IVF Success Stories - Overcoming Infertility

The Full Embrace-IVF Success Program Review

Posted on April 27, 2011 by brit16

During the six years that we suffered from infertility I was continuously searching the internet for tips to improve our chances, suggestions, success stories, etc. Although we have been extremely blessed to have two miracle IVF babies, I still research infertility on a regular basis. Once you have become a part of the infertility world….you never leave it. At first this blog was a place for me to talk about our infertility struggles. Now I dedicate this blog to trying to help others with their journey to completing their families.

Majority of my internet searches for good resources have come up empty handed. While I was preparing to do a cycle for my second little miracle I came across the IVF Success Program. I had heard some good reviews about it so I decided to bite the bullet and go ahead and get it. I was pleasantly surprised at the amount of info it included, at this point I had already gone through years worth of treatments and had a lot of knowledge on the subject.

This program is great for anyone looking to do IVF, whether you are an IVF vet or a first timer. Even though I have learned a lot over the last few years, the program still has information that I have never heard or thought of before. The program is NOT a miracle fix for your infertility struggles, but it does give a lot of suggestions for increasing your chances of conceiving, as well as some creative money savings tips (these are valuable to anyone that does not have IVF coverage – we payed out of pocket for everything and I am sure others do as well)

I think my favorite thing about the book is that it gives you a “fertility recipe guide”. The guide has suggestions on foods that are harmful to fertility and foods that actually increase your chances. In all my years of infertility I had not seen anything like this. If you are trying to find a resource that will give you some kind of “miracle cure” to infertility…..this is not it! If you find one….please let me know:). I will let you check it out yourself ….. IVF Success Program.

Good luck to all of you still trying for your little miracle babies!!! After 5 plus years of infertility we finally have a happy family of four. Just recently added our second addition to the family. If you would like to hear our story please visit Our IVF Journey. Hope to hear your success story soon!

>>>Check out the IVF Success Program Now<<<

Our Miracle Boys………………….

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Koby cropped photo shoot

Mother’s Day Blues

Posted on May 14, 2013 by brit16

I know Mother’s Day is past now, but I just wanted you to know that there are people out there that understand your Mother’s Day blues! Having to face Holidays, especially one specifically designed around Mom’s, can be really tough when going through infertility. Just wanted you to know that you are not alone, and that your time is coming!!

This is my third mother’s day as a mom, but I will never forget how it felt to want to be able to celebrate the day, and not know if I would ever have the chance. I was optimistic that it would eventually be my turn, but you can’t help getting discouraged when year after year you still don’t have a family.

I don’t know why we had to wait, and wait, and wait to start our family when others started it before even wanting to. But I do know that whatever the reason was it was worth it!!! I can’t imagine our family being any different at this point. If one of those three babies we miscarried would have made it, then we would not have our two boys. For this reason, I can now appreciate those years that we waited.

I hope my story can encourage some of you to not give up and to keep pressing forward. Keep in mind that it will be your time one day….I hope that day comes as quick as possible for you!

I can’t help but want to share a pic of our family with you. I hope all of you can appreciate that I am only sharing it to encourage you, not at all to hurt anyone. Please feel free to share your thoughts / feelings about mothers day. It is so helpful to hear that others have similar feelings.

family pic

Sonia’s “Rescue ICSI” IVF Success Story

Posted on March 28, 2013 by brit16

As you all know, I have been around the infertility world for quite some time now, and until a few weeks ago I had never heard of a “rescue ICSI / IVF”. While viewing one of the IVF forums I read regularly I came across someone’s post about rescue IVF. One of the ladies responded with her success story and was nice enough to share with us as well. For those of you searching for info on rescue ICSI, I think her story will be very encouraging!! Thanks again for sharing Sonia .

Sonia’s IVF Success Story:

1. How long were you trying to conceive and what methods did you use?

We were trying to conceive for 21 months. 8 month naturally and 13 months on medicated cycles.

What methods did you use throughout your fertility journey?

