I did about 6 rounds of IVF, I had DOR so my results were anywhere from 0-2 eggs, then was dx with POI, went to egg donor route, multiple euploid transfers failed, went through a long period of reproductive immunology treatments.

Long story short after 7years, many failed IVF cycles and three egg donors, numerous reproductive immunology treatments, I welcomed my baby.

Fast forward, it’s been 2 years since I did my last needle of meds… PIO…. I started GLP1 yesterday and when I injected myself I got this feeling of like comfort and calm like a connection to the needle. Like it was something that I missed.

I find this quite odd. Those 7 years were the most grueling awful and traumatic years. Why do I get a feeling of comfort from a needle?!?!

Anyone else? Any way to explain this? It’s so confusing

Just did my retrieval this week and have some things to donate if anyone can use. Pickup in Brooklyn.

- 6700 IU Pregnyl/HCG, punctured Sunday 10/18
- 2 ganirelix, unopened expires 2028

Prefer to give to one person. Ty!

Hi!

I was a donor at Xytex in my early 20’s (so 20 years ago). It was a great way to help pay for putting myself through college. I was an “open ID Donor” too, because the alternative seemed cruel to me.

Anyway, guess who is turning 18 and curious? Over 50 families worth of children!

I had no idea it was that many. This wasn’t information they were very transparent about back then, and over the years the fact that this ever happened moved further and further into the background of my mind.

So a year ago, one of the mothers reached out to me on Facebook. Apparently, she and my mother were both on 23&Me and had shared contact information plus a few photos.

Over the following weeks we talked, shared stories, pictures, etc. I answered (what felt like) hundreds of questions, and ended up talking to her young man that came from one of my donations.

Her son seemed my twin, but better. He’s such a great kid and so many things that I’d assumed came from nurture rather than nature I now second guess (he’s majoring in what I majored in, same obscure musical tastes, same laugh, etc. )…

By the way, I know all of this because he and I now hang out. I happened to have a trip booked to his part of the US a couple of months after first contact. I made the drive to take him and his moms out for lunch. It was great.

To him,I’m a friend and a confidant. Not a dad. He’s got two moms for the parental needs and there is zero confusion on either of our parts about that.

Since he and I started talking, others have come out of the woodwork. The relationship is different every time, of course. I’m sure I’ll never hear from half and that’s perfectly fine, but these relationships with these people are fulfilling in ways I never expected.

The one I’ve grown closest to just flew out this morning after joining my wife and I for three days of vacation. I’ll see her again next summer. We hugged at the airport this morning. She went back to college, and I went back to my vacation. She let me know when she landed because her parents did a great job.

We’ve officially reached the point in our IVF journey where we’re paying entirely out of pocket after exhausting our $50K lifetime fertility benefit. We were just quoted $20,525 for ONE egg retrieval cycle. -That doesn’t even include medications, which will cost us an additional $7K. So, all in, we’re looking at nearly $28,000 for a single egg retrieval.

Am I insane to think that’s absolutely INSANE?!

I knew IVF wasn’t going to be cheap, especially once our insurance ran out, but I genuinely wasn’t expecting it to be this expensive.

For those of you paying out of pocket, is this pretty standard? What are you paying for your retrievals? Because I’m seriously questioning whether we need to start shopping around for another clinic.

Hi, I have a vial of progesterone oil intramuscular injections and a bottle of progesterone inserts.

DM me if you want it! Also lots of leftover syringes

My journey has been rough and I'm worried that this is just not going to work for me and my husband. Here is a timeline of events.

May 2023 - Diagnosed with male infertility

March 2024 - Started our NHS funded round of IVF ICSI - 2 embryos - DAY 5 4BB and 4CC. The 4BB resulted in no implantation and 4CC resulted in a pregnancy. At my 20 week scan she was measuring under the 5th centile which caused concern so we were referred to the fetal medical unit.

November 2024 - At 26 weeks with reduced movements I went to the hospital and she was delivered via emergency c-section suffering with pancytopenia. She passed away 3 days later. We did lots of investigations, post mortem, placenta testing, genetic testing, thrombophilia testing. All did not raise anything significant to suggest why this happened.

June 2025 - I signed up for a 2 cycle PGTA package at the clinic we were originally at which was now self funded. First round gave us 2 embryos and second round gave us 3 embryos. These were tested and we got 3 euploids, 2 mosaics.

