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Smod,
I am 35 years old and have had 1 fresh transfer using DE and 2 frozen transfers using DE and all were BFN's. Come to find out after going to a new Fertility Specialist, I had some endometriosis and the Dr. thinks that this was my problem that the embryos were not implanting because of it. He has removed the endo and I am going to do another Frozen transfer with the remaining embryos at the end of March. Have you had a laprascopy done to check for endo or other things? I am holding on to this new found hope that this frozen transfer will give us the BFP that we are so looking for. Keep the faith and don't give up.

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Hi WannabeMommy,

Thanks for answering my email. After D & C following the miscarriage in Nov 2005, I had HSG and learned that I have endo (scarrings) possibly from harsh use of instruments from D & C. I had laproscopy done in early 2006 to have some of the endo removed. Needless to say, my dr had to tie the left tube b/c it was was filled with endo. I was supposed to go through 2nd IVF in the fall but cancelled due to poor response to Lupron. However they went ahead with the donor to retrieve her eggs. So I tried again in Feb with no luck in conceiving. Looking back, it's been almost a year since I had the laproscopy. Does endo reappear anytime? Can the doctor detect it from Transvaginal ultrasound?

My DH and I are meeting with my doctor for Consultation in a week or so. I am hoping he can come up with answers. Did you ever have any immunlogy testings done prior to DE retrieval? I wish you the best of luck when you go in for your FET in few weeks.

Keep me posted...

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smod,
From what my new specialist said, endo does come back his words were "once you have endo, you always will have endo". He did say that the best time to ttc is just after a surgery like laproscopy because you are endo free and your body is not trying to fight anything off like it does with endo (this is the reasoning behind the embryos not sticking to the uterus) I guess when you have endo, your body fights it off along with anything else that enters that area, it makes sense if you think about it. Endo is only found when a "scope" like laprascropy is done to check for it, or if you have sever pains when AF comes, that is usually a very good sign that you have endo. I am so sorry to hear about your m/c, how hard that must have been, being so far along, I could not even imagine what you went through. My dh and I have been trying ttc for 7 years now and I am on my 3rd fertility specialist and we have more hope with this new dr. than any of the others. My problem with conceiving is that I do not produce enough follicules to produce enough eggs to use my own. We just recently found this out, I guess the first Dr. was just taking our money telling us I had "unexplained", then the 2nd Dr. never did a "scope" to see if I had endo before we did the IVF's, I guess he just wanted our money too. This new Dr. said right off the bat that he was not going to let us do ANY IVF's or any fertility treatments until he did the scope, he had already suspected endo. Sure glad he did it and found it and burnt it out. I had 3 small spots and a small cyst on one of my ovaries which the cyst more than likely was from all the meds, but it was burnt out as well. We just hope the remaining frozen embryos unthaw and are up to this new Dr. standards, he is very picky, which we think is great. If the embryos do not making through thawing, we will have to be put on the Dr. DE waiting list, which right now is 6 months out (UGH!). We have also began the process of adoption, which the whole process is very time consuming. Well enough about me, if you want to chat, I am here.

Baby Dust!!!

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Wannabemommy,

My DH and I had a last minute consultation with my RE last Thursday. He cannot explained why my 3 DE failed to implant even though they were excellent cells. He sat with the other doctor and looked over the record, pictures, etc Nothing they found was out of ordinary. He simply indicated that it was a mystery and it's like a light switch... meaning everything was fine when he implanted them and the P4 & E2 were in excellent results. Then a week later I went in for blood works, p4 and pregnancy test... unfortunately, , p4 dropped and I was BFN. I asked him about the endo. He said I don't have it but scarrings inside the uterus from D & C which he removed them via laproscopy. He recommended me to try again with the leftovers 2 DE. Needless to say, he was being upfront with me that it is a possibility that those eggs may arrest (not survive) during thawing prior to the FET. I told him if that's the case, we'll get a different DE. He even admitted that he was not too happy when we picked her even though we faxed him the profiles of two Donors for him to look at because my DH and I had a hard time making a decision. He wished we took the one he liked cuz that DE produced so many eggs from another Fertility center which resulted in pregnancy, and plenty of embroys were being freeze. I felt like to beat myself up cuz I thought my DE would be a good candidate and she's new.... Honestly how in the world can we predict who'll be an excellent egg donor??? I recalled that after we picked our Donor last Fall, she wanted the IVF asap before she went on vacation plus with the holidays going on. On the other hand, My dr wanted to put the IVF off till January because they found out she was hypothyroid (same as me) and my body was not responding to the fertility meds... at the same time they were afraid to lose her. Technically, she just needed the money. So the dr had no choice but put her on the pill for hypothroid for 3 weeks and then went ahead with the egg retrieval with her and hold off mine until Feb for egg transfer. Anyhow, dr wanted to use the last two embies since we already paid for it. he felt that it should work next time. Right now i'm on a break from meds.... have to wait till my period comes... more likely in two or three months, I will start again....

I'm nervous and worried what the outcome will be after my 3rd IVF....

T'care and baby dust to you too....

smod

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Hello Smod,

Please don't give up trying. That is the worst thing you can do. I know its frustrating and hard but please dont stop or rest too long. I know it can be both physically, mentally, and financially draining.

