CARE Fertility Bulletin Board

Oompa Loompa · 01 Jul 2011

Hello, some of you may remember me posting last year, after losing our DD at 20wks in the pregnancy.

Anyway our next IVF cycle, we were advised to have acgh, to protect us from more upset.

I had 11 follicles, yet only 5 eggs were collected, I was gutted, last time I had 8 eggs.
4 eggs were mature, 3 fertilised via icsi then one cell was taken from each to be tested on day 3. One came back as normal.

I had this lucky one put back, 2 weeks later I had BFP!!!

After my last pregnancy, I was extremely anxious and had to pay for extra reassurance scans, as my midwife/GP were unsuccessful at getting these free for me, as I wasnâ€™t experiencing any pains/bleeding etc. But I explained to them last time I had a â€˜silentâ€™ miscarriage, but it made no difference! I was told â€˜lightning doesnâ€™t strike twiceâ€™!

My pregnancy was going well, until the 12wk scan, when the nuchal was measured at 2.7mm. My consultant remained positive, even though it was on the higher end of the 'at risk' scale and that because I had acgh, all would be well. Although he did say that acgh isnâ€™t a robust diagnostic test. Sometimes mosaicking can occur changing a good cell into an abnormal one.

I continued with regular scan and heartbeat checks.

Sadly my pregnancy ended in Feb at 18wks 5days, I delivered our DS 5days later, as there were no beds available!! I asked my consultant to do an amnio, to see what the problem was before I went into labour â€“ he refused, due to the risk of infection to myself.

The post mortem revealed chromosome abnormalities: lower set ears and single palmer crease. Had I have had amnio, I couldâ€™ve had a reason, as to what??

So now Iâ€™ve been pregnant for 2 birthdays, 2 Christmases and all I have is heartache, scan pictures and post mortem reports.

My next step??
My fertility consultant suggested a natural IVF cycle as hopefully theyâ€™ll be a good egg, after chatting with my DH we decided that we werenâ€™t going to go for it, as less than half of my follicles contained eggs this time, plus since Iâ€™d lost 2 at under 20wks, itâ€™s a high probability the same would occur again. We are now looking at donor eggs?

Thank you for reading my â€˜meâ€™ post, I hope that those ladies thinking of acgh know that the procedure isnâ€™t 100% concise and that it doesnâ€™t always lead to a healthy baby at the end, although I hope it will for you.

Brandy · 16 Jun 2009

Dearest Oompa Loompa,
I am so very saddened to read your post. I wish you loads of strength to move on from losing your precious little baby.
Unfortunately aCGH is not 100%. I had a very similar experience losing my pregnancy after aCGH to a Turners Syndrome baby. However, I was then able to make a clear decision to use Donor eggs and I now have two beautiful baby twins who I adore.
I wish you all the luck in the world for your journey.
Much love
xx

Maple · 15 Nov 2008

Oompa Loompa,

I think we have 'spoken' before (your username is very distinctive).

I am so sorry to hear your devastation news ... life is just so cruel to inflict a second late pregnancy loss on you ... truly heartbreaking. Despite the best effects you have made in an attempt to get a success pregnancy with a healthy baby, aCGH has failed you.

I have followed most of Brandy's journey. As she has told you ... she is now a proud mummy to two beautiful DE babies. So, DE is perhaps the best way to go to help you achieve your dreams.

Best of luck for the future,
Maple
xxx

maryrose · 04 Apr 2006

Oompa - Thank you for being courageous enough to share your story with us, as there are ladies on here who will definitely benefit from your [heartbreaking] experiences, particularly when they are considering Acgh.

So sorry that you have been through such a terrible trauma twice and hoping that your happy ending [or should I say 'happy start!' is just around the corner.

I have Olly from DE, following 8 unsuccessful cycles with OE.

Love and luck from Maryrose xxx

taz929 · 31 Mar 2010

Oompa Lumpa,

I'm so so sorry to read your sad news and to suffer the death of a child twice must be unbearable. I wish you all the strength in the world in making your decisions on the way forward and also want to thank you for being so brave to share your story with the bb. DE babies are incredibly special and there are lots of ladies on here who can help you with their successes which will hopefully give you the information you need to make your decision.

Thinking of you and your DH at this most difficult of times

Xxx

Oompa Loompa · 01 Jul 2011

Thank you so much for your warm and caring replies.

Yes, you are right Maple - we have 'spoken' before. You are a fantastic and extremely knowledgable lady. I truely hope that one day your dream will eventually become a reality.

Brandy, your twins are gorgeous.

Maryrose, like you I feel DE could be our chance.

