My Dh and I were married August 23, 1996 and started TTC soon after. I have a family history of fertility problems, my mom has PCOS, so I knew with my period history that we might have problems. We started clomid in July of 1997, my periods were extremely erratic and we had not gotten pg.



We did several cycles over the years of just clomid with no IUI's, then we did a few IUI's here and there (couldn't keep doing it continuously because of the expense). We thought about adoption, but weren't ready to throw in the towel yet. I had a HSG in 1999, nothing was wrong. Then I had a laparoscopy in 1999, they found a small amount of endometriosis, lasered it out, my uterus is slightly bi-cornuate, but there is no major septum, so not a big issue. My ovaries are definitely PCOS - but there wasn't anything that they did with the lap. So, no big news from the lap. We started to fill out our paperwork for both adoption and foster care at the end of 1999. Over the course of 4 years, we fostered over 25 kids...had several adoptions fall through, and our hearts broken countless times.



We tried private adoption in the fall of 2000, were matched, then got completely screwed by the agency that we were using so we decided not to go that route and to use fos-adopt instead. I tried my first cycle of clomid/repronex/HCG and IUI in the winter of 2000. It was negative, and we were so devastated. Got back on the wagon again, and got pg in February 2001 with the clomid/repronex/hcg protocol. My betas started very low, however - only 22 at 14dpiui. They did keep going up, and there was a baby with a slow heartbeat, but sadly we lost this baby at 9 weeks. I had a d&C on 3/15/01.



The beat went on...we kept on trying the different protocols in 2001 - I was switched to all repronex/hcg/iui cycles (which killed us because they were so expensive). I found out that I was pg again on October 7, 2001. The betas were good and rising - I was extremely sick during this pregnancy, bled a lot, and had a ton of scares - but we thought that all was well until I began bleeding again at 18 weeks on January 11, 2002. I was told to go on bedrest - but knew that something was very wrong. On Monday, January 14, 2002 - my worst fears were confirmed. Our sweet baby's heart had ceased to beat. I had to be induced, and delivered our tiny, stillborn son on January 15, 2002 at 3:30 am. We named him Jackson Bransford. Losing Jackson was a bad time for us - completely unfair after going through so much.



After 3 months, we started trying again. I got pg with repronex/gonal f combination in July/August of 2002. The pregnancy had 4 sacs, but only one heartbeat.

It seemed like it was going well, I had a lot of bleeding on and off, but the baby seemed to be growing, etc. and we figured that the other sacs were causing me to bleed. Unfortunately, we lost this baby as well at 11 weeks. I had my d&c on October 2, 2002. At this point, we felt ready to give up...it was our third loss and we had no hope...but decided to keep trying.



I became pregnant again in February 2003 - we used the gonal f /HCG and IUI combination. The first u/s showed twins! We were terrified - thinking that this would not happen like all of our other pregnancies. This pregnancy was very difficult - I was extremely sick and we had a lot of scares. Two weeks before our twins were born, we went to court and finalized our adoption of our 2 3/4 year old son, Zach.I made it to 36 1/2 weeks, then our twins were taken by emergency c-section on November 3, 2003

because I developed pre-eclampsia. Our son, Reagan Michael, was 3 lb 6 oz and 15 inches long. Our daughter, Emma Elizabeth was 4 lb 7 oz and 17" long. If they had not delivered them when they did, there was a very good chance that our little boy would not have made it. They were in the hospital for a few weeks, but came home with us by Thanksgiving that year.



It was a long, long road for us - but we are so glad that we decided to keep on trying. Could not imagine life without any of our children.

Hello all,

I had a eptopic pregancy in 1993 with my boyfriend but I was able to save my tube. Feb 25, 03 I had another one in the same tube the last one was in and I lost my tube. My right tube was not good at all. So my dr told me after having surgery that I would have to see a specialist and have to go thou IVF to have a baby..

I was so sad and upset that I couldnt have a baby the way everyone else could. But got over that in a couple months and thought I'm not getting any younger might as well set up an appt with a IVF dr even if I knew it was going to cost alot. I had it made for June the same year. The dr had some cancelations so I was able to get in sooner to meet with him. I was able to meet with him in may.

I went threw IVF two weeks after meeting with him and had my eggs taken out June 20 and he put two back in on the 23. It took a couple weeks to find out if it worked so after july 4th weekend I went in for a blood drawn and found out it worked.. I was so excited to find out that I would be a mom even thought he told me to rest a lot the first three months and not to do a lot. My due date was March 13,2004. My son was born Feb 24 2004 due to high blood pressure and protien in the urine and I was induced.

