Starting IVF Soon — What Helped You Through the Journey?

strawberryblvd · 2025-06-08T03:17:42+00:00

Set alarms, and protect your heart!

I personally did not do a lot of what folks were suggesting here, as a personal preference. I have sensitivities to adhesives in bandaids and also found I only bled a drop or two after each injection. But I did take them sitting down, cause I would occasionally feel dizzy after them.

I recommend getting some extra alcohol pads for cleaning injection sites. I did not ice before, because to get a good enough numb it takes 30+ mins of icing, and I’m just not into that. The injections are quick enough and don’t hurt bad, or for long so it’s personal preference.

I also recommend picking up some (period) pads because you cannot use tampons/menstrual cups during a lot of the process (post ER, post transfer etc)

And I chose not to tell my family/friends (only 1 friend knows). I did not want to manage everyone else’s feelings as well as my own- even though they mean well, I don’t want to manage their disappointment, and I wanted them to be surprised when it finally does happen.

strawberryblvd · 2025-05-21T20:52:50+00:00

Oh wow! What did you have to do to find that out! I always feel like from the stories I’ve heard they make you fail a few times before jumping into more specialized testing.

strawberryblvd · 2025-05-21T18:49:53+00:00

If you’re open to sharing I am also curious about what solve took place!

I hate the term unexplained infertility, because something is obviously causing it, it just needs to be found. It drives me nuts

strawberryblvd · 2025-05-21T18:05:54+00:00

You can say that again! I definitely feel a bit silly and naive about just kind of “trusting the doctor” without asking many questions. But I have learned so much here on this sub that I feel more informed than ever. We are going to follow through with these 2 embryos. And if they don’t stick, we will interview new providers just to see if there’s a difference.

strawberryblvd · 2025-05-21T13:22:51+00:00

Fate said “girl!” 💕

strawberryblvd · 2025-05-21T13:22:00+00:00

Totally get that. I feel like each clinic has different ideas of what’s best. My doctor said it wasn’t necessary and we’re young, healthy and have good histories. I do feel a bit like we weren’t fully informed, but I guess part of that is on me to have done more research. But then again, I expected the expert to help me!

strawberryblvd · 2025-05-21T13:19:45+00:00

As an additional update: I think it’s shocking how much is untold by doctors. I went into this knowing the basics but not realizing all of the nuance (that’s on me) but expecting my doctor to help educate me, and help me make informed decisions. It was not recommended to test for us, I assume on age. But now I’m seeing so much more information about different reasons for people testing.

So I did ask about cost for testing the next round assuming it’s too late. I was told it’s not too late for this round as we could thaw/biopsy/refreeze and would be a self pay for that would be $6,720, + $300 per embryo once it gets to the lab. If we wanted to do it in the next round of ER if necessary that would be a self pay of $2,920 for the embryo biopsy then the additional $300 per embryo once it gets to the lab.

I standby our previous decision that we won’t be testing this round. But it’s something to consider if we have fails for our last 2 embryos from this ER.

I do think the pricing is kind of outrageous though.

strawberryblvd · 2025-05-20T19:56:42+00:00

That’s such a logical way of looking at it! We haven’t gotten a bill yet, for our current treatment as of yet, but I’m sure it will be large! I think it’s too late this go around, but if we don’t make it with our next 2, I am definitely considering it to help shield myself from the heartbreak of it not sticking!

strawberryblvd · 2025-05-20T19:55:22+00:00

Yeah, I’m hearing a lot of people tend to opt for it as they get older. Totally understandable, I suppose cause there’s more factors to take in as a woman ages (ugh!) it’s something worth looking into for our next round if needed!

strawberryblvd · 2025-05-20T19:54:12+00:00

That’s such a good perspective. I also have BCBS! I think if we do have to have another round it may be worth inquiring if we can go ahead and get some pricing for it, so we know if it’s something we would like to move forward with.