You name it we did it. We started with just Clomid. Then Clomid with IUI, then Clomid and some other drugs with IUI, then more IUI, then finally moved on to IVF.

Did you do anything to increase your chances? (acupuncture, certain diet…etc.)

I tried anything and everything to increase my chances. I did acupuncture once a week for 3 months prior to starting my IVF cycle with an acupuncturist who’s specialized in fertility. This included lots of herbs prior to starting the medicated cycle. I did yoga, I did a lot of deep breathing exercises to relax. I went to a therapist once a week so I can clear my head and be mentally ok and process all this IVF craziness. I put together a chart of food groups I should concentrate on and eat after googling and reading thru people’s suggestions for increasing my odds. Took Royal Jelly (for egg quality), added buckwheat and wheat germ, almonds, walnuts, kefir, lots of berries, eggs, chick peas, avocado, flax oil, green shakes and green tea, and basically followed the fertility diet food pyramid which I feel helped me:

4.Please share details of your fertility journey. (bfn’s, miscarriages, how you got through the hard times… etc)

Every month I held on to hope that it would be our lucky month. But every month I got a BFN, didn’t even come close to a positive pregnancy. My husband was super supportive and like everything in my life, once I put my mind to something I go full force and don’t stop until I reach my goal. I was always very sad when friends and family members announced they were expecting and I thru a pity party for myself, but I didn’t dwell on it for too long and just refocused that negative energy to positive vibes towards my goal of having our own baby.

Once we started our first IVF cycle, I was so positive it would work for us. We got 5 eggs on retrieval day and I was so excited for that phone call from the embryologist the next day to see how many fertilized. Well I was in total and udder shock when she called to say that NONE of the eggs fertilized. I didn’t understand. I didn’t even contemplate this being an option for us. We were both “perfectly fine” according to our RE. Unexplained was our diagnosis. And now, after all this time, we’ve come to find out that our issue was fertilization.

The embryologist asked if they could perform rescue ICSI and of course I just said yes, although I had no idea what ICSI or a rescue ICSI was. She explained that the chances of success were very low but at least they would try. Obviously I went straight to my best friend google and started looking for answers as to why this would happen, and wanted to find success stories to give me any hope for the next 24hrs. I couldn’t find anything positive. Some dr’s don’t even perform rescue icsi due to the low success rate. At that point, I threw in the towel and felt it was all over for us. After all this time, we finally had our answer of why we couldn’t conceive, fertilization issues.

The embryologist called back the next morning to say that 4 out of 5 fertilized and I was to come in for a 2-day transfer the next day. 2 days sounded very short compared to the 5 day blast success stories I’d been reading about on the forums. The RE said that the embryo was better off growing in its natural environment to give it the best chance of success.

Well he was right. A few days after our transfer, I was sitting at work and felt a very sharp but quick pain on my right side. I just sat there and new that was implantation. I was so sure I was pregnant I didn’t even POAS for fear that it was defective. 13dp2dt – Beta was in at 346. 9 months later, our beautiful and perfect baby boy was born weighing at 7 pounds 8 ounces 2 weeks early via c-section.

What a roller coast ride of emotions. But worth every minute of it when I look at him. We are will use our frozen embie from that rescue ICSI cycle and hope one will make a sibling for our little guy one day.

Thanks again for sharing Sonia….I know there are many people out there that will get some comfort in hearing your story. Wishing you luck at your attempt for a sibling!!! Hope you will come back and update your story in the future .

Click to read more IVF Success Stories!!!

Top Ten Ways Infertility….

Posted on March 25, 2013 by brit16

….changed our lives. We started trying for a baby when I was about 22 years old. Little did I know that infertility would change our lives. It sounds a little dramatic to say “it changed our lives”, but in many ways it did! At the time I was still finishing up school and can actually remember thinking, “I hope I don’t get pregnant right away….I would like to finish up school first”, I guess I should have been careful what I wished for. Not only did I get to finish school, but I got about 4 years of my career under my belt before we finally went on to start our family.