I wanted to have another baby just so he would have a playmate so we tryed again the end of sept but it didnt work. So I wanted to try again in Dec and it worked that time. I told my dh we would try three times and if it didnt work with having another baby we would adopt and it worked the second time.



I am so blessed to have my son Alexander and well be having my other baby thats on its way out withthin 20 days..



I wish you ladies the best of luck on having your own babies I know its really stressful but well worth it in the long run...

Good luck and I send baby ashes your way.

Dh and I got married in 1999, and we knew we wanted to ttc right away. Dh was 42 when we got married, and he didn't want to be 90 when our kids graduate from high school, so we got a move on!

Well, our "move on" didn't exactly go as planned. Being the obedient patient I am, I waited a year of trying on our own before I went in and told my OBGYN that we weren't having any success, and that my cycles were quite erratic since going off BCP (which I had done a few months before we got married). Those irregular cycles caused lots of heartache because every time af didnt' show up as expected, I thought I was pg. The doc told me I shouldn't have waited (he's not my obgyn anymore, btw). They thought it was a simple ovulation problem because my cycles were irregular, so we tried several months of clomid to no avail. After three rounds of that, they set me up with one of the "infertility" nurses, a term I hated hearing. I remember thinking, "That can't be me, they'll tell me I don't need to see them."

Alas, unfortunately, that was right where I belonged. We did all sorts of testing--HSG (normal), post-coital test (normal), SA (normal), along with lots more clomid and some IUI's--nothing. I was going to give injectables a shot (ha ha, no pun intended), but at my baseline u/s, they saw some things that didn't belong in there, so I went on to a laparoscopy instead. After cleaning up some mild endometriosis, zapping a cyst on my tubes, and lasering my ovaries to put holes in them because they "looked" polycystic, we tried a few more rounds of clomid with IUI. Still nothing.



At that time, my OBGYN sent a letter saying he and his partners were moving to a hospital that was not covered by our insurance, so we decided to get a referral to a RE. The closest one was 3 hours away, but we went anyway. After meeting with him, he gave us the best odds if we did IVF, so we went ahead with it. Our insurance did not cover IF treatments (still doesn't), but we had enough equity in our house to take out a loan to cover the costs. We were also lucky that it worked our first try--I had 12 eggs retrieved, 9 fertilized, 3 embryos put back in, and we got pg with one baby. We had no embryos to freeze, unfortunately, but we were so thrilled to finally be pg, it mattered little to us.



I now have my daughter, who will be three in October, and who also is the love of my life. I cannot imagine my life without here, and I thank God daily for this wonder of a child. We're currently trying for another one (3 IUI's w/ clomid and one round of IVF with the old RE have all been unsuccessful), but we're hoping our new RE, who is here in our town now, can get our daughter a much wanted sibling!

I got married in April of 2003 and we started ttc the following April. I had been getting the Depo injection as birth control and it should have worn off in Feb of 04. I started tracking my cycles with BBT charting and finally showed them to a dr in Feb of 05, not knowing how to read them myself. She said my cycles were so erratic, she didn't think I had been ovulating the whole last year and had maybe one cycle where I did. She sent me to the hospital for an US and discovered a 2 x 1 1/2" cyst on my ovary. They rechecked it in a few weeks and it was gone. I went to a new OB and told her we had been trying for over a year with no success and she told me that a lot of time PCOS is caused by high blood sugar. I had never heard of this but she sent me to the lab for a glucola and it came back that my sugar was a little elevated. She asked me if I would like to try Glucophage (as I wasn't ready to do Clomid or anything like that) because it would regulate my cycles, thus making it a lot easier to get pregnant, plus it makes you ovulate a lot more and can actually counteract bc if you are on it. We tried it and 4 months later, it worked! I am now over 9 wks along and praying for a healthy pregnancy and baby. Good luck to all of you out there who are TTC.

We conceived dd (now three) the first cycle we tried, and, silly me, I decided we must be soooo fertile. Nope. Just lucky. We TTC #2 for about ten months before deciding to see a doctor; the RE put me on one cycle of clomid (nothing), and we did three IUIs with letrozole (nothing) and one IUI with injectables (nothing). The doctor couldn't find anything wrong with either of us.

