Real IVF Stories Needed

You will likely gain weight, but really its not a big deal, if you are successful you will be gaining a lot more weight anyway. The effect will just be that you look pregnant a little earlier and that is a tiny sacrifice for a new baby. Also some of that is water gain due to the hormones (think bad pms bloating) and will go down. You will not be able to do any impact exercise at all from the implantation until your pregnancy test, and truly your expanded ovaries will be a little tender and vulnerable to torsion if you do heavy exercise once they get big. So you may have to just put yourself in the mindset that right now your body is for making babies, you can worry about looking sexy after your baby is born.

As for the mood changes, It wasn't too bad. I was a little crabby, and cried easily at commercials, but I wasn't a raving lunatic or a monster. Overall I felt fine except that I really needed to monitor myself for constipation and related pain from all the meds and take stool softeners before it got painful.

Hi,
I did IVF for both my babies - Lupron with one along with gonal-F.
For my daughter we got pregnant with her after the second round of IVF, and with my son, it worked the first time, but I hear that that is rare and that it is not uncommon for it to take several rounds. I don't think that my moods were crazy at all on the meds, but I do remember my abdomen being swollen due to all the meds and the enlarged ovaries - you may not feel like exercising, and even if you do feel like it, you probably won't be able to (due to the meds and the enlarged ovaries). The shots were a pain - literally and figuratively! but I remember they were much easier the second time around as I wan't so hyper focused on becoming a parent, I already was one. Since this is emotionally loaded for you you may find the shots to be difficult (icing before really helps). My husband faints at the sight of blood and is very squeamish, but was able to give them to me with no problems.

BTW, I was 38 when I had my daughter, and 41 when I had my son!
I did accupuncture with my daughter, but not with my son.

Also, due to the enlarged ovaries, my abdomen felt enlarged and tender; I swear that the minute I found out I was pregnant, I couldn't close my pants! It felt like it took a long time for the swelling to diminish, and I went into my maternity pants much sooner, partly due to the enlarged ovaries.

It sounds like you don't have egg quality issues, so you should have a relatively easy time of it...just don't expect that it will work the first time, they may have to tweak your meds a few cycles.

Good Luck to you!

I used a similar protocol for all 3 of my children and would do it again for a fourth. I am pretty slim to start but got quite bloated with weight gain on the meds. Modds were fine-just streesed about it working. I lost all the weight post partum. Would I dod IVFif I had another option? of course not. But it was 100% worht every injection, pound of weight, bloating etc. I always thought of it as being pregnant for 10 months instead of 9.
WORTH IT!

L.,

I just had 2 embryos transfered via IVF this past Thursday. This is our 3rd cycle. We were successful 3.5 years ago after our second cycle in having our daughter. I would be more than happy to answer any and all questions you may have. I did the Lupron/Gonal F protocol and had to supplement with Menopur as well. Please send me an e-mail at ____@____.com if you would like any information. I am very open and honest about talking about it. Best of luck with everything and congrats on the decision you have made.

Hi I went through that same protcol when I went through IVF. I didn't gain any weight when on the meds. I have to tell you I hated it!!! But I kept thinking of the end result which was a child that I had been dieing for for 10 years plus. I had a very hard time giving myself shots in the stomach because that is where I had the most fat. It was either there or my thigh. Both were hard to do. I would ice the area first and it was better. I only gained 40 pound with my pregnancy and I was having twins. I ended up with boy girl twins and I couldn't have been happier.
Anything else you want to know I will try to remember it has been 5 years or so. I am sorry but mine worked first time which is very rare and I had a best friend hate me for it and I no longer talk to her. She went through 6 cycles to finally have the last one work. YOu have to be prepared to have twins. At your age (no offense) they put in 2 eggs if they both take you get twins LOL. I was 32 when I did IVF and they only wanted to put in one and I said I am not doing this again please put in two and if I get twins I get twins. But since there is twins in my family I was afraid I would end up with 4!!! Well let me know if I can help out with anything else.

J.
____@____.com

I had 4 IVFs, one resulting in our son. I did Luporn and Gonal-F on a couple. You're on this for such a short time that you shouldn't gain weight....but watch out for mood swings! I was all over the place with moods...my poor sweet husband. Just apologize now for any crazies to come. (:

Due to cost, have you given thought to transferring two? Something to think about due to your age.

Good luck and prayers for you and your family!

I had 2 failed ivfs and 2 successful. I didn't gain weight on the meds or go crazy. I actually felt better on the meds. I did Lupron and one of the times gonal f. At your age, your ovaries will probably not stimulate as many mature follicles as a lady that is in her 20s, but that is okay and not a reason to freak out. But of your eggs, when the doctor fertilizes them, a lot of them won't take. Or its possible that if you are going for only one more kid, you might may a lot of eggs, have a lot of them fertilize well, and then what do you do with your leftover embryos? Throw them away? Donate them to another infertile or fertile couple? Could you anonymously donate you eggs to just anyone? Keep them in the freezer and pay hundreds of dollars per year to cryopreserve them? Give them to medical research? When I was desperate to be pregnant I didn't really think of those things longer than 2 seconds because my mind was only one track to get a baby. Also, if you are super worried about being fat, are you the type of person that has a lot of anxiety over things or are too hard on your body? I am, and looking back, I believe that those emotions made it way harder to get pregnant. Acupuncture is often used to get women to relax before IVF and to make their uterine lining thicker. I would definitely consider that.