Here are the top ten ways infertility changed our lives:

boys blue 1.) The main way that infertility has changed our lives is that, in the end, it gave us two beautiful children to show for all the heartache. I wanted to start here to say that no matter what you are going through, all the struggles are worth it in the end! If one or two of our miscarriages would not have happened, our boys would not be here…..I truly believe they are the children we were meant to have. It may seem like a cruel way for God to give us the children we were meant to raise, but they are here now and that is all that really matters!! If I could go back and do it all again, I wouldn’t want it to be any different.

2.) Some may argue that this next one is not true…..and I am not doubting the parenting of any non-infertile couples. But I cannot help but think that we are better parents because of infertility. Of course we are not perfect, no where close to it, but I think we really appreciate being parents and what a gift it is to have our two little miracle boys.

3.) I became a part of a community that I will always feel linked to. Before infertility I never did anything “social” on the computer…..probably did not even know what a forum or blog was:)! Now I am sitting here writing a blog post for my viewers. I also still post on the forums that helped get me through the hard times. Although we are through our struggles, I will always be a part of the “infertility world”.

4.) Not now, but for a while, I would not hold other people’s babies. I never really thought to myself, “I can’t hold a baby”, but at some point I realized that when others would offer to hold babies I never would. I am a pretty strong person and honestly never felt any jealousy over other people having children (although a lot of women do, so don’t feel bad if you are one of them)…..I just had no desire to hold a baby. I think it was my weird way of protecting myself from possibly feeling empty for not having a baby of my own.

5.) I completely lost my summers! We are both teachers, so we always did IVF during the summer. With my RE that meant giving up my summer completely. I had to be in the office three times a week to draw blood and do ultrasounds, so no going out of town. I was told no lifting anything heavier than half a gallon of milk, no swimming, no sex, etc. So…basically I had to sit at home, waiting for my next appointment, so I could obsess over the numbers.

6.) This may be a bit of an excuse, but I feel like infertility really helped me to get out of shape. I was always an athlete growing up and really enjoy feeling like I am in shape. When we first started IVF I had been doing pretty good working out at the school’s faculty weight room. Of course I was told nothing other than walking, so I had to quit. I know that IVF only takes about a month but when you are starting and stopping procedures over and over, it seems like one big long marathon IVF! Also, we ended up pregnant three times (before finally getting pregnant with our first born son), so the restrictions were carried until the miscarriage would occur. Only making a non-successful cycle that much longer!!

7.) I became a pro at injecting myself. For a while I felt like a real junkie….shooting up in my car, storing meds in a friends fridge, even having to ask a good friend to inject me! At first I only did the shots in the stomach and hubby did the ones in the butt, but after soo many cycles I got to the point where I could even do the PIO shots with ease. To this day the smell of an alcohol swab triggers memories of injections. I am sure y’all can relate to this!!

8.) Sex Life. Need I say more? At first all the restrictions did not mess us up too bad, but eventually having to hold back from having sex for months at a time really screwed us up. I think this is very normal for infertility to screw up your sex life….for many different reasons. It took a while to get back to normal, but I am happy to say that we are. If you are still having trouble in this area…..it will get better!

th_money_stacks 9.) Debt. I probably don’t need to elaborate much on this one. For those of you with IVF insurance (I’m jealous)….most of the rest of us have accumulated a lot (is that a big enough word) of debt trying to have our little miracles.

10.) I will never look at twins the same again. This one is on a lighter note, but if I see a pair of twins I automatically want to go up and ask the parents “are your little ones a result of fertility treatments….I understand what you went through ”. Of course I would never do that, but I honestly do see twins and automatically think infertility.

I hope you enjoyed this blog post, if you would like to hear more from IVF Success Stories….please subscribe to blog. Infertility WILL change your life, but believe it or not you will be grateful for all the heartache in the end! Don’t give up….if we can go on to have two little miracle boys, you can too. Please feel free to reply to this post!! I always love to hear feedback and to know that there are others out there thinking the same things .

Progesterone Recall…

Posted on February 25, 2013 by brit16

th_Syringe I came across a forum post this morning about a recall….just thought I would share. It is not all progesterone, only if it says it came from “Village Fertility”.

