Success Rate Archives - Page 2 of 4

Age and IVF

September 26, 2009 By Carol 2 Comments

Without doubt the strongest indicator of a women’s ability to fall pregnant is her age. From age 35, a women’s fertility starts to decline alarmingly rapidly. It is rare to find any research that contradicts this basic fact – it is harder to become pregnant as you age and harder to maintain a diagnosed pregnancy.

Between the ages of 25-29, your likelihood of getting pregnant visa IVF is between 45-50%. However, by age 40 your chances of conception are almost halved.

As depressing as this might be for those of use old enough to worry about our biological clock, many of us still live in hope that our dreams of becoming a mother are realised. Without doubt I have pushed my body to its limits in doing repeated IVF cycles. The toll it has taken on me both physically, emotionally and professionally has been significant.

Now, as I sit here contemplating my impending 40th birthday I wonder if all the pushing has been good for me. However, if I asked myself if I would do it again then the answer would be a resounding yes. If I was younger, perhaps I would not do each cycle as close together as what I have done (4 stimulated cycles per year is quite intense) but do it I would.

Judging by the results of my my ovulation test kit this evening, I have a feeling that I will be ovulating sometime on my 40th birthday. Which means I will be having the last of my frozen embryos transferred into my uterus. If all else fails, then it is back to the clinic to start yet another IVF cycle.

IVF Conception Still Possible

September 2, 2009 By Carol Leave a Comment

A visit to my IVF specialist revealed that he still thinks my husband and I will conceive. So despite being nearly 40 and despite my husbands sperm problems, he still thinks this is a realistic goal.

It’s funny how a Doctor can be so confident when after 7 failures, you are not. So after asking all the probing questions, he still feels we will get pregnant. Apparently, he has done every test possible to me so from his perspective there is no reason why I should not fall pregnant. IVF apparently helps overcome male infertility issues so theoretically, there is no reason why we shouldn’t be able to become parents.

This makes things a little frustrating as it seems everything that should be working isn’t. I guess it puts us in no mans land. The other annoying thing is that IVF is not cheap – not by a long shot so every failure means spending more money on another round. Whilst, you can’t put a cost on what I perceive to be a joy in having a baby, it does place a financial strain on your budget.

So with this in mind we have decided to continue down this path and try again. Fortunately, we have one frozen embryo left from the cycle I did in January. So apart from giving my body a rest from the drugs it means we will use our last remaining embryo. So if this fails, another stimulated cycle is on the cards. In the meantime, I will continue to focus on having a good nutritional diet, no alcohol or coffee – basically following the suggestions in the Pregnancy Miracle ebook I purchased a few weeks ago.

IVF at 40

August 27, 2009 By Carol Leave a Comment

Call me ignorant but after months of worrying about not being about to get pregnant before the age of 40, I am not worried anymore.

A sure sign of this is that after months of procastinating with the Police Record Check forms so I can start IVF, I have finally sent my form in complete with cheque. Somehow I don’t think I will be getting it back in time for the 1st September deadline when the new laws take effect.

Apart from the fact that my husband’s form has not been sent in yet, I imagine there will be a backlog of applications from the late rush of couples who have also submitted their forms. Obviously, holding off like me in the hope that they won’t have to do another round of IVF. In any case, I guess it means we might start the next round a little later.

It’s strange but I am less perturbed by the later start this time. In the past, I have pushed my body so hard, doing IVF with only a month break in between cycles. Once, I did a cycle back to back with no break. Now that was hard. All of my attempts, of course, have been done in my futile attempt to racie against my biological clock.

But the truth is, I will be turning 40 at the end of September. I am already in the statistically significant, lower end of the IVF success bracket. A delay of one month is hardly going to make a big difference. I think my body also needs a break to get back to its natural rhythm. The scary thing is that I’ve been doing this so frequently that I don’t even know what my natural rhythm is.

Apart, from that IVF is hard – I am in no rush to start again only to get another negative result. I need emotional space to come to terms with the last seven failed attempts. Maybe my birthday this year will not be about trying to conceive – maybe it will be about relaxing and enjoying myself. Now that would be a nice change.

Questions To Ask Your IVF Specialist

August 21, 2009 By Carol Leave a Comment

After seven failed attempts at IVF, there comes a time when you have to ask some pretty hard questions to your Doctor.

I’ve been too frightened too ask – maybe I am not going to like what I might hear. But my visit with the Counsellor today did help in exploring what our options and questions we might ask our Doctor.

The questions are:
– Given our history and 7 failed attempts, what is the likelihood of us conceiving?
– Why do you think we lose so many embryos between day 3 and day 5?
– Do you think it has something to do with my egg quality or my husbands sperm?
– Should we try giving Day 3 embryos a go instead? (or Day 5 if relevant)
– Is there any kind of genetic testing that you think we should do?
– Are there any other tests that you think we should explore?
– Should my husband see an Andrologist?
– Should we have his sperm tested again?
– Are there any other alternatives that we should explore?

I am sure there are some that I have missed but these are the questions that seemed most relevant after repeated IVF failures.

Feel free to post any other questions you might have. We can all learn from other peoples questions.

Day 3 Versus Day 5 Embryos

August 16, 2009 By Carol Leave a Comment

The debate between Day 3 or Day 5 embryos continues. I have always done Day 5 blastocyst transfers. The theory being that scientists can monitor the embryo for longer so that they can assess which ones are most healthy. This allows them to process and screen out those embryos that are unlikely to survive and are the most healthier. Although, it is not that they are screened out – they just don’t survive.

The risk is that you can lose most if not all of them. Certainly this is something we have experienced. From 19 eggs and 15 fertilised, we were left with only 1 Day 5 blastocyst. The implication being that if this failed to implant we would need to go through the whole process again.

We have now had 7 transfers in total (9 blastocysts) and every one of the them has failed to implant. They say that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over again. Maybe we are insane. It led me to ask the question of my nurse, should we do day 3 transfers instead. Apart from the fact that she suggested I discuss this with my Doctor, her answer was interesting. She said some women have had no luck with Day 5 blastocysts and have tried Day 3 and got successfully pregnant. Others have had had the same result as Day 5. My guess is that there is no easy answer but I am going to give the Day 3 ones a go. Maybe there are better off in my body than some cultured medium.