In frustration, I switched RE's. They did a more in-depth work-up and discovered that while DH's sperm numbers were high, he had terrible morphology (well under 2%). We finally did IVF in May/June. They retrived 15 eggs -- I was elated. 14 fertilized. 11 made it to three days, and they implanted three. The other 8 all arrested. I had a BFN on my HPT. I was absolutely despondant. But then I went to the RE, and finally got my BFP on this IVF cycle. I originally had two embryos implant, but one arrested fairly quickly. I now have a 13-week-old, seemingly healthy embryo, and am very thankful.

My husband & I got married 5/98. We waited a year before we started TTC. No luck after 6 months & because I was 30 I went to my OB. He did a lap which was normal. Sent my husband to a urologist. SA showed poor motility & morphology so we were referred to our RE. All my testing was normal. However we had the male factor issues. We did 6 tries of IUI with no luck. We moved onto IVF with back-up ICSI in 1/03. 17 eggs were retrieved. Out of those only ONE fertilized naturally. Three fertilized by ICSI. Out of those four only two made it to blastocyst stage (day five). We transferred both of them & by the grace of God I got pregnant. We have a beautiful 22 month old son. He is truly a miracle. It goes to show you it ONLY takes one. It gives me hope it can happen again and I pray it will give others hope as well.

My dh and I were married in Dec 99 and wanted to wait till we were financially stable and I was able to stay home with our children. So, last year we finally were at that point in our lives everything was in place and we were ready to start a family. My first pregnancy was in August and started to miscarry~which was a blessing because it was an ectopic in my right tube. I was treated with methotrexate. Then I had the HSG test done which was fine. I became pregnant again in January and it was another ectopic in my left tube. My doctor knew right away from my HCG levels that something wasn't right. Again, I was treated with methotrexate. I was so very very sad and felt hopeless and just wanted to give up. My doctor suggested IVF as an option. So, in July we started an IVF cycle. They retrieved 13 eggs and 4 made it to the blastocyst stage, day 5, 2 eggs were transferred and we froze the other two just in case. As of yesterday, we are 8 weeks along, expecting twins! We are very excited and pray everyday that everything goes ok. The best advice I can give is don't give up!

My DH and I were married in May of 2002. We naively thought that having a baby was in our hands and that we were going to wait a while before we TTC. We waited about a year and a 1/2 and I had every confidence that we would be successful first try, since my sister is the fertility queen and I'm one of 5 children. There definitely is not history of infertility in my family. I cried after the first month. Little did I know that there were a lot more tears to be shed. Fortunately, I had my yearly Pap smear appointment right after the first month. During that visit, they felt something "strange" and I had an ultrasound shortly after. When you are told before the ultrasound that the doctor will call you with the results and then after the ultrasound, they take you back to a patient room to wait for the doctor, you know something is up. I had a fibroma tumor (benign) on my left ovary that was the size of a newborn baby's head. Not a fun day. They schedule surgery for the next week. After the surgery, the doctor said we could start trying again after 6 weeks and that if we had problems, she would send me to a specialist in a year. Basically, she said to have as many babies as you want and they may have to take the other ovary in 10 years, because it had some fibroma on it, too.

Now, why would we question anything? We spent the next 5 months trying everything but the back seat on Prom night. Then I started having pains on my left side and not feeling well. My DH said that I needed to make an appointment and to go to the OB/GYN, since I trusted them. I had another ultrasound and this time, the doctor literally gasped when she looked at my ultrasound pictures. She made an appointment for me to go to a fertility specialist the next week. We were crushed. I was 30 and feeling like time was passing me by.



The fertility doc is the best in town (we've been told that over and over) and at first, she thought all we had to do was shrink the tumor.... nope. Didn't shrink. Then we went through some different tests and she decided that I needed another surgery to remove some of the tumor on the right ovary. By this time, it had been 1 year TTC. I had the surgery (Laproscopic, this time) and when I came to, my DH had to inform me that there was really nothing the Doc could do. I started crying in my stupor. It was a hard moment for us both.



Next plan: IUI, but not before DH and I got away for a small vacation to Mexico to get away from it all and "forget". It was a breather, though you never really forget. It was nice not talking about it for 5 days.



We started IUI with Repronex after 15 months TTC. After the first 2 failed attempts, the Doc says that she would like to try IVF. We were all for it. The next cycle of drugs, though, did not do the trick. I only had 2 follicles, so we did another IUI. No pg. After 21 months of TTC, we finally did IVF. Three embryos were transferred. That 10 days before the blood test were really, really long. A few days before, I started having pains and was convinced that I was not pregnant. They felt exactly like PMS cramps. I cried all weekend. We had our test on Monday morning. The nurse asked if I wanted to take a urine test, too, since I was so nervous. I didn't really want the disappointment so soon, but I took it, anyway. Long, tearful story short... it was positive. I am now 7 wks 6 days pregnant with????