There is one other drug as well. If you think this may apply to you, here is the link to the recall: Waltham Fertility Recall

If you have any fertility questions or concerns please don’t hesitate to contact me or reply to any of the post!!!

How Many Embryos / Selective Reduction

Posted on February 13, 2013 by brit16

Deciding how many embryos to transfer can be one of the toughest decisions you make while going through IVF / FET. Some countries have strict guidelines, mainly having to do with age. Here in the US there are not actual “rules”, just unspoken expectations.(Some clinics set their own “rules” but they are not the actual law.)

Most RE’s suggest transferring one or two embryos. It is pretty uncommon to transfer three, and vary rare to transfer more than three at a time.

Generally speaking, the younger you are, the fewer embryos you transfer. But I can say that I was the exception to the rule, our first four fresh cycles we transferred 3 each time. In my opinion age should not be the only factor considered……previous attempts, quality of embryos, and chances of success for each individual patient should also be weighed heavily. In our case, I was very young, 23 when we did our first IVF. But our embryos were not the greatest of quality and we were only able to create 5 embryos (out of 7 eggs retreived) on our first attempt. If there were strict age guidelines in place, I would have only been able to transfer 1!!!

We (infertility patients) are so impatient when it comes to starting our families….(which is perfectly understandable), that sometimes we are eager to transfer more embryos than we should. Yes, this will increase our chances of success, but it will also increase the chances of higher order multiples and the risk that are associated. At the time we think “I don’t mind the risk of multiples….heck, maybe I will have two and be done with it”!!! ( I know I thought that many of times

. But would we really be ok with the decision when we ended up going into pre-term labor and possibly losing the babies?? I am saying this because in all the stories I have I have heard many were the babies were lost because of pre-term labor or other complications. I am not trying to scare anyone, just stating the possible concerns we should all have when deciding how many embryos to transfer.

One good thing about deciding to transfer fewer embryos at a time, is that the FET success rate is as high as the fresh success rate for most clinics. (The stats can lie about this….most FET’s are done with “left-over” embryos, therefor they yield a slightly lower success rate.) When FET’s are done with quality embryos, they are just as successful!!! Transferring one at a time, possibly two, and freezing the other quality embryos can give you a great chance at success. Just something to think about

The reason I brought this topic up is because I was reading on a forum not too long ago and read someone thread about “really high beta levels”. The poster initially thought that her relative was likely pregnant with twins….come to find out she had transferred 6 embryos (in another country) and was pregnant with 4 babies (all had heartbeats and appeared to be healthy). Her doctor then recommended that she have selective reduction done (where babies are killed so that there is only a single or twin pregnancy).

Now I know I am venturing into a very controversial topic, but it is something that often comes up in the infertility world……

The lady went on to terminate two of her babies, and ended up with a healthy twin pregnancy. I don’t want this post to be about my views one way or another on this topic, but I thought it would be interesting to get everyone’s thoughts on selective reduction. Considering that we are all TRYING to have kids, you would not think this was much of an issue, but it happens more often than one might think.

Let me know your thoughts on selective reduction….do you think everyone should be able to choose how many kids they have…..or do you feel like people are responsible for how ever many they decide to put back???????

Reply here to this post!

Embryo Quality / Male Factor Infertility

Posted on January 28, 2013 by brit16

The general consencus in the fertility world is that eggs determine the quality of the embryo, but there are RE’s that are recognizing that the sperm may have more to do with embryo quality than once was thought. I am by no means trying to say that a couple with male factor fertility will not be able to concieve using their own sperm, many couples have babies using IVF w/ ICSI all the time. What I am trying to say is that couples who have repeatedly failed (having negative cycles or early miscarriages) may want to consider the quality of their embryos (even when the eggs are “perfect”).

Even couples who have had repeated failures, may go on to eventually have a baby(using the couples own sperm)….if they are willing to try and try again. But the same couple could possibly have a baby sooner if they are willing to consider donor sperm or embryos.

