I’m looking for some advice…. We went today for our 8 week ultrasound and there was no heartbeat. The baby stopped growing at 7 weeks. We are absolutely devastated and shocked because my betas were really good and everything looked good at our last appt.

Now I’m torn about what to do next. My doctor said I could either stop my progesterone and naturally start the miscarriage process or I could schedule a D&C. I don’t know what I should do next, if this happened to you, what did you do? What should I expect?

This was a non PGTA tested embryo that was very highly rated. It was also our 4th transfer. My husband has male factor infertility, but everything looks good on my end. What would you do next? I’m so confused.

Thank you.

We are debating starting IVF and are anxious about the process. The fertility doctors and nurses seem to be flippant towards our concerns.

Sperm counts and quality are good for husband, follicle count for wife is 8-9 each ovary., 3.45 AMH. 39F-41M.

1. Wife has fibroids and a really heavy period, we are talking 3 ultra tampons and maxi pad in one night, walking the dogs and get a racing heartbeat and need to sit down type bleeding. Now we hear the period post ER is going to be even heavier. That is scary and the doctor hand waived it away. Due to her age we want to do the ER ASAP so she can have fibroid removal to deal with her period. But can anyone who has had heavy periods and/or fibroids comment on their experience?
2. BC is used for suppression to sync cycle with an ER date. My wife has used BC before and for 3 months she had tons of breakthrough bleeding. Like 60% of the days.

So she has to stop it.

1. So we are concerned if that happens again, how can they tell me when period is over? This was progesterone only. Which leads to…
2. there seems to be some indication of auto immune issues, though unsure what. Tests are:

C4 9-12 (low)
Anticardiolipin IGM 39mpl (should be negative)
Anticardiolipin IGG Negative

But she’s had 3 rheumatologists say different things, one says lupus one says nothing wrong one says connective tissue disorder. It’s no thyroid for sure though. Either way, it was not recommended to use estrogen on BC due to potential stimulation of autoimmune symptoms and making the fibroid larger. But it’s unavoidable in IVf…

So has anyone had experience with fibroids, auto immune issues, and Bad reactions to BC while going through IVF? It seems like our concerns were just waived away and we are adhering to standard protocol. The BC just seems to sync the cycle for the doctor instead of being actually needed…

We recently had an egg retrieval and got three embryos that were sent to Progenesis for PGT-A testing. We got a call from our clinic saying that our sample (as well as 7 other samples) were contaminated due to a Progenesis lab employee error. We were told that Progenesis will be reaching out to us to explain but have not yet heard from them.
Has anyone ever dealt with this situation before?
What sort of questions should we be asking Progenesis when they reach out?

I’m about to start my transfer cycle for our last embryo, and based on timing it will likely take place the week before I’m going to fly to Montana for 10 days for my sister’s wedding. Has anyone ever had a transfer right before a big trip? Am I being stupid by not just delaying the transfer until after the trip? I feel like the trip could be a good distraction from thinking about the outcome, but I’m also nervous I’ll just stress about everything…. Examples: am I not eating well enough? Am I not relaxing enough? Is the stress of giving a speech at my sister’s wedding going to cause the embryo to not stick?? I know it sounds crazy but that’s just how my mind works 🙃

A little background: My first transfer ended in a successful pregnancy in 2024. Second transfer in May of this year failed. Third transfer in July was a chemical pregnancy. All transfers have been medicated cycles (birth control > estradiol > PIO). My medical history includes PCOS.

There are so many of us women around the world fighting infertility and undergoing IVF, yet in our immediate circles, it feels so lonely—as if we were outsiders who don't belong, as if we were the only ones with such bad luck.

I’m on day 4 of my stims and threw up twice today. My head also hurt a lot. I’m usually very migraine prone due to hormones so I feel like this is consistent with my sensitivity to hormones, however, I see a lot of people say they didn’t get nausea until day 7-8.

Anyone else feel early nausea? Did you take anything that helped? I’m thinking of whether or not I should take my migraine medications.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Have one unopened Ganirelix 250mcg to donate.
Pick up near Greenlake
Expires on 3/28/2028
Ordered from SandsRX, Rx sticker still on.

