CARE Fertility Bulletin Board

gkhan3005 · 10 Sep 2009

Hi all

We fall under the unexplained fertility category and never saw a + hpt in the 8 yrs we were trying naturally. We conceived dd via icsi in 2011 through the NHS and she is 17 months old. I am 32 yrs old and DH is 36 so don't have time on our side. We had our consultation today and have to go through icsi again to conceive no 2. So now my head is in a spin again regarding whether the treatment will work. This time it will be all out of pocket and hope and pray it works. I have a couple of questions really. Is there any success stories of couples going down the icsi route again to conceive no 2 and it working 1st time? Also there seems to be alot of bad press regarding icsi and birth defects which has me really scared/worried. Can anyone shed anymore light on this issue from experience.

It seems that my eggs outer shell cannot be penetrated by my DH sperm (1st ivf attempt no eggs fertilised in the dish by DH sperm). Has anyone been able to overcome this and gone on to conceive naturally?

Sorry if I've gone on abit. TIA for responses.

Naz

EBS · 04 Nov 2008

Hi there,

I noticed that no one had replied so I thought I would!

My first icsi resulted in a pregnancy, but ectopic so it didn't work out. My second icsi resulted in a bfp too, and I had twins....so it can and does work. The success rates these days are really great and especially after you've had success before, you know it can work for you and it often does.

I'm over 30 too so totally understand the time issue.

Good luck

xx

Siobon · 10 Mar 2007

I'm currently 30 wks pregnant with our second ICSI miracle. First time around it took 3 goes to get our precious BFP and our DD is now 4. last year we decided to try again and had an absolutely disastrous cycle... or so we thought.... as only one egg fertilised. Well, that one turned out to be a little fighter and is wriggling around inside me right now!
We were prepared to give it two goes second time around and are still in disbelief that it worked first time! I hope it works for you too, good luck. x

Tiny21 · 30 Aug 2007

I hope so!! We are currently trying to. First ICSI was a biochem in June and heading towards end Aug for downregging but not sure we can really afford anymore, tbh we can't afford these attempts.

People say previous success really increases chances do really hoping thats the case. Compared to me you have 8 more years on your side!!! Very Happy

Good luck x

gkhan3005 · 10 Sep 2009

Hi thank you to all for your replies. @siobhon it took 2 attempts to conceive dd and that was a FET and out of 22 eggs, only 2 made it to be frozen. Once thawed only 1 made it who is now my dd. I am just wondering did you do anything diff on this cycle? The consultant wants me to follow the same protocol we did to conceive dd.

@tiny21 wishing you all the success in your treatment cycle. Yes the success depends on your age but you still have that uncertainty that it can fail.

Naz

emerald · 25 May 2005

Hi

I think your chances are really good. Once you have a child your chances increase, also you are more fertile in the 2 years after you give birth due to increased blood flow (so I have read). We got pregnant on the first go trying for our second but I had a m/c, I ended up getting pregnant naturally afew months later and we are now pregnant with our third which was again natural. In the years we tried before we never had any positives then after we had icsi and had our first natural miracle was when she was 2. I think my body has def found it easier to get pregnant since we had our first - for us this shouldn't make a difference as dh sperm count 6 months ago was still under 1 million and rubbish quality.

good luck

Emerald x x

gkhan3005 · 10 Sep 2009

Hi

@emerald congrats on your naturally pregnancies. Did you do anything diff at the time you fell pregnant naturally? We tried a few months after dd was born but with no success. DH is a pain at times as he will not take any form supplements which could help boost his sperm. In my heart I have always wanted a large family but never thought I would struggle with infertility like this Sad

Naz

AMR80 · 26 Dec 2008

We were successful on our 3rd cycle of icsi (1 nhs and 2 self funded). DS was born in Oct 2009. We ttc naturally after his born but wasn't lucky. We funded cycle 4 (our first after DS) and were successful and I am currently 23 weeks pg. I am also 32 but we have a list of issues - PCOS, endo, male factor too.

Anna x

gkhan3005 · 10 Sep 2009

Hi

@emerald congrats on your naturally pregnancies. Did you do anything diff at the time you fell pregnant naturally? We tried a few months after dd was born but with no success. DH is a pain at times as he will not take any form supplements which could help boost his sperm. In my heart I have always wanted a large family but never thought I would struggle with infertility like this Sad

Naz

emerald · 25 May 2005

I bought my dh all the expensive supplements and he would take them for 2 days then forget and they are out of date in the cupboard now Smile

His count has always been bad and for the last few years has been about 1 million but bad motility, mobility etc etc I also have pcos and don't ovulate every month more like every 2-3 months. I did take pregnancare conception before all my natural ones. With this pregnancy we had been trying since second was about 6 months and we got pg straight away but then m/c. Since then we were trying for about 18 months and nothing happened so we gave up and arranged FET and the week after my drugs arrived I got a positive so I now have a box of drugs above my kitchen cupboard Smile

My consultant said the best thing is to have sex every other day not just when you think you are ovulating as that way there is always sperm around and that if you do it every other day it gives them time to recover. I have to say we often didn't manage the day break but hey even though there not very good they did the job. Apparently mens sperm can vary on a daily basis so often it is just luck getting it at the right time of the month and making sure you DTD at right time. Having said that we were trying for afew years before IVF and we never had a sniff of positive so I do think my body having one baby made it much easier to concieve.

At 32 I don't think you need to worry just yet about your age, I am 30 now and so that was why we didn't plan on trying naturally for years and years. We gave ourselves a limit to trying naturally then would move onto ICSI.

x x