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1. Are you paying out of pocket or submit insurance? If it's insurance, you would want to receive the insurance pre-approval coverage prior to start of your cycle. So IVF is the path, then start now with insurance. Clinic will also help with this.
2. Meet with your RE to discuss options/protocols of the IVF. For example, are you doing one egg retrieval or is your goal is to have 2 egg retrievals, are you doing fresh or frozen transfer, ICSI, genetic testing, clinic scheduling flexibility, etc. All of these would need to agree upon before starting of your cycle. RE will need to provide a medication list so you can start.
3. Be prepare that this can be a long journey. Fresh transfer takes 6-8 weeks, Frozen transfer will add another 8 weeks to that, with no ganrantee success to either option. Just want you to mentally prepare.
4. Without any scientific evidence, I do think eating a healthy diet will not hurt.
5. Take a deep breath!!! You got this!!! DM me if you have any questions.
Did IVF help?
I tried 2 timed intercourse, 2 iuis.. I didn’t have anything major come up during testing as well. I have PCOS and don’t ovulate every 30 days like clockwork. So RE thought that it was just timing. SO had great motility, count but poor morphology.
Before trying the iuis we went to a urologist who ran some state of the art tests and told us that even with the low morphology the sperm was good for conception. Added all the great natural supplements to improve sperm. And tested after 3 months to find no improvement.
So to avoid all our life plans being altered we decided try ivf with icsi early. Who knew what we’d find through an ivf cycle! It can be diagnostic too. The icsi really helped as our fertilization numbers were poor, in hindsight.
Our insurance covered everything after we maxed out the out of pocket of 5k. I’m currently 12 weeks pregnant with my first embryo transfer. It’s the luckiest I have been in my 3 yr ttc journey. The whole ivf process took 4 mos for me. But it can vary.
You will find other stories too.. when I researched about low morphologies I saw a lot of women who said that their SO’s numbers improved over time. Or they just got pregnant naturally etc etc.
In the end it came down to whether I wanted to keep waiting for it to happen or just move on. I figured with ivf i could bank any extra embryos for a second baby if I didn’t end up needing it for multiple tries.
As for tips going into the ivf cycle.. ask the RE if they can start with the minimal stimulation of ovaries. Figure out how many mature follicles your RE wants to target pre-retrieval. Eat good fats and keep your vit d up.
There is nothing much that your SO can do. Ensure he takes a multivitamin and his Vit d is good too because it helps with sperm quality.. (which is not equivalent to morphology)
I vouch for frozen transfer and if you do ovulate you can try a non medicated transfer. It helps avoid the PIO shots which are the worst part of the frozen transfer.
And remember science is around to help us and don’t get too hung up on the natural order of things. Ivf science has improved a lot in this decade. So you don’t have as many side effects and issues as you read about on the internet.. if you do. Don’t be afraid of therapy if you feel you need to grieve the loss of natural fertilization. Every stage of infertility is about accepting the options we have available to us.
I did a liver detox because I read it helps to balance hormones and also took several supplements/herbs, and after that, it worked. I also tracked my cycle in app and used the ovulation strips and made sure to have sex every single day in fertile window.
When I went to RE once, he stressed how IVF should be the absolute last step.
Chief
I received the exact opposite opinion from my RE, (not saying one is right or wrong, just sharing). I'm 32, healthy, unexplained infertility and specifically asked if we could go right to IVF, (not try IUI, timed intercourse, etc due to the low success rates), and he was extremely supportive.
He said most RE's recommend IUI first mainly due to cost, and secondly, due to less intervention.
Can you define TTC for 1.5 years when you’ve only had one cycle of timed intercourse?
As a mom of two IVF-enabled births, it’s a big emotional step and financial hurdle.
If having more sex, and/or more well-timed sex is an option would definitely pursue that first.
Our RE recommended that we wait 18 months between births (so would have supported second transfer after 9 months months).
If you want to do a second transfer to shore up more embryos would do that as soon as you get green light from doc (I.e., a few cycles after finished breastfeeding and you have your period back). Hope this helps.