I did IVF as a gestational carrier a little over a year ago (the twins I carried are now 10 months old!). There is a great messageboard on ivillage (just search their messageboard area for IVF) and it was a real life saver to me to be able to obsess with other women about protocols and results and 3-day vs. 5-day transfers and fertilization rates and betas and all of that stuff. I sounds like you have a very good chance of having success but please be mentally prepared to treat the first round as a test run and don't be disappointed if it doesn't work. As a carrier I had a "proven uterus" (which you do too, having been pregnant before) and the twins' mom had no ovarian issues (she had a hyst. due to cancer but her ovaries were good) so we were really confident that round one would be a slam dunk and it wasn't. We didn't have great embryos to work with so they changed her meds a bit the second time, got much better eggs and transferred two embies, who both stuck.

We're really lucky to live in an area that has great clinics - we were out of B&W but I have had friends have great experiences at Boston IVF, RSC and whatever clinic works with Newton-Wellesley. Definitely check out the ivillage board and best of luck to you!

Hi,
I'm a mother of one beautiful boy who was concieved naturally and accidentally, and now we are ready for a second and it turns out we are unable to. funny how life works! We just completed our first round of IVF. Like you, I am very physically active and very fit so was also nervous. Our fertility issues lie within my husband's anatomy, so my body is "fine". The lupron and gonal-F were actually too much for me, because I don't have any issues, they just start your med dosages based on averages. It was too much for me, so my egg retrieval produced 37 eggs. That made me very bloated and crampy, it was very uncomfortable. Ovulating 37 eggs felt similar to beginning stages of labor!! it was too much. I believe my uterus was still cramping when they went to implant our two perfect embryos, so they didn't stick. we will try our remaining 3 (frozen) embryos next month, at which point i won't need to do the course of lupron and gonal F. i was not moody, just physically uncomfortable. i just kept my focus on getting through it so that i could resume a healthy level of activity.
You seem very insecure about your decisions...I'm sorry you feel this way, please remember the path you chose was right for your family at the time, and that hopefully the IVF will only add new beautiful members to your family. You sound like a loving and wonderful mother, I wish you the best.

Hi -
I had IVF done 4 years ago, I cannot remember the meds I took but the ones you mentioned sound familair. I did not have any side effects really. I think I felt like I had PMS but nothing major at all. The shots were no big deal, the retrieval was ok, sore for a few days after the procedure. BUT ALL SO worth it in the end! You can handle it! You sound ready for this adventure so will be ready for what it brings with it! Live in the present and forgive yourself for decisions you made in the past, being positive and having a positive outlook on this experience will help this all go as planned!
good luck!

Didn't really have weight gain during meds. Emotions were a little crazy but that was because of the hormones. I had my first daughter naturally and could not conceive again. Had my second with IVF. The hardest part, for me, was the shots. Shots don't even bother me, but I had to have the shots in my upper thighs so often that I developed welts. (some shots were in my lower back) I remember thinking I cannot take one more shot. Then I would push on with the thought of having another baby that I desperately wanted. During harvesting, they took out 14 eggs out of the 14, 12 were mature, and out of the 12, 10 fertilized. We had 3 implanted because we knew that this would be probably our only chance at IVF (because of insurance). My dr was not a fan of implanting more than 2. After much consideration and knowing that we had a huge family support system, he agreed to do 3. We ended up with one healthy, beautiful, red headed, girl. All I can say is that there may be times that you feel like you can't take another shot, one more dr visit to have blood drawn, or one more time of being told when you CAN"T and when you HAVE to have sex, but it's all worth it in the end. Good luck!

I didn't gain weight till after I was pregnant. I thought the shots were easy (I learned to give them to myself) (and I didn't mind the daily taking of blood), but after awhile my thighs would get a little numb. (it went away). We harvested 13 eggs, and with ICCI got 7 embryos. I got to see them in a microscope when they were 8 cells old before implantation. We'd been trying to get pregnant for 4 years before we tried IVF, and I had just turned 36 and was beginning to think it would never happen. We decided to use all 7 embryos, and we have our one son. I continued giving myself shots through the first trimester (so total time with almost daily shots was about 5 months). It was a perfect pregnancy! I'd have to say my moods were pretty good, but then I was trying for guarded optimism. When they implant the embryos it's about a 2 week wait till you take the blood test to see if it worked. I was most nervous during this time. I didn't feel any different, and I remember sobbing on my husbands shoulder thinking it hadn't worked. So the day I took the blood test, the lab was running late, and we'd heard nothing and thought the lab had closed. At 6pm, the lab called and congratulations were in order. When I heard it over the phone I had to ask her to tell me twice, and then I was crying I was so happy. There were a few more times taking blood (to make sure hormone levels were increasing as expected and then the visit was for a trans vaginal sonogram and all you could see was a little blotch, but we confirmed it was not twins (or more) (although at the time the thought of twins would not have bothered me a bit). At the end pf the first trimester, it was time to switch from the fertility clinic doctor to my ob/gyn who I wanted for monthly checkups and delivery.

Lupron has changed my quality of life. I have had chest/heart pains since receiving 3 months of shots for endometreosis. The shot was sent to my Drs office I never received list of possible side effects from Lupron until I called and asked them for the info. Lupron sent me through menopause, joint pain, headaches, depression, exhaustion. Now I am a 34 year old woman with constant chest/heart pain and exhaustion. Shame on Lupron!! My Dr acted like the Lupron shot was no big deal. I wish I would have had info on Lupron. I wish I had a choice