I have a few questions - The first time you tried you gte pregnant. The second time you had a bad response and tried a donor. Why did you gove up trying on your own? You got pregnant the first time with your own eggs. The second time you tried, your body or ovaries did not stimulate well to the medications? right? This could happen. You should try a different protocol. Ask your doctor about the flare protocol. This is the maximum amount of hormones you can go on to get your ovaries stimulated (thus producing eggs) What I dont understand is - why did your doctor suggest a donor cycle after one failed IVF round. Like I mentioned, I dont think you should have tried donor eggs eventhough you did not stimulate well the second time. What is you age? This could be the factor? You shuold maybe try another practice. I recommend NYU in new york city. They are ranked number 3 or 4 with getting women pregnant who have had multiple IVF failures.

Good luck.

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Hi Jenny,

I'm now 39 yr old but will soon turn 40 in August. How depressing! I was pregnant in 2005 with my own eggs (was lucky to have 5 eggs and they all made it to fertilization; only 3 were put in since the other two were not good cells) but miscarried at 12 wks due to no heartbeats. I tried again in April (the following year) with Gonal F but I was not producing enough eggs. I recalled two eggs were the most... Plus the size of the eggs were small even after the dr increased Gonal F's dosage up to its max. He cancelled the IVF and recommended me to go for Donor eggs because there's nothing he can do to increase the eggs. Of course I was devestated but came to accept the fact that I have low ovarian reserve. I was put on Lupron shots prior to egg retrieval but for some reason my body was immune to it (I think that's because I took lupron back in 2003 for fibroid myomectomy and again for endometrial biopsy.. it was just my body so used to it and it was not suppressing my ovulation) So the ivf was cancelled for me but dr went ahead to retrieve the eggs from the donor. After a couple of months break, I took Synarel (similiar to lupron but nasal spray) and it worked. I went through FET with donor eggs and unfortunately the embies did not implant as we all hoped for.

How do you find out which fertility center ranked the best? I'm from the Midwest- Illinois.

thanks,
smod

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smod,
I am from Indiana and I am seeing Dr. Jarrett who is with Jarrett Fertility Group (JFG) who also has a practice in Illinois. Dr. Jarrett is the one who found/recommended the Laproscopy for endo before attempting any further IVF treatments, we just think the world of him and are so glad we switched our care to him. I am not sure which place you are associated with in Illinois, but the one I switched my care from was Midwest Fertility Specialist and I was seeing Dr. Colver, which he kept telling us he didn't know why it wasn't working either, he even reviewed it with the "head Dr." Dr. Bopp and he said they still had no answers, makes me nervous when you say your Dr. has done the same, it sounds like the same Dr?? Anyway, Dr. Colver tried 2 cycles on me to try and retreive eggs from myself and both failed because of low follicule #'s. I was just fine with the suggestion of DE, I/we never thought twice about it, just went for it. I have been off medications since November (last try with IVF DE) and I will be starting Estrace the first day of my cycle, which should be around the 16th of March. It has been really nice not having to keep track of all the medications and I sure don's miss the shots of Progesterone either!!!!! Of course I will have to start those shots a few days before transfer and a few days after transfer, but it is worth it I think. I hope you keep your head up high and that you can move forward and try again soon.

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Smod,

My sister went through the same thing. However, she always had a good response. She had 6 fresh cycles and 4 frozen cycles. When she changed practices, she wnet to NYU and there she had one pregrancy at 4 weeks and 1 chemical. These pregnancies were all on day five transfers using the Flare protocol (maximum amount of hormones). My sister wondered if the previous center did things right. She was missing one ovary and had intestinal surgey that scared her one tube. So she had a small case of hydrosalphix. However, the doctors kept saying she should get pregnant and always made 9 - 10 eggs. However, when she went to NYU they put her on the flare protocol and she made excellent eggs which resulted in pregnancies but not a live birth. Last November they recommended donor egg (due to how expensive it was getting) but they said they would never tell her to stop on her own. Luckly we have two younger sisters which are twins. Our own sister offered herself and her eggs and now my sister is 16 weeks pregnant and she is the happiest person in the world. She has been trying to get pregnant for almost 5 years, of which 3 years of IVF. It was a difficult time for her. Especially, every one around her was getting pregnant with no problem. I guess the point I am getting at is dont give up. If you hget bad neew keep preparing for the next step. Also, try to commuincate to your husband. As long as the two of you are on the same page, your a powerful team. KEEP TRYING AND DONT TAKE ANY BREAKS UNTIL IT WORKS!!

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Smod where are you? I Have not read any new posts from you, how are you doing? Jenny I agree with you don't give up ttc. I am not planning on giving up unless my new Dr. tells me that there is no hope. I have already seen three specialist and I will not go see another one. I do think you can exhaust your resources though. Where I live (Indiana) this state is not one of the many states in which Insurance Companies are required to cover a portion of IVF cycles. We have spent THOUSANDS of dollars of our own money because we do not have IVF Insurance Coverage, and at some point you have to be realistic. We are also in the process of adoption, and if we get a BFP from this FET and an adoption comes up for us, we will more than likely adopt as well. We fell that doing the FET and adoption gives us the best possible chance at becoming parents and we just want to be able to say we gave it "everything" we could.

As for my process, I started AF this AM and I have a call into the Dr. office and I will have to start Estrace pills tonight and I will have an u/s tomorrow or the next day with b/w. From what I can figure, FET will be around the 28th of March, this being if the FE thaw and are up to the DR. standards to transfer. I am waiting the call from the lab to tell us how many FE they received from our previous Doctor's cryo center, I think we had 3 or 4 frozen, but not sure on that. I know our last attempt at FET it took 7 FE to get us 3 good ones to use and we still ended up with a BFN! Please keep your fingers (and toes for that matter) crossed that our embryos unthaw and we get a BFP this time around. I will keep everyone posted on our little journey this time around!

Good luck to everyone else and BABY DUST TO ALL!!!!

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