New to the group......Looking for support
New to the group......Looking for support
I have never used a message board before or a chat room but I am feeling a little desperate for support. My husband (37) and I (33) have been married 5 years. About 3 years ago we discovered we had a extremely low sperm count. We just complete our first IVF attempt which included my husband having to go through surgery so our Dr. could attempt to capture some sperm within the testicle for an ICSI attempt. The process was going smoothly for me. Shots went fine, retrieved 13 eggs. Unfortunately only 2 fertilized. We were lucky enough to get strong embryos but......NO pregnancy (I just found out yesterday). I know I should have been better prepared for disapointing news but.....I guess I wasn't. Does anyone have any motivational thoughts they could share? I could use a little wisdom.....Currently not sure how to get through to my follow up appointment.
Hello,
I'm not sure if I am the one to provide encouraging thoughts at the moment but just wanted to let you know I'm in the same boat as you.
I'm 34. DH is 39. We tried IVF/ICSI for the first time (after trying to conceive for years on our own) due to severe male factor. Like you, everything seemed to go smoothly. We had 17 eggs but 4 were immature so they tried to fertilize 13. We ended up with 9. Transferred two. My test was supposed to be tomorrow but AF arrived today and I am devastated. I thought I had prepared myself mentally for a -tive result but I guess I really hadn't. I still feel like I'm sort of in a state of shock that it's actually all over and that it didn't work.
Like you, I'm just struggling trying to figure out why it happened and how to move on to the next step (and even what the next step is). I can't even talk to anyone on the phone right now without breaking down. I had to send my family e-mails to tell them the news.
Anyway, this board has been a great place for me. I don't think I could have gotten through the procedure without the support and encouragement I received.
I would definitely encourage you to stick around. Many of the women on here have been through this sort of thing many times and have gone on to have it work for them. I'm not sure how they get the strength but it does give me hope that it can happen.
I know this probably hasn't been very helpful but just wanted to let you know you are not alone.
Staci
I'm not sure if I am the one to provide encouraging thoughts at the moment but just wanted to let you know I'm in the same boat as you.
I'm 34. DH is 39. We tried IVF/ICSI for the first time (after trying to conceive for years on our own) due to severe male factor. Like you, everything seemed to go smoothly. We had 17 eggs but 4 were immature so they tried to fertilize 13. We ended up with 9. Transferred two. My test was supposed to be tomorrow but AF arrived today and I am devastated. I thought I had prepared myself mentally for a -tive result but I guess I really hadn't. I still feel like I'm sort of in a state of shock that it's actually all over and that it didn't work.
Like you, I'm just struggling trying to figure out why it happened and how to move on to the next step (and even what the next step is). I can't even talk to anyone on the phone right now without breaking down. I had to send my family e-mails to tell them the news.
Anyway, this board has been a great place for me. I don't think I could have gotten through the procedure without the support and encouragement I received.
I would definitely encourage you to stick around. Many of the women on here have been through this sort of thing many times and have gone on to have it work for them. I'm not sure how they get the strength but it does give me hope that it can happen.
I know this probably hasn't been very helpful but just wanted to let you know you are not alone.
Staci
Amithis,
Your reply was very comforting...Thank you. You are fortunate to have sucessfully fertilized 9 eggs. Will you be trying again? The articles I have been reading on line indicate there are new ways to determine which embryos are likely to "stick". It's called sHLA-G. From what I read in the paper published in the journal Reproductive BioMedicine Online, embryo's that release higher amouths of this are more likely to implant. I am going to ask my Dr. about it next Wednesday in my follow up appt.
Has anyone else read about this that can offer insight. I don't know if it's bogus info. I have been trying to read anything I could get my hands on.
Your reply was very comforting...Thank you. You are fortunate to have sucessfully fertilized 9 eggs. Will you be trying again? The articles I have been reading on line indicate there are new ways to determine which embryos are likely to "stick". It's called sHLA-G. From what I read in the paper published in the journal Reproductive BioMedicine Online, embryo's that release higher amouths of this are more likely to implant. I am going to ask my Dr. about it next Wednesday in my follow up appt.
Has anyone else read about this that can offer insight. I don't know if it's bogus info. I have been trying to read anything I could get my hands on.
We do have a few embryos frozen (although since they are from the same batch I'm not sure how good they are) which we'll probably try to transfer first in the small hopes that might work. The clinic warned us only a small amount of them might survive the thaw.
It's really hard to say whether I will go through the whole procedure again at this point. Part of me knows that might be the only way in which case I guess I'll have to. It's just really daunting to think of having to start all over again and, of course, my biggest fear is that it just wouldn't work again. There's also the cost to consider and we have already been gradually depleting our savings to cover everything. If only there was some sort of guarantee that it would eventually work!
I was also searching around on the internet trying to figure out why it didn't work and I think I came across the same sort of thing you did. Was it something to do with using a laser to inspect the embryos to determine which ones have chromosomal abnormalities that don't show up in the regular inspection? It's odd that my clinic never mentioned it. I plan to ask them about it as well but would definitely like more info. first so I have a better understanding of what it is. I also came across some sort of glue (well, it's not really glue but some sort of substance) some clinics have started using which makes the embryo more likely to implant. Apparently, this is a very new development as well. I see one clinic in my area does use it but I'm not sure if it is worth switching clinics at this point.
Are you definitely giving it another go? Do you know how much time you need to take off before starting again? I think that, physically, my clinic requires 2 cycles. Mentally, I'm not sure if I'd be ready again that quick.
Staci
It's really hard to say whether I will go through the whole procedure again at this point. Part of me knows that might be the only way in which case I guess I'll have to. It's just really daunting to think of having to start all over again and, of course, my biggest fear is that it just wouldn't work again. There's also the cost to consider and we have already been gradually depleting our savings to cover everything. If only there was some sort of guarantee that it would eventually work!
I was also searching around on the internet trying to figure out why it didn't work and I think I came across the same sort of thing you did. Was it something to do with using a laser to inspect the embryos to determine which ones have chromosomal abnormalities that don't show up in the regular inspection? It's odd that my clinic never mentioned it. I plan to ask them about it as well but would definitely like more info. first so I have a better understanding of what it is. I also came across some sort of glue (well, it's not really glue but some sort of substance) some clinics have started using which makes the embryo more likely to implant. Apparently, this is a very new development as well. I see one clinic in my area does use it but I'm not sure if it is worth switching clinics at this point.
Are you definitely giving it another go? Do you know how much time you need to take off before starting again? I think that, physically, my clinic requires 2 cycles. Mentally, I'm not sure if I'd be ready again that quick.
Staci