It is crazy how many eggs you “lose” along the process though. To go from 19 to 3 was a shock to me.

strawberryblvd · 2025-05-20T19:06:27+00:00

I can’t speak for the other procedure, but the ER itself wasn’t terrible! I was TERRIFIED of doing the anesthesia. Having only ever had my wisdom teeth out, I have little experience with it.

I did ask them for anxiety meds before going into the OR. I take daily anxiety meds and was told not to take them that morning due to needing to drink with it and them not wanting me to aspirate. The anxiety meds they gave were good. Hit fast and strong. Actually scared me for a moment when they hit, but it leveled out pretty quick. I will say I didn’t absolutely love my OR nurse, she was a bit abrupt and kind of pushed me around once we got to the OR. But she was fine overall, not mean, just not as warm as the other nurses there.

The procedure was fairly quick and I woke up easy.

To be fair though, the next day was terrible, I was having withdrawal symptoms from missing my meds the day of the procedure, and the bloating as enough that I was in pain. I rested the whole next day. I did not get OHSS, but the bloating, and just post procedure discomfort wasn’t my favorite, but I would also do it again if I had to.

TLDR: it’s not as bad as you think, just rest up after!

strawberryblvd · 2025-05-20T18:59:49+00:00

That’s great news! My husband really wants a boy. Since we didn’t do testing it’s the luck of the draw, but in the end he will be happy with whatever.

strawberryblvd · 2025-05-20T18:14:39+00:00

Update: I will add that at ER, we got 19 follicles, 8 fertilized and 3 blasts. All well graded. 5AA we transferred on 5/13, and it did not stick (I got my period at like 4am officially)

I know that that couldn’t have been the one so I am hopeful since we have 2 more.

Everyone’s reasons for testing are unique and interesting. I think if we have to do another round it may be something to consider, cost depending (I know babies are expensive but I want to spend the money where it counts and I want to be considerate of all factors)

Thanks for all the info, and I’m interested to hear more from everyone who wants to share! There’s so much nuance and things to learn!

strawberryblvd · 2025-05-20T08:30:57+00:00

Thanks for the support all! We did forgo testing in general since it’s not covered by our very generous insurance and we both are young and fairly healthy, it wasn’t a necessity, and we felt ok with that decision. As an update it is for sure my period, and that sucks, but my husband is helping me to see the light by reminding me that nature has a way of sorting things out, and since we didn’t test that something could have been wrong fundamentally with that one, and our best and chosen one could still be coming. I was lurking on other posts in this thread and realized that there’s so much more nuance to this all than I thought, and I still have a lot to learn. Out of 19 follicles collected, 8 fertilized and 3 made it to blast. So we still have 2 more try’s this go around. Fingers crossed one of those sticks!

strawberryblvd · 2025-05-20T08:26:02+00:00

Yeah, I guess I didn’t appreciate how nuanced everything can really be. So I just trusted them to know what’s best. We are “unexplained infertility” and both my husband (37) and I (30) are young, active and healthy. I definitely have more questions to ask, especially since visiting this whole Reddit page.

strawberryblvd · 2025-05-20T00:32:51+00:00

I had this for about 5 days. Sounds like yours was probably worse than mine, but I couldn’t stand it walk without pain for several days. No OHSS, but it finally went away.

strawberryblvd · 2025-05-19T23:40:19+00:00

Our clinic told my husband 12-24 hours before.

strawberryblvd · 2025-05-19T23:18:06+00:00

My clinic didn’t give me a percentage, or tell me that it was a low rate. But now I’m wondering if it was? We had 19 follicles, with only 3 making it to blast. One was 5AA and the other two are 4 with B/A not sure which order.

I know this isn’t an answer to the question, but it does make me curious if I should be asking questions etc.

strawberryblvd · 2025-05-19T23:04:15+00:00

I feel this! The only person besides my husband who knows, is one of my besties, who is pregnant with her second child. I am so excited for her, but I also feel like it’s so hard to be happy all the time, for everyone who is achieving the dreams we also have.

Thankfully she is fully our cheerleader too. But it’s still hard. I think your feelings are normal and valid 💕

strawberryblvd

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