We have had 2 ultrasounds already and after the first, thought we may be having twins. The second one revealed, however, that one embryo had split and there were 3 tiny heartbeats. Talk about overjoyed and overwhelmed at the same time!! I'm scared to death about carrying my babies to term (or as close as I can possibly get). It will take a lot more prayer and a lot of food! We are still in a tenuous phase, waiting to see if the identical twins form separate membranes, but I'm already reading books on carrying SUPERTWINS!! The amount of food needed is....wow.... I'm like "This is for one day? I don't even eat this much in 3 days!".



I know my situation seems relatively short compared to other stories, but no matter how long you go through infertility, it feels like forever. I would not wish it on my worst enemy. I have never been through a more heart wrenching experience in my life.



My advice for those trying to conceive is to pray and trust in God. We were and are ready to adopt someday, so that really isn't an issue for us, but we always had faith that no matter what, God would give us our hearts desire. A family. When I got married, I wanted to have 3 children by age 35. Well, if all goes well, I'll meet that goal!

My dh and I were married Sept, 23, 2000. We had been together since Sept, 1993. All those years I had been taking birthcontrol. 2 months before the wedding I had stopped the pill with hopes of us getting pregnant soon after marriage. At first we would say 'Well, we're not preventing it so if it happens..great.' After a few months of disappointments, we would say 'Yeah, we're ttc!'. After a year I went to my family dr who did blood work and recommended a sperm analysis for my dh to rule out a male fertilty problem since it is the only test for a man and to save me from all the grueling tests there are for women. My bloodwork came back fine but the sperm analysis... well my dh had a low count and poor motility. He has had a history of prostatitis which we were told could lower the count but after the infection cleared the count should rise again. It never. In fact it just kept getting lower. We went to see a fertility specialist. She told us that IUI would be a waste of time, money and hope because my dh counts were not only low but the motility was poor too. She recommended IVF with ICSI. We were devastated. We thought we'd give it another try. After another year of no luck we went back to see the specialist and said 'We want a baby'. Then the testing started... Bloodwork, HSG, Ultrasounds... then came drugs.. needles!! I gave them to myself...3x a day. We flew to Halifax and underwent the procedure. They got only 4 eggs. 3 of them fertilized and divided and were transferred back into me. After 2 weeks of thinking 'Hey, this has got to work' the results came back negative. I was in total shock and demanded another test because my menstrual cycle did not yet start. When that came back negative and eventually my cycle began I was sooo upset that I became mad. Mad at everything and everyone. For a while I started to question GOD!! I went back to the specialist and said I want to try again. I researched all the clinics in Canada (IVF is not done in Newfoundland so we had to travel) and decided I wanted to try in Calgary. We started again to get ready for another round in Jan., 2004. By March 18 we were in Calgary clinic were they had retrieved 23 eggs.. 21 were mature.. 18 fertilized.. 2 were transferred and the other 16 frozen. This time my hopes were not up at all. I told myself this is it. I had to take a hpt because of a strike at the hospital to get the results. Right away the sytick had 2 lines and I told my dh I did it wrong.. that you have to wait 2 minutes for the results. The next day I did it again and there were 2 lines. Finally, it worked. I told everyone I met. I was due December 15, 2004 but our dd came into the world on November 25. We are already planning to try for #2 in the fall of 2006. I do not question GOD any more. I praise him for this little miracle that still brings a tear to all our eyes when we think of how lucky we are. Every month we make a payment on our Visa like just about everyone but our merchandise is our dd. I don't know of a better purchase. Don't give up. Our hopes and prayers are that everyone gets to experience what we have in the past year. Good luck to you all.

It's been a while since I stopped in here to check on you all. I was on this board for 4 years. My son Joseph is almost 3 and my miracle child Lauren is 14m. Here's our story...

Married in 1995... I was only 20 and we had mountains of college debt so we waited to try. Bought house in 1997 and in 1998 hubby told me he was "ready". So like everyone else we started trying. We tried for a year and then went to the Dr. She did my bloodwork, sent hubby for an SA and said I was young we had time (Anyone else HATE those words?). Well the SA came back with 0% normal morphology. 3x it came back that way. We did the varicocele surgery and anxiously awaited our new healthy sperm.

HA!! Nada...zilch. At 6 months out the SA showed the same morphology but LOWER sperm count! AUGH. Anyway...lets see... we were now in to trying for almost 3 years by this time. Nothing found to be wrong with me at all. So we progressed immediatly to IVF-ICSI.