Here is an interesting article I found online through one of the forums I participate in ….”Poor Quality Embryo Quality“. I would love to hear others stories…if you have male factor fertility please share your thoughts. Have your embryos been poor quality for no known reason??? Or do you have a success story to share with poor quality sperm that resulted in a successful IVF cycle? Reply here to share your thought.

I’m sure this topic will be addressed more in the coming years as IVF is getting more and more successful and researched. Good luck to everyone out there still trying. Just remember that no matter what your situation is…you CAN go on to have your miracle IVF success story!!!

Common IVF Questions

Posted on January 17, 2013 by brit16

This is a post I wrote a while back about common IVF questions. Thought it may be helpful to some of my new viewers. Sorry if you have already read it. If you are new to IVF or an IVF vet you probably have questions and concerns about your IVF cycle. Searching the internet for answers often gets you very technical results. I hope this post can answer a few of the common IVF questions, from more of a patient’s viewpoint. This list will be the most beneficial to IVF newbies.

Will the procedures be painful? No, unless you end up with OHSS, the procedures should be painless. I did not know this going into my first retreival and was in extreme pain. I thought it was normal, but later I found out that I had a mild case of OHSS. If you are in any pain, please inform your doctor.

How much work will I have to miss? IVF can be very demanding of your time, but there are a lot of variables when considering how much work will be missed. How far do you live from your clinic, how often does your RE ask you to come in, does your RE require bed rest after the transfer? I am a teacher and had to drive about 40 minutes each way to get to my appointments. So, I had to have someone cover a class or two quite often. My RE required 3 days of bed rest after the transfer, which I was lucky enough for that part to fall on the weekend, and two to three weekly visits. The good news is that most of the visits only take about 5 minutes. If you live close to your RE’s office, you should not have to miss much, if any, work for them.
3 or 5 day transfer? There are a few questions that arise about 3 vs 5 day transfers. Why did my RE choose to do a 3 day transfer, which type of transfer is “best”. This is a really controversial topic, and the answers vary depending on your situation and your RE. You may want to check out this post for more information about 3 and 5 day transfers.

Do the fertility drugs cause side effects? Yes, but they are not too bad. I had worse side effects from being on birth control pills than stimulation drugs. In my opinion, the worst side effects are caused by the progesterone. Since it is a hormone that is naturally produced during pregnancy, the side effects mimic early pregnancy symptoms. For example, sore bb’s, bloating, constipation. This can cause huge mind games with people….am I pregnant, is it the progesterone???? Most of the time it is just the progesterone, considering early pregnancy symptoms do not kick in until around 6 or 7 weeks.
When can I take a home pregnancy test? This question can drive you crazy!! We are all so eager to find out if the procedure worked that we are willing to test way too early and then get frustrated. I wrote an article about this, and there are a lot of good comments from visitors, you may want to check it out here. Please do not let a early hpt discourage you! You won’t know for sure until you get a beta blood test done.
How long does it take for the HCG trigger shot to get out of my system? It depends on the dose that you took. But the common dosage for a trigger shot takes up to ten days to get out of your system. Testing any earlier than that could cause you to get a false positive.
How many embryos should I transfer? This is a very personal decision, that you should take very seriously. The more embryos you put back the more likely you are to get pregnant, but you are also more likely to have multiple embryos implant. Having more than two embryos implant is dangerous for the babies and for the mom. Many RE’s will not implant more than two embryos at a time, especially if they are blast (day 5 embryos). Some RE’s have age guidelines. For example, they may only transfer one of two embryos into someone under age 30, but be willing to transfer 3 into a patient who is over 30 years of age.
Is there anything I can do to improve my chances of getting pregnant through IVF? There are theories about things that you can do to improve your chances, but most of them are not proven to be true. The way I see it is they are worth a try, just be sure your RE knows about any alternative treatments you are trying. Please check out the IVF Success Program for ideas about improving your chances.

I am sure I am missing questions, but I hope this list covers some of the most common ones. Please feel free to reply to this post with any questions or answers that you have. IVF can be stressful and challenging, but it is all worth it in the end!!! You will have your miracle baby, if you keep trying!

