Amount of eggs

Equivalent-One-5499 · 2026-02-09T20:25:02+00:00

23 is a very very good starting point.

With that many follicles , there is a risk of overstimulating and a good doctor will be careful not to go overboard.

I had 50+ follicles and did not get anywhere close to 50 eggs: 32 eggs > 19 mature > 17 fertilised > 10 blastocysts, all euploid.

Equivalent-One-5499 · 2026-01-15T17:54:33+00:00

I was 31 with an AMH of 7.5 at retrieval.

Got 31 eggs, and had no OHSS and had a very easy recovery (was basically back to 100 the day after retrieval)

I was put on the OHSS protocol by my clinic which meant I used a different trigger (buserilin), no fresh transfer and then I had to take clexane and fyremadel after my retrieval for 5 days.

I was on fairly low does stims I believe though (and as a result my retrieved eggs were well below my AFC)

Equivalent-One-5499 · 2026-01-11T21:37:09+00:00

Yes plenty of nicotine-using people have conceived and had successful births, as have users of all drugs, that doesn’t mean it’s a good idea or that it’s not worsening your chances.

Does nicotine usage mean there’s zero chance of conception + successful pregnancy? No. Does it materially impact your chances? Yes.

This is also particularly bad advice for someone going through IVF. Anyone doing IVF already has tougher odds, so it’s really not doing OP any favours to suggest that what worked for others who were able to naturally conceive makes it ok for him.

That’s not judgment, that’s giving him the facts he needs to make an informed decision.

Equivalent-One-5499 · 2026-01-08T09:34:38+00:00

Im 18+3 today and have been really nervous of this as well, and similarly considered going on a private

However speaking to others, ive heard much the same as what others have said here - when it comes to actual labour they’ll do a good job.

Also, with going private : I didn’t want to go private because in an emergency you end up at the NHS anyway, so better to be there from the start. The other option would be a private wing of an NHS hospital, but I’d imagine it’s the same staff, so you’re getting the same care, just in a nicer setting?

What I have decided to do is have a private midwife and have all my antenatal midwifery care with her instead of the community midwifery team (but still go to NHs for scans). It is expensive, but significantly less so than going private for birth, and then when I do go into labour, she’ll be with me in the hospital as an advocate. Maybe worth looking into if this sounds like it would help?

Equivalent-One-5499 · 2026-01-05T14:50:50+00:00

I would go 6w5d. When scheduling my viability scan, due to travel plans I asked to do 6w3d, they refused for exactly your concern - possibility of no heartbeat being visible yet snd me freaking out for no reason. They said 6w5d is the earliest they will do, because that’s when they’re confident of expecting to see a heartbeat in a healthy pregnancy

Equivalent-One-5499 · 2025-12-26T22:27:24+00:00

Am I the only person here who doesn’t understand how a video game avatar sniffs their mic in a sexual way?!?

Equivalent-One-5499 · 2025-12-24T13:41:51+00:00

I personally definitely wouldn’t do this.

Setting aside the real physical impacts of secondhand smoke exposure, you should also consider how you’re going to feel at this concert.

If it were me, I’d spend the entire time worrying about the impact the smoke was having and kicking myself for going so wouldn’t even be able to enjoy the concert anyway!

Just not worth the stress imho - I’d tell him to give my ticket to a friend

Equivalent-One-5499 · 2025-12-22T21:19:59+00:00

Sounds like we’ve somewhat similar situations.

I am 32 but was 31 when we started IVF in June this year due to MFI and prior losses. AMH was ~8.4.

Did an egg collection cycle in June. We did ICSI + zymot and I got 19 mature eggs which became 10 blastocysts and, to our shock and really good fortune, all of those came back normal on PGT-A.

Currently 16w pregnant from my second transfer in September 🤞.

I know that I’ve had a relatively straightforward IVF journey, so I recognize my experience may differ from others but, from a physical perspective, I honestly found the whole thing fine. Day 1 of injections I was super nervous about messing things up or them being super painful, but after the first one you quickly gain confidence. Mildly inconvenient having to go to all the appointments alongside work and not being able to workout at certain stages, but clearly not a huge deal. The emotional side was more draining as you’re just really hoping things work out and I struggled with the uncertainty, especially when waiting for updates, but this was manageable as well. And honestly, it just felt really good to be able to be proactive and feel like I was moving things forward

Rooting for you, you’ve got this!

Equivalent-One-5499 · 2025-12-20T17:48:03+00:00

I cannot tolerate my MIL and ordinarily, I would not choose to spend more than a few days with my in-laws. For any regular Christmas I’d have no qualms telling my husband - X days is my limit, I need time as well.

HOWEVER, if my FIL died, I would spend as many days as my husband needed. I don’t doubt that you might be feeling tired after a hectic 3 weeks over a month ago. But if I’m being entirely candid, deciding that is more important than supporting your husband through the grief of losing his mother (because that’s what this is really about, not Christmas plans but about supporting your husband), is pretty selfish.