Let me tell ya.. I am a wonder duck.. by that I mean I produce eggs like no-body's business. I responded with over 30 follicles and 28 mature eggs were retrieved. I couldn't even stand upright the day before retrieval b.c of the pain. 19 fertilized but at day 3 we had only 2 left... wow... talk about a buzz kill. We did a 5 day transfer with one blast and one icky morulla. (please pardon any spelling errors)



Two weeks later I go for my beta and get the call that it's negative. I bawled...inconsolible. I imagined the Dr calling me to say there had been a mistake and that I WAS pregnant. And guess what... he did! But my beta was only 11 and I lost that chemical pregnancy. The up and down of no, not pregnant, yes pregnant... no not pregnant sent me in to a tailspin and I needed antidepressants.



I did a 6 month course of those and we jumped into another IVF in May 2002. We were bummed... I responded well again but not as well b;c they felt I had OHSS last time and changed my drugs. I had 15 retrieved, 9 fertilized, 3 left at day three and 2 left at transfer day 5.



One of those blasts is the little boy I hug and kiss at night.

11 months after he was born my husband wished on the Christmas Turkey wish bone that we would have another baby just like joseph. No lie...we made Lauren 2 days later. A miracle beyond belief since we still have the same DX. It's wonderful to have her although I find having a baby naturally after IVF makes people in the IF community and those outside of it discount the pain we went through to get Joseph. And the pain we may have to go through again if we want a third. People assume we are fixed now and that is not the case. That can be painful. But I am so so blessed to finally have my children. I didn't think it would happen and I'm sure many of you think several times a month/day.



God bless and good luck in all of your treatments and in your marriage...remember to tend the marriage as that is the foundation you'll need when your dream comes true.



Karen

I just read your post and totally understand. We hasa our "miracle" ds w/ no help at all after 1 1/2 yrs of trying. Just when we thought, "maybe something's wrong" I was pg! Then while bf, I still cramped, and after many tests and a lap, we discover I have MAJOR endo and soem ovarian disfunction (we r still testing). Well, now we r ttc again w/ help and people say, "but you had Parker w/ no problem!"



First, my RE says to kiss him everyday (which I already do) b/c eh has no clue how is is here. They said he was a 3% chance of cenception at best. Also, he was concieved 3 yrs earlier, and as we all know, age is a factor! I haven't Oed since he was convieved, so we think.



I really enjoyed reading your post, it does give me some hope that Parker will have a sibling! Congrats on both of yoru little miracles!



Elisabeth

hi all- i posted this today on march ddc and i thought i'd share with you. i don't know specifics but i do know my friend went through many things including surgery to find out what was wrong and they never could diagnose her.....

I just got a call from my closest friend today. She and her husband have been trying for 4 years to have a baby- shes gone through fertility drugs, biopsy, surgery and A.I. tHE DR TOLD HER 2 MONTHS AGO THAT SHE HAD A 1% CHANCE OF CONCIEVING ON HER OWN IN THE NEXT 3 YEARS. after that her chance of concieving would drop to 0%. She is the same age as me (24) and this has just been heart breaking for me and i've been praying for her. Last time i spoke to her they had come to terms with not having a biological baby and were searching for an adoption agency.



Well she called me today on my way to the dr and told me that SHE'S PREGNANT!! sHE FOUND OUT THE DAY SHE WAS GOING TO FILE THE ADOPTION PAPERS!! she saw the heartbeat today at the dr and called to tell me the GREAT news!!. I am so excited this is an absolute miracle and a dream come true that such wonderful ppl are going to be blessed with a baby! we always wanted to be pg together and now she is due in july so our kids will only be 4 months apart. Unfortunatly she lives 2,000miles from me but she will be visting in april so she can see my new little one and i get to see her big belly!!!



So for all of you who have friends struggling with infertility and were told they can never have a child- miracles happen!!! there is hope and you never know when God will decide to bless you!!



Yippeeeeeeeeee!!! Im so excited!!!!!

Just wanted to share....

After TTC for 2 years DH and I were refered to a RE. After the tests were ran and everything came back normal they decided to up the dose of clomid and do IUI. When I went in for the u/s to count follicle growth we saw nothing of viable size. I was sent home and the IUI session was cancelled. I was crushed. I knew it had to be because I was a late O'er. Low and behold a few weeks later I discover AF had not come yet. I tested and got a very faint pos. SAdly that pg ended w/ m/c

After that we decided to go with clomid, FSH injections, Trigger shot, IUI and progesterone. after 5 tries and an increase in FSH each month, we got a BFP and later a beautiful DD. She was born on Aug 22nd 2004.