Well today we had our first appt re DE and are on the waiting list of between 2 - 6mths!!!
So now we have to get all our expired blood results up tp date, then wait. Whilst waiting I need to lose at least 30lbs, as my BMI is very close to their upper limit to have treatment. I might even have to resort to exercise!

Thank you again xxx

Maple · 15 Nov 2008

Oompa Loompa,

Thanks for your kind words.

2-6 months wait is not that long at all. You will be at the top of the list before you know it.

Good luck with all your blood tests and weight loss.

Best of luck with your next cycle,
Maple
xxx

Brandy · 16 Jun 2009

Oompa Loompa,
Thank you, I too think they are gorgeous Surprised

)
Well done on the first step to your Donor cycle and all the very best for the weight loss, I know how hard it is. xx
Much love,
Nicole xx

mouse123 · 31 Mar 2010

Oompa Lumpa

What has happened to you is truly devastating! I am so sorry for the pain and anguish you must be going through. I'm glad you have found a way forward with DE. I'm sure you will finally get success.
Are you staying with Care with DE?

I did aCGH and had 2 chromosomally normal perfect blasts transferred and BFN. I really don't think aCGH is everything they lead you to believe it is. They've had quite a lot of cases like yours now (ie where the embryo has proven to have abnormal chromosomes in the end), so I wonder why they are still peddling it. Money springs to mind! Sorry to be cynical, but your chances are much higher with DE although I know this takes a lot of time to adjust to as its a very different thing. It took me along time to come to terms with the idea, but there are so many positive stories on here about the love and devotion that the ladies here have for the DE pregnancies, babies and children, I'm sure you will feel the same.

Take care of yourself.

Love Mouse
X

Yellow38 · 03 Apr 2011

Hello Ladies,

Firstly, Mouse & Oompa, so sorry to hear about the difficulties you are both having.

I too have just had aCGH and although my outcome doesn't look to be very positive, I for one am very glad I have done it because I think it is helping me to accept that I have done everything I can with my own eggs and I am now taking the steps forward to considering DE - I don't know I could have done that just yet without the CGH.

I am currently on 2ww of my cycle - I had 12 eggs collected, only 7 fertilised and then of these only 5 were suitable for analysis. Of the 5, 4 came back abnormal and the one remaining one had no signal and was slow growing. It did become a compacted morula on day 5 and I have had it transferred, but obviously the chances of anything coming of it are too slim to seriously contemplate. Even if I were to get BFP there is a strong chance that it will be abnormal anyway. However, what I do know is that of all the ones they would have transferred had I not had aCGH, it would definitely have been abnormal.

So, I have taken the steps of booking in to see the donor coordinator and counsellor already...had I not done CGH this time I would be thinking I had got a couple of blasts on board and that there was hope. I might even have thrown another couple of cycles at it with my own eggs before I hit 40 later this year - but in the end, I think the CGH has shown that if most are abnormal, maybe I need to be "backing a different horse" with better odds rather than "chasing rainbows".

Good luck.
Yellow x

Oompa Loompa · 01 Jul 2011

Hello,

Good luck Yellow, lets hope that your remaining embie is a survivor and that the cell that was tested was lacking any info, whilst the rest of the cells are good.

Mouse, yes I'm staying with care. Its very local to me, and going abroad would be difficult. The only thing I'm not too happy about is that you only get an egg share, if you what the whole batch to maximize fertilisation you have to pay double!!

Well so far I've lost 6lbs. Tomorrow we go for our counselling session.
I know its a controversial subject, but if we were successful in having a child from DE do you have to tell them and our family? Reason being I have 3 older children who are all at various points on the autistic spectrum umbrella and deal in black and white. Therefore if they knew their sibling was from DE, I'm pretty certain they'd struggle to entertain the idea, as they'd then state that he/she is no relation to them. No something that'd i'd like to happen.

xx

cheekychops · 26 Jun 2006

Oompa loompa

Thanks for posting your story especially as I think it has got others to post their stories too

A while ago I posted about ACGH and didn't really get much response

I am at the point where I have to decide what to do cycle wise. I have been offered IVF ICSI ACGH plus embryoscope but I am not sure. I have looked at options abroad and using donor eggs. I really don't know what to do as I feel that as I am really 41 if my eggs are going to be rubbish then they won't develop into blastocysts which is what I want to transfer this time. So if they don't make it to blasts then donor egg is the next step

I just worry that I will find the wait for ACGH results too hard and then to find that they were abnormal. I may not even get enough worth testing!

Anyway your post has answered some of my questions like is ACGH really the bees knees and I think the answer is no for me. I am sure there are lots of successes but i have really consider what is best for me and what will cause me less stress and upset. IVF etc if hard enough!

Thanks for posting here and I hope my thoughts haven't upset anyone!