Success with Natural Cycle IVF

[Anonymous]

I consulted with Dr. Gordon and he said he would not recommend NCIVF for me. So I don't think they are marketing/selling NCIVF to everyone and they try to use it only with patients for whom it's appropriate.

My situation was: age 39, great hormone levels, great AFC, no male factor, normal cycles, 2 chemical pregnancies over the previous 12 months of TTC and 3 failed IUI cycles at another clinic. I already have children. Dr. Gordon was very frank in saying that he felt we just hadn't hit upon a healthy egg yet and my age was the most likely culprit for that. He said that based on my history, there was no reason to think that my body wouldn't do a better job than his lab in growing an embryo for 3-5 days if/when I ovulated a good-quality egg, and since there were no male factor issues, fertilizing outside the body would have more risk than benefit if we tried NCIVVF. (I remember he said "I have a really good incubator, but God makes a better one and that's the one you have.")

I was hoping he would recommend NCIVF since it's so much easier on your body than traditional IVF, but I definitely appreciated Dr. G's candor & honesty. He said in my case we were better off increasing the number of targets, in the hopes one or two would be good (ie, ovarian stimulation for IUI or traditional IVF).

As luck would have it, I went home from the consult and got pregnant 2 days later with no intervention!

[Anonymous]

Egg retrieval is surgery -- http://www.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=11832&page=31

and there are (very small) risks. I would have thought DF would have explained that to you.

[Anonymous]

OK we can call it surgery but it was a minor one.

[Anonymous]

My beta was over 3122 so we have a u/s scheduled in 10 days!!!

[Anonymous]

PP, My DH and I just started our first Nat cycle IVF and we are day 7, went in for sono and blood work (saw the new RE) and she said everything looked good, ie: follicle 11 mm, E2 101, prog 0.1....What does that mean? What day did you take the HCG?

[Anonymous]

I never asked for details about the numbers. When Dr. G or Dr. D said things looked good, I took it to mean we were on track, which was good enough for me.

In terms of timing, I think everyone is different. This past month my HCG trigger was on day 9, retreival was on day 11 and transfer was on day 16 (5 day transfer).

I just took a home preg test this morning (day 25), even though I know it's better to wait until the blood test (scheduled for day 30) . . . and it was +!! Hopefully it's for real and not a false +. I've read that the HCG from the trigger can stay in your system for awhile and generate a false + if you test too soon.

Good luck with your cycle! I've been very happy with DF so far.

[Anonymous]

PP thanks for sharing your cycle info. I went in today for monitoring and they said I would likely get the trigger shot tomorrow. i didn't bother to ask what my levels or follicle size was, now I'm freaking out about the shot. Is it hard to do?

[Anonymous]

Good news -- sounds like everything is progressing well!

The trigger shot was surprisingly easy. We made ourselves a little nuts beforehand, stressing about it and watching the on-line instruction video. But in the end, it wasn't a big deal and DH did it just fine. I really think the anticipation was the worst part for us. Hope it's similarly easy for you all!

[Anonymous]

I trigger tonight so we better re read those instructions, and the nurse drew a nice bull's eye on my back side so there's no ? about where to stick it! congrats on the + HPT, that's so encouraging.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I never asked for details about the numbers. When Dr. G or Dr. D said things looked good, I took it to mean we were on track, which was good enough for me.

In terms of timing, I think everyone is different. This past month my HCG trigger was on day 9, retreival was on day 11 and transfer was on day 16 (5 day transfer).

I just took a home preg test this morning (day 25), even though I know it's better to wait until the blood test (scheduled for day 30) . . . and it was +!! Hopefully it's for real and not a false +. I've read that the HCG from the trigger can stay in your system for awhile and generate a false + if you test too soon.

Good luck with your cycle! I've been very happy with DF so far.

Me again -- good news! Beta was positive on Sunday (14 days post transfer) and this morning's number was about double Sunday's number. So the next step is a sonogram, middle of next week.

[Anonymous]

Congratulations, my first sono is this thurs and we're about to bust with anticipation.

[Anonymous]

Good luck!! Sounds like it's been a good month at Dominion!

[Anonymous]

It wasn't a good a month for everyone at Dominion. I got a BFN although everything looked promising.

[Anonymous]

Yeah...bad few months for me too. Did 2 rounds of NCIVF and both were BFN. I'm under 30 with mild MF and both cycles were "perfect" according to Dr. Gordon so I'm super disappointed. Moving on to stimulated IVF with better success rates.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It wasn't a good a month for everyone at Dominion. I got a BFN although everything looked promising.

I'm sorry!