In mAy of 2005 we discoved we were pg again. We were not TTC. That pg ended in m/c shortly after.



August of 5005 we went back to RE adn decided to start off where we left off when we got pg w/ DD. We then found out that INS. wouldnt cover it anymore. We were bummed but had purchased the meds already so we talked to RE and we decided to take the meds and jsut go w/ the timed BD instead of IUI. BAM! We got pg first try. So now we are expecting our second DD in ealry May.



That is our story of hope. We have been blessed and we will always be thankful for that.

My success story was a LONG 8 years in the making and dates all the way back to my ex-husband. We started trying when I was 26, and since we had never used protection in our four years together, the doc ran tests after just six months of ttc with no success.



The problem was with me. Blocked tubes. Bilateral hydrosalpinx (direct translation - fluid filled tube) to be technical. We tried a pelviscopy (four small incisions as opposed to just one) to try to surgically repair the ends of the tubes. It opened the one tube, but the other was beyond repair.



Six more months went by, and no pregnancy. It was determined that IVF was our only option, and I needed another surgery to remove the damaged tubes (the fluid in the tubes can be toxic and can kill an embryo trying to implant) before proceeding to IVF. Right about this time, my marriage was in shambles, partially due to our infertility issues, and we got divorced.



Flash forward 7 years to 2005. I was very happily remarried, and we decided to try IVF with me at the age of 33, and his age 26.



IVF#1 - 21 eggs retrieved, donated 10 eggs, of 11 remaining, 8 fert, and transferred two high quality embies. BFN.



IVF#2 - 16 eggs retrieved, 11 fert, transferred three high quality embies. BFN again!



FET #2 - of four embies frozen, two survived, transferred them both. BFN again! Really losing hope.



IVF#3 - 20 eggs retrieved, only 11 fert, transferred three excellent quality 8 celled embies on day 3, and OMG! For the first time in my life, a BFP!!!!!!!!



I am currently 25 weeks along with a singleton - a baby boy! The moral of my success story is that when you think you are down and out, DON'T GIVE UP!!!!!

our dd is compliments of dr. greene in calgary too she was born dec25/04. we are trying again. email maybe we can meet this fall.

m

lawgirl@shaw.ca

I am not sure if anyone remembers me but I thought I'd give an update.

I truly believe miracles do happen. Today I got my miracle bfp before starting bcp with af and my IVF cycle! The most amazing thing is that my due date is my birthday Jan 31 and my daughter that is just over 2 her due date was my birthday also Jan 31 2004 (she came 3 days late to have her own day on Feb 3 2004). I guess I know my fertile time around Mothers Day (yup o'd on Mothers Day for dd and just before this cycle).

I am truly amazed that this happened to me. I am shaking. I was almost not going to test today but temp was still up and af was due today and nowhere in sight. I sure hope this is a sticky bean! I will go to the doctors today for a blood test to see what the levels are. But both (yes I had to use another to confirm it was for real) test had 2 lines and not super dark nor faint just there!

I caught dh as he was headed off to work (driving out of the carport) in my towel! LOL I told him and he had the biggest smile on his face! He said if this is for real (he saw the line too) it would be so nice to not have to go through IVF. Of course he's cautious and had to say when you call the clinic keep our name there in case (I've had a few losses) we have a mc and have to get in. I know he meant well and it didn't bother me as I know he wants another child as much as me. Okay that was a novel!

I went to the doctor and they confirmed I am pregnant with their in office test. I didn?t get the blood test results yet as they won?t be ready till tomorrow afternoon. My doctor ordered a blood test today, tomorrow, Monday, and Tuesday! She?ll call me tomorrow night with today and tomorrows results. She also ordered an ultrasound in 2 weeks when I?m 6 weeks pregnant. I am getting my referral for the clinic at the hospital and then get my referral for the amnio.

18 cycles, 1 blocked tube, and a natural BFP!



Theresa

We got our BFP this month. We went through four unsuccessful IUI cycles with clomid with nothing. IVF did the trick. We did IVF cycle in April using BCP, Lupron and Follistim. DH has severe male factor and we ended up performing ICSI on my viable eggs from the retrieval. They retrieved 7, fertilized 5, 2 made it to day 3 and were transferred. BFP the morning of my blood test. The doctor confirmed that day. The repeat test showed good increasing levels of HCG. We look like we are progressing nicely. This week is our first ultrasound. I'm exhausted and queasy, but we are so excited!

