Positivity and IVF

• By saturnprofiler
• Reply 3762597
• February 1, 2013 at 9:10 am
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Do not get discouraged :). My husband and I used Attain with the same setup (3 fresh 3 frozen). MENTS!! Our first cycle we were able to get 26 eggs retrieved, 20 were mature, 17 were successfully fertilized using the ICSI method. We put 2 of those embryos in and 10 of the remaining 15 made it to freeze. We transferred our embryos at 5days post retrieval so we had blastocysts. Both embryos took and I am now 34 weeks pregnant (two girls). I am 35 years old, our issues getting pregnant were related severe male factor (1mil sperm or less ... my hubby is 39). In addition to this, I have a coworker who's wife has PCOS, he has male factor issues (about the same as my husband) and they conceived on their first IVF round after she only produced 10 eggs and only 5 of those making it beyond 3 days. They have a little girl that is 2 now, they were both approaching 40 at the time. END MENTS!!!

You have a 40% chance of IVF working the first time. This is pretty darn good odds considering that a "normal" couple has only a 15% chance of achieving pregnancy each month. You may need to do two cycles ... meaning your odds at cycle 2 are 80%... but the chances it will work out okay are there.

Have you gone through all your testing for yourself and your husband already?

• By TwinCitiesCouple
• Reply 3762636
• February 1, 2013 at 9:22 am
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saturnprofiler - We both have done some testing. We both have IF problems, he has varicocle and I have PCOS. I also had the HSG procedure done, no blocks found! The last step is the SIS and the 3 day blood work (also STD for both of us).

Thank you for the positivity!! This is a hard road and I am just scared that we will spend all of this $$ and have no luck.

I truly appreciate your kind words!

• By angelafromPA
• Reply 3762886
• February 1, 2013 at 10:28 am
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We have male factor. And I also have egg quality issues. It took 3 fresh cycle to finally get our BFP and have a beautiful DD from that cycle - so you just have to remain positive and have some faith that it will work. It might not work the first time or even the second but think of it as you have up to 6 times for it to work.

• By saturnprofiler
• Reply 3763005
• February 1, 2013 at 11:06 am
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Twin - Keep in mind the 25K you pay to attain is TAX DEDUCTIBLE! :) Well as long as it exceeds 7.5% of your gross income. Make sure that you save and document every single doctor visit, your meds, your procedures.. everything because it is ALL tax deductible! We calculated that even though we were successful on the first try or our Attain IVF cycle we paid what we would have for a single cycle without insurance because of the amount of money we are getting back in taxes. You can even claim mileage for every trip to your doctor and if you have to stay in a hotel like my husband and I did you can deduct that as well. So yes.. it is expensive.. but there are ways to reduce the burden through your taxes. :) This helped put my mind at ease so that I could deal with the IVF experience itself without worrying about the financial burden.

• By lavaller
• Reply 3763096
• February 1, 2013 at 11:35 am
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Just wanted to give you some hope.. MENTS included my husband has a varicocele as well and I have PCOS and we were just successful with our first frozen cycle (our first fresh failed-we went directly into a frozen cycle). There is definitely hope. I wish you all the best.

• By TwinCitiesCouple
• Reply 3763130
• February 1, 2013 at 11:44 am
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saturnprofiler - Thanks for the tax info. I have already checked what I can and cannot deduct. Yes, the financial burden has been difficult, but we are so blessed to have my parents helping us out with some of this, the rest we are working on saving. I didn't want to have to take out a loan as I didn't want the financial stress to interfere with me as I know there will be many other stresses to deal with during the IVF process.

lavaller - thanks for the insight and info about yourself and your DH. Glad to hear you had success with the frozen embryo!

I am hopeful we get pregnant on the 1st round, but this is exactly why we decided to do the Attain IVF program. Even if we do get pregnant the 1st round, I will hopefully have some frozen embryo's for the 2nd round.

Thanks again for the positive support!! I love hearing success stories :-) Please, keep them coming!!

• By jnem75
• Reply 3763451
• February 1, 2013 at 1:06 pm
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I'm a 37 year old that was diagnosed with unexplained infertility and just went through our first IVF procedure in October. MENTS we are expecting a little girl in June MENTS. We ended up doing the pregenetic testing since we had several miscarriages due to chromosome abnormalities - thank goodness we did it because out of the 7 embryos only 3 of them were normal. I was told that if you implant 2 embryos there is a 50% chance for one and a 25% chance for two making it...pretty darn good odds in my opinion. I think you have a great attitude going into this! Also, I know that the pregenetic testing is an added expense but if your Doc suggests it I highly recommend seriously considering it. Good luck!

• By macpatty
• Reply 3763492
• February 1, 2013 at 1:19 pm
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MENTS..............................I did my first IVF cycle in November 2012 and am now 14 weeks pregnant. I did my clinic's version of the Attain program to get 3 fresh cycles and as many FET's as I could do. I have stage 3 endo. I produced 22 eggs, but only 7 were mature, only 3 fertilized, and only 1 embryo made it to 5 day transfer. But that one little embryo stuck! So don't forget, all you need is one. Good luck!...........................................END MENTS

• By TwinCitiesCouple
• Reply 3764063
• February 1, 2013 at 4:27 pm
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You ladies are the best :) I appreicate the good vibes!!