork. Finding out we were all ready to go and another piece of paperwork needed to be completed and signed. My husband works away a lot and this became very stressful. Once the clinic realised this we created a work around and the problem went away. My clinic were also very quick to answer the phone. My IVF buddy goes somewhere else and she books out 20 minutes for her quick phone call. That causes her a lot of problems.
I was given some advice and I will share it with everyone. Limited the number of people you tell about your IVF, or when you are actually in the IVF cycle. I have told my IVF buddy and my best friend (obviously my hubby). That's it. So when it went wrong I didn't have people telling me there were plenty more fish in the sea. I agree there are plenty more fish in the sea, but unfortunately none come with a £5k cheque to pay for the next round !!!!! If you note my mum is not in that list. My mum is desperate for me to have a baby, I don't need that extra stress. If I told her about the IVF, she would tell her two best golfing friends, who would tell their husbands, who would tell their golfing buddies who would tell their wives and whilst they were telling their buddies it'll be picked up in the pub and then next thing you know Mary from number 17 stops me in Tesco to ask me how its all going. Get my drift? PRESSURE!!!!! Be tempted but don't!
Are you open to alternative therapies?
In preparation for my second round I started to have acupuncture. I was very stressed out after my first round. It costs me £30 a week, but as we are having to pay privately for our IVF we thought every little helps. I started 2 months before the start of round two.
I have found that I am better prepared for IVF and I am certainly more relaxed. I feel that me, myself and I have been 'making baby' focused for a bit too long and its wonderful to switch off. My acupuncture has been about improving my fertility, but also about looking at other areas of my body. My pancreas wasn't functioning properly (apparently) but that seems to be better and I lost 10lb in weight by doing nothing. I also take DhEA to boost oestrogen (because of my age - not recommended for young whipper snappers!!) and clary Sage a couple of drops into the soles of my feet for blood flow. I don't prescribe you doing any of these without talking to a practitioner.
On a final note. Keep your husband in the loop. Mine didn't want to be in the loop the first time, but was very much for the second (except for jabbing times - couldn't cope!). Every night we'd talk about how I was feeling and how he was feeling 1-2 minutes, and that has made a big difference. I am in my 2ww now and going to acupuncture this lunch time.
Good luck. x