Jan 2026 - embryo transfer DAY 5 5AA euploid - chemical

Investigations - saline scan normal, preventative doxy for endometritis

May 2026 - embryo transfer DAY 6 5cb euploid - no implantation

Investigations - hysteroscopy, and endometritis biopsy - normal

August 2026 - embryo transfer DAY 5 5BB segmental mosaic - no implantation

All my transfers to date were modified natural - letrozole, progesterone, trigger, aspirin. I ovulate fine and have regular cycles.

October 2026 - moved clinics with my remaining embryos (day 6 6cc euploid and day 5 5BB chaotic mosaic). Doctor suggested to do another egg retrieval whilst also testing immune issues. So I have had an NK cell array bloods (normal), Matrice biopsy (pending results) and screen me blood sample (pending results).

I retrieved 12 eggs yesterday. 5 have fertilised. Now to wait for day 3 and 5 updates. My AMH is currently 15.3

My husband did a sperm sample and his numbers were low so were unable to analyse or do sperm fragmentation but they had enough motile progressive for ICSI.

Is there anything you would suggest I check before transferring anymore embryos? Really appreciate the feed back!

Hi folks,

We (38m, 34f, married for 5 years now)started our journey last year in April, we went to a reputable IVF clinic.

Part 1 : clinic 1 (IVF clinic 1- approx 3 months of treatment )

We were sure that everything was fine with us, just that we were not having enough sex. We just went there to get assured but were not prepared for anything thing unusual. Why we went there… because it was next to our home and there we both could get our tests done in a holistic manner.

We were told to start with trying under supervision and then shifted to IUI. We were also not really prepared to go with IVF at that point. So we went ahead. There for the first time the doc diagnosed that the endo was suboptimal ( max 6.5-6.7 mm under mild medication)

IUIs failed. Our HSG came normal hysteroscopy didn’t reveal anything in particular . However, during one such examination, the doctor noticed a polyp in uterus.

The doc also insisted on a laparoscopy along with a hysterectomy.

Part 2 ( second clinic - non ivf clinic)

We went for a second opinion with a regular gynaecologist (not an ivf specialist) who we came to know through a reference.

This doc (doc 2) suggested that this was a classic progression in IVF clinics where they ultimately maximise revenue from you by suggesting unnecessary procedures ultimately selling you IVF. Also why was this U/S not done earlier etc etc.

She did a hysterectomy and polyp was removed.

Post this we tried for another 5 months( multiple times a week) but no success.

Ultimately we went to another renowned IVF chain and explained everything to the doc.

Part 3 ( IVF clinic 2 - 10 months now)

Doc checked us thoroughly and in the first cycle she noticed that endometrial lining is barely reaching 5 mm at the time of ovulation. So IVF was suggested.

ER happened smoothly, fertilisation too happened smoothly and we had 4 blastocysts. 2 - 4AA, 1-3 AA,

& 1-4AB.

When it came to FET we faced a lot of issues… now the lining would barely reach even with high dose of endofert, sildenafil, estrogen gel. After a prp, and 2 gscfs, finally , 3 cancelled cycles later( in 4th) the lining reached 6.8mm and we went ahead with 4 AAs. These unfortunately resulted in a chemical pregnancy in 6th week.

Now almost 3 months later we are again facing the same issue lining is barely reaching 6.5, 3 cycles have been cancelled.

I can clearly see that after the polyp removal, endometrium thickness has been hampered. Doctor has done hysteroscopy, but not found any scar tissue.

Only thing noted was that the uterine cavity is narrower than normal. This docs prime motive seems to be to manage this condition rather than go deeper, for which i don’t blame her. Infact this doc has been very sweet and kind and has given whatever support that has been possible.

Now i am looking for references for doctors who specialise in endometrial lining and can actually diagnose what’s wrong.

We do not have the budget to consult doctors from foreign countries, hence looking for India based doctors.

Please help us in whatever way you can.

PS: this is the husband writing.

Hi! I have my first FET coming up. I was diagnosed with DOR and endometriosis. We’ve done a Lupron supression, but I’d love to know what things other people did (that they could control) who had success.

Did you have a certain diet? Supplements? Lifestyle changes?

I’m open to whatever to optimizing my chances.