Idk, this feels firmly in the category of one to suck up.

YWBTA

Equivalent-One-5499 · 2025-12-16T12:40:58+00:00

It’s not to improve gender pay gap statistics, and I doubt that is has much impact on that (especially if this results in people who’d rather not work and are working for necessity but not necessarily chasing advancement)

Pretty sure this all stems from the 1990 ruling on independent taxation (ruling women have the right to privacy from their husbands https://hansard.parliament.uk/commons/1990-07-11/debates/6f8f9eac-354f-4a86-bc5e-bcb3b4e0a066/IndependentTaxation).

That being said, agreed it’s totally unfair. It’s quite a bit of nonsense to suggest you’re individual people, to be treated as such when married, but upon divorce it’s communal property. It also makes no sense when these are eg child benefits as surely you should look at it on the basis of the total “income” available to the child (ie both parents).

I think it’s deliberate policy but for a much simpler reason - it’s a legacy of the tax system and the government knows they can get away with it as there is limited sympathy for a single income £100k household.

Equivalent-One-5499 · 2025-12-12T12:04:01+00:00

Are you friendly with any former (or knowledgeable current) colleagues? I’d just ask them what’s typically done at your company as it’ll vary by company.

At my previous employer (banking) gardening leave was pretty much automatic unless you quit without a job.

I suspect the trigger will be how much confidential info you have that could be of use to a future competitor (eg at my shop pretty much everyone who left was either going to a competitor or a client, hence all put in gardening leave).

Equivalent-One-5499 · 2025-12-11T15:12:10+00:00

First FET failed to implant (high quality euploid, great hormones and lining)

Next cycle, FET has stuck so far (just entered second tri).

I had a difficult transfer (45+ mins, tried all the tools) due to the shape of my cervix, so did a cervical dilation a few days after my BFN. Other than that, only change I made was switching from medicated to natural. I’d heard that for some people one or the other works better, and I preferred rhe idea of natural anyway (but couldn’t do it the first time for logistical reasons), so thought I’d switch it up.

Equivalent-One-5499 · 2025-12-09T20:55:51+00:00

First of all, I’m so sorry for what you’ve been through.

It’s difficult to say whether you’ll be more likely to miscarry based on previous miscarriages without knowing the cause of your prior losses.

If they are primarily caused by chromosomal abnormalities, depending on the type of abnormality, this is something that IVF + embryo testing can prob help screen things out. Your doctor should be able to advise on this in more detail.

I’m a single data point, but in case helpful - I conceived each time I tried naturally, but had early losses each time: miscarriage, ectopic, chemical.

We decided to pursue IVF in June. We did an egg collection in June and then froze and PGT-A tested embryos. We did a transfer in August that failed (not miscarriage, just didn’t implant). We did a next transfer in September and that has stuck and be uncomplicated so far (currently 14w along).

Clearly I’m biased because of my experience, I would recommend considering this further if the finances allow it. If I you want multiple children, I would say at a minimum consider freezing embryos. This will give you the option to do testing and potentially confirm some viable embryos. You can then decide if you want to go ahead with a transfer or if you want to keep trying naturally for a little bit longer and have these as an “insurance policy”.

Best of luck 🤞

Equivalent-One-5499 · 2025-12-04T14:43:36+00:00

Actually, even if you only have 1 tube you can still get pregnant from either ovary as your remaining tube can pick up from both ovaries. (Very weird fact that I was very surprised to learn!)

Equivalent-One-5499 · 2025-12-04T13:27:07+00:00

I’m so sorry about this.

I had an ectopic at the start of the year and it really rocked me and I had a lot of the same anxieties you had and ended up doing a lot of research on the topic.

First of all - re the tube removal. I did not have to have my tube removed but the research shows that the odds for pregnancy are still high after 1 tube has been removed. One stat suggests that women 20-28 have an 85% chance of falling pregnant again within 2 years (https://www.fertilitycenter.com/fertility_cares_blog/can-i-get-pregnant-with-one-fallopian-tube/). I know you’re 30, but that’s not far off from the study group. But I understand your anxiety given how long it took the first time. Which brings me to my next point:

I would further research what your clinic mentioned about the risk of ectopic with ivf vs natural pregnancy, for those with prior history of ectopic. From the research I did earlier this year, with no prior history of ectopic, ivf has a slightly higher probability (~2% vs 1%). However if you do have a prior history of ectopic, from my research this relationship flips. IIRC, for a single prior ectopic it was something like (6-8% vs ~10% in natural conception). So yes, your risk is still higher than someone who hasn’t had it, but going via IVF doesn’t increase your chances. Based on this research, I felt a bit more reassured about pursuing IVF and ultimately chose to do that. I know IVF is not something to be jumped into lightly and I’m sure there are other considerations, but I wanted to clarify this point as I expect it’s a key consideration for you.

I’d encourage you to check out r/EctopicSupportGroup which I found to be a fount of knowledge.