I thought I would check out this board so I could be reminded of how much I wanted to have children...and to give any encouragement I could.

I am currently pregnant with my third child - due in October (twenty weeks along now). I have 20 month old twins.



After 14 rounds of Clomid over 20 months (Clomid due to the OB's interpretation of my temp charts - anovulatory), I was finally referred to an RE. Testing showed PCOS but clear tubes. Shots begin; I was a high responder so we even had to cancel one cycle of shots w/ IUI for fear of OHSS.



Finally, my first round of IVF in Jan 2004. Still, too many eggs so had to put off transfer...still, 18 retrieved, 13 fertilized, 8 frozen.



Transferred 3 in February (3 of 4 survived that thaw). Twins diagnosed in March, delivered healthy at 35 weeks - spontaneous labor but complicated by preeclampsia. Home in 3 days.



This past January, we decided to try out some of those frozen embryos - thawed two, two survived and transferred, now pregnant with a singleton! Still have two embryos left - one more try if I am willing (in another couple of years!).



Hope that gives some hope...and I hope that the new baby doesn't arrive on the same day as the twins' birthday - they already share a conception date!!!



Heather

Finally my story........

In the fall of 2001 I found out my husband was being unfaithful. Through the divorce process, etc. I had a friend, Robert, I worked with that was incredibly supportive and wonderful. We fell in love and moved in together. My ex and I had been trying to conceive without any success, and I was still very much wanting a baby. Naturally, I would always hear "There's nothing wrong with my sperm", so I assumed the problem was with me. Because of our advanced ages (I was 38 and Robert 59), Robert and I decided to try right away to have a baby. Month one, no luck. Month 2, bought an ovulation predictor kit and got the PG. Our beautiful daughter was born in October 2002. We wanted another child, but had a lot going on in life. We got married, moved to another state, I became a SAHM, and my mom passed away. All this in 6 months. We were TTC, but not with a lot of effort. Once things settled more, I went back to the ov kits and figured this was going to be a piece of cake. After about 6 months of trying, I was PG. I had a m/c in week 11. 6 months later, PG again, with a m/c at 5 weeks. My doctor said because of my age, (then 41) it was a 50-50 chance I'd carry to term. She said if I m/c'd one more time, she'd recommend a fertility specialist, and mentioned the possibility of donor eggs. I had never heard of such a thing! Science is amazing! I was talking with a friend, and she mentioned another friend of hers had gone to a particular clinic and had just had a baby. I decided I didn't want to wait, so I called and made an appointment. After meeting with the doctor, we did the "clomid challenge". As he put it, I failed the test. My body quit producing enough good quality eggs, and donor eggs were recommended. Thus, we started the long involved process of finding a donor and spending a LOT of money. We found an agency that has donors, and picked a wonderful young lady who already had twins of her own. All her testing went well and everything was on schedule for June 2005. Just days before our cycle was to begin, the FCC implemented new standards, and we lost our donor because she was a CF carrier. We had to select a new donor and start over. Well, we found one quickly, and in August 2005, we had 18 eggs from her. It was decided 6 would be transferred, as this gave us the best odds of one taking, and the possibility of twins was okay with us. The transfer went smoothly, and 4 days later I already had a faint line on the HPT. I did a HPT every day until my blood test, and just watched the line get darker and darker each day, like I couldn't believe it. The pg, especially the first three months, was not uneventful. I had a superficial blood clot in my leg, which has since gone away. I developed fibroid tumors. My DH had to give me 2 shots a day of progesterone for 100 days. OUCH!!! I had cramping that I was sure was a m/c. In week 11 I had some heavy clotted bleeding. I actually happened to be sitting in the parking lot of the doctor's office, waiting for my appointment time when it happened. I thought for sure it was a m/c, but they rushed me in for an ultra sound and baby was fine. 4 days before Christmas, we found out we were having a boy. By January, he was measuring in the 90th percentile for size, and we discussed the possibility of a c-section. By week 37, he was estimated and 9 lbs., and my BP was going up. We did a scheduled c/s at 38 weeks on April 26th. Zachary Owen was 8 lbs. 1 oz. and 20 1/2 inches. His chest and head measurements were bigger, which is why they thought he'd weigh more. He has not let them down though. In the 1st month he gained 3 lbs, and 3 inches. By six weeks he weighed 11-13 and he eats and eats and eats. I am so happy to have such a healthy and beautiful boy. His sister absolutely loves him. It seems like so much longer than a year since going through the whole donor process. I don't really think about the fact that, genetically, Zachary isn't mine. He is mine in every other sense; he lived and grew in my body. Robert and Catherine and I are so blessed.

