Any recent natural IVF success stories?

[Anonymous]

I am considering another natural cycle IVF after a failed one back in August. Needed to take a couple of months off to recover emotionally, but I think I am ready to try again.

[Anonymous]

Yes! We did our first NCIVF cycle with Dominion in August and we're now 9 weeks pregnant and counting.

The whole cycle went very smoothly and it was a true team effort because of summer vacation schedules. Dr. G was our primary doctor, but he was away the week of the egg retrieval and transfer, so Dr. D did the retrieval and Dr. Payson did the transfer (it was on a Sunday). Everyone was wonderful and I only have good things to say about Dominion.

Good luck to you!

[Anonymous]

Yes! We did our first NCIVF cycle with Dominion in August and we're now 9 weeks pregnant and counting.

The whole cycle went smoothly, and it turned out to be a true team effort because of summer vacation schedules. Dr. G was our primary doctor, but he was away the week of the egg retrieval and transfer, so Dr. D did the retrieval and Dr. Payson did the transfer (it was on a Sunday). Everyone was wonderful and I only have good things to say about the team at Dominion.

Good luck to you!

[Anonymous]

Not successful yet but in the 2 ww

[Anonymous]

We were successful in July, on our second attempt. Dr. Gordon did our retrieval, and Dr. Payson did the transfer. We are very grateful to have had this option because I was a poor responder to the meds, and had horrible quality embryos result from my stimulated IVFs. Both cycles of NIVF, we had great looking blastocysts.

[Anonymous]

Were any of you who were successful with it 40 or over?

[Anonymous]

Have the same question as PP about over 40. I am also curious to know if anyone used low stims or was the cycle purely natural?

[Anonymous]

How does natural cycle work? Do you just get one egg -- the egg that would naturally have dropped during ovulation? Thanks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How does natural cycle work? Do you just get one egg -- the egg that would naturally have dropped during ovulation? Thanks.

Yes. No drugs to stimulate egg production. They just retreive, fertilize and transfer back the egg that your body has naturally selected for that cycle.

Dominion monitors your cycle closely -- almost every day for the first half of the cycle -- to watch the follicles and time things perfectly. As you approach ovulation, your DH will give you a single trigger shot in the hip/butt (Dominion will give precise instructions on how and when) and then 36 hours later, the doctor will retrieve the egg. Retrieval is an in-office procedure, and was practically a non-event. Not sure if that's typical, but I was surprised by how easy it was. Then egg then meets sperm in the lab (DH is on site to do his part at the time of the egg retrieval) and if everything grows according to plan, it will be transferred back to you at day 5 (at least it was for me -- YMMV). I found that to be even easier than the retrieval part - and more exciting!

As for meds, following the transfer, I took an estrace pill and two progesterone suppositories a day for the second half of the cycle. Got a + POS test, then a series of + blood tests, then an u/s at week 6 where we saw a heartbeat. Stopped the estrace then and will continue the progesterone until the end of the first trimester. Again, I'm not sure if the estrace/progesterone is typical for all -- it's just what I did. I've felt a little bloated at times, but it's all for a good cause.

Apologies if I got any of the details wrong above or if I assumed that what I experienced was typical protocol for all. I have to say that I didn't monitor all the details that carefully. My goal was really just to trust the Dominion doctors and nurses and focus my efforts on relaxing. They made that easy -- everyone was so professional and helpful -- I felt very well taken care of, which was wonderful given the inherent stress involved.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Have the same question as PP about over 40. I am also curious to know if anyone used low stims or was the cycle purely natural?

I'm the PP who's 9 weeks along now. (Sorry for the double post above. :oops I'm 38 and it was a purely natural cycle with Dominion. One egg - so far, so good.

[Anonymous]

I was lucky my first time with NCIVF at age 38, but now at 39 (close to 40) it hasn't happened as easily, but we are still committed to this route since we have male factor and I have a strong family history of cancer (ovarian) so I'm not willing to use fertility drugs. My FSH is much higher than it was for my successful cycle (15) and now it's 21 so it's a long shot.

[Anonymous]

18:43 here. Our success was at 39 yrs, 10 months, so just shy of 40.

[Anonymous]

For those of you with success - how many times did you cycle and make it to transfer? Did you ever make it to retrieval and not transfer?

[Anonymous]

18:43 here again. I cycled 4 times. First time, made it to transfer -- chemical pregnancy. Second time, no egg at retrieval. Third time, canceled due to LH surge. Fourth time, transfer and BFP. Sounds like a lot, but it was really only 4 months before our BFP, unlike the stimulated IVFs where there was always so much "lead time" for the drugs, and then "rest between cycles" when it didn't work. I'll admit though, we were pretty discouraged going into cycle #4.

[Anonymous]

17:38 here. Everything worked according to plan on the first cycle. We were mentally prepared at each stage in case things went awry, but they didn't. Sometimes it just works.