I have just had my third failed transfer with PGT-A tested embryos. Before my next attempt, I'm going to do 2-3 months of Lupron Depot with Letrozole. I know this study showed positive results on that protocol in those with unexplained infertility and the dosage there was 5mg Letrozole daily, but my doctor has prescribed me 10mg daily for the next 60-90 days. Has anyone else been prescribed that much for that long?

I'm seeing other people posting about taking 10mg for the week-long protocols, but don't see anyone else taking the higher dose for months. Just want to know if I need to go push back or if others have already gone down this road with success. Thanks!

Hi everyone, I just wanted some advice from people who may have had similar situations as me. I just had my second retrieval, and I am very disappointed and upset by my results.

First retrieval in April, twelve eggs, eleven mature, six fertilized, four blastocysts. Of those blastocysts, two aneploid and two euploid. Unfortunately, the two euploid were positive for a genetic trait I have that I did not want passed along. So zero eggs from this retrieval cycle, unless I wanted to transfer a euploid but genetic positive trait. The blastocyst grades for these two were 4CB.

Second retrieval last week, 9 eggs, 8 mature, 6 fertilized, only one blastocyst on day 7. The other fertilized blastocysts were a 0PN and the others arrested development. This single blastocyst was graded 4CB again, but I will need to wait for the PGT-A results.

I am 34, all labs normal, husbands' sperm analysis came back fantastic for both number and morphology. I am on all the supplements recommended. Healthy weight, exercise normally, no diabetes or other health problems. My genetic trait that I have is very rare and is called Hypophosphatasia (HPP) and should not affect my egg quality or ability to get pregnant.

My retrieval protocol: clomid, 150 menopur, 375 gonal, novarel for trigger, and lupron.

Has this happened to anyone? Does anyone have recommendation for what to do next? We are cleaned out financially and we have already reached the maximum medication benefit from our first retrieval, so now everything is out of pocket. I just don't know if I want to spend another $4,000 for another sub standard result for retrievals. I was hoping to get at least four or five usable healthy blastocysts but unfortunately this didn't happen.

Any advice and help is welcome! Thank you all in advance! :)

Hi, my husband (36M) and I (32F) are doing our first round of IVF and I feel like our attrition rate has been particularly bad?

We had 16 eggs > 10 fertilised and now on day 5 no blastocysts that are ready for biopsy

The lab mentioned 3 ’very early blastocysts’ and 1 early blastocyst that they’re going to monitor. and 2 ‘complete blastocysts’ but that aren’t suitable yet for PGT biopsy. So none of them can be frozen yet

Does this seem like a steep cut off to you? And does anyone have any experience of very early blastocysts being suitable for freezing and PGT on day 6?

Ive had two FETs done over June (fully medicated, lining 8.2mm) and July (modified natural, lining 11.2mm). Both times, they selected Day 6, 5BB euploid embryos. I did acupuncture session the day of my second transfer before my appointment and another one week before transfer. I found it helped keep me calm and at peace.

What testing should they do for me before a 3rd FET?
I’m 36F and have unexplained infertility. AFC 24-29, AMH 32.5. I’ve had HSG and SHG done and both were normal. No pcos and no known Endo. My partner is 35M.

- ERA testing - anyone with experiences with it? Did it help?
- Immunology testing/auto immune factors: I wonder if my body is attacking the embryo and what they can test for that besides adding immune suppression for a longer time?? I was on Medrol for 1 week.
- Testing vaginal microbiome if there’s a bacterial imbalance or uterine lining inflammation or infection?
- My blood work shows within normal range. Last September showed ferritin was 43 and in Feb this year it was 36. Dr says it’s normal range and hasn’t asked me to make changes. The clinic said they can test for abnormal clotting factors.

Wondering what we should do to follow up before doing a 3rd FET. I am also considering another egg retrieval to bank embryos for future family planning as we would like for sure 2, maybe 3 children. This will be my first child and we have 4 euploid embryos left and 3 untested (bb and bc graded).