IVF Success Rates

Posted on January 14, 2013 by brit16

I just wanted to share a little about IVF success rates, especially for beginners to IVF. When we first met our RE he was so positive, so enthusiastic, and gave us great odds. In our case, we left feeling like we would do IVF, get pregnant and have a baby in 9 months. It is as simple as that, right??!! I’m sure we were not the only couple that were so naive in the beginning.

The RE actually said we had an 80% chance of getting pregnant on the first IVF, not sure how he imagined up that number! I am a math teacher, and numbers tell me a lot, so I really bought into these rates or chances that he gave us.

We were the “perfect” IVF candidates. I was in my early 20′s “no issues” (not sure I believe that now) and we just had male factor infertility. Little did we know that it would not only work on the first time, but it would take us 6 attempts (3 miscarriages along the way) to have our first little miracle boy.

Now, I am not saying this to discourage anyone who has been given a high chance at success. More than anything I want the people who have been told that they have a low chance at success to know that the numbers lie sometimes. Just like we went against our odds, I have seen many people get pregnant that were told they had a very low shot at conceiving through IVF.

Not only do the patient’s numbers lie sometimes but the clinics do as well. Don’t get me wrong, you should do your research when finding a clinic. The most important number to look at is the “live birth rate”. Just keep in mind that some clinics attempt to skew their data. For example, my RE would treat anyone that wanted to be treated. (He was honest about their chances, but would not turn someone down.) There are some clinics that will NOT treat certain patients. Sometimes for their age or after they have had previous failures. These clinics stats would look better than my clinics because they are avoiding patients that would be likely to have negative cycles. I had never thought about this before until my RE pointed it out to us when asking about clinic’s success rates.

ivf success stories This article is only meant to give you an understand that stats can lie. Don’t get too wrapped up in the numbers….anyone can have success with IVF, some patients will just have a harder time getting pregnant than others. You should be concerned with your clinics success rate, just keep in mind that there are many factors involved with those numbers.

Miracle #2

Posted on January 1, 2013 by brit16

I know I am a little late, but I just wanted to share my second IVF success story with you. Our miracle baby boy arrived on November 12….he is 7 weeks already! I attempted to write this post numerous times and kept losing it for some reason. I apologize to the ladies who were probably wondering what was going on with me.

My maternity leave is already coming to an end; I don’t remember it going by so fast the first time. We have been out of town off and on ever since he was born. Now “real life” is going to begin….learning how to take care of two kids as a working mom without all the family around.

To those of you who are still trying for your first, I hope you will read our story. We are so blessed to go from thinking we may never have children to having a complete family with two wonderful little boys. For those of you who are new to my blog, we spent five years, three miscarriages, thousands of dollars, and 6 attempts at IVF before finally having our first little miracle. On our seventh attempt (first for baby #2), we had miracle baby boy #2!! Our story is a perfect example of why you should never give up on your dream of having a family. I only share pics and the birth of my little one with you to give you hope. I pray every one of you has your miracle success story soon!

Quick Update… 37 Week Check Up

Posted on October 29, 2012 by brit16

Just thought I would try to be better about updating….last Friday we had our 37 week check – up. It was our first eventful check up in a while. We had our last ultrasound and I was checked for the first time to see if I was dilated yet.

The ultrasound wasn’t as exciting as I would have liked. We couldn’t really see much of the baby since he was actually in the correct position! Really just saw the spine and the back of his head. The doctor did say that she thinks he is about 6 and 1/2 pounds at the moment. I know these guesses are not always accurate, but he seems to be smaller than my first little guy.

I was really hoping to be dilated some already, so she would commit to letting me be induced a bit early. I was 1.5 cm dilated and 50% effaced, so she seemed happy with letting me be induced on the 12th of November, just a few days before my due date. But I know I am going to have to be flexible….I just hope if something changes that maybe it is earlier….not later !

Hoping and praying for everyone out there still trying for their success story!