Hi girls, I am looking for some inspiration. I am currently undergoing my first IVF cycle and I am about a week away from EC. I was wondering if anyone has and is able to share their IVF/ICSI success stories. Perhaps write how many cycle is took, etc. (as I know some of you lucky girls out there from LTTTC still stalk this site from time to time).

Hi lioness, I'm always here on LTTTC, cause this is where I started out! Well, our issue was male factor, with very low, and I mean, VERY low sperm count. They advised us to do IVF with ICSI right off the bat, but we had 3 tries as IUI if we wanted. IVF/ICSI seemed too daunting for me, so we opted for the 3 IUI's. Being that his count was so low, none took, and we waited about 7 months before we decided to give IVF/ICSI a go. The first cycle was perfect, I was so pumped up and positive, we had some good eggs and the fertilized beautifully. I had 2 blasts (day 5) transferred which were the best quality and graded "A". And NONE took! I was so devastated, but we had paid for 2 cycles in case the first didn't work, so we went for the second cycle after a month or two of ovary rest in between.

Once the second cycle started, I did not feel as excited or pumped up as I had the first cycle. I kind of went through the motions and when ET came around, we were told our eggs had very poor fertilization rates (even with ICSI!) and none were really very good for ET. I hadn't had a good feeling about this second cycle all along, I didn't even feel bloated like I had the first time after EC, in other words, I felt like I really hadn't even had an IVF cycle because my body was acting like it was just a normal cycle. Right away I started crying when we were given the news and I figured that was the end of it. The RE said he would transfer the one best egg of the worse (how is that for being optimistic? lol!) but we had 2 frozen embies which were graded "B", so they weren't as great at my grade "A" embies from the first cycle, but he would transfer those two.

All throughout the ET I held back tears and felt so, SOOO negative and just knew it wouldn't work. If my 2 grade A embies hadn't stuck, how did I expect the 2 grade B embies and the one worst egg of the fresh cycle to stick?! I honestly was expecting a BFN. But, about 3 days before blood test I POA and it was positive! I kept telling myself it was my hcg trigger shot that wasn't out of my system. Once I went back to clinic and had blood drawn and beta levels at 100 confirmed pregnancy, I was just in disbelief!

So my second iffy cycle worked for me, while the first "perfect" cycle didn't. Sorry for making this so long, I just wanted to let you know that even when things may seem to be going bad, there is still hope and it's not over till the blood test confirms otherwise!

to you and good luck for your EC and ET!

hi mendy, just read your story and so pleased for you x x x x x i remember reading bits and bobs when you started your second cycle.

is there anything you did different after the second ET than the first? i've got some cracking little embryos doing their stuff, and i'm pleased i read your story as it's helping to ground me and remind me i'm not there just yet - is there anything you think i could do to increase my chances of implantation? i'm off work for 2 weeks after my ET and intend to be horizontal for the first few days.....

x x x

Lioness, check out the success stories thread up by the journals xx

Not really. My clinic always recommends 3 days complete bed rest (no showers!) after ET, and I did this both the first and second ET. While it's not really proven this helps, it just made me feel better that I could "assist" the embryos while they implanted by staying still and letting them do their thing, lol.

The truth is though, if they are good embies and they are going to stick, nothing really will prevent them from not sticking. It's all in the hormones and whether our body accepts the pregnancy or rejects it for whatever the reason. I didn't eat differently or do anything differently, I think it's just a matter of our body being ready to accept the embryo. And of course, the embryo has to be a healthy one in order to stick.

Lots of luck! I'll be praying for you and that this will be your long awaited BFP!

My signature pretty much tells all. But, we tried for 12 months prior to seeing a specialist. After running blood work (and semen analysis) and talking with a fertility specialist it was decided that I didn't ovulate consistently and my husband's sperm didn't swim (some did, but most didn't)--16% motility.

She immediately started us on the IUI protocol. We did that IUI with 100 mg of Clomid and an HCG trigger with progesterone support following the IUI. However, we only got 1 follicle out of that. There were also only 3 million sperm that were viable (5 million are suggested for IUI & 10 million are needed for natural conception). Result= negative.

We decided to give it another try. The second IUI we did 100 mg of Clomid with 2 vials of FSH which gave us 3 mature follicles (several little ones too). We also did progesterone support following the IUI. Again, the analysis came out as only 3 million sperm but we were still hopeful. Result= negative.

The doctor said they usually do IUIs 3 times but we decided that with the numbers being so low and with it costing around $1000 per try, we'd rather apply that money to IVF/ICSI. We almost immediately started the IVF/ICSI protocol. We did FSH and Menopur with Lupron prior and during. We got 16 eggs, 11 mature, and 9 fertilized. On day 3 8 of the 9 were still going. On day 5 only 3 made it. The FS said that 1 was perfect quality and the other 2 were mediocre so we decided to transfer all 3. Needless to say we were disappointed to not have any to freeze. Turns out it didn't matter though!

I was also on aspirin (81 mg daily) and progesterone support (100 mg twice a day) through the 12th week.

Well, the end of March we got our BFP. 11DPO beta= 15. 13 DPO beta= 70. And 23 DPO= 5500. Our 7 week scan showed TWINS!!!

We are now 34 weeks pregnant with twin girls--Addison and Olivia.

Best of luck to you!

Love reading your stories, thanks girls...keep 'em coming. Thanks MrsG for the tip, I have checked out the thread mentioned....I find it has alot about clomid and congats etc....so I was hoping to hear more specific IVF/ICSI success stories in a nutshell, if you know what I mean .

The other place to try hun is a thread in first tri called llttc keep the light shining.
Here's the link
LTTTC & Assisted Conception - Let the light keep shining
xx

If no one objects...I would still lke to hear more stories from anyone who drops by who have achieved a BFP from IVF/ICSI.

Good luck. I did 2 ivf cycles, both resulted in a bfp, but the first I lost the baby after 2 months. I am now pregnant with twins (they were also the only two embryos we had) and everything is going good.