Need some encouragement

[Anonymous]

At the age of 34 I have unexplained IF and am finally moving onto IVF after 6 failed IUI's. We have been TTC for 2 years and I am still very skeptical about being IVF being successful. Hoping to get some success stories to lighten my mood. After 6 IUI failures and countless BFN's I have nothing but feelings of despair that even with IVF we will head down the same road of BFN's.

[Anonymous]

do you have any idea what your particular issues are? you'll see many women on these boards, who are MUCH older than you, have had success with IVF. IVF has much higher success rates for women under 35. From what i've read -- IUIS's only increase your chance of getting pregnant by a few percentage points -- i wish i had skipped all the IUIs and gone straight to IVF. With IVF they take lot of the guess work out of it so try to be positive (so hard i know) and know that you're taking every step you can. Good luck!! Infertility is such a hard, draining road.

[Anonymous]

I did 12 IUI's (yes 12!) in my young 30's (I have PCOS) & was unsuccessful & then had 1 ectopic pregnancy . I remembher living my whole life by my cycle & getting so disappointed & discouraged by every BFN. I was reluctant to try IVF, but I did & the first one worked & I have a lovely 2 year old DD. Tried again for sibling, 1st IVF failed, but second one this time around worked & I am preggers again. I wish you luck. I also suggest that you don't try to find a warm fuzzy doc that you connect with as much as a clinic with good success rates. I finally went w/Shady Grove & have been very pleased.

[Anonymous]

I agree with PP who said that IVF will take out a lot of the guess work. I, too, was hesitant to move to that step. However, one round of IVF helped us determine what was wrong and what worked right. BTW, that first round is what got me pregnant.

What helped me shift my mindset from skepticism to something a little more positive was treating that first round of IVF not as the complete problem solver, necessarily, but as a way to figure out more conclusively what was going on. That way, even if it didn't work, we would still be gaining something from the process. To me, IUI never lent itself to that kind of problem solving.

Good luck!

[Anonymous]

Take some comfort in the stats!
IUI with injectibles for unexplained infertility has odds of working of about 12% per cycle (per Shady Grove's stats). IVF for the same (at your age) has 60% odds! Many, many MANY women don't have luck (because really with 12% odds it really just comes down to luck) with IUI and go on to have success with IVF cycle 1 or 2. IVF is a whole new ballgame than IUI. It completely circumvents fertilization problems which are often the cause of unexplained infertility.

Best of luck to you!

[Anonymous]

We had unexplained infertility too. I also had two miscarriages (one chemical, one at 9.5 weeks). After trying for 2.5 years and going through:
acupuncture
diet changes
timed intercourse
hundreds of OPKs
months of temping
propping my legs up for an hour after intercourse
hours of prayer/meditation
vitamins
6 rounds of clomid
hundreds of tests
3 IUIs with injectibles

We finally did IVF. It felt like a giant science experiment that in no way would end up in pregnancy. I felt more like a nurse than anything.
I had given up all hope. Everyone told me, "keep hoping, it will happen!" I couldn't anymore, it hurt too badly to have my hopes dashed each month when my period would show up yet again.
But, we got pregnant on our first round of IVF. I am now entering the end of my first tri and starting to actually believe I am really going to have 2 babies in my arms in 6-7 months.
I hope for you that you will have the same good results.

[Anonymous]

We were in a similar boat, did IUI when we could (if I would ovulate)... spent over a year trying to figure out what was up.

Then we switched to IVF, and got pregnant on the first try- with twins (we transferred two hatching blastocysts).

I wish we'd have spared ourself the heartbreak and just paid for the IVF earlier on, even though IUIs were covered insurance wise, the emotional toll it took was really awful. (I know, preaching to the choir)

[Anonymous]

In my early to mid 30s I was TTC for 4 years. After 4 failed IUIs I got pregnant after my first IVF try. We had male factor/unexplained infertility. Didn't think it would happen but we got lucky.

[Anonymous]

OP here. Thank you wonderful ladies for the encouragement. Gonna hold my head up high and go thru this IVF process with some positive outlook! My ET should be mid May. I'm nervous and excited at the same time.

[Anonymous]

what does BFN mean?

[Anonymous]

BFN= BIg fat negative pregnancy test
BFP= Big fat positive pregnancy test

Some other random acronyms that come up while TTC (trying to concieve):
BD= Baby dancing= sex
GOF= Goal oriented f^&*ing = sex with purpose