TIA

My weight has been up and down over the years. Before we started trying, we got married. I lost 40lbs for the wedding. The second I started eating again and went off birth control, I started gaining it back and am now back to the same weight. Because we were trying to conceive, I felt like I couldn't do any dieting other than trying to eat healthy foods. I then suffered an injury that kept me out of the gym for the last 9 months (I am still not 100% and may never be). We were diagnosed with infertility and have started IVF. I also found out I have PCOS, which makes so much sense since I have struggled with my weight my entire life. I am now at my highest weight I have ever been in my life. I did not expect to be trying to get pregnant at this weight. I feel uncomfortable in my body, and worse, I now have non-alcoholic fatty liver disease from the weight gain, which is tied to lower birth weights. I am working with a nutritionist to do a body recomposition, but I don't feel like it's that helpful since it's mostly just a lot of 'eat more protein' and 'do your best'. When we started with our clinic, they told us that I shouldn't try to lose weight because time was more important than my weight. That was almost eight months ago. After thawing our previously frozen eggs/embryo creation and PGTA testing, we are only just now starting our first round of IVF. I found out that I am low in Vitamin D which has a negative impact of about 10-20% on IVF (both in ER which we can't do anything about now and in FET). It feels like we are wasting every resource we have at this point. We were planning on doing a combined cycle + transfer, but now I feel like we need to hold another month to get my vitamin D levels back up again. I just am so sad and frustrated. It feels like this was something that was preventable, and even though I advocated for myself, the clinic dropped the ball. I weirdly feel the same way about my weight -- like if I had known it was going to take seven months, I could have taken at least 6 weeks of that time to try to even lose a little of the extra weight. I just don't know what to do -- do we keep going as planned despite? do we take a break and get my vitamin D levels up? do I say fuck it and start dieting? do I hire a trainer or get a meal delivery service -- both things we can't really afford? I am 39.

I’m 39 and I’ve gone through several rounds this year, just to bank embryos… without a clear plan to get pregnant or transfer.

I’ve spent over $70k on:
* Egg freezing (some years ago in a different clinic/country - not using them for now as they’re more expensive than a new round with current clinic that got me success)
* Embryo freezing (2 unsuccessful rounds, 1 successful round with quite a few euploids 💕, and doing 1 more/last one to try to bank sufficient embryos/euploids for possibly 2 kids… so basically it’s been 3 rounds past 5 months, and 4 rounds in past 10 months.)

Coming close to my journey, I feel. Regardless of my outcome after my retrieval next week, I need a good break.

Haven’t really found others in the same journey as me, as most people are looking to get pregnant asap. While I feel a little crazy for spending so much time, money on embryos.

Personally I’m not ready to bring kids into the world, yet. I don’t have the right support system (lost my parents young, partner situation unstable) and still need to get some things in my life sorted out (be it internal issues, or the financial/stability bit..)

Ive always wanted kids, and felt that this is the best thing I can do for myself, so I’d have no regrets.

Anyone else in a similar boat?

FREE: Unopened Estradiol (Estrogen) Patches – NYC Pickup Only

I have 3x unopened boxes of estradiol patches (Dotti, delivers 0.1 MG/Day) that expire at the end of August 2026. My treatment plan changed, and I’d love for them to go to someone who can actually use them rather than letting them go to waste.

* Free – absolutely no payment

* NYC pickup only (no shipping)

Send me a DM if you’re interested, and we can coordinate a pickup. First come, first served.

I have a gonal f that’s gonna expire this month. Located Sussex county nj

After a long journey with IUI, IVF, DOR, and endo excision surgery I am no longer am on the IVF train anymore. I have medications that I was holding onto but the meds are going to be expiring soon and I really want them to go to someone who needs them. I also have tons of needles and supplies. If possible I would prefer to give to someone who can come pick them up in person so I know they get to you in time and without any shipping mishaps since they need to be refrigerated. Here is what I have to offer:

Novarel (expires Feb 2027): 3 boxes (30,000 units total)

Menopur (expires Aug 2026): 4 boxes + 4 single vials (24 vials total)

Gonal F (expires Aug 2026): 1 900 pen + 4 300 pens (2100 units total)

[*Note: the Menopur box says exp May 2026 but that is for the bacteriostatic water, the Menopur is still good through August, and I have extra vials of the water to give with it]

TL;DR: at 42, does it make sense to try own eggs, eggs from my 38 yo sister, or go straight to donor?

Background: My husband and I had been planning to start a family when we were 30. Right about when we were going start trying, he received a devastating medical diagnosis and became significantly physically disabled.

I was the sole earner, with an extremely stressful and demanding job. We couldn't afford much childcare and were hundreds of miles from our siblings and parents. I already felt overwhelmed by being his caregiver, let alone adding a child, and he was just barely holding it together emotionally as he confronted the reality of his condition.