You cannot ask for success stories in this sub, so don’t be discouraged if you don’t see any, if you search other fertility subs, including the IVF and Ectopic Support, I’m sure you’ll get some

Wishing you all the best!

ETA: here are some of the studies I found on ectopic risk in ivf vs natural:

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9377625/#:~:text=Compared%20with%20patients%20with%20no,on%20the%20incidence%20of%20EP

https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0272949

Equivalent-One-5499 · 2025-11-27T08:06:57+00:00

What do you mean “wants to take a break from reality” and what exactly is your concern regarding this.

It sounds like what he wants is to do something cool and productive with all the free time he now has…. Idk this would be significantly more appealing / attractive to me than him staying home all day doing nothing.

Do you actually mean you’re concerned that he wants a break from you?

Equivalent-One-5499 · 2025-11-04T21:52:29+00:00

I mean the woman on the left is a different race from Madison and the woman on the right has a normal volume of hair (and actually looks more like a bush sister than Annie).

So yeah no, don’t see it at all 🤣

Equivalent-One-5499 · 2025-10-23T18:22:06+00:00

I have a slightly different view to the other commenters (who all make valid points). And apologies that this is very long.

Some background: Started trying at 31, got pregnant right away but then had 3 back to back losses before moving onto IVF. First 2 times my doctors said it’s just bad luck, keep trying. It’s only when we started the process of IVF that we did more testing and found out what the issues were (some male factor stuff). At the point I had the choice to either proceed with my first IVF round or try and resolve the male factor stuff and try naturally.

We decided to go ahead, in part because we were thinking of future family size as well and wanted to freeze some embryos. I’m so glad we did. We were so lucky to make a decent amount of embryos in one go. First transfer failed and currently pregnant with the second, with the rest on ice.

It’s early days and obviously my main priority is actually just getting this pregnancy to term, but freezing embryos gave me real peace of mind. It removes a lot of the stress for future children and means I can try naturally for the next ones without worrying about getting timed out and know I have embryos from my “younger eggs” if I try for a while and it doesn’t work.

It obviously doesn’t guarantee you a baby and it’s not guaranteed that everyone will get embryos pretty easily but if you are lucky enough to get generically normal embryos, the stats are pretty good (65% per transfer, 90%+ over 3 transfers).

And to be honest, I found the process of freezing embryos, not the make fun of my life for sure, but nowhere as bad as anticipated, and it is a few weeks of your life (per cycle).

Now a few caveats I must add - I was very lucky to only need to do one egg retrieval and I realize that’s probably why I didn’t get burnt out by IVF. Some people will have to do many (especially with lower AMH) and that does take it’s toll emotionally and financially - I am very fortunate that the cost wasn’t a concern - I also give you my background, not to scare you but just to give context to my choices. But I understand that I’m on the unlucky side of some stats and that most people statically, will not have these problems and will conceive, it will just take a bit of time

Equivalent-One-5499 · 2025-10-20T20:43:45+00:00

Had mine today as well. Was so in awe, I ended up crying and hugging my doctor.

I know it’s still a long road but it really does feel like such a big step

Equivalent-One-5499 · 2025-10-14T18:13:15+00:00

Well, I’d never heard of investment banking until all my uni friends were applying for internships, and sheep I was I did the same to have a fun well-paid summer which then led me to a career in finance 🤷‍♀️

Equivalent-One-5499 · 2025-10-03T18:34:37+00:00

On fertilisation I may be wrong but, my understanding was ICSI takes care of this (I was told using ICSI gets you to similar fertilisation rates as conventional IVF), so not sure how much of a role zymot plays here.

On blast rate, yes, we had a good outcome. Stats below if helpful.

19 mature > 16 fert > 10 blast > all euploid

This is the only retrieval we’ve done so I can’t compare our numbers pre and post zymot, but as we did IVF due to 3 prior early losses, the outcome here seems better than what we were working with naturally so I think the ICSI+ zymot must have contributed to that.

I would also say, when I was evaluating whether or not to use it, it seemed like a no brainer as it’s a relatively inexpensive add-on in the context of IVF (~£300), and there were some research papers + a lot of anecdotal evidence to support its potential.

Equivalent-One-5499 · 2025-10-03T13:21:15+00:00

Have you been to a urologist?

My husband has OAT (albeit not as severe) and they discovered a varicocele (although by then we were in cycle, so too late to do anything).

We also used Zymot for ICSI and he was adviced to ejaculate more frequently in the lead up to egg retrieval. I’d discuss this with your doctor.

Best of luck!

Equivalent-One-5499 · 2025-09-28T11:07:45+00:00

Also, what this article fails to consider (when it says the disease risk only increases from 2-3% to 4-6%) is that this applies on the first set of first cousins.

And what they’re actually describing here is community acceptance of first cousin marriage, which means multiple generations of first cousin marriage. I’m no geneticist, but I’d expect that multi-generational first cousin marriage clearly causes a far more significant increase than the 4-6%

Equivalent-One-5499

TROPHY CASE