My DH and I met in 1995 on vacation in Jamaica. We were friends for years before finally getting marrieds in December 2003.

In December 2002 I was diagnosed with endometriosis had a laparoscopy and everything was clear.

In Nov 2004 we decided to try to get pregnant on christmas morning 2004 I had a positive hpt. In January I had severe pain on my right side it was ectopic after many hcg tests we thought it was resolving on its own. Late January I had surgery to remove my bursting right tube. Following the surgery I had an ovarian cyst and the radiologist thought my ovaies looked cystic, that day I had testing done to show I had PCOS.

We tried to induce ovulation using Clomid for three cycles. Gave up and just said if it happened on its own great. Had to wait to see a specialist until we changed insurance. Jan 2006 we had our first RE appoint he said we would undergo testing with my next cycle and prescribe prometrium to induce a cycle well it didn't come so I went in for a pregnancy test and it was positive. Subsequent HCG showed doubling everything looked good. My first us was scheduled for Feb 10th...they couldn't find the baby just a sudo sac. The next week we found the baby in the corneal on the right side, I was given methotrexate and it resolved.

So we waited the three months and went back to RE. In May we started the injections and on june 6th they retrieved the eggs... I had 15 eggs 3 made it to implant we implanted 2 and froze 1. June 20th we had a positive pregnancy test on june 23 the numbers had quadrupled heres hoping for twins...my ultrasound is July 10th...Just hoping the little bean/beans have settle in a viable area.

I thought I had posted our story a while ago. I'm back lurking, I don't think I am quite ready to stop having kiddos yet although there are no definate plans in the works now.



DH and I got married in August of 1998 and started TTC in September 1999. After no success I talked to my ob in October 2000 and he asked me to wait until March as I was so young. In December I called and said that I couldn't wait anymore and so he immediately started testing. As it worked out the first thing done was a post-coital and a SA. Both showed 0 sperm. After some more testing it was discovered that DH is sterile. Ok we had a slight chance at IVF with ICSI but the risks were so high that we decided that we would not go that route. We were referred to an RE for AID.



After meeting with the RE, it was determined that we would try IUI without any assistance for 6 months. So off we went. In March 2001 I had my first IUI which failed followed by 5 more failed cycles. At that time it was determined that I would undergo an HSG to be sure there were no problems with me and start Clomid to possibly increase my chances. We decided that we would only do the three more and then adopt. On that cycle in February of 2002 we finally got our BFP! We were so excited and were blessed with our son, Sam in November 2002.



Fast forward to October 2003 and we decided to try again. I called the RE (who I really didn't like) and they had 2 vials of the same donor's sperm left. We did two cycles (Jan-Feb 2004) with him using all that sperm and then stopped basically giving up. In August after settling some work issues for me, we met with a new RE. This one was great! He wanted to start me on Clomid right away, do u/s to check my eggs before I o'd and then use HCG injections to time everything right. On Nov 3, 2004 I went in for my u/s, I had two eggs but one was "No good" according to the dr, I was relieved at that point b/c I hadn;t even thought of multiples at that point. So on Nov 5, 2004 I went in for my IUI and two weeks later received my BFP! I was shocked to say the least that the first cycle worked (talk about a cheap baby). On Dec 6, 2004 I went in for my first prenatal visit and shocking me again it was TWINS! My dr was shocked too as he really had thought that follice was to small to be fertile. Another uneventful pregnancy and I delivered boy/girl twins on June 19, 2005 (the day my grandpa had died 2 years earlier) at 34 weeks.



Keep your chins up and always have hope. It's hard every cycle but you all will get your blessings one way or the other.

Hi guys. Sorry its taken awhile. Crazy busy getting used to two new babies. I wanted to share this story to offer some hope - I know I needed it while ttc. Best of luck to all of you!



Quick birth story - I was induced due to high blood pressure. They started 10 am July 25, and the girls were born by 10 am July 26. Lily came first at 5'7, and Alyssa was 4 minutes later, feet first, at 5'13.



The night was long and hard and the epidural didn't take that well. Thank goodness the delivery was quick!



My blood pressure is still an issue, hopefully it comes down soon. The girls are home and healthy and happy. We're starting to establish some routines.



I'm attaching some pics if you guys want to see. There's one of DH, he was a real star!











http://s39.photobucket.com/albums/e169/Caskanette/?action=view&current=hosppics031.jpg&refPage=&imgAnch=imgAnch1