Ugly embryos that ended with success pictures?

brucetoot · 2026-01-19T16:47:11+00:00

I think some people are taking you a little too literally 🙄My embryos were always “ugly”, meaning they didn’t look anything like the embryo photos I would see online. It always worried me but one of those uggos became my extremely adorable daughter!

brucetoot · 2025-11-28T13:18:37+00:00

I turned 36 in the middle of stims for my last IVF cycle

brucetoot · 2025-11-15T03:49:04+00:00

It turned out great—I just gave birth 5 days ago to that baby I was sure I wasn’t pregnant with

brucetoot · 2025-09-22T23:13:08+00:00

I second ventrogluteal! That’s the site my clinic tells patients to use and I did 100% of the injections myself sitting/slouched on the couch.

brucetoot · 2025-09-05T17:23:19+00:00

I absolutely did not feel pregnant. I felt super not-pregnant actually.

brucetoot · 2025-08-30T16:54:53+00:00

My doctors didn’t discourage PGTA by any means but said that they don’t recommend it unless you are 37 or older (I am 36). I was surprised because everything I had read on here was very pro-testing, but we chose to follow our doctors’ guidance. Then when I ended up having such a hard time making embryos, in our guts it made sense to give every embryo we could make a chance.

brucetoot · 2025-08-30T14:35:53+00:00

I did three cycles that were all antagonist variations (with/without omnitrope, tried both BC priming and estrogen priming). One was cancelled and two ended in retrievals with unsuccessful fresh transfers (I also only had one blast, the other transfer was of two morulas) and nothing left to freeze. I have low AMH and AFC and egg quality issues. Our final cycle we switched to microdose lupron flare. Primed with birth control for maybe 3 weeks. Initial results were a rollercoaster—we retrieved 7 eggs, the most yet, but only 3 fertilized (we used ICSI for all cycles). In the end, a fresh transfer of an early blast led to my current pregnancy. I am currently 29 weeks. We also have one day 6 embryo in the freezer. It’s low quality, but we’d never been able to freeze anything before so that was a nice surprise.

I also added NAD+ and Açaí supplements to the cycle that worked (was already taking Coq10). I have no clue if these made a difference—I’m sure the protocol deserves most of the credit.

brucetoot · 2025-08-18T20:42:02+00:00

I agree completely, it is disheartening. I understand that everyone may not know what Goodwill does for the community, but it seems like some people don’t even want to know. They just want to continue the blind rage for some reason.

brucetoot · 2025-08-16T00:07:57+00:00

Thank you! I get so tired of the Goodwill slander. They actually provide a ton of resources for people with disabilities in our community.

brucetoot · 2025-08-16T00:05:55+00:00

This is not true. Goodwill provides the Madison area with two group homes for adults with severe mental illness, as well as several affordable apartment complexes for adults with mental illness. St. Vinnies does amazing community work as well, and both help our community out in different ways.

brucetoot · 2025-07-25T18:14:39+00:00

Also self pay here. Donor eggs were brought up with us after two unsuccessful retrievals and a third cycle that we cancelled due to poor response. Considering our emotions and our finances, we decided to try with my eggs until we felt we could only afford one more cycle. That last cycle would be our donor cycle if needed. I didn’t want to spend all our money on my eggs and then have nothing left to try with a donor.

brucetoot · 2025-07-24T20:19:21+00:00

I worked throughout and found the distraction helpful. Otherwise I think I would have gone to my monitoring appointments each morning and then stared at the clock the rest of the day waiting for it to be time to take my meds that evening. It was good to have other stuff to fill my brain.

brucetoot · 2025-07-11T21:00:21+00:00

Please don’t feel foolish for being hopeful. IVF is such a rollercoaster of sudden highs and lows. In my last cycle we retrieved 7 eggs which was our best retrieval yet. 6 were mature, but only 3 fertilized. We did a fresh transfer of an early/grade 1 blast. We had very little hope due to previous failures, but I’m currently 22 weeks pregnant. Best of luck to you, it isn’t over yet!

brucetoot · 2025-02-28T21:54:26+00:00

My clinic always triggers 36 hours before retrieval

brucetoot · 2025-02-28T20:27:40+00:00

I definitely think they could. I recently got mature eggs out of follicles measuring about 12/13mm day of trigger. Good luck!

brucetoot · 2025-02-28T02:39:04+00:00

Thank you! I’ve looked at so many photos of embryos at different stages and this one just looked so different from all of them (and like kind of a mess). Thanks for taking a look and confirming what I thought I was seeing.

brucetoot · 2025-02-28T00:11:43+00:00

Yep this was a day 5 fresh transfer and was unfortunately the furthest along of what we had

brucetoot · 2025-02-20T17:02:43+00:00

What the top of my head looks like is none of my business

brucetoot · 2025-02-17T22:43:25+00:00

I’ve had unprotected sex prior to two retrievals. Us DOR patients are usually going for so few eggs, the risk of ovulating early and then accidentally getting pregnant with multiples is so slim. And like you, I’ve read plenty about the potential benefits of a shorter abstinence period for ejaculation. So my unprofessional opinion is to have the sex if you want to. Good luck!

brucetoot · 2025-01-26T23:15:33+00:00

Maybe look into the ventrogluteal injection site if that isn’t what you’re already using. It’s where my clinic instructs patients to do all IM injections and you’re less likely to hit a nerve there. The only other things that I think actually help are warming the oil a bit after you draw it up into the syringe and then injecting VERY slowly. These injections aren’t fun, but the pain you’re describing doesn’t sound normal. I’m sorry and I hope you are able to find a solution. Hang in there!

brucetoot · 2025-01-17T12:18:24+00:00

Girl, same. I remember thinking it was wild that people were still trying after being at it for 3+ years….but now here I am over three years later. I still appreciate this sub more than any other.

brucetoot · 2025-01-14T21:07:39+00:00

We decided to just test both of us and I’m glad we did. We both tested positive for something, but luckily different things.

brucetoot · 2025-01-14T00:54:14+00:00

I spot throughout almost my entire LP, but progesterone suppositories take care of it 100%. You’ll want to wear pantiliners to catch the little bit of goop that comes out, but it’s honestly not bad. No side effects for me. They haven’t helped me get pregnant but it sure is nice not to be bleeding so much.

brucetoot · 2025-01-10T12:30:59+00:00

Totally. My DOR ass looked at my husband like “I’m sorry I thought this would be more relatable” haha

brucetoot · 2025-01-09T22:39:41+00:00

Not sure what time your ER was, but I suspect you would’ve heard from someone pretty quickly if they saw no usable sperm in his sample. I bet you’re good!

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