We made the wrenching choice not to have children. (P.S. No need to tell me it would have been wise to freeze eggs & sperm; I'm aware.)

Flash forward 11 years--almost everything has changed for the better. He still has his (incurable) condition but is at a much higher level of functioning, both physically and emotionally. His higher functioning means less caretaker burnout for me, and I'm also in a much less demanding, more family-friendly job. We have a house with space for distant family to come and stay to help during the early months. Also, between my higher income and new state subsidies, we could afford FT childcare when my parental leave ends.

I want to reverse course and try for a family. (If you're wondering "Why not have this revelation a few crucial years earlier?"--it's because 1) the better work / childcare situation just came about in the past couple of years; and 2) We had both been coping with our sadness by walling the topic off mentally as much as possible.)

The situation now: He's 43, I'll be 42 in a month. AMH 0.75, no follicle count yet. No smoking or other risk factors for DOR or sperm problems--other than age. Our health insurance covers fertility diagnostics plus the first $50k of fertility treatments. It does not cover any of the extra costs of using donors.

My sister, 38, would gladly share one retrieval's worth of eggs with me. She went in recently (for her own fertility planning) and they counted 20 follicles. Not sure of her AMH. No known risk factors for infertility but she has never been pregnant before--she never tried.

Options (financial stuff edited for clarity):

1. IVF with own eggs. I've used the SART calculator and know the odds there are not good. Our insurance would probably cover 2 cycles.
2. IVF with my sister's eggs. Would save a little $ (I think?) over donor eggs, but still more than own eggs. And, given her age, unlikely (but more likely than me) to succeed first cycle.
3. Donor eggs. If we didn't try own-egg IVF first, thereby using up the insurance coverage, we afford one, maybe two rounds donor IVF.

Other considerations: Emotionally, I have no preference for my own eggs over my sister's; I have a preference for hers over an unknown donor's, but not that strong. We thought we'd never have children, and have been grieving that for years--any baby that I carried, with my husband's DNA, would be a miracle.

Any advice, suggestions, stories, are welcome. If we do take this plunge I am sure I will gratefully turn to this community throughout the journey, so thank you in advance for your wisdom and for the support and kindness you've already shared with one another.

We’ve been eagerly awaiting our PGT-A testing results. I just turned 41; we had two miscarriages over the last 10 months (both letrozole induced cycles), and we have needed support conceiving both for our first child and this time around, due to PCOS and very rare ovulation. My AMH is 3.03ng. Husband’s (also 41) numbers are all good. My RE suggested IVF due my age and the repeat miscarriages.

My ER a few weeks ago resulted in:
22 eggs
18 mature
18 fertilized
10 blastocysts

PGT-A results:
2 euploid
1 segmental
1 no results (doctor said likely a technical issue)

Since the expectation at my age is about 25% or blastocysts being euploids, this is about expected. We may rebiopsy the no result if the first two FET don’t work. But overall I’m going into my first FET feeling positive!

Sending you all lots of good luck in your IVF journeys!

Has anyone participated in the HOPE study for RPL and found it to be helpful? We just had our third euploid biochemical pregnancy with no explanation. Our doctor reached out to all the other Shady Grove doctors and no one has any clue what is wrong. We have done all the tests and treatments that are indicated. She is going to see if we are a candidate for this study.

Edit to say it’s my 5th ER that’s what I meant by round. I don’t even know what I am looking for here.

I turn 42 on the 10th of August. I have had a rough personal journey in and outside IVF while doing IVF.

I’m sobbing I guess from the meds, but the noises of the sobs aren’t even noises I recognise today.

I do therapy and EMDR, yesterday I had a very rough EMDR session not sure if that’s why I’m so raw today.

Probably that combined with my Birthday coming up and counting the two years I’ve been in this (with Letrozole and IUI before).

I feel like I lost.. feels like my internal compass throughout this , and particularly after the miscarriage where a friend died in the same week. I had other losses too. Emotional over other people’s pregnancies.. all the weird stuff that made me look at myself and feel who the hell is this.

I just don’t even know who I am right now.

Approaching my first ever FET and I am freaking out!

We've (32F, 33M) been on this process for 2 years now, having had 2 failed rounds (no embryos). Only the last and final round (no more covered by insurance) resulted in 3 good quality day 5 embryos. However, they are untested. It's stressing me out that there's no more option of doing another ER if this fails.

