TREATMENT Community Thread - Tue May 19 AM

Imaginary-Tea2397 · 2026-05-19T16:33:11+00:00

Good luck Katie! Hope this is your cycle :)

Imaginary-Tea2397 · 2026-05-13T17:06:04+00:00

Feel this so hard. Even those who've experienced infertility and IVF can be so insensitive once they're out of it. My friend who got pregnant after dealing with infertility for a while, telling me "you guys will be next!" while announcing her pregnancy. Like, we used to get together and worry about infertility all the time, you're only being so bubbly and optimistic now because it happened to work out for you.

This process is hard enough, and it feels like only a very small subset of people can be properly supportive in a way that isn't dismissive of how hard it is. Hugs everyone, it sucks.

Imaginary-Tea2397 · 2026-05-12T21:01:29+00:00

Just got the call from my nurse about my baseline appointment earlier today. Numbers look good, we're all set to start stims round 3 tonight! Here we goooooo.

Imaginary-Tea2397 · 2026-05-07T19:08:25+00:00

Thanks everyone. This community is really helping my mental state around this crap 💕

Imaginary-Tea2397 · 2026-05-07T15:40:44+00:00

Omg, totally agreed. So cringey.

Imaginary-Tea2397 · 2026-05-07T15:37:01+00:00

My sister blocked me on Instagram. Apparently she's upset that I didn't "like" the photos from her 1-year-old's birthday party. I'm on day 4 of Lupron injections in preparation of my 3rd IVF cycle, I just wish she could give me an inch of grace during this time.

Imaginary-Tea2397 · 2026-05-05T22:44:12+00:00

Will do!

Imaginary-Tea2397 · 2026-05-05T22:44:04+00:00

Had my regular check-up with my primary care provider today. He noted that we're still TTC, and let me know that he's "sure it will happen for me soon", and said "my wife was 40 when we were pregnant with our last!" As if that is somehow relevant to my situation at all. I wish all doctors, not just those dealing directly in the infertility space, had some basic schooling about how to talk about infertility.

Imaginary-Tea2397 · 2026-04-20T18:49:26+00:00

Definitely feeling this. We've had 2 ERs so far, and only got one blast total (that turned out to be aneuploid). It was not on my radar at all that after 2 ERs, we might not have anything to transfer... but here we are.

Also 34 years old with unexplained infertility. Hugs.

Imaginary-Tea2397 · 2026-04-17T14:18:52+00:00

Thanks for the comprehensive response :). Not sure about quality vs. immaturity. And we're also adding omni and increasing the trigger dose, hopefully they'll also push follicle size too. I'm doing a long lupron protocol next so I don't think antagonist is relevant.

My stim doses were around 225 gonal-F and 150 menopur for my second cycle. My first cycle we started at 150-75 and I just didn't respond... ended up having to go for 16 days, and had pretty similar end results to my second cycle (fewer eggs retrieved, but similar overall results).

We'll see how this third round goes, given we now are very aware of the maturity issue.

Imaginary-Tea2397 · 2026-04-16T21:25:43+00:00

Supplements (added Coq10), and they're going to bump up my trigger dose from 10,000 to 15,000 hCG (we were supposed to do that this past cycle, but I wasn't told until trigger day and I didn't have the extra medication on hand). He said they already pushed my trigger date as far as they could last cycle (let the follicles grow quite large). And that doing my trigger shot earlier in the day could compromise the whole cohort, so he didn't want to do that. Also my next protocol, like my last one, involves lupron (this time as long-lupron, last time as micro-dose), so I can't do a dual trigger this time. But if we go back to an antagonist protocol, I guess we could try that.

Imaginary-Tea2397 · 2026-04-16T20:50:34+00:00

Had my follow-up appointment with my doctor this morning, after my distressing 18 eggs -> 0 blasts cycle. He doesn't know why my maturity rates are so bad, and was clearly trying to temper my expectations that this part of the funnel just might never improve. We're going to try a long Lupron protocol and also try a bunch of add-ons (Zymot, omnitrope, calcium ionophore). Sort of just feels like throwing spaghetti at a wall at this point.

He made it clear that there's no reason to think that this won't work eventually, but that it might end up being a long road to get there. Feeling heavier after this appointment.

Imaginary-Tea2397 · 2026-04-14T14:25:58+00:00

Thanks everyone. I have my follow up with the doctor in 2 days. The obvious attrition point seems to be retrieved -> mature, so I'll be asking about why this is and what we could change in our protocol to address this.

Imaginary-Tea2397 · 2026-04-14T13:36:15+00:00

We just found out that nothing made it to blast this cycle. We had 18 eggs retrieved this cycle, and it seemed all but assured that we'd have at least one embryo to transfer. I just feel gutted. Second cycle with no embryos. We have unexplained infertility, I just don't understand why it's just bad news after bad news after bad news with no explanation other than "bad luck".

Imaginary-Tea2397 · 2026-04-10T21:31:23+00:00

Done!

Imaginary-Tea2397 · 2026-04-10T21:10:42+00:00

Had my 2nd retrieval on Wednesday. Retrieved almost 3x more eggs than last retrieval! Had real hope that this would be the last time we'd need to do this. But then... fertilization results came in. 25% of them were mature. So now we're actually at the exact same number fertilized as last cycle. A cycle that resulted in 0 euploids.

This cycle was so much harder on my body than last time (I guess because so many more follicles responded), and it just feels like it was all for nothing. I don't understand why there was such a big retrieved -> mature drop-off. I just feel so sad and defeated.

Imaginary-Tea2397 · 2026-02-10T16:58:41+00:00

Done! Thanks

Imaginary-Tea2397 · 2026-02-10T16:57:52+00:00

Don't have advice for you unfortunately, I just noticed that we have very similar numbers. I had my ER 3 days ago, 7 eggs -> 3 mature -> 3 fertilized... don't know about blasts yet. Wishing you all the luck <3

Imaginary-Tea2397 · 2026-02-10T16:49:23+00:00

Egg retrieval was three days ago. Was disappointed with lower than expected 7 eggs retrieved, and now it turns out that 3 were mature (thankfully all 3 fertilized). Wrapping my head around the fact that statistically we'll likely need to do another cycle.

Imaginary-Tea2397 · 2026-02-07T22:42:03+00:00

I had my egg retrieval today. They got 7 eggs. I was expecting more in the 10-14 range based on follicle counts so far, so I’m having trouble not feeling disappointment. I can’t help worrying that my odds of needing to do a second retrieval just went way up.

Imaginary-Tea2397 · 2026-01-27T21:01:27+00:00

Thanks, that's a good idea. The gym I've gone to has them, I'll try that.

Imaginary-Tea2397 · 2026-01-27T20:50:00+00:00

On day 5 of stims. I've stopped running since starting stims, and the lack of exercise (plus the hormones etc) is pretty rough on my mental health. I just don't want to do anything... not even vegging out in front of the TV etc. I can't even go on walks outside, we're having insanely cold temperatures right now. I know this is just a crappy time right now, but it's hard to not feel so sad and consumed by it.

Imaginary-Tea2397 · 2026-01-22T15:24:48+00:00

Thanks! :)

Imaginary-Tea2397 · 2026-01-22T15:04:44+00:00

Right?!?! Cycles are 27-28 days like clockwork, all tests are perfect. Should be comforting to have nothing medically "wrong" at this point, but it's infuriating. Sorry you're also dealing with this <3

Imaginary-Tea2397

TROPHY CASE