How does IVF work?

[Anonymous]

First timer for infertility treatments.


I have an appt at Shady Grove next month and want to be fully prepared.

Do list people in their late thirties go straight to IVF if we had a child easily three years ago? Is IUI recommended if you are definitely ovulating and other blood tests are coming back normal?

I definitely do not want a donor egg, and I am curious if the doctors really push for that at a certain point… and if so what is the tipping point?

[Anonymous]

Have you been trying for 6 months?

[Anonymous]

It's up to you OP. IUI might work or it might not and you've wasted more time.

[Anonymous]

You need to try longer and harder before going this route.

[Anonymous]

We have been trying since March. One miscarriage.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You need to try longer and harder before going this route.

We have been trying hard too, twice a day leading up to and days after ovulation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You need to try longer and harder before going this route.

No they don’t. In the late thirties they don’t want to waste more time. IVF is usually successful more often than IUI.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You need to try longer and harder before going this route.

We have been trying hard too, twice a day leading up to and days after ovulation.

Does your husband ejaculate 2x a day? Just curious

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You need to try longer and harder before going this route.

We have been trying hard too, twice a day leading up to and days after ovulation.

Does your husband ejaculate 2x a day? Just curious

Yes

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You need to try longer and harder before going this route.

We have been trying hard too, twice a day leading up to and days after ovulation.

Does your husband ejaculate 2x a day? Just curious

Yes

That should be sufficient. So there is something else going on.

Definitely pursue testing - and that includes him too.

[Anonymous]

If you are late 30s, are sure you want another child, and not willing to do donor egg, then yes I would go straight to IVF.

[Anonymous]

IUIs fix borderline sperm issues and ovulation issues. If neither of those are your problem you will probably be wasting your time. Your issue is probably subfertility due to age/egg quality.

They generally don't push donor eggs until several failed cycles but theoretically they could if you have fantastically bad ovarian reserve.

[Anonymous]

Some REs suggest donor egg sooner than others - it depends on a lot of factors specific to you. From my experience at 3 clinics, SGF suggests donor egg sooner than CFA (Dr. Sacks did not suggest donor egg for me at all even though we had 5 failed cycles at ages 40-41). If you don't want to use a donor you can just say no and go to a different doctor for more IVF or stop trying. For us, going to different clinics and doing more OE IVF was not a wise decision, but it's completely your choice. If I were you wouldn't worry about DE too much until you've at least tried IVF with OE a few times to see how you respond. Then disucss next steps with an RE you trust. But I completely understand trying to plan ahead. Good luck to you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Some REs suggest donor egg sooner than others - it depends on a lot of factors specific to you. From my experience at 3 clinics, SGF suggests donor egg sooner than CFA (Dr. Sacks did not suggest donor egg for me at all even though we had 5 failed cycles at ages 40-41). If you don't want to use a donor you can just say no and go to a different doctor for more IVF or stop trying. For us, going to different clinics and doing more OE IVF was not a wise decision, but it's completely your choice. If I were you wouldn't worry about DE too much until you've at least tried IVF with OE a few times to see how you respond. Then disucss next steps with an RE you trust. But I completely understand trying to plan ahead. Good luck to you.

Thank you.

So if we do go the IVF route, how exactly does it work?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some REs suggest donor egg sooner than others - it depends on a lot of factors specific to you. From my experience at 3 clinics, SGF suggests donor egg sooner than CFA (Dr. Sacks did not suggest donor egg for me at all even though we had 5 failed cycles at ages 40-41). If you don't want to use a donor you can just say no and go to a different doctor for more IVF or stop trying. For us, going to different clinics and doing more OE IVF was not a wise decision, but it's completely your choice. If I were you wouldn't worry about DE too much until you've at least tried IVF with OE a few times to see how you respond. Then disucss next steps with an RE you trust. But I completely understand trying to plan ahead. Good luck to you.

Thank you.

So if we do go the IVF route, how exactly does it work?

What are you asking OP? Like the science behind it? No two cycles are alike.

Prelim Testing on you and partner

First meeting RE to go over numbers where treatment plans are suggested

Meet with Finance and go over insurance options (if any) and OOP costs

Decide on plan of action (full stimulation vs IUI etc)

Decide Yay or Nay

Depending on protocol/plan wait for period or start birth control after ovulation to quiet the ovaries

Get your period. Call on day 1 or 2 and set up monitoring for day 3 (monitoring = early morning bloodwork and ultrasounds)

Start meds once you are cleared day 3ish

Go in for monitoring many times

Trigger ovulation

Egg retrieval + egg fertilization

The waiting game begins

Find out how many embryos and either do fresh transfer on day 5 or freeze and test for abnormalities

If you transfer you enter a 10-14 day wait for pregnancy test and beta levels

If you freeze and test you wait a few weeks for those results.

If not pregnant you start another cycle that is just a transfer and that can be medicated or natural if you ovulate on your own.

Rinse, repeat