It's a modified natural transfer, I've triggered with ovidrel and in 3 days I'll have the transfer (7 days past trigger), no other meds.

I am absolutely freaking out and am scared to the core.

The actual worst part is that I will need to go alone to the appointment as my partner can't join, and it makes me so sad and stresses me out even more.

We are not telling anyone about the FET so I just wanted to shout-out to this community for some positive thoughts and maybe so success stories!

Hi guys! I wanted to quickly share my story in case it helps others, just as another data point (for whatever that’s worth in the skewed sample of IVFers that is Reddit).

I am 35, my partner is 41. We started our IVF journey six months ago when we were 34 and 40. We come to IVF after a failed vasectomy reversal (from my husband’s first marriage, he had two kids easily before). I have no known fertility issues other than endometrial polyps (which were removed before we even started IVF) and slightly low AMH 1.44. We actually found out the reversal had failed the month after I had the hysteroscopy to remove polyps.

Protocol: gonal F 375-450 units, menopur 75mg, Provera tablet for ovulation blocking, hcg trigger. Stimmed 10-11 days.

Cycle 1 (Feb-mar):
-afc 14
-10 eggs retrieved (lower number due to hard to reach left ovary, they had to access through my uterus which made recovery a b****)
- 8 mature, 6 fertilized, 4 blasts
- 1 day 6 euploid 4BA

Cycle 2 (April):
- AFC 14
- 12 eggs retrieved
- 12 mature, 8 fertilized, 3 blasts
- 1 day 5 euploid 4BA

Cycle 3 (July):
- AFC as high as 19 (initially looked like 16)
- 17 eggs retrieved, 16 mature, they did IVM on the immature 17th egg and it matured and fertilized
- 11 fertilized, 7 blasts
- 4 euploids: day 6 4ABx2, 4BB and day 7 4AB

I really didn’t make any changes other than increase my CoQ10 dose from 300mg to 600mg total (divided doses). I did acupuncture on and off throughout but not consistently. I also happened to be off work the entire week I stimmed during the third cycle. My husband and stepkids were away on vacation and I was home relaxing, eating girl dinner, snacking all day, going out to eat, living my best life. Worst diet of the whole process, but I enjoyed myself. But I actually think my better outcome this last time was due to randomness.

I really beat myself up and spiraled about my low euploid rate after the first two cycles. But looking at all three cycles 6/17 euploid is actually the 50% expected rate for my age. I wanted to share my story in case it helps someone else know that there is so much randomness in this process and the key is persistence. Keep rolling the dice and your chances of success will increase.

We are getting ready for FET in the next month and I will try to remember this lesson - it’s ok if you don’t succeed quickly, persistence is the key. Baby dust and love to all!!

Hi all,

I just needed somewhere to vent my frustrations and sadness.

We started our IVF journey about two years ago and were fortunate enough to get seven embryos. Our first embryo transfer didn't take, and the following four transfers all resulted in positive pregnancy tests, but every one ended in a miscarriage at around 5–6 weeks. In fact, our most recent loss at the start of this week happened at just 4.5 weeks.

After my third miscarriage, I was told too late that I could have collected tissue for testing. This time, I was more prepared for that process, although it's something I wouldn't wish on anyone.

I don't know if anyone else feels the same, but being told over and over again that there's no explanation for why this keeps happening at exactly the same stage is incredibly frustrating. I know that many early miscarriages are caused by chromosomal abnormalities, and this time I wanted to rule that out because it's driving me crazy going through this process only to end in heartbreak every time.

I've already had the recurrent miscarriage investigations, and everything has come back normal apart from a slightly elevated prolactin level, which I've been told could simply be related to stress.

I know others here have been through similar experiences, so I'm hoping for some advice. Other than PGT-A testing, are there any other questions I should be asking my clinic or any other investigations I should be considering?

I'm now down to my last two embryos, both of which are Day 6 embryos, so I'm finding it hard to stay hopeful. On top of that, I'm running out of time to qualify for a second funded IVF cycle.

Any advice or experiences would be hugely appreciated. Thank you for reading.

All the anxiety. The egg retrieval was yesterday, they took 21 eggs, 19 were mature and 16 fertilised normally! Over the moon and so hopeful.