I take some supplements, play tennis and do pilates. I could walk more and eat healthier. I could prioritize my sleep… just looking for advice on what you did leading up to an FET that you think may have helped in any small way!

A few more?

Retrieved yesterday- 8 eggs

6 mature

Only 1 has fertilized they are watching the other 5 eggs and will update on Day 3.

I did recall embryology and they said there’s 1 out of the 5 other eggs that looks like it’s trying to fertilize but they can’t say so for sure yet.

Has anyone had success getting a few more fertilized eggs?

It’s so hard not to feel like I failed.

So I live in Germany and the embrio laws are super strict here, basically they dont let you cultivate all the fertilized eggs until blast, you can only cultivate the ones that you are going to use that transfer and freeze all other fertilized eggs still on day 1.
Basically my question is if there is any advantages on freezing fertilized eggs so early compared to just freezing my unfertilized eggs and fertilizing them as wee need them.

Update for context:

So I'm 31 and married to the man I want to have a family with. We have been trying for two years without any success due to MFI.
I don't know why but morally I would rather freeze unfertilized eggs than very early zygots (2 PN stage) if the difference is not sustancial, if the success rate is way better, we would definitely go that route.

I’d really appreciate hearing your thoughts on our situation, as we’re going through our first IVF-ICSI cycle and there are a few things that have left me feeling confused and questioning whether anything could have been done differently.

My husband and I are both 30. We decided to pursue IVF-ICSI because my husband had bilateral cryptorchidism as a child and underwent surgery relatively late, which affected his fertility. We tried to conceive naturally for several years without success.
We spoke with the doctors, and they recommended IVF-ICSI as the best option because, although my husband’s semen analysis results are abnormal, there are still some sperm that are suitable for use in ICSI.
For some additional context, neither of us is overweight, we don’t smoke, we drink alcohol very occasionally (perhaps one drink a month), we try to eat healthy, and we exercise regularly. My husband experiences some work-related stress from time to time, but nothing out of the ordinary.

We recently started our first ovarian stimulation cycle. Around the middle of the cycle, my husband became ill and developed a fever of around 39°C (102.2°F) that lasted for one afternoon and night. We informed our clinic, but they told us to continue with the treatment as planned.
On the day of my egg retrieval, 17 eggs were collected, 14 of which were mature. After the retrieval, my husband provided his semen sample, and we reminded the clinic about his recent fever, which had occurred approximately two weeks earlier. They told us they would call the following day to update us on fertilization.
The next day, I received a call from the laboratory with bad news: only 3 of the 14 mature eggs had fertilized.
During that same phone call, the person from the lab asked me whether I was aware of my husband’s condition. The question caught me completely off guard because, of course, we know about his fertility issues. That is precisely why we are undergoing treatment at a fertility clinic in the first place.
We are now waiting until day 5 to find out whether any of those three fertilized eggs develop into blastocysts. We are trying to remain hopeful, but honestly, it is difficult to feel optimistic at this point.
I feel incredibly frustrated and sad because it feels as though everything has gone wrong. I also can’t help wondering whether anything could have been done differently to improve our chances. For example, I had wondered whether freezing my eggs and fertilizing them later, once more time had passed since my husband’s fever, might have been an option. However, I don’t know whether that would actually have made sense in our situation.
I understand that IVF is never guaranteed to work and that my husband’s fertility issues were already known. Still, I wonder whether his recent fever could have played a role, whether the clinic should have considered any alternatives, or whether this outcome was simply possible regardless of those circumstances.

I would really appreciate hearing from people who have been through something similar, especially those dealing with significant male-factor infertility or unexpectedly low fertilization rates.
Do you think it’s reasonable for us to ask the embryology lab for a more detailed explanation? What questions would you ask at our next appointment? Has anyone experienced such a low fertilization rate during their first IVF-ICSI cycle and gone on to have better results in a subsequent cycle?
Thank you so much for taking the time to read this and for sharing your experiences.

Exhausted with people's ignorance.

44 years old female, married, 8 years TTC, azoospermic partner, two cycles down, about to start a third.

Not that I have to justify myself to this crowd, but a primary reason I'm trying yet again is that I'm the last of my line! My sibling is trans and not interested, no cousins, and I'd love to give my mom a grandchild related by blood.

Loving, lifelong, educated friends and family have offered so many nutso comments.

From a friend blessed with a miraculous, healthy 2-day old from foster care who didn't even want a baby: "I just don't get the need to have my own kids. Can't you adopt?"

From my mom: "Why aren't you just going to bars and having sex with random men and not telling them if you get pregnant?"

From a friend (with two kids) I'm planning travel with: "I understand that planning around IVF is top priority! But keep in mind that it's really hard to travel after getting pregnant and even more difficult after having a baby!!!! Live your life now, friend."

From an auntie, "Good luck, you're crazy."

Are folks that empathy-challenged??

After 2.5 years of infertility

An endometriosis diagnosis

6 failed iuis, 2 failed transfers… we finally got a positive test. Unfortunately due to my beta it is not a viable pregnancy. I’m heartbroken. This is my second loss(first was a natural pregnancy at 8 weeks prior to infertility) and it honestly makes me wonder if I can even carry at this point.

We did a kitchen sink protocol and months to prepare for this transfer. We have 6 embryos left(untested) and I just don’t know where to go from here. Does anyone have advice or success stories?

A long, blunt needle then it feels like a bee sting? Ok sadists, you sure got your kicks with this one.
Tried emla cream tonight, which helped the injection, now have an ice pack on it but can still feel it
Absolutely hats off to all you brave warriors that have done this numerous times - my first go and this one (med) can do one

Anybody use a CNY Fertility (Full Service) clinic? I am considering it for financial reasons. The closest one is a 12hr drive for us. I’m trying to figure out if it would be worth it. I’m wandering how is the process? Pros / Cons? Were you Successful within the first couple rounds ? What your total cost if you were self pay. Also I would have to use Sama monitoring or a local clinic to monitor. So any info on Sama would be greatly appreciated!

Hi dear all❤️

I have just started my next round of IVF.
Today is CD 7, and today in the morning before my 4th injection I did ultrasound, and they counted 4 follicles:
Right ovary - 12mm, 10mm, 9mm
Left ovary - 10 mm

Is it theoretically possible for smth new (of a good size, of course!) to appear? What are the chances?

Actually, this is not likely for me, as usually my follicles are of a very different size, but I am still curious. I don’t know my baseline for this cycle (my RE never tells), but usually it is around 7 follicles, once it was 10.

The actual IUI procedure does not seem to take very long but there so much happening around it.tracking ovulation, appointments, timing everything then waiting afterward. We have been discussing this side of treatment at femcare fertility, especially how the whole process is explained beforehand. For those who have been through iui what part did you find the hardest to deal with?

So we’re getting ready to do our first FET after one egg retrieval. We’re on the older end, I’ll be 40 in a couple months and my husband is 45, turning 46 next month.

We had amazing initial results, 31 eggs retrieved, 24 mature, 22 fertilized, 10 blasts. That drop from fertilized to blast shocked me. 10 embryos sent for PGT-A testing and only 2 euploid and 1 low level complex mosaic. The RE and genetic counselor both said the attrition is just bad luck, there’s no pattern.

I was really hopeful we would have more euploids given our initial results and our goal is 2 children. We could do another retrieval to try to bank more embryos, but we signed up for a package through Bundl that guarantees we take home a baby. If we do another retrieval now that guarantee is void. We have to transfer both euploid embryos with no success and then we can do a second retrieval for no additional cost.

Our two euploid embryos are a day 5 - 3AA and a day 6 - 4BB. Our RE is recommending to transfer the 3AA first as it has a slightly better chance, but our clinic will let us choose to transfer either one first. I’m inclined to go with the 4BB first but not sure if I’m just splitting hairs.

What would you do in our situation? Anyone with success stories with only 2 euploid having 2 children?

To preface- I know I am incredibly lucky to have any embryos. And if you are struggling through the egg retrieval and embryo creation process, I am rooting for you ❤️

Hi, in my early 30s my husband and I made embryos & I just remembered them as “7 euploid” in my mind. Now it’s four years later, we haven’t been able to conceive naturally so we are going to do IVF. I dug up my igenomix report and all of them are 2AA morphology - my heart sank because looking online, it seems 4AA is better. Assuming I am healthy, what are the chances of 1-2 actual live births from seven 2AA embryos?

I have an appointment with REI but not for another 3 months because of the long waitlist.

Thank you in advance for sharing your expertise and being gentle. This journey has been hard

Hi all

I lost my freshly transfer embryo at 8+1w through a missed miscarriage which started at 12 weeks. I’m now recovering physically and mentally and waiting to start my FET (I had a frozen embryo).

I really need some positive stories about successful FETs after a miscarriage, because I feel like I’m never going to be optimistic or calm again.

It was my only and very first pregnancy, after my first round of IVF, so I know that in a way I was and am lucky, but it’s hard to see things under a positive light.

Hi everyone!

My partner has recently been diagnosed with a balanced Robertsonian translocation (13;14). We've experienced two missed miscarriages and one chemical pregnancy within a 8 month period and we've been trying naturally for the last 5 months. We're now trying to decide whether to pursue IVF with PGT-SR or continue trying naturally. I'm 31 years old.

Interestingly, the pregnancy tissue from our second missed miscarriage was sent for genetic testing, and the results came back chromosomally normal, which makes our situation even more confusing, as we're unsure whether the translocation is responsible for our losses. All other tests (blood work up, scans, semen analysis) came back normal.

l'd really appreciate hearing from anyone who has been in a similar situation.

For those who chose IVF:

What made you decide to pursue IVF rather than continue trying naturally?

How long did the entire process take, from your initial consultation to embryo transfer?

How many eggs were retrieved, how many embryos made it to blastocyst, and how many were chromosomally normal/balanced after PGT-SR testing?

How many IVF cycles did you need before achieving a successful pregnancy?

For those who decided against IVF:

What influenced your decision to continue trying naturally?

Were you eventually able to achieve a successful pregnancy?

How long did it take, and did you experience any further miscarriages along the way?

We're finding it difficult to decide which path to take, especially given our previous losses and the fact that our most recently tested miscarriage was chromosomally normal. We'd love to hear about your experiences, whether positive or negative, to help us better understand what to expect.

I understand I'm still young but everytime I test negative or miscarry it's extremely heartbreaking and slowly affecting my mental health.

Thank you SO much to anyone willing to share their story!

Hi everyone,

I’m 36 (turning 37 in January), with an AMH of 1.1. I’ve undergone two IVF cycles, retrieving 7 and 10 eggs. We had a chemical pregnancy after our first transfer, and our second transfer involved a day-5 morula failed.

My husband had a sperm DNA fragmentation result of 27% about a month ago.

Unfortunately, on October 17, he developed severe Salmonella food poisoning, with a high fever reaching 39.8°C (103.6°F) for four days. He only started improving after taking antibiotics.

We were planning another IVF cycle starting November 6, but I'm concerned that his prolonged fever may have negatively affected his sperm quality and DNA fragmentation.

We're now considering postponing until our December 11 cycle, with egg retrieval likely in late December (approximately 9 weeks after his fever). Alternatively, we could wait until January.

Has anyone experienced a similar situation with a partner having a high fever shortly before IVF/ICSI?

Did you postpone your cycle?

How long did you wait?

Did you notice changes in sperm DNA fragmentation or embryo development?

I'd really appreciate hearing your experiences!

Just had my fourth retrieval this morning so maybe I’m letting the hormones/ drugs take over, but who knows at this stage. People always say the first round is a test round, which I appreciate. You would think come the fourth one, you should see improvement and not regression.

ER 1: random start, 10 mature follicles, 8 eggs retrieved, 6 mature, 4 fertilised, all arrested on day 3
ER 2: progesterone priming, 15 mature follicles, 9 eggs retrieved, 8 mature, 4 fertilised, 3 blasts (2 euploids, 1 untested)
ER 3: back to back after no. 2, 8 mature follicles, 12 retrieved, 9 mature, 9 fertilised, 2 blasts (1 euploid)
ER 4: after mock cycle, 9 mature follicles, 6 egg retrieved, maturity pending

I’m 32, almost 33, my AMH was 2.9 one year ago, retested this past month before ER 4 and it had dropped to 1.4. My AFC was 18-20 but I feel the retrieval rate has always underperformed. Just this cycle, we only saw 5 at the beginning. Maybe I was over-suppressed coming off the hormones from the mock cycle. We did a hysteroscopy, CD138, Receptiva, ERA/ EMMA/ ALICE, saw an endo specialist - nothing. Everything is normal.

So now 3 retrievals and 2 failed FETs later, my AMH has halved, my latest retrieval is worse than anything before despite the wealth of experience and data we should have. I’m sad, frustrated, disappointed, and angry.