Suggestions for starting IVF

Try and not let the process stress you out (difficult I know) talk to your friends about what's going on with the process as I found their support vital. Have a hobby to keep your mind busy. I took a cocktail of vitamins as I have a low amh, I took things like 600mg of coqu10, folic acid, 15mg zinc, iron and b vitamin complex to improve my egg quality. And that's another thing remember it's eggs quality over quantity. I only got 2 eggs at retrieval and only one was mature enough to be fertilised and made it to day 3 for transfer. I'm now 21 weeks pregnant with my baby girl. Good luck feel free to message me of you need a chat/vent xxx

Oh dear you are very lucky

I will start complex as well I am going to start my second cycle soon in one month time

I am taking proceive max women at the moment to improve egg quality

I don’t have any personal experience with IVF but I needed to jump on here with some ideas. Take what you want, leave what you don’t. I’d consider having a conversation with your spouse about how many retrievals and transfers you’re open to doing. Talk about a limit. Or talk about how to talk to one another if one of you reaches your limit. I can’t recommend couples therapy enough. I can’t recommend individual therapy enough either. I also want to respond to a comment on here that says you are “lucky” as I found that to be deeply upsetting. I am so sorry for your pregnancy losses and I’m so sorry you are at the point of IVF and for how long your journey has been. Comparing length of journeys isn’t helpful or supportive here. I can’t imagine the position you are in and not by choice either. My heart goes out to you and I truly with you all the success and I’m sending baby dust your way 🩷

@Rachel thank you so much for your kind words. I do agree that couples therapy is a good idea. This has been so stressful for both of us and I can already tell that we’re having some trouble communicating. It is also such a frustrating and upsetting process and I can see through this past year that I can easily take my frustrations out on him and want to change that. I think that the person who wrote the comment lucky wasn’t referring to me, but to the post above where she said she had a successful transfer. I definitely don’t feel lucky with all this BS lol. Thank you again for your kind words, it feels very comforting with things being so hard right now. ♥️

@Laura we’ve been in couples therapy for about three years now. We’ve worked through some big issues but now use it as a touch point to check in about our relationship and figure out how to best support each other, especially with growing our family. We’re 8mos TTC and no luck. I have Hashimoto’s which is a chronic illness and my life has been flipped upside down and Hubs is wondering how to support. Now I’m navigating likely Endo too and it’s changed me a lot and how I contribute to our household. So therapy is a great space for us to navigate that. This takes a toll on all relationships and there’s nothing wrong with added support!! Ahhh, gotcha re: the lucky comment. Still, I don’t think the word lucky should be thrown around to anyone because we all know fertility and infertility has nothing to do with luck. I hope you find a community to support you. Insta is also great too. So many IVF accounts!! Wishing you all the best 🩷

@Rachel I agree that that person shouldn't have used the word lucky in response to me. This journey is rough at the best of times. @Laura I also agree with all of Rachel's advice as well. My husband and I also talked at length about how we where feeling about the process etc, and we bonded over him doing my injections for me (I'm terrified of needles and he's type 1 diabetic who injects daily so I 100% trusted him). Wishing you the best of luck 🩷🩷

I'd recommend you read 'it starts with the egg' and go on one of the plans for a few months first to give yourself the best chance. It's worth reading the Amazon reviews of the book, they really filled me with hope and I credit that book with me being pregnant now. I also agree with discussing how many rounds you would be prepared to do with your partner as you want to be on the same page. Be gentle on yourself and don't be afraid to have breaks in between egg collection and transfer(s). It may feel like you can't afford to waste time but you have to put your mental health first. It can be a very difficult journey but remember you are doing something about this instead of continuing to hope it will just happen. The best of luck xx

@Maz yes I read it! She gives great advice. I started taking coq10 in July and tried following some other suggestions she had made but still nothing. I like that advice a lot that we’re taking action. I think that’s a hard part for me to wrap my head around that it solidifies that we are on this next step of the journey that I was dreading, but I also want to see it in taking action and having people to help us and not just be in it alone.

Read “It starts with the egg” , everything in there is very helpful

@Laura one of my cousins had chemical pregnancy problem just like you diagnosed with some k vitamin deficiency which made blood cloting issue is the root cause. Then she took some medication related to that and went for few accupunture sessions to relieve her stress and she had twins without ivf just after 2 months. Try your options before ivf. I am going through IVF this entire year and still no good news .. me and my husband doesnot have any issues . So doctors said we did what we can do but somethings are out of control and each cycle s different.. So moral of the story s IVF s one of the processes to try for kids but chamces are same as the other alternative procedures to try conceving..

After 2 failed ivf cycles i took break for 10 days , enjoyed myself with whatever I wanted to eat, whatever I wanted to drink(never drank alcohol before), 2 times cofee etc and then 11th day started focused on my routine, food , yoga, stress etc and i conceved naturally just after 3 months(4th cycle we are pregnant)

My ivf journey started just after looking at embryo transfer video on YouTube and i thought it was easy just if i have some daily injections 💉. BUT IT S MUCH MORE HEART BREAKING than not having kids

Before going for Ivf make sure 1. Keep your spirits all time high no matter what results say..you got this s mantra.1st cycle i got 23 eggs then next day got to know only 13 matured said may be we should have given one more day of time Before retrieval god knows how 50 year experience docs dnt understand my body , then out of then 8 fertilized, then 3rd day i lost 2, 5th day lost another 3, 6th day only 2 embryo made to blasto cyst went pgt and none of them good fit for transfer.

2nd cycle: increased injections added more dosage, given enough time for retrieval got 27 eggs (so ohss), 20 matured, did ICSI procedure so 17 fertilized, 3rd day lost 5 embryo, 5th day lost another 5, 6th day another 1 stopped growing, finally 6 made it to pgt . Then pgt results gave 4 good grade embryo . 3 failed transfer. I just kept 1 for future was not ready to let it go after all that's my baby

I pinged whole story just to make u ready for anything .please don't take me wrong.

1. Daily sleep in same timing. 6_8hours if u can. Whatever number of hours but sleep daily at same timings 2. 1 day u can eat whatever you want but remaining days watch what u eat Better to eat more plant based fresh food than animal based, i mean more fruits,avacado, greens, vegetables, berries, yogurt, flaxseed, chia seeds, nuts . Stop all processed foods , sugars, all-purpose flour, soda,smoke,alcohol etc, have only 1 glass wine once a while n a monthif needed. 3.just dnt let many know your cycle unnecessary attention kills later 4. Dnt forget what you are in entire cycle. Laugh as nuch as u can, divert your stress to busy life schedule hobby time, me time s must.

My dear Sruthi very heart breaking. It’s very hard journey seriously. I retrieve 17 eggs 11 were good to fertilised 10 fertilised and in 10 embryos nothings works 😭

Maz could you send the link of that book plz

Yes dear I commit on lynne that she is lucky. How I can say to Laura that she is lucky doing ivf. When I already know how hard and stressful this journey is 😭. Still been through so much stress and not feeling enough to start my second cycle. I am extremely sorry for miscommunication. Very best of luck to everyone and Laura as well!

@Rachel your story sounds relatable